What Is the Christian Response to Pope Francis Blessing Same-Sex Couples?

Would we still be considered sinners in heaven? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity.

Well, hi there. This is Bill Meyer 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 with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. If you get our voicemail system, feel free to leave your question there, and of course you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Kathy, who's calling in from Missouri. Kathy, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, excuse me.

Yes, hi Adriel. I was hoping to get an answer on the Acts 16 31 about you will be saved, you and your household, and how that applies to people that would be in a household that haven't accepted Christ. Hey, thank you for that question. Well, in the book of Acts, you do have the language of household oftentimes used in the context of baptisms.

This is really interesting. That language comes from the Old Testament in particular, this sort of household formula, Genesis chapter 17, where Abraham was commanded to circumcise, you know, those members of his household as, you know, applying the sign of the covenant to them. Now here specifically, we're looking at the situation with the conversion of the Philippian jailer. The jailer, verse 29, called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

And he took them that same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. So that household principle that we see in the Old Testament is still applicable. And ordinarily, this is how God works. Kathy is through families, is the application of the gospel and the promises of the gospel to the family. Now that doesn't mean that the children of believers are automatically saved, that they're born again or something like that, just by virtue of the fact that their parents are Christian.

We all know that. We've all seen that. We have, you know, in our own experiences, you know, many of us have experienced that as well, seen that. Nevertheless, we are called to raise our children, our household, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 7, for example, that the children of one believing parent are considered holy.

Now again, that doesn't mean that they're just saved because their parent is a believer, but that they're set apart for God and for his purposes and for his people. Now we're called, all of us, to lay hold of the gospel. Adults, children, all of us, we're called to lay hold of that gospel, but those promises belong to us as the people of God. And as I said already, those promises come to us, you know, as families, to our home, to our household. And so that's what you see happening there in Acts 16, a wonderful passage.

And the other thing I love about this is just the simplicity of the gospel there. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And the response isn't, you know, a hundred jumping jacks and, you know, obey these 42 laws and so forth. What if the response, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. So just that the simplicity of the gospel message there, faith in Jesus Christ resting in his perfect work on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sins.

And then what do you get in response? You get obedience and service. He washes the wounds of the disciples, those who had been persecuted, such a beautiful picture of the gospel at work transforming a person's life. Just love that story. Thank you for that, Adriel.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Sharon who's calling in from Oklahoma. Sharon, what's your question for Adriel? My daughter was here yesterday and she mentioned listening to or playing Dungeons and Dragons and I was just wondering what that was.

Hey, Sharon. So I've never, it's a card game. I think it's a card game, sort of like a fantasy card game.

I'm so sorry. Bill, do you play Dungeons and Dragons? I have not played it, no thank you. Yeah, if the concern is, is this, you know, some kind of, you know, occult, demonic thing? I don't think it's that.

I think it's a board game, a fantasy board game, Sharon. And so let me just ask you a follow-up question. Is your daughter a Christian? Does she believe in Jesus? Well, she claims to be a Christian, but I don't believe that she is.

Okay, so, you know, and it sounds to me like maybe some of the concern is, you know, she's playing Dungeons and Dragons games and whatnot. The heart of the issue though is the gospel and her understanding it and receiving it. So let's just take a moment to pray for for Sharon's daughter, that the Lord would be at work in her life and opening her heart, her eyes, to truly understand the grace of Jesus and that the Lord would strengthen you, Sharon, and enable you with all wisdom to know the right words, to be able to speak to your daughter, to encourage her, and to bring God's Word to bear.

Father, we come before you right now and we lift Sharon's daughter up to you. Lord, you know her, you know everything about her, and I ask gracious Father in heaven that you would be at work in her life drawing her to you and to your son Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, that you would convict her of sin.

She maybe professes faith, as Sharon said, but doesn't fully understand the gospel. And so would you be at work in her life? Would you bless her?

Would you draw her near to you? And would you be with Sharon as well who's concerned and cares about her daughter, Lord? Would you fill her with your Holy Spirit and give her the words to say, give her the words to pray even for her daughter and help her, Lord, as she searches the scriptures and grows in the knowledge of your son Jesus, to be able to apply those truths to her daughter's life and to be a mother who continues to encourage and love her. And so please be with them, we ask, in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Sharon, thanks for your call. We'll continue to pray for you and your relationship with your daughter and her faith. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We have a voicemail system set up here, and you can call us 24 hours a day and leave your question for Adriel on our voicemail system. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners earlier this week. I'm wondering if a pastor has elders and they meet regularly together to decide things, and they disagree. The pastor wants to do one thing, the elders don't agree. Is the church required to just follow his rule, or should there be some agreement?

Great question. I mean, I'm assuming that this is a situation in your church, and so I'm sorry to hear that there's division there, that there is an agreement. I can share with you what we do. How our church operates. I know every church is different. So our church is governed by a plurality of elders. I'm the teaching elder of the church, meaning I'm focused on preaching and teaching the administration of the sacrament's baptism and the Lord's Supper, but that doesn't give me a higher status or a weightier vote per se. It's not like if we're meeting as elders in the church and we're trying to decide important decisions for the future of the church, and we're taking votes. Well, my vote counts for three, and everybody else's counts for one or half a vote or whatever.

No, we're equal. We're a plurality of elders, and we're accountable to one another. And so where there's disagreement, hopefully, sometimes we don't always agree on certain things. And usually, at least for us, it's not because we have doctrinal differences per se.

Maybe it's just, okay, how do we approach this situation in particular? And so we will vote on things, or we'll discuss things, but there's also a lot of submitting to one another and saying, okay, maybe the rest of the gang doesn't see it just like I do, but because we're called to follow the Lord and to serve one another, we can submit to one another in those decisions. So there have been times where, even among my own elders, we've had a difference, and maybe they see things differently from me as the pastor, and I submit to their wisdom. And I say, okay, well, I don't totally see it that way, but I also trust these brothers and trust that they also care about the well-being of the church. And so I think that's how it should be. I mean, your question is, if the elders disagree with the pastor, am I obligated to side with the pastor?

No, you're not. And I don't know specifically what the situation is. And so it's tough to say, is this just a doctrinal issue? But just generally speaking, no, it's not like the pastor has extra authority. There is this kind of Moses model of ministry or the CEO model of ministry that some churches have, where it's the pastor who rules the roost, and no one can really question the pastor, and the pastor isn't accountable to anyone. That's not biblical, and that's not a healthy way of operating as a church.

There needs to be that mutual accountability, and I think that's precisely why in the New Testament you had a plurality of elders who were leading the church. And so may God bless you and give you wisdom, and I do hope that there is resolution in this situation between the pastor and the elders, and that good comes out of all of it. God bless. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, something going on in your personal Christian walk, give us a call or send us an email. Here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com.

Here's an email that came in from Matt. He says, I was saved late in life, and I still think about who I was before and the love I had for all the sin in my life. I have a lot of sorrow for my sins, and I know I've been saved from them, but why does this come to mind from time to time? I do have joy in my new life, but is it normal to also grieve how I was in the past?

Yeah, it is. It is normal. I mean, of course, we don't want to live in the past or be crippled by that and just sort of, you know, wallow in that sorrow and the pain of the past. I think what we do is we take that and we remind ourselves of how good and how gracious God is and has been, how good and how gracious God has been to you. And so let that be fuel for gazing at the cross of Christ and reminding yourself of the great love that God has shown to you, not as a righteous person, not as a perfect person.

It wasn't because you were following God's commandments that Jesus pursued you and brought you into his church, but as Paul says in Romans chapter 5, God demonstrates his love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so I think it can be unhealthy if we're crippled by it and we're focusing on it so much so that it's just, man, you know, I'm such a terrible person, I can't believe, you know, that kind of a thing. Instead, I think we look at that, we look at our sin, how bad it was, how heinous it was, and we look at even the sins that we continue to wrestle with and struggle with. We look at them dead in the eye and we take them continually to the cross and we're reminded of the fact that the grace of God, the love of God in Jesus Christ, is greater than our sins and that he has exhibited to us, shown to us, such great love and mercy. And so it should be something that leads us to praise and to worship. And I do hope and pray that more and more for you, Matt, as you're confronted with this, as you're confronted with your sins and you even feel those accusations, you know, you're not a real child of God or, you know, how could God really love you, God really love you, that as you face that, you would take those immediately to the cross, to the feet of the cross, and that you would marvel in the grace of God towards you, a sinner, and how kind and loving Jesus has been in making you a part of his church, and he has indeed by faith in his name, and so it should lead to praise and worship.

God bless. You know, that refocusing is so critical because Satan would love nothing more than us to be wallowing in guilt and shame, even though we have been redeemed, even though there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So I love what you said about focusing on Jesus and what he's done for us.

That's right. Yeah, we don't, we don't, it's not just, you know, remorse, it's not just wallowing in our sins and in their consequences, it's being freed through the gospel and marveling at the grace of God, so we don't have to minimize our sin or how wicked we were, things that we've done, we don't minimize them, we maximize the power of the cross, we recognize it for what it is. It's bigger than my sins, and that leads us to give thanks to the Lord.

Amen. This is a great 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, doctrine, theology, something going on in your church. You can leave us a voicemail anytime at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 833-843-2673. Now we want to tell you about something new that we have. We've got these really great booklets here at Core Christianity on a wide variety of topics, and we have a new one we're just making available this week. Yeah, Bill, this is an excellent booklet called What Still Divides Us. We get a lot of questions here on Core, and a topic that has always seemed to be trending among our listeners has been discussing the differences between Christianity, or the Christian faith, and Roman Catholicism. A while back we actually got an email from one of our listeners asking us to write about what still divides us, and we knew something like this would be so vital to truly understanding the things that we have in common while defining the doctrines that divide Protestants and Catholics. And so this is a great resource that we hope will not only strengthen your walk with Christ, but also shed light on questions that you might still have, important questions. What Still Divides Us is the perfect way to dig deeper and maybe have a great discussion with the family member or friend who happens to be of a different tradition than you. Head over to corechristianity.com forward slash radio to get your new booklet, What Still Divides Us. Such a great booklet and so important if you have friends or family members who are Catholic and you've come up against some hard issues with them. Again, you can find that at corechristianity.com forward slash radio.

Well, we do receive voicemails here at the Core, and here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Don in Nebraska. The question is, when we get to heaven, correct me if I'm wrong, we'll be sinners, but our sin has been paid for. We'll be in glorified bodies, but the question is, will we still be sinners? I guess my thought is we are still sinners, but our sins have been paid for on the cross. I just need scripture to back it up either way.

Thank you very much for your help. Bye-bye. Hey, yeah, thank you for that question. So, I mean, our sins have already been paid for, and so we're justified in Christ now. We don't have to wait until we get to heaven for that, but we still, this side of heaven, this side of the new creation, struggle with indwelling sin. That's why the Protestant reformer Martin Luther talked about us being simultaneously just and sinful at the same time, because we still have those sinful inclinations, those disordered desires within us. We're identified by our union with Jesus Christ, and so we've been born again, we're the children of God, and yet we still have that struggle now. And just insofar as we have that struggle still, I think we can still say, I am a sinner. I mean, Paul does this, for example. He can refer to himself as the chief of sinners, even though he's united to Jesus Christ.

Again, we have that tension. In glory, our souls are perfected in holiness. So, no, there's no more sin in glory and in the new creation, right?

All of that has been done away with, and so we're in this sort of new state glorified. Our bodies at the time of the resurrection, the new creation, our bodies are glorified. There's no more opportunity for sin. There's no more indwelling sin. We're in this state of confirmed righteousness, so it wouldn't be proper accurate to refer to us as sinners still there. We have the consummation of our salvation and the eradication of all sin, including the indwelling sin that was still in us while we were on earth.

And so I appreciate that question, brother, and that's something that we all look forward to. I know, man, that daily fight against sin should cause us to long for that perfection and holiness that's coming, that God has promised to us through Christ, in particular in the new creation. God bless. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez.

Let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners. This is Shuran. The question that I have is, Jesus said in Luke 22, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as weak. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith shall not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. When he says thou art converted, that means that was the moment that he was going to become saved. And that's why he says strengthen, because once you become saved, you have strengthened through Jesus, just like the example of the thief on the cross when he became saved right after, before he died. So I wanted to know, is that also for Simon Peter when he actually became saved, or was it when he went out and he cried after the crow struck and then he became saved?

Can you help with that question? Thank you. Hey, thank you for that. So what an amazing passage. This is Luke 22 verse 31, and it sounds to me like you're using a different translation of the Bible.

That word converted there, that's not what my English version uses. I'm using the English standard version, but let me just read my version, Luke 22, beginning in verse 31. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, and that's where your translation uses the word, when you're converted, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Peter said to him, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. And Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not grow this day until you deny three times that you know me. So that word converted, rendered here in the ESV, turned again. I mean, that's what the word means in the Greek New Testament, to turn again or to turn back. And the point there is, look, after your denial, when you turn again, when you come back, and we have that beautiful scene at the end of John's Gospel where Jesus appears to the disciples on the beach, and Peter jumps out of boat and swims to him, and Jesus restores him. I think that's in part what he's referring to, that restoration that he experiences.

That's what's being spoken about here. Now, your question is, was that the moment that he was saved when Jesus met with him on the beach? Other people might say, well, it was the day of Pentecost, you know, when he preached mightily. Or no, it was when he made his profession in Matthew chapter 18, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

We're always looking for that sort of moment. I think, I mean, it's clear, I mean, back at that text in Matthew chapter 18, where, you know, Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus said says to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. So we can see the work of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in Peter's life throughout the ministry of Christ, from the moment that Jesus called him. We're always, you know, looking for, okay, what was that, what was the real moment of faith, the moment that I asked Jesus into my heart or whatnot, but that's often not how the Bible speaks. And so we can see the work of God in Peter's life throughout the ministry of Christ. We can see Peter struggling before Pentecost and after Pentecost. That's why Paul in the book of Galatians talks about needing to rebuke Peter at one point, you know, after Pentecost, after he had preached that mighty sermon on the day of Pentecost. And so, but more specifically to your question, I don't think there in Luke 22 that that was like the moment of the conversion that's being described. No, I think Peter already believed in Christ prior to that, and it's clear that there's evidence that the work of God was happening in his life even before that moment.

Thank you for reaching out with that question. You gotta love that, Peter. I mean, so many of us are in similar situations in our life. We, you know, we're trying to follow Christ, we're trying to do the right thing, and then we we stumble and we blow it, and we do things that even kind of deny him at times. Yeah, well, and then even just, you know, his response to Jesus where he says, Lord, I'm ready.

I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. So much confidence in Peter. Maybe we could say even pride. And he's humbled immensely, and so I think we could relate to him in so many ways there, right?

The pride or the confidence, the self-confidence that we can often have, and how God and his mercy and his kindness humbles us. We give thanks to the Lord for that. Hey, thanks again for listening to CORE Christianity. God bless you. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, go to corechristianity.com forward slash radio, or you can call us at 1-833-843-2673.

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.