When Is It Permissible to Change Churches?

We've been trying to decide whether to leave our church. Is the search for more solid Bible teaching reason enough to change churches?

That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. First up, today we have a good news story from Australia to share with you. When Melbourne's regional libraries first went into lockdown due to the coronavirus back in March, they shut the doors and left the remaining unborrowed books on their shelves. With a job to do, they started calling every library card holder over the age of 70, a total of 8,000 phone numbers, and they called every one of them. The head librarian Lisa Dempster says, we called them just to say hi to see how they were doing and see if there was anything they needed help with, such as access to services, counseling support, tech help, that kind of thing.

We would then refer them to the service that would help them. Lisa says, what we found is that people are really up for a chat and they love getting that call from a librarian. Some calls go for five minutes.

Some go for a half hour or more. Isn't that sweet? Yeah, that's really sweet. What a great way to use their time. And you know, you think about how many elderly people, how many seniors right now are shut in in this country and all over the world. And boy, they just need that human touch, even if it's a phone call from a librarian.

Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And I mean, I think many churches have been seeing this as well. This is why family and community are so important. Well, let's get to our first question of the day. This one comes from Marcus who posted on our Facebook page. He says, I have a really close friend who I've been sharing my faith with for years. He's very open minded when I share with him. But every time we get into a deep conversation about this, he always gets stuck on the war and violence that has been attached to Christianity, such as the Crusades and slavery in America.

How do I respond to my friend in those moments? Yeah, it sounds like this is a hang up for him. The source of war or slavery, American slavery isn't the Christian faith. It's the human heart. Marcus, we'd like to take the good things that God gives to us, even God's word, and we twist them for our own evil purposes. And I think, you know, we've seen that happen time and time again throughout the history of the church with things like, you know, some of these religious wars with things like slavery. The sad reality is, is there were many instances where Christians would justify slavery and attempt to justify it on the basis of the teaching of Scripture is just crazy. But the fact of the matter is, it's not just them. I mean, we too, have this propensity to take God's good word, God's good gifts, and twist them for our own sinful and evil purposes. And so I think one of the things that this highlights, Marcus, and you can even tell your friend this, is that we're messed up. The good news is not that we're the ones who save people, you know, the Christian church is not the gospel. Christ is the gospel and what he's accomplished for us.

And your friend is right. Oftentimes we can look at Christians and the actions of Christians and think to ourselves, no, I don't know that I want to be a follower of Jesus. I'll share just one story with you. I was years ago talking to a guy in a coffee shop who approached me. He saw me reading, I guess it was my Bible or some Christian books, and he began to have a conversation with me asking me about where I went to church and so on and so forth. And I could tell this guy knew the Bible. I mean, it sounded like he had grown up in the church, you know, done the Sunday school thing. He was able to quote scripture to me. And finally, when I asked him, you know, where do you go to church? Or are you part of a church? He said, No, I don't go to church anywhere, because none of the churches are like Jesus. You see, he knew enough to know that Jesus was good and holy and righteous and pure. And looking around at the landscape, American Christianity, he just felt like I don't see any churches that are like Jesus. And so I don't go to church. I remember having this conversation with him.

And it struck me as we were talking, I said to him, you know, I actually don't necessarily disagree with you entirely. I mean, I think you look around at the church today, and you do see all sorts of sad things. I mean, failures, faults, sins. But the beautiful thing about Jesus is this, Jesus knows the church even better than you do. So you see all of the blemishes in the church, and you use that as a justification not to be a Christian, not to follow Jesus, not to go to church.

Jesus knows even better than you all of the faults and failures of the church. And yet here's the beautiful thing about him. He has not abandoned her.

He continues to pursue her. He is her salvation. That's the hope that we have. The hope that we have, Marcus, and this is what you have to stress to your friend, is not in Christians, is not in the church. It's in Jesus Christ, who is the savior of the church. Together, we're sinners. We're broken.

We fail. But we look to Jesus. Now, again, regarding things like the wars and slavery, the crusades you were talking about, Jesus made it absolutely clear that the gospel isn't advanced through coercion or through the power of the sword. I think of the discussion he had with Pilate in John chapter 18. Verse 36, Jesus answered Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world. So we're not talking about worldly powers here, Marcus. How does the gospel advance? Not through the sword, not through legislation.

It advances by the word of God that's preached, the message of the gospel, Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. So as you're talking to your friend, you have to keep that central in your own mind. You're not going to be able to coerce your friend to be a Christian.

Does it sound like you're trying to do that? No, it's a work of the Spirit. You want to make sure that you're praying and that you're placarding Jesus front and center before your friend, because that's ultimately what draws us to the truth. Again, regarding things like slavery, that's another great question. As I said, you know, it is true that people use the Bible to try to justify it.

I mean, that's just absolutely maddening, frustrating. And again, we have to be careful because I think we all have blind spots that we need God to reveal to us, open our hearts, bring us to repentance. But biblically speaking, the Christian faith began in a society where slavery was prominent, and it was very different than American slavery.

But here's what you need to know. Christianity, according to the teaching of Scripture, planted the seeds that ultimately led to the destruction of slavery, because it emphasized the dignity of humanity that all of us are made in the image of God, and the fact that in Christ, slaves and freed persons were on equal footing. Christianity is against the objectification of people.

We view each other as image bearers. And so I think you want to stress to your friend, look to Jesus, not to Christians. If you want to know what Christianity is about, look to Jesus and to know that just because Christians throughout history have done sinful things and attempted to justify them on the basis of the teaching of Scripture, that doesn't mean that that's actually what the Bible taught. Actually, so often, Scripture teaches the exact opposite.

And with regard to these wars that you're referring to, and even slavery, American slavery, I would say that that's the case. And so thank you and God bless you as you seek to minister to your friend. You're listening to CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And Adriel, here's a call that came in at 833-THE-CORE. Hi, guys.

My name is Richard from Pennsylvania. What is your opinion of the King James Version? I've always understood that it's the most accurate as far as the original Scriptures go, but nobody seems to use that Bible anymore. Whether it's a New American Standard, New King James, or English Standard Version, they have all changed the wording. But I'm just kind of curious what your opinion of the King James is and why nobody, many people don't use it anymore. Thank you. You guys have a good day.

Hey, Richard, thanks for your call. You know, when I first became a Christian, when I was in high school, started walking with the Lord, I think I just found a Bible that was lying around my house, and it happened to be the New King James Version of the Bible. So I spent a lot of time reading that version, especially as a brand new believer, and I really appreciated it. And I appreciate the King James Version as well, having studied original languages and gone through seminary. I don't know that I would say that the King James Version is the one that's most faithful to the original text in the sense of maybe being sort of word for word on par with what the original says. I mean, the King James Version, like any other translation, has strength and it has weaknesses. One of the weaknesses, I would say, and one of the reasons why a lot of people have stopped using it is just because the language is more archaic. We don't typically use the King James's English anymore, and so in terms of being able just to read it and to go through it and to understand it, especially for people who aren't familiar with the Christian faith.

There's already enough that they're having to figure out, having to learn. I think it's not very helpful to add the King's English on top of that. So I personally don't have a problem with the King James Version. I prefer other versions that have been updated, like the English Standard Version or the New American Standard Bible, which I would say is probably even more faithful to the original than the King James Version.

But it really is a matter of preference. You might find that in your own personal devotional life, you really like to read the King James Version, and I would say that's okay. As I said, you're going to find some strengths, you're going to find some weaknesses in all of the translations. What we want to do is make sure that we're at least reading a translation. You have a lot of these sort of paraphrases of the scripture out there that I think maybe take a little bit too much of creative liberty. So I wouldn't treat those as your primary source for reading the Bible or going through your devotions, that kind of a thing. But yeah, use the King James Version, use the New King James Version, use the ESV or the NASB, as you said. I found another thing that can be helpful is you're using sometimes different translations versions of the Bible. There might be some nuance in one translation that helps you understand the text a little bit better, and so I would say take advantage of those things. We really are quite blessed in terms of the number of translations that we have. I think it's a positive thing.

I think it's a good thing. So thanks for your question. Adrian, following up on that, do you think it's important for people to get a study Bible or a commentary so that they really understand the context of certain scriptures, especially those that are sometimes taken out of context by different churches or Christian leaders?

Yeah, Bill, that is a really good question. I think that a study Bible can be really helpful, especially for getting some of the historical background. We are so far separated from a lot of what was going on at that time that sometimes you can be reading through a book like the book of Isaiah and think, okay, what exactly is being talked about here? We're just not familiar with the historical setting, and so a study Bible or even a commentary can be really helpful for that. I think if you don't have that, though, you just want to continue to read the scripture, and you want to read the scripture in the context of community. What I mean by that is we read the Bible on our own, but we shouldn't just be alone. The Christian life wasn't meant to be lived in isolation, and so as you're studying the scripture, man, ask questions to your pastor. Be a part of the worshiping community. Grow together with other believers who are also studying the scriptures and learn from them and learn about, also, this is another thing, how the church has understood the scriptures and particular passages of scripture for the last 2,000 years. We're not the first one to read through God's revelation. There have been so many faithful brothers and sisters, martyrs, who have loved and cherished the Bible for thousands of years, and they have stuff to say about it. Really, we just have this storehouse of riches in the Word of God and then also in these other resources that we can go to, that we can look to, really the church, in order to better understand God's Word. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. I'm Bill Meyer. I want to tell you, we've been giving away our new 100-page softcover workbook for the Gospel of John, and today may be the last chance for this offer.

Yeah, you want to get them while they're hot or free still. That really is a wonderful Bible study because it does a lot of the hard work for you, as I've already said. It takes the deep truths of John's Gospel and drops them right into your lap so that you can begin to dig into the scriptures, apply the scriptures to your own life. Each weekly lesson looks at a specific passage highlighting key themes, probing your heart with reflection questions.

I mean, it just really is going to be a blessing for you in your walk with the Lord. The Gospel of John is one of my favorite books in all the Bible, and so this study is a fantastic guide that's going to engage you from start to finish. Head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to get your copy of our unique Bible study while we're still offering it for free at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. And you can also call us for that study or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673.

That's 833 the core. Adriel, here's a question that came in from Sean who emailed us and said, I'm a relatively new listener from St. Louis, and this is my first time writing into the show. My question pertains to how we ought to pray to the Triune God. It seems like prayer is only ever directed towards God the Father in the New Testament and never toward Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Should the Father alone be addressed in our prayers, or is it okay to pray directly to the Son and the Spirit also? It is okay to pray directly to the Son and to the Holy Spirit also. I mean, ordinarily speaking, as you know, when we're looking at the Bible, at the New Testament, prayer is typically directed to the Father through the mediation of the Son, Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, I think that this is really important, and I think one of the reasons why you have this sort of order is to emphasize the fact that we go to God through Jesus.

We need Jesus. I mean, our prayers are sanctified through him, and it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that we even have the ability to offer up prayers that are honoring to the Lord. And so it really is this sort of Trinitarian act of worship as we come before the Father through the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit. But you do have instances in the New Testament where Jesus is also addressed by the people of God. In fact, in the Upper Room Discourse, that section of John's Gospel right before Jesus goes to the cross, Jesus says, If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John chapter 14, verse 14. Or you think about the book of Acts when Stephen, after he had been preaching Jesus, preaching the Gospel, was persecuted, stoned to death in Acts chapter 7.

Do you remember what Stephen cried out? He cried out in prayer to Jesus, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts chapter 7, verse 59. So there you have two examples of prayer offered directly to Jesus, but there are others as well that we find in the Scriptures. From the earliest days of the Christian faith, the Church both prayed to and worshipped Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is one of the early arguments that was made against false teachers, against heretics, that denied the deity of Christ and the deity of the Holy Spirit is that the Church, those who were faithful to the teachings of Scripture, we might call them the Orthodox, what they appealed to is the fact that from the very beginning, we've been baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We've been praying to the Father, to the Son, praising God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It was evidence of the fact that this is just the way in which the Church has always worshipped, what we've always believed on the basis of what Jesus taught and handed down to the apostles. It's so interesting, one of the earliest depictions of the crucifixion that we have, it's an ancient piece of graffiti essentially that depicts a man bowing before another man who is being crucified and has the head of a donkey. You can actually find the image online, I think it's near the Palatine Hill in Rome, and it was this ancient piece of graffiti that was discovered from I think the second century or something like that. And it was probably carved out by a critic of the Christian faith, someone who was trying to make fun of another Christian. In fact, there's this little inscription at the bottom of the image that says, Alexa Menos worships his God. Again, this picture of a man bowing down before a crucified man with the head of a donkey. Well, it's because people realized that Christians worshipped the crucified Lord Jesus, that they prayed to him as God, that they praised him because they knew who he was on the basis of the teaching of Scripture. And so it's perfectly fine, Sean, to pray to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, to praise them, because we understand that they're equal in power and glory with the Father. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is that we believe in one God, one in essence, undivided, three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal of worship, glory, praise, and prayer.

Thanks for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and Adriel Lisa wrote in through our website at corechristianity.com slash radio, and she says this, My husband and I love listening and learning from your show, and we are so thankful for it. Over the past few months, we've been trying to decide whether to leave the church we've been attending for the past nine years. We've been visiting a different church this summer that emphasizes expositional preaching as opposed to more topical, sometimes fluffy preaching. We wouldn't consider our church heretical, but there are songs and sermons that we believe don't always line up with the Word of God. We know the importance of being in a solid church that teaches the Bible, and I guess my question is this, is the search for more solid Bible teaching reason enough to change churches? What a great question, and I understand how difficult these decisions can be sometimes because you become a part of a church, and you get plugged in, and you have relationships, friends. Sometimes the kids get real plugged into the children's ministry or whatever it might be, and then you begin to have questions about the theology, about what's being taught in the church, and I think those are good questions to have. I mean, we want to be Berean, like the book of Acts describes in Acts chapter 17, examining everything that we hear on the basis of scripture. Now, at what point, and this is really your question, is it right for us to pursue another church, and is it okay if we're having questions about what's being taught?

Well, I think it is, Lisa. You know, the sad thing is so many times today, people are searching for a church, and the basis that they're looking to to determine where it is that they're going to worship has nothing to do with the theology or the doctrine of the church, and everything to do maybe with the style of the music or the programs at the church, and those things aren't insignificant. It's not that those things don't matter.

They do matter. But the most important thing is, what is being taught? Is Jesus being preached? Is the gospel being proclaimed? I don't know about you, but I need to hear the gospel every day. I need to be reminded of God's goodness to me in Christ, of the forgiveness of my sins.

I especially need that on Sunday. I need to be nourished by the truth of scripture, exhorted, challenged by the word of God, and comforted by the word of God. And if what I'm hearing on a Sunday morning is not that, if I'm not hearing the law of God being preached into my heart, exposing my sins, really putting me to death, and showing me how much I need God's mercy, and the gospel of God raising me up again from the dead, establishing me in the goodness and mercy of Jesus Christ, then what are we doing? When we gather for church, we don't gather to hear the words of a charismatic speaker or somebody who has a lot of great stories or jokes to tell. We want to hear from the living God. And Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

See, that's the problem that we're seeing all around us today. People are heaping up for themselves teachers that simply want to tickle their ears. Tell me all the things that I want to hear, how God just wants to bless me, how I'm already perfectly fine, I'm good, I'm great, I'm wonderful, I'm beautiful. Give me those sort of affirmations over and over again. That's what I want in a pastor. Well, no, that's not the job of the pastor. That's not what the ministry of the word is about. The ministry of the word is about revealing our sin and our savior, causing us to turn away from ourselves and turn to Jesus and to rest in him, and I want everyone who's listening to this right now to have that.

You should long for that because you need that. If you're not in a church that preaches the gospel, Lisa, it is okay to ask the hard questions and to try to determine whether or not is this the place where we want to be, where we want to raise our family? Because as I said, at the end of the day, too, the power is in the word of God, and again, as I said, I know that these are really difficult decisions, especially if you've been a part of this church for nine years, and I think that it's something that you do want to approach with humility. I would say sitting down with your pastor, with your elders there, and raising some of these concerns, asking questions, talking about how much you long for the word of God, and you want to hear it preached.

I would say don't just sort of up and leave. I would say start having a conversation with your pastor. Talk to them about where you are as a family and begin to determine whether or not it would be the right thing to try to find another place to worship. It really isn't about, I just don't like my church, as you said.

It's not personal. We want to know Jesus. We want to be nourished by Jesus and by his word, and that's what the church ought to do, and frankly, that's what we want to do on this program. We want to proclaim Jesus to you through the scriptures so that you might know him as he's revealed in the Bible and grow in the grace and the knowledge of his name. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.