Is Singleness an Affliction?

Could singleness be an affliction for Christians who have the desire to be married? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so, and we would love to hear from you.

Here's the number again, 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook or Instagram page, or you can watch us right now live on YouTube. You can also email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Dimitri in Springfield, Missouri. Dimitri, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, my question is, I can't figure this out, chapter 37, verse 36 of Isaiah. Should I read that verse?

Yeah, go ahead, Dimitri. Thank you. The angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and four score and five thousand, and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpse. Well, I think it's pretty obvious of what part confuses me, the very last sentence.

Okay. Yeah, sometimes I think it shouldn't be as confusing as that. All that's being said here is that there's this great judgment, the angel of the Lord comes and strikes down the Assyrians. And when the people rose early in the morning, they saw essentially this great judgment that God had brought about, defending his people and bringing judgment upon the enemies of the Lord. And so they were witnesses. They saw the bodies lying there that the angel of the Lord had essentially come and dealt with these people. And so Dimitri, I think that should clear it up. It's not that they were already dead, it's that the angel of the Lord came and struck down, we're told there in Isaiah 37 verse 36, struck down the camp of the Assyrians and the people of Israel got to see this great slaughter, at least the aftermath of the great slaughter.

So thanks, Dimitri. You don't want to mess with the angel of the Lord, do you? No, it's never a good idea to mess with the angel of the Lord, Bill. And the Assyrians learned that here.

Very quickly. Let's go to Laverne in St. Louis, Missouri. Laverne, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, thank you for taking me. My question is, I'm coming out of 1 Kings 17, you know, about the widow woman Elijah, God had sent him there for her to meet him. And so when she obeyed and used her faith to make that one little whole cake of bread, well, she did that and everything was good for her.

She ate many days. But what my question is, and I've had a lot of pastors to go to this, but they never satisfied me with the last ending. What did God have to take faith to another level when her son passed and Elijah had to go and ask God to bring life back to him? Because she had already obeyed and used her faith and made that cake of bread, but then her son passed. So I was just asking, was that another level of faith? Because no one has ever said that. And why, you know, why did that have to happen?

Yeah. Well, boy, there's so much going on in this passage here in 1 Kings 17. One of the things we're seeing is God's provision, supernatural provision for his people and in particular for this widow. And it sounds like your question, Laverne, is, is God testing this widow's faith even more? I mean, she's already gone through so much and now all of a sudden her son dies.

What's the big deal? Is he trying to strengthen her faith? I think really what's taking place here is God is putting his power on display, his power in providing in these supernatural ways and in particular in raising the widow's son. And actually, you do have this sort of theme of faith here in this chapter of the Bible. In the New Testament in James 5 verse 17, it says, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it might not rain for three years and six months and it did not rain. And the point there is Elijah is being put forward as a sort of example of faith.

We're called to pray in faith, with faith. James talks about that earlier in James chapter one when he talks about praying for wisdom. And so faith is here, but really Elijah as a prophet, someone used mightily by the Lord in speaking on behalf of God, is pointing us forward to the greater Elijah, if you will, Jesus, who raises the dead. Jesus himself sort of identified himself with Elijah in some regards as this great prophet, this great end times prophet. I think of the book of Luke in Luke chapter four verse 25.

He actually brings this very story up. Jesus said in Luke four 25, in truth I tell you there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens were shut up three years and six months and a great famine came over all the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them but to the widow of Zarephath in that particular region. And so Jesus in one sense, he's saying, I'm sort of like Elijah in that I've come to you. I'm working these great and powerful miracles. And so this story, I think it does show us the power of God, the importance of faith, the necessity of faith, but it also points us forward to Jesus, the ultimate prophet who raises the dead and who was himself raised from the dead for our salvation.

So Laverne, thanks for that question. God bless. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we'd love to hear from you. It's 833-843-2673. Our phone lines will be open for the next 15 minutes or so. So give us a call. Again, 833-THE-CORE. We should also mention that some of the radio stations that air our program air it on a delayed basis, which means if you want to call and talk to Pastor Adriel live, you need to do it when we're in the studio.

And that's at 1130 a.m. Pacific Time, which translates into 1230 Mountain, 130 Central or 230 Eastern Time. You can call for that half hour and we would love to hear from you. Let's go to Adam in Pomona, California. Adam, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, I have a question. It's on Exodus 22, 2-3, where it talks about the thief coming into the house. I want to know if that still applies to the New Testament or today.

Hey, let me read this passage of scripture for those who are not familiar with Exodus 22, Exodus 22 beginning in verse 1. If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him. But if the sun has risen on him, there shall be blood guilt for him. He shall surely pay.

If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. So here you have essentially the civil law of Israel. These were laws that were associated with Israel as a political body. And Moses is here giving the people these sort of applications in everyday life.

You know, something happens, here's what you should do. Here's how the law delivers justice. The question is, are those laws, those civil laws still binding for us today? Well, no, because the church is not this sort of political kingdom in the same way that Israel was under the Old Testament. I mean, you think about it in the Old Testament for Israel as this political kingdom. If somebody committed adultery, they were to be put to death. Well, Paul in the New Testament, when he's writing to the Corinthians, he says, you know, with the adulterous brother or sister, you don't stone them, you excommunicate them if they're unrepentant. And so we have to be careful with how we're applying these laws, especially as we think about now where we are as believers under the new covenant. Now, does that mean that there's no application?

No, I think just in terms of wisdom, there are things we can put in a pool from passages like this. And certainly in that sense, I think we can see them as applicable for us today. I mean, quite simply here, the idea is if somebody breaks into your house and you use self-defense and they get injured or killed, is it your fault? Well, here at least in Exodus 22, the idea was, no, you know, there's no blood guilt there. You don't have to feel guilty for defending your family if somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night and they're trying to harm you and you defend your family.

And so I think that there are some applications. We just have to be very careful that we aren't trying to say the civil law of Israel applies to the church, just sort of 100 percent today in the same way in that the church is supposed to be dealing out these punishments because we're under the new covenant. And the church is not a nation state religious body like Israel was under the old covenant. And so thank you for that question, Adam.

It's a great question and appreciate your call. You know, we've often talked on this program about the difference between the civil law, the moral law, the ceremonial laws that we see in the Old Testament. Unfortunately, a lot of people get those confused at times and they think, well, this applies to us today when in reality they need to understand the context. Absolutely. I mean, that's the key is we're opening up the scriptures.

This context is going to help us unlock everything there. And it really is an important point apologetically as we're defending the Christian faith because there are people that will come and they'll say, you guys are so inconsistent. You reject one thing and then you accept another.

But God's word forbids eating shellfish or that kind of thing. And they're trying to apply the ceremonial law for today and they're sort of taking it out of context. And so we have to understand how the law of God relates to us today and how we sort of think through the ceremonial law, the civil law, the moral law, which is given for all time, which we're still under, in order to be able to answer those questions, I think, with wisdom. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go to Glory in Modesto, California. Glory, what's your question? Hi, mine is about Romans 13 verses one through four. I've read it many times, but I just I guess I'm wondering, are they talking about governing authorities as in what would be like police officers or local law enforcement, enforcers of the law? Or are they talking about the politicians and people who make the laws or those types of decisions?

Yeah, I mean, I think we could actually apply it to both, Glory. And I'm going to read Romans 13 one through four just for our listeners. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

Then do what is good and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Sort of interesting with the question we just got from the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 22. There at that time in the history of God's people, the church really did have the sword and exercise the sword. They were the government authority at that time. And so when somebody would break the law, they would apply the law.

They would execute them at times depending on what the crime was. But here Paul says, look, the church doesn't bear the sword anymore. God has given governing officials a sort of secular authority, the ability to bring about and promote justice. And it's this legitimate authority that's in the world today.

It doesn't have to be a Christian authority per se. I mean, it's this legitimate authority that God has instituted in the world today. It's provisional because ultimately we know that God's kingdom is the kingdom that's in a last for all time. And so the earthly rulers and kingdoms of this world are going to be done away with.

You think of a text like Daniel chapter two, for example. Philippians chapter three, verse 20 talks about our citizenship in heaven. I mean, that's our primary citizenship as believers.

And it's a sort of this common kingdom. It's not the church that we're talking about here, these ministers or these governing authorities. It's just the sort of secular government that's out there. And they are accountable to the Lord. And that's another thing that I think we need to say is these rulers are accountable to God. They're called to promote justice. And we know that earthly rulers don't always do that. And they're going to have to give an account to the Lord for that. They're called to recognize that which is right and wrong, good and evil. And sometimes they don't do that. But here we're called, Glory, to be respectful, to be submissive to governing authorities in so far as they're calling us not to sin against God. There might be laws out there that we just don't like for whatever reason.

I may not like that the speed limit is 65 miles an hour. I might want to go further than that, but that's not a sin issue. And so I think here, Paul is saying, be respectful to governing authorities. Be obedient. Have a good witness in the world today and strive to honor Christ in everything that you do. And so, Glory, thank you for that question.

It's always good to hear from you, sister, and may the Lord richly bless you. Glory, we actually have a core question on that topic. You can go to our website and find it. It's basically how does the church relate to the government and how do we as individual Christians relate to the government? You can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash questions. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. How does God want us to worship him and how does the Bible define worship? We actually have a free resource for you that answers those questions.

Yeah, this is such an important question, Bill. I was just preaching recently on Genesis chapter four, where you have Cain and Abel bringing their offerings to the Lord. And the text says that God had regard for Abel's offering, but he didn't have regard for Cain's offering. And one of the points that I made for our people is that God is picky about worship.

Here they are both worshiping the Lord, bringing these offerings, and yet there's something about Cain's offering that causes God to reject his worship. It's so important that we understand what right worship is that's pleasing to the Lord. And that's why we have this resource to help you out. It's called Nine Things You Should Know About Worship. It's going to help clarify what the Bible says about worship, what it is, what it isn't, and why the world of worship in Scripture is just so magnificent. So get a hold of this resource. It's absolutely free. You can download it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Nine Things You Should Know About Worship. You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673.

That's 833, the core. Well, let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners in Missouri. Hi, thanks for taking my message.

Really been enjoying your radio show and listening to it pretty much daily. I'm pretty involved in a really nice church community here in Joplin, Missouri. However, there's just not a lot of single females in the church.

In fact, my age, there's none. So first part, is it okay to go to other churches to seek out single groups? And the second part of my question is, is singleness an affliction for those that have the desire to be married?

Thanks. Hey, brother, appreciate your question. So the two parts there. One, is it okay to go to another church to seek out a single group or a singles group or maybe even go to begin attending another church where there are more people your age, other singles who you might be able to meet?

I think that it is okay. The key question is, right, what are the marks of the church? What are the marks of the true church? Are they faithfully preaching God's word? Are they administering the ordinances that Jesus commanded? Do you think of baptism in the Lord's Supper? Is there discipline? Is that fellowship that's taking place where the church is dealing with sin, encouraging the body of Christ?

Are those things there? I would say if you're going to another church where there are a lot of young, cute singles but you don't have those things, well, no, don't compromise on that issue. But if you go to another church that's faithful to the word of God and is preaching the word of God faithfully and there just tends to be more people your age that you could connect with, I think that that's okay. Talk to your pastor about this, certainly. This is a conversation you want to have with the leadership in your church because you did say that you were pretty involved there. I generally tell people, look, if you're in a good church and you're involved, that's a really important thing and that's special.

Don't just compromise on that. Don't abandon that because it's something that at times is really hard to find. But if you can find another church and if you're not going to be leaving the church that you're a part of in a difficult position, maybe you're involved in leadership there and you leaving would do a lot of damage in some way, if you're able to do that, I think that that's okay and you could do that with a clear conscience.

Again, you want to have a conversation with your pastor and go about it the right way, not just up and leaving, but don't compromise the church that you're in. The other thing there, the second part of your question is it sounds like you have the desire to be married, which is a good thing. Proverbs 18 says, he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. That's a good desire.

That's a godly desire. I think one of the dangers when you're in this place of waiting is it can sort of feel like this affliction that I have, like God is holding out on me and boy, everyone around me is getting married, but the right person just doesn't come into my life. There can be bitterness.

I think those are the things you need to be on guard for, brother. Cultivating contentment, patience, trusting in the Lord in this time, knowing that he knows your needs, he knows your desires, being patient. So often I think, and I've talked to many, many young adults as a pastor who struggle with this, they want to be with someone and they either compromise the church situation or they compromise who they're with. They say, oh, well, this person, they say they're a Christian.

They used to go to church many, they were baptized many, many years ago. They haven't been back to church and we just sort of try to make someone fit into what we want because we're looking for companionship, we're looking for friendship, we're looking for relationship. And so my encouragement to you is cultivate, grow in contentment and patience, trusting in the Lord.

Being proactive in ways is totally fine, nothing wrong with that. Pursuing a spouse but not compromising. Find someone who loves Jesus, who loves the church, who wants to honor the Lord with her life and ask her out on a date. Be proactive in that regard but in the meantime, don't let the bitterness or that sense of God is holding out on me, which I know a lot of people can have, don't let that grow because that's not true.

God loves you, he knows what you need, he has your best interest in mind and so wait on the Lord, trust in him, continue to draw near to him in this time and see what he does. I think that's a great response. The other thing I think he can do while he's on that search or while he's waiting patiently.

Hit the gym. Well that's one thing. I was going to say grow in his own Christian walk and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in his life with God's help so that he's ready when he meets the right person to be married.

So key. And the reality is, are we ever totally ready? I mean it's just two sinners coming together. You like to think, oh I'll get to a point where I'm so sanctified that God is then going to bring the person into my life, but that's not always how it works out. So I think like you said Bill, focusing on the right things, cultivating the fruit of the Spirit, growing in grace, you know that's what God calls you to, and then waiting to see what the Lord does and so may the Lord bless you brother. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go to Eric in St. Louis, Missouri. Eric, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yeah, hi pastor, thanks for taking the call. I was wondering your advice on what to do when you're struggling with repeating the same sin over and over.

Thanks. Eric, this is a struggle for so many Christians, and even to the point where they begin to question their faith. Do I really believe in Jesus? Man, if I was truly a Christian, would I still struggle with this same sin? And the reality is, I think, as followers of Jesus, we are going to fight sometimes the same battle for years and years.

I often point to Peter, Eric. Peter, on the day that our Lord Jesus was being crucified, what did he do? He denied the Lord.

He was being questioned by this group of people, this young girl even, and he says, I don't know Jesus. It was the fear of man that caused Peter to deny the Lord. And then, of course, our Lord restored Peter, and Peter went to go preach on the day of Pentecost filled with the Holy Spirit. And yet, many years later, Paul, we're told in the book of Galatians, has to confront Peter because when certain Jews came around the Gentiles, he stopped eating with the Gentiles.

It was the fear of man again. And Paul tells Peter, hey, you're not walking in step with the gospel. And it strikes me that he still, all these years later, filled with the Holy Spirit, post-Pentecost, struggling with the fear of man. And as followers of Jesus, I think sometimes we don't realize it, but we might struggle with the same thing. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not Christians.

The question is, what do we do? Well, practically, Eric, one, do you have a place where you can go and be transparent about your sin, where you can confess your sin? The Bible talks about this in the book of James and 1 John. Confessing sin to a pastor, to brothers who we trust, who can encourage us in the gospel, is really important. It's a part of how we bring sin into the light.

If we're not doing that, I think it begins to grow, and we struggle with it more and more. You have to have that real accountability that the body of Christ gives to us, those kinds of relationships of transparency. I think God uses that to help put these sins to death. The other thing is you have to remember your identity in Jesus Christ. You are, by faith in Jesus, justified. There's been a definitive break with sin. Now you're called to live in light of that reality. It's what the apostle Paul said in Romans 6.

What shall we say, then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means? How can we who die to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

He's writing to Christians and he's saying, look, you've got a new identity. Through baptism, through faith, you've been united to Jesus in his death and resurrection. Now present yourself to God, he's going to go on to say, as one who is alive from the dead. The instruments of your body as instruments for righteousness. I would say camp out, Eric, in Romans 6 through 8.

Read those passages over and over. Meditate on those passages daily to help you know that, yeah, even though you struggle, you have a new identity, and now you ought to present yourself to the Lord as one who has been set free. Now that doesn't mean that it's going to be easy, that there isn't still going to be a struggle, but that's why, as I said, we go, we confess our sins, we trust in the Lord, and we pray for the work of his Spirit.

It's by the Spirit that we put to death the deeds of the body. God bless you, brother. 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.