Spiritual Discernment 1. The Way of Jesus and the Discernment of Persons
Introduction
Christians have long struggled to discern the voice of God in their life circumstances. The Corinthians were beset by Greek views of wisdom and knowledge, the Galatians were plagued by Judaism whilst rejecting the moral law of God altogether (antinomianism) appears elsewhere in the New Testament (Rom 6:1-2; 1 John 2:3-6; Rev 2:14-15). Did the Roman Emperor Constantine really have a dream from God which told him to use the sign of the cross as an emblem to ensure victory in battle? If you were a member of the German Army in World War I or II would you have been comfortable with helmets or belt buckles carrying “God with us”. Whilst the so-called German Christians were hailing Hitler as a Godsend, many Orthodox Russians were saying the same thing about Stalin. One of friends in America is worried that if Donald Trump loses their elections, the Church in America will be left with no credible prophets because so many are prophesying his victory. I don’t think spiritual discernment is that complex, as long as we learn to abide in Christ (John 15:4ff.).
The Discernment of Jesus
Paul tells us, “you have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16), and in a strategic passage that connects Jesus costly submission and subsequent glorification (Phil 2:5-11) to God’s working in our own lives (vv. 12-13), he starts off with “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5-13). We can share Jesus’ discernment of people and the demonic realm. These following verses ultimately refer to Christ; “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Heb 4:12-13).
Jesus extraordinary insight penetrated to the heart of things. When the scribes were speaking “to themselves…” “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matt 9:4), when his disciples were arguing amongst themselves who was the greatest, “Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side…” (Luke 9:47), when many of his followers were offended by his command to eat his flesh and drink his blood, “Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?…. Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.” (John 6:61, 64). A profound example of this supernatural insight comes at the end of John 2. “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:23-25). Jesus knew these things not through his divine nature but as someone infilled by the Spirit. Which means he can share his discernment with us his Body and Bride.
Jesus’ Growth in Discernment
From birth on the Son of God was on a lifelong spiritual journey of increasing discernment. Near the start of his Gospel Luke is not embarrassed to say, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:52).
Jesus had a “soul” (Mark 14:34; John 12:27) whose fully human will and emotions were progressively taken captive for obedience to the Father (cf. 2 Cor 10:5). Jesus was the Father’s gift to his “own” in Israel, a gift rejected (John 1:11), he was misunderstood by family, there were numerous early attempts to kill him, and finally he suffered abandonment, denial and betrayal by his disciples (Matt 9:3; 23:37; 26:65; Mark 3:21-22; Luke 4:28-30; John 7:12; 8:57-59; 10:22-23; 11:35). Jesus did not have an easy life for the circumstances of his earthly existence were arranged by his Father to draw out the fullest range of responses and emotions. Joy (Luke 10:21), weariness (John 4:6), anger (Mark 3:5), grief (Mark 3:5), zeal (John 2:17), sorrow (John 11:35), compassion (Matt 9:20-22), frustration (Matt 17:17) are all recorded in the Gospels. In Christ’s heart, soul, mind and strength, the inner life of humanity was being revealed and transformed.
Our fallen emotions are generally self-centred, self-indulgence and are self-serving. Jesus’ inner life however was completely pure he had a heart and will perfectly directed to the Father and his kingdom. All Christ’s feelings were penetrated by the Spirit as he established his Lordship in Christ for us (1 Cor 12:3). Jesus was becoming the mediator of salvation down to the roots of what it means for us to think, will and feel (1 Tim 2:4). More and more deeply aware of himself through his experiences in this world the Lord moved progressively towards a perfect self-understanding (cf. John 13:3). Such perfection required the cross.
A great spiritual teacher remarked, in order that everything be fully transparent to Jesus he himself must become “fully transparent before God.” (von Balthasar) The author of Hebrews, who emphasises Christ’s complete sensitivity to human need (4:15; 5:2), tells us that the Lord was only “made perfect” through what he suffered (2:10; 5:8). To discern what he means will require some exposition.
Jesus lived a sinless (Heb 4:15) life fully submitted to the Lordship of God the Father under the conditions endured by lost people in this world. The tensions of the cross however stretch far beyond the trials endured by other humans For Christ’s own discernment to become sufficient to heal our spiritual dullness, he must lose all transparency to himself. This is the agony to which he submits in Gethsemane; the unforgettable scene, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death….Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:34, 36) is a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” (Isa 53:10). It was not possible for the Father to purify our humanity apart from crushing the soul of Jesus.
The loud cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), means that in bearing the sins of the world (John 1:29; Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24) Jesus cannot discern his own identity within God. What then does Jesus discern in his moment of dereliction? Plunged into the “outer darkness” (Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) that will be inhabited endlessly by condemned human beings he possesses unlimited insight into the darkness of the evil human heart, will, mind and strength outworked in all the guilt and shame of our fallen existence (cf. Gen 6:5; Rom 3: 9-20 etc.). Bearing the effects of our sin as though he were a covenant breaker (Gal 3:13, Deut 21:23), Jesus has no positive witness of Word or Spirit, but endures the dereliction as an un-Fathered, Spiritless lonely soul (cf. Hos 7:11). This is what the Son of God endures to save us. But the cross is a preparation for the resurrection.
Resurrection language constantly refers to the Spirit (Rom 1:4; 8:11; 1 Pet 3:18) and the Father (Rom 6:4; Gal 1:1), and often uses covenant language (Rom 1:4; Acts 13:33). We should not think however that Jesus was restored to the limited discernment he had of his sonship during his earthly days. As a glorified human he possesses awareness of all that was eternally his with the Father before the creation of the world (John 17:5). It is this awareness that we are being conformed to in Christ (Rom 8:29). How?
Growing in Discernment through Pain
A famous saying from another century points the way, “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” (Samuel Johnson). Anyone in real pain, physical or emotional, or sharing the sufferings of others, finds themselves released from useless distractions. The Lord crushes his children so that our sensitivities to sin and grace might be purified for the purpose of increasing Christlikeness. Which is why Paul had to endure excruciating events which he describes in the strongest possible way, “we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” (2 Cor 1:8-9 cf. 2 Cor 11:23-12:10). In his own life (cf. 2 Cor 4:7-12; Phil 3:10; Col 1:24) the apostle was repeating the dynamic of the gospel and by offering his “body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” was enabled to “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom 12:1-2).
In handing his feelings of darkness, abandonment, anxiety or fear to the Lord, personal references to these are all in Paul’s letters (Acts 18:9; Phil 2:28; 2 Cor 11:28), the apostle entered more and more into his Jesus’ mastery over every human feeling so that he became an increasingly powerful vehicle for salvation. As for Paul this also is the pattern for our lives (1 Cor 11:1). You cannot be released from a sin until you see it in your own heart for what it is, and God’s means of giving us discernment of our own unruly spirits is to crush us (Heb 12:9)! Spiritual maturity requires acceptance and thankfulness that all the circumstances of life which painfully squeeze sinful emotional reactions out our hearts into our self-awareness have as their God-given purpose submission to the Lord for growth in Christ-likeness. Hebrews testifies, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb 5:14). The training he has in mind is submission to the constant painful discipline of God’s fatherly love (Heb 12:5-11) which releases us from the distractions of this world.
I have recently finished reading 2 volumes on the History of Christianity in Asia (Moffett). The pages are filled with stories of persecution which make the Church’s suffering under the Roman Empire seem docile. As the history ends in 1900 it emphasises the role of women in mission, in India William Carey’s wife went insane, in China Hudson Taylor lost his first wife to cholera and so on, the pioneer into Tibet, Annie Taylor, was arrested, robbed and beaten , survived two poisonings, and so on. One of her biographers said her one Tibetan convert made it all worthwhile. In the scale of eternity, the crushing these missionary trail-blazers endured for Christ and the quality of their spiritual lives fully confirms this verdict.
To the degree we submit our emotions to the Lord in the Spirit, to that degree we will have purified spiritual authority to speak into the lives of others. Why are such things so rare in our day?
An Age of Pragmatism
We live in a time when in many churches there is breadth without depth and sharpness without substance, simply because we refuse to accept the heavenly Father works out his holiest purposes through crushing us. A leader in a prominent Anglican charismatic church once described to me how a prophet visited their congregation and was praying the blessings of the Lord over the people. Then the prophet asked to pray for him. In his heart the “leader” anticipated a blessing of love or growth or some such thing. But being a true prophet, this man shared how the Lord was going to strip him bare, but would then console him. This is exactly what happened, just as it happened to Paul so long ago (cf. 2 Cor 1:3-8). I recall this testimony because it coincides with those prophets who have discerned accurately in advance of how the Lord was going to discipline and crush my own life for the purpose of Christlikeness.
Conclusion
In the greater purposes of God, the global pandemic has the purpose of crushing us. Here in WA, unlike, for instance Myanmar, where during the week my friend spoke of people starving, this does not seem to be happening.
We all want a revival, or in recent language, a “movement” of the Spirit. We desperately need such a work of the Lord, but for it to come we must to be united with the heart of Jesus in his great prayer in Gethsemane, ““My soul is very sorrowful, even to death….Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”” (Mark 14:36). We must be willing to be crushed into discerning our sin so repentance flows into resurrection life.
Let me close with a famous story recounting the key to the Welsh revival which 120 years ago released a world movement of the Spirit of God. Evan Roberts records how the Rev. Seth Joshua prayed, ‘Lord…bend us.’… “It was the Spirit that put the emphasis for me on ‘Bend us.’ ‘That is what you need,’ said the Spirit to me. And as I went out I prayed, ‘O Lord, bend me.’” The Lord answered the young man’s prayer, and the rest is history. May the Lord grant us wisdom and courage to pray something similar tonight.