The Antioch Times

There’s a growing event that has been adopted by many churches today and this event is known as The Global Leadership Summit. I am compelled by the Spirit to write to the church concerning this growing, yearly trend.

The church (that is, the body- not a building made with stones- but a people) is God’s sacred temple, His holy body, and the place that holds His name.  In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter identifies the church with this verse, “But you are a CHOSEN RACE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”.  This verse depicts the exclusivity and preciousness of the church in the eyes of God as we are called “a people for His own possession”, literally a people owned by God with Him as ruler, master and savior.  Why? So that we may glorify Him only by preaching His excellencies and His grace of redemption.  That one verse summarizes the calling of the church-to glorify God through the teaching and preaching of His wonderful works and things He has done for us.  We as the church are set apart from the world, we belong to God and are divinely and strictly His people, not of the world and their master, Satan.  We are set a part from the world because our interests, goals, and pursuits should be totally different as we each serve different masters.  Yet, it appears the leadership summit seeks to unite two groups that cannot (or at least should not) be united; syncretism is the concept here: the blending of two ideas and contrary teachings by losing the one thing sets the two apart.  What’s this one thing? Jesus.  What is the church without Jesus? Nothing.

Scripture is sufficient.  Sola Scriptura is Latin for “by Scripture alone” and centers on the belief that the Bible contains all necessary knowledge for salvation and holiness; it does not support the denial of other authorities governing Christian life and devotion, however, this belief asserts that these other governing or teaching bodies must be subordinate to and corrected by the written word of God.  Paul affirms this in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,”All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work,” as it states that the Word of God is THE training and teaching for the man of God and IT is what will prepare him for righteousness and the works of the Lord.  For God’s people it is the Word alone that we can go to for guidance, for teaching and for correction because it is the literal breath of God and is the doctrine of Jesus Christ as John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” it’s the best we have and it’s all we have for verifying; our ultimate doctrine of truth.  This should be the book we go to for guidance on spiritual leadership within the church, first Timothy is crying out to be read and absorbed by believers; and it is complete truth that doesn’t have to be tested.  The same cannot be said of any professional athlete or Wall street hot-shot who does not know the Savior Jesus.

So if the aim of the Leadership Summit is to guide, teach, and instruct the Church of God, which we have established Biblically as a people for GOD’s possession, (not for a man’s possession or ownership) then who are the teachers of the Summit that are entrusted with this powerful and Biblically laid out role?  This year’s summit featured keynote speakers (who were highly acclaimed for their success) like Jack Welch-a man known for numerous divorces and countless acts of adultery-who taught the body on what it really means to lead based on his success throughout life and how he achieved it.  Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “For you will remember the Lord your God, because it is He who is giving you the power to make and produce wealth,” revealing that it is our God who gives us wealth and teaches us strategies for obtaining; which begs the questions how can a man who does not know Jesus, teach Jesus-followers methods of success and progress?  Do our methods of achievement and value not differ?  Does the church not have more to offer this man than he has to offer us?  It’s a dangerous game to run the line of “well this is an evangelism technique to get him in and then share the Gospel”, because the problem is that while you are planning this elaborate and conniving scheme to get this person in, he is already instructing and leading and being given the title of a great success story and someone to follow.  In the process of seeking this man for evangelism, he has taught the Body many things and in that time received legitimacy and a platform from the Christian church.  Satan uses these things to infiltrate the church; he no longer is limited to working from the outside when churches are flinging their doors open and inviting him in with rose-colored blindfolds over their eyes.

We are commanded to be separate from the world and not follow the way the world does things, after all we have been redeemed of the world’s empty pursuits of wealth and worries.  Let us remember our commission instead of piggy-backing on to the world’s way of success and instead have faith that our God is Sovereign in His provisions, blessings, and gifts.  The church does not have to seek worldly teachers when we have the Teacher willing and open.  Take encouragement that God can provide it all, for He alone is sufficient and complete; from Whom all blessings flow.  He has arranged that we will be provided for in all areas by God alone, including teaching and instruction, as is evident by this verse in Hebrews 4:16, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

John MacArthur once said, “Discernment is black-and-white thinking; it’s the conscious refusal to color any issue in shades of gray.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not only knowing the difference between right and wrong, but it’s knowing the difference between the right and the almost right.”

What is discernment?  What does the Bible say about it?  The Greek word, for the verb that means “to discern”, in the New Testament is diakrino which is translated “to make a distinction” (appears in Acts 15:9) so discernment means not only to recognize that two things are different, but also to acknowledge and access those things that make them different. For a Christian this would be discerning good from evil, Satan’s lies from God’s truth, and sin from righteousness.  Discernment is not only a necessary part of being a Christian, but it is commanded and expected of us by God, as seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 where Paul commands the people to “Test everything and hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

Discernment is lacking severely in the church of today as seen by its embrace of heretical books, secular music, sinful movies and various other “entertaining” things that are an insult to God and His righteousness.  The clear-cut sins named in the Bible such as homosexuality, murder, lying, and fornication are unarguably avoided by Christians and deemed as wrong, with generally no hesitation.  (1 Timothy 1:10) There is very little discernment needed here.  Discernment is needed, however, in regard to the things not mentioned in the Bible-the things Satan dresses in “right” things to have them accepted by Christians and often even embraced.  See, when discernment is lacking then Satan is winning and prospering.  We must remember that he is no small foe and he is the king of lies: 1 Peter 5:8 warns, “Beware! Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, searching someone to devour.”

As Christians, discernment is a gift that comes along with the Holy Spirit; it guides and helps us with this task of distinguishing.  Jesus explains this in John, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I do, I will send Him to you.” With the Spirit we can discern that even the smallest drop of sin can pollute an entire sector and that even the smallest sin disgusts our perfect God and creator. Just like Paul eluded to in Galatians as he warned of the pervasive power of false teachers, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.”

For instance, if a movie is saturated with sin and ungodly behavior, talk, and ideas then should a believer, God’s holy temple and royal priesthood, (1 Peter 5:9) go and subject their mind and Spirit to the perversion of this world which offends God our Savior?  No, we should find neither entertainment nor fun (such as movies and music) in things that repulse our most Holy God.   To God, it’s not enough that only He is holy, His word says, “ You shall be Holy, for I am Holy,” in 1 Peter 1:19.  Remember, we were bought at a price, and that price was precious blood (1 Peter 1:19), so that we could be FREE from sin, not so that we could subject ourselves to it when it was convenient and fun and then call on the name of a Savior when Satan begins to tempt a little too close for us.  If we intend to flee, then we must flee and run to God’s Holy presence and strive to dwell in and with His righteousness through faith.

Unfortunately, to be such a necessary staple in the Christian faith it is actually no staple at all in the church today.  God reprimands the church of Laodicea, that is the final church, the one that characterizes the church at the time of Christ’s return, for their lack of discernment in worldly matters.  It is this church that blindly considers themselves wealthy, while Christ rebukes them declaring them to be wretched and poor unless they buy eye salve from Him so that they might truly see.  This (Laodicea) is the church that lacks discernment.  We have become this church.