The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment- Chapter 9

A few friends and I are reading this book together. Each week we are reading one chapter. On Fridays, I am posting my comments, then giving them the opportunity to add their thoughts as well. If you would like to join us or simply find out more about the book, you can read about it here.)

Chapter 9: Developing Discernment
- [This was the shortest chapter, and I'm three days late in writing about it!]

- I liked that he pointed out that discernment is tied to other Christian disciplines.  In other words, one cannot develop discernment by itself- it comes as we practice other disciplines.

- He gave the commitments that will allow us to have and display discernment.  They are pretty straightforward, so I'll just list them without comment.
1. Pursue Discernment
2. Desire Discernment
3. Pray for Discernment
4. Seek Discernment

- He used Asaph's Psalm 73 as an example of the role of discernment in the church.  This isn't the worst illustration I have read, but I wish he would have differentiated between the temple and the church (and then possibly extended the application).

- He shared Mark Dever's five reasons for Christians to join a church.  I wasn't wowed, but they were good thoughts.  Since they were fairly simple, I'll again just list them (with one comment):
1. For assurance
2. To evangelize the world
3. To expose false gospels
*I  liked this thought: "The more we see of genuine Christianity, the more the counterfeits will be exposed."  (Page 157)
4. To edify the church
5. To glorify God

- Although the author of the following quote is one I don't often cite, I did think his statement was accurate and thought-provoking: he said Christians "are drunk with the false opinion of our own insight and are thus extremely reluctant to admit that it is utterly blind and stupid in divine matters." (Page 159)

- The author stated that we need help from others in order to grow in discernment.  Is assistance of others absolutely necessary?  I would not say it is, because to me that would minimize the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  That being said, I would also not advocate for someone ignoring the potential assistance of those around him.

- I thought it was he made a good point that the confirmation of one's discernment is not found in what they say, but in what they do.  Obedience to God's Word is confirmation of discernment.

- "We become discerning Christians not by focusing on discernment as an end in itself, but by focusing on the person of God and the character of God."  (Page 161) This is good!  And how do we focus on God's person and character?  The Bible!  Again, we this theme is reemphasized to us.

I've had my say, what say you?

Discussion on Chapter 8
Discussion on Chapter 10

The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment- Chapter 8

 

A few friends and I are reading this book together. Each week we are reading one chapter. On Fridays, I am posting my comments, then giving them the opportunity to add their thoughts as well. If you would like to join us or simply find out more about the book, you can read about it here.)

Chapter 8: The Dangers of Discernment

- Maybe it is splitting hairs, but I did not like the title of the chapter.  I know he was trying to make it fit with the other chapters, but I do not feel true discernment brings dangers.  Later he said, "We'll look at ten of the potential dangers that seem to afflict those who emphasize discernment."  (Page 143)  I thought this statement was much better than his chapter title.  In the "Key Thought" section, he said, "Discernment is a practice that can lead to many dangers."  (Page 151)  I personally don't feel that discernment leads people into these other things- their sinful nature does.  I know what he is saying, but I think it could have been worded better.

- In his opening illustration about the counterfeit money, he talked about the importance of becoming familiar with the truth.  The more you know about currency, the easier it will be for you to find a fake bill.  In the same way, the more we know truth, the easier it will be for us to discern other areas.  We may not be facing a difficult decision now, but if we are growing in our knowledge of the truth, a decision down the road will be more clear.

- He brought up the fact that error is changing.  It does come in different forms and heresies/false doctrines seems to come and go in cycles, but being anchored in the truth of God's Word will allow us to meet those as they come.

- Again a little thing, but I thought some of his "dangers" were poorly named.  The first one was "Innocent as to What is Evil."  In my opinion, this is what we need to be.  The opposite is the danger.

- I see the "Guilt by Association" and "Honor by Association" as being one.  In both cases, the observer makes a judgment on a person based on another human and not the Word of God.  If I take anything from this book, it will be a reminder to go to God's Word and let it show what is right or wrong. 

- I found it interesting that he mentioned fundamentalism in a negative light in the same breath with liberalism.  I am not going to take the time to delve into this topic- I just wanted to note his perspective.

- He talked about the fundamentalists raising "third-order doctrines" to the level of "first-order doctrines" and wrongly dividing.  While I do agree that there are Biblical doctrines essential to the faith and doctrines about which true believers disagree, I want to point out that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd orders is a man-made system.  We can only take it so far.  Also, I wish he would've given examples of how fundamentalists do what he claims.  I would like to know more of his perspective.

- I don't know if you guys consider yourselves Fundamentalists or not.  However, most people would lump you into that.  My point is not to debate whether we should be or whether others should call us that.  I think negative statements said about "us" should cause us to look at "us" objectively.  We may not agree with his renunciation of fundamentalism, but what has our movement done wrong, what have our leaders done wrong that has led to this perception.  Have we done the right thing in the wrong spirit?  Have we followed man's word and not God's?  I'm not trying to point us to a particular answer- I just believe we should stop and consider . . . even if we disagree.

- He discussed "Witch Hunting" or seeking to just point out the wrong in other.  My simple suggestion: Seek truth.  Blast error when it pops up.

- He mentioned cause discord and destroy unity.  My question: if discord comes because one renounces another believer who is going astray and thereby causing discord, is that wrong?

- I think many preachers in our circles (the ones we put ourselves in and the ones others put us in) are guilty of just lumping people together into the "good" and "bad" categories.  It is easier to do that rather than examining what someone has to say.  Certainly, if I agree with someone 90% of the time and they have a track record of following the Bible, I am not going to be as cautious when I read after them.  On the other hand, if I disagree with someone 50% of the time, I am going to take that into account.  However, my desire is to give each person/book a chance and judge/discern it by itself.  If we only read after people we agree with 100% of the time, our reading stack is going to be about two testaments thin.  I do not advocate just reading everything, but just like with plants, too much seclusion hinders growth.  (I am trying to get through the chapter.  If these comments seem too shaky, I'll be glad to elaborate.)

- "Those who emphasize discernment seem to be particularly prone to the sin of pride."  (Page 149)  I feel that those people are more prone to look down on the lifestyle/convictions of others than they are to simply want recognition for their discernment.  Have you guys seen differently?

- His call to the heart was good.  May we seek discernment 1) to know God's truth for ourselves, 2) to stand up for truth against the onslaught of error, and 3) to serve others by sharing the truth with them.

- I liked the words of John Stott he quoted: "Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth." (Page 151)

I've had my say, what say you?

Discussion on Chapter 7

Discussion on Chapter 9

 

The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment- Chapter 7

A few friends and I are reading this book together. Each week we are reading one chapter. On Fridays, I am posting my comments, then giving them the opportunity to add their thoughts as well. If you would like to join us or simply find out more about the book, you can read about it here.)

 

Chapter 7: The Gift of Discernment

- While a battle rages over the understanding of spiritual gifts, the author points out that people on both sides of the issue will agree that in our day God gives a gift of discernment (Page 127).  The author then discusses that gift.  Here are my thoughts:

 

- Using the story of his youth group and the ball of yarn, he illustrated the strength that the spiritual gifts should give to a local church.  I was reminded that a spiritual gift is not to help the "possessor" only (the way he said it: they are not "self-serving" [Page 126]), but is to help and strengthen the believers around him.  Later he stated, "The variety is not meant to disrupt the church but to unify it through diversity."  (Page 125)  It seems to me that individuality or variety in our culture is used more to make a person stand out from the crown, not to help unify the crowd.  I appreciated this explanation of the relationship between variety and unity.

 

- He takes the position that the list of the gifts of the Spirit in Scripture is not exhaustive, but representative.  I did not have/take the time to examine this by the Word.  If any of you had time, I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

- I appreciated his emphasis on the fact that God is not looking for us to serve in our area of "expertise" (our spiritual gift) only.  We are not to neglect other areas of service just because it is not our spiritual gift.

 

- After my rant a few chapters back, did you catch the reference to Acts 17:11?  I agree with one of his correlating statements: "In doing this [examining the Scriptures] they modeled the task of all believers."  (Page 129)  That is the task of believers.  However, the ones setting the example were not yet believers.  Mini-rant over.

 

- His statement following the one above is great: "Christians are ultimately responsible for what they choose to believe, no matter whether or not they have been gifted with the spiritual gift of discernment."  (Page 129)

 

- He is careful to point out that if the Spirit gifts someone with discernment, that individual then has a responsibility to use it.  It is not a gift like a Christmas sweater from Aunt Mabel that a believer can choose to use or not. 

 

- "Deeds, no matter how extraordinary and how beneficial they appear, must be examined and compared to the Word of God."  (Page 130)  This is especially needful because so many people rely on experience or pragmatism to evaluate things.  I don't know how it is in Charlotte or Iqaluit, but I know it is quite common in Moldova.  (This is a little off the topic, but a believer here told us that she knew she was to marry her husband because she had a dream of Jesus.  In the dream Jesus told her to marry the man that was interested in her, so she did.  I couldn't believe it when I heard it.)

 

- One of the thoughts that has often come to my mind reading this book is that we need discernment because of who our enemy is.  Satan's biggest weapon is deception.  He wants us to view right as wrong and wrong as right.  He wants dangerous things to appear healthy.  Having discernment will allow me to see God's true perspective about things, and see through how Satan wants wants things to appear.

 

- I had not thought before that God might give a believer a particular gift because of a particular need in his church at that time.  It is a simple thought- why would God give a gift that is essentially not needed?

 

- Earlier in the chapter, he spoke against simply looking to a person's personality to determine a spiritual gift.  When discussing how to find how a person is gifted, he talked about what makes him feel passionate.  I could not see how he distinguished between a person's natural personality and a person's natural or God-given passion.  Maybe one of you caught something I didn't.

 

- I liked his suggestion that believers at least try serving in different ways in the church.  It made me think of what I could do to try to create an environment in which people can learn how to minister in different ways without dumping on them the entire responsibility if they do not continue. 

 

- In my mind, I thought a spiritual gift was a person's "til death do them part."  He pointed out that the Bible doesn't state that nor does it say a person has just one, nor does it say that all spiritual gifts are given at moment of salvation.  Again, I have not looked at the Scripture passages concerning this yet, but I was intrigued by his statements.

 

- Since we fit in the description of a time in which "Christianity is considered acceptable in society," (Page 133) the gift of discernment is greatly needed today!

 

- Evangelism= offensive gift to take ground; discernment= defensive gift to keep ground.

 

- While discussion how the gift of discernment may be used, he said, "Many Christians, and especially young Christians, confuse carnality for godliness, man-made rules for God-ordained holiness."  (Page 135)  Again, I agree with this assessment- one can readily see these two "ditches" into which many fall.

 

- "Christians with the gift of discernment should place particular emphasis on protecting the young and the immature believers."  (Page 136) The four of us who are reading this together are all church-planters- one is working at it now, the other three will be soon.  Lord-willing, we will be dealing with many young believers in the near future.  It will be important for us to be able to discern and to help these young believers learn to as well.

 

I've had my say, what say you?

 

Discussion on Chapter 6

Discussion on Chapter 8