The Communion of the Holy Spirit (12 page)

SPIRITUAL JUDGMENT (OR DISCERNMENT)
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The judgment we shall be talking about here is not the judgment of a court as seen in modern society. It is spiritual judgment. First and foremost, we must recognize that unless we can discern, we will have trouble in serving the Lord. For we can be too easily deceived. On this matter of judgment or discernment, therefore, we need to take note of a few principles.

The first principle
concerns truth or the discipline of the Holy Spirit. As you converse with a brother or a sister, you should notice if his or her lessons are learned from the truth or from the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Some incline to the one side and some lean to the other. Some bend to the truth, while some tilt to the discipline of the Spirit. Learning from truth means that a person acts according to the word and relevant teaching of the Bible which he has heard. Or he obeys the Lord when he is moved by what he reads of the Scriptures or what he hears from preaching. On the other hand, learning from the discipline of the Holy Spirit means that after a person has experienced the dealing hand of the Lord upon him, he is gradually broken by the Lord and is delivered from his early stage of insubordination, murmuring, fret, or opinions into a state of obedience. This is a learning from the circumstances of his environment as so arranged by the Holy Spirit.

Hence one person may learn to obey through teaching and another person may learn to obey through dealings. As a worker for the Lord you need to discern on which side of this issue that brother or sister belongs. If there is learning on both sides, that is the best. With such a balance as this, a Christian can walk uprightly. God’s worker must therefore be acquainted with both ways of learning. Then he can detect which way is absent or present in a given brother or sister. He must know in his heart where the need is in this person or that. Some believers know nothing about the discipline of the Holy Spirit, and hence they are hard and raw. Others are in just the opposite ignorance; that is, they have no ability to learn from truth and relevant teaching. Thus they are ignorant of many truths and are not obedient to many commandments in the Bible.

The second principle
or criterion by which to render judgment has to do with the outside versus the inside. Some have only the first and none of the second. They may learn much in matters of the truth, but their obedience to these truths is all outward: they are outwardly baptized, they outwardly practice head-covering, and so forth. Nevertheless, there is no inward learning. Some others, though, may encounter various unpleasant situations and pass through many difficulties-all these being the result of the discipline of the Holy Spirit upon their lives-and yet all these things touch only the outside, stop there and never reach the inside. From this we may conclude that a life under the discipline of the Holy Spirit may be lived outwardly or lived inwardly.

Let us take, for example, the case of a person who is sick. He is one who is under the Spirit’s discipline. Now on the one hand he may appear to be submissive outwardly, but on the other hand he does not have inward joy and praise because of his illness. Though outwardly he may declare, “If I am sick, I am sick,” this is at most patiently and passively accepting the discipline; it is not an inward attitude of praise and thanksgiving. Such discipline has merely touched the outside. Yet if in accepting the sickness he not only patiently endures the discipline of the Holy Spirit but also takes the further step of praising the Lord, such discipline impacts upon the person inwardly.

As we have seen, however, this person can neither give thanks nor praise. He is simply forcing himself to subject himself under the mighty hand of God. The impact of such discipline upon him is only outward. But if he can bring himself to praise and thank God for giving him this discipline and if his heart can be full of joy, then God’s discipline will reach its end in that life. When discipline becomes something inward, the person will not ask for quick relief from his sickness so as to feel comfortable. Instead, he will be able to praise and thank the Lord for what He has done and to confess that what the Lord has done is all well.

As another example, someone may see the error of being in a sect and come out of it; but in his having done so, sectarianism has unfortunately not left him. For his love of the brethren has not increased and his fellowship is still restricted. For instance, when he meets a brother he may appear to be open, even embracing and kissing that brother. Even so, though he exhibits an outward expression of brotherly love, there is no real sense of love inwardly. All is acting and pretending. All is outward, not inward.

Let us who seek to serve the Lord understand that all the virtues mentioned in the Bible point to the being of a person, not his doing. So that in the process of discerning, we need to have a clear picture of the life of a given brother or sister as to whether it is inward or just outward. If only the latter, we must lead him to the inward. Many say a certain brother is very good. But how good is he? Is it an inward or an outward goodness? The difference is great. We must learn to distinguish the inward and the outward of a life.

The third principle
or criterion to be used by God’s workers in rendering judgment or discernment pertains to the issue of the spirit versus the mind. On the one hand many spiritual things register in man’s spirit and on the other hand in man’s mind. It is very difficult for some to judge from the words and terms which another person uses whether the thing to be judged is emanating from the spirit or from the mind. For people can adopt the same words and terms from either source because they have had little or no dealings of renewal in their mind. But if you as one who must judge in such matters have had spiritual experiences and have learned much in your spirit, then you can perceive whether a person’s speech is coming from his mind or from his spirit. You can discern the inward difference. When someone speaks out of his spirit, you can touch that spirit as soon as he speaks. Conversely, you touch the mind of the speaker when he speaks out of his mind. Spiritual things that stay only in the mind become ideals which carry no spiritual value. Furthermore, if someone’s spiritual life relies solely on mental knowledge, his life becomes empty and devoid of any spiritual worth. The lives of believers must not be managed by the mind.

Let us see, then, that to judge a speech whether it emanates from the spirit or from the mind is the initial step in spiritual discernment. He who cannot distinguish spirit from mind is unable to render spiritual judgment. Such an inability is a serious problem in divine service. For wherever we who serve the Lord come and go we must learn to discern. We must be able to sense at once whether a person’s spirit or mind has come forth. For though the words may be the same, those which come out of the mind do not have the same flavor as the words which come out of the spirit. In Shanghai, people frequently reported that a certain brother spoke well. When I went to hear him, however, I found that all he said came out of his mind. I made the same discovery when another person was reported to have preached exceedingly well. In several contacts I then had with this man I could only meet his mind.

Let it be recognized that some words we hear spoken are from the spirit and some words from the mind; which means we must not be deceived by the spoken words. Sometimes young people may think they can speak the same words that other brothers have spoken, and even speak better. But actually those other brothers speak out of their spirit whereas the young people too often speak out of their mind. The quality between the two is quite different. Yet unless you are able to discern this qualitative difference, you will be easily deceived. A person who grapples with God’s word in his mind without any engagement of his spirit in the learning process may have something to say; but because his spirit was given no place, what he said was useless. A worker for the Lord must learn to differentiate between what is of the mind and of the spirit.

The fourth principle
or criterion to follow when rendering spiritual judgment relates to the natural and the spiritual. When you who are God’s worker are dealing with a brother or listening to his testimony, you should use your spirit to search out his spiritual condition. You might make up a list showing what kind of person he is naturally and what kind he is spiritually. As he opens his mouth, you will recognize what kind of man he is: whether clever, fast-speaking, lazy, confused, quick-tempered, careless, humorous, joking, talkative, naughty, inaccurate, or whatever. Each person has his own characteristics, and if you have the time, you can put the predominant characteristics of each person on a list, for no one is able to conceal himself for too long. True, at the beginning he may be able to control himself; eventually, though, he will expose himself, for as he continues to speak, he will reveal his characteristics to you. Hence when you listen, you can generally disregard his initial words since usually they are spoken under control. But after a while, his own self will begin to show forth, for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12.34).

Now once you have discovered his natural characteristics, you can then shift your attention to the other facet to this to learn how he is before the Lord. Perhaps his temper has been dealt with; perhaps his speech or attitude or self-love has been dealt with. Through his experiences a person may have learned some lesson about physical problems. By this you may know that God has done something in his life. From the word of his testimony you can discern how much he has learned before the Lord, how much God has worked in his life, and how much Christ is being incorporated in him. All these are building up his life.

For this reason, you need to know a person both on the natural side and the spiritual side. You must determine what kind of a man he is naturally, and also how much upbuilding is taking place in his life. You should also take note how his spirit and natural characteristic blend together. With regard to some people, of course, this point may be rather hard to ascertain. Yet even if you are able to judge this, you may not be able to prescribe the remedy. For example, some people are quick in thought, but due to their much discipline, you will need to ask yourself whether such quickness needs to be dealt with. This depends on discerning whether their natural characteristic of quickness interferes with their being good Christians. How we must learn to discern! We need to know people’s condition clearly before we can direct their way.

The fifth and final principle
or criterion that needs to be mentioned has to do with distinguishing between the spirit and emotion: between what is emanating from a believer’s spirit and what is emanating from his emotion. It is much easier to apprehend the difference between the spirit and the mind than to discern the difference between the spirit and emotion. It is quite difficult to differentiate when man’s spirit comes forth and when his emotion comes forth. Even so, we still must learn this difference, for some speak out of their spirit while others speak out of their feelings.

The spirit, like the soul, has its knowledge and emotion. Spiritual knowledge differs from mental knowledge in that the latter proceeds from the mind and therefore you cannot touch the spirit at all. If a person’s knowledge springs forth from his spirit you will inwardly sense reality and respond with an amen. You will feel comfortable inside. If a person’s speech originates from his mind, though, his words may sound correct and yet you inwardly detest them.

Now when a believer’s speech sallies forth from his spirit, it gives you a comfortable and joyful feeling. As his spirit comes forth, your spirit echoes. If, however, what he says arises from his emotion, it is difficult for you to discern whether he speaks from his emotion or from his spirit. If the spirit of a believer launches out with thought we will only sense his spirit and not his thought. But if his spirit pushes forth with emotion we can feel both, for the spirit is in the emotion. We will sense the spirit as well as the emotion. How easily we mistake emotion for spirit.

How, then, are we going to distinguish between these two? It is really difficult to explain, but I will try my best to elucidate. We say that when a person’s spirit comes forth it carries with it emotion. If his emotion and spirit are at one, his spirit will be echoed in you. By this you know that his spirit is clean and gentle, yet strong. But when a person’s spirit comes out with his emotion and you sense that his spirit and emotion do not agree, then his emotion is released but you cannot find his spirit. And as your spirit is being touched by his emotion you have a sense of being defiled. As a matter of fact, whenever there is emotion but not spirit present, you always feel inwardly polluted. When the spirit and emotion are one, however, you inwardly experience joy and can amen it. Now should we ever detect any defilement of our spirit, we must reject it altogether. In this entire matter, we must apply ourselves diligently to learn to discern between the spirit and emotion.

Let me mention one more thing. In our endeavor to exercise spiritual judgment, there is a fundamental condition to be met: we ourselves must receive strict judgment before God. I cannot give you any method as to how to discern. I can only say that your knowledge of others depends on your knowledge of yourself. Unless you know yourself, you will not be able to know others. After you yourself have been strictly judged by God, you can easily discern your brothers and sisters. When another person’s spirit comes forth, how can you know if his spirit is right or wrong? You can only know because you have inwardly learned your own lessons, you have passed through judgment, you have had inner experience. You can measure those things which come out from other people by your own experiences, and thus you will be enabled to know immediately where they stand. If there is a lesson you have
not
learned, then you cannot detect its error in others and thus you will unknowingly let it pass. But if in that area you have been severely dealt with by God, then as soon as something similar appears in others, you will know and recognize it at once.