Read: 1 Timothy 4:1-6
1 Timothy can be read as the guidance of an experienced physician of the soul (the Apostle Paul) diagnosing unhealth and identifying treatments to restore spiritual vitality and life to the church that Timothy pastored. As such, the letter provides us with some of the most important metrics of spiritual health. The metrics we’ve covered so far - love, grace renewal and prayer - may come as no surprise to us, but what Paul prescribes in this particular text may be somewhat unexpected: discernment. Broadly speaking, discernment is the ability to tell the difference between things. Here Paul offers guidance on what we could call “cultural discernment” – the ability to tell the difference between what is good in a culture and to be received with thanks from God, what is harmful and to be rejected, and what is broken in a culture and in need of redemption. Though this text doesn’t answer all our questions, it provides us with an important foundation of cultural discernment - Just as it is harmful for us to allow what God forbids, it is equally harmful and unhealthy to forbid what God has ordained for us to receive from Him with thanksgiving and joy. Christians are often known for focusing on the first part (the “thou shall not’s”) but here we see that Christians should be just as well known for the second part (the “thou shall’s”). What Paul says here shows us why.
1) The Importance of Discernment
In 4:1, Paul says God, by his Spirit, has explicitly spoken on the need for discernment. He says lack of discernment causes people to depart from the faith. For Paul, discernment is as important as it gets. The point he is making is that discernment is needed to tell the difference between real Christianity and distorted versions of Christianity. In other words, when Christians don’t properly exercise discernment, it leaves them and others around them vulnerable to distorted versions of the Gospel. Lack of discernment leads some people to say, “The Gospel is too soft!” and they depart toward a more “serious”, demanding or legalistic version of the faith. At the same time (often as a counter-reaction) others say, “The Gospel is too restrictive” and depart for a more permissive faith (or leave the faith altogether).
Paul says that the activity of spirits and demons is lurking behind these distortions. Though it may be difficult for us to accept in a modern world, Paul unmasks the strategy of the spiritual forces of evil. Instead of a frontal attack on the claims of the Christian faith, evil distorts and twists the truth so as to make God out to be restrictive and stifling. This view of God causes people to fixate on what is forbidden and what is off-limits. This drives some people into a rules-based approach to faith. Others are driven away by this into no faith at all. This is the importance of discernment – it guards the Gospel and the character of God from distortion.
2) The Practice of Discernment
Paul provides us with a way forward by modeling proper discernment. He addresses two cultural issues – marriage and food. It’s an interesting pairing. What do these two things have in common? Why would people “forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods”? The answer is pleasure. Driven by a dualistic view of the world that separated the “spiritual” from the “physical”, these false teachers promoted a hyper-spiritual approach to culture - “if it is pleasurable then it must be sin (or we should suspect it might be)”. This “ascetic” approach to the world is the force behind much of the religious response to culture. This response is often a knee-jerk reaction to a “hedonistic” approach to culture that says, “if it is pleasurable, it must be ok!”. Neither is authentic Christianity. Neither provides the way forward for proper discernment.
Paul shows us where biblical discernment begins (and where the false teachers went off course) in v4: “Everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is (the condition) received with thanksgiving since (the assumption) it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer (that is – with discernment)”.
Paul begins with the doctrine of creation (Gen 1:31). This shows us how important it is for us to “use” the whole Gospel story of creation > fall > redemption > new creation when practicing cultural discernment. Focusing only on sin and the misuse of God’s good creation is a failure to use the whole “word of God” to discern how/what to receive with thanksgiving. Using the whole Bible (not just proof texts) along with prayer is how we develop the discernment required to know what we are to receive, reject or redeem in culture.
3) The Value of Discernment
Discernment guards the essence of the gospel. The teachers in Ephesus were trying to fix one distortion of the Gospel (hedonism/license) with another distortion (asceticism/legalism). This still happens all the time today! People and churches swing back and forth between the two. The driving force behind this is the issue of thanksgiving. Legalists demand things from God based on what they do or don’t do. Hedonists demand things from God based on their desires (“you created me this way and you made these things, so I deserve to enjoy this”). Christians receive everything from God that is not forbidden by the word of God and prayer. Christians thank God for what he gives and what he withholds. In the Gospel the truth about God is made clear. He is not a restrictive God who is withholding from us. He is an unfathomably generous God who will do whatever it takes to save us from the false pleasures of sin and lead us into true and lasting pleasure. Jesus suffered and died for us so that we would receive the gifts of redemption and the gifts of creation in their proper place. Receiving our redemption with thanksgiving frees us from earning it AND from taking it for granted. In gratitude, we try to discern what is pleasing to Him (Eph 5:10).
DIAGNOSE - Just as it is harmful for us to allow what God forbids, it is equally harmful and unhealthy to forbid what God has ordained for us to receive from Him with thanksgiving and joy. Where do you think you tend toward – allowing without discernment or forbidding without discernment?
DISCUSS
What about the sermon impacted you most? What left you with questions?
How can a lack of discernment lead to a distortion of the Gospel? Have might lack of discernment lead people into legalism/ascetism or license/hedonism? Have you experienced this? How so?
Does it feel to you that Christianity teaches “if it is pleasurable the it must be sin or we should suspect it might be”? How might this passage correct this?
In Romans 1:21, Paul says the driving force behind sin is a refusal to glorify God and give him thanks. How does this play out in the story of the fall of humanity into sin in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3)? What distortion about God did Satan convince Adam and Eve was true?
Why is it important that we begin with creation (1 Timothy 4:6) in matters that require discernment?
What role should prayer play in discernment? In the sermon a simple test for discernment was offering - Can I thank God in prayer before and after I enjoy this? How might this be helpful?
In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul tells Timothy this truth will nourish his faith. How might our faith be malnourished when we forbid and/or abstain from things that God has created?
Practice Discernment – What is one cultural issue or question you have about whether it is right to receive as good and enjoy, reject as wrong or redeem? As a group, work through the question starting with the doctrine of creation and moving through the different chapters of the Gospel story (creation > fall > redemption > new creation) and any relevant passages of Scripture that come to mind.