Is It Sinful to Skip Church?

Is it sinful to skip church? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm 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. Our phone lines are open right now, and you can call us with your question at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-800-HELP.

833-843-2673. If you're new to the program, you can also ask us questions about doctrine or theology, maybe something going on at your church that concerns you, or any doubts you might have about the Christian faith. Call us right now, 833-THE-CORE.

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

Yes. Hello, how are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you doing, Edward?

Fellow guy in California. God bless you. God bless you, too. I was listening to one of your previous programs, and it was a question that was asked about Matthew 20 and 19, and about Acts, why did the apostles baptize in Jesus' name, when Jesus said, doing in the name of the promised son of the Holy Ghost. And your answer was the way I was taught it, and the way I see it, and I just want to let you know how I see it, and the rest of you can reply.

Okay. But I think a lot of times we overlook the word name. Let's just take Father and Holy Ghost out, and about to say, I'm going to baptize in the name of the Son. So we know the name of the Son is not Son. That was what he was.

That's the title. But the angel said, his name shall be called Jesus. And now we go to the Holy Spirit, and Matthew, even Jesus Christ, say that the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, will come in my name. And Jesus also say that I come in my Father's name. So you look at that word name, N-A-M-E, is a singular.

Singular name, they carry all three titles. And I believe that the Lord opened up his apostles' understanding concerning the scriptures. And I believe the name of the Father, the Holy Ghost, is Jesus Christ.

And I believe that it was changed in AD 325 by the non-sin council. Edward, let me just ask you a quick question in order to understand your position. So do you believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, the three distinct persons? I believe, I believe, I don't use the word Trinity, but I believe God reveals himself in three different ways with humanity. A Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in the church today.

So I do believe in the Father and the Holy Ghost. So I believe the one saving name, even according to Zechariah 14 and 9, and that there should be one name, one king. I believe the saving name for the church is Jesus Christ. And that's why he told us that he prayed for his apostles. He said, I pray for all those that's going to believe on me through their word.

I believe Peter obeyed Christ. Now, Edward, who was Jesus when he was talking about praying there? Who was Jesus praying to? The point I'm making is that he said, I pray for all those that's going to believe on me through their word. So that the apostles baptized in Jesus' name, that was their word. And I believe that the name of Jesus Christ is the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Well, the reason I was asking, you know, who is Jesus praying to there, because in the Gospels, it's clear Jesus is praying to the Father. And so we distinguish between the person, or the persons of the Father and the Son, to confound them, or to confuse them, or to say, you know, Jesus is the Father, Jesus is the Holy Spirit.

We're talking about the same person. Okay, so that's not the doctrine of the Trinity. That's actually an ancient false teaching that was condemned by the church known as modalism. This idea that the one God, because we believe in one God, Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, hero of Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, but that that one God reveals himself in these different ways throughout history.

It's like he's wearing these different masks. And so, you know, in the Old Testament, he reveals himself as the Father. In the New Testament, when Jesus is walking around, you know, the Son, and then the sending of the Holy Spirit.

It's all Jesus. Well, there's a real problem there, because when you study the Scriptures, you come to realize, again, like with that question I asked you, who is Jesus praying to? Well, he's praying to the Father. At his baptism, where the Father is speaking and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, we have these three distinct persons. And this is the mystery and the revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity. And so when Jesus says, go and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he's highlighting... There, I would say, we're talking back to the passage you brought up, Matthew 28, 19, he's highlighting the oneness that exists between the persons of the Holy Trinity, that is, they are one in essence, undivided, consubstantial of the same substance, which means that they're equal in power and glory. Jesus is not less than the Father or less than the Holy Spirit in terms of his essence, if you will. But at the same time, they're distinct persons. They're different persons. And this is the revelation of God's Holy Word.

We don't embrace it because, you know, we fully grasp it or totally understand it. We're talking about the Infinite One, God the Lord, as he reveals himself to us in his Word. And we're receiving his revelation and adoring him through it. And so baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit highlights the three distinct persons of the Trinity, but also their oneness. This is one of the arguments that I mentioned, the ancient heresy of modalism. There was another ancient heresy that said Jesus was a created being. He was the first created being, but there was a time when he was not.

This was the heresy of Arianism, which has been revived in modern-day Jehovah's Witnesses and other sects and cults. And one of the arguments against them that the early church made was, well, if you think Jesus was a creature, a created being, then why do we baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son, a creature, and of the Holy Ghost? And so the early church understood this, and they pointed to these passages in their debates and discussions about who God was, and in particular about the person of Christ.

And so it's really important. I mean, this is getting Edward at core Christianity, the core tenets of the Christian faith. If we reject the doctrine of the Trinity, which has been confessed by Christians throughout church history, we're not just talking here about the Council of Nicaea making this up in 325 AD. I mean, they're appealing to Scripture as the authority, and we see this Trinitarian language throughout the Bible in various places, not just there in Matthew 28, verse 20, but even in the writings of the apostles themselves. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 13, that benediction that the apostle Paul gives to the Corinthian church, where he says, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

They're invoking the triune God, the three persons. And so Jesus and the Father are not the same person. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not the same person. The apostles themselves distinguished between them, but recognized that they were equal in power and in glory, and we must too.

Edward, you must too. And if you reject that view, then you are outside of the bounds of Orthodox Christianity. Then you cannot know the true God as he's revealed in Scripture, because you're embracing some other doctrine, some other idea about who he is, and this is where I would exhort you to dig deeper into the Scriptures and to listen to the testimony of the church throughout the ages, and to recognize that what the church has confessed wasn't just something that was invented in 325, but was really rooted in the Scriptures themselves, in the writings of the apostles themselves. And the reason I've gone longer here is because we're talking about something really serious here, who God is in rightly knowing him. And one resource that I would recommend to you, maybe if you stay on the line, Edward, we can get you a copy of this book, because I care about you and am concerned about what you believe. It's the book that we offer, oftentimes Core Christianity. If you stay on the line, we'll try to get you a copy of that, because it gets into this very issue and the Scriptures supporting the doctrine of the Trinity. God bless. Edward, thanks so much for your call, for listening to Core Christianity. By the way, we have a great core question on this topic.

You can find it on our website under our top questions. It's called, What is the Trinity? If you are curious to learn more about what Adriel and Edward were just discussing, check that out at corechristianity.com.

Again, what is the Trinity? Well, our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, here's the number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so.

Love to talk to you. Let's go to Melinda calling in from Missouri. Melinda, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, I have a question. Recently, my grandmother had passed away, and during that process, my aunt was the one taking her to the doctor. And during the process, nobody knew, but they were having a new wheel rode up. My grandma had cancer from head to toe, and my aunt, she is a leader in our church. She raised me pretty much as a kid because my mom was just not able to, so she introduced me to Christ and everything. And whenever my grandma was almost at the end, that's when it came out about the new wheel.

They took pretty much everything and almost a million dollar farm and then paid $300,000 for it. And then they had to split that three ways between the three siblings. And so my question is, OK, I have a hard time looking at her being around her because I know what she's done is wrong. There's no remorse in her.

She comes up to me, hugs me, and I just play along. And the leader of our church is actually her brother. So I feel like I can't really approach that situation because she had already went there first with it. So how do I I have a lot of disappointment in her and I just I don't know, it hurts. And so God did convict me that I needed to tell her I forgive her. So I did do that. But I did tell her at the same time, I said, God has told me to forgive you. And I said, I forgive you. I said, my heart is not all the way there. I said, God will work on that. But I still am having issues.

And I don't know how to deal with the pressure of knowing everything that's still going on and not being able to talk to anybody about it because I don't want to cause no strife in the church. Now, Melinda, when you when you brought this up to her and the pain that it caused you and offered forgiveness to her, how did she respond to you? She said, we all need to work on the forgiveness in our heart. And that was it. And she said, I love you.

She goes, you know, you're my girl. And that was it. But whenever she had told me about. Called me out of the blue and just we're buying the farm. And I was like, you need to get all the kids together and have them sit down and talk. She goes, no, no, no, we're not doing that. I said, you're playing with fire. And then the phone call was pretty much done after that. So I warned her before.

Take my soul on it. Aligned herself with my brother and sister. And they're not really I mean, they are their faith is different. They're I don't believe they attend church like in and rely on Christ as much as I do. So she aligned herself with other people and didn't align herself with her brothers and sisters in Christ.

Okay. Well, let me just I mean, it's heartbreaking and I've seen this happen before with wills, where it can be so divisive within the family and painful and ruin relationships, family relationships. I want to commend you, sister, for striving to live peaceably, to extend forgiveness. Obviously, you know, I can tell you've been hurt and I totally understand that. Maybe they're feelings of betrayal or feelings of losing out.

And that's where, you know, we experience this kind of suffering. I think I think you've done the right thing in bringing it up the way that you did. And even with that humility and saying, look, I want to forgive you.

I'm struggling to do that. But confronting the behavior. I mean, when we see sinful behavior in a brother or sister or even in someone that we look up to, as, you know, a mother in the faith or a father in the faith, we might say someone, and it sounds like God has used her to have a profound impact on your life and on your relationship with the Lord, which is what makes this so difficult. And so I just want to acknowledge all of that and say, sister, I'm so sorry. I pray that the Lord does continue to strengthen you and grant you the grace of forgiveness, that maybe she comes around and realizes, okay, the way we went about this was not honoring to the Lord.

And it sounds like it was kind of done in secret without consulting anyone else in the family. And so these are difficult things, but I think striving to forgive, to, you know, live peaceably with others, praying that there is an acknowledgment on her part, a recognition of, okay, you know, this action, what I've done here has hurt others, maybe has not reflected well as a Christian, does not reflect the grace of Christ well. And so I think that you're going about it the right way. I mean, obviously not giving into the feelings of bitterness and anger and letting that continue to grow.

I think striving for peace is a good thing, while at the same time, you know, not just brushing your feelings under the rug, but going to her with those. And I think you are called to forgive. But oftentimes when an individual, if they've sinned against us, if they're not willing to, you know, own the fact that they've sinned or they're not willing to acknowledge that they've done something that wasn't right, it's really hard, you know, for the relationship to be reconciled because there's still that tension. And so I think the prayer should be, Lord, help me to truly forgive from my heart, not to let this behavior reflect negatively or make me bitter towards You. We're sinners.

We recognize that. But praying also for your aunt that she comes to a place where she is able to acknowledge maybe that, you know, these actions weren't above board and that they've hurt others. And maybe the Lord opens up some discussion there.

And that's what I want to pray for. And so it does also, I mean, especially in church situations where it sounds like there's a lot of family at this church and family and leadership. I would still say, you know, even I understand the concern.

I think it's a good concern. You don't want to be divisive. But I think it's important for you to be able, as a member of the church, to speak to the pastor, the family member. He's called by God to shepherd your soul, right? It's not like you get to play favorites.

There's no partiality. He's called to be objective when it comes to the word of God. And so I think it's still good for you to pursue that course as well and maybe have a conversation there and say there's a tension here. And we need some help in getting to the bottom of this. Let me just pray for you. Father, pray for Melinda in this difficult situation she's in. I do pray for healing and restoration and for the work of your Holy Spirit there in that church with her, with her aunt, with the pastor, that you would grant them wisdom, grace, humility, much humility, Lord, and that in all things, each of them, Lord, would seek to honor you first and foremost. Would you be with my sister, Melinda, Lord?

Is she really wrestles with this? And God, as she is experiencing the pain of what feels like a betrayal, Lord, would you comfort her and would you give her wisdom and guide her, Lord? Grant her your peace, I pray now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Oh, man, difficult situation. And so many of us have dealt with family tension when it comes to the death of a loved one and their estate. And I know personally in my family, we dealt with that and with my own dad being taken advantage of by a business partner. And it's really, man, it's hard to forgive. It's hard not to hold on to resentment when those things happen. So we'll continue to pray for her.

This is CORE Christianity. Thanks so much for listening. We'd love to hear your question. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, the number is 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. I also want to mention a resource that we have. This is great if you're a parent or a grandparent. You really want your kids to get into Scripture.

How about do it through song? Yeah, this is a wonderful resource, Ten Songs to Sing as a Family. And it's a free resource over at corechristianity.com that we're offering right now. You can get it at corechristianity.com forward slash radio.

It's something that you download. It's ten songs that you can sing together as a family with some devotional material attached to it. And as we've been saying, what a great way to study theology, to grow deeper in God's Word, and to do that as a family by singing. So get a hold of this resource. So many of the great hymns of the church are so rich in theology, so we would encourage you to get that resource. You can find it again at corechristianity.com forward slash radio. Well, we do receive voicemails here at CORE, and you can call us 24 hours a day.

Leave your question for Adriel on our voicemail system. Here's one that came in from one of our listeners earlier this week. My question is, is it sinful to skip church because you have an appointment? Thank you for that question.

Well, a couple of things. First, what I want to say is some years back, I wrote an article over at corechristianity.com that I want to recommend to all of you listening right now. The article is called, Is it a Synamous Church? And this one hits home for me. I'm a pastor of a local church, right?

And so it's an important question. And I want to say that by and large, I think many people have minimized the importance of gathering together weekly as believers. We would never just sort of like not go to work, right? Not show up to our nine-to-five job. We also probably wouldn't show up 10 minutes late.

Maybe you would. I don't know. But for the most part, I don't think so. And yet when it comes to church, people view it as a kind of, you know, well, maybe, you know, if I'm feeling up to it.

And if I have time to get there, if I wake up in time, that sort of a thing. We have it all backwards. I don't think that there's a more important gathering in our lives as Christians, more important than the nine-to-five, more important than everything else. There isn't a more important gathering than when the people of God come together around the throne of God to hear God Himself speak to us from heaven through the preaching of the Word and to receive from God good gifts, the body and blood of Jesus Christ by faith in the ordinance or sacrament of Holy Communion. I mean, we are gathering together with heaven. I mean, this is what the author of the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 12.

This is what we miss so often. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And there the author of the Hebrews is talking about gathering together as God's people for worship. He's saying we're going to the heavenly Jerusalem. We're joining the saints and angels in heaven, the angels who are clothed in festal attire around the throne of God to worship the triune God. Is there any place you would rather be than there?

Now, I understand, right? When we're there, people are singing off tune. Maybe we're singing off tune. The sermon wasn't so great. It just feels kind of ordinary, kind of mundane. But if we had eyes to see what God was doing by the power of the Holy Spirit in our own lives, in the lives of the people around us, I think we would be blown away.

If we could see the angelic hosts worshiping God around the throne as the author to the Hebrews there in Hebrews chapter 12 depicts them, we wouldn't even be a question. Now, are there times where we aren't able to be there because we're sick or because some emergency came up? Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are works of necessity, things that have to be done. But so often that's not the issue. So often we just sort of skip out on it because, you know, I'd rather just sleep in today or, you know, I just didn't get to...

I stayed up late last night. We were hanging out with friends and, you know, brothers and sisters, we need to recover a high view of what takes place when we gather for worship. We need to recover the biblical vision that's given to us. I mean, that's the issue. It's a problem, a failure of understanding what the scriptures say regarding this issue. And so is it a sin to miss church because of some... Well, I mean, I don't know what the appointment is. If it's getting your nails done, probably. If it's some emergency that had to be done, well, no, there's room for that. But let's value and cherish gathering together with the people of God to sit under the ministry of the word to join heaven around the throne of God, serving Him and worshiping Him. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, let us know how we can be praying for you. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.