Should Christians Homeschool Their Kids?

Should Christian parents homeschool their kids? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi there and happy Memorial Day weekend. 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.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Rahim in Detroit, Michigan.

Rahim, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, sir. Do you all hear me?

Yeah, we hear you. Yes, sir. It says in the Bible that Jesus' feet were like burnt bronze, or polished bronze in a furnace. Can you elaborate more on that? Okay, are you referring to the vision that John has in the book of Revelation? I'm not exactly sure, but when I ran across that it said Jesus' feet were like bronze, polished, in a furnace, and I'm not sure if it was his vision or if it was in other scriptures involved in the Bible. Yeah, I think what you're referring to, brother, is the vision at the very beginning of the book of Revelation that the apostle John has. He has this vision of Christ.

I mean, it really is one of the most vivid pictures I think that we get in scripture in terms of descriptions of the glorified Lord. You open up to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1 verse 9 says, I, John, your brother, and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

He's exiled there because he's being persecuted for his faith. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and turning I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed with a long robe with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool like snow. His eyes were like a flaming fire. His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars and from his mouth came a sharp two edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Isn't that just a powerful depiction there? And a lot of the stuff that we're getting there Rahim is being pulled from the Old Testament. His voice is the sound of many waters in Ezekiel.

That was the voice of Almighty God. Daniel also in Daniel chapter 7 where it talks about the ancient of days and being seated on the throne. You have some imagery from there being imported here in Revelation chapter 1. So when John sees Jesus this one who's speaking to him in the midst of the seven golden lampstands which are references you know this is the churches it's as if he's seeing Jesus in the midst of the church which I think is another wonderful encouragement for us as believers today. Christ is in our midst through the preaching of the gospel but he sees this this Lord the Lord Jesus glorified and as he's describing him he's you know he's priestly in one sense he's got this long white robe which makes a lot of sense he speaks you know a sword coming from his mouth you have you have judgment divine judgment especially in the book of revelation that's something that's going to be emphasized the divine status the voice you know sound of many waters and then you also have his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace now I think right there the focus there is simply just this this glorious picture that he receives it's almost as if Christ is glowing with the glory of God and John is trying to describe what it is that he experienced there in this vision on the Lord's day and so I think that's the the picture that you were referring to Rahim is that right?

Yes sir absolutely correct. Hey well thank you for for that question you have any other questions for us brother? I did it said that these was also rejected and despised but is it possible that Jesus could be in our midst today and he's just overlooked? Yeah well so so where does it say that Jesus was despised and rejected that's you're referring to Isaiah 53 verse 3 where it talks essentially about the sufferings of the Messiah that there's a passage all about the suffering servant who would come in it talks about him basically burying our sins I mean talk about an amazing prophecy written hundreds of years before the crucifixion of Christ the atoning work of Christ and yet detailing it in such clarity and he was despised and rejected by the people you know you think of the the Jews at that time he came to his own and his own did not receive him John tells us the beginning of his gospel and that's what what he's referred that's what's being referred to there it's not referring to something that that we experience in our day today in the sense that you know maybe Jesus is walking in our midst and you know we just don't know it now having said that you know you think of the sheep goat judgment at the end of Matthew's gospel where Jesus gives us this this picture of the final judgment and he separates the sheep from the goats and he says you know I was I was hungry and you didn't give me anything I was thirsty didn't give me anything to drink I was I was naked you didn't clothe me I was in prison you didn't visit me and and and the the goats say well when when did that happen and Jesus basically said you missed me insofar as you didn't do it to the least of these my brethren you didn't do it to me and so I would say look the way in which we encounter in one sense the the presence of Christ is through his body through his people that's not to say that you know the the incarnate Jesus is still here on earth roaming around no he's at the right hand of God the father he's going to come back bodily one day and everybody's going to see him but it's not this sort of secret thing where you know if anybody ever says to you I saw Jesus you know he's over here in in the upper room over there he came back nobody knows about it but we're following this guy and he's pretty no that's that's demonic that's not the Lord Jesus you know stay away from that stuff and so so no he is in our midst so you said is he and can he still be in our midst in some sense today and yeah I mean you think about that that vision in revelation chapter one where Jesus is in the midst of the seven golden lambs and John sees this and what he's trying to communicate is Christ is in our midst in one sense how by the power of the Holy Spirit he's still here in and through the church through the work of the gospel through the ministry of the word and that's precisely Raheem what Jesus said would be the case in his upper room discourse in John 13 through 17 as he was teaching his disciples about his departure he says I'm leaving but I'm going to send another helper the Holy Spirit I'm going to be with you through him and so if anyone says I saw Jesus you know he's over here he's in South America somewhere he's out there in Africa you know preaching you know don't buy it when when Christ Jesus comes back the real Jesus the eternal son of God the whole world's going to know this and be the final judgment but in another sense he is present with us still by the spirit not bodily but by the presence of the spirit Raheem thanks for your questions yeah great question Raheem thanks so much for delving into God's word and giving us a call this is core Christianity with pastor Adriel Sanchez if you have a question about the bible or the Christian life one of the ways you can ask us that question is by leaving a voicemail and you can call 24 hours a day at 833 the core that's 1-833-843-2673 you can also email us your question at questions at corechristianity.com right now let's go to Jordan. Hi Adriel and Bill this is Jordan calling from Mexico my wife and I listen to your program almost every day and recently we were talking about Christ on the cross when he spoke to the thief and said today you shall be with me in paradise I think that's in Luke chapter 23 and then in John chapter 17 Jesus says to Mary don't touch me yet because I haven't ascended to the father how could these two verses work together with the apparent conflict looking forward to hearing your answer and thanks so much for the work that you both do on this program every day god bless you bye hey god bless you too Jordan thank you for uh giving us a call and I love you know when we when we hear from daily listeners uh I'm grateful we can be an encouragement to you and you're you're encouraging to me just by saying the things that you did so you know how do we how do we uh sort of understand the the series of events the chron the chronology here um you have Jesus's death on the cross where you know you mentioned Luke's gospel he in a Luke's gospel he's talking to the thief on the cross and he says today you're going to be with me in paradise um he dies he's in he's in the grave for three days um and then he rises again from the dead and when he rises again from the dead you know some of the women see him I think I think you were referring to uh John chapter 20 so a little bit later in John not John 17 but John chapter 20 where Mary clings to him I mean and you got to imagine like this is of course what she does because uh her lord is back he's risen from the dead and she just witnessed this terrible you know crucifixion his murder um and she's devastated and she goes to the tomb to to try to anoint the body of Jesus with you know fragrant spices she's assuming that he's still dead and then to realize that he's not that he's risen from the dead you just imagine her falling at his feet and clinging to his feet just overjoyed and overwhelmed with emotion and Jesus says don't don't cling to me I have not yet ascended uh to my father and so I don't know that there's any any contradiction there what's going on is is the reason he's saying don't cling to me is is and I mentioned it a little bit earlier when we're talking about Jesus's upper room discourse he said when I ascend I'm going to pour the holy spirit out on on the whole church so I'm not going to be you know uh locally present in this one place with you here I'm going to be present with the entire with my entire body with the entire church by the power of the holy spirit of course that happened on the day of Pentecost described in Acts chapter 2 Jesus ascended into heaven seated at the right hand of the father and he pours out his spirit the holy spirit on the whole church it was in fulfillment of what the prophet Joel uh said in Joel chapter 2 God's on the part of spirit on all flesh and so and so I think just understanding the chronology you have the the crucifixion uh today I'm going to be with you in paradise Jesus says to the thief on the cross the entombment being in the tomb the resurrection from the dead and then after the resurrection Jesus's encounter with these women they want to cling to him they want Jesus to stick around forever now hey you're you're back um great stay and Jesus says no I gotta go I'm ascending into heaven um and the spirit is going to be poured out and so that's that's a series of events there's no contradiction there's really two different events right there and uh thank you for your question brother you're listening to core Christianity with pastor Adriel Sanchez let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners asking about spiritual gifts hi bill hi pastor Adriel um thank you for your ministry I love watching your show um I'm a relatively recent a convert to the doctrines of grace about a year ago uh and um I'm a cessationist but I've been reading through uh first Corinthians 12 and I'm wondering what's your take on on a passage of scripture and how am I to understand the spiritual gifts the charismatic movement if the charismatic movement if that's not correct what is the proper application of this scripture thank you yeah hey brother thank you so much for that uh question this is one that I've thought a lot about uh as a pastor my own experience I've been in several different kinds of churches and let me just give some explanation you use the word cessationist and not everybody may may know what that word is it's a theological term um and and it refers to just basically those who hold to the belief that the miraculous gifts the sign gifts oftentimes associated with the apostles gifts like the gift of tongues the gift of prophecy the gift of healing that those gifts in particular ceased in the ordinary life of the church sometime around or shortly after the death of the apostles um it doesn't mean that God does not and cannot work in miraculous ways today that God can't supernaturally heal it just means that you don't have guys like Peter walking around today who are you know they're just they're very shadow uh his is healing people Paul you know and so there are others who say and this would this would be uh you know the word that's used for this is the word continuation is there are others who say no those miraculous sign gifts are still around today and the church as Christians we should pursue those you should pursue speaking in tongues and prophesying and whatnot um and so it really is a very practical question I mean when you think about just the life of the church and what is it that's available to us as Christians if you will and it's a question that many people have debated about have argued about my position is it does seem to me historically and I think there's a biblical case to be made but it does seem to me that historically what you had there in in the first century with the apostles was was unique um was not something you think of the day of Pentecost and the miracles that were taking place that that wasn't something that was ever to be replicated this is a unique event in the history of redemption and you had a lot of this miraculous activity happening there around the life of Christ the the death of Christ is his ascension the pouring out of the Holy Spirit because you have these great redemptive historical events taking place but that wasn't ever meant to be the sort of ordinary everyday life of the Christian and I think that's even hinted at in places like the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 2 listen to what what the author of the Hebrews said I'm gonna I'm gonna start reading in verse 1 he says we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation it was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will in other words these signs and wonders these miraculous gifts were used to bolster the proclamation of the gospel they it was God bearing witness to the reality of that gospel message Jesus's resurrection from the dead through these signs and wonders and as that gospel message went out as God bore witness to to the reality of that message over time you didn't see these things happening as frequently now again that's not to say that God can't in an extraordinary way reveal himself in a powerful in a providential way today can't you know perform a miraculous healing that kind of a thing he does we've all heard stories maybe you've even experienced that in your own life the question is here's here's the key question I bring this up to many friends when I have this discussion is how is God ordinarily working today and where do we need to focus God ordinarily today is working through the faithful preaching of his word through being a part of a church a body of believers you want to grow in grace and commit to the local church I think we have a hard enough time with that people you know we want something exciting something big something you know this is a sort of shockwave Christianity that sort of thing the ordinary Christian life is just that it's it's ordinary and there are times where you know we have that sort of mountaintop experiences where it's I really feel the presence of God there are other times which is hard to get up on a Sunday morning to go to church and that's okay we still do it though we're faithful we're pursuing the Lord through his word through prayer through the fellowship of believers that's where God calls us to focus too often I think when we when we get really caught up in in the miraculous gifts that sort of thing we begin to minimize the faithful preaching of God's word and that just can't happen I'm not saying everybody does that I don't want to paint with a with a broad brush and I have friends who disagree with with me on this issue in particular who I who I respect and who I love but I think ordinarily you know when we look at the New Testament it seems to me that that's the focus and that's where we need to focus so when you look at first Corinthians 12 what's the big takeaway for us it's that each of us are gifted in unique ways by the Lord whether you're gifted by God in in particular ways for the edification of the body that's the point it's the building up of the body it's not the gifts described in first Corinthians chapter 12 are not to make you great they're not about you and your glory and you know man who has the best gift I'm I'm a prophet or I'm this or that no the gifts that God gives to you whatever those gifts are are for the good of your brother the person sitting next to you and so a high view of quote unquote spiritual gifts looks like having a high view of the church and being a part of the body of Christ and being committed to one another and growing in grace in charity and so appreciate your question and thank you so much for giving us a call so here's a hard follow-up for you what would you say to a Christian who is currently attending a church where they are told that if they are not manifesting those gifts like the gift of tongues prophecy that they're not truly filled with the Holy Spirit yeah well one bill you're not allowed to do hard follow-ups come on no it's a great follow-up actually because I'm sure there's someone listening right now who who that's the the situation that they're in they go to a church and they're being told hey if you're really filled with the Holy Spirit you speak in tongues biblically that's just not the case biblically that's not the case I've said it over and over again you look at first Corinthians chapter 12 at the very end of the chapter Paul makes it clear that not everybody has the same gift so you can't say if you're filled with the spirit you're going to have the same gift and say if you're filled with the spirit you're going to have this gift no that's not we don't get to decide who gets what gift it's the Holy Spirit who distributes as he wills to each one individually and so we have to be very careful when we start trying to impose certain gifts on people and don't don't get upset because you know other people aren't gifted in the way that you are I mean I it's it's really you know there's some things that may come easily to you in ways that you like to the body of Christ maybe you're just got the gift of hospitality and you look down on everybody else who doesn't have anyone in their home that kind of thing you know no don't do that we're each gifted in unique ways and God will use you with your particular gift and so if you're in a church where they're pressuring you to you know I would just say look that's a sign of the fact that at least on that area on that on that question they're not being biblical and so that might raise other questions where else are there issues here if they're if they're getting confused about this are they getting confused on other things like the gospel the preaching of the gospel like are we getting that now now so at least I would say it should cause you to start asking questions and we should want to be in churches that are preaching the word of God faithfully and and rightly understanding this question of the spiritual gifts and and their relationship to the church today you're listening to core Christianity we want to wish you a very happy memorial day hopefully you're spending some time with your friends and family this weekend and let's not forget to honor our veterans and those who were lost in in wars and serving in the military I think about my own grandfather who served for 32 years in the U.S. Navy and how much he meant to me he's he's passed away now but just honor his service and his sacrifice well let's talk about something that's really cool here at core Christianity and that's what we call our inner core this is a group of people that support our our ministry on a regular basis because they believe in what we do and so they've chosen to make a monthly gift and as part of that they receive some exclusive content including some special video devotionals from pastor adriel yeah yes you know we were just talking before the broadcast uh about how our inner core has grown significantly so what i just want to say thank you to those of you who have joined the inner core uh it really is a shot shot in the arm for us um to know that we have your prayers your support it helps us to continue to get the word out um and we have all of these amazing resources i mean i feel kind of bad saying that because one of them is my my devotional resources though pretty good resources yeah those are pretty good resources just bible teaching things that we we believe will encourage you in your relationship with the lord and if you've been blessed by core christianity if you enjoy listening to the broadcast uh and you're growing in your understanding of the word yeah would you consider prayerfully joining the team if you will becoming a part of the inner core monthly donation of 25 or more uh we send you a copy of the book core christianity um there's a number of exclusive uh things that we give out which which we believe are going to edify you and so uh please join the inner core love you have you do that here's how you do it you just go to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core corechristianity.com forward slash inner core and sign up today we'd love to have you a part of that team that supports this ministry on a regular basis well let's go to an email we received from crystal she says the nearest school within 30 miles of where i live has demons as their school mascot for that i've kept my kids out of the school but i feel guilty because they're not getting the socialization they need i've been praying about this and i'm not sure what god wants me to do so i'd like to speak to another fellow in christ who can give me some guidance the east valley beelzebub's i'm sure what is the uh yeah i mean this is a question we we get um you know like is it wrong for me to send my kids to public school um is is a christian obligated must they homeschool or send to christian school that kind of a thing um well one i don't want to minimize the importance of we as as parents we we need to disciple our children and that looks like investing in them um and investing time um and being committed to helping them grow uh in particular in the grace of the lord jesus christ that's something that god calls you to me too as as parents um but but i also am very careful you know you can't i can't as a minister of the gospel bind people's consciences where god's word has not you know given us this direct law and i recognize that that schools are very different there are christian schools that are maybe more or less better than others there are public schools that are more or less better than others there are homeschooling curriculums that are probably more or less better than others and it really it requires wisdom it requires wisdom and prayer and part of it is just what what what am i able to do what is my capacity i was raised by a single mom she would have never been able to homeschool me because she was working so that i could eat and so it's really unhelpful when people just sort of paint with a broad brush and say this is what you have to do no uh i would say you know prayerfully you know seek continue to seek wisdom and see what doors the lord opens up and know that you are called to be committed to helping your children grow and the grace and the knowledge of the truth but that doesn't necessarily mean that you couldn't go to or send them to a private school or to a public school use wisdom and there's grace here and may the lord be with you and bless you to make this decision 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