How Do We Walk With Christ Daily?

How do we walk with Christ daily? 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. Here's our phone number, and you can feel free to leave us a voicemail if you get our voicemail system. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. And, of course, you can always send us an email with your question. Our email address is questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Dewan, who's calling in from Nebraska. Dewan, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, sir.

Thank you for taking my call. I was just interested in your opinion on the way you understand the Bible. As far as elders, when it talks of being of one wife, do you understand that as being of having one wife only, or does it, like, as a divorcee, does that eliminate you, in your opinion, from being an elder in a church?

Mm-hmm. Dewan, it depends on the circumstances that led to the divorce. I mean, was this a situation where, you know, a man was, you know, abandoned, or the marriage was dissolved through adultery, and, you know, even though it was tragic, there were legitimate grounds, according to scripture, for the divorce. I wouldn't hold that necessarily against the individual if that was the case, saying, well, now you can never be an elder if you've been sinned against in that way.

Now, if the, you know, the divorce, you know, if the circumstances were a lot different, and it was clear that the situation was, okay, this person was not caring for their household or their family the way they ought to have been, and it led to the dissolution of the marriage, well, then that would be a different thing altogether. And, of course, Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 3, that's one of the things that he's highlighting, is, you know, this idea of being the husband of one wife and faithful over the household, it's, as you do that, you're showing forth, right, this ability to care for what God has entrusted you with, and to love and to, you know, raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But if you're not doing that, if you're failing at that, well, that's grounds for disqualification, for not serving as an elder in the church, because, you know, Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, if someone does not know how to manage his own household, well, then how will he care for God's church?

And so this is one of the ways, you know, one of the evidences that we can look at in terms of saying, okay, this person really is qualified. Look at how they're leading their family. But, again, it depends on the circumstances of the divorce, and just because someone is divorced doesn't necessarily mean that they're disqualified from being an elder. And just because someone is single doesn't mean that they're disqualified from being an elder. The apostle Paul was not married. Peter had been married in the Gospels.

It talks about, you know, them being at his mother-in-law's house. But Paul wasn't married, certainly, and he was an overseer in the church and served the church and preached the word of God mightily. And so it depends on the circumstances, and I appreciate the question. God bless. You know, an interesting follow-up for you, Adriel, I had a friend who was a very godly guy and was recommended to be an elder at his church. And one of the current elders came to him, this guy, this single guy, and he said, you know, brother, when you get yourself a nice wife, then you could be on our elder board.

And I mean, there's not a glass ceiling for just because you're single. As you said, Paul and Jesus, single guys, so we need to remember that, right? Yeah, I think so. And was the church in Texas, Bill? Because the guys, or was the guy from, I like that, I like that voice that you did there.

Well, you do highlight, though, right? Like, there are, you know, sort of our own rules that we can sort of set up and say, this is what I want you to be like. A lot of times I think churches are looking for a good sort of committee leader or something like that with elders. We've got to look at those qualifications that are given in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and take those seriously as we seek to discern whether or not someone is actually called to the office of elder or overseer.

Good word. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to David calling in from St. Louis. David, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah.

Hi, Adriel. This is actually from a past question having to do with obviously, I believe, Matthew 624. So we had briefly touched on obviously secular artists coming into the Christian world, which is obviously good when that happens. But I don't believe I asked my additional question to, so what if the obviously secular artist comes back and asks for a return favor? And I asked that because obviously they're in the last, I want to say two or three years, we've had a particular artist in multiple genres converting over into Christian music and obviously staying in the secular circuit as well. Many very high respected people in both of their genres, Christian and secular. So what if the obviously secular artist were to say, hey, clearly I did you a favor coming into your genre.

So obviously now that favor has kind of come back full circle and we would like you to be on our label. So like this secular artist inviting Christians to join onto a secular label? Well, not necessarily the label, but obviously to help them on a secular song.

Yeah. I mean, I have friends who are believing, you know, recording artists and really, really talented. I mean, I would just say with whatever you do, not compromising your convictions. And so if it's an opportunity to use the gifts that God has given to you to glorify God in a kind of in another space, right, that Christians a lot of times don't have the opportunity to inhabit. But if there's an open door there to shine the light of Jesus, or just to produce good music that's not going to compromise you as a Christian, that is not going to go against what you believe, then I would say that that's perfectly fine.

It sounds like it could be a real opportunity, really. I think the danger, just like with them, not just even in terms of thinking about music, but the danger is not being shaped by those spaces, quote unquote, in ways that are contrary to our faith or that lead us to compromise. And so it's wanting to be, as the saying goes, in the world but not of the world and really having an impact, you know, engaging broader culture with the gifts that God has given to us, with the truth of the Gospel, without being transformed by the world and, you know, becoming a quote unquote friend of the world, of the evil system of the world, as James talks about, right? That's enmity with God. And so I think that this requires wisdom. I think it requires a lot of honesty, being able to look at yourself and say, okay, who's shaping who? Is this an opportunity to exalt Christ in this space where he's oftentimes not exalted?

Or is this something where I'm having to sell out as a Christian and I'm being more shaped by the system of the world than by the Word of God and I'm kept from being faithful to Jesus? And those are honest questions, those are hard questions, but I think that's what we need to think about when it comes to addressing something like this. God bless, David. Thanks for calling in. You know, along those lines, Adriel, wasn't there a point in your life where you were invited to join a secular circus? Yeah, yeah, Bill.

It's still on the table, in fact. And I'm, Bill is talking about the fact my dad owns a circus in Mexico. And there was actually a point in my life, you know, when I was in high school and when I was trying to determine like, do I want to move to Mexico, be with my dad and become a famous, world famous juggler?

And here I am today and I can juggle, but I'm not a world famous juggler. So, yeah. Yeah.

Better that than the clown on the clown car with the big nose. Yeah. Thanks, Bill. You bet. My pleasure. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

It's true, his dad does own a circus in Mexico. If you're ever down there, maybe you'll get a chance to see it. Let's go to Marlene, who is calling in from Iowa. Marlene, what's your question for Adriel? Hello. Hey, Marlene. Hi. I almost didn't hear you. I'm at work. I'm going to step out into another room.

Okay. My question was, I have several friends who are raising their children with no church and basically no, nothing, you know, for them to learn what to do and how to navigate through this world. And I'm very worried about them all, the children and them.

And I'm almost 75 now, so I feel like I finally got, found my way, but I want to help others. And I don't want to say things that are pushy and I don't want to upset them or anything, but I want to find a way to talk to them to address this. Marlene, so with these friends, are these friends who at least profess faith in Christ, but they just don't go to church, you know, so they would say that they're Christians? I'm not even sure, because, you know, I got to know them through some organizations and their friends, and I care about them and I care about their children, but I know that, you know, I brought it up one time, what church do you guys go to? And all of them said, we don't go to church, and I thought, oh my gosh.

So I don't know. And I would like to, you know, sometime when I'm with them, just address it without sounding pushy or making them angry, or I'm not sure what to say how to start that conversation. Yeah, well, you know, I think for many parents, right, whether you go to church or not, there is a strong sense of like, man, how am I going to guide my children in this world? And a deep concern for, you know, the well-being of their kids. You know, it's interesting for me as a pastor, I know there are also many parents who are like, we want to take our kids, we really don't care about church, but we want to take our kids to church so that they'll get, you know, morality or some sort of, you know, spiritual principles or something like that. So there are people that are looking for that.

And maybe if these friends of yours are open to that, that could be an open door for conversation. Really, you want to get to the heart of the gospel. So it sounds like the question is, are these individuals even believers? Do they know who Jesus is?

Do they recognize that they ought to be? We ought to be raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And if they don't have Christ in their hearts, if they don't understand the gospel, then they don't see that.

And then of course, they're going to raise their children however they think best, according to the wisdom of the world, which is so often just foolishness and leads to a lot of terrible things, can lead to a lot of terrible things. So what I would say is, you know, getting a little bit deeper in terms of, you know, as you continue to build the relationship, thinking about what is it that you believe about God? Are you someone who professes faith in Christ, but you just don't go to church because you don't think it's important, right? That's one conversation, being able to talk about the importance of Christian community, the importance of being shaped by the word of God, by the body of Christ, of growing together as a family, worshiping together.

That's so important. That's something that a lot of Christians struggle with. There are a lot of Christians, frankly, with kids who is just like, well, you know, church is a thing, but it's not really a priority.

And if it's not a priority for us as adults, you know, chances are really low that it's going to be a priority for our kids. If they see us not prioritizing God, his worship, prayer, the church, what we're communicating something to them. And so it has to be a priority for the parents to long to worship God and to know that they're called to worship. And then we build that habit, you know, we're called to worship, we're seeking to grow together. And the benefit is, right, this is how God so often works within families. I think about what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, verse 5, where he writes to me, he says, I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice.

And now I am sure dwells in you as well. And so Marlene, I think asking the bigger question, does that sincere faith dwell in these mothers, these friends, and beginning to have conversations about Jesus and the gospel and, sister, impart that wisdom that God has given to you, to these young families and young moms, you know, being willing to share, being willing to be open and certainly pray that the Lord would guide those conversations. I want to pray for you. I just so appreciate the fact that you're passionate about this, that you want to share Jesus, and you're concerned with kids being raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God bless you for that.

We need more of that. And may the Lord use you to have an impact on these young families. Gracious Father, we thank you for our sister Marlene. We thank you for the heart that you've given to her, a passion for your word and to see young children raised up in you. Would you give her wisdom, Lord, especially with these friendships that she's been able to develop with some young mothers in her community through work? I pray for her, Lord, that you would guide her conversations. I pray that you would give her insight and wisdom to apply the truth of the gospel, your great love, your mercy, your forgiveness, to apply that truth in ways that are helpful, in ways that are clear, in ways that are understandable, so that these families, these mothers, would experience your grace and long also to have their children experience it and know it from your word. And so be with our sister, bless her, and guide those conversations that she's going to be getting into in Jesus' name. Amen.

Marlene, thanks so much for your call, and we just appreciate so much your commitment to sharing God's love with others and your concern for these kids. And, Adriel, that brings up a question. We have so many people in our culture today that seem to have no clue about the gospel. I mean, maybe 50 years ago in this nation, most people had a general understanding of the Bible and who Jesus was, but today there are just, especially among, you know, younger people, let's say in their 20s, they just, they're clueless.

And how do we start those conversations? Yeah, I mean, the tragedy is that even for people who were raised in churches, for young adults throughout the United States, there is a lack of understanding when it comes to the gospel. We've mentioned before there's a sociologist named Christian Smith who he talked about, he talked about just the faith of young adults throughout the United States. What is it that they actually believe? And he coined the phrase, moralistic therapeutic deism.

Their beliefs really aren't the Christian faith, even though they were raised in, quote, unquote, Christian churches, what they believe is very moralistic. It's, you know, I'm just supposed to be a good person. That's what religion is about. Therapeutic, you know, God wants you to be happy.

He wants me to be happy. It's sort of moralism, good feelings. And it's deistic, deism being this idea that, yeah, there's a creator God out there, but he's sort of disconnected from us.

You know, he's off busy doing other things. He's not so much concerned with my particular life, my particular sins, my particular struggles. And so, I mean, this is people who are raised in churches in the United States who, when you boil down the faith once for all delivered to the saints, for them, that's kind of what you come up with. And so it's this great tragedy. And so what do we do? Well, we have to really think again about how we're approaching discipleship and the nurture of our children. Are we really helping our children to understand the gospel?

Are we raising them in the worshiping community? Do we know the gospel well enough to be able to articulate it to our kids and have conversations about Jesus around the dinner table? You need to know that.

You need to know that. And so until we recover the centrality of the gospel, until we recover the hard work of, you know, acquainting ourselves and our children with the word of God, we're going to continue to have this problem. And so may God, again, help us and give us a great sense of the calling that he's placed upon our lives as parents to set that example and to be equipped to equip our children with the truth of God's word. Amen.

So well said. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You know, there are strong opinions on both sides of the abortion issue these days. And we actually would like to offer you a new devotional that explores God's view of human life. Yeah. So the devotional is called Fearfully Made.

And Bill, you're totally right. I mean, this is one of the most divisive topics in our nation today. But it's something that we really need to take a stand on, I would say, as believers in Jesus Christ, because we know that people are made in the image of God.

We value life because it's the most precious thing. And an attack on the image of God is an attack on God himself. And so I hope that you get a hold of this resource.

Again, it's called Fearfully Made. You can head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers and get your free digital copy of this devotional. I know that it'll encourage you as you think about the questions related to life and some of these things that are, again, as Bill said, the causes for division with regard to so many people today. Once again, you can find it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

And while you're at our website, feel free to breeze around for some of our other free resources, our core guides, our core questions, just some really great resources that will help you grow in your faith. Well, we do receive voicemails here at Core Christianity, and you can call us 24 hours a day and leave us your voicemail question. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

And here's a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Robert. My question is, I've been a valediction since 2008, and I'm just wondering if there's proper times to ask for forgiveness or read the Bible. I've read the Bible and I've been in and out of jail. The only time I seem to read the Bible is when I'm in trouble, and then I feel like there's no problem because what I'm asking for is things that only when I'm in trouble. I don't think that's the right thing I should be doing.

I need to please give me some advice and I'd appreciate it. Yeah. So, okay, you said something there. The only time I really read the Bible is when I'm in trouble, when there's a problem. And I think it's tragic, Robert, but this is what a lot of people do, how a lot of people treat prayer, is I only pray in response to some tragedy or something really bad that has happened. And then I just sort of live my life. Anytime I'm in a sticky situation, that's when I pray. That's when I see God, when I've gotten in trouble or something like that. And you're seeing, you're realizing this is not cutting it.

This is not working. By the way, this is how people treat their spiritual health. It's also, I mean, it makes sense how so many people treat physical health as well, right? Like we sort of go through life. Man, I hate exercising.

I never want to go to the gym. And then after the holidays, you feel like I need to get into the gym after Thanksgiving and Christmas and all that stuff. And, you know, come January 1, we're making New Year's resolutions and we're, you know, purposing to do something because of how bad it's gotten. And that's how a lot of people treat their relationship with God and prayer and spiritual discipline. And so if I could just be really, really frank with you, Robert, what you need is discipline in your life. If you just sort of yo-yo between living this undisciplined life and then all of a sudden, you know, things are bad. I'm going to try to open up the Bible to read it, to get some help.

It's just going to be a mess, right? Like the same thing with physical health. Think about what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 4, verse 7. He says, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness. For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving full acceptance for to this end we toil and strive because we have set our hope on the living God who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Those are words we often don't like, right? Train, discipline, toil, strive, but that's what you're called to in the Christian life. If we don't train ourselves, discipline ourselves, you know, for the sake of godliness as Paul talks about there, then we're going to be spiritually unhealthy.

I think that's what you're experiencing. One of the things you said is, is there a proper time to read the Bible? Is there a proper time to pray and ask for forgiveness? Well, yeah, we create those disciplines in our lives to do that every day throughout the day, to come before the Lord and lean on his grace and say, Lord, I need you today.

I need your help. Even before we're facing any trial or tribulation, building those habits that help us to grow in godliness and mold us more and more after the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Robert, may God help you to that end. May God help you to be disciplined in your pursuit of the Lord. And I think as you do that more and more, you'll see the fruit, the benefit of that training that God calls you to. You know, we often talk about the importance of the spiritual disciplines on this program and something that unfortunately a lot of people ignore. And I think you would say that Bible memorization is another thing that can really help us.

Absolutely, it can. And, you know, I think there are a lot of people that are afraid when we're talking about spiritual discipline, there are a lot of people that are afraid of like, are we getting legalistic about this? And there are people that can get legalistic about it. But listen, we ought to pursue God in these ways because it's for our good, for our benefit.

It's not about being legalistic. It's about being wise in your life. And so may God give all of us wisdom and strength to pursue him with discipline and intentionality. God bless. 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.