Which Doctrines Are Essential and Which Are Not?

How do we differentiate between the essential doctrines of the Christian faith and church traditions? 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. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Here's the number to call if you have a question. You can call us 24 hours a day and leave a voicemail at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.

And of course, you can always email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Debbie in Lincoln, Nebraska. Debbie, welcome to the program. Hi, thank you. Thanks for taking my call.

Hi, Debbie. Hi, I had called, oh, last week one day and was asking for advice on giving money to homeless people, and you had mentioned giving them like, you know, a gift card to McDonald's or something like that. So I, you know, because I wanted to give them something, especially the ones that really looked needy, but I didn't want to go into alcohol or cigarettes or anything, so I took your advice on Monday. I went and bought five dollar gift cards from McDonald's, and I wrote on the inside of a little card they give you, I wrote, to a very special person from God, and I was handing them out, and I felt really good about that. I knew it was, you know, if they didn't want to McDonald's, that was their choice, but at least I knew I was helping in a way that made me feel good.

Yeah. Well, Debbie, I don't know who can say no to McDonald's fries. I know I can't, and so, but that is so wonderful, and I think I might have mentioned this verse when you called initially, I don't recall if I did, but Proverbs 19, where we read that he who gives to the poor, she who gives to the poor lends to the Lord, and I especially like that you said to a very special person. The reality is we're all made in God's image, and we ought to not show partiality, you know. James talks about this in James chapter two when he talks about, you know, when a rich person walks into your church and a poor person walks into your church and you spend all the time focusing on the rich person, aren't you showing partiality in your heart? And that's wicked. That's evil. We really need to uphold the dignity of all people, including our homeless neighbors, and many of them are suffering in a number of different ways.

Sometimes it's mental illness, sometimes it's a history of drug abuse, sometimes it's just difficulty in life, losing a job. You think about all the things that have happened over the past year with the coronavirus pandemic, and so I think it's wonderful that you were able to do that and to share a meal and God's love with some homeless neighbors, and I would encourage you to continue to do that. I think it's good for us, and it's honoring to the Lord. Debbie, thanks so much for taking that action and really being the hands and feet of Jesus to those homeless people in your community. We do agree that's a great way to go about it, not to risk that that money would be used for destructive means, but to give them those food gift certificates, whether it's for McDonald's or Subway or whatever restaurant you might choose. Hey, Bill, can I just pray for Debbie, too, and really that the Lord would cultivate in all of our hearts that kind of generosity. And so, Father, thank you for our sister, and I pray for her that as she looks at ways to serve her neighbors around her, those who aren't as fortunate, and as she looks to feed them and to come alongside them and to share your love, the fact that we're all made in your image, God, what a wonderful thing. Would you please guide her, give her wisdom? Would you give her opportunities to share in a very clear way the gospel that God, not only when Jesus was on earth, not only did he give physical bread, and he did in multiplying the lows, but he also said, I am the bread of life. And would you give Debbie the grace and the wisdom to share the message of the bread of life with her neighbors, with the people you've placed around her? And would you cultivate in all of us, Lord, a heart that desires to be generous to give to those who are in need, Lord, that we might honor you, as our Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, that the world might see our good works and glorify you, dear Father. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Hey, Debbie, thanks so much for your call. Did you have a follow-up question for Adriel?

I did not, but, you know, I really appreciate that prayer because I could use it right now. I really appreciate it. May the Lord bless you, Debbie. Thanks, Debbie. Thanks for being one of our regular listeners. We really appreciate you. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we love getting your questions about the Bible and the Christian life. Let's go to Steve, who's in Arkansas.

Steve, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, I was listening to a previous show, and the pastor said that when a believer dies, they are immediately in the presence of God. So I was curious and been curious for a while, why does the Catholic Church always talk about purgatory so much? I was always taught that cleansing blood of Christ was enough to get rid of our sins.

Yes, Steve, you were taught accurately. This doctrine of purgatory in the Roman Catholic Church is sort of an outflow of their understanding of salvation, their soteriology, that is the study or the doctrine of salvation. Whereas we would say, I would say, when a believer is justified, we trust in Jesus, we're justified, we're accounted as righteous in God's sight, not on the basis of anything that we do. You can't be more or less justified.

You either are or you aren't. By faith, when you're justified, your sins are forgiven. They're wiped away, washed away, and you are given, credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself, so that we can stand before God on the day of judgment, confident, not so much in our own perfection, not in the amount of good works that we did while we were on earth.

No, our confidence is Jesus Christ. Because of that, I think we teach and can say, look, when a believer dies, they're immediately in the presence of the Lord. But in the Catholic Church, there's a different understanding of the doctrine of justification. You are maybe initially justified when you're baptized according to the Catholic Church, but then as you cooperate with God's grace, you're becoming more justified. Then if you sin, you can sort of fall out of your state of justification. Then you have to do acts of penance in order to get back into a state of justification.

There's a big difference in terms of how we understand the doctrine of salvation. Purgatory in the Catholic system is a place of cleansing because they recognize that when you die, you still have these sins, even if they're not, quote, unquote, mortal sins according to the Catholic Church. Because these individuals still have these sins, these struggles, they're not fit to enter into the presence of God immediately. They need to go through a time of purgation, a time of cleansing.

That's what purgatory is. Whereas we would say, yeah, one, I don't see that in the Bible. Two, it seems very clear that a person is justified. When they're justified by faith in Jesus Christ, they're given the righteousness of Jesus Christ so that they can stand before God on the day of judgment.

It's really an excellent question that you ask because it helps us to get into some of the differences there related to how we understand salvation and the implications of those differences for our eternal state and for what happens when we die. Steve, does that clear it up for you? Somewhat. For the most part, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, if you have a follow-up, feel free to ask. I want to make sure that this is clear for you. Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I understand. All right.

Yeah. That's why you have that emphasis within the Roman Catholic Church. It's because they would say an individual dies and they still might have these lesser sins, these venial sins that they need to be cleansed of prior to entering into the presence of God in blessedness. It's a question of how we understand the doctrine of salvation. Really, the comfort for us as believers has to be in Jesus because the reality is when we look at our own lives and we compare ourselves to the people around us, we might feel good on some days.

I'm doing better than this person or that person. But at the judgment seat, it's God's law. We're standing before the holy judge himself before whom the entire earth trembles and shakes and the mountains melt.

You know what I'm saying? We can't come in our own righteousness and expect anything, but we come in and through Jesus, our mediator. And because of that, we have confidence. We should mention, too, Martin Luther had a major issue with the purgatory and the fact that the Catholic Church was encouraging or demanding that people pay penance or alms to get their relatives out of purgatory so they wouldn't be... Uncle Bob wouldn't be being barbecued for a long period of time there. And that was a major reason for the reformation.

Well, yeah. I mean, there were a lot of corrupt practices in the medieval church and abuses and just flat out false teaching, heresy. And so that was a part of the catalyst that did lead to the reformation, which was a call to get back to the scriptures.

And that's the call that we always want to give as well. We need to go to the text of scripture because it's there that God speaks to us clearly. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to an email question that we received from Stephen. He says, how did Jesus take our punishment onto himself? If our punishment is eternal separation from God, also how could Jesus be eternally separated from God when he in fact is God or the second person of God's triune nature?

Yeah, this is an excellent question. It gets us into Christology. It gets us into the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The first thing that I'll say is, you know, how is Jesus's death sufficient for us? If the punishment is, as you say, you know, eternity in hell, how is it that Christ's death on the cross, you know, is enough to pay for that punishment for one person, you know, nonetheless, you know, the entire church?

Well, the answer to that question is who is it that died? We're not talking about just a mere human being like me or you. We're talking about, and you mentioned this, the eternal Son of God who assumed humanity. That is, he took on human flesh through and from the womb of the Virgin Mary. Luke talks about this in Luke chapter 1 verse 35. And because we have God himself who is offering up this payment for sin, it is of infinite value, sufficient to purge the sin on a thousand worlds. I mean, this is God's very blood that was shed.

And that's precisely what the Apostle Paul said in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 20, when he is writing to or when he's speaking to a group of elders. He says to them, shepherd the flock of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Think about what Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. What are we talking about here?

This wasn't silver or gold. This was the precious blood of Jesus, the eternal Son of God. So that's how we can say it was sufficient to cleanse our sins and to ensure that we are going to be in the presence of God in joy and in paradise for all eternity because of what God has done for us in the gospel of his Son. Now, the second part of your question, it seemed to me there, was, well, can Jesus be eternally separated from the Father?

And is that part of the payment? Well, here's where we have to be very, very careful. Sometimes I think when people talk about the atoning work of Christ, they can say things that actually compromise the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. God the Father sent his Son to the cross in love, and Jesus is bearing our punishment, the punishment due to us for sin, ultimately and primarily death, the curse that was mentioned way back at the beginning of Genesis. But Jesus is always one with the Father, in communion with the Father. In one sense, he experienced this sort of forsakenness in his humanity by taking our place vicariously on the cross, but his Father was always with him still. And isn't that exactly what Jesus says in the gospel?

He says, look, all of you are going to abandon me. At one point, Jesus is talking to his disciples, but the Father is with me. And so it's really important that we were walking a fine line here. We have to affirm that Christ bore our punishment on the cross the punishment due to us for sin, while also affirming the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit exist in perfect communion, a communion of love. And even though the Father sent Jesus to the cross to bear our punishment, Jesus went willingly in love for you, for your salvation.

And so that's how we have to understand. There's so much so much rich stuff there, and we're getting into some some pretty deep theology, but I appreciate your question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question for us, you can always leave a voicemail 24 hours a day at our number, which is 833-THE-CORE. You can also record your question through our website at corechristianity.com. That's especially helpful for our international listeners.

If you listen somewhere globally and you want to ask a question, just go to corechristianity.com and look for that microphone link on how to record a question right there. Well, today we want to offer you a wonderful book. It's by a hero and martyr of World War II, Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yes, we are excited to offer Bonhoeffer's classic work, Life Together, the classic exploration of Christian community. You will find this book to be edifying. If you're wondering about what does it mean for Christians to live in community with one another in the local church, I mean, this is the text to go to. And so get a hold of this resource written by a man who was actually martyred under the Nazis and just rich with wisdom and something that we believe will really bless you. So Life Together, get a hold of it. Really, we'll help you live out your faith in the context of Christian community. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

You can get that book for a donation of any amount by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers or give us a call at 833-THE-CORE. Right now, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Sandy. Hi, Pastor. Just want to ask a question of your thoughts. God, he could have made this whole earth where there's no evil at all.

It could have been just perfect. So why do you think that is? Okay, thank you. God bless. Bye-bye.

Bye. Sandy, you're not the first person to have asked that question. Now, of course, when we open up the scriptures, the very beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis, when God reveals himself to his people, he is the great creator king who made all things good and very good. Over and over again, you have this refrain in the first chapters of Genesis. God looks at the world that he created, the things that he made from nothing, and he says, it's good.

It's good. When God makes man, he says, it's very good. God puts man in the garden and blesses man and gives him this role, this very high calling to be these royal representatives on earth.

It's really interesting, actually, Sandy. When you read some of the other ancient Near Eastern accounts of the creation of the world, some of the other religions that were floating around around the Israelites, actually, when they talked about the creation of the world, typically, the quote-unquote gods created man, humanity, as servants, as slaves to do the work that the gods didn't want to do. It's really a bleak existence, but when we look at the text of scripture, the inspired word of God, it reveals to us that God made everything good and that he gave man this very high calling, kings and queens of creation, if you will, call to rule and subdue and to expand God's glory across the whole world by cultivating the guardian of Eden so that it would spread. Yet, God also gave man freedom of choice and left to the freedom of their own wills our first parents sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit. Now, your question is, why did God make a world where that was even possible? Why did God allow that to be the case? There are some people who will say, well, God wanted to give us free. He didn't want us to be robots.

He wanted to give us this sort of free choice. I think there's something to that there, but part of it, Sandy, is sometimes we just don't know. Sometimes God does things and we don't have the answer to the questions we have this side of heaven. I mean, you think about some of the sufferings that people experience today, horrible things, and we go to God and we say, God, why? Why this?

Why me? What's going on here? And we lament before the Lord, and sometimes that's all we have is the lamentation, the question. You see this over and over again in the Psalms, and I think of what God said to the prophet Isaiah. He said, my thoughts are not your thoughts. This is Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And so we go to the Lord in humility, and we say, God, I know that you made all things good.

I know that you did. That's what your word says, and I know that you're good and righteous. You can't be tempted with evil, that you're not evil. James says that in James chapter one, but I don't understand why the world is such a mess, or why I experience the suffering that I do.

You can go to God with those honest questions, and sometimes we don't have the specific answer until we're in the presence of the Lord, but you can know that God is good, that he made all things good, and that he's not to blame for why the world is a mess. That's sin. That's the result of our own disobedience, and the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the garden. And so thank you for your question, and may the Lord bless you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Here's an email we received from one of our listeners, Adriel. They say, How does one differentiate between essential doctrines, doctrines of lesser importance, and traditions, which can be very helpful but lack biblical authority? Some seem easy, like who is Jesus or Jesus is God, while others aren't, such as how and when baptism is performed. It seems that tradition grips people, or people cling to traditions with the most strength. Do you think this inability to distinguish and discern are part of the reason why so many churches are a mile wide but an inch deep? Yeah, it really is a huge problem, our inability to discern. We like to, a lot of times in churches, fight about the silliest thing, I mean the color of the carpet.

I've heard stories of that kind of a thing, even this last year, with all of the controversy surrounding the COVID pandemic, and masks in churches, and so on and so forth. I've seen churches split over this kind of thing, and it really is heartbreaking, and it shows us how essentially we're totally missing it. We've lost sight of the main thing, the gospel, and we're dividing over things that we should never, ever divide over. The most important thing, I mean, and you said it's not as hard to find this stuff, I mean 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received, and then what does he go on to describe?

The death of Christ, the resurrection of Jesus, his ascension, the gospel message. That's the kernel of the gospel. That's what we're all about, and so we have to hold fast to that. We have to cling to that so that we don't lose sight of what's most important, because oftentimes when we do as churches, that's when we begin to bicker and fight and divide over things like masks, and it's devastating.

It's heartbreaking. I can say this as a pastor, and I'm grateful because I feel like God has blessed us in many regards. We've sort of weathered the COVID pandemic, and there's been a lot of charity at the church, but I have friends who are pastoring churches where it's been really, really difficult because they can't decipher. The congregations have a difficult time deciphering between the main thing and then some of these other issues, and so the question is what are those doctrines that strike at the vitals of our Christian faith, and you said it. It's the life of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Jesus, and that's not to say that those other doctrines that are out there aren't important. Everything that the Bible teaches is really important. We should hold fast to it, but we can also have a degree of charity for one another and say, look, I know that you disagree with me on spiritual gifts or women in ministry, that kind of a thing, but I don't think that that's one of those things that keeps us from being able to say, you're my brother or you're my sister in Christ, and I can actually learn things from you and be encouraged by you, and you can be encouraged by me, and so I think we really have to have that heart of charity, and isn't that what the Lord Jesus calls us to?

Again, that's not to minimize our differences. We can hold fast to our convictions and ultimately to what the Word of God teaches, but we need to do that with charity and respect. It seems to me that within the church today, we've really lost that ability in so many places.

A lot of it is just sort of lobbing bombs at each other and disagreeing in uncharitable ways and assuming the worst about people who disagree with you and imputing bad motives to them, that kind of a thing friends, that's not what Jesus calls us to. He calls us to love, and He calls us to hold fast to the truth and to share it with gentleness and respect, and so I want to encourage you with that, and may the Lord bless you in your own conversations with people that you would be filled with charity and love. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at www.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.