My Church Is Dividing Over Covid-19

My small group at church is divided over the way we should respond to COVID-19.

What should I do? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. That's 1-833-843-2673.

On social media, you can post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, we have a good news story to share with you. Life is starting to turn around for eight-year-old Aaron Moreno and his family. Up until recently, they've been living in a shed in East Los Angeles. After his mom lost her job due to the COVID pandemic, Aaron decided to start a plant business called Aaron's Garden to help her make ends meet. Now, because of all the plants he's sold, the family of four has saved enough to move from their shed into an apartment. And thanks to the money he's earned and a GoFundMe page started by a family friend, Aaron's family was also able to buy a used car and furniture for their new place. Wow. I mean, one, just an amazing story. I mean, think about this little kid who's helping to provide for his family at such a young age, but it's also heartbreaking because it reminds us of the kinds of suffering that so many families have experienced during this time of COVID-19. Isn't that the case, Bill?

It is. And we'll put a link to Aaron's story on our show page. He is such a cute little guy and there's a picture of him with all of his plants and it's like, here are the succulents and the cactuses that I'm growing.

And he even had, I think he had a Venus fly trap that he had grown. So good for Aaron and yeah, Lord bless his family. So thankful that things are getting better for them in their situation. Let's get to our first question of the day.

A call that came in from Joni. Hi, my family is Catholic. Really got closer to the Lord when I left the Catholic Church and sought the Lord in just a Bible reading church.

That being said, I've got a cousin and an aunt who I was talking with the other day. And the cousin said that the Catholic Church was the church that was started by Jesus through Paul. And I said, well, that's the church universal. And she said, no, it's the Catholic Church. I don't want it to cause a rift in our family at all. I kind of stopped the conversation there, but I just kind of wanted to have more scriptural reference around that because I am a little confused as to why Catholics believe that.

Thank you very much. Hey, Joni. Yeah, your question means a lot to me. I was raised sort of nominally Roman Catholic, and I have quite a few family members who would still, I think, identify as Roman Catholic. But like you, for me, it was really when I started going to a Bible teaching evangelical Christian church that I started to learn more about the faith. And that was really where I think I came to know the Lord is as I was being taught the scriptures and as I was growing in my understanding of God's word.

But then it does create the situation. So it's like, okay, how do I have conversations now with my family members who are still going to the Catholic Church? And how do we have some of these discussions? You're right to say that the word Catholic means universal. I mean, we can talk about the Catholic Church, lowercase c, as the universal Christian church that consists of all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith together with their children. That's the church. There's one church of the believers throughout the world. And so sometimes, though, when people hear the word Catholic, they associate it with the Roman Catholic Church. And according to the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, their church was started by Jesus Christ. When Jesus spoke to Peter in Matthew chapter 16, and said to Peter, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So in Catholic theology, Peter was the first pope or the first bishop of Rome. And there has been a succession of popes since him who have kept the Roman Catholic faith intact since the very beginning.

Now, there are a couple of things to say by way of response. First, the rock upon which Jesus would build his church is probably not Peter personally. Peter was a pretty fickle guy. He denied the Lord. He had conflicts even with the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians. You can read about that, which isn't to say that he wasn't a true apostle and that he wasn't a true believer. I just don't think that when Jesus is talking about building his church on this rock, he's referring to Peter himself primarily. I think that the focus is on the confession of faith that Peter made.

That confession being you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so what the church is built on is the true gospel, the message of Jesus Christ. And this is actually, I think, what we find in other places in the New Testament as well. For example, in Ephesians 2, verse 20, we're told that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Now, what is Paul referring to there? Well, he's speaking about the biblical preaching of the apostles and prophets, the message of Jesus Christ. That's the foundation, the gospel message. That's the foundation for the church. And so the focus of the New Testament isn't on a succession of a particular church office through a man, through Peter, for example, one pope or bishop to the next, but on the succession of a particular doctrine.

That's the key. I mean, this is why throughout the New Testament you have this idea of knowing the truth and then passing that truth on. You think of Paul's letters to Timothy as he talks about the deposit of faith that was handed down to Timothy and how Timothy was to take that message and entrust it to faithful men. But I also think of the book of Galatians.

This is one of the places I would go to, Joni, in order to unpack this idea even more. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul is really concerned for the church at Galatia because they were turning away from the gospel. And he says to them in verse 6, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one that you received, let him be accursed. Now you see what the focus is there for the apostle Paul. The focus is not on my ministry as an apostle, whatever I say goes because I'm the apostle Paul.

No, the focus is on the message that he had. And he says even if the apostles began to preach something different, they should be accursed. The focus is on the gospel. And so how do we know what the true church is? The church that Jesus instituted? Well, it's the church that has the apostolic doctrine that preaches the message of the gospel in line with what Paul says in Galatians or what Jesus himself said.

And that's the key. And I think a lot of times we can get caught up with our individual church being the church. And this is what the Roman Catholic Church says essentially. We are the one true church.

Now, of course, they don't believe that only Roman Catholics are going to be in heaven, and they've had a little bit of development on their thinking about that over the years. We really need to go back to the scriptures and just look at what the apostles themselves said. And they said that the focus is on the preaching of the gospel.

That's where we have to focus as well, Joni. And you've benefited from that, it sounds like, as you've gone to a Christian church that takes that very seriously. And so I think when we're talking with our friends and family members who are Roman Catholics, that's where we should focus as well is on the teaching of scripture, on the message of the gospel.

It's not enough to say I'm a part of this particular church and so I'm good. The question is, do you know Jesus? Do you know his word? Do you know the gospel message?

Have you experienced the forgiveness of your sins? And that comes through the clear teaching of scripture. And so that's what we want to encourage each other with. And I pray that the Lord blesses you and your conversations with your family members, especially as we enter into the holidays.

Joni, we pray that God will guide you and direct you in those conversations with your relatives. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Here's a question that came in through our Facebook page from Ethan. He says, What does it mean to be a child of God? Are all people children of God, including non-believers? Or is it our relationship with Jesus, the son of a living God, that determines this?

Thank you so much. There are a couple of different ways of looking at this. In one sense, I think of what Paul said to the philosophers, where he talked about us being the offspring of God, if you will. This is in the book of Acts. In one sense, all of us receive our existence from God. In that sense, we could say that God is the father of humanity. But more specifically, when scripture talks about the doctrine of adoption and truly belonging to God through his son, Jesus Christ, that's not something that everyone experiences or has a share in. No, actually, Jesus made it very clear when he was speaking to the religious teachers, leaders in his day, he called them children of the devil. And John says the very same thing in 1 John. He talks about how some people are children of God, other people are children of the devil.

In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul said this, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, that's verse three, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind and were by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved. When my wife and I were newly married, we just had this little apartment here in San Diego, just the two of us, and one evening, a couple Mormons came knocking on our door, these two young women, and they wanted to strike up a conversation with us about what they believed. And so we ended up inviting them in. And we had our first meeting, they left a pamphlet with us, and I told them that I would read it. And of course, we're trying to evangelize them, share the gospel with them. And I told them I would read it, and then I would have some questions for them.

And so they came back a week or two later, and I had read this pamphlet. And the very first line of the pamphlet said something like, God is your loving Heavenly Father. And I said to them, Well, is that really true? Depending on who this is given to, can you really say God is your loving Heavenly Father to just anyone?

What about the people that hate God, that don't have a relationship with God? And I took them to that passage in Ephesians chapter three, and then we talked about Jesus and how Jesus talked about, you know, how the Pharisees were children of the devil. And we talked about adoption and this idea of being adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ. And they really didn't know what to say.

The conversation didn't go much further. I mean, I hope that ultimately we shared the gospel with them. I'm not sure whatever came of them in particular, but it's just really clear that the Bible says there is this distinction in humanity. There is this family feud, if you will, the Hatfields and the McCoys, the children of God and the children of the devil.

And the question is, whose family are you a part of? Now, how do we join the family of God? Listen to what John said in First John chapter three, verse one. See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God.

And so we are. And the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Through the love of God and by the work of Jesus Christ, we are adopted into the family of God so that we become the children of God. Jesus is the eternal Son of God by nature, in a distinct way, in a way that no one else is. I mean, he is the Son of the Father like no one else, but through Jesus and his work for you, you become a son or daughter of God, not by nature, but by grace, through the grace of adoption, by the work of the Holy Spirit, through the forgiveness of sins. And what a privilege that is.

You know what that means? That we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ, that we stand to gain the inheritance that he won for us on the cross through his death and resurrection, so that we might live in eternal bliss, together with the whole family of God, worshipping the Holy Trinity for all eternity. I mean, it really is this wonderful thing, but it's clear, according to the Bible, that in that sense, not everyone is a child of God, and so we call the world to turn to Christ by faith, so that they might experience the grace of adoption as well. Thanks for your question. Adriel, thank you so much. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and with the Christmas season upon us, we're really excited to share a brand new offer with you today.

That's right, Bill. You know, the holidays are filled with a lot of fun festivities. My favorite is the food, by the way, but it's often the case that the hustle and bustle of this season drowns out what is most important about Christmas. That is Jesus. God has come to be with us, and that's why I'm excited to share a new resource that we have over at corechristianity.com. It's our Christmas devotional, Jesus Christ, the Promised Messiah. It's a daily devotional that shows you what Christmas is really all about. Each day of December highlights prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament, and then it shows you where those prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus in the New Testament. So take some time each day by yourself or with your family to read the scriptures and meditate on their meaning. See, our hope is that as you come to Jesus through the pages of the Bible, you and your loved ones will experience the life-giving presence of Christ this Christmas season. This devotional is free when you sign up for our weekly newsletter, so head over to corechristianity.com forward slash Christmas to download this resource.

This is really beautiful and something you could go through with your family as well. Here's the phone number to call if you'd like to take advantage of this offer or any one of our offers. It's 833-843-2673.

That number is 833, the core. Well, Adriel, here's an email that came in from Bernadette, and she says, I'm in a small group that seems to be growing more divided recently. I'm in the susceptible demographic for the coronavirus because of my age. Our group used to use Zoom, but we've now moved to in-person meetings. Unfortunately, the hosts of our small group seem put out by having to take precautions for me and another member of our group who's a diabetic. Then at our last study, a good portion of our time segued into allegations surrounding the election.

How can these divisions be worked out? I feel compelled to leave the group seeing how divisive things are going. I just want to go back to studying God's word, but I can't ignore it has application to our current situation.

What would you suggest? Yeah, Bernadette, what a heavy situation and one that I think a lot of people right now can identify with. I know certainly even in our church here in San Diego, one, there have been a lot of differences of opinion about how to respond to the coronavirus and how to deal with some of the mandates that are coming to us from the state. I mean, this is a time where so many churches are threatened by divisions, and there are obviously so many divisions outside in the broader world. And my big fear has been for a long time during this entire season that those divisions would creep into the church and begin to keep us from doing ultimately what God calls us to do, which is to love each other and to know him, to know his word. And when the focus of our church groups or our church service is not on the teaching of Holy Scripture, but on debates about politics or how the government should handle particular policies, I mean, I think that there's a real danger there. But I also think, sister, my heart breaks for you, too, because it sounds to me like you desperately want to study the word of God.

And boy, that's what we should all long for. And the divisions that exist right now in the church have kept your particular small group from focusing on that. And I would encourage you just to continue to have conversations with your small group leader and maybe even with the pastor of your church expressing your concern. You know, it's really important for us right now in this divisive time as church leaders to be sensitive to the needs of our people and especially those who are really vulnerable, those who are afraid of returning to worship because they have diabetes or some other comorbidity.

That makes this pandemic, this coronavirus, more dangerous for them. We have to be sensitive to the sheep and try to find ways to be accommodating and to keep the focus ultimately on Jesus. In the life of the church, what you're going to find is that there are always going to be differences of opinion. I mean, genuine believers, people who really love Jesus can disagree about how the government is responding to something like a pandemic. There can be disagreement.

So I don't know that that is going to be worked out or that we even need to focus on working that out. What we should focus on is what God calls us to despite our disagreements. And God calls us to love each other and to be sensitive to the needs of others. I think about what Paul said in the book of Philippians. This is so important, and this is the attitude that we need to have as Christians in Philippians chapter two, really one of the most beautiful portions of the New Testament.

And actually, a lot of scholars think that this was an ancient hymn that was written that Paul is quoting from. But at the beginning of Philippians chapter two, Paul said, So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Now, I don't think that Paul is referring there to being of one mind politically or all having the same view on culture or something like that. He's talking about being of one mind with regard to the gospel, with the truth of God's word. And then he says this, Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. That's what we should strive for in the body of Christ. There are going to be all sorts of people in the church who have questions, fears, and Bernadette, you have real genuine fears because of your health. And we have to be sensitive to those fears as pastors and ultimately help to lead, guide a congregation of people who disagree on all sorts of things to fix their eyes on Jesus and to consider one another's needs, even as more significant, more important than our own comforts or desires.

Why? Well, listen to what he goes on to say. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Why do we love one another in this sacrificial way, considering each other's needs? Because we think about Jesus, the eternal son of God who loved us just like that.

And that's the message that we need to focus on right now. And it's that message that sustains and unites congregations of divided people. That doesn't mean we're always going to agree on everything, but it does mean that despite our disagreements, we have to be charitable and respectful to each other because it's what Jesus calls us to. Are you loving the people in your church? And what does it look like to love each other and to be accommodating to one another?

It's a hard question to answer. And in every church context, Bernadette, it's going to be a little bit different, but that's what we should strive for. And we have to keep the focus on the word of God. This is CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and here's a call that came in at 833 the CORE.

Hello, my name is Joshua and I'm from Washington. So recently I went to a Christian school and through the teaching there, I really opened my heart towards God. And before going to the school, evangelism was not really taught to me. Now surprisingly, I'm going to Turkey this winter to evangelize.

My main question is, are a lot of churches not teaching and preparing their community for evangelism? Thank you. Bye. Well, let me honestly just say a prayer for you as you head to Turkey. Joshua, praise God for what he's done in your life in giving you this understanding and this passion to share the gospel. Gracious Father, would you be with Joshua? Fill him with your Holy Spirit so that if he shares the faith with others, and especially in a country that so desperately needs your gospel where there aren't a lot of Bible believing churches, I pray that you would equip him. And I pray that you would use him, Lord, in a mighty way to help others to know your son, Jesus, and the work that Christ has accomplished for us.

And would you use him mightily as he seeks to make your name known. In Jesus' name, amen. Joshua, it's a really good question. Why don't we focus on evangelism? Now, every week as a pastor, I end our church service with the benediction, the benediction found in number six. It's a blessing from God to the people, and it's how we're commissioned, I would say, out into the world to share the love of Jesus Christ with the people around us by the way that we live our lives and certainly by the message that God has given to us. And I feel that it's my job as a pastor to root people in the scripture so that as they know the truth of God's word and the power of the gospel, they are more equipped to share that message with others. But part of the problem and one of the reasons I think a lot of churches don't talk about evangelism anymore is because they don't believe in anything, or they think it's wrong to convert someone. Paul said in Romans chapter one that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. This message is what the world needs to hear. It's how we find peace with the Holy God. So many mainline churches, denominations that deny the resurrection, the miracles, they have no reason to evangelize because if you do away with the good news of Christianity, you have no message to share. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.