Anyone who is a parent or even a child-minder knows one thing: keep small objects away from babies or they’ll swallow them. Babies have no sense of what is supposed to be put in the mouth and what is not meant to be eaten. It is only as they grow up that they learn what shouldn’t be swallowed.
Many Christians are like that too. If it’s taught by someone somewhere and sounds Christian, they take it in and believe it. Hence the saying, “They’ll swallow anything.” If it has the name Jesus attached to it, and uses Bible verses, they consider it to be true.
Even the most outlandish and unbiblical ideas – such as the idea that you can speak out what you want, and God must give you that thing because of your faith – become popular and largely accepted false teachings. It seems believers are not growing past the stage where they swallow everything and getting to the stage where instead they look carefully at what they are about to put in their mouths and see if it must be swallowed.
What are we talking about? Discernment. Discernment is, literally, the ability to make a difference. To be able to distinguish right from wrong, truth from error, good from evil. Just as in the physical realm people need to grow in discerning what they put into their mouths, so in the spiritual realm, people must grow in discernment as to what is true and false teaching.
Not everything you hear on Christian radio is true doctrine. Not everything you see on Christian TV is true doctrine. Not every Christian book in the Christian book store
is truth. There is, and always will be, a lot of false doctrine. God is especially concerned that His children develop discernment.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
Ephesians 4:14-15
God gifted the church with men so that they could equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, so that the body corporately may be edified, so that individually we will
come to maturity- Christlike. God clearly tells His children to develop discernment. But how do we do this?
- Be saved
This might seem obvious, but it’s worth saying. The only way you can begin to be discerning with regard to truth and error is if you are truly saved. If you have truly repented of your sin and placed your faith solely in the Lord Jesus Christ for a new life, you can begin to grow in discernment. Why do I point this out? The Bible states that the unsaved have no discernment. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The unsaved cannot sort through any truth because the light has not yet gone on. In contrast, saved people have the Spirit of God as their teacher. The saved don’t have discernment because they are clever or have read more books. They have discernment only by grace. And notice that the Spirit’s discernment is built on the Word.
Here’s the implication: A person who completely lacks discernment, who accepts rank heresy as truth, has a good reason to question their salvation. This is why Paul at the end of 2 Corinthians instructed members of the church in: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Such was their incredible lack of discernment that in the first letter to the Corinthians he had to explain that no one speaking by the Spirit of the Lord could call Jesus accursed. John has the same idea in his first epistle. Speaking of false believers, he says:
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
1 John 2:19-21
John is saying the Spirit indwelling you has given you an instinctive discernment as to what is right and wrong. Then listen to verse 1 John 2:27: “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.”
He is not saying, like some teach, that they don’t need the Bible – the Spirit teaches them instead. That’s a contradiction, because 1 John 2:27 is part of the Bible! It’s not saying that we don’t require teachers. He is saying that they don’t need spoon-feeding in the basics of the truth. They study the Word, the Spirit in them teaches and illuminates the Word, and they don’t require someone to come and explain every false teaching as false.
If you find yourself totally lacking ability to discern truth from error, if you’ve ever been led away by false teaching, if you can’t work out what people are going on about with doctrine, start here. Make sure that you are saved. Remember Jesus’ words:
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
John 10:2-5
True sheep will not follow false teachers. They can hear when the one teaching is representing the true shepherd and when it is a stranger. Recall then that Jesus contrasted sheep with goats, and goats represented the unsaved. Consider that one characteristic of goats is that they will swallow anything. So the first and most important step to discernment is to be saved.
- Be obedient
God has made something very clear in the Bible. He does not reveal more truth to those who do not obey what they already know. Listen to Jesus’ conclusion to the parable about the unfaithful steward who fought with the fellow servant when his lord delayed his coming.
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luke 12:47-48
God expects more from those who know more. As we grow in the knowledge of His will, He expects us to be growing or conforming to that will. This is the definition of spiritual growth: grow up from spiritual babies to be adults who are more like Christ. Listen to how Christ put it in Luke 8:18: “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”
Note that this same phrase is repeated in Matthew 13:12, Matthew 25:29, Mark 4:25, and Luke 19:26, making it one of the most repeated sayings of Christ. It is always said in the context of stewardship. Christ is saying that if you do not properly handle the little things you have, then even those will be removed from you. Obey what you know and more will be given.
See, the Spirit is not in the business of making fat Christians, filling you with knowledge that is never practiced. God reveals more truth to the one who shows that they love and honour the truth – by obeying it. Discernment hinges on obedience. Notice Christ’s words in John 7:17: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” The Pharisees lacked discernment because they were disobeying what they already knew.
Christians severely lacking discernment must earnestly examine their walk with God. Do I obey all that I know? And if you know a lot, the greater the responsibility, and the older and more mature you should be. This is why the writer of Hebrews reproved his audience:
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:11-14
Notice the author of Hebrews couldn’t continue to teach about Melchizedek because it was beyond their level. They were not where they were supposed to be, so they couldn’t handle deeper truths – they were still babies. Aged Christians are not babies but can discern between good and evil. Why? “By reason of use.” There it is. Because they used their spiritual muscles – obeying what they know, burning up the fuel of the Word – God have them more.
Don’t expect great discernment if you don’t have a heart to obey in the first place. Notice what God says to the wicked in Psalm 50:16-17: “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.” What is it to you, He says, seeing you don’t want to obey me? And so the second step to discernment is to be obedient to what you already know.
- Be settled
Remember Ephesians 4:14: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” There’s also James 1:6, which says: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
So get grounded and rooted. Remember the parable of the soils. The second died because it had no root – it was shallow. Get grounded in the Word of God. This means two things: firstly, treat the Bible as your final authority, and secondly, be in a church where they teach it as the final authority. Final authority means all believing all you need for every situation is found in the Bible – as it claims itself:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:16
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:3-4
If you are relying on experience, supposed extra-biblical revelation or human wisdom, then the Bible is not your final authority. If a person counselled you using secular humanism or psychology and you buy into it, the Bible is not your final authority.
The Bible as your final authority means you are in submission to its authority. It does not mean you use it as a guide book, or as a handy reference guide to have your life your own way. It means you consider it as God’s Words and obey it, in all things, completely. For relationships, money, family, morality – it is the Christian’s constitution.
Then, find a church that makes the Bible the final authority. How do you know if that’s the case? If in all things, the pastor and the church says, “What does the Bible say about this?” Here’s what it is not: it’s not quoting a verse here and there. It’s not springboard preaching – that is, using a verse as a springboard to bounce off and teach their own ideas or interpretations of things.
It’s not hearing a pastor read a few verses, and then waffle on in their own wisdom telling you stories about themselves and their ministry. Nehemiah 8:8 shows the contrary: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” And Isaiah 28:10 says: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”
It’s also not simply using tradition and experience. Tradition says, “We’ve always done it this way, so it must be right.” Experience says, “I felt it, it felt right, so it must be true.” A Bible-believing church says: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).
Here’s the acid test: someone who does not hold the Bible as final authority says, ‘Here’s what I want to or plan to do. Let’s see if Scripture backs me up.’ All too often, it doesn’t, and the Bible is reinterpreted to fit into condoning that action. Holding the Bible as final authority says, ‘Let me go to the Bible first to see what I must do.’
This we need to be settled. Choose your authority. If you make it the Bible, then get rooted and settled into it. This was Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 – to be “rooted and grounded” in love. Love is not a steam engine going chaotically through the open field; love is based on the reality of truth.
God wants us to have discernment, and the steps to better discernment are simple.
- Be saved. Make sure you are truly a child of God.
- Be obedient. Obey what you already know.
- Be settled. Make the Word your final authority, love it, search it, saturate yourself with it, and be in a church where they have the same attitude.