Discernment: Part 1

The Death of Discernment is the Death of the Church

Many Christian leaders today often adopt unbiblical (that is, anti-biblical) “ministry” methods in the name of “diversity” or “creativity.” These creative ministers often neglect to emphasize vital Gospel truths as Scripture emphasizes them; thereby presenting a warped “gospel” that is easier to accept. Once the Christian’s message is subtly compromised, his methods invariably follow suit, becoming worldly and man-centered. Many (and I mean many) prominent ministries today exist to inoffensively entice worldly men to receive a worldly “gospel” that is devoid of saving, keeping, and sanctifying power. Unquestionably, God is not pleased by our attempts to improve upon His ordained method of “the foolishness of the message preached.” The pride that esteems man’s creativity more highly than God’s Word was condemned long ago at Calvary, along with all other sins.

Tragically, many onlookers don’t recognize the fault in man-centered ministries, either because they are unaware of Scripture’s command for Christian holiness, or because they are unaware of just how drastically opposed holiness and worldliness are. Most such onlookers have grown up in other “creative” ministries and therefore assume them to be normal and biblical. (I sympathize with them because I was once among them!) As a result of our lack of biblical discernment, we usually measure a ministry’s value not by how much it is in line with Scripture (and therefore how much it glorifies God), but how much it produces visible “results.” In so doing, we promote superficial “unity” and worldly Results at the expense of doctrinal integrity. But unity that is not grounded in truth is not biblical unity, and Results gained by unbiblical methods are a blasphemous offense to God. When we seek to honor God by human means, we profess to be wise, yet become fools (Romans 1:22), and have an appearance of godliness, but deny its power (1 Timothy 3:5).