Discernament is a good thing.

It's an essential thing in the Christian life.

But there's also a discernment gone wrong, something Pastor John addressed in his sermon

on Romans 16, verse 17.

What follows is a clip from his sermon, watch out for those who lead you away from the

truth preached on November 5, 2006.

Here's what he said.

How can dividing from a false teacher who rises up in the church, promote unity?

How can dividing promote unity?

Which is what he evidently believes it does because he says, watch out for those who

cause disunity.

Withdraw from them, divide from them.

Watch out for the dividers, divide from them.

The only way you can make sense out of that is to believe there's some kind of division

that's right and something that's wrong and what's wrong is to kind of what's right

as the kind that's based on those people having left the doctrine.

So Paul's strategy here for preserving unity that he so long swore in the first part

of verse 17 is to call for another kind of disunity, namely that doesn't hang out with

people who are on their way away from the doctrine.

With regard to the command, watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles

contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught.

It's possible to go overboard with that watching out, it's possible to go overboard.

...