Is the Phrase “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” Consistent with the Bible?

Is the phrase, no good deed goes unpunished, consistent with the Bible? 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. Our phone lines are open right now, and you can call us for the next 25 minutes or so. Here's the number. It's 833-722. That's 1-833-843-2673.

If you're driving, just write that on the dust on your dashboard. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. And first up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners.

This is Mike in South Carolina. I see a lot of my friends that I've grown up with get swept into this Hebraic roots movement, which teaches that in order to be a faithful Christian, one must hold to and only celebrate those feasts and festivals that are outlined in the Old Testament. Some of them will also include only holding to the Old Testament dietary laws, and also when speaking of Jesus or when in prayer, we'll only refer to them as Yeshua, only using his Hebrew name. So my question to you is, how do you minister to someone that's caught up in this movement, and also do we see anywhere in the New Testament Gentile Christians honoring or participating in the Old Testament Jewish feasts and festivals?

That's my question. Thank you. I appreciate all that you're doing and look forward to hopefully hearing you answer this question. God bless.

God bless you too, Mike. So look, I mean, I've spoken with Christians who get excited about the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew context of the Scriptures, and they're really interested in studying those Old Testament feasts and maybe even will, you know, refer to Jesus as Yeshua. I think that's really not that big of a deal, but what concerns me about some of these movements is oftentimes I think they go too far. And what I mean by that is they are looking to re-establish something that shouldn't be re-established. They're looking to re-establish the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. They're looking to re-establish some of these feasts, these festivals, which were a part of the Old Covenant. They were types and shadows of what was to come in Christ and in His redemptive work. And when I say types and shadows, I mean they were pointing forward to the reality of the Gospel, and we have that reality now.

To go back to those things, those festivals, as a religious law would be a real problem. And what I do think you find in the New Testament is warnings against that in various places. The book of Galatians, the book of Hebrews, right? The Hebrew context in particular in the book of Hebrews, it was Christians who were being tempted to go back to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. And the author of the Hebrews says if you do that, you are essentially rejecting Christ's redemptive work. And in the book of Galatians, there were these agitators in Galatia that were trying to get the Galatian Christians to basically re-embrace the law of Moses in the sense of you need to go and get circumcised if you want to be justified.

That's great that you believe in Jesus, now you need to do all these other things, follow all these other rules and regulations if you want to be in a right relationship with God. And so that's where I think I'm concerned, because I think the New Testament reflects that concern of not really fully understanding the significance of what Jesus accomplished and looking to take a step back, as it were, in redemptive history. If you think of what the apostle Paul said in Colossians chapter 2, And so as you're talking to these friends and you're getting into conversations, I guess one question that I would want to ask them is, you know, do you think that you as a Christian are bound to observe these festivals, these ceremonies?

And if so, why? Because Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 that these are a shadow of the things to come, and those things which were to come have come in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so what we need to focus is on Christ, on the gospel, on the ordinances that he left the church, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and on seeking to live faithfully as Christians.

And so I appreciate, Mike, your question. I do hope that God blesses your conversations with your friends, and that as a result of these conversations you can all grow together in a deeper understanding of the Word. You know, such a great response, Adriel, and I'm just wondering, is this becoming a significant movement among evangelicals, and are there particular teachers that are pushing this, and maybe I shouldn't use the word, but this Judaizer-type faith? Well, you know, I mean, it's tough to say, at least from my perspective, it's just like it seems like there are new movements every single day of the week. It's hard to keep up with all of them. And like I said, I feel like there's a spectrum here, where you have some people who, you know, they just enjoy setting the Hebrew background, and it gives them insight into the redemptive work of Jesus.

I think that's wonderful. But if you're essentially becoming culturally Jewish and resurrecting all of these festivals and ceremonial laws, and saying that this is what you need to do to be a good and faithful Christian, well then, essentially, you're falling into the Galatian era, the era that those agitators in the book of Galatians were bringing forward, and Paul says, hey, that's a serious problem. That's another gospel, which really isn't a gospel at all. And so that's where, again, I think we need to be discerning and really ask the tough questions and say, okay, how do we relate to the law? What are you saying here when you're trying to do these ceremonies and these practices? That's key.

And so, unfortunately, as I said, there's so much confusion today about the law of God and how we relate to the law, and so some of those important distinctions that we talk about oftentimes on the broadcast, the relationship between law and gospel and so forth, are really, really important. So you're saying I can keep my fatted calf as a pet? It's okay to do that. Don't have to. Yeah, you can, I guess, Bill. In San Diego, most people just have dogs.

I guess where you're at, there's other pets. Okay, 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. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, we also have a YouTube channel, and you can watch Adriel live on YouTube right now and send him your question that way.

So check that out. Let's go to Kathy in Nebraska. Kathy, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi. My question is, does the Evangelical Free Church, do they allow homosexuals in the pulpit? Oh, Kathy, well, I'm sorry to say I don't actually know what the practice of the Evangelical Free Church is. I mean, I always thought that they were more of a conservative Christian denomination, but is this something that you're seeing in your local congregation, Kathy? Well, a town where I used to live, I went to church there for 21 years and moved away, and a friend of mine told me that they went to another denomination because of that, and I haven't been able to find the true answer.

I mean, I'm like you. They're very conservative. I just would find it hard to believe, but I don't know for sure.

Yeah, so I mean, again, I really don't know. It's always been my sense that Evangelical Free Churches were conservative and wanted to be faithful to the Word of God. I know that individual churches sometimes, you know, in more conservative denominations, that individual churches sometimes will stray and oftentimes leave the denomination because they're becoming more progressive with regard to their theology or sexual ethics or whatever it may be. And this issue in particular is one where I think we're seeing a lot of strain today, in part because of the culture and the direction of the culture with regard to how it understands the idea of love and sexuality, and I think this is one of the real tests for the church today. Are we going to be faithful to the Word of God, or are we going to let the culture shape what we believe and reject, essentially, the clear teaching of the Bible with respect to this issue at least? With regard to homosexuality, when you look at places like Romans chapter 1 or 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and certainly in the Old Testament as well, this is something that is condemned as sin in the Bible, and so those who are engaged in homosexuality are called to repentance. And so platforming, and this is something that churches are doing today, I think, you know, again, as a sort of nod to the culture and wanting to open the doors and say, you know, come one, come all, we accept everybody, they're rejecting, essentially, the teaching of the Bible and platforming, you know, it seems like in this case it was a homosexual pastor or someone in the pulpit, and I just think that that's a total shame.

You know, again, it's rejecting the clear teaching of Scripture, so I can't speak for this particular church and that particular denomination, but I do hope that it gets on track again. And so, Cathy, God bless. Thanks, Cathy, appreciate your call and for listening to Core Christianity.

Love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, or theology, or maybe something going on at your church that you are either confused about or concerned about. Here's our number. It's 833-THE-CORE. Want to mention a great resource we have.

It's absolutely free. You can find it on our website. It's called The Five Names of God You Should Know. This resource breaks down some of the names of God, their significance, biblically, theologically, like the divine name, Yahweh, or the revelation of God as our Father, Abba, or you think of that great messianic prophecy in the book of Isaiah referring to the Son of God as Emmanuel, God with us. And so, if you're looking to learn more about the names of God and their significance for you, get a hold of this resource. Again, it's called Five Names of God You Should Know. You can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Well, we do receive voicemails here at the Core, and you can call us 24 hours a day and leave your voicemail question at 833-THE-CORE.

Let's go to Darlene. This is a voicemail that came in earlier this week. When I was in therapy today, my therapist used the phrase, did you ever hear that no good deed goes unpunished? And I'm not familiar with that, and I asked her if that was in the Bible, and she said she didn't know. So, I'm asking you. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Hi, Darlene. That is actually not a phrase that's in the Bible. You know, there are a few of these sort of sayings that float around that people wonder, is that in the Bible? No good deed goes unpunished, or God helps those who help themselves, or God will never give you more than you can handle. That one is one that many people think, well, yeah, doesn't the Bible say that? And actually, no, none of those sayings are in the Bible.

Sometimes there's something that could sort of sound similar to that, but oftentimes the way that they're applied certainly isn't biblical. And with this idea, no good deed goes unpunished, I think I would actually want to say the opposite. One thing that the Bible makes very clear is that no bad deed goes unpunished, that God is perfectly just. And this is why he sent his Son into the world, because the fact of the matter is we are guilty. We're guilty of sin. We stand under the wrath of God. We're condemned. And so we need a Savior. We need someone who is going to, or who is going to, pay the penalty for our sins. And that's precisely what Jesus Christ did.

He stepped in. He bore the punishment that we deserve for our bad deeds so that we might be justified, we might be forgiven. And I think that saying, I think, you know, the way it goes, and this is, I think, something we can experience is sort of this proverbial saying, you know, you do something good for others.

And sometimes they, you know, they don't respond the way you hoped that they would respond, or they distance themselves, or they turn on you. And so I think that's what that saying is getting at. And certainly you see examples of that in the Bible, but when we're thinking about the justice of God and divine punishment in particular, what we would want to affirm, according to Scripture, is that God is perfectly just, and that the punishment always fits the crime, but that he's also merciful, and he's made a way for those who are justly condemned to be justified. Thanks, Darlene, for your question. You know, I was reading in Revelation, it seems like later on there's going to be a reckoning for those people that are evil and have rejected God.

Am I on track with that? Yeah, I mean, that's certainly what the Bible teaches. When you look at those passages throughout the Scriptures, and certainly in the book of Revelation that talk about God's judgment, it's a sobering reality, really. I mean, it's something that, as we read it, should strike a holy fear in our hearts, should humble us before the Lord as we seek to live faithfully to him, and certainly our only hope before the judgment seat of God is the mercy that we find in Jesus Christ. Amen, so well said. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Michael in Kansas.

Michael, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, I was curious about fasting. How do you fast? Are there different types of fasting?

How long do you fast? You know, I was trying to look it up in the Bible, but wasn't having very good luck on finding these specific questions out. Okay.

Well, Michael, thanks for asking that question. A couple of passages that I think you could look at, certainly Jesus' comments in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew's Gospel. There he talks about fasting specifically, and not fasting like the religious leaders, like the hypocrites would in his day.

Why? Because they fasted in order to be seen by men. But Jesus says, you know, when you fast, don't do it like that. When you fast, wash your face, anoint your head with oil, and do it before your Father who is in heaven. So first and foremost, I would say, fasting is not something that we do to be seen, and for others to praise us. It is a spiritual discipline, we might say. Oftentimes in the Bible, Michael, people would fast when they were going through something very difficult.

They would call upon the name of the Lord, setting apart time and food in particular in order to devote themselves to prayer. And so I think that's the focus. It's, okay, I'm doing this to draw near to the Lord and to call upon His name. And sometimes I think in life, you know, we're so easily distracted, and there are things that weigh upon us heavily. Sometimes I think it's a good thing for us to say, you know what, I really need to devote some time here, some focused time to prayer and calling upon the name of the Lord. But it's something that, you know, it's like, well, I fast every Monday and Wednesday sort of a thing.

It needs to be a discipline like that. But I do think that there are times, there are seasons where maybe this could be a good thing and maybe something that the Lord is impressing upon your heart. Now, there are different kinds of fasts in the Bible. You think of how Daniel fasted, for example, not eating any of the king's delicacies, as only eating vegetables. Or you think of, you know, the sort of fuller fast where individuals would only drink water.

And in terms of, you know, how long do I do that for, this is all, you know, there's no hard and fast rule. It's something where I think you prayerfully think about, okay, well, maybe just for a meal. I'm going to say, okay, I'm not going to have lunch. I'm going to go out on my lunch break, and I'm just going to spend time with the Lord and pray about this particular need or this particular situation.

I think that could be a really wonderful thing. By the way, my one encouragement I would have is, you know, a lot of times when people try to get into fasting, I think they overextend themselves. You know, they think, well, I'm going to fast for three days, you know, just water, and realize after the first 12 hours, you know, like, I don't think that was a good idea. So I had a friend who said I was only going to do like these, you know, juices and smoothies. I wasn't going to eat any food for, you know, however many days. And he said, this is a true story, he said after, you know, the third day or fourth day, he was so hungry, he blended lasagna.

I mean, it's sort of cheating, I think. So, you know, I think starting small, but also, you know, think of it as a time to really focus on prayer and drawing near to the Lord. So there's that passage I mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. That was Matthew chapter 6, verses 16 and following, by the way. Jesus' words on fasting. Another passage you might want to look at is found in Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 58, where there God is talking about really fasting that pleases the Lord.

You know, fasting that's done in a way that's right and honoring to God, turning away from our sins, seeking to help others even, so it could even be an opportunity for acts of charity and service. And so check out that passage in Isaiah 58 as well. So well said, thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Jordan in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jordan, what's your question for Adriel?

Yeah. Hey, Pastor. So I was praying this morning and here lately, last month, to really been kind of trying to figure out what my place is within the kingdom. So today, as I'm praying, I hear it clear as day, you know, first Corinthians chapter 14. So I dig into it. I start to read. And as I'm reading, obviously it speaks on prophecy, you know, bringing good news, bringing encouragement, things of that nature. I just really was curious, like, what does that look like in today's day and age? I tried to kind of like, you know, Google, look up different things, watch different sermons, and you know, it's kind of vague answers.

So I was just wondering if you'd clarify that a little bit. All right, Jordan. Well, one, I thank God for your desire to serve and to be used by the Lord. And it's funny, you know, the way you put that, you know, trying to find my place in the kingdom. First Corinthians 12 through 14 is really an interesting set of chapters, because there Paul is highlighting, especially back in chapter 12, how each of us does play a really important role or part in the kingdom, or more specifically in the body of Christ, that each of us has been gifted in unique ways, but all for the same purpose. And the purpose is for the edification, for the building up of the church. And so however God has gifted you, Jordan, whatever gifts the Lord has given you, the whole purpose is for the building up of the body.

It's not about me individually or selfishly. It's about how can we serve one another for the mutual building up of the church. And so in First Corinthians chapter 14, a really interesting chapter, the Corinthians were struggling with spiritual gifts.

Actually, they were getting in fights about them. You know, some of the Corinthians were looking down on others because they didn't have a particular spiritual gift. And that's why in chapter 12, Paul is highlighting the importance of every single member of the body. Each of us plays a very important role.

And so that was part of the problem. Then in between 12 and 14, you have that great chapter on love, essentially the call to love being preeminent in the Christian life, even more than our spiritual gifts. The greatest thing of all, Paul says, is love.

But we're called to pursue that which is good, especially for the building up of the body. And in the context of First Corinthians 14, prophecy was a revelatory gift that the Spirit of God would be at work in an individual, granting them this gift so that they might speak forth the truth of God's word and encourage others and build them up. Now, I don't know that the gift of prophecy, the miraculous gift of prophecy is given today as it was then.

In fact, I think it was more of something that was unique to that apostolic time or the period right there associated with the apostles to advance the gospel, which doesn't mean that God can't work miraculously today, but I just don't think that ordinarily that's what he's doing in the same way that he was there in First Corinthians chapter 14. But I think that there are implications that we could take from this text in particular about speaking forth the truth of God's word and encouraging others. And I do hope Jordan that the Lord helps you to do that. And the best way I think to do that would be to grow in your own understanding of the Scriptures, to be committed to knowing the Word of God, reading the Word of God every day, letting the Word wash over you daily so that you might be able to encourage others with the things that you're learning in Scripture, or to be able to bring passages of Scripture to bear when people have questions or are wrestling with something.

And so, again, I just so appreciate the fact that you're curious about this, and I think this is important for all of us, Bill. Oftentimes, we talk on the broadcast about the importance of being plugged into a good and solid local church. And again, the different gifts within the body illustrate why that's so key, because none of us individually are the church. We make up different members of the body, and it's only as the body comes together, as Jordan brings his gifts and you bring your gifts, and we're coming together as the one body of Christ, that the body builds itself up in love. And that's what we're after as Christians. God bless. We're the church that brings the Word together.