Does the Bible Teach That We Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Sickness or Death?

Does the Bible teach that we shouldn't be afraid of sickness or death? 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. For the next 25 minutes or so, here's our phone number. It's 1-833-843-2673. If you want to spell that out, it's 833-THECORE.

You might want to make note of that, 833-THECORE. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can watch Adriel live in the studio right now on YouTube and send us a message through our YouTube channel.

Of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Chris calling in from Lebanon, Tennessee. Chris, what's your question for Adriel?

Howdy, y'all. My question is, I was wondering if you could explain with your interpretation of the pebble about the untrunk cloth being sewn onto an old garment, and also the one about the new wines not being poured into old wineskins, but being poured into new ones. Absolutely, Chris. We're talking right now about Luke chapter 5. It's in verse 33, actually a question that comes to Jesus from the Pharisees. They said to him, the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. Jesus said to them, can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

He also told them a parable. No one tears a piece from the new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst, and the skins will be, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says the old is good. Here, I think Jesus is highlighting the new covenant and the inauguration of God's kingdom, the new wine of the new covenant, if you will, and setting aside the abrogation, in one sense, of the old covenant. He's essentially highlighting the fact that he's not going to be caught within the trappings of the Judaism of the time, what the religious leaders were trying to impose upon him. And this promise of the new wine, the new covenant, was going to burst through all of that. And so you really have a contrast here with the old and the new covenant, and Jesus highlighting that through this parable. They're wanting to impose these regulations upon Jesus, and Jesus is letting his disciples know, no, I've come to bring the new wine, the wine of the new covenant, and of course, that's exactly what Jesus did. You think about him instituting the supper later in the Gospel of Luke, where he takes a cup of wine and says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the forgiveness of many.

Do this in remembrance of me. And so we're getting here at this stage in the Gospel, based on the questions that Jesus is receiving, a picture of the kingdom that he's bringing in. So thank you for that question, and I love getting into the Gospels right off the bat for today's broadcast. Hey, Chris, thanks so much for your call.

Appreciate that. Just may I ask you, Adriel, can we apply that at all to today's world for those who would try to add to the Gospel and say, well, in order to be, let's say, obedient to God, you need to do this, this, this, and this to kind of earn God's favor? Yeah. Well, I think the application really is, and you see this in places like the book of Galatians, trying to go back under the law, putting people under the old covenant with its rules and regulations. This was the problem that the agitators were bringing up in Galatia, and Paul addresses it by talking about the new covenant and the work of Jesus Christ. And so, yeah, there is application for the Church today, especially in those contexts where Christians are being placed back under the law, back under Moses, if you will, and Jesus, that's a huge issue, and that's hinted at here in Luke chapter 5. I do not want to go back under Moses, thank you very much.

Yeah. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, or what's going on in our culture and how your Christian faith intersects with that, give us a call at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. By the way, we know that a lot of our listeners decided to start tackling the Bible in 2022. Maybe that was one of your New Year's resolutions, to start reading the Bible on a regular basis.

And if you've never done that before, you might find it a little bit intimidating. So we have developed a special Bible study just for you. You know, Bill, I think that's one of the reasons why so many people, you know, they start reading the Bible and then they stop halfway through Genesis or, you know, once they get to Leviticus, that kind of a thing.

And the issue is, they just think, I don't understand this. I don't see how this is relevant for me. Well, the fact of the matter is, it's God's word, so it is relevant for you. But understanding the context, the background, where we are in the history of redemption and God's story is so key. And that's why we've created this resource, How to Read the Bible. It's a 10-week study that will really guide you in understanding how to even approach the scriptures. And so that as you read through the Bible, you're getting the most out of it.

Again, it's a 10-week study. You can do it on your own or with a group of people as a Bible study. And I think that it'll really bless you. How to Read the Bible over at corechristianity.com.

And we'd love to get that into your hands. It's such an excellent study. If you find yourself getting discouraged when reading the Bible or getting stumped or frustrated on some of the more confusing parts, this will help you with that.

And you can get the new study for a donation of $20 or more. Just head over to corechristianity.com forward slash Bible. That's corechristianity.com forward slash Bible to learn more. Well, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners.

This is from Randy. In regards to 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 out of the New King James Version. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. I understand that and I don't have a hard time with that verse. But what I'm struggling with is I'm not sure how or if it applies to the world in which we live in today pertaining to COVID. I understand we need to be cautious of our environment and our exposure to other people, I guess. But then when you read this verse, it says God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.

I'm just not too sure. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. Yeah, Randy, thank you for that question.

And I am encouraged to hear that you're thinking about these things seriously and how relevant, right? Thinking about the fear of death, what the scripture says about that and especially what we've seen all around us today and how there really is this great fear, the recognition of the fact that we're mortal, that is just put before us every day, especially with the pandemic. And so how do we apply a verse like 2 Timothy 1 verse 7? God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind or of self-control. The first thing to know is that in the context here, Paul is talking to Timothy about not being afraid of suffering for the sake of the gospel.

That is the persecution that these believers there were experiencing for their faith in Jesus and for sharing that faith with others. The very next verse, Paul says, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. And so you see right there that really what he's concerned with is not just this sort of general fear of death, but he doesn't want young Timothy to be afraid of the kinds of things he's going to experience as a minister of the gospel, preaching the truth and experiencing persecution for the sake of Christ. And so you're saying God has not given you a spirit of fear when it comes to that, but of power and self-control. But scripture does speak about the fear of death and our relationship to death as believers. The passage of scripture that I would want to take you to is found in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 2, beginning in verse 14.

Listen to what it says. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus himself likewise partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. In other words, through Christ, we are delivered from that enslavement to the fear of death.

Why? Because in Christ, death has been conquered by Jesus, by his resurrection from the dead. And so we have to factor this in as we think about the world as believers in Jesus Christ.

And I think there are two errors that we want to avoid. The first is we want to recognize that for the believer, our relationship with death has been transformed. Jesus said the one who believes in me will never die. And the idea there is that for us, death is an entering into life, if you will.

You see this especially in John's gospel, in the book of Revelation, that death has been transformed for the believer. And so we don't have to be enslaved to a fear of death anymore. And so that's something we want to avoid.

That deep, irrational, just consumed by the fear of death as if Jesus didn't conquer it. But the other thing we want to avoid is this sort of willy-nilly, well, I just, who cares kind of a thing. And we're not having regard for each other, taking care of ourselves, taking care of the people around us as you brought up. Because I think sometimes we can say, well, death has been conquered.

What is everybody worrying about? And so I think we also need to avoid that and be gracious to one another. Jesus, through his life, death, and resurrection has freed us so that we have the hope of eternal life. And we want to encourage the people around us with that hope. And we want to realize also, you know, we want to be sensitive to the fact that there are people who don't understand the gospel, who are still gripped by that fear, and we want to minister to those people. And so I appreciate that you're wanting to be cautious and careful and also that you're doing that but that you want to make sure that you have a proper understanding of what your view of death should be as a Christian. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that death is the last enemy to be destroyed. That's what death is. It's the enemy that Jesus came to conquer.

And so that's how we need to view it. But it's an enemy that we don't have to shrink in fear away from because of what Jesus has done. God bless. Some great, comforting words, Adriel. Thank you for that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we'd love to hear from you. Our phone lines will be open for the next 10 minutes or so. You can hop on the phone and call us at 833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Linda, who's calling in from Iowa.

Linda, what's your question for Adriel? Hi. I don't have any scripture references or anything, but my whole life I've been taught that in the end times when Jesus comes back, some of our family will go to heaven and some of our family will go to hell. I've also been taught my whole life that when you get to heaven, there will be no more sadness and no more tears. I don't understand how those two things go together. Yeah.

Well, so a couple of things. When the Lord does come back, there is going to be a great judgment, a great separation. You think about what Jesus talked about, the sheep-goat judgment. You think about all the things that we see in the book of Revelation. It sounds like your question is, well, how can I have joy in heaven if I have family members and loved ones who aren't there with me?

And that is a great question. We do know, like you said, that the Bible teaches that in heaven, all of our tears are going to be wiped away. This is quoting really a prophecy in the book of Isaiah, but Revelation 21, beginning in verse 1, John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God.

And get this, here's verse 4, so beautiful. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. I don't know how it's all going to work out exactly, Linda, but I know that the Bible says that in the presence of God we are going to experience perfect joy and perfect peace. And God himself, we're told here in Revelation 21, 4, is going to wipe away our tears.

I don't think that means that we just lose all of our memory of the past or something like that so that we don't have to think about the things that happened before and the people who aren't with us, that kind of thing. I'm not sure what that's going to be like, but I know that in the presence of Almighty God, the perfect judge, the righteous one, the one who is gracious, who commands all people everywhere right now to repent and says that to us and to our family members, we lament that they don't. But I think in the presence of God, everything is going to be so eclipsed by his glory that there is going to be no more sorrow somehow. There's going to be no more pain, no more tears because we are in the presence of our Creator and experiencing, partaking of his glory. And so somehow that weight of glory, if you will, is so much greater than anything we've ever experienced here on earth that it's going to be what causes us to have that perfect joy and perfect peace.

And that's the way I see it. And so thank you so much, Linda, for your question and may the Lord encourage all of us to be in prayer for our family members right now as the Lord calls them to himself that we would be good witnesses and examples of the work of the Lord in our lives with the gospel on our lips. God bless you. Thank you, Linda, for calling in and a great challenge for every one of us with our family members and close friends to make sure that we're willing to share the truth, the good news of Christ with them. This is Core Christianity. Just a reminder, we have this wonderful Bible study available for you if you started reading the Bible for the very first time or maybe you're a regular Bible reader but you've got some questions. It's called How to Read the Bible. It's available for you. It's a 10-week Bible study that's available for you for a donation of $20 or more.

Just go to corechristianity.com forward slash Bible, corechristianity.com forward slash Bible to find that. Well, let's go to Darren who's calling in from Missouri. Darren, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, how are you doing? Doing well, Darren.

Thank you. Yes, I have got a couple of verses that I'm struggling with. My wife and I have been married for seven years and she had left about 13, 14 months ago. And I've tried and tried to see if we could work together. We're both Christians to resolve a marriage but she is wanting the divorce.

So I've got two things I'm struggling with. The first one is 1 Corinthians 7.15. It says, but if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so.

And I'm trying to see what that means to me. My wife is a Christian but I also view that she's not believing in the Christian vows of marriage. From what I know, there is no biblical reason for divorce and I cannot put closure to this. So why she wants it and will not try and resolve a marriage with me. So I just wanted your take and then I have one more verse after that.

Okay. Well, just with regard to that, the Apostle Paul is saying that when two people are married, one is a Christian, the other isn't a Christian, and the non-Christian spouse abandons the marriage. They run away. They neglect their spouse. Paul says that the Christian in that situation isn't necessarily bound to the marriage that this other person has left.

There's really nothing that you could do. Earlier, he says in verse 10, The married I give this charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And it sounds to me like that's what you're desiring and what you want. And so I think that continuing to pray, and I don't know, Darren, the details of your situation, so we try to be very careful on the broadcast to give people specific advice related to marriage and divorce because I know that there's so much to each of these stories. But yeah, in terms of the verse that you were bringing up, that's talking about an unbelieving spouse who abandons the marriage.

Did you say you had a follow-up there too? Are you saying they're not a Christian then? Is that what it's speaking to, if the unbelieving partner separates?

That's right. That's specifically what Paul is saying. Usually in the context of the Church, this is where your Church, and hopefully if you guys are a part of a Church, members of a Church, where the Church would step in and seek to walk alongside of you and your wife and call your wife to live in line with what Scripture teaches.

And that's where I was going to go next. We both belong to the same denomination, but I've been really struggling this last year with why she won't try to resolve a marriage. But the other one is Matthew 18, verse 15. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if they don't listen, bring two other witnesses. How does that apply to me? That's really never been done in this situation.

Yeah. This is why it's so important that we're in good churches and good churches that practice Church discipline, that hold the people in the Church to the faith that they confess. And so in a situation like this, ordinarily what's supposed to happen, let's just say, again, not knowing all the intricate details of your situation, let's just say you have a couple and the wife claims to be a Christian, but for no reason, no biblical reason, saying, I'm leaving this marriage, I want to get a divorce. Well, in that situation, the Church should step in and come alongside and say, hey, there isn't a biblical rationale here. You're not walking in line with what the scripture says in a situation like this. And there's encouragement, there's counseling, there's working together, there's prayer, there's shepherding, there's all of those things.

And that should be a part of the process. And it could be that an individual just says, maybe I thought I believed it, I don't want to have anything to do with this, I don't want to have anything to do with Jesus, I just kind of want to do my own thing. And then you do, you have the process of Church discipline described in places like Matthew chapter 18, described in places like 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And so the hope would be that your Church would be pursuing you and your wife and caring for you in this time and calling you both to live in line with what the scriptures teach.

And again, that doesn't always happen, sadly. And so, brother, it sounds like you're in a very difficult situation. I can tell that you want there to be restoration, reconciliation. So I just want to take a moment for you right now, Darren, to pray for you and to ask for God's wisdom and for his grace to be poured out on you and your wife. Lord, I lift Darren up to you, Lord.

And we don't know all the details of his situation, but you do. You know, Lord, where there needs to be repentance, where there needs to be forgiveness, where there's healing that is needed. And God, you are the one who gives those things. And we ask for those things, Lord, for Darren, for his marriage, for his wife, Lord. I pray for the Church that he's a part of, Lord, that they would be able to get involved and engage in a loving way with Darren and his family, Jesus, and that you would begin to draw both Darren and his wife closer to you and to your word and that you would give them both wisdom, the grace of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, Lord, as they interact with each other. But what you do, Lord, what only you can do, and that is bring healing in this situation and restoration, Lord, if indeed it is what's called for here. So please, Lord, be with Darren, be with his wife, and be with their church. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

We've got time for one more quick question. Let's go to Evan in Kansas City, Missouri. Evan, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yeah, hi, Pastor Adriel. Thank you so much for your show, by the way.

It's such an encouragement. My question is, I grew up at a Southern Baptist tradition church, and I've had more friends that are now more observing Reformed theology, and I was just curious what the differences, or the main differences of Reformed theology versus traditional evangelical Christian beliefs. Thank you. Evan, thank you for asking that question. I only have about, you know, 20 seconds to answer that before the show ends. But let me just say, typically in Reformed theology, you have an emphasis upon God's sovereignty, in salvation, a high view of sin, a high view of God's sovereignty. But there really is so much more, a high view of the local church, a high view of the ordinances Jesus gave.

And so maybe we can open up tomorrow's show with that. 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.