Is Reaping What We Sow the Same as Karma?

Is reaping what we sow the same as karma? 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'll be taking your phone calls for the next 25 minutes, so jump on the phone right now. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account.

You can watch Adriel live right now on YouTube. We have a YouTube channel, and you can send him a question that way. And of course, you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Martin. How can we give God the glory when we're in the kitchen, the living room, and the household? Well, it sounds like two questions there, right? Like, why should we give God the glory first? Well, all glory and honor is due to him. Mankind's problem is that we've fallen short of giving God the glory that's due to him. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God is what the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 3. Back in Romans chapter 1, I believe it's verse 23, he says that what we've done as human beings is we've exchanged the glory of the one and only God, and we've given that glory to creatures. We've worshiped the creation rather than the creator. So God is worthy of all praise and glory, and we're obligated, we ought to, as the creator of all things, as our redeemer in Jesus Christ, we ought to give him the glory.

Now, how do we do that in our day-to-day lives? Is that only something that you can do at church on Sunday when you're singing about God and giving him praise and glory through song? No, I think that in everything that we do, we should be giving glory to the Lord. And so there are two passages of scripture that I just want to bring your attention to. The first one is in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31, where Paul said, Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now there, in that context, he's talking about being a good neighbor, especially to those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ, not causing one another to stumble through the things that we eat, the things that we drink, that have no relation to God's law. He's talking about areas of Christian liberty, and he's saying, look, whatever you do in the body of Christ and the world, always seek to glorify God by your actions.

And part of the way we do that is by loving one another. The other passage of scripture that I wanted to bring up is in Colossians chapter 3, verse 23. I think this is such a beautiful verse. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord, not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. So look, whatever you're doing, whether it's washing the dishes or going to your nine to five job, whatever you're doing, do your work as unto the Lord, knowing that he's watching you, that in all that you do, you can do it as unto him. And when we do things as unto the Lord, how do we do them? We do them with excellence. We do them in a way that is good and pleasing and full of integrity. And so in all things, whether we eat or drink, in our jobs, in our vocations, we're called to glorify the Lord. And may God help us each to do that. Thank you for that question.

Some great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, even if you have some doubts about the Christian faith.

We're open to hearing your questions. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to John calling in from St. Louis, Missouri. John, what's your question for Adriel?

Yeah, I do enjoy your shoulder. I would like to ask a question. In the last days, I don't remember the specific Bible verse, that said that demonic activity will increase. And how is that facilitated?

Is it through the internet, computer? I mean, how is that manifested in the realms? I know they said there's a spiritual realm and there's a realm of evil and good, but how is that working now?

And what signs do you see that as far as being prophesied? Thanks a lot. Hey John, thank you.

So two texts that I would go to. One in 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

And then he says avoid such people. And so one of the things I think in terms of demonic influence in the last days, what we sometimes refer to as the great apostasy that you see in the New Testament, I think what we see is just this sort of rampant wickedness. People being selfish, worshipping self instead of worshipping God. I was talking earlier about Romans chapter 1 where Paul says that we suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness and people are worshipping and serving the creature rather than the creator. And I think in our society and in the quote unquote last days, one of the things that Paul highlighted is the ultimate object of worship is going to be the self and are going to be lovers of self.

And so I think that's one of the things that's prophesied about, talked about in scripture. And another text, and this might have been the one that you were referring to, is back in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. And so another thing that goes alongside of this sort of great apostasy departing from the faith is false teaching, bad doctrine, an improper understanding of the Gospel, the spirit of the Antichrist, as John said in 1 John. And so we need to be committed as Christians today to sound doctrine, a proper understanding of the Word of God, and righteous living, living in light of the truth of the Gospel. But we need to understand the truth of the Gospel first so that we might live in light of it. So the big issue today is people jettisoning those truths, turning from the Gospel, turning from the grace of God, and living however they want, rejecting God's law, rejecting God's call upon their lives. And so it's something that we each need to be aware of as we seek the Lord and dig into the scriptures. Thank you for that question.

Good thoughts. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we receive a lot of questions here on the Core about spiritual gifts and speaking in tongues, gifts of the Spirit, and Core Christianity would like to answer those by offering you a free resource on this topic. Yeah, the resource is called Six Things You Should Know About Spiritual Gifts. We know that this is a controversial subject in the Church today, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, like the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy. And so that's why we wanted to create this resource to help shed some light on this controversial issue, and especially to encourage you. I know that there are many people who wonder about, you know, what is my spiritual gift?

How has God gifted me to be a blessing in His Church, to edify the Church, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12? And so I do hope that this resource will encourage you and also illuminate your mind as you think about this very important topic. Again, it's called Six Things You Should Know About Spiritual Gifts. You can find that by going to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for Six Things You Should Know About Spiritual Gifts. While we do receive voicemails here at the Core, you can call us 24 hours a day and leave your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Josiah. My question is, concerning the verse that says God is not mocked, each man reaps exactly what he sows, what the meaning of that is, because I feel like it's kind of always been given as if it's like a karma thing or like a, like, you do this, you get this back. I just want to have some more understanding and context around what that means. Thank you.

Yeah. Galatians 6, verse 6, let the one who has taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches, do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. And so here, sowing to the Spirit looks like doing good. Again, love, the fulfillment of the law, love first and foremost to the body of Christ, the people of God, the family that the Lord has made us a part of, and then also love to all people, to do good to all people, especially to those of the household of faith, as we read elsewhere. Now, is this the exact same thing as karma?

No. This sort of principle of whatever you put into the universe is going to come back to you. I know in some religious traditions or perspectives, people who are born into not great situations are born into those situations because of something that they did in a previous life. It's the law of karma. Well, the law of karma is not the same as the gospel. The gospel is God, through Jesus Christ, gives us what we don't deserve, what we didn't earn. But as those in Christ, followers of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, we need to understand that, look, whatever a person reaps, he also sows.

Don't be deceived. And that's what Paul's point is here. Don't think that you can go on living in sin and that God is not going to discipline you, that there aren't going to be consequences to your sin. No, that's a part of how God demonstrates his fatherly love and care to his people. And so, yes, as a general principle, a person reaps what they sow.

You do good, and there's going to be a reward for that. That's the point that the apostle Paul is making. But this is not, and we would never say that this is, salvation by works, justification by your obedience. It couldn't be because earlier in the book of Galatians, Paul makes it absolutely clear that our forgiveness is based solely and primarily on the work of Jesus Christ for us. That's part of the issue in the book of Galatians, is there were these agitators that were coming and teaching a different gospel, a false gospel, that was not a gospel of grace and the free forgiveness of sins, but a gospel of obedience to the law so that you might be justified. And so we needed to differentiate, I think, well between these two things, and I think the apostle Paul does. And again, for us in Christ, he says, look, you need to realize that there are consequences to your behavior, even as a believer. You reap what you sow. And so we ought each of us to be encouraged to walk by the Spirit, as he says back in chapter 5, verse 16, so that we may not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Thank you for that question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Lisa, who's calling in from Arizona.

Lisa, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, my question is about confessing sins to people we've committed them against. When should we, if we should, confess those sins, especially if, you know, it's a personal sin or you've committed it against them, but you know they're unaware or they don't remember it. You know, do we go to them and confess it, or do we just give it to the Lord and walk in repentance and not tell them, especially when we know it might cause them pain?

Hey, Lisa, thank you for that question. I think as a general rule, right when we sin against someone, and if they don't know about it, part of the challenge why we don't want to confess is because we know, okay, this is going to hurt. I would much rather not bring this up. I don't want this person to feel the weight of what I've done. And so, boy, let's just try to brush it under the rug, or maybe I can just go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. And of course, we can and should go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, but I think it's really important for us to go to each other as well, especially if you've sinned against someone, and to say, look, I know that this is going to be hard, and I'm so ashamed of what I've done, but I need to confess it to you because I want our relationship to be good. So often, those sins that we commit against one another keep us from true fellowship with each other because we're holding on to these things. And so I think we are encouraged in places like 1 John and James 5, verse 16, to confess our sins to each other. And again, especially if you've sinned against someone, to go to that person and to confess and say, please forgive me. And we're called, they're called, as believers especially, to forgive. And again, I know that that can be really difficult, and it's the last thing we want to do oftentimes, but I think it's in that process that we really see the power of the Gospel at work and the grace of God in us as a community of faith to be able to grow together in Christ, clinging to His mercy. If we didn't have the Gospel, if we didn't have the forgiveness of sins, if we didn't have the work of Jesus uniting us together as a family, then maybe we could never confess to each other because there's just no hope.

But we do have hope as the body of Christ that we can be honest with one another when we've sinned against each other and say, please forgive me, and that we can forgive each other and that ultimately God forgives us. And so, Lisa, I don't know specifically about this situation for you, but that would be my encouragement, just generally speaking. Thanks for calling.

Some good counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Tony calling in from Iowa. Tony, what's your question? Hi, Bill. I wanted to thank you guys. I love, love, love this show, and one of the things I specifically love is how well you guys work together. And I know lots of people call in and give Adriel lots of love, and so I just wanted to also tell you, Bill, thank you. And I wanted to ask Adriel what one of his favorite things about working with you is. Boy, thank you, Tony, for that encouragement.

And you're right. We need to give Bill more love, and I'm happy to do that because he is awesome. It really is a joy to get to work together with him on this broadcast, and I feel I'm right there with you, Tony.

I feel like we make a great team together as well. I can just speak personally, talking about Bill. He's just a wonderful brother in the Lord, not just on this broadcast, but he really is. I've had him in my home. We've talked off the air, and he is an encouragement. He is so full of joy. That joyful attitude, I think, that comes off on the air is how he is all the time.

Now, you could ask his wife. I don't see him all the time, all the time, but at least in all of my experience with Bill, he's such an encourager, and so it truly is a privilege for me to get to work side by side with him in answering these questions about the faith. Tony, thank you for that encouragement.

Bill, great guy, man. Oh, thank you. You're making me blush, and no, there are days where I'm grumpy, so I must admit my wife will tell you. She will definitely tell you there are those grumpy days, so may the Lord forgive me. We all have them.

We all have them, yeah. Thanks for that. Thanks, Tony, for your sweet call.

That is so nice. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we have that great free resource available to you today, Six Things You Should Know About Spiritual Gifts. You can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers and download it. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Go back to the phones. We have Lori on the line from Nashville, Tennessee. Lori, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, Pastor Adriel, and hi, Bill. My question has to do with the Apostles' Creed. I'm trying to get away from it of saying it rotely and thinking through as I would personally answer somebody that might say, Christian, what do you believe? Well, in the section of Pontius Pilate, Jesus was punished under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. And I know you've addressed this, I think, probably recently about, you know, a lot of questions about going to hell, but that was not the question. It was right after that that he rose again, but the again kind of caught me when I was trying to say this to myself.

I don't recall that. What does again mean? He died, went to hell, and then rose again.

Can you clarify that for me? Yeah, so the third day, rising again, is just a reference to his bodily resurrection from the dead. The, I would say, cardinal truth, the jugular, if you will, of the Christian faith, the heartbeat of the Christian faith, the fact that Jesus rose again from the dead. So important, the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, we are still in our sins. And so, I mean, I can just share with you, I love that you're wanting to think through, hey, when in church we confess the Apostle's Creed, I don't just want to, you know, mouth the words, I want to, from the heart, confess what I believe as an act of worship. And so you think about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, his rising from the dead.

Well, what does that mean for me? It means that we too are going to rise again. That's the point that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 15, that in the same way that Jesus rose again from the dead, he's the first fruits, we might say, of the resurrection, we have, as believers in Jesus Christ, the hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. One thing recently that has just been comforting for me is resting in the fact that our faith is not rooted in feeling. There are times where you might not feel like you have a lot of faith or have a lot of quote-unquote spiritual feelings, but our hope rests in something concrete, something that happened in history, the fact that God the Son came to earth, suffered and died for our sins, and then rose again bodily from the dead.

That happened, and my hope is in that message, that reality that took place, and that's what gives us comfort. That's what should lead us to worship, to praise God, to thank God. And so it's that, again, that resurrection from the dead that's being focused on there in the Apostles' Creed and that we just say, praise you, Lord, for.

That is our hope. That's what gives us the fire to live as Christians. It's what Christ has done for us in rising from the dead.

God bless you. I'm thinking that's just a figure of speech, the word again. It's not saying he rose once and then he rose a second time, correct? That's absolutely correct. There's one resurrection, Bill.

Thank you for adding that, because that could be what was catching Laurie up there. It's that word again specifically. It's not saying that he rose again from the dead and then he rose again from the dead a second time.

No, he rose again once for us and for our salvation, and then ascended into heaven where he's seated at the right hand of the Father. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do receive voicemails 24 hours a day.

You can call us and leave your question for Adriel at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. Got this question from Elliot in Wisconsin. He says, are pastors and elders the same thing? Do elders have to be married with kids to be qualified? I think I would say that somebody who is an elder, if they don't have children, if they're not married, that doesn't mean that they're disqualified. That is that they can't be a pastor or an elder. I think the point there is that an elder who does have a family needs to care for his family well. That's in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1.

I think that's the focus there. I know men who are elders, pastors in churches who are not married but are faithful and are called and are qualified to serve in that way. Is there a difference between an elder and a pastor?

This gets into a discussion that some people have. It's called the two-office versus three-office view within the church. Is it that there are just elders and deacons, two offices? Or are there elders, deacons, and the minister, three different offices? It does seem like Paul in some places makes a distinction between elders who are just ruling over the body, caring for the spiritual needs, shepherding and governing, if you will, ruling elders we might say, and elders who labor in preaching and teaching specifically.

In fact, this is what Paul tells Timothy. Count those who labor in preaching and teaching as worthy of double honor, he says. It does seem like at least within elders, those who are called and qualified to care for the spiritual needs of the church, you do have some or one in particular who was focused on the ministry of the word, the preaching of the holy gospel.

There is, of course, again, differences of opinion on this. I know there are some people who just say, well, every elder at my church is a pastor and we kind of have a rotation of preachers every Sunday. The different elders that we have at our church, so there are some who operate like that, but most churches typically do have this sort of distinction where you have one individual who is the senior pastor or is the teaching elder who is laboring in preaching and teaching. I think that's a good thing because we want to take the ministry of the word very seriously.

It's not something that we approach haphazardly. James says in James 3, verse 1, Let not many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we'll receive a stricter judgment. This is important stuff, but again, I would say that pastors, elders, equality in terms of the authority that they have in office, but there does seem to be a difference between the person who's preaching every Sunday, not that he has more power or authority, but that he's just focused on something that the rest of the elders aren't spending as much time on, which is that preaching and teaching ministry. Thanks for that question. And of course, very important if you are considering becoming an elder that you are someone who's qualified, correct?

Yeah, I think that would be an important point. And that's what Paul says in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. And by the way, that distinction is in 1 Timothy 5, 17 through 18. And so thank you, brothers and sisters, for another broadcast. God bless. As we explore the truth of God's Word together.