{"id":603,"date":"2014-09-16T22:21:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T21:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/?p=603"},"modified":"2015-04-28T08:39:48","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T07:39:48","slug":"discernment-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lloydstock.com\/blog\/?p=603","title":{"rendered":"Discernment: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDiscernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proverbs 14:15-16<\/p>\n

\u2014C.H. Spurgeon<\/p>\n

Background<\/h2>\n

There is a period in history known as \u2018the Dark Ages\u2019. To characterise it somewhat\u00a0simply, knowledge was tied up in the minds of an elite group. Times have changed and today we are overwhelmed with the spread of knowledge. One of the things that brought this change was the invention of the printing press. It caused an explosion in the sharing of thought and knowledge.
\nUnfortunately, mankind had really just exchanged one problem for another – a monopoly of knowledge was replaced by a democracy of knowledge. With a monopoly you only have one source of knowledge that claims the truth so your understanding as a man is totally at the mercy of that one source. With a democracy you have thousands of sources of knowledge that claim the truth so the quest to possess truth is still potentially outside your grasp.
\nAgainst this there have of course always been believers who in possession of the Word of God and the Spirit of God are able to discern and live in truth. The Word of God and the Spirit of God help us to discern, test, examine and come to an understanding of the truth. That is not to say that God\u2019s grace doesn\u2019t endow the unbeliever with truth in the schools of science and such like nor that a spirit-filled believer sometimes takes on board error.<\/p>\n

This is seen clearly in the life of the New Testament church. The Galatians had been assailed by a false gospel which demanded adherence to Jewish customs and so Paul writes his letter. In fact Paul was shocked at how quickly they had fallen fowl of these false ideas (Gal 1:6; Gal 3:1).<\/p>\n

There is then a great need for discernment which brings us back to the quote from Spurgeon, \u201cdiscernment is knowing the difference between what is right and almost right.\u201d This would be supported elsewhere in the New Testament
\n* 1 Thessalonians 5:21 – Test everything
\n* 1 John 4:1 – Try the spirits
\n* Acts 17:11 – Search the scriptures.<\/p>\n

Paul also refers to the idea of discernment in 2 Corinthians 11:2 where he describes how desperate he was that the Corinthians with their rather liberal, all embracing mentality would seek after doctrinal purity. This is a very relevant message for today because we live in a postmodern world where it\u2019s deemed a good thing to just embrace everything. At the same time the message to the church at Ephesus in Rev 2:4 was that whilst they were a discerning bunch, they had left their first love.\u00a0Neither extreme is helpful.
\nThis sets the scene for our study. The goal here is to adopt a more enquiring mentality which seeks to examine, test and try that which may cross our paths. But we must do so in such a way that we speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). The extremes of liberalism and legalism always lurk in the shadows but we are seeking the biblical middle ground.<\/p>\n

Part 1 – Christian Ministry<\/h2>\n

For the first part of our study we surveyed the various aspects of Christian ministry where we may be exposed to\u00a0that which requires application of the three principles referred to above from the New Testamant: Test everything, try the spirits, search the scriptures.<\/p>\n