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Discernment of Spirits by Reverend Murray Spackman, Vicar. Sunday 23rd July, 2006 1 Cor. 12:10 In the past six weeks we have tried to cover a lot of ground in the sermon series by looking at what are called the “Gifts of the Holy Spirit”. I am sure that by now you are quite clear that these Gifts of the Holy Spirit– Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, healing , miracles tongues, interpretation, prophecy are to empower and equip individual Christians and therefore the whole church in its mission. Not only are the gifts to equip the church , but they are also to protect the church. Today we come to look at the last of the gifts in this series which are mentioned in 1Corinthians 12 - and that is the gift of Discernment of spirits. What is this gift? Who has it, How can I recognize it, and how does it work? I think we can be helped by firstly looking at the name given to this gift. “Discernment of spirits”. The dictionary defines “discernment” as being able to see clearly, to distinguish, discriminate, to see or understand differences; to have clarity of mental insight. But this word is linked with “spirits” and this is where some may begin to think we are getting a bit spooky. Discernment of spirits ,then, is the ability – the God given gift, of being able to distinguish in a given situation, whether there are human, divine or demonic forces, spirit or powers at work. Discernment of spirits can operate from the very ordinary to the very spooky – but we need to be aware of the full range. St. Paul , writing to the church in Thessalonica (1Thess 5;20) says – “”Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of the prophets, but test everything…” This is a good sound principle for the Church – test everything!. Don’t just take at face value everything that is said or proposed, or spoken, even if a person claims to have a word from God. Check it out, test it! Someone will make a statement and it may sound fairly good and correct, but sometimes how it is said, or the exact content of the statement, or the implications of what it said will cause a disquiet within one or some of those who hear it. That person may not be able to put their finger on exactly WHAT it is that gives them this disquiet and unease, but they will know that it doesn’t seem right. That is the gift of discernment of spirit at work.. It is interesting that often those who are generally very quiet, verbally, are given this gift, and it is tremendously beneficial for the church. So, as a word of encouragement – if you are one of those people who often sit quietly in meetings and don’t say much, but within your spirit you feel at some point a strong impression, either for good or of disquiet – then I encourage you to exercise your gift – and share that feeling or impression. It may well be an important warning or signal for the church. So the gift of discernment of spirit, at its simplest level, can help us to appreciate or discern when something is motivated by God’s spirit or else motivated by our own human spirit, - and as we know – our wisdom doesn’t always follow God’s wisdom. We can see Jesus exercising this gift in the gospel reading today. Jesus begins to share with his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the chief priests and the elders, and be killed. And Peter takes him aside and tells him off for suggesting that such things might happen to him. However, Jesus sees the real motives behind Peters words here words - and he sees that they are not in accordance with God’s purposes. In fact such words cut right across God’s plan for salvation. Jesus discerns an opposition to Gods work. St. Paul referred to this when he acknowledged in Ephesians 6 :12 that “our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.” And still today – the same gift of “Discernment of spirits” is necessary for the church as it seeks to discern and to do Gods work. And sometimes the church is called to be engaged in open warfare against the powers of darkness. Now I am aware that some people don’t like the Church using this language of warfare and battle, and victory, but I don’t believe we can avoid it if we are true to what the bible shows us about what’s going on. There are powers of darkness, and either we stand against them, as Jesus and the apostles, and the church has done down the ages, and use all the spiritual means at our disposal to fight against those powers, or we capitulate to them. My concern is that too often we have just given in, like wimps, to Satan’s work and power. The apostles were not surprised that when they preached the gospel they met with opposition! Paul and Silas, in Acts 16;16 were preaching the gospel in Philipi when a young slave girl, who had a spirit of divination, began to follow them around. For a start it may have seemed great, because she would shout out “These men are slaves of the Most High God and proclaim to you a way of salvation”,. Here was some good free advertising! - but after a time it wore thin, and Paul and Silas recognized that it was a demonic spirit which was speaking through her, so they ordered the spirit to come out. – and it came out, says the scriptures, “that very hour.” Paul and Silas exercised that same Gift of discernment of spirits which is available to us today. This doesn’t get the headlines in the mainstream churches, but most clergy, and many others, will be able to tell some stories of their encounters with these forces of darkness. My first recollection of any of this was an account my father told me many years ago of what happened one Sunday morning in my home church. It was during a traditional 8am H.C. Service. The Vicar was preaching, and then there was a disturbance at the door, and a man walked defiantly down the aisle shouting blasphemies against Jesus Christ and the church, and telling the Vicar in no uncertain terms that what he was saying was wrong. (Now, in case you haven’t been to Anglican churches much before, this doesn’t usually happen!!) My Father felt somehow empowered and impelled by God – this was a totally new experience for him - and he immediately stood up and with an authority he didn’t realize he had, declared (not so much to the man but to the spirit speaking through him) – “In the Name of Jesus Christ I command you evil spirit to shut up and come out of the man.” With that, the man abruptly stopped, sat down quietly for the rest of the service, and didn’t say another word. I think everyone was surprised – and not the least my Dad. This wasn’t a psychiatric patient – but someone deeply moved and motivated by a demonic spirit. Yet, in the name of Jesus Christ, that spirit was silenced. The gift of discernment of spirits recognizes the source of the power at work, and enables the church to address that issue. Another story which highlights a slightly different aspect of this gift happened to Dianne and me about 35 years ago. We had friends who were rather nominal members of the church at that time. The husband had had a work accident in which he was burned quite badly. His wife was influenced by some friends they had who were exploring different occult forms of healing, and even séances, in the hope that this would improve her husbands condition. We were invited to their place for dinner one Saturday night and Susan , our youngest, was just a baby at the time. From the moment we arrived Dianne felt an extreme uneasiness about being in the house. She couldn’t explain what it was or why, she just knew it was not safe, and for some reason, particularly for Susan. As dinner time approached and Susan got tired our friend invited Dianne to put Susan in her bed. Dianne made every excuse NOT to. When she got me on the side she said there was something bad there and we shouldn’t stay. I didn’t feel anything wrong, or bad, other than knowing what the wife had been involved in, but Dianne did. So we left not long after dinner. When we returned home to our Vicarage of the time, we still felt this spiritual power of darkness around us. We rang some of the members of our prayer group and they came over and we prayed against those forces and powers. In the midst of that prayer time a door slammed and a picture fell off the wall! There was no wind or breeze or draft, outside or inside the house, but things for a few moments seemed rather spooky, and then it all disappeared. To this day I cant really explain what it was – but I am convinced that it was a demonic presence at work and Dianne had been given that gift which discerned that presence. Now these things don’t happen every day, though I could tell you a few more stories, though mostly less dramatic, but stories where there was a heightened awareness of some opposing power at work. That heightened awareness, I believe, was the gift of discerning of spirits. A gift which God gives to His Church, to individuals, to protect it, to warn it, and to ensure that it is not hindered in doing God’s work. At any time, and in any situation, we should be ready to ask and pray for this gift of discernment so that we may see with spiritual clarity, the source of the power at work. Pray for the gift; Use the gift. |
