Are You Using Discernment To Navigate This World? Series

Introduction

We began a new series last week based upon the prayer that the Apostle Paul offered up to God for the whole church at Philippi. And the first thing that He asked God is to allow the Philippians' love to grow more and more. And so, we asked three questions to determine if our own personal love is growing.

The next part of the Apostle Paul’s pray is that the whole congregation would in knowledge of the things of God have all discernment.

What an important thing to pray for the entire church to possess, even more so in this day and time. We ought to, as a church, be praying for one another to have the knowledge of the things of God in order to have proper discernment in our lives. It is so needed because we live in a day and time where the world calls evil good and good evil and so we desperately need to discern what is right and wrong, what is of God and what is from the devil.

The devil is so good at making something that is evil look so good, and he has been practicing his skill since the Garden of Eden that Jesus even warns us in Matthew 24:24 that many of the elect will be deceive as we approach the end times by the subtle deceptions of the devil. So, discernment is crucial to navigate this world we live in.

So, we need to ask ourselves today: is our discernment antenna working? I will pose some questions to you today, and you make the decision if that discernment antenna in your life is working properly.

But first let us begin by reading our Scripture.

Scripture

Philippians 1:9–11 (NKJV)

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Question #1

Do you make the Word of God the final authority about a situation that you are dealing with?

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

The Apostle Paul combined knowledge and discernment together. In other words, Paul is saying that proper discernment is the result of a knowledge bank which is totally reliable. If you have a faulty knowledge bank that you are drawing your conclusions from, your discernment will be wrong.

And you and I as Christian understand that bank of knowledge is the Word of God. The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:160 (NKJV)

160 The entirety of Your word is truth,

And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

Jesus, Himself said that not a jot or one tittle of His Word will pass away.

So not only is God’s Word truth but it is an enduring truth.

The world’s knowledge source is not always right. History proves it and here are some examples that come from the Reader’s Digest.

1. In 1903, the president of Michigan Savings Bank warned Henry Ford’s lawyer to protect Henry’s money. “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad.” He was wrong.

2. In 1876, the President of Western Union, William Orton, dismissed phones as a “toy” and that it will never catch on.

3. How about all the computer guru in the world echoing the exact same danger that on January 1, 2000, the computers would not be able handle the change from the 20th century to the twenty first century. And what happened? Nothing! They were wrong.

Men of influence and in each case, they were dead wrong.

How many times has a drug or device come out on the market, and it is touted as a great discovery that will benefit millions? And you hear on television a few years later a commercial if you this medication or you used this device contact the law firm of so and so. You are entitled to compensation.

Has God’s Word ever been proven wrong? No! Have you ever heard of a recall of God’s literal Word spoken by the Holy Spirit to the authors of the Bible because something is wrong with it? No!

You may agree those guys were wrong and science sometimes makes a mistake, but I get good advice from my friends or family. Have you ever known your friend to make a mistake, go down the wrong path, and you are going to trust their advice? With families, you have the benefit of hindsight, have you ever known a time where you saw or they said, “we have made the wrong decision.” And you are going to trust their advice.