Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew

"Be Discerning" (Hebrews 5:14) – Part Two

5. Matthew 6:19-34 – "Be Discerning – wrt Material Possessions" -- The three points are: Treasure of the Heart – vv 19-23; Master of Life – v 24; and Goal of Service – vv 25-34. All of us need discernment when it comes to material possessions! We have only two types of possessions on earth as revealed by our heavenly Father. The possessions that we already have at the time of our salvation and the possessions that we hope to have as we work hard every day. With regard to the possessions that we already possess, the Lord says that we are to stop treasuring them. They are all false treasures because they can be eaten up by moth or destroyed by rust or be stolen by thieves. Treasures that are real to us must be eternal and possess intrinsic value and they cannot be taken away from us. Jesus says that only believers on earth can lay up eternal heavenly treasures that are stored up in heaven while we are on earth. This is done by our good works which are performed constrained by the love of Christ. Our hearts must be focussed on eternal treasures, for where are treasure is there will our heart be also. The focus of our heart reveals where our treasure is. If we consider the things we have on earth as the most important thing in life, then we have sinned against God. God must be our Master and not mammon. God made it clear that we cannot serve two masters. It is either God or mammon and not both.

With regard to the possessions that we hope to have, God says that we have to stop seeking after them for only the Gentiles, i.e. the unbelievers who do not have God as their heavenly Father, would do that. We work hard to put food on our table and clothes on our back. But God said that our heavenly Father takes care of the food of the wild birds and He also clothes the wild lilies of the field; how much more will He take care of our bodily needs? We need to stop focussing on the accumulation of material possessions as our motive for working hard which was what we used to do as unbelievers. Now that we are God's children, our heavenly Father says to us to seek only His kingdom and His righteousness and trust Him to provide all the material things that we need to serve Him and bear a godly witness for Him. He knows the measure of our faith. We must beware, for the love of money is the root of all evil, even for us as believers.

6. Matthew 7:1-12 – "Be Discerning – wrt Judgement!" -- The three points are: Judge Justly – vv 1-5; Judge Decisively – v 6; and Judge Biblically – vv 7-12. Discernment in making judgements with reference to people is crucial because we meet people all the time. There are bad people who would love to take advantage of us for personal gain. First and foremost, we need to judge justly and not censoriously. We make judgements the moment we wake up every morning. The important thing to note is to judge justly. To do that we need to be careful of the beam that is in our own eye and get rid of this beam first before we help our brother take out the mote that is in his eye. Seeing the sin in another must cause us to help the brother out of his sin. But before we do so, we need to examine our own hearts and lives to make sure that we have gotten rid of our own sin. The sin might not be the same but the principle of getting rid of that sin first is applicable. This is to protect our own walk with the Lord even as we help our brother walk aright with God when we help him out of his sin. Decisive judgement is needed when it comes to those who are attackers of God's Word. They are the dogs and swine who will probably turn around and trample on us and bite us. Stay away from them. Let them know by your separation that what they are doing in attacking God's Word and Christ is a serious transgression. Do not give them the right hand of fellowship or bid them God speed, for then we would become partakers of their sin. This is a very serious warning that must be heeded.

We need to judge biblically. Sometimes it is very difficult to make the right decision. Knowing the Bible well helps. But that does not mean that we do not pray. Our heavenly Father will help us to make the right judgement. If we know how to give bread to our children when they ask for bread and fish when they ask for fish, how much more our heavenly Father when we ask Him for wisdom to make right judgements.

7. Acts 2:37-47 – "Be Discerning – wrt Church Selection!" -- The three points are: Where True Salvation is – vv 37-39; Where God's Word is – vv 41-42; and Where Christian Fellowship is – vv 43-47. Good and God honouring churches to worship in are hard to find. Some churches might have eloquent pastors but their lives are wicked and crooked. Other churches are bankrupt of God's Word but their pastors are caring and very sociable. The elements of a God honouring church must include a church where the gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully and accurately preached and taught by all. The gospel must begin with sin and end with Jesus Christ who died for them and rose from the dead for their justification as taught according to Holy Scriptures. When the sinner is not born again, everything else in his life is meaningless. His presence and service in church is a farce becaise he cannot "work" himself into salvation. Many churches today preach the health and wealth gospel which is another gospel and not the gospel of the Bible.

The Word of God must be properly preached and obeyed especially by the leaders of the church. When leaders preach one thing and do another, they are hypocrites and they do the greatest damage to the cause of Christ. They may preach the truth but the people who reject them because of their hypocrisy would most likely reject the preached truth as well. The Word of God must be taught to the youngest and the oldest. Bible studies must be made available to all in the church so that they do not need to go outside to find spiritual food. It is a shame when members of churches have to find spiritual food elsewhere when they are supposed to find them in their own church. If they do not know how to discern, then the "outside food" could give them "indigestion" resulting in serious transgressions such as sowing seeds of discord and bringing in false teachings. The Word of God is the only other gift from God outside of the blood of Christ that is able to sanctify us and make us more like Christ for witness and service.

Christian fellowship is needful as we are not meant to struggle alone in this sin-sick world. God has called us to be witnesses as individuals and as a visible church. To do that, we need to share our lives with our brothers and sisters in Christ. This means that we need to be involved in the ministries of the church. When we share our lives we also learn to share our possessions. This was what the first church in Jerusalem did. They saw the needs of their brethren and when they had more that they needed they sold them and gave to their brethren. This kind of closeness is real and genuine. They were constrained by the love of Christ; they expected nothing in return for what they had given.

8. 2Corinthians 9:6-15 – "Be Discerning – wrt Giving!" -- The three points are: Incontrovertible Law– vv 6-7; Reciprocal Blessing – vv 8-10; and Transforming Material to Spiritual – vv 11-15. Learning how to give with discernment is crucial in our materialistic society. If we do not give wisely it will hurt and not help the recipient. There were poor churches that used to co-operate and help one another until a well- off church began to give to their needs. The problem arose when this church did not give equitably but according to what they thought were their needs. This engendered bitter jealousy and the poor churches that used to love and care for one another became cold and aloof toward one another. We must give carefully and cheerfully. Using a simple illustration of planting, the Bible teaches us that when we sow sparingly we will also reap sparingly. When the farmer sows only 10 bags of seeds so that he need only work half a day throughout the planting season, he will only reap 10 bags of seeds' worth of fruits. However, when another farmer sows 100 bags of seeds and works 10 hours a day through the planting season, he will reap 100 bags' worth of fruits! This is also true of giving. We give as the Lord has purposed in our hearts to give. We must not give grudgingly or out of compulsion. We must give cheerfully, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We will never lack anything when we give out of faith, trusting in our heavenly Father to provide all that we need. We give of our substance which can be turned into spiritual blessings. Firstly, the ones who receive the material gifts would see the hand of God providing for their needs in answer to their prayers. Their faith and trust in God are deepened and strengthened in the process. They would also pray for the givers of these gifts even though they might not know who they are. God knows and that is all that matters. The giver is also blessed spiritually; his faith and trust in his heavenly Father are deepened and strengthened also as he also sees the Lord bless him. He experienced no lack. The peace of God he experiences in his heart when he obeys the Word of God to give to others is priceless and will remain with him all the days of his life. We need to give cheerfully. Christians alone can turn material possessions into spiritual blessings by using them to extend God's kingdom, to defend God's Truth and help others.