Title: Passing the Test/ Topic: Discernment

Today's Reading: Psalm 124; 2 Corinthians 11; 2 Corinthians 12; 2 Corinthians 13

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Corinthians 13:5,6
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.

Observation: What do these two scriptures have to do with each other? They both speak of discernment. The first is about discerning whether leaders in the Church are truly from God or from the Satan, but masquerading as true servants of Christ. The second is about discerning whether we ourselves are truly a part of Christ's Body or whether we are deceived about our spiritual condition. According to Paul, some of the “apostles” that were going about to churches and preaching in Jesus' Name were false apostles. They could be detected, according to Paul, by their false doctrine and their motives. These false apostles were polluting the message of being saved by grace alone and they were greedy for money, charging for their ministry (by the way, Paul says receiving money for preaching is not wrong, but the heart of those receiving is what's important). If demons can masquerade as angels of light, it shouldn't surprise us that men can do the same---and that includes ourselves. According to the second scripture we have a responsibility to examine ourselves to see if we are true disciples. Do we believe correct doctrine and think that will get u into heaven? It won't. Our hearts must be humble, able to submit to others, not arrogant, and putting our doctrine into practice by letting it change our behavior. If we give mental assent to correct doctrine but it makes no change in how we behave, we can sing all we want to in church and still be on our way to hell. It's serious.

Application: We preach an easy gospel in America. If we raise our hand to receive Jesus at a meeting we think we're on our way to heaven. But if there are no changes, I don't believe we are truly saved. Jesus being the head of my life means I don't get to do or think whatever I want to. If I hold on to anger, bitterness, offense or if I am arrogant and won't receive instruction from others but am always argumentative and self-absorbed, I am in danger. I need to question whether I'm really in the faith. Our churches are full of people who can quote correct doctrine but whose souls remain in stubborn rebellion and unforgiveness toward others.

Prayer: Father, help us to be discerning about those in authority that we listen to and give us light into ourselves as well. It is so easy for us to be deceived. Let us eat your Word and take it's message to heart. Let us develop hearing ears that hear what your Spirit is saying to us so that we will be the discerning people we need to be in order to be that Bride you are looking for, without blemish, spot or wrinkle.
This I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.