What Does It Look Like to Love My Political Opponents?

What does it look like to love my political opponents? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi there. I'm Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We pray that you had a great weekend. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, we have a YouTube channel and you can watch Adriel live right now on YouTube in the studio and send him a message that way. You can also email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Terry calling in from St. Louis, Missouri. Terry, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hello. I'm calling concerning 1 Peter 3, verses 19 and 20, where it reads, After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, to those who were disobedient long ago, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. And my question, Adriel, is what are your thoughts and comments on this? Some people say, well, maybe it was that the Spirit of Christ was preaching through those Old Testament prophets like Noah, if you will. If you look back in chapter 1, in verse 11, it says, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. In other words, guys like Noah in the Old Testament, as they were preaching about the judgment to come, they had the Spirit of Christ in them, which is really a remarkable thing.

And so sometimes people will point to that. Maybe that's what is being referred to here, that proclamation that happened back then. Other people think, well, this is preaching that took place in between the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, where he's going and delivering the quote-unquote saints who are in prison, this place of limbo. Still others, and this tends to be where I lean, is when you look at the context of 1 Peter, one of the things that Peter is doing throughout this epistle is encouraging Christians in the midst of their suffering, the persecutions that they're going to experience for being followers of Jesus. And he wants them to realize that even through their sufferings, God is still with them, and ultimately they're going to be vindicated, they're going to have victory. And that's precisely what happened with Jesus. He suffered, died, but then he proclaimed to the spirits in prison, which I think is this sort of message of victory, proclamation to the spirits in prison being not the people in limbo waiting to be released, per se, but those ungodly, chained, evil, wicked spirits that are described in places like Jude chapter 1 verse 6, or Jude 6, and even in 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 and 5. And so this is Christ, a part of his victory lap, if you will, over all things, having died on the cross, going to be raised from the dead, proclaiming victory over the power of evil, and of the evil one specifically. This would have given hope to the Christians that Peter is writing to there in 1 Peter, because they're looking forward to also this victory, this vindication, yes, we're going to suffer. I mean, he goes on to say in chapter 4 verse 1, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. This is something that's going to happen.

Don't think it's strange. Verse 12 in chapter 4 of 1 Peter, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. So it's really an encouragement here for the saints to persevere in the midst of their suffering, no matter what you face, to know that Christ is conquered, he's victorious, and that in him we too will be vindicated. Thank you, Terry, for your question. Hey, Terry, thanks so much for listening to CORE Christianity and for a great question. Well, believe it or not, this coming Thursday, June 30th, CORE Christianity will be airing its 1000th episode.

One thousand, if you can believe that. And to celebrate, we are offering a very special giveaway package for you. Yeah, the time really has flown by, hasn't it, Bill?

I mean, we've aired, you know, coming up now, as Bill says, a thousand broadcasts. And like you said, to mark this occasion, we're going to send three listeners a gift package, not a gift passage, a gift package that includes our three latest Bible studies on Ruth, the parables, and the Book of Philippians, a brand new coffee mug with CORE Christianity's logo. I know you're really excited about that, and a bag of San Diego's finest coffee to go with the mug. Also, on top of all of that, you'll get a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones, and so you can listen to CORE Christianity all day long with the best quality headphones. We really are thankful for our audience, and the way you can enter to win is really quite simple.

Bill, would you let them know how? Sure, just go to our website, and you can enter to win those three Bible studies, the CORE coffee mug, the San Diego coffee, and the Sony Bluetooth headphones at corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway. We'd love to have you win one of those goodies.

Go ahead, Adriel. Bill, our producer just handed me this coffee mug. I hope this is mine. I hope he handed me this as a gift so I can take it home, but it looks great, and so you're really going to want to enter to win this coffee mug and the other things as well. Thank you, guys, for your support. You should go on to our YouTube channel right now so you can see the coffee mug in person. Pretty stylish.

That's right. Well, our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, coffee, we're open to it. Here's the phone number. It's 1-833-THE-CORE, and we'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so. Again, it's 1-833-THE-CORE, 833-843-2673.

Let's go to Brian calling in from St. Louis, Missouri. Brian, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, I've got a question.

I'm trying to figure out how to bring this together. Christians believe in paradise because this is the Bible, but why do people believe in purgatory? That's a great question. Well, I think that the simple answer is there are some traditions that say, yeah, when you die, you might still have quite a bit of sin that needs to get dealt with, that needs to get purged before you can enter into the presence of God. So you're sort of in this waiting area, this holding tank, if you will, undergoing this period of purgation, of cleansing prior to entering into the presence of God. Part of this gets at our understanding of salvation.

It's called soteriology, even our doctrine of justification. If you believe that an individual is justified, but that that means that they aren't necessarily declared perfectly righteous before God's sight, that there are still going to be some other things that need to get dealt with before they can stand before God with confidence in the presence of the Lord, well, then you might have to come up with an idea of purgatory or cleansing after death. My view is, and this was the view of the Protestant reformers, that when somebody turns to Christ, when they believe in him, they're immediately justified. It's this definitive act of God, act of his free grace, whereby they're forgiven of all of their sins, and they're credited with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, so that our standing before God on the day of judgment and the confidence that we have on the day of judgment isn't so much based on our inherent righteousness, you know, how good we do.

Every single day, brothers and sisters, we sin against God in thought, word, and in deed. Our confidence on the day of judgment, I think this is something John gets at in 1 John, has to come from the love of God for us and the declaration of God over us in his son Jesus that we are justified, declared righteous in his sight, even though we still struggle with sin. And so because of that, we can have confidence that we're going to enter into the presence of the Lord, and it seems to me like throughout the New Testament, you know, when Paul talks about death or he talks about what believers await when they die, it was never this idea of, you know, then you're going to go through this time of purgation, a period of cleansing before you're with the Lord. No, he says in 2 Corinthians 5, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And to the Philippians, in Philippians chapter 1, he says he wants to depart and be with Christ because that's far better than anything that this world has to offer. That's what he was looking forward to, and I think that that's what all those who trust in Jesus Christ could look forward to as well.

Again, not on the basis of our own righteousness, but on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus that has been given to us. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you've got a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we would sure love to hear from you.

Here's the number, 833-THE-CORE. And if you get a voicemail, feel free to leave that there. And you can also email us your question anytime at questions at corechristianity.com. Well, here's a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners earlier this week. This is from Jerry.

Hi, Pastor Adriel. I've been really fighting with a lot of spiritual things. The way our current leaders are running our country and who are blaming many people but themselves, and I'm hating them every day so much. I don't think I can hate them anymore. How can I deal with this hate? It's just hard for me to deal with hating these people. I know Christ says, don't hate. You just mentioned in one of your shows, love one another no matter what, but I'm finding it very hard to even think of these people who are running our country currently as people. Thank you. Yeah.

Well, thank you for giving us a call, sister. It may have been, I don't know what broadcast you were listening to, but not too long ago, I pointed someone to Jesus's words in Matthew chapter 5 in verse 43. I think an important reminder for all of us, especially in light of the discussions that are going on and some of the tension as people get into political debates and so forth. Jesus said, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. You see, Jesus says anybody can love and be good to the people that love and do good to them. You see this amongst non-Christians, people of all different religions, love those who love you.

That's not too difficult to do. We're grateful for the way that they treat us. What's distinct about us as the followers of Jesus Christ, what should be distinct about us is that we love even those who persecute us.

We seek even their good. Think of Jesus' words on the cross. Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing. Think of Stephen as he was being martyred in the book of Acts saying don't hold this against them. Think of the saints who were praying for the apostle Paul when he was still Saul of Tarsus persecuting the church. There is this call that we have to love not just those who love us but to have this distinct kind of love where we love even those people who frustrate us and even those people who make our lives more difficult. And so I think that this is really important. Now, not all anger is bad.

This is key. Paul said in the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians 4, be angry but do not sin. And certainly there were instances in the Gospels where our Lord Jesus was angry, where he exhibited anger. I think of the Gospel of John, for example, in John chapter 2 when Jesus cleansed the temple. Verse 13, the Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem in the temple and he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords. He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables and he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away.

Do not make my Father's house a house of trade. And his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. Zeal, brothers and sisters, for the house of God, for the true worship of God should consume us. And when we see the church of God come under attack, whatever that looks like, or the worship of God come under attack. And the strange thing here in John chapter 2 is that it was under attack from religious people specifically. But however we see that happening, that should anger us. We should be zealous for the things of the Lord and for the worship of the Lord, but don't let that zeal or that anger over sin to turn into bitterness and resentment.

And that's where we have to be very careful, sisters. We think about these discussions. One of the problems I see is that too often when people talk about how to engage their political opponents, it seems like the goal is always just, let's just make the other side look as foolish and as dumb as we can. Let's paint them out to be as crazy as we can so that we can almost dehumanize them.

And here's the reality. As sinners, we dehumanize ourselves. I mean, it really is heartbreaking in terms of our rebellion against the Lord. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 1, but we don't want our hearts to grow bitter and jaded and to begin to view people as our enemies that need to be destroyed, as opposed to the objects of Christ redeeming love, people that we need to pursue, addressing the issues of sin, being angry about the sin, calling them to repentance and to faith, but holding out the hope of the Gospel. And this is why we're encouraged throughout the New Testament to pray, even for civil authorities, even those who disagree with the Church and come against the Church. I mean, Paul says this to Timothy. You see this in Peter's epistles as well. Don't buy into the lie that we saw often here. We just need to own the other side with our arguments, make them look like they have, you know, egg on their face, that kind of a thing, and then just sort of, you know, shake our hands of it and then we've done our duty.

No, we want to expose bad teaching. We want to expose inconsistencies, wicked ideologies that are destructive to the Church and to our neighbors. I think we have to do that while also longing to see the Spirit of God work in the lives of those who disagree with us and even are against us, to pray for them, as Jesus said, realizing, knowing that the Gospel is big enough to transform even their hearts. And the way we know that is because it's worked in our hearts, because God has worked in us for giving our sins, even though we were rebels at one time, perhaps, you know, turning away from the Lord, wanting nothing to do with Jesus, and yet it was the grace of God that brought us in. So I think the way you go about this, the way we all need to go about this, is knowing the grace that Jesus has shown us, resting in it, receiving it, rejoicing in it, so that we might extend that same grace to others who desperately need it. And so may the Lord be with you and grant you peace in your heart. We should, again, be angry about things that happen, about abuses, about wicked ideologies that deceive people.

It's okay to be angry about that, and you should be angry about that, but be angry and don't sin. Hold out the hope of the Gospel for those who are captive to these wicked things, knowing that Jesus is able to save. That's a great answer, Adriel. Let me ask you a follow-up question, and this is something that I've always wondered about. In Matthew 10, when Jesus is telling the disciples as they go out and share the good news, if someone will not welcome you or not listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town, how are we to apply that to a situation like you just addressed?

Bill, that's a great question. I'm glad that you brought that verse of Scripture in, because there does come a point, I think, where as we're engaging with individuals, with people, they might respond and they're just hard-hearted, want nothing to do with the Gospel, and we have to ask ourselves the question, am I just casting my pearls before swine? My concern is that in so much of our discourse today, we're just sort of jumping there. We're just sort of abandoning all hope for whoever our quote-unquote opponents are, you know, the people that we see on social media that believe things differently than we do. And many times, for some of those people, it may very well be that they're totally hard-hearted and have turned away from the Lord, but you think of somebody like Saul of Tarsus and persecuting the Church, and when we grasp, I think, the depth of God's mercy and the power of the Holy Spirit to work in an individual's life, I think it should help us to be long-suffering and patient as well. And so we really have to exercise wisdom as we're engaging with people, with real people, you know, having conversations, talking with people. Okay, does this individual really want to listen, or are they just trying to fight?

And if it's clear that they're just trying to fight in time, well then I think you say, okay, my time is better spent elsewhere sharing Christ with others, but let's not draw that conclusion early, too early, certainly. Let's pursue our neighbors with the Gospel and with hope because we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's some great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Cindy, who's been waiting on hold for a while from Kansas City, Missouri. Cindy, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, thanks for taking my call.

Yes, I do have a question. I have several friends who are Catholic, and I'd like to show them scripture that shows that only God can answer prayers, contrary to them praying to saints or to Mary or whatever. What scripture can I show them that shows only God can answer prayer? Cindy, that's an excellent question, and I don't know that I would point to one passage of scripture per se, because I feel like throughout the Bible, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God is always the one who's being addressed in prayer. And we know, especially under the New Covenant, that we come to God through Jesus the Son, our mediator. So we have, you have, direct access to the Lord in prayer through Jesus, our great high priest. And this is one of the main points that's reiterated time and time again in the New Testament book of Hebrews. And so I guess if I was going to say, go to one place, I would say maybe consider spending some time in the book of Hebrews and focus there, because it really touches on Christ as our perfect mediator, the one who intercedes for us also without ceasing.

I mean, you read this in Hebrews chapter 7, but also the one that gives us direct access to the Father, so that we can come boldly to God, boldly to his throne of grace, and pray, asking him for help in our time of need. In Roman Catholic theology, you know, there's this idea that, well, the saints who are departed, they're not dead like we often think of them. They're alive and in the presence of God, serving him, worshipping him.

That part is true. Our brothers and sisters who have died before us, they're in the presence of the Lord, worshipping him. But I think they go a step further when they say, well, we should also beseech them to pray for us, just like, you know, you talk to your Bible study group and say, hey, would you guys pray for me?

We should also beseech them, the departed saints, to pray for us so that God might hear our prayers. You don't see examples of that in the scriptures, I believe. I don't think you see any examples of that in the New Testament. So there's nothing in the Bible that would, I think, lead me to believe or should lead us to believe that that's a practice that we should be doing.

And, of course, we know the significant dangers with that. I have friends who are Roman Catholic who I think are afraid to approach God directly. You know, they just feel like, oh, man, I'm not there yet. I need to go through the saints. I need to go through Mary or so on and so forth. But, brothers and sisters, we have, you have that great mediator, Jesus Christ. And so I think that they really miss out on the centrality of Christ as our mediator and the access that we have to go directly to God in prayer. We're not denying that the saints are in heaven with the Lord worshipping him. We're just saying that there's no indication in scripture that we should be asking them, going to them and praying to them or asking them to pray for us.

And so I think that's what I would want to say in having a conversation with friends who are Roman Catholic. Thank you for your question, Cindy. This is Core Christianity. Let's go to Wes in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. What's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yeah, Pastor Adriel, first of all, I love your program.

That last call, I would even add, the curtain was torn in two, from the top to the bottom. So we have 100% access to God the Father. And why not go to him directly in prayer?

Anyway, this is kind of a trivial thing. My wife and I have been having this dispute, and if you could just answer real quick, just kind of trivial. But she keeps saying that as the man of the house, I should be the one to make the coffee in the morning. And she's got scripture to back it up. She says it's in Hebrews. Yeah, well, Wes, thank you for that insight. I don't know that I would necessarily see that as the right way to use the book of Hebrews. I prefer focusing, as I said, on Christ's mediatorship and his perfect righteousness fulfilling the law for us.

But if you need to make the coffee, go ahead. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar. Or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-the-core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.