Biblical Discernment

This morning I was sitting at my work desk and couldn’t get comfortable. Something just wasn’t right. Something was niggling away and had me shifting in my seat, I couldn’t sort it out. Finally, I stood up and realised I had my car keys in my back pocket………..

Pain is the body’s way of letting us know that something isn’t right. It’s an uncomfortable feeling that hopefully makes us stop and think and investigate before we continue whatever it is we are doing. We know when something isn’t right because we aren’t usually in pain so its easy to recognise something isn’t “normal”. Hopefully……

If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness – 1 Timothy 4.6-7

Here Paul makes it absolutely clear to Timothy to be discerning and men his words need to be heard just as clearly by us. Discernment is the skill of separating truth from error. Paul urges Timothy to continue in the truths of the faith and the teaching which he has received. Why? So that he would know the difference between truth and error and have nothing to do with myths and godless ideas, or philosophies of the world. These things were creeping into the church and Paul wanted Timothy to be equipped to contend for the faith and teach others the same. He hammered Titus with the same message too (Titus 1.9).

Men if we don’t know the truth of God’s Word from scripture, if our “house” isn’t built on the rock – we will be “like a child tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4.14). When scriptural mis-interpretations and flaky doctrines are presented to us we wont know any different – wont feel uncomfortable – unless the foundational teachings of our faith are in order.

Now just because you are uncomfortable about something doesn’t always mean it’s wrong – we can only

measure what’s right and true when we line it up with scripture. Scripture is a “light on our path” (Psalm 119.105) it “corrects us and trains us” (2 Tim 3.16). Luke commended the men of Berea not for being ‘noddys’ – simply nodding ‘yes’ in agreement, but because they “examined the scriptures” to confirm the truth of the teaching they were hearing from Paul and Silas (Acts 17.11).

Some of us can be incredibly discerning when making our footy tips each week, or when deciding where to best invest our money, or when analysing food labels or when selecting a bottle of wine. But if we neglect Biblical discernment we become susceptible to following error. Discernment and spiritual maturity go hand-in-hand. We need to be feeding on the solid food of His Word and strive to consistently grow in our spiritual maturity.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed , correctly teaching the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2.15

Proverbs 4.25-27 – “fix your gaze, consider your path, keep your feet from evil”

Proverbs 14.6 – “Knowledge comes easily to the discerning.”

Proverbs 14.33 – “Wisdom resides in the heart of the discerning.”

Proverbs 16.21 – “The wise in heart are called discerning.”

Proverbs 17.24 – “wisdom is the focus of the perceptive.”

originally published as an article on www.thelakes.org.au