DISCERNMENT ACCORDING TO GOD
C.J.McKay
I wondered if we might apply this scripture to the matter of discernment. There were two baskets of figs set before Jeremiah. One had what was good in it, and one had what was bad in it, and the question that was asked by God was “what seest thou, Jeremiah?”. The believer is surrounded by things which are not according to God, and this requires discernment on the believer’s part. There is a whole range of things from day to day which require our discernment as to their character.
It is clear from Scripture that God has great pleasure in man being intelligent in discernment according to God. The divine intent is always that we see things as God sees them. It is only as we see things in the way that God sees them that we can act in a fitting way that is pleasing to God. You can see in Scripture that there are many examples of persons showing this feature. After the flood, Noah built an altar and sacrificed; he “took of every clean animal”, Gen.8:20. At that time the law had not been given. The animals which were clean and unclean in the sight of God had not yet been prescribed, and yet Noah seemed to know instinctively, from among the whole range of created animals, those which were suitable to God. It says that “Jehovah smelled the sweet odour”, Gen.8:21. There was that which was for the pleasure of God as a result not only of the great principle of sacrifice, but of Noah discerning what was suitable to God. So the exercise for us all is how we are to discern things properly.
You might think our consciences would help, but I suppose that mainly applies to what we are involved in as individuals. Our consciences are not exercised exactly in relation to what other persons do, except that they would be in relation to persons with whom we walk in fellowship. The conscience, while it is a guide and surely a restraint, is not entirely reliable. Scripture speaks about persons who are “cauterised as to their own conscience”, 1 Tim.4:2. Such persons can do terrible things and yet their consciences do not trouble them. We cannot rely on conscience.
I thought of what John writes as to the unction; he writes “And ye have the unction from the holy one, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20); ‘ye know all things’ – a remarkable scripture! Every believer with the Spirit has the unction, regardless of stage of growth. Even believers in the state of babes, including the youngest believers, have the unction. A young believing child at school has the unction, the ability to discern what is right and what is wrong according to God. But knowing “all things” does not mean that such believers, as having the unction, know the entire scope and detail of the truth. It cannot mean that, but rather that they have an instinctive knowledge as to the character of a thing. In the language of this scripture, they know whether it is good or whether it is bad, and that is a wonderful thing.
So we have what is of inward instinct, we have the unction; in one sense that is a greater thing than intelligence. So we will always have within us the ability to discern as to the basic character of a matter. Then we have the Scriptures, a wonderful resource. The Scriptures have been called a ‘book of principles’; there is not a contingency which can arise in the life of a believer to which there is not a principle that applies (JT Vol.38, pp.339, 344). There is not a single matter that can arise in any of our lives in relation to any of our exercises for which there is not at least one scripture which has a bearing on it, which can guide us as to it. That is a wonderful thing. It might not be immediately obvious what the scripture is, you may not know it. It may take a good deal of exercise and a good deal of searching until you find a scripture that applies to the matter, but you can be certain that there will be one, at least one. It is a fine thing to find a scripture that helps you in your exercise. You may be in perplexity about a matter and then you find a scripture and see the bearing of it in relation to the matter, and it settles it. You can see how it applies straight away, and how it reflects the mind of God and that scripture settles it in your mind. You can have any such matter settled by a scripture, and that is a fine thing.
The other scripture that I thought of in relation to this is that “the spiritual discerns all things”, 1 Cor.2:15. John gives the stages of growth; I do not think that is the babe state. A person who is characteristically spiritual can discern all things. I think that must involve not only knowledge of the truth and how it may apply to any given situation, but a spiritual person is able to make very fine distinctions that are not always obvious. Believers thinking in a spiritual way, as guided by and thinking in Scripture, in the power of the Spirit, are able to make fine distinctions and discern even complex matters which are not immediately obvious. They can discern them according to God, and therefore act in line with His mind.
You can see how important it is that we do discern things rightly. I feel exercised about it, because while Satan at the beginning attacked the church outwardly by oppressing it by physical violence and killing Christians, he then changed his methods and started to infiltrate and corrupt the church by bringing in wrong teaching and error. Satan is always on that line; there is a scripture which speaks about him transforming himself into an “angel of light”, 2 Cor.11:14. He would seek to bring in a wrong line of teaching and yet give it a good appearance which might seem similar to Scripture, similar to a divine principle, and therefore we might be caught unawares. If we do not discern rightly, there is always the danger that, in the language of this scripture in Jeremiah, we may think that what is bad, such as wrong teaching, is good and therefore accept it, and suffer harm from it. The very bad figs “could not be eaten for badness” – such teaching might cause us to become spiritually ill. Then the other side is, of course, that we might think something that is actually good is wrong, and therefore we might refuse that which is good. So you can see how important it is that the believer discerns things rightly, and according to the mind of God.
Others may have had the experience of having an exercise, and coming across a situation where the unction within you immediately gives you the instinctive knowledge that the thing is wrong. You know it is wrong within yourself. You might not be able to quote a scripture which applies to that particular matter, but you know by the unction that it is wrong. Then, as you are exercised about it, you begin to look into the Scriptures and you find a scripture, maybe more than one scripture, which bears on the matter. You can also look at ministry which is entirely consistent with Scripture. How helpful such ministries have been in beating out the truth of Scripture, and in bringing out the fine distinctions there. You might begin to see that for one reason after another, one divine principle after another is being breached. I wonder if that applies to this scripture.
It was not just that there were bad figs and good figs, but the bad figs were very bad and the good figs were very good. Jeremiah passes the test; he did not just call the good ones good and the bad ones bad, but he said that the good were very good, and the bad, very bad. He discerned the true character of them. Perhaps you may have had that experience, that the more you look into a matter, and the more you are exercised about it, you find that there might be a number of principles which are undermined. We have seen over many years of church history how, if one divine principle is undermined, it affects other divine principles. If one truth is not held rightly or is denied, then other truths which are related to that truth are undermined. You can see how corrupting and damaging it is. You might have had that experience, not only that you have the instinctive knowledge that a thing is wrong, but you can see why it is wrong – you can see how certain truths are undermined, and how damaging it is. Therefore, as a result of seeing that, as a result of divine light shining into your soul, what is good is reinforced. You can see the right way of doing things, right principles; how right they are, how just they are and how good they are. How much we should want to adhere to them, and to live by them and to be pleasing to divine Persons in doing so. So that you find that not only are the bad very bad, but then the good are very good.
I think the truth generally becomes increasingly good to us the more that we make progress in our souls and the more that we learn. Peter speaks of being called “out of darkness to his wonderful light”, 1 Pet.2:9. Divine light shone into his soul and it was not just good; he says it was wonderful. I think that is increasingly to be our experience, that divine things become increasingly wonderful. We become more able to see divine principles and truths, and how they relate to each other, and how they fit together into one great whole. Older Christians can see the beauty of it in a way I certainly cannot. You can see how much they enjoy it, and how much they appreciate it and my exercise is that I, too, might be able to see more and more of that.
I thought that we might be exercised to discern things according to the way that God sees them. This would help us to be able to live our lives in accordance with divine principles, and be here more and more for the glory of God. As in everything, the Lord Jesus is the perfect example. It says of Him, “Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness”, Heb.1:9. He loved righteousness, and He hated any wrong principle, anything that was wrong. These two things were there in Him; He loved that which is right and hated that which is wrong.
May we be increasingly characterised by discernment according to God, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Glasgow
12 February 2013