The Discipline of Discernment, Chapter 4 (Study Notes)

[The following are my teaching notes for Chapter 4 of Tim Challies’ The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, which I am teaching through in a Sunday school class at Kosmosdale Baptist Church.]

The Heart of Discernment

I. Can We Judge?

A. Apparently not, for we are commanded not to judge (Matt 7:1).

B. But we are also commanded to judge (1 Thess 5:21)

C. “…not all judging is equal. There are times when we may and must judge and times when we may not and must not judge.”

II. What We Must Not Judge

A. Going Beyond What Is Written (1 Cor 4:3-7)

1. God’s written word is our objective standard, given to us in such a way that it can be known adequately for making necessary judgments.

2. Subjective matters of the heart are unknown to us, therefore we are not to judge the motives or righteousness of other believers.

B. Matters of Conscience (Rom 14:1-4)

III. What We Must Judge: Doctrine [as well as character and conduct, as seen below]

IV. Test Everything

A. Test [“prove, try, examine, or discern”]

B. Everything

1. Teaching (Acts 17:11)

2. Prophecy (1 Thess 5:20-21)

3. Spirits (1 John 4:1)

4. Leaders (1 Tim 3:10)

5. Other Believers (2 Cor 8:22)

6. The Times (Luke 12:56)

7. Ourselves (2 Cor 13:5)

V. Priorities [from Dr. Albert Mohler’s “Theological Triage”]

A. First-Level Issues [issues that determine whether one is a Christian]

B. Second-Level Issues [issues that properly divide denominations]

C. Third-Level Issues [issues over which Christians within a congregation may cordially disagree]

VI. Areas of Discernment

A. “What Man is to believe concerning God” [i.e., “the truth of God”].

B. “What duty God requires of Man” [i.e., “the will of God”].