Our Love Must Grow in Discernment — Zac Poonen

I was thinking as I was singing that song, as we sang that first line and went to the second line, I said to myself, hey, you're not singing that to Jesus, you're just singing the song. I said, Lord, I want to be aware that I'm talking to you and saying, Jesus, you alone are worthy.

I remember in the olden days when I could go through a whole song and not even realize that I didn't sing it to the Lord at all. And sometimes I wake up after the song is over, I remember in the olden days when we had songbooks, while people sang the next song, I turned back to the old song and I said, Lord, I didn't mean that, let me read that slowly to you, mean it.

Practicing the Presence of God

And that has helped me through the years. You know, there was a man, a Roman Catholic monk who wrote a little book called The Practice of the Presence of God. And some of these, I mean, there are a few, very few, probably 0 .001 of Catholics were really God fearing, who knew the Lord and who knew the presence of God and they wrote some amazing things.

Hearing God Through His Word

It's something which I want to encourage you, like the first words of Jesus in his ministry after his baptism was his reply to Satan, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And I've always linked that with Genesis chapter one, where every day it says, and God said, and that was the first day. And the next day, and God said, and that was the second day. And the next day, and God said.

Right through, and every time when God said something, something happened. Only because the earth and the heavens submitted. Yes, God, whatever you say, happened. Let the earth separate from the sea happen.

Let the trees come forth, happened. Let the fish come in the sea, happened. Why doesn't it happen with us? And God says something. Either I'm not receiving it like the earth and heaven did, or I'm reading a printed word, but not hearing the word of God.

Man shall live not by bread alone, and I would say not even by the printed book, but by every word that proceeds, present tense, proceeds from the mouth of God. So that is why I often tell people, read the Bible slowly.

It doesn't matter if you don't finish it in a year. If you've heard God every day of that year, that's more important than finishing the Bible in a year. What I used to do in the early days was have two sessions for my Bible reading.

One is to hear God, and the other is to just read large sections so that I know the Bible. That also is important. And I was single, I could do that, and I encourage all people who are single, if you don't study the Bible when you're young, I tell you, you won't be studied when you get married.

Go and ask any married man with children whether he has time to study the scriptures. My time suddenly dropped. And that's why I encourage my children to study the Bible when they were young. If you've got children, teach your children to study the Bible when they are young, however small they are.

Today I encourage my grandchildren to read the Bible and study it. We must do that because they don't realize. Very soon they're grown up, they go to college, they've got so many other things to study.

If they're not grounded in scripture, it's terrible. And even at that young age, it says Samuel could hear the voice of God. Eli told him, speak and say, speak Lord, your servant is hearing. I say that sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I say, speak Lord, I'm hearing, your servant is hearing.

Why not tell our children about Samuel's story and tell them at a very early age when they can understand? If God can speak to Samuel in the Old Testament, why can't he speak to you today? Man shall not live by morning breakfast and lunch, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, which means God is always speaking.

Every day God is speaking, that is the message in Genesis 1. There's not a single day he does not speak, Genesis 1. And you go to Revelation 1, the last book of the Bible. And John says, I heard the voice of the Lord like a trumpet.

And we have multitudes of Christians who say, I can't hear God. Well, if you're deaf, you can't hear God. But he heard it like a trumpet and he's 95 years old. He kept his conscience clear. So that's how we hear God.

And that's the first word that came out of Jesus' mouth. Anyway, I want to speak more about that tomorrow. But I want to share something from 1 John 1 .7, this connection. 1 John 1 .7, if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, that is with us and God.

And also between us and others who are walking in the light. It doesn't disturb me that I cannot have fellowship with everybody in a church. Because I can sense whether somebody is walking in the light over a period of time.

Fellowship, Discipleship, and Spiritual Hunger

And then fellowship can only be built with those who are walking in the light. Why did Jesus spend more time with Peter, James and John and with 11, not with the 70 whom he sent out? You know, he sent out 70, you read in Luke chapter 10, two by two.

They cast out demons, they did so many things. But they were not in that inner circle of 11. You can serve the Lord and go and cast out demons even. And rejoice, hey, the demons are subject to us in your name.

But more blessed are those 11 who were with him. It says he chose them to be with him. That is the primary thing he chose them for. And then to go out and serve him. You read that in Mark chapter 3. He chose them to be with him and go out.

So, it's because Jesus saw that in these people there was a greater hunger. And among those also there was a still smaller number of three. There was no partiality with Jesus. Absolutely zero. So if he chose some out of a crowd, there must have been something he saw in them that made him select those 70 out of a bigger crowd from the 70 -11 and from the 11 -3.

It's like that in a church also. You can have 70 people in a church and then in that there's a smaller circle of 11 and there's a smaller circle of 3. And an elder who's walking with God, though he's a shepherd for all 70, he may not have fellowship with all 70.

He may have a closer fellowship with 11 and a still closer fellowship with 3. I found that in Bangalore where we have sometimes 500 -600 people on Sunday morning. Sometimes I wonder whether they are even believers all of them because I publicly said I feel that some of you sitting here are not born again.

You come here because it's a nice church. We don't take an offering. It's a good people who are good to fellowship with. We have free lunch and the children are a nice good place for your children to grow up in.

What are the reasons why you come to a place? Like I've heard some people select a church because they got a better parking lot where you don't have to wait to find a place to park your car. What are the ridiculous reasons people choose a church?

But that's not any more ridiculous than choosing something like this. Is it because I hear the word of God and I'm challenged to walk closer with the Lord or some other factor? These are nice people. Nice people will not help me to walk with God.

Walking in the Light Without Condemnation

So to have fellowship with God, I must walk in the light. And that walking in the light is very simple. It means not a complicated thing. It just means being honest. You know like walk in the darkness means I want to hide something.

All people who commit sin do it in darkness. Murder, adultery is all done in darkness. Walking in the light means I don't want to I'm not saying that I'm perfect. I'm saying I don't want to hide anything.

And the proof of that is when I walk in the light see what it says there I still need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me from the sin which I saw in the light. And the rest of that verse. So that proves that walking in the light I'm not free from sin.

But if I walk in the light the blood of Jesus cleanses me. And if I don't walk in the light the blood of Jesus does not cleanse me. So what does that mean? That means even I come into the light I still have sin which I need to be cleansed from perhaps unconscious sin maybe not conscious and I need to be cleansed every day.

Because Jesus taught us to pray our father who art in heaven give us this day our daily bread and the next is forgive us our sins again daily. The meaning is the same. Just like I pray for daily bread I need to pray for daily forgiveness.

It's not that I'm committing adultery every day. Maybe I didn't sin consciously the whole of yesterday. That means I'm not aware of anything that I spoke or did just consciously wrong. Yet I have to pray forgive my sins because the only person the only time we can stop praying that is when I'm sure I'm completely like Christ.

Christ never had to pray forgive my sins. And one day when I become like Jesus I never have to pray that prayer. Until that day I have to pray it. Lord there are things in my life which I maybe I behaved in an un-Christ like way towards someone and he was gracious enough to keep quiet not tell me about it and must be there.

I'm always conscious that there must be maybe there's some way I hurt my wife today which I don't even realize I mean she was gracious enough to overlook it. But I don't want to continue like that. I want to get light on myself.

Maybe I should have encouraged somebody today because it says encourage one another daily. There's somebody I'm not saying I condemn myself that I didn't do it but was there some opportunity for me to say a encouraging word to somebody and I missed it.

I remember reading a poem it says I was I cheated somebody today. What is this poem about I cheated someone. Something which belonged to him I stole. And it ends with saying I was supposed to give him a word of encouragement which I didn't give.

I stole it. I said wow what a sensitivity to sin that I stolen something when the Bible says encourage one another daily and I should have not that I condemn myself that everybody but sometimes you feel hey that was an occasion I spent time talking with that person for so long and I did not give that one word of encouragement I just left it at that and went.

Not in every conversation but sometimes when you're convicted about it we don't go into self-condemnation because I've seen that the devil when he can't make your conscience insensitive he makes it oversensitive where you condemn yourself for unnecessary things so be careful there.

But walking in the light means I don't live in constant condemnation. No I refuse to listen to the devil who is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses people to God he accuses me to myself and I'm not going to listen to him.

A lot of people live under depression because they are listening to the devil accusing them. You didn't do this. You didn't do that. You didn't do that. You didn't. Well there are 101 things I didn't do but I'm not going to live under the condemnation of Satan because God is merciful and he knows how much I can do and he does not ask us to do beyond our ability.

But walking in the light means where I say Lord there's something there I didn't do it right. I didn't or I should have done this here or I should have said a word here or I said something extra over there which I shouldn't have spoken about or I was too hard on someone.

I've had occasions where I've had to go to people in our church who are younger than my youngest son and apologize and say listen. I'm sorry brother I corrected you which is necessary but I think I corrected you too hard.

I'm sorry please forgive me. But the Lord convicted me that that was not right to it was right to correct him but not with such strong words. And I found through the years this is walking in the light.

It's very easy. Then we have fellowship with God and it's only when we are in fellowship with God that we can hear him speaking to us. You've heard me quote this many times and I never get tired of it in John chapter 3.

Becoming Like Christ Through Truth

Sometimes we have to repeat something a number of times. I remember what Charles Finney a great evangelist in America in 19th century said he said I've discovered that you have to preach a truth ten times to somebody before he understands it.

I said okay I'll follow that rule preach a message ten times. I let people think brother Zack has got nothing new to preach. It's the same old stuff. I've heard it eight nine times. The person who says like that will never grow.

But the person who says hey I needed to hear that again because I didn't hear it properly the last time. That's the person who gets it. And then you know it's like in Genesis chapter 1 every day something happens something happens something happens.

And what is the ultimate goal. On the sixth day man is in the image of God. That's the final goal even with us. And on the last day that God speaks to us we will become like Christ. That's the goal towards which the whole world didn't know that that's the goal towards which God was working first day second day third day.

The ultimate goal was six days. A man who is in the image of God and the work God is doing with us. The ultimate goal is ultimately men and women who are in the image of Jesus Christ so that we can be his younger brothers and sisters.

And that's dependent from Genesis chapter 1 to listen to him every day. And that's to walk in the light. So Genesis chapter sorry John chapter 3 we read the contrast which you have heard me say before.

I'll repeat it again. Verse 20. Everyone who does evil hates the light. And the opposite of that should be. Everyone who does good comes to the light. But that's not what Jesus said. Verse 21. Everyone who does the truth comes to the light.

The opposite of evil in Jesus light. And in Jesus language in coming to the light is truth not good. Nobody's good. Jesus said why do you call me good. There's no one good but God. So if Jesus said that he practices what is good comes to the light then I say there's no hope for me.

But when Jesus said the opposite of practicing evil is practicing the truth which means being honest I'm a prostitute or I'm a thief or I did this wrong. Oh that's easy. The worst sinner in the world.

Look at the thief on the cross. He just said I'm guilty. I don't blame anybody. And then it's as if the Lord's saying really you don't blame your parents for bringing you up wrong. No no. Do you bring your bad company you got.

No. You blame the judge who accused you falsely. No me Lord 100 Ah you're fit for paradise. Come with me to paradise today. And I've taken it like that that I can be the worst criminal on earth. Like that man was everybody having a bad opinion about him.

But he came into the light before Jesus Christ and he entered paradise the same day. And I believe my walk on earth can be a walk in paradise. If I'm honest like that thief like I've often said before you kneel at the foot of the cross of Jesus sit at the foot of the cross of this thief and learn something from him.

Then go to the cross of Jesus. Now what do I learn from the thief. First total honesty not to blame anybody else. Like Adam did get rid of that Adamic habit. That's why he lost paradise. The thief got paradise because he did what the opposite of Adam did.

Yeah Lord it's me not my wife. Not anybody else. It's me. It's me. Even when you think 90 or 99 of the fault is with somebody else. There is no situation where there's a conflict where you can say zero fault is with me.

Even in any husband-wife conflict or not a single situation where zero is with you. I remember one situation in our church years ago where somebody he was a fairly good person but there was probably a hidden pride in him and he dropped out of our church.

But I didn't want to judge his pride. I say I didn't see that at the beginning. Later on it became evident. But when he fell away I said Lord why did that happen. I've never rebuked him or corrected him.

I've never said anything to hurt him. And the Lord said to me that's true. But you never said anything to encourage him either. I said really I missed out there. I said I want to be more careful. Who is there who doesn't need encouragement.

Discernment in Helping Others

What if a person has lived with the pigs and wasted all the goodness of God throughout his life wasted it filthy smelling spiritually. And he comes back and you say this guy is coming only for food. I know the father welcomes him.

When I give him food he'll repent. I'm not saying that's always true. But you need discernment. Because everybody who comes for food does not necessarily come with a repentant heart. But this chap had a repentant heart.

So we need to discern those who are coming only for some physical financial help and those who are really repentant otherwise I find in a country like India it's one of the greatest needs in the early days of the church we got thoroughly fooled.

We didn't have discernment. We don't blame ourselves. We were young in the Lord we tried to do good to everybody help people financially give them food and people would come and stay in our homes. And they exploited us like anything.

But we learnt within one or two years and we decided okay we've made foolish mistakes but we've learnt something. If you learn something through your mistakes it's worth it. And we decided we're going to be a church that makes disciples.

So we're going to concentrate on making disciples. You know Jesus for example there were so many blind men that he healed but he never started any home for the blind or home for orphans. He never did that because if he got taken up with all that he wouldn't have made disciples.

I find Paul also didn't go around making a home for orphans and blind people. It's all very good people who do that. I say if that's your calling do it brother. But Paul realised even a thing like slavery which is such an evil thing to employ a person as a slave that you don't pay him anything.

You just bought him in the market and would any of you do it today keep a slave in your house. You don't pay him anything and you can treat him like you treat furniture. And he's got no rights. And imagine that Paul when he writing the inspired by the Holy Spirit he never says masters let your slaves go free.

No nowhere. He said just treat them kindly. Why was that. Sometimes we can be try to be more spiritual than Jesus himself more spiritual than the Holy Spirit. I've seen a lot of Christians like that who use their human understanding.

The Bible says trust in the Lord and don't depend on your understanding. Someone with understanding in those days would have said hey we should liberate the slaves. That's Christianity. Paul would have said if you want to do that.

I'm not going to do it because Paul knew if he gets into that type of campaign liberating the slaves he'll never be able to make disciples. And I've seen that in India. India is one of the poorest countries in the world with millions.

I'm not exaggerating millions of beggars who don't have enough to eat don't have many of them sleep out in the cold and die. Now if you have a calling like William Booth in the Salvation Army go ahead and do it.

But if a person doesn't have that calling he can waste his life trying to do it. And I realized I said I told the Lord I said I'm so challenged by William Booth's testimony that I've often said it publicly too that if I was living in the late 1800s in Britain I would have definitely joined the Salvation Army because it was bringing people to Christ.

It was delivering the little young girls taken to prostitution and small children made to work long hours in factories and helping so many people and delivering people from drunkenness so that the wine shops closed down.

I said boy what a ministry. But I said Lord I'm willing to do it but I don't have the calling of William Booth. I'm sorry I will not attempt something. You know I can get a name oh brother Zach cares for the prostitutes and drunkards and thieves and does that.

Or like David Wilkerson the drug addicts. I said Lord I don't have that calling. I'm sorry and I don't want to pretend I have it. And I don't want to try and do that to get a name for myself far from it.

I will never be able to do the will of God if I don't see what God has called me to do and rejoice in what Mother Teresa does what William Booth does what David Wilkerson does and say praise God. They are members of the body but another part of the body I have to do my part and I'm not jealous of them.

I'm delighted that they do something I can't do a hand can do something which the tongue cannot do. So to recognize our calling and say I'm here to make disciples. So we learned it early in our beginning as a church and we decided that we will not help people financially until they have been in our church for at least two years and proved that they are interested in discipleship and not just in a free lunch and a nice place to bring up our children they want to see are you interested in discipleship.

Welcome then and when we really proved that somebody's interested in discipleship we have literally spent millions of rupees helping people you know who need medical help or educate their children school college are too poor to send their children and the children do well in their studies.

So it's a question of priority. So in all these things I find that we have to constantly be hearing the voice of God if we want to grow in discernment. And I believe that discernment is the greatest need even in NCCF.

If you if you all don't have discernment you'll be fooled. I want you to turn with me to a verse in Philippians in chapter 1. It's a very important verse. I feel because I feel that a lot of people even in CFC Bangalore and here I don't think you all have discernment.

And if you don't have discernment you'll be easily fooled by people who appear to be right. See it says here Philippians 1 and verse 9. And this I pray you know the Philippians are wonderful Christians because they are the one people from whom Paul received money.

As far as we know it's the only church Paul did not receive from the Corinthians. He did not receive from the Ephesians. He did not receive from the Thessalonians. We read that in scripture he said I will not take it.

You know they gave him. He wouldn't take it. But when the Philippians sent him he would take it. Which means he had a respect for the Philippians. And we read in 2nd Corinthians 8 they were not very rich they were richer than Paul but Paul was very poor.

I don't believe we should ever take money from people poorer than us. But Paul took it from the Philippians which shows me that there was something about these people and he says some amazing spiritual things to them.

But one of the things he says in Philippians 1 .9 is I pray that your love may abound more and more in real knowledge and discernment. That love when it grows should grow into discerning love. Otherwise it can be a foolish love.

Love Guided by Wisdom and Discernment

Our heart must be filled with love. The Bible says the Holy Spirit fills our heart Romans 5 .5 with the love of God. So I say it's like driving a car. The gas tank must be filled with petrol or gas as you call it here gasoline.

But love must not be in the driver's seat. Because you can do a lot of foolish things. Wisdom must be in the driver's seat. Love is the driving force the petrol and the gas and the tank. Without it you can't move forward.

But wisdom decides which direction to take the car. So we must love everybody. It's true. But we must grow in discernment. I find that a lot of Christians almost haven't even seen that verse by this shall all men know that you love one another.

What type of love. Jesus' love was so discerning. I'm always amazed. I was even thinking of that yesterday when I read something that so many people asked Jesus questions. Even a fictitious question. Like somebody saying a man had seven brothers and he died and the next brother married his wife.

Next brother married his wife next brother. I'm sure it never happened. But it's a fictitious question. Jesus answered it okay in the resurrection there's no marriage. But there was some other question once the Pharisees asked him and he said I'll ask you a question.

Was John the Baptist message from heaven or from himself. And they thought hey if he says it's from heaven he'll ask why didn't you believe it. If he said it was not from heaven the people will rebel against us.

So they very diplomatically they said we don't know. So then I'm not going to answer your question either. I read that and I said lord that's the type of discernment I need. Because I get hundreds of emails from the internet.

I don't answer all of them because I don't have time but a number of my elders answer them. But I see all the questions and I see all the replies they send also. And I always say I need to guide my fellow elders and discernment.

Where where should. What type of reply should we give this person. Like some people I said don't waste your time replying to that. Forget it. Like I got an email just a couple of days ago saying brother Zach we're listening to you.

We're so blessed by your message. We want to teach you something the Holy Spirit has told me to tell you you must. You're calling him Jesus. His name is not Jesus name is Yeshua. I've heard that for years must call him Yeshua.

That's his name. My reply I didn't reply to that. Actually I don't waste my time because it'll carry on such correspondence. So but sometimes when people ask me face-to-face I tell them I say listen.

I've cast out many demons in the name of Jesus and every demon has recognized that name and left. I know it's true and I prayed many prayers in the name of Jesus. I've never prayed in the name of Yeshua and I've got prayers answered so God also recognized it.

If God and demons recognize it I say what more do I want. I don't care whether you recognize it or not it's not important. It's something like this. You know if somebody loves you very much but he doesn't pronounce your name right.

Are you gonna get offended with him. Are you gonna spend all your life educating him how to call your name right. Like some Indian names. Almost nobody here can get it right the way they say it even after many years.

But I say I know what they mean. So I say this is all crazy being occupied with. I'm sure these people who ask such questions are defeated by sin. Absolutely sure. And the devils made them concentrate on something like this and they wake up in eternity and discover they are not even saved.

So I'm just mentioning how we need discernment. Love. Without discernment you'll waste your life. So discernment comes by hearing the voice of God. Don't lean on your own understanding the trust in the Lord.

Common Sense and Spirit-Led Decisions

And that requires humility to say Lord. I don't know what to do in this situation. My understanding says this. I don't know but let me check with you if that's right. I'm not saying common sense is wrong.

I'll tell you honestly I live by faith in God plus common sense. I don't throw away my common sense. To me common sense is a very important part of life. Like one brother in our church years ago in one of the churches in India wrote to me brother Zach I believe God has numbered the hairs on my head.

I don't believe in any type of family planning. I want to have children like the hairs on my head. I said hang on. Please ask your wife whether she also believes that before you do all that. Fortunately he listened to me and listened to his wife and he stopped after.

Yeah he already had three or four and one more. So what I mean is don't think common sense is against. Who gave you common sense. It was not the devil. I don't believe in. Like you know Philip was taken up by the Holy Spirit and transported from the desert to some other place.

And if I want to travel somewhere I don't quote that verse and say Lord you're gonna now lift me up. No. I mean if there is other forms of transport available or the distance I can walk. Why should I ask the Holy Spirit to lift me up.

I'm just saying common sense. Many things like that. Common sense is not against the scriptures. For example though there are many verses in the Old Testament about having many children. There's not even a single verse in the New Testament about the number of children you have anyone notice that God leaves it to the individual.

And I saw. No. Certainly. In a place like India I see the number of poor people in the slums who have many children and neglect them. And many of them are run over by cars and they don't get an education.

They grow up begging eating food out of the trash cans. And what shall I teach in a country like India. So I think God is realistic. So discernment. In this particular situation am I supposed to wait for a word from God or just use my common sense.

Which shirt shall I wear this morning. How long are you going to wait for God to speak to you. If it's dirty throw it in the in the basket to be washed. But if it's clean you can wear it. There's no particular rule on what color.

You know a lot of Christians have questions about the color of dress you must wear. I see. Do you know the Bible tells us specifically what color of shirt we can wear. You know that when Jesus spoke about dress he said look at the flowers in the field.

If God can clothe them like that can't he clothe you. What are the colors of the flowers. You can have shirts of all those colors. Don't worry. What other people think you're showing off with that color or multicolored like the Hawaiians have.

Doesn't disturb me. I have a few shirts like that just to test people whether they know. It's very important that we get recognized. What is important in the Christian life and what is not. I tell you this the devil is always seeking to take us off on a tangent on some crazy little thing which has got absolutely no importance in eternity.

And you think that okay. You feel you should only wear white. Go ahead and wear it. Nobody's stopping you. But don't stop somebody else. Faith plus common sense. I pray that your love will grow in discernment very important.

Learning Through Mistakes and Humility

And I found that through the years because of that decision we made by the blunders and mistakes we made. You know we made a lot of mistakes in our churches and we have learned through our mistakes some things we are still learning even after 44 years we are still learning and we'll never stop learning until we become like Christ.

We want to keep on learning. But it's only a proud person who says I've got nothing more to learn. I've always got something more to learn every day until you come to the sixth day when man has become completely in the image of God.

Until then I have to keep on hearing God speaking not just the sixth day 6 ,000th day or the 60 ,000th day. I have to keep listening till I reach that last day when I'm completely like Christ. Until that day I have to keep on hearing.

That's how I grow in discernment. And that requires a certain amount of humility sometimes how shall I distinguish. Is this an area where I have to use my common sense. Or I have to wait for God to speak.

Yeah if you're a humble person God will show you even that they don't worry about if you know. And that requires I find that it requires a tremendous freedom from the opinions of others. I find that very often we can't hear what God is saying because I'm so concerned what that other guys will think of me.

What will he say if I do this. I'll tell you honestly I couldn't care less. What he says if he's going to stumble a person. Paul said if my eating meat offered to idols somebody sees Paul going and buying meat offered in front of an idol.

Paul says I don't believe in that. That's just a piece of brass. It's not an idol. You put that piece of meat in front of a wood a wooden thing or a brass thing. It doesn't change the meat. I can enjoy it.

But this guy says no that's an idol. And he saw me buying it. So then I won't buy it for his sake because I don't want to stumble him. People have asked me this question brother Zack is it all right to drink a little bit of wine.