Has the Church Failed to Raise Up Good Leaders?

Has the church failed to raise up good leaders? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm 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. We'd love to hear from you. You can call us at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Of course, you can always email us your question as well. Here's our email address. It's questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to Elias from Longview, Texas. Elias, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Matthew 18 and 11 and others. So, thank you so much for taking my question, and thank you for your time. Hey, man, thanks for the encouragement.

Elias, glad you enjoyed the program. Are there some Bibles that we should just steer clear from, like, that we shouldn't use for Bible study? Well, yeah, I mean, I think if you've got more of a paraphrase, if it's not meant to be for study, yeah, we want to, I think, maybe not, it's not that you have to completely avoid them, but don't use them for serious study of the Bible.

I think you want to get a translation, like the New King James, like the NASB, like the ESV, which is the Bible that I use, the English Standard Version, when I'm preaching or even, you know, when I'm reading here on the broadcast from the text of Scripture. And the ESV, the ESV does not include Matthew 18, 11, which reads, The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost, because it's not in some of the earliest Greek manuscripts. Now, what we're getting into here, Elias, is what's called textual criticism, and, you know, you have all these different manuscripts, New Testament manuscripts, thousands of them that are being compared with each other. Some of them are older, some of them are not as old, and we're depending on, especially the oldest manuscripts, we have a lot of them to help us understand the original, to get back to the original, if you will. Now, I don't think that, you know, something like this, a discrepancy like this would ever cause us to say, like, I'm happy using the ESV still, because what's missing there is not something that is, you know, changing anything, I guess, in terms of the meaning or the text of Scripture. That idea that the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost is something that's repeated elsewhere in Scripture as well, which is why some people think that it was included here, maybe by a later scribe. But you certainly see this idea in the Gospel of Luke, I think that very phrase is used in Luke chapter 19, certainly in Luke 15, where you have the parable of the lost sheep, and the shepherd going and pursuing that which is lost.

So we're not losing anything, if you will. I mean, it's all there, it's just a question of, you know, does it belong here? And there were some scribes who felt like it did, but it seems like, in terms of the early manuscripts, that statement wasn't there. So I'd say, no, you know, I'd still continue reading and using those Bibles and studying the Scripture. Oftentimes there will be a footnote like there is in my ESV about the fact that some manuscripts do contain that phrase. But when it comes to avoiding particular translations for serious study, I would just say, well, don't try to use a paraphrase of the Bible like the message for your in-depth Bible study, because that's not what it was meant for. And so, again, appreciate your encouragement, and may God bless you. Just to follow up for you, Adrian, I know you've cautioned before about the New World translation of the Bible.

You want to just address that briefly? Oh, yeah. Well, if the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons are the ones who came up with the version, I'd say definitely, I mean, not being serious, avoid those ones, because there are some serious theological and translation errors with what they do with the biblical text. And so Bill is referring to the New World translation, which I've talked about before, when we've had questions about Jehovah's Witnesses. That's the Bible that they use. And basically, especially in those texts of Scripture that really, I think, point out the deity of Jesus Christ, they twist them, they mistranslate them, they'll take away words or they'll add words in brackets, and it's just really confusing and it's really dangerous, spiritually speaking.

So yeah, there are books or translations like that that I would say certainly we should avoid. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. You can leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day by calling 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. And of course, you can always email us your question at questions at corechristianity.com. Let's go to Sally, who's calling in from Rolla, Missouri. Sally, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I would like to know, my mother goes strictly by the Old Testament, I'd like to know why it's in there that Lot's daughters had sex with him. I have a hard time explaining that to my, when I teach Sunday school. Yeah, boy, teaching Sunday school, especially if you're teaching to kids going through Genesis and you come across some of these passages and you think, okay, how am I going to talk about this?

A couple of things. We have to differentiate between, you know, what's descriptive and what's prescriptive in Scripture. So sometimes, you know, the Bible is just describing for us events that happened. The sinful lives of people that God used mightily, but it's not setting their lives up as examples for us to follow, like, hey, this is a good idea. Incestuous relationships are a good idea.

No, not at all. In fact, in the text of Genesis 19, where you have this case with Lot and his daughters, it's not put forward as a good thing, as a positive thing. There's a contrast here in some sense with Lot and his family and basically how they conducted themselves and Abraham and his family earlier in Genesis chapter 18.

And so you have a contrast there. And then the children that are born to Lot as a result of this, you know, this act of incest go on to be the Moabites and the Ammonites, which we know throughout Scripture. You know, oftentimes the Moabites and the Ammonites mistreated the people of God. And so there's a lot here even in the text that suggests to us that this is not a good thing, that there's guilt here. And later in the Old Testament, in Leviticus, in Leviticus chapter 18, you have prohibitions against incest specifically. And so, you know, again, we got to differentiate between is the Bible giving me this story as an example for me to follow, or is it a picture of the sinfulness of humanity and just how broken we are, the people of God were under the Old Covenant, the patriarchs even. You read about the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and you just think, boy, how could they have done some of these things? King David, for example, as well. You know, they're not always being set up for us as moral examples.

Actually, no. On the contrary, what we're seeing is there are people who are in desperate need of a gracious God. And in that sense, we can all identify with them because we come from broken families, we come from broken situations, sinful situations, and yet we cling, like they did, to the mercy of God. And so I think that's the lesson, and that mercy comes solely through the only righteous one, Sally, Jesus Christ.

Great explanation. Thanks so much for that, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez as we get ready for school starting up here in just a couple of weeks. In fact, for some parents, some families in certain parts of the country starting up right away, we have this wonderful resource for parents and grandparents to use with their kids. Yeah, the resource is called Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School, and it's so important that we're involved in the lives of our children, in the lives of our grandchildren, encouraging them in their faith, encouraging them to follow the Lord, to love the Lord, and providing resources for them and resources that we can use to help us in that. And so that's what this is.

It's a free resource. Again, it's called Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School. And talk about some of the issues that our children face, peer pressure, the need to or the feeling that you need to get your worth, your value from your performance, how well you're doing. Where does our worth truly come from?

These are things that young people, young children are wrestling through. And so I hope that you do get a hold of this resource for your family, Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School, and it's free over at corechristianity.com. Again, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, corechristianity.com forward slash offers, and look for that, Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School. Well, we do receive voicemails here at the Core, and you can call us anytime, 24 hours a day. We do our best to review our voicemails each day.

And here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Dakota. My question for you is, do you think that young men who are interested in growing in their faith, that they should go to seminary? That's my first question. And then a few subsequent questions is that do you think the church has failed in training up young men? Those are my questions. Thank you for this ministry, and hope to hear your answer.

Thank you. Okay, so young man who is really into the Bible and studying scripture, you know, should that person go to seminary to further their education? Maybe, and maybe not. I think each of us should have a passion for God's word. Men and women, a passion for theology, for growing in our understanding of God's word. But a love for theology, I would say, is not enough. That's not the only thing that you need to determine whether or not you're called to the ministry. There is this aspiration that Paul speaks about in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1 where he talks about the office of overseer and aspiring to that and how that's a good thing. But there needs to be the affirmation, I think, of the church. So it's not just an individual who's saying, I like the Bible, so I might as well go into ministry.

I mean, I think that's a part of it. You have that desire, but are you gifted and are you called ultimately by God? Is God calling you to this? And one of the ways that we gauge that call is first through that internal sense of call and then secondarily by the external call, we call it. You know, the people around you who have seen you, your gifts, your character, and are saying, Yeah, you know, when you open up the scriptures or when you encourage me in the Lord, it really seems like, boy, this could be a way that God is going to use you in your life and for the good of the church.

And so we want to have both. And so it should be something that the church is affirming an individual and almost sending that individual to study the word of God further. There has to be a love for God's word, and there has to be a love for people, a love for the sheep, a desire to serve the church and to care for her.

If you love the Bible and theology, but you don't love people, pastoral ministry is just not going to work out because it's people work. It's serving people. It's having conversations about the word. It's exhorting. It's comforting.

It's people work. And so it's something that I think you should pray about. I would say that if an individual does feel called to the ministry, that they should do everything that they can to study, to show themselves approved, to grow in their understanding of God's word, of theology, of church history. We oftentimes, I think, in some circles will minimize the importance of studying theology, going to seminary. Well, my pastor didn't go to seminary. He was just trained by the Holy Spirit, that kind of a thing. Well, yeah, the Holy Spirit can use means and oftentimes does, in fact, ordinarily does to train us up, to prepare us for things like holy ministry. When I think about it, there's nothing more important than making sure that we're getting the word of God right as pastors and that we're in churches where the word of God is taken seriously. You want somebody to be preaching the word of God to you who has studied it, who can talk about the historical background, who has studied Greek and Hebrew.

I know this sounds like, boy, that's a tall order, but we're talking about God's holy word here. Pastors are called to minister to the souls of people, to shepherd them. Too often, I think, when people don't take this seriously, a lot of damage can be done. I would say it's something for a young man to prayerfully consider, but if it does seem like there's a call and that call is being affirmed by the church, yes, go to seminary and study and continue to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Christ so that you can be well-equipped to shepherd the flock, to feed the flock. I think that that's really, really important. With regard to your second question there, has the church failed in raising up men for the ministry? We've got our work cut out for us, and I do think that, yeah, probably in some instances, certainly. Oftentimes, one critique that I often hear of churches today is that men just are not drawn to them, that we're not focusing on the needs, the struggles, the concerns that men growing up in our society have.

I think that there is something to that. We know that it's the job of the church to pass the baton down, to continue to raise up new leaders. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. If a church has faithful men who are serving and doing well in the church, but they're not entrusting the deposit of faith to them, they're not being proactive about passing it along, about raising up new leaders, about discipleship, well, then we are dropping the ball, and we're not preparing for what's coming next for the next generation. It's really important for us as churches to treasure the gospel, sound doctrine, and then to pass that along, pass that down, raising up new leaders, new elders, new pastors, to pass it along, not just to the men, but to the women, to everyone in the church.

That's how we rightly treasure it. Again, thank you for your question. God bless. If you're considering ministry, may the Lord bless you and give you wisdom and guidance. I love hearing from young people like Dakota, and maybe he is sensing a call to the ministry in Dakota.

As Adriel said, that call involves two parts, that inner call and then that confirmation from the body of Christ, so we would encourage you to talk to your church elders if you're feeling that call. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do receive emails here on a regular basis, and if you have a question about the Bible and the Christian faith, even if maybe you have doubts about Christianity, we'd love to hear from you.

Here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com. Here's one from Christy. She says, I've been bothered by the doctrine of Original Sin lately, especially when I think of children or infants. A lot of it doesn't seem fair. Can you explain what I'm missing about this teaching?

Yeah. Okay, so what is the doctrine of Original Sin to begin with? It's this idea that in Adam, all of us fell. We sinned in Adam. Adam was the representative of humanity there in the garden, and when he chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, humanity in him fell. I think this is something that's made clear in places like Romans 5, verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, so even before the law was given, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

In Adam, all died. Part of the reason I think we have a hard time with this, and it might just be the sort of Western individualism that many of us cherish. It's just the waters that we swim in, so the idea of being represented by someone else. No, I'm standalone.

It's me. We have a hard time with this, but this is what the Bible teaches. In the same way that Adam was the representative head of humanity and that we fell in him, similarly, in and through Christ, we receive the righteousness of God by faith, salvation. It cuts both ways, and that's exactly what Paul is going to go on to say there in Romans 5. Now, with regard to original sin more specifically, what is it that we inherit? We inherit the guilt of Adam's first sin, the corruption of our whole nature, the actual sins that we do flowing from that, so it's this guilt and this corruption. We're born in sin, as David said in the Psalms, because of that. The question is, well, is that fair?

I think that's what you're getting at. I feel like that's not fair, but the reality is that humanity, through Adam, is in covenant with God. We sometimes refer to this as a kind of covenant of works, where we fell in Adam because of sin, and we continue down that path outside and apart from Christ.

We continue down that path. We choose to do those things which are not pleasing to God. The hope is that the new Adam came, the last Adam. Again, you get that language in Romans 5.

You see it also in 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus came to restore that which Adam had broken down, if you will, and that in Christ we are given eternal life, that the image of God, which has been marred through sin, is restored in us through Jesus Christ by faith alone. It's not on the basis of our works. It's not getting what we deserve.

Actually, that's grace. We deserve death. As Paul says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I've said this time and time again. We want to take sin seriously, because only when we take sin seriously, and that includes original sin seriously, can we really understand the depths of the mercy and grace of God in forgiving us, in washing away our sins and uniting us to Jesus by faith. That's what we have to do. We have to focus on the reality of the Gospel, the extent of God's grace for us, even though we were captive to sin. God bless you, and may the Lord give you a sense of His great mercy in your life, in our lives, of His great forgiveness. Even though we were fallen in Adam and had continued down that path, He sent Christ, the last Adam, to bring us home to Him and to lift us up to everlasting life with great mercy and grace. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do receive voicemails here, and this is one from one of our listeners named Viola. Pastor Sanchez, can you explain Acts 8, verses 15 through 17, and explain to us why today we don't need to have someone lay hands on us to receive the Holy Spirit?

Thank you. Yeah, so here Acts, chapter 8, verse 14, when the apostles of Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John. So the people of Samaria, the Samaritans, received the word of God. The apostles sent Peter and John, verse 15, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Okay, so the question is, right, like, do I need to have a pastor lay hands on me to receive the Holy Spirit, and if he doesn't, you know, am I not filled with the Holy Spirit? We receive the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone who believes is baptized in the Holy Spirit.

That's the first thing that I would say. What you have here in Acts, chapter 8, is this unique event, in part because the Gospel is spreading to the Samaritans. Right from Jerusalem, Judea, the uttermost parts of the earth, as the Gospel and the word of God goes out, God is showing all the people, the apostles, that the Gentiles, the non-Jews, the Samaritans, receive the Spirit of God just like we did. I mean, that's what the disciples say at one point.

Why? To highlight the fact that there's been this great change, this great shift in the history of redemption, and so God is demonstrating in this very visible way through the laying on of hands of the apostles on the Samaritans that he's accepted them, that he's welcomed them into the family, that there is neither Jew nor Greek slave nor free, but that we're one in Jesus Christ, and God wanted them to understand that so clearly, and that's why you have what you do there in Acts, chapter 8. And so God bless you, and thank you for that question, Viola, may you have a wonderful day. 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.