Biblical Principles for the Politically Involved Christian

How should Christians engage in politics today? 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 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.

Love to hear from you. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. We'll be taking calls for the next 25 minutes or so.

1-833-843-2673. 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, here's a call that came in from one of our listeners earlier this week.

Yes, I had a question. Where we live, south of the country, I want to get our family into a good Bible-based church, but the problem is the churches that we have around here, you'll go to one church and you have a preacher who wants to be like a comedian. He wants to tell more jokes and he wants to talk about the Bible. You go to another church and it's like he wants to be like a show voter type thing, but there again, he doesn't really want to talk about the Bible very much. The only time I can really get good biblical teaching is listening to Bot Radio Network, but I know we're supposed to gather in a church to gather around other Christians, and I want to do that for my family, but I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go.

What do you suggest? Thank you. Well, brother, thank you for reaching out, and I praise God for your heart and the sense that you have of the importance of being in a church as a family, and not just any church, but a church where the Word of God is prioritized and preached faithfully. I recognize the dilemma that you're in, not being able to find a church around you. Let's just take a moment, brothers and sisters, to pray for our brother and his family and for all those right now who are searching for a good church. Father, we lift our brother up to you and ask that you would guide him and his family, Lord, to a place where they can hear your word, faithfully proclaimed, opened up, Lord, and expounded upon, and that they would grow in their relationship with you, in the knowledge, O God, of your son, Jesus Christ, in sanctification by the Holy Spirit, that you would bless them, be with them. And if truly, Lord, there is no church in their area, would you send pastors and church planters to that area, to that region, Lord, to start a faithful gospel ministry that many might be encouraged?

We ask these things, dear Father, in Jesus' name, amen. So, I mean, obviously, I would say amen to the fact that you're looking for a Bible-preaching church, a church, you know, it's not a show, it's not an opportunity for the pastor to, you know, share his latest, greatest jokes or whatever, but where God is honored and his word is upheld. And, you know, there is no church that's perfect, but certainly it's not asking too much to ask for a church that prioritizes the teaching of the Bible. And so I would say continue to search, you know, continue to visit churches. You may find, right, maybe that church isn't, you know, a non-denominational church per se. Maybe it is, but, you know, so maybe expanding your search a little bit, looking at other kinds of churches, maybe a Presbyterian church or a Baptist church. But being open, right, to look and say, Lord, where is your word going to be faithfully preached?

And so that's one thing that I would say. Another thing that I would say, and I know that this sometimes comes off as, whoa, that's too much, but look, if you're in an area where there just is no church and there's no opportunity for solid Christian fellowship under the ministry of the word, I think that's a big enough deal to even consider, like, well, do we move further south or north or wherever we need to go in order to be a part of a solid Christian church? Because the church is the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's ordinarily the way in which God intends for us to grow in our relationship with the Lord, in the same way that we would often, you know, consider making a move because we had a new job opportunity and this new job was going to pay us a lot more money or whatever. I think we should prioritize that spiritual component in our lives and say, look, we are spiritually famished here, but maybe, you know, there's opportunity elsewhere and maybe God is guiding us, leading us elsewhere.

So I think that should even be on the table, brother. But this is where you need to exercise wisdom, and I'm not saying, you know, jump into anything too quick, I think just hopefully expanding the search, continuing to visit other churches, having conversations with the minister and the leadership of the church, and I pray that God, as I said, guides you and does provide for you and for your family this very important need. Such a difficult situation. I was thinking about my own wife, Adriel. She grew up in California but went to college in Connecticut and had such a difficult time finding an evangelical, a solid evangelical church, lots of Catholic churches and lots of mainline churches that weren't really preaching God's Word but couldn't really find a fellowship during her time in college, and it was heartbreaking for her. Yeah, no, I can imagine, I'm grateful that where we're at, where I live in Southern California, there are plenty of really solid, wonderful Bible-believing churches, but I know that that's not the case everywhere in the United States and certainly not everywhere in the world, and so as Jesus told us, right, pray that God would send laborers into the vineyard, the fields, or into the field, the fields are white, right, they're ripe for harvest, and we want God to raise up missionaries and people who are going to go out and plant churches for the building up for the edification of the body of Christ spread out throughout the world, and so, yeah, the harvest is ready, the fields are ready, God, raise up pastors and missionaries.

Amen. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to talk to you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life or something in your church life that you're confused about or concerned about, or maybe you need prayer for a particular situation.

Feel free to give us a call right now, 833-THE-CORE, that's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Nigel calling in from Texas. Nigel, what's your question for Adriel? Hey, Adriel, so my pastor said an elder at my church needs to repent for his past sins and accusing him of things that the elders say are false. My pastor did not confront the elder with the common ground of scripture such as the Matthew 18 way. Also, my pastor is also now treating him as an apostate. I'm worried about the way my pastor is handling the situation.

How should this be handled? Okay, so it sounds like there's some conflict here on the leadership team or on the elder board. The first text of scripture that comes to mind, brother, is Paul's words in 1 Timothy 5, and in particular in verses 19 and following. I'll start actually in verse 17. He says, Let elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

4. The scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.

So, I mean, this is a serious thing. It sounds to me like there's been a charge that's been brought forward. And maybe just to go back to you very briefly, is this something where the charge is coming primarily from the pastor, Nigel, but there really is no clarity about what that charge is, that sin is, that needs to be repented of? That's correct.

That's correct. They mostly are, you know, claims that the pastor is saying against him, but yeah, like you said, they're not clear because the other side is saying another thing. Okay. Well, let me encourage you as a member in the church, and I'm sure that this is just difficult for you and for many who are there, each of us, let us be clothed with humility. That goes for the pastor, that goes for the elder too, and I think in situations like this, you know, sometimes with cases of church discipline, there is wisdom in not just putting everything out there per se, but in situations like this where something is happening, there are changes that are being made within the church. You have an elder who's maybe now being treated as an apostate, it sounds like, but nobody really knows what's going on. I think it's good for there to be a level of openness and a level of clarification and understanding, especially given Paul's firm admonition there in 1 Timothy 5. When it comes to an elder, you know, don't just admit a charge, you know, not just hearsay or one person who's saying something.

If we're going to bring a case against an elder, he says, okay, let there be two, three witnesses. And you think of the process in Matthew chapter 18 with regard to church discipline. You know, if your brother sins against you, go to him. If he still doesn't listen to you, go to him with others in the church. If that doesn't work, take it to the church.

So it sounds like maybe there have been some steps that have been skipped here. Now, of course, you know, from where I'm seated, and I know that cases of discipline within the church are very sticky and very complex, so I wouldn't want to just say, here's exactly what should happen. That's why I said, man, be clothed with humility. I think it's fair, you know, to ask for clarifications, to ask for wisdom, to strive for unity and charity within the body of Christ. Anytime there's an issue of sin, right, it's grievous. We're looking for healing, for restoration, for the glory of Christ, to be exalted. And so I think, perhaps, you know, what you can do is just seek out more clarity from the leadership, from the pastor. When it becomes a sort of he-said, he-said type of a thing with the leadership, this is where, I think, devoting ourselves to prayer and saying, God, you guide us, you bring clarity, you grant wisdom, and help us to be led by the principles that are found in your Holy Word, in Scripture, because there's a lot of room for error.

And so, yeah, I mean, I'm sorry I can't say, well, here's exactly what should happen. I don't know all of the details, but humbly seeking the Lord and seeking some clarification, I think, is the best that you can do. And if it is the case that this has been mishandled and maybe there's just a sort of personal conflict between the pastor and the elder and the pastor is, you know, using his authority or his position to sort of push an elder out, I think that that's a problem. But if there is maybe a situation of serious sin with this elder and they're just, okay, well, we don't want to share all the details with the church, I think there can be some sensitivity there too, and so may God be with you, Nigel, may God be with your church, and keep you guys unified around the gospel of God's grace and the word of God, and bring peace in this situation. Good counsel. Thank you for that, Adriel.

And Nigel, thanks so much for calling in to CORE Christianity. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine, theology. Our phone lines are open. We'll be taking calls for the next 10 minutes or so. Here's the phone number. It's 833-843-2673.

That's 833 the CORE. Let's say you have a neighbor or a work associate who's a non-Christian and you get into a conversation with them and they start bringing up some issues about the Christian faith that you really aren't able to respond to, some challenges about your faith. Well, we've created a resource for you that we think will help you answer some of those challenges.

Yeah, the resource is Tough Questions Answered, four chapters, digging into some of the tough questions that we get here on the broadcast, going a little bit deeper than we have time to do on the live show. But you're going to find stuff related to faith and science, world religions, the Bible, you know, do the gospels contradict each other, why should the apostles be trusted, as well as morality. And there's so many questions about morality in our society and culture today. Is the Bible's view of sexuality overly restrictive?

Doesn't the Bible support slavery? You know, those kinds of questions that you get from time to time. And so get a hold of this resource over at corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Once again, it's called Tough Questions Answered. And by the way, when you go to our website, we would encourage you to check out our inner CORE if you're one of our regular listeners and you believe in what our ministry does. We have people who support us on a monthly basis. We don't play commercials here on core Christianity. We don't get money from a church or denomination or radio station.

We're self-supporting, or I should say we're listener supported. And if you're one of our regular listeners, we'd love to have you prayerfully consider joining that group called the inner CORE. And there's some nice benefits that go along with that as well, including Michael Horton's book, CORE Christianity, that really was the impetus for this program. Find out more at corechristianity.com. Well, we do receive voicemails here at CORE Christianity, and here's one that came in from Ennis. I just thought of calling you because they want me to be a caucus captain tonight. I've never done it before, and I don't want to promote any one candidate, but I could use some prayer to do something I've never done before.

Thank you. Ennis, I would say, man, don't do anything you don't want to do. Scripture talks about not sinning against your own conscience. Now, I don't think that there's anything wrong with doing that necessarily, you as an individual, as a Christian, and also just being involved in your community.

I think that that's a good thing. There are some principles, I think, that we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can apply as we think about how to engage with the kingdoms of this world as citizens of heaven. And that would be the first thing that I would want to say is, if you are a Christian, if you're born again, you have this kind of dual citizenship. This is something we see in the New Testament. You are a citizen of God's kingdom, a citizen of heaven, but you're also a part of, a citizen of, the kingdoms of this world, too. And so you have this relationship to the world, to your neighbors, and we're called in all that we do to live as Christians and to represent Jesus Christ as followers of Jesus. Now, this idea of having this dual citizenship, it's one of the things that Paul alludes to in Philippians chapter 3. He's right into the Philippians, and he says, And he's talking about false teachers here, and he's saying that they're just consumed with this world. And then he says in verse 20, Now, the reason this is interesting is because Paul is right into the Philippians here, and Philippi was a Roman colony that was proud of its relationship with Rome. There's evidence that it was also a place where you had a lot of military veterans that would retire, they would go there. And so there was this sense of patriotism there, being proud of that Roman citizenship.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think Paul is just saying here, first and foremost, brothers and sisters, you are citizens of heaven. We have this dual citizenship. And so that's really important, and in everything we do, as I've already said, we want to be representatives of Jesus Christ, and so we should let the teachings of the Bible shape our lives, including how we engage as citizens of the United States, or wherever it is that God has us. You think about how we vote, for example, right?

Let the principles of Scripture guide you. We value things like life. That's why we talk about abortion on this broadcast. We stand against abortion as a heinous evil. You stand against those things that Paul says are against or contrary to nature in Romans chapter 1.

And sadly, in our society, in our culture, people are just sort of running headlong into those kinds of things, those practices that really destroy society. You stand against those kinds of evils in the world as Christians, as followers of Jesus, and as individuals, as citizens of God's kingdom, but also as citizens of the temporal kingdoms of this world. You also think of the principle you see throughout the Old Testament, at least, as God was speaking to his people, Israel, in the Old Testament.

You see this in the New Testament as well. The standing up for the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, care for those who are in need. These kinds of principles should shape how we think, and how we relate to the world, how we apply the opportunities and privileges that God has given to us as citizens, wherever we are, to make a difference for the good of our neighbor and for the peace and advancement of the gospel. And so I would just say, brother, one, again, there's nothing wrong with that, but I would say if you don't want to do it, don't do something you don't want to do. But in everything you do, let the word of God direct your steps. Great counsel. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we're going to be recording a second episode of CORE Christianity after our live program ends here in a few minutes. So if you weren't able to get through, hey, you can still ask Adriel your questions. In fact, you can call us for the next 35 minutes or so at 833-THE-CORE.

Let's go to Wayne calling in from Minnesota. Wayne, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, my name is Wayne calling and I had some medical issues back in 2022, where I needed to have open heart valve replacement and then aortic aneurysm repair.

And through the operation, I was unable to go back to my current or my former employment. So at the moment, I'm kind of going through some hardship with the financially and stuff like that. I would just ask for some kind of prayer or advice on what bimlically I could do with the faithful friends that I have around me that would contain that issue. Wayne, our hearts go out to you, brother. And I want to take a moment to pray for you and to invite our listeners to pray for you with the health issues and then also with just not being able to provide for yourself and to work and to have money as you were before. So let's pray for Wayne right now. Our Father in Heaven, we lift Wayne up to you. And God, thank you that you know him, you know his situation, and you are intimately aware of each and every one of his needs. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would help him not to be anxious but to trust that you will indeed provide for him. And Lord, I pray that you would surround him with godly brothers and sisters who can encourage him and who can help him, Lord, in helping to supply those needs that he has that he's not able to supply right now, Lord, to bear our brother's burden and to care for him.

Lord Jesus, would you be with him with the medical issues that he's gone through, the open heart surgery that he just had not long ago. Father, we ask for strength in his body and continued healing. And we pray for the comfort of your Holy Spirit to be in his life, Lord, that you would help him in the midst of these trials to grow in his faith, that his faith would be refined and strengthened and that his love for you and his relationship with you would grow, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Wayne, the passage of scripture that my mind goes to immediately is a psalm, Psalm 73. I'd encourage you to meditate upon it, you know, maybe going into the weekend here. And it's a psalm of Asaph, and he's looking at the wicked around him, and he's saying, and God, they're so blessed, they have all the money, it seems like they're never sick, they're always healthy, and here I am, I've sought to pursue you and to follow you and to be faithful to you, and yet I am afflicted.

I'm not making ends meet, my health is not so good. And he's really battling with this, I mean, he's frustrated, he's angry, we might even say it, God, and then he enters into the temple of the Lord. He begins to worship God. And there in the temple, as he's worshiping God, he has an epiphany, we might say.

He realizes that God is near to him. And he says in verse 25, Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Let me say that to you, Wayne, God is the strength of your heart and your portion forever. And then he says, For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You've put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you, but for me it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. In the midst of this trial, brother, I want to encourage you to continue to worship the Lord and to make the Lord your refuge, to know that he is near to you through his Son, Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins that he's given you freely, and to trust in him as he continues to watch over you. Let's pray together for the Lord together.