Is It Ever Appropriate to Discuss Politics From the Pulpit?

Is it ever appropriate to discuss politics from the pulpit? 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. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Julia calling in from South Dakota. Julia, what's your question for Adriel?

Julia, thank you for that question. And the reality is, is truly forgiving someone. I mean, there's a process we can say, I forgive you, which looks like I'm no longer going to hold this over your head. I'm no longer going to try and retaliate for what you've done.

It's, you know, putting down the weapons. But when we do that, there's still that sense of pain that we feel. We're absorbing some of that in forgiveness, and that's what you're experiencing. And this is one of the reasons why so many people, they just sort of bury those feelings, or try to at least, or they don't forgive. There was a poll that was done not too long ago, I think it was the Barna group that did the research, and they said there's one in four Christians who say there's just someone out there that I will not forgive.

I'm unwilling to forgive. I want to commend you, just as a sister in Christ, for pursuing forgiveness and reconciliation, because it really is the heart of what we're called to, especially as those who have been forgiven. And so I think that healing comes through prayer and being honest about those feelings, confessing them to the Lord.

When you sense that anger, the hatred, the bitterness, begin to rise up because of what this person's done. Bring that to the Lord in prayer and say, God, help me. Help me to see clearly the forgiveness and the mercy that you've shown to me, your goodness towards me, even though I didn't deserve it. And help me, having received that goodness, to extend that goodness to others, especially those who have sinned against me. Think about what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians chapter three, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved.

In other words, that's who you are, Julie. You're God's chosen one, holy, beloved. Beloved by the Lord. Put on then compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And so when you feel that bitterness creeping in, my encouragement to you would be to take that to the Lord in prayer and to fix your eyes on the great mercy that God has shown you. And as you meditate upon that, may the Lord melt away those feelings of bitterness and anger. And of course, not all anger is bad. It's what we do with the anger. When we've been sinned against or when someone has done something evil, there can be feelings of righteous indignation.

But it's what we do with that anger. And so you're saying, I'm choosing to forgive. I'm choosing not to hold this against this person. Lord, help me to do that in a way that honors you, that doesn't minimize the offense, but doesn't seek to retaliate because of it. And may God be with you as you pursue that, Julia.

Thanks for calling. Julia, thanks for listening to Core Christianity. Adriel, just to follow up for you, you've talked before about the different levels or aspects of forgiveness. You've got, you know, forgiving that person and then being reconciled and then being restored.

And there's a difference, isn't there? Yeah, I think this is really important. As Christians, we're always called to forgive. Jesus makes us clear in the Sermon on the Mount, right?

Forgive as we've been forgiven. And it is really at the heart of what God calls us to because it's such a picture of the gospel. You think about the parable of the unforgiving servant, right?

God takes us very seriously. And within the body of Christ, when someone is sinned against you, we're called to pursue reconciliation. There needs to be humble confession, repentance. Jesus, again, highlights how important this is in the Sermon on the Mount.

He says, look, if you're offering your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, rather than going through the motions of worship, stop what you're doing and go to that person and be reconciled. And so God wants us to pursue reconciliation with each other within the body of Christ. And then beyond that, restoration is the restoration of the relationship. And each of those steps is really important. They're distinct and requires wisdom and the grace of the Holy Spirit to pursue those things. And as the body of Christ, we really need to pursue those things with one another, especially in those contexts where there's been sin and you've been sinned against. Really good counsel.

Thank you for that. 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, we would love to hear from you. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We also have a YouTube channel, and you can watch Adriel live on YouTube every day at 1130 a.m. Pacific time. And you can also send your question to Adriel through our YouTube channel.

Here's one that came in from one of our viewers named Justin. He said, I found out that the friend who led me to Christ is now gay and has left the faith. We've not spoken in years. I feel led to reach out to him.

Any advice? Well, I think that you definitely should reach out to him. My advice would be, you know, obviously it sounds like there's been a huge shift in this individual's life, and I mean, just heartbreaking. Pray, one, that the Lord would grant you wisdom and that the Lord would give this person who led you to the Lord an open heart, a sense of conviction. You know, Jesus made it clear. The apostle Paul made it clear. In the latter days, many would depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the doctrines of demons is what Paul told Timothy. There's that temptation that's out there, and we've seen so many, even popular, well-known, you know, Christian teachers, musicians who have, you know, come out and said, you know what, we no longer believe what we once believed.

And it is a tragedy. So what do you do in situations like that? Well, you pray, and you have a personal relationship with this person, or you did, and, you know, God used this individual in your life in a powerful way.

I think you should just go to them and say, what happened? And maybe, you know, pray that the Lord gives you an opportunity to talk about the faith, to call this person back to Christ. And I believe that the Lord could definitely use you in that. And so my encouragement would be, yes, have a conversation.

Make sure that you're praying because ultimately it's the work of the Holy Spirit to soften someone's heart and rely upon the grace of God and upon the word of God as you talk about this. By the way, this issue in particular, we're talking about sexuality, we're talking about where the culture has gone as far as that's concerned. This is going to be one of the areas where the church and we as Christians individually face major temptation, temptation to sexual sin, but also temptation to just sort of embrace what the world believes about these things.

Well, it's okay. You know, we just want to be open and affirming. And there are churches that have gone that direction, Bill, I know you and I have talked about that before, but that's one of the temptations that the church really faces. And so learning what it looks like for us as the body of Christ to love those who we disagree with, while also not compromising is so important right now. You can love this person who now has, you know, adopted this new lifestyle, you can love them. Without affirming the decision that they've made to say, I'm going to live in an openly gay lifestyle now. And so loving them does look like pursuing them and calling them back to Jesus in this case, and may the Lord give you grace as you seek to do that.

Hmm. Thanks, Justin. Appreciate you listening to Core Christianity. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, maybe something going on in your personal life, some kind of struggle you're having or some type of persecution you run up against at work or at school.

Hey, we'd love to hear from you right now. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Jim calling in from Memphis. Jim, what's your question for Adriel? My question is, did Mary have more children after she had Jesus? Now, in the Bible, it says that James was Jesus' brother, but if I recall, or maybe I've read it somewhere or whatever, that during that time frame in the world, people called each other brother where they were actually not related. But that was a very important terminology to call each other brother. But I'm still confused as to whether or not Mary had other children after Jesus.

Hey, Jim, thank you for that question. I mean, this is one of the conversations that often comes up in the context of discussions with Roman Catholics and the idea of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Did she just remain a virgin her whole life? A couple of passages to consider. One, Matthew 1, verse 25, it says Joseph knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. In other words, seems to indicate that Joseph and Mary did have a relationship, intimacy, after the birth of Christ.

And so that's one text that oftentimes comes up. Also, Matthew chapter 13, verses 53 and following, where Jesus is preaching in his hometown. When he had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown, he taught them in the synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?

Where then did this man get all these things? And so, I mean, there are a couple of ways of reading that. I mean, one of the arguments is, well, that could just mean sort of extended family cousins, or it could mean his brothers and sisters, his siblings.

And so that's how I take it. And I think those are the two texts you want to consider, Scott, as you think about this question. But it does oftentimes come up primarily in the context of discussions about Mary and whether or not she remained a virgin her entire life.

And so that's why sometimes this is a bit of a controversial question. God bless. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you are looking for a good Bible study for your personal use, or maybe for a small group or Sunday school class, we have a whole bunch of great ones. You can find them at our website, which is corechristianity.com. And Adriel, this is a great way for people to grow in their faith.

Yeah. This is one of the ways that we want to continue to encourage you, I mean, outside of just this broadcast as we're opening up the scriptures together. And thinking about difficult pastoral issues, thinking about difficult passages in the Bible, we know that many of you want to go deeper. And so we've provided a number of resources here at Core Christianity, including various Bible studies through books of the Old Testament, books of the New Testament, even some Bible studies that are a little bit more theological, you know, Core Christianity 101. I hope that if you're looking for something as a church to use, or maybe with a group of friends from your church to use for Bible study that you'll consider these studies. They're available for donation of $15 or more, you can get a PDF download or you can get the hard copy. And I know that many people have been blessed by the many people in my own church have used them as well. And I hope that you will too. Love to have you get one of these for your personal use or again for a small group or Sunday school class. Just some excellent, excellent Bible studies and a great way to dig in to the Bible in the next couple of months.

So check that out at corechristianity.com forward slash studies. Well, we do receive voicemails here at the Core and you can call us 24 hours a day. Leave us your voicemail at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

Here's the voicemail from Janice in Sacramento, California. How often should we be talking about politics on the pulpit? I know that scripture tells us to respect all authority and to pray for our government. But how often should our pastors be talking about those issues? Thank you for taking my call and have a nice day and God bless.

God bless you too. Bill, when you were reading the question, I was thinking, I just love that we tackle these questions. And I know that this one in particular has been more of a controversial one in recent days. I think the concern is, well, is the church going to address these issues, these major issues that are happening all around us? Whatever those things might be. We might be talking about abortion. We might be talking about the conversations revolving around sexuality and gender, marriage between a man and a woman.

And these are all important things. I mean, the Bible does speak to these things. I get nervous when pastors have these political hobby horses where that becomes the focus of the ministry. You asked, how often should a pastor talk about politics from the pulpit? Well, from the pulpit, the pastor's job is to say, thus saith the Lord and to preach God's word. As ministers of the gospel, we're ambassadors, not of an earthly nation, but of a heavenly one, God's kingdom. So that has to be the focus of our ministry. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't speak to the stuff that's happening all around us, that we don't apply God's word to the issues of the day. We ought to. But as we're preaching through the scripture, line upon line, verse by verse, I think about what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 16.

I think this is just helpful. He's talking about the apostolic ministry here, but I think this is helpful for all ministers of the gospel to consider in terms of what God calls them to. He says, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh. We regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. If you're a pastor, that's what you've been entrusted with, the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors.

There's a political term right there, right? We're representatives. We're ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. As a minister of the gospel, you have a very specific message you've been entrusted with. That message of reconciliation, that has to be the focus of what's happening when you step into the pulpit. Paul says, I purposely know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified when he's speaking to the Corinthian church. If the message of the cross and the message of reconciliation aren't central, if that's not what you're hearing, then there's a real problem. If we're veering off into focusing on, well, now you've become the ambassador for a certain political party. Well, that's not the message that you've been entrusted with as God's ambassador, as Christ's ambassador. Again, that does not mean that we need to shy away from addressing the issues of the day, that we need to call out things like abortion or the sexual sin that's around us.

But we do so as those who are faithfully applying God's word, because that's what God calls us to do. Appreciate the question. Great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Susan calling in from Texas. Susan, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, Adriel. Thanks for taking my call. Yeah, my question was about the passage in Luke nine, where Jesus is talking to somebody asking, who's asking if he can go bury his father before he goes and follows him and Jesus responds by saying, Let the dead bury their own dead. And so, I don't know, that's just a pretty hard passage to wrap my head around. It seems a little bit harsh. And I can't imagine like, being in that situation where somebody that I care about in my family has passed away and that being kind of not, I don't know, not tenderly cared for.

Yeah. How do you reconcile this with, I mean, Jesus who wept at Lazarus' tomb, because we know that our Lord is gracious and merciful, full of compassion, that he is the one who welcomes the little children to himself. And yet when you have these calls, especially these calls to discipleship in the gospels, the words that Jesus uses are very strong.

Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Whoever doesn't hate, sister, mother, father, so forth, that person isn't worthy of being my disciple. So we have to understand these texts in context. And one thing that I'll say is when we do that, we recognize that no, Jesus is not calling us to abandon or hate our families in the sense that maybe sometimes people read that. We're talking about the priority of following after Christ and how he, his kingdom, has to be number one in our lives.

And what we find is when that's the case, we actually are better parents and brothers and fathers and sisters and so forth. But the text you're referring to, Luke 9, beginning in verse 57, as they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. In other words, are you sure you want to follow me?

It's easy to say that these days, but you have to count the cost. To another he said, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to go and bury their own dead.

But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, no one, and this is the key here, verse 62, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. And so I think that's the issue that Jesus is addressing here. It's this sort of double-mindedness, this half-hearted devotion to Christ where we say, I want to follow you, but I'm going to hold on to these things over here. And how often in the Gospels does Jesus say, well, you can't serve two masters, Sermon on the Mount. You can't serve God and money. You can't worship God and your job or your kids. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't love and prioritize our families.

We do. And that's what God calls us to. And yet we have to have our priorities in order, all of them, including what's first. And first is God and his kingdom. Jesus says in Matthew chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. And so at the heart of this call to discipleship, call to follow Jesus, along with the other ones that we see in the Gospels, is that strong sense of you need to recognize what you're getting into. You're taking of your cross and coming after me. And boy, we need to hear that again today, I think as American Christians in particular, but everywhere really, that following Jesus isn't like following someone on Facebook or Instagram, you know, just sort of like, oh, I guess I'm signing up for this. No, we count the cost. We say, Lord, I want to come after you. I want to follow you. And indeed, Christ calls us to that.

Well said. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Scott in Tennessee. Scott, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi. Yes, my question has to do with persons that are Christians that are passed away and are in heaven. Do they know what goes on at earth? I'll give you a specific example. So the person before they passed away, lead instructions to people saying, I'd like you to do this.

I also don't want you to do this. Would this person in heaven know what's happening at earth? That's a great question.

You know, to a certain extent, we're speculating. The one text that I might go to that would indicate that those who have died who are now in the presence of the Lord, the saints who have been perfected in holiness, and they're in heaven worshiping God, have some understanding of what's taking place here on earth. This is a passage in Revelation chapter six, verse nine, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. And they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

But even that text is not super clear. You have these people who have died, they've been martyred, and they're asking God to bring about judgment, to vindicate them because of what had taken place. And so they're praying for that. Did they know what was happening? Did they get to see their brothers there on earth?

We're not sure. What we can say is this, is those who have gone before us in the presence of the Lord are in perfect joy and perfect holiness around the throne of God, worshiping him in perfect peace. God bless. 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.