Discernment Is God’s Gift to the Church, Not to an Individual
In the 1987 film The Princess Bride, the character Inigo Montoya needs to find Westley in order to avenge his father’s murder. Inigo knows that Westley is being held prisoner and tortured in a secret lair in the forest, but he cannot find the entrance.
As Inigo searches and searches, he becomes increasingly desperate. He finally falls to his knees and begs his father’s spirit to guide him to the hidden lair. As if led by supernatural force, Inigo walks to the exact spot where one can access Westley’s dungeon, and the story continues toward its exhilarating climax.
Decision-making and discernment are key parts of the Christian life. The true follower of Jesus seeks to be guided not just by human intellect or wisdom but by the Spirit of God. Just as with Inigo’s search for supernatural help, many Christians seem to think that discernment is an individual matter and that one must simply wait for God to bring supernatural enlightenment.
But just how does one access such divine guidance? What is the biblical model for receiving enlightenment? How does one discern the will of God?
My basic premise is simple. Christian discernment works best on a collective rather than individual basis. This idea is sound from both pragmatic and theological standpoints.
The New Testament indicates that discernment is one of many gifts God gives for the good of the church. In 1 Cor. 12, Paul says God gives a variety of gift to the individual members of a church. Various lists throughout the New Testament describe gifts such as teaching, prophetic words, healing, encouragement, generosity, knowledge, service, and discernment. These gifts are allotted to differing individuals by divine choice, not by human desires or inclinations.
Why are these various gifts doled out to the members of a particular congregation such as the church in Corinth? Paul writes, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). All gifts are to benefit the entire body. They are not for individual glorification or benefit. Gifts are for the welfare of the church as a whole.
When it comes to discernment, decisions then belong in the assembly of believers, not in secret places of private prayer. We see this at work in stories like the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 or in the commissioning of Barnabas and Saul in Acts 13. James did not retire to his prayer closet to discern whether or not Gentile Christians ought to be circumcised. Barnabas did not retreat alone to the mountains for days on end until God revealed his calling. The church in Jerusalem and the church in Antioch came together to wrestle with the movement of God. As the Spirit activated God’s gifts among the members of these churches, various individuals spoke while others listened. Together, they came to important decisions.
Far too many Christians today – in my opinion – are trying to discern important questions on their own as individuals. They struggle with decisions on their knees or on their pillows or in their private thoughts. They pray and ask the Lord for clarity.
While prayer is generally a good thing, I fear Christians are doing decision-making the wrong way. We are not lone wolves who must discern the will of God on our own. Spiritual gifts like discernment are given for the common good. In other words, we receive the benefit of spiritual gifts like discernment not when we isolate ourselves but rather when we turn to the community of faith.
Collective discernment is better for pragmatic reasons as well. As individuals, we often lack the perspective we need to see the full picture. Whether it comes to disciplining our children, debating a move or a job transition, or even determining how best to care for aging parents, we often feel that the right approach is to rely solely on God for help in making these decisions. “I don’t want to bother anyone with my problems,” we tell ourselves.
Those who ask for help, however, are far more likely to succeed in life and in relationships. We gain when we run our thought processes by others, and churches provide one of the safest places to do so. We discover that people are often filled with astounding and generous insights that can either quicken or correct our private impulses.
Recently, I was struggling with the need to launch an app for our church. The platform is part of a package we now use for online giving. I’ve been reluctant to jump into it simply because I feel overwhelmed with the addition of yet one more task or technology to oversee.
After wrestling privately for months, I finally began to engage others in my dilemma. As I talked and listened, I could see vantage points that were suddenly new to me. The decision to launch now seems like a no-brainer, and I feel a collective resolve among us to see it through.
Collective decision-making isn’t foolproof. Sometimes Christians reason together and come to decisions that are in opposition to God’s will. Spirit-filled people do not always give wise counsel. While we must continually test the spirits, these potential problems don’t negate the necessity of communal discernment.
The failure to discern collectively can produce results somewhat akin to words of the psalmist in Ps. 32:3: “While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.” When we keep problems to ourselves, we are negating the gifting God has given to the church and harming ourselves in the process.
Our problems won’t all go away when we turn to our church for help, but two good things can happen. First, we will have others with whom to share the load. Second, we will have a better chance to discern the will of God – that which is good and acceptable and pleasing.
