Should I Divorce My Wife Who Has Left Her Christian Values?

Should I divorce my wife who has left her Christian values? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can watch Adriel live in the studio right now on our YouTube channel and send him your question that way. Thank you.

Thank you. It's a lot of money. We are, in terms of nations and just as individuals, as American citizens, many of us have a lot more than many people throughout the rest of the world. It's so easy for us, I think, to fall into this trap. We have to be really careful here. One passage of scripture that I would bring to your attention is what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning in verse 9.

I think I'll start there. Actually, in verse 8, he says, If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, and into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

You have a very strong warning there. It seems to me that gambling, trying to get rich off of the slot machines or whatever it is, appeals to the sinful passions within us, the desire for money, greed, also laziness, I would say. I'm not going to work hard to have things.

I'm just hoping to get rich quick. Wisdom throughout the Bible speaks about that as well. In fact, in the book of Proverbs, in Proverbs chapter 13 verse 11, it says, Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Then just a little bit later in Proverbs, in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 23, we read, In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. Gambling appeals to that greed inside of us, those sinful passions. It appeals to that laziness within us, idolatry, the worship of money.

I think there can be a stern warning here, exhortation that you give to your sister in terms of thinking about how she views money. What's your hope with this? Don't you see how this addiction is destroying you? Redirecting the focus ultimately to Christ and the Gospel, the one who sets us free, Jesus. You can't serve, Jesus said, God and money. You can't have two masters. You're either going to love one and hate the other. You're going to hate the other one and love.

You just can't do that. And for many people, many people in our society, that's the battle. It's the worship of mammon or the worship of the true and the living God. And so may the Lord be with you, Roseanne. May he grant you wisdom. And I want to take just a brief moment to pray for your sister right now. Father, we lift Roseanne's sister up to you. And God, we ask that you would deliver her from this grip, this addiction to gambling. God, that you would rescue her.

The worship of money, the love of money, greed, laziness, those things, Lord God, that you would grant her grace, forgiveness, and healing. And Father, that she would see her need of you and that she would turn to you. Be with Roseanne, sister.

Be with Roseanne, Lord, and give her wisdom as she seeks to come alongside of her sister to love her and to help her in this situation, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Thanks for that, Adriel. This is 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. Maybe there's a passage of scripture that's always kind of stumped you.

You've never quite understood it. We would love to dive into that with you. Maybe you've got a question about theology or doctrine or something that your church is teaching and you're going, is that really accurate or not? Get us a call right now. Our phone lines will be open for the next 20 minutes at 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Steve who's calling in from Sioux City, Iowa. Steve, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, my question is, it says in Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison. I don't know, who are these spirits that are in prison? He didn't die for demons or angels, did he? Or is he talking about people that lived in the Old Testament or who are these spirits in prison?

Excellent question. This is 1 Peter 3. Let me start by reading in verse 18. The broader context is suffering for the sake of the Gospel and following the example of Jesus Christ.

Peter says in verse 18, For Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons were brought safely through water. Now, there are a few different ways in which this text has been interpreted. One is that the idea of the preaching that really took place there is preaching through Noah, because if you go back to chapter 1 in verse 10, we can begin there. It says, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. So the Spirit of Christ was in Noah, and Noah is this herald of righteousness. He's preaching.

So maybe that's what's going on, but I don't think that makes the best sense of the text, but that's one of the ways that this has been interpreted. The other idea is that this is preaching between the death and resurrection, that time prior to Jesus' resurrection from the grave, those three days where he was entombed, in the Spirit, delivering the saints or giving them a second chance, giving people who had died a second chance. But of course, while some people take that view, it's clear from other passages of scripture, we have to let scripture interpret scripture, that once we die, then we're judged.

Once you die, there is no second chance. Now, today is the day of salvation. So I think the best way to take this is that that preaching that's taking place, if you will, prior to the resurrection of Christ, after his death, is this proclamation, this heralding of victory over the evil spirits who had sinned in those days of Noah, as Peter says there in 1 Peter 3, referring to what took place in Genesis 6. And you also see a little bit of an allusion to this in places like 2 Peter 2, verses 4 and 5, and also Jude 6. So I think what you have here is this proclamation of victory over the grave, Jesus having died, proclaiming victory over the grave to the realm of the dead, if you will, to those spirits that were imprisoned. So this was a vindication, a moving towards victory and resurrection, and that's how we're to see this, and that makes sense of the broader context there in 1 Peter 3, because Peter is trying to encourage these Christians who are suffering by letting them know, one day you're going to be vindicated. You will, even through your suffering, experience the victory, just as Christ experienced the victory.

And so thank you for that question, kind of a sticky passage, but hopefully that cleared things up for you. Some great hope for all of us as we look towards the future and eternity, so thanks for that, Adriel. This is 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, maybe something going on in your Christian walk that's troubling you, or maybe some kind of persecution you're running up against at work or at school. Give us a call, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Garrett calling in from Missouri. Garrett, what's your question for Adriel?

Hey, Adriel. My question is, what is the fear of the Lord? Garrett, do you just mean, like, what does it mean to fear?

I mean, there are a number of passages that we could go to in the Old Testament, like the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 9, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, to hate sin, to turn from it. More specifically, though, are you thinking, you know, is it like a terror that we're supposed to have of God? Is it a reverence? Just want to get a little bit more specific with you there.

What are you thinking? Well, yeah, because I've heard some people interpret hate it more like an anxiety about God, while others say it's more just reverential, while some say both, and I'm not quite sure which is more accurate. Yeah, okay, so that makes great sense. Well, look, here's what we shouldn't have as the children of God. We shouldn't have a slavish fear of the Lord. God is not like Pharaoh, right, you know, commanding us to build bricks. So that anxiety, that slavish fear that I think some even genuine believers live under, that's not what we're supposed to have.

We could call it a reverence, but I think it's even more than a reverence. You think of, you know, when the people of God, anytime they were in the presence of God, what happened? Isaiah the prophet, right, he's brought up into the throne room of God in Isaiah chapter six, and he's confronted with his own sinfulness. He's terrified. He says, woe is me.

I am a man of unclean lips. So there is, I think, a righteous, a holy terror that the people of God have in the presence of the Lord. You think even in the book of Revelation, you know, when John has an image of Christ, what happens to him?

He falls down as if he were a dead man. And so sometimes I think we minimize the idea of the fear of the Lord by saying, oh, it's just kind of reverence, that kind of a thing. No, no, there is a real fear and trembling that we should have before the true and the living God.

And yet what happens in Revelation, for example, when John falls down like a dead man, the hand of the Lord comes on him and raises him up. T'was grace, as the great hymn Amazing Grace says, t'was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. And so I think we can have a holy reverence, a holy fear, even that fear and trembling, the fear of not wanting to dishonor the Lord. But we shouldn't have the slavish fear, the fear of punishment, the fear of judgment, as though we didn't have Christ as our advocate and God as our Father.

And so there needs to be a balance there. There are, you know, unhealthy and unbiblical fears of the Lord, if you will. And again, that gets into sort of the slavish fear for the people of God. But I would say the big problem of our culture today and with so many is there is no fear of the Lord. We don't think that God is going to judge.

We don't take God seriously. We've minimized his holiness. And so we really do need to recover that great doctrine of who God is. And as we do, as we have an encounter with the true and the living God, I tell you what, we fall on our faces just like the prophets did, just like the apostles did. And we humble ourselves before the Lord, turning from our sins and trusting in him. That's what we need more than anything. And so, Garrett, may God help you and me and all of us to truly fear the Lord, not to be anxious, not to have a slavish fear, but to fear him truly as the true and the living God, worshipping him and following him. God bless. Just a follow up question for you, Adriel. You talked about the two extremes there. And my concern is that there are some churches today and even some megachurches where the philosophy is kind of Jesus is my buddy, but there's not really a reverential respect or admiration or fear for the Lord.

Yeah. I mean, that's a huge, huge problem in the church today. Listen to what the author to the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. And brothers and sisters, when we come before the true and the living God, we need to have reverence. There needs to be awe because we're not just coming before our buddy, the big man upstairs, as sometimes people like to say, foolishly, I think. No, we're coming before the Lord, who is a consuming fire. And when we come before him in our sins, broken, we desperately need his mercy. And he gives it to us. It's that holy fear of God, which also, this greatness of who God is, highlights the depths of his mercy, that this God who is perfect and pure would receive sinners into his presence through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Man, that's amazing. And by the way, I just want to plug, we're oftentimes talking about Dr. Horton's book, Michael Horton, theologian, friend of mine, core Christianity. He recently wrote a book, not too long ago, on this idea of the fear of the Lord. It's called Recovering Our Sanity, how the fear of God conquers the fears that divide us. And especially in our day to day, where people are just afraid of so many things. We're afraid of the people that vote differently than we do. We're afraid of the direction of the culture. We're afraid of all sorts of things. And oftentimes, we're more afraid of those things than we are of the Lord. And so Mike does a great job of unpacking that in this book.

Again, it's called Recovering Our Sanity. I recommend you look it up. This is core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you're looking for a good Bible study, we want to tell you about one today that actually Adriel helped write. It's on the book of Daniel. Yeah, talk about someone who feared the Lord more than he feared the culture of the world around him, willing even to suffer death in order to continue to worship God.

We're talking about Daniel. And so we're offering a study on the book of Daniel. It's a 10 week study that you can go through on your own or with a group of friends from your church. And we hope that you'll get a hold of this resource. You can get it over at corechristianity.com.

By the way, that study is available as a physical copy or a PDF download. And we also have leaders guides for all of our Bible studies, which makes this a great resource to send to your pastor or your small group leader, Sunday school teacher as they are planning their next Bible study. Head over to corechristianity.com forward slash Daniel to get your copy of our Bible study on the book of Daniel. Well, we do receive voicemails here at the core, and you can call us 24 hours a day and leave us your voicemail at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We also receive emails and you can email us anytime with your question questions at corechristianity.com. Here's an email from one of our listeners named Andrew, and he says, I married into a Catholic family and never took my faith seriously until I was 37. It's been four years since I became a Christian, and as my faith and beliefs have increased, I've watched my wife turn away from her Christian values as she has become more and more outspoken about her liberal views.

I feel us drifting apart. I've had thoughts of facing her head on and risking divorce. We have two kids, one who's about to go to college and shares most of my wife's views, which has caused her not to believe in God. My other daughter goes to church with me, and I can tell she loves the Lord, but she needs guidance. I'm torn.

I don't know how to move forward. I love my wife, but God is first above all. Do I just stay married to someone I love deeply, but disagree with on the most important part of our lives? Andrew, I'm sorry to hear about the tension and division in your home. I want to give you the words of the Apostle Paul because he speaks to this kind of situation specifically when he writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 7. So listen to Paul's words. This is 1 Corinthians 7, verse 10. To the married I give this charge, not I, but the Lord. The wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband, and the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say, I, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For, and this is, Andrew, listen to this, for the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so.

In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace, for how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband, or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? Now let me just speak specifically to you, Andrew. Here, Paul is very clear. He says, look, and you didn't even say that your wife is no longer claiming faith in Christ.

She says she's departing from some of those, it sounds like biblical ethics, Christian ethics, more sort of liberal tendencies. I don't know if she still confesses faith in Jesus or if she would still say that she's Roman Catholic, but this is an opportunity for you not to draw away from her, but to pursue her in love even more than you ever have before. As a Christian husband united to Jesus Christ, you should love your wife better, better than you ever did before walking with the Lord.

Why? And Paul makes it very clear here, he says, how do you know, wife or husband, whether or not you will save your spouse? If she's willing to live with you still, it sounds like there's some serious disagreements in the home, but if she's willing to live with you still, man, do everything that you can to set a godly example, to love her how as Jesus loved the church. That's what the apostle Paul says we're called to, we're charged with as husbands.

He says this in the book of Ephesians. And so continuing to pursue her, to love her, and to pray for her that the Lord would soften her heart and open up opportunities for you to discuss these very important topics. I mean, you said you can feel the two of you drifting apart. You've had thoughts of facing her head on and risking divorce. I do think that this is something you need to face head on.

I don't think that you should just jump to the conclusion of divorce, but these are conversations that you ought to be having. And talking about the scriptures, talking about your convictions prayerfully, full of love, full of charity, but really digging in to these matters and doing so with the intention, with the longing of her growing and maturing in her own faith and walk with the Lord. But again, in doing that, you want to set that example of love, of godliness, of a commitment to Jesus Christ for her, for your children, modeling that.

And it sounds like this is new for you. You've been a believer for four years. And so I want to just take a moment really quickly to pray for you and invite all of our listeners to pray for Andrew right now as he seeks to love his wife as Jesus loved the church and to set a godly example for her and for the rest of his family. Father, we lift Andrew up to you. God, would you bring peace in that household? Would you be with him, Lord? Would you fill him with your Holy Spirit and would you help him to obey that charge, that command given to husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church? And that through that love, God, that she sees, that sacrificial love, that her heart would be softened, that she would be drawn to you, Jesus, even through the example of her husband, and that you would bring peace, healing, restoration, hope, salvation, Lord, all of those things to this situation, to this marriage. And so bless this family, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Brothers and sisters, we all need that help, frankly, to obey the Lord.

Husbands, to love our wives as Christ loved the church. And so may God give you grace today as you continue to cling to him and to obey his word to follow him. 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.