How Can Corrupt Political Leaders Still Be Servants of God?

A class of eighth graders in Pennsylvania asks, How can corrupt political leaders still be servants of God? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, 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. We look forward to hearing some of those questions from that class. We have a classroom full of eighth graders, and you can call us with your question right now at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. As always, you can post your question on one of our social media sites, and you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to James in Eldon, Missouri. James, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, Pastor Adriel.

Hey, James. The question I have is, this is a question that a lot of people asked me personally, you know, in my ministry here in Eldon. What is the difference between, is there a difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit? That's the question I've had people ask me, because I know what I believe, but I was just kind of getting to see what maybe your take is on that very question.

Yeah. James, that's a great question. You know, for a while, I was taught as a newer believer that, you know, you get saved, you believe in Jesus, you're filled with the Holy Spirit or sealed with the Holy Spirit, but then you need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit at some point later in your Christian walk, and so you ask God to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. And some, you know, Christian churches will say, when that happens, you speak in tongues or you have some miraculous manifestation.

Now, my view has changed on this as I've continued to study the scriptures. I think that the baptism of the Holy Spirit, talked about by Jesus, Acts chapter 1, verse 5, I mean, he's writing or he's speaking to his disciples right before his ascension. And he says, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Now, of course, James right there, he's referring to the day of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost arrived, Acts chapter 2, verse 1, they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared on them and rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now, too often, I think when we talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we focus on the miraculous, on the gift of tongues. But here, what you have is this distinct moment in redemptive history, in the history of salvation, where God is signaling to us that there's something new that's happening. Or we think of the new covenant, the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now, the presence of God isn't there in the temple in Jerusalem.

Now there's a new temple called the church. That's why you have this image of fire, fiery tongues over the disciples as they're praying. You remember in the Old Testament when God made his presence known in a particular place, often it was associated with fire. You think of the fire in the tabernacle, the pillar of fire that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. And so God is saying, my presence is resting on the church.

It's no longer there in the temple in Jerusalem. This is the new covenant, the new temple, the new creation, if you will. That's really what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is about. And I would say, every single Christian, if you're saved, if you belong to Jesus, you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul, he says in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13, by one spirit we were all baptized into one body. And so we can't even say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of God in our lives. And if we belong to Jesus, we've been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now, we are called as Christians every day to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So we're sealed with the Spirit, baptized with the Holy Spirit, if you will, all of us as Christians. But each of us in our daily life, we're called to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And this is what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18.

He says, Don't get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. This is an exhortation, a command, be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, that's what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's addressing one another in psalms and hymns, praising the Lord, a heart full of thanksgiving, the fruit of the Spirit, Paul describes in Galatians chapter 5. And so I would say all of us as Christians are baptized in the Spirit, and we are called every day to be filled with the Holy Spirit as the word of Christ dwells in us, as we meditate on scripture, as we draw near to the Lord in prayer, as we gather with other believers.

The Spirit of God is at work in our lives, and we continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so, James, God bless you. Thank you for the ministry that you do, and thanks for listening to the CORE. Hey, thanks, James. We appreciate you, and we love hearing from our listeners here at CORE Christianity.

We are so thankful for how they interact with the show and send us questions. And Joseph is an eighth-grade teacher at Faith Christian Academy in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Every day, his eighth-grade class listens to CORE Christianity, which is pretty amazing to us. His students sent us a list of questions. And so for the rest of this week, we're going to be answering one question a day from students in Joseph's class.

Now, these kids are really sharp, so good luck, Adriel, on this one. OK, this question is from a student named Cole. Hi, I'm from Faith Christian Academy, and I'm in eighth grade.

And if God chooses leaders, why does he choose leaders that do evil, and how do we still obey them, even though, of course, we pray for them? Man, Cole, excellent question. And I just think, one, I just wanted to say, Bill, how cool is it that you got this class of eighth-graders listening to CORE Christianity? I wish when I was in eighth grade that we listened to CORE Christianity, but that didn't exist at the time. So, Cole, excellent question.

You're not the only one with this question. And the first thing I just want to say is you're right on. I mean, you said God is the one who establishes leaders, who chooses them even in one sense, according to his sovereign purposes in the world. And this is what the apostle Paul said in the book of Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse 1. He says, 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 wrongdoers. It's so interesting that here, you know, Paul is talking about secular authorities, you know, rulers over the common kingdoms of this world. And he's saying they're God's servants. They're God's deacons, if you will, in the world, exercising the sword, even, in terms of judgment.

You think of the law and obedience to the law, the laws of the land. And so Paul here is saying, Look, be submitted to these governing authorities. We know that there is no authority except what God has allowed. And what's so interesting about the book of Romans, Paul, and Paul's exhortation here is that at this time, probably Nero is the one who's ruling.

And he wasn't the greatest ruler or emperor, if you will. And yet the apostle Paul still says, Be submitted to the governing authorities. And so we pray for them.

I mean, this is something Paul told Timothy very clearly. We pray for those rulers that God has placed in our lives. We pray for their salvation. We pray for their well-being.

We pray that they might govern justly in accordance with that which is good and true. And we submit to them, even when it's an inconvenience to us, so long as they're not calling us to disobey God's word. Now, if a governing authority calls us to disobey the word of God, if they're saying, Hey, you need to break God's law. You're not allowed to preach in Jesus' name, for example. This is something that we see in the book of Acts.

Well, then it's an obligation of the church. We're called then to obey God's word, God's law, rather than the laws of man, which contradict his law. But insofar as we're able to, we're called, and this is something Paul says a little bit later in Romans, to live peaceably with all men. To be submissive to governing authorities.

We might not like that the speed limit is 65 miles an hour or something like that. But we're still called to obey these rules, these laws, insofar as we can, because it's the right thing to do. Sometimes people will say, Wicked rulers are just God's judgment on a wicked nation. You do see examples of that in scripture.

I think of the book of Isaiah, for example, in Isaiah chapter 3. It talks about God giving wicked rulers or incompetent rulers. And God can even use wicked rulers to accomplish his purposes in the world. Later in the book of Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 10, God talks about how he's using the Assyrians, the pagan Assyrians, to bring judgment on Israel for her sins. So this is another thing that we can be comforted by, Cole, is the fact that even though we don't understand why God does everything, we know that he's in control and that he's able to bring a good end even out of the wicked decisions that ungodly rulers make. In Acts chapter 8, for example, the church is experiencing extreme persecution right after Stephen was martyred. And that persecution led to the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria. God used the actions of wicked leaders to continue to advance his gospel. And so we pray for the rulers that God has placed over us. We submit to them when they don't contradict God's word.

And then we submit to God's word, God's law, if they're calling us to disobey it. God bless you, and thanks for that question. And thanks to all the students who are listening there in that eighth grade class in Pennsylvania. We really do appreciate you being part of our program every day. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, Christmas just around the corner, and we have a brand new free resource to help you prepare for the Christmas season. Yeah, it's a 25-day Christmas devotional called The Promised Seed. Make sure you get ahold of this before we get to December so that you can start going through this devotional with your family. On December 1st, the devotional starts with the fall in Genesis 3, and then it sort of traces these promises of God throughout the Bible, bringing us to the promised seed, Jesus, who came to crush the serpent's head. This is what Christmas is all about, and our new devotional highlights God's faithfulness in the Bible, his faithfulness to us now, even in the midst of the difficulties and uncertainties we face in life. And so this is a free resource for you over at corechristianity.com. You can find that at our website. As Adriel mentioned, corechristianity.com forward slash Christmas. That's corechristianity.com forward slash Christmas.

You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Kayla in Union, Missouri. Kayla, what's your question for Adriel?

I have two questions. In the past, I have had problems with my biological mother. She has never respected me or been there for me in the past 30 years, and I have an adoptive mother. In the Bible, in the Ten Commandments, it says, honor your mother and father, but she has never shown any reason for me to honor her. Would I be sinning against God and showing disrespect towards my adoptive mom for breaking things off with my biological mother?

Well, the first thing I want to just say to you, Kayla, is I'm so sorry to hear about the strained relationship there, you saying that your mother was not there for you. Now, of course, you think of the Fifth Commandment, we're called to honor our father and our mother, and that's true even when they fail, even when they sin. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't disagree, and that doesn't mean that if there's an abusive relationship or they're hurting you in some way that you shouldn't build barriers, if you will. Let me just do ways to protect yourself, to make sure that you are being healthy in the way you relate to your mother, but we're called to honor our parents, and when they sin against us, we're called to forgive.

That doesn't mean that you have to have a great relationship with them. Oftentimes, when people sin against us, we forgive them, but there still isn't reconciliation because they haven't owned up to what they've done. It sounds to me like the situation you're in right now is one where you ought to forgive through the forgiveness that you've received from Jesus, because all of us have sinned, fallen short of the glory of God, and yet God has been merciful to us. He's been merciful to you in His Son, Jesus, forgiving all your sins, and that forgiveness that God has given to you is a forgiveness that you should extend to others. Whether they ask for it or not, you should say, look, I'm not going to hold a grudge in my heart.

I'm not going to foster bitterness and anger, hatred even. God, help me to forgive. If this person wants to reconcile, if they're willing to own up to the fact that they've hurt me, that they abandoned me, or that they've sinned against me in some way, well, then maybe there can be some reconciliation in the relationship.

If not, well, then it's really hard to have a good relationship with another person. I think for you, you need to forgive so that there can be healing in your own life. It's what God calls you to, is that forgiveness. Be open to reconciliation, not shutting that door, not just saying, I'm through with you because of how you treated me.

I think there should be an openness. I think that's a part of honoring your loved ones, a part of honoring the Lord as well, but you're not responsible for her decision. Trusting in the Lord, resting in Him, extending the forgiveness that He's given to you, and may God give you strength to do that.

Kayla, was that both of your questions, or was there another question there as well that I'm missing? So if I break things off with her for a while until she owns up, am I still putting myself at that risk of her doing it again? That's where things get really difficult. You put yourself out there, and then you risk the reality that you could be hurt all over again. This is where loving others can and so often is very painful, very difficult. Just on how you've talked about it right now, I would say again, not shutting the door. Have a clear conversation and say, look, you've hurt me.

This was wrong. I forgive you because Jesus has been so gracious to me, and God calls me to forgive, and I want to forgive you. I want there to be healing. But if there's ever to be any kind of relationship, a real relationship, not just pretending that everything is fine when it's not, there's going to have to be some genuine repentance and forgiveness and restoration. We don't always get that, sadly, for many people, especially if they don't believe in Christ. Even believing in Jesus, I think it's hard for us as Christians, but for many people, without that sense of forgiveness, without that sense of the Gospel, it's so difficult, impossible even, to own up to our sins and our failures. So I would say, Kayla, pray for her that she would experience the grace of God in her life, realize the immense mercy that Jesus has, and from that, come to a place of being able to say, I am so sorry for what I've done.

And again, that doesn't mean that you're going to have a perfect relationship, that everything will be just restored, and that there isn't this pain that you're going to experience still from the relationship, but I think it's what God calls us to in terms of loving, in terms of forgiving, in terms of honoring our parents, even our parents who have failed us. So may the Lord bless you and give you wisdom in this, sister. Kayla, thank you so much for your call. We'll be praying for you in that very difficult situation. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines will be open for another five minutes or so. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, about doctrine or theology, give us a call at 833-THE-CORE.

Let's go to Brandon in St. Louis, Missouri. Brandon, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, thank you for taking my question, Pastor Adriel.

My question is a general question, but something that everyone is always thinking. When someone comes to me and asks me, how do I know your religion is the right religion? How do I know that you're not something that I could get from a different religion? How do I know to follow Jesus and no one else? What makes it the correct one?

That's a great question, Brandon. What sets Christianity apart? There are a lot of different things we could point to. Obviously, the Gospel. By the Gospel, I'm referring to what took place in history. God sending his Son into the world, born, suffered under Pontius Pilate.

These are historical figures. This isn't just a myth or a story. There's historical attestation, not just that we see in the Gospels, but even non-Christian sources, Jewish sources, testifying to the reality of essentially what the Bible says concerning Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. You have the testimony of the Church, these things that took place in history, which the early disciples of Jesus took and preached and were willing even to die for this message. These are the people that said, we saw Jesus risen from the dead.

Sometimes, Brandon, I don't know if you've heard this, but people will say, well, they're probably just making it up. They're trying to start a religion to get rich, to get powerful, that kind of a thing, but the early disciples of Jesus who claimed to see him risen from the dead, they lost everything for preaching the Gospel. They didn't get rich. They were stricken with poverty. They didn't gain power. They gained weakness. Almost all of them were martyred. They were killed. Now, if they were just making it up, would they stick to that message? If they were doing it to get power and as they preached, they only got persecution and imprisonment, would they continue to proclaim that message? Well, you be the judge of that. I think that that's just outrageous.

No. This is something that took place in history, and that's what we cling to. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if Jesus isn't risen from the dead, everything that we believe doesn't matter.

It's hopeless. We're rooting our faith in historical reality. There's a number of other things that you can point to. Obviously, Brandon, it's the work of the Holy Spirit that opens someone's heart to embrace the Gospel, but God has given us, I think, great reasons to believe. The very creation around us testifies to the fact that there is a God in heaven, and God's word reveals to us who that God is. God says in Isaiah 46, verses 9 and 10, I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done. In other words, he's saying, look, here's how you're going to know I'm God.

Not these other idols that are out there in the world. Here's how you're going to know that I'm God. I'm going to tell you the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done. One of the things we have in scripture is this prophetic testimony.

God clearly telling us what's going to take place before it happens, especially in the prophets and especially pertaining again to the Gospel, to the coming of the Messiah, to his suffering, to his death, to his resurrection from the dead. I think that there are plenty of reasons to say, hey, this is the true faith. It's not just based on how I feel. It makes me feel good.

I like it because of the moral principles, that kind of a thing. No, we're saying Jesus Christ really came as promised by the prophets, really suffered, really died, and really rose again from the dead. Because he rose, he's at the right hand of the Father, alive right now, and we trust in him.

The earliest disciples stuck to that message, being willing to go to the grave to suffer for what they were proclaiming. There are a number of other resources that I think I could point you to that might be helpful in answering this question if you want to go deeper. One book that I've recommended a number of times is Greg Kochel's The Story of Reality. That's an excellent book that just gets into some of the evidences, if you will, for what we believe and why we can trust the Word of God.

Thanks, Brandon. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We are going to record a second episode today, so if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can still call us for the next 30 minutes or so at 833-THE-CORE.

Here's an email question from Chris. He says, I'm a born-again Christian. I believe Jesus is the Son of God. My question is, did God the Father create Jesus the Son, or has Jesus the Son always existed forever in eternity past?

When we think of parents and children, the parents always existed first. Yeah, that's why we have to be really careful when we apply this sort of creaturely analogies to God, the Holy Trinity. When we talk about Jesus as the eternal Son of God, we're saying he never came to be or began to be, he always was, eternally begotten of the Father. That is, he didn't begin to be the Son of God at some point in time. That's something that the ancient heretics taught guys like Arius. Arius was one of the earliest heretics who basically said there was a time when Jesus was not. In other words, he began to be. The Church responded by saying, no, that's not the teaching of the Scriptures. The teaching of the Scriptures is that he always was. John 1, verse 1, And the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then down in verse 14, Jesus who came flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus who came to earth for us, always existed as the eternal Son of God. 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.