What Does Biblical Hospitality Look Like When Your Neighbors Are LGBTQ+?

What does biblical hospitality look like when your neighbors are LGBTQ? 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.

You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and of course you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Rich calling in from Pennsylvania. Rich, what's your question for Adriel?

Hello, Adriel. How are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you, Rich?

Oh, pretty good. For a while now, I've been concerned about the decline in our society and all that, but in 1 Timothy 2.11, where he talks about, I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be silent. How should I look at that in today's society?

I feel the uprising of women's lib and all that in the 50s and 60s is just a decline of our society. How should I view that? And the thing is, it's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Where in the Bible did that law ever change? And we're supposed to listen to the Word of God and trust it. I don't see that being upheld.

Well, Rich, thank you for your call and for that question. You're absolutely right. We want to go by the book, by God's Word. So the question is, what is God's Word teaching there in 1 Timothy 2, verse 11, where Paul says, I do not permit a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet, for Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor, and so forth. I think specifically what the apostle Paul is talking about there is not just women aren't allowed to teach, period, or have any authority, period. I think he's talking specifically about the church and offices within the church. He's going to go on to say in 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, this saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.

There it is again, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. I think many people, Rich, are concerned with things that are happening in society, and certainly there's a lot of confusion about things like gender and sexuality in our world today. I think it is important for us to talk about the beautiful distinctions, the complementary relationship that exists between male and female as God created us. I think that that's good and right, and I think that that's reflected within the structure and order of the church as well, and then also in broader society. But I don't think that we would want to take 1 Timothy 2, verse 11 and just apply it across the board to everything, specifically here again, here and then in other places like 1 Corinthians 14 where you have another prohibition on teaching women teaching.

We're talking about offices in the church, in particular the office of elder or pastor, and I think that's where the application fits for us. Hopefully that clears it up some for you, brother, and I pray that you're blessed and encouraged. Thank you for listening to the broadcast.

Hey, Rich, thanks so much for calling in. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. We produced some great Bible studies here at the Core, and we want to tell you about one of our newest ones today. Yeah, we have a Bible study, 10-week Bible study on the New Testament book of Philippians, the book of Philippians. This is a really just wonderful book in the New Testament where the apostle Paul talks about suffering, joy, prayer, I mean so many things that are just practical to the Christian life, and so we hope that you get a hold of this resource. It's yours for donation of $15 or more, a gift of $15 or more, and it's a 10-week Bible study you can go through on your own or with a group of people from your church.

You mentioned several things the book covers. It also talks about anxiety in Philippians chapter 4, and there's some great stuff in there as well, so we'd encourage you to get this Bible study from us. Go to corechristianity.com forward slash new study.

Again, corechristianity.com forward slash new study and look for this great new Bible study on the book of Philippians. Well, let's go to one of the voicemails that we received from one of our callers. This came in from Doug. I have a question. I work with a gentleman who is gay, and we have a good relationship with the person I work with. I guess the question I'm having is we were wrestling in my mind about inviting them over, him and his partner over for dinner, but I'm kind of curious about what is advisable here.

I have two young children, and he's going to obviously be two individuals who are same gender and so forth, and my children are not old enough, I don't think, to really be talking about these sort of things, and obviously will be a question they might have about some sort of physical affection. Is it advisable as a Christian to invite them over for dinner or at this point in my children's lives right now without being able to kind of explain what the difference is here, maybe not do that. I appreciate your response to it.

Thanks very much. Yeah. Man, Doug, I love this question, and I love the fact that you're wrestling through this for yourself, wanting to be a good neighbor and share the gospel of Christ, also wanting to be a good father and making sure that you're discipling your children well, caring for them, not exposing them perhaps to things that are going to be detrimental to their own growth in grace and understanding, and so such a practical and important question. First, let me just say this. Hospitality isn't just inviting our friends over. I think a lot of times in Christian circles, we miss this. We think, well, I'm a pretty hospitable person. I have my best friends over frequently. We like to hang out with each other, but that's not what hospitality, biblical hospitality is. Actually, the word in the New Testament means love of stranger.

If you broke it down, it's this compound word. Hospitality isn't just inviting our friends over. It's even caring for those who are different than we are, who aren't on the same pages. When you think of Jesus' words in Luke chapter 14, when you throw a great banquet, don't just invite your friends and the people who can repay you. Invite the poor, the crippled, those who can't repay you, those who aren't going to elevate your social status. You think also of the parable of the good Samaritan.

Biblical hospitality, I think, is beyond or goes further than what so many of us think of when we think about hospitality. Now, we live in a day where increasingly we are going to need to help our children at the appropriate times think through the issues of gender and sexuality from a biblical perspective, with a biblical worldview. It's imperative that we teach our kids these things because if we don't, the world will. You just think of media, social media.

It's just everywhere around us. It's so important for us as parents to have these kinds of conversations, again, at the appropriate time with our children. We want to help them to know, one, that all people are made in God's image. We're called as Christians to love all people and to do good to all people, especially those of the household of faith, but to all people.

Two, God's law calls us to live in certain ways, and many people in the world reject that law. We can have those conversations with our children and say, look, not everyone believes like we do. I have this conversation with my kids.

My oldest is 10 years old. Just even walking around the neighborhood in Southern California, he sees things and he starts to ask questions. He says, look, we're called as Christians to love people who differ from us, who think differently than we do about the world, about God's law, but we don't have to embrace their beliefs. We can even lovingly challenge those beliefs. That's what God calls us to do. I would say model charitable engagement with non-Christians.

This is an opportunity for you. Otherwise, I think our kids might grow up thinking that the Gospel only works in the church, but that it doesn't work in the world. The Gospel has something to say to us within the church, but it doesn't have anything to say to my gay neighbors. The truth is it does have something to say to your gay neighbors, and God uses us to extend that message, the truth of the Gospel, Christian hospitality.

You help them to see how the Christian faith drives us to reach out while maintaining our convictions. I think that's the best balance that you can strike. It sounds like you guys are friends.

You work together so you know them, so there's already this friendship. I think that's a good thing. I would say if the couple was openly hostile and trying to sow seeds of doubt in your children or something like that, then I would say, yeah, don't do that. But if it's an opportunity for you to extend Christian charity, maybe it does create conversations with your children after the fact, and this is where you need to be discerning, you and your wife need to be discerning, and say, okay, how do we want to approach this?

Are we ready? Are they ready to have that kind of conversation? We talk about the world in which we live, God's law, how we're called to live in light of the fact that people reject the Gospel, and so on and so forth. Those, again, are important conversations to have. Pray, talk to your wife, think through whether or not it would be fine to have them over, and then use it as an opportunity to show the love of Christ and to teach your kids about the love of Christ as well.

God bless, Doug. Just a follow-up question for you, Adriel. He did ask the question, what if they were openly displaying affection to each other? Would that change your advice, or even let's take that to the church, where, you know, you welcome gay individuals into the church, but then you have a gay couple that is openly displaying affection in front of children, young children.

What would your perspective be on that? Yeah, I mean, I guess I would say, and this is kind of what I was getting at there, if they're openly doing things to try and, I don't know, undermine, right? If they're putting on a show, imagine a couple comes to the church and they're actually not really interested in coming to the church or being a part of it.

They just want to sort of put it in your face because they know that they disagree. I think that that would be an issue, in the same way that, you know, if there was a heterosexual couple and they were just there and there were these, you know, displays of affection that were just over the top, you would say, hey, we're actually here to focus on Jesus, not to distract one another. And so it sounds to me, though, like based on Doug's question that he's got a friendship with this individual, that they know each other, right?

It doesn't sound to me like that would be an issue in particular. And so I would say, yeah, I mean, this could be a great opportunity to talk about the Lord, to pray there together with them, to answer questions that they might have. I mean, it's just one of the ways that the Lord gets, the primary way, I think, that the Lord gets his word out is through these kinds of relationships, friendships. And so I appreciate Doug's question. Just pray that the Lord gives him and his wife wisdom and uses them, that the Spirit of God, Doug, would fill you and that God would use you to be a light where you work in your neighborhood for Jesus and for his word. Amen.

Some good counsel there. Thanks, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can always call us and leave a voicemail 24 hours a day. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We do our best to review our voicemails each day. So feel free to call us again any time.

833-THE-CORE and leave your question. Let's go to Gene calling in from Kansas. Gene, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, my question is, what is your opinion of the devotional Jesus Calling?

Hey, Gene. You know, a lot of people were talking about this book some time ago. I haven't heard as much discussion recently. And personally, I've not read Jesus Calling. What I've heard about it is just that, I mean, it's essentially a devotional that seeks to use, I guess, Jesus' voice, you know, like Jesus himself speaking to you. The problem is it's not necessarily always quoting scriptures, just sort of, you know, Jesus talking to you and here's what I think he would say, that type of a thing.

I don't think that that's helpful. You know, look, I think if we want to hear Christ speaking to us, he does that through his word. And so I think good devotionals take the word of God and help to explain it, help us to understand it, help us to know who Jesus is on the basis of his word. It's not just people giving us, you know, good advice or words from Jesus that Jesus didn't actually speak.

And so I think that's one of the reasons, Gene, that some people have been concerned about this devotional. But as I said, it's not one that I've personally used. Now, is it something that you've used? I mean, how have you found it to be kind of in your own life? Yes, I've used it for years and she always has scriptures, at least three, right at the end. And it's been helpful to me.

Yeah. Well, again, I think it's just important for us to, with whatever it is that we're reading, whether it's a devotional, I mean, especially when we're talking about books that are spiritual in nature, when we're talking about God and how he communicates himself to us, his word, his will, I think we just always want to be discerning. And so I think you can look at those things and say, okay, is this true? Does it line up with scripture? I think the other piece that has raised concerns, and again, I'll just say it again, is the way in which it's written, as if Christ himself, Jesus himself, was speaking to us. And this is, I think, where we do have to be very careful because we don't want to speak on behalf of Jesus if Jesus has not clearly said something.

So there is a danger there, I would say, Gene. There is a caution that I would have for that. And just even the methodology, I don't know that I agree with that. But at the same time, I think that when we are using resources that are rooted in scripture, that are communicating the word of God clearly to us, that we can and ought to be encouraged. And so I don't think that it's a devotional that I would personally recommend. I think that there are other devotionals that are probably really good that don't take the exact same approach.

But I think the reason is not because I want to be kind of grumpy about it or something. It's so important for us to make sure that we're not putting words in Jesus' mouth. That we're letting him speak for himself through his own word. And so anytime we're not doing that, or words are being put into the mouth of our Lord, then I think we have to be very cautious.

And I think it does raise concern. God bless, Gene. Thank you for calling us. Thanks, Gene. And by the way, Adriel, Jesus says you're being grumpy.

So I just want to pass that along to you. Yeah, Bill. Didn't I just say don't do that? Come on, man. Yes, you did.

I'm sorry, forgive me. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do get emails here, and if you have a question for us, you can send us an email anytime. Here's our email address. It's questions at CoreChristianity.com.

And here's one from Eric. He says, Occasionally, sins of my past come to mind. I have confessed these sins to the Lord and I've asked for forgiveness at some point in time. What should I do when these sins come to mind again? Do I need to confess them again to the Lord and ask for forgiveness?

Is there something else I need to do? For example, if I cheated on an exam in the past, is there something else I should do when that sin comes to mind? If you've confessed your sins to the Lord truly, well, you're forgiven. I mean, this is the promise that we have in First John. We confess our sins.

God himself is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Now, I think it sounds to me you brought the example up of cheating on an exam. If you've done something that has hurt others or harmed others or created a situation where I cheated and I'm basically living a lie in this area, and you're just confessing it but you're not dealing with that sort of underlying issue, there are times, I think, where these things will come up in our minds over and over again because there needs to be some resolution there. Maybe that looks like opening up and confessing and saying to the people who gave you the exam, I cheated on that exam. I shouldn't have gotten an A on that exam.

I don't know. I mean, it just depends on the circumstances, and every situation is a little bit different. But I would say, just with regard to when you confess your sins, you want to rest in the promise of the Gospel and the reality of the fact that Jesus forgives and cleanses all of your sins. You don't have to wallow in guilt or shame or feel like, oh, man, God doesn't really forgive me. No, I think that we need to take God at his word. Does that mean that we're not going to be reminded of those sins, those failures? No, we are. But when we are, I think we also, in that moment, ought to remind ourselves of the blood of Christ and the goodness of God and the graciousness of God and the fact that we are forgiven.

And we reiterate that to ourselves. Remind yourself of your baptism, even. I mean, this is what the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 6. He's writing to a group of people who are wrestling, struggling with sin. Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Some people were saying that. Paul says, no way. How could we who have died to sin live any longer in it? Don't you know that as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, he tells the Galatians. And so you're reminding yourself of the fact that you have been forgiven, that you have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and now you're called to walk in newness of life. And so when the evil one, the accuser, brings those sins to your mind, you're reminded of them and you're tempted to think, man, am I really forgiven?

I can't believe I did this. No, you cling to the promise of the gospel and you put that back in the evil one's face and you trust in Jesus. And if, again, there's a situation where maybe you need to have a conversation because you've sinned against someone, you haven't done that, perhaps that's why this is continually coming up in your mind.

And I would say we'll have that conversation that you need to have and pursue forgiveness and reconciliation if that's an issue. Thank you for the question. Thanks for that, Adriel.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We've mentioned that you can call us and leave your voicemail question anytime. Here's the number 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Gloria. My question is, what does the Bible say about people in the modern day who claim to have prophecies and visions, and what do you believe is okay as far as building a business and profiting off of that?

Thanks. I mean, two big red flags that I would say there, Gloria. One is somebody who comes and says, I'm a prophet, I have visions and prophecies and whatnot. Well, that raises a bigger question, and that is does God ordinarily give those sign gifts of the Holy Spirit today? Now, I do think that God can work in extraordinary ways at times, yes, but we're talking about how is God ordinarily working in the church today, and when people say, well, I'm a prophet or an apostle called by the Lord and I have visions and prophecies and dreams and so on and so forth, they're assuming that this is just sort of the ordinary Christian life, and I would beg to differ there.

I think that those gifts, those sign gifts in particular, were used to help propel the gospel forward in the early days of the church, in the apostolic period. And then as time went on and the word of God continued to be preached and the church was established, you do still have those things happening extraordinarily miraculously at times, a healing or a providential word of knowledge, that kind of thing. This is not how ordinarily God works in the church today. Ordinarily, I would say, he works through the faithful preaching of the Bible, that that's what we need to be grounded in. Too many people are chasing after signs and wonders, prophecies and miracles.

We want to hear those things. I want somebody to give me a special particular prophetic word from the Lord, but we're not growing in our basic understandings of understanding what the Bible teaches. That's what we need to go to.

We need to get back to the local church being plugged into solid churches where the word of God is faithfully taught, and that's how God intends for us to grow. The first red flag is just the claim. Second, though, you said, what about people who are just profiting off of this and they're building a business? That sounds very much to me like Simon the magician in the book of Acts, Simon the sorcerer, peddling the word of God, but not even the word of God here, but this claim to having supernatural prophetic power, peddling that to make money or to build a platform or to make yourself great.

I would say run from that. When you see that, when you see an individual who's doing that, I think that we need to be discerning and wise and call it what it is, which is false, wrong, and sin, frankly. Those are the two things there.

I'm concerned about this kind of stuff. You see it in media, television, televangelists. Again, I think so often the focus is taken away from the pure preaching of the gospel.

That's what we need to get back to. It's so critical when you talk about this on a regular basis, Adriel, that those who teach in the church, those who are pastors, those who are leaders are called to a very high standard. When people are violating the truths of God, there's going to be some pretty severe consequences. It's terrifying, honestly, Bill, when you think about it and you pray for mercy, but it goes back even to the earlier question about speaking for Jesus, putting words in Jesus' mouth. This is why we have to be so cautious. We want to let Christ speak for Himself, and we want to platform His voice through Scripture. 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.