H2O Church
This is the final talk in our 5-part series, as we've so far covered 80% of what we need to address. This talk--rather than giving the answers to the final 20%, is all about discernment, acquiring the tools to live a life pleasing to Jesus.
Summary of all we’ve said so far
(1) Honor Gender! We hopefully rescued the word “helpmate” to discover it really means more like Princess Warrior. We’ve also talked about men having the tendency to remain boys and how scripture calls us to be men.
(2) Regard Sex as Sacred. “We have been fed all day long on good solid LIES about sex.” C.S. Lewis
(3) Get Free from Porn. “The spirits I have conjured up, I can’t get rid of!” Goethe.
(4) Crucify your selfishness. Realize that, contrary to culture, Marriage is not just about your own fulfillment, but about learning to love like Jesus loves.
Like a college review session, I’ve only addressed 80% of what we need to know. The final 20% comes down to discernment, applying what we know.
Ephesians 5:8-10 ESV
Proverbs 14:12 ESV
The lesson of the Trojan Horse is that ERROR is not obvious. Spiritual Discernment is vital because we live in such a dangerous world, where culture simply seeps into our beliefs.
There is a remarkable emphasis on false teaching in the Scripture. Jesus referred to false teachers as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
False teachings don’t come with the smell of death on them.Instead, they come in a beautiful book cover, right there, in the Christian bookstore.
Or…right there on TV. Right there in the University classroom. Right there on CNN, thru the prevailing perspective that all of our culture seems to embrace. WE NEED TO BE INUNDATED WITH SCRIPTURE TO UNDERSTAND GOD’S PERSPECTIVE.
(1) We’re trending toward the death of doctrine, in the name of being “loving.”
One church leader said—-“If we don’t accommodate our morals to fit the age around us, we’re gonna lose all our numbers.” That’s sad. If you accommodate the message that Jesus gave us, you’re being unfaithful to Him who died for you! And you’re left with a pathetic, wimpy version of Jesus that simply isn’t true. My God is fire and smoke!
1 Timothy 4:16 ESV
(2) We’re trending toward lack of conviction because we don’t want to be “judgy.”
Our culture has embraced 50 shades of gray instead of being antithetical, clear on the black and white. Being clear on your conviction of right and wrong, doesn’t mean you’re judgy. The church is being greatly affected by this. MORAL RELATIVITY HAS GREATLY AFFECTED THE CHURCH.
Screwtape, the Sr.demon advised Wormwood, the jr. demon: “Keep his mind off of the clear antithesis of true and false.”
Einstein said, “Relativity is for physics, not ethics.”
A Biblically discerning person is attractive & winsome; Biblical thinking does NOT lead to fundamentalism or being judgy. If it does, we have NOT thought through what the Bible really teaches.
As we grow in discernment, it will NOT look like is you being a harsh, condemning person. That’s not maturity. BUT NEITHER will it look like someone who’s afraid to talk thru difficult things!!!
Colossians 4:5-6 ESV
Truth convicts, confronts, it exhorts, BUT MOSTLY IT CALLS US UPWARD. It says with a smile and a heart that is full of grace, “My conviction is that this (whatever “this” is) is wrong, but God invites us out of that, with forgiveness and acceptance.”
(3) We’re trending towards embracing culture, instead of being distinct from it.
How do we live this life of faith, loving and welcoming our friends who do not Jesus to discover Jesus with us? WHILE REMAINING DISTINCT FROM CULTURE THAT IS NOT GOOD?
There used to be a phrase, IN THE WORLD, BUT NOT OF IT. The old-time word for a lack of discernment that embraces the habits, values and lifestyle of culture…is WORLDLINESS.
That sounds so 1950’s to use that word, but it’s NOT 1950’s. It’s around 75 AD when a belief called Gnosticism began to emerge which essentially said you can follow Jesus and live HOWEVER THE HECK YOU WANT!!!!—The Apostle John, the first follower of Jesus, wrote 1 John and used that word, worldliness, to protect Christians from losing Christianity.
Philippians 1:9-10 ESV
Our aim is NOT to be hip or relevant. It’s to be faithful to Jesus, but being faithful to Jesus includes both being relevant and uncompromising.
Hebrews 5:14 ESV
Spiritual Discernment is vital because without it you can’t become mature.
It’s something you GROW in, which means we’re loved where we’re at, but we all need to grow.
SO HOW DO WE GROW IN DISCERNMENT?
#1-Discernment grows in a community that reveres God and His word.
1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV
Psalm 111:10 ESV
Do you embrace Sola Scripture (Scripture alone) or have you embraced Sola Cultura (Culture alone)?
“Satan knew evangelical Christians wouldn’t buy his theology. So, he sold us his hermeneutic” John MacArthur. That is, embracing a method of interpreting the Bible, interpreting scripture based on WHAT CULTURE says or HOW I FEEL.
So think of what you know is a hot button for you…homosexuality/ Jesus the only way/ hell/ cohabitation/ gender issues/ abortion. HAVE YOU EVER DONE A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION OF SCRIPTURE ON THAT TOPIC, OR HAVE YOU JUST MADE UP YOUR MIND?…ARE YOU WILLING TO LET YOUR MIND BE CHANGED?
#2-Discernment grows when we listen well to what both sides are saying.
#3-Discernment grows in a church where difficult truth is taught clearly, yet graciously.
We cannot afford to become a church that has lost it’s will to discern!!!
1 Corinthians 2:7-9 ESV
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 ESV