We All Need Discernment!

“It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:7-11 ESV).

Now I am teaching through the book of Philippians what the Lord is teaching me as I read through this book, so the context of this is Philippians 1:1-6, which I wrote about in “Our Participation in the Gospel.” But, in summary, what Paul referred to here regarding his feelings about the Philippian believers in Christ had to do with their walks of faith in Jesus Christ in their participation in the gospel, i.e. in their commitments to walk now according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh, in obedience to the Lord.

For they were all fellow-partakers with him of the grace of God. And God’s grace to us is his kindness, his favor to us who are sinners by nature. For his grace is God leaning toward us to share benefit. It is Jesus Christ/God freely extending/giving himself away to the people because he is disposed to bless them (source: biblehub.com interlinear).

So, what did Jesus Christ extend himself towards us to do? He gave himself up for us on that cross in order that we might die with him to sin and live to his righteousness. He died on that cross, too, that we might now live for him and no longer for ourselves. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of living in sin so that we will now honor God with our lives in walks of holiness and in obedience.

[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]

And what else should we know about God’s grace? His grace, which is bringing us salvation, trains (teaches) us to renounce (say “No” to) ungodliness and worldly passions (fleshly lusts) and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself up for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

[see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10; Luke 9:23-26; Ephesians 4:17-24]

Therefore, God’s grace to us is not just forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven as our eternal destiny, as many are teaching today. His grace to us is deliverance out of our lives of slavery (addiction) to sin so that we might no longer walk in sin, making sin our habit, but so we will now, by God’s grace, walk in holiness and righteousness and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (see all noted Scriptures above).

And this isn’t optional, as many others would have you believe. Many times I have heard preachers talk about how this is supposed to be how we live while not actually coming out and saying that we must live that way. For if we do not, and we choose to walk in sin, instead, the Scriptures teach clearly that we do not know God, we are not born of God, we are of the devil, and we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess. So we need to know the truth and to obey the truth.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

And why do I keep harping on these things? Because the masses are buying into the lies and the deceptions of Satan and of wolves in sheep’s clothing. And because too many people are teaching these passages of Scripture out of context and they are applying the promises of God to anyone who gives lip service to Christ, even if they are those who are still living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. And it is the truth that sets us free!!

So, continuing… Paul was commending the believers in Christ for their walks of faith and for their sharing in the fellowship of Paul’s sufferings, showing him grace, too, and for continuing in the grace of God even while Paul was in prison, and for continuing in the truth of the gospel and not deterring from it while he was away from them. And so he was also praying for them that the love they had shown to him and the love they had for the Lord would increase in measure and in spiritual discernment.

And I don’t know about you, but I think we can all learn from this that we need to be people of God who exercise much spiritual discernment in these days of evil that we now live in, for temptations are everywhere we look. And I am praying that the Lord will continually give me better discernment in the things I write and in the things I say to others and in what my responses should be to others, and as to what conversations I should engage myself in, and which ones I should stay away from. We all need discernment!

And his prayer for them, for this increase in love and knowledge and discernment, was so that they would approve what is excellent, and so be blameless for the day of Christ. And what is the day of Christ? It is the day when God judges the earth and the people of the earth and when he takes his faithful bride home to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete, and not until then, but only if we continue in Christ in walks of obedience to our Lord and not in deliberate sin.

When I Go Home

By G. M. Eldridge

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4

In the moment He appears

And the light from heaven shines,

I’ll forget ev’ry fear,

Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.

Then I’ll see Him as He is

And I’ll know Him as I’m known.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

Ever present is the tho’t 

That a moment waits for me

When unworthy as I am,

His glory I will see.

I will empty all my praise

Before my Father’s throne.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

If the trial I endure,

And your presence I can’t find,

Be near me, Lord, I pray,

Bring back unto my mind

That your promises are firm

And I’m never on my own.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98Zvr1CyXg 

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