Is The Gospel Just About Getting to Heaven?

Does the gospel impact my life in any practical way, or is it just about getting to heaven? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. 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 for the next 25 minutes or so, so now is the time to call. If you have a question for Pastor Adriel, here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, we have a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners in California. Hey Pastor Adriel, this is Philip from Sacramento. I love the show.

I listen every day whenever I can. I guess lately I've just been having a hard time. I'm doing the best I can in my face.

I want to spend eternity with God, but it's difficult when that's something that's so far away and so abstract, and I guess I'm just wondering if there's any practical application to the gospel, to the Christian faith here on this earth, or are we simply following the proper steps to get to heaven? All right, thanks for your time. Bye. Yeah, Philip. No, I appreciate the question, and I'm also encouraged to hear that you listen to the broadcast every day. I hope we continue to be a blessing to you in your walk with the Lord, and I mean the answer to your question is yes. There are a ton of our entire lives, because of the gospel, have been transformed, have been changed, and that really affects us personally. It ought to affect us personally in terms of the peace that we have, the assurance of God's love, joy in the Holy Spirit, the joy that we have. You think of the fruit of the Spirit that's described by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter five, and a lot of that comes from the fact that we've been justified. The passage of scripture that I think about is what Paul said in Romans chapter five, beginning in verse one.

I think a really important text for us to go to here. He says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the conflict that existed between sinful humanity, between us and sinners, and God as the righteous judge, as the Holy One, we have peace now because of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, his propitiatory offering, this wrath-removing sacrifice, so that by faith we're justified. Now that affects us in the present day in that it gives us, as I said, that peace, and what Paul is talking about there in Romans chapter five. But also, there are the practical implications of how now the Spirit of God is transforming us day by day, Philip, so that we reflect more and more the image of Jesus in the world. That means the way that I think about the world, about the people around me, is being transformed, is being changed. Paul talks about this later in Romans chapter 12, the renewing of our mind that's happening through Jesus Christ, and the way in which we engage each other in society. I think sometimes people can have this sort of sense of the Christian life, of the way you put it. I've accepted Jesus into my heart.

I got my fire insurance. I'm going to die and go to heaven. Then we don't think about the practical implications of day by day walking with Jesus. That's not Christianity. If we've had a real encounter with Christ, if we've been justified, day by day we're going to be sanctified as well.

There was this book written a few years ago by a sociologist named Rodney Stark. It's called The Rise of Christianity. He talks about how and why it was that the church grew so quickly in the early days of the apostolic period, we might say, and into the time among the Roman Empire. One of the things that he highlights there is how Christians responded to great crises that were taking place during the Roman Empire and a number of pandemics, epidemics that took place, thousands, tens of thousands of people dying in Rome, and how the Christians, because of their faith, because of the fact that they'd embraced this message of the gospel, were willing to go and care for those who were sick, and how basically they nursed so many people back to health that it was transforming essentially the society there in the sense that people were turning to Christ and embracing him by faith. They were being transformed. They were repenting of their sins. It was amazing to see just kind of how this faith in Jesus and in the hope of heaven transformed the way they were living their day-to-day lives.

It should change the way we live our day-to-day lives as well. That's why it's so important for us to continue to grow in our faith, Philip, and to study the word of God, because as we do, God is shaping us, as I said, more and more into the image of Jesus. That changes everything.

That changes everything. So thank you for your question, brother. I trust that encourages you, and please keep listening to the program. I'm so glad you mentioned that Rodney Stark book, Adriel. In fact, one of the things he mentions in that particular story about the Roman Empire is that these Christians cared for the victims of the plagues, like the Black Plague, even though they were putting their own lives at risk, because they had the hope of heaven. Yeah, it really is, I mean, pretty remarkable when you think about it. It's a book I would actually encourage people to read.

It's short, but it's neat to see how, essentially, the Christian church had this massive impact on society, and it was precisely because of their faith in Jesus. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's the phone number to call if you have a question. It's 833-THE-CORE.

Just spell that out on your phone, 833-THE-CORE, or 833-843-2673. By the way, we have folks watching our stream, our live stream, on YouTube right now, including one of our listeners in Saskatchewan, Canada. So thankful that you have joined us here on Core Christianity. Let's go to Crystal calling in from Beggs, Oklahoma. Crystal, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, Pastor Adriel, and thank you so much for doing this broadcast.

It's really informative. So I'm actually going through the book of Genesis, and I'm really confused about, so in chapter 4, after Cain had murdered his brother Abel, you know, he tells the Lord that, you know, my punishment is greater than I can bear, and that whoever finds me shall kill me. I'm confused as to how the world became populated, because as far as I know, Abel was the oldest son, and Cain was the second born, and so who would kill them, or who would kill Cain?

I'm sorry. Yeah, no, that's an excellent question, and, you know, that question actually comes up frequently, and then a lot of people wonder, you know, where did Cain find his wife? Because there in chapter 4, in verse 17, it says, Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And so you're absolutely right.

I mean, this is a good question. If we just have Adam and Eve, and they're populating the planet, and you have these two brothers, and it seems like Cain's concern, based on his banishment, this curse that God has put upon him for murdering his brother, is, hey, other people are going to harm me. He says in verse 14, behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden.

I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. Now, it's possible that he had other brothers and sisters that aren't mentioned in the text. If you look at the very next chapter in chapter 5, verse 4, it says the days of Adam, after he fathered Seth, were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. And so I think the best answer to your question is, Cain is afraid that essentially his relatives, you know, his brothers, his nieces, so on and so forth, as time goes by, if they find him, that they're going to hurt him, that they're going to harm him for what he's done.

And I think that's the most, you know, based on what we have there in Genesis chapters 4 and 5, that's the most natural way of reading the text, and I think that's what he's concerned with. And so there's your answer, sister. Thank you for giving us a call. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We would love to hear from you. Let's go to Don, who's calling in from northwest Iowa. Don, welcome to Core Christianity. Hey Don, can you hear us? Yes, yes. Hey, welcome to the broadcast, brother, what's your question?

Hey Don, if you turn your radio down, that might be helpful. Okay, go ahead. Hey Don, thanks for calling into Core Christianity.

What's your question, brother? I was concerned about the origin of demons. I've heard different pastors say one thing and another, but where did the demons come from? Well, they're creatures, I mean they're created beings, and we would say that God didn't create demons evil, and you know, in that sense they're angels that fell, and so as a part of God's creation, God made everything good. They chose to rebel, you know, left to the freedom of their will, we might say, and so we would say that demons essentially were created by God, but that God didn't create them evil, he created them as good angels, servants of his. You know, I was just in the book of Genesis there answering that question about Cain, but if you look to the very beginning of Genesis, Genesis 1-1, it says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and I think that, you know, when this is being written, it's not just referring to the heavens as in the stars and the sun and the planets and so on and so forth, I think it's talking about the heavenly beings as well. You see this in places like the book of Nehemiah 9-6 or Psalm 148 verses 1-4, even in Colossians 1-16 where it talks about these heavenly beings, all things created through Jesus Christ and ultimately for Jesus, including the angels, but those angels fell, and so that's I think what we would say in terms of the origin of angels. It's important for us to understand that they're creatures, they're created beings, they didn't always exist alongside of God as sort of good versus evil, and that's another thing that we see at the very beginning of Genesis is God is this cosmic king, he's this cosmic creator. There's no one that can put up competition with him, he makes all things good, and yet the angels rebelled and so did Adam and Eve in their first sin, Don, and so that's the answer of the scriptures. Thank you so much for your question, brother. Great question, Don, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity. Let's go to Peggy from La Plata, Missouri. Peggy, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Oh, my question is, I recently lost my husband of 63 years, and I have a friend that I went to school with recently lost his wife, and they've been married 63 years. Well, you know, we have a lot in common, but is it too soon for us to see each other? I mean, he has children, I have children, and you know.

Yeah. Well, Peggy, thank you so much for your question, and I'm sorry that you recently lost your husband, I can't imagine how difficult that must be, and I pray that the Lord comforts you in this time, and as to your question, you know, the Apostle Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that when our spouse has died, we're free to be married again. He talks about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. We're free to be married. The only stipulation he puts on that is that the person that we marry is in the Lord. That is, they're a believer. They trust in Jesus Christ. That's, I think, the key question, and then, as to, you know, how soon is too soon, that's a wisdom issue that you're going to have to think through, Peggy.

I mean, I don't think that I can give you a specific answer there. It sounds to me like you know this person, and he is in a similar situation, but the key question that I think that the scriptures would ask, that Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 7, is, are they in the Lord? Is he a believer?

And so, if he is, then there's freedom there for you to pursue marriage or remarriage in this context. So, thank you very much, Peggy, for your question, and may the Lord bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You know, a lot of Christians today aren't particularly comfortable defending the Christian faith when talking to unbelievers, especially with somebody who may be as antagonistic, like an atheist or agnostic. Today we are offering an excellent book that will equip you to do just that. Yeah, we're continuing to offer More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell.

Brothers and sisters, get your hands on this resource. We want to know why we believe the things that we believe so that we can defend those truths to the people around us, not to get into an argument, but because Jesus really rose from the dead, and we want the people around us to know that and to understand the reasons that we believe that this is true. And so, there really is so much wonderful information here in More Than a Carpenter, not just proof for the resurrection, but also some of the archaeological evidence that really confirms the teaching of the scriptures. We don't believe the Christian faith because it makes us feel good.

We believe it because it's true, because Jesus rose from the dead, and because in him and through him we have eternal life. And it should be our desire as followers of Christ to share that message with others, and I think that this book is going to help you do that. So get ahold of More Than a Carpenter. By the way, this is an updated and revised version of the book by Josh McDowell, so if you read it years ago, this is a great time to get the newer edition to learn about some of the other ways that we need to respond to people in a world that unfortunately has moved more and more towards postmodernism. Well, if you'd like to get a copy of More Than a Carpenter, here's how you do it. You just go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash offers or call us at 833-843-2673 for help getting that book or any one of our offers. Let's go to Anita from Phoenix, Arizona. Anita, welcome to Core Christianity.

Thank you. So my question, Pastor, and thank you for what you do, you really contribute to our understanding of the word, is from Genesis 1-27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. So I came from a tradition, you know, growing up in the faith that God is high and lifted up and, you know, we are mere mortals, so how are we to think of this passage? Yeah, wonderful. Well, you go back just a few verses in verse 26, and by the way, Anita, let me just say I'm so glad to hear that you're encouraged, you're blessed by the broadcast.

I hope that it continues to be a blessing for you. But you go back a few verses, verse 26, and God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Now I read that section because I could actually, in verse 26, also be translated as a purpose clause. God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness so that they might have dominion over the fish of the sea. And one of the things that you see in the early chapters of Genesis is, as I mentioned earlier, that God is like this great king who rules over the whole world. And Adam and Eve are his, we might say, vice regents, these sort of lesser kings and queens who are called to rule in imitation of God, to care for the good creation, to tend the garden that the Lord has given to us. So one thing I would say, in terms of being made in the image of God, is that it's a calling. It's a calling that God gives to us. Each of us as human beings made in the image of God are called to reflect the light and love of our creator. Isn't that beautiful?

I mean, it really is wonderful. And there are other places in the New Testament, I think especially, that associate the image of God with knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. I think you see this in Ephesians 4, verse 24, Colossians 3, verse 10, I believe. There, again, the image of God associated with the knowledge of God, with righteousness, with holiness. Sometimes people will talk about being made in the image of God as having free will and volition and the ability to make choices.

I think that's a part of it as well. But thinking of it holistically, it's this calling that we have to reflect the Lord, his light, his love. Now, we know, based on how the story continues with the fall of Adam and Eve, that the image of God was marred in humanity. That as much as we want to, or at least should want to, reflect the love and the love and the light of our creator, the mirror has been broken, we might say. Now, we have this sort of distorted image that we put out before the world, and that image is restored in Jesus. Jesus, this is one of the reasons why Jesus came. He is the true image of God, if you will, though, that he might restore the image of God in humanity, so that in him, that original righteousness, knowledge, and holiness might be restored in us.

And so when we're having conversations about the image of God with friends, with family, you know, I think that's what we want to emphasize, that we're called to reflect the light and love of the Lord, and that we can do that through Jesus, the perfect image of God. Thank you for your question, Anita. Amen. Thank you so much, Anita, for being a regular listener there in Phoenix, Arizona. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, you can listen to the program anytime and hear previous episodes by subscribing to our podcast. If you subscribe and leave a five star review, even more people will hear about the podcast and have a chance to learn more about the core truths of Christianity. Let's go to Glory, who's calling in from Modesto, California. Glory, welcome to Core Christianity, and what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, thank you. When we're talking about the Lord, or praying, you know, or just sharing anything about Him, should we refer to Him as God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit? Sometimes I get confused, so I want to hear what you have to say about that. Yeah, well, I think all of the above, A, B, and C. You know, we can talk to the Lord and pray to the Father, we can pray to the Son, and we can pray to the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Oftentimes you do have this sort of formula in the scriptures. You know, we pray to the Father, in the Son, through the grace of the Holy Spirit. That is, we approach the Father glory through the mediation of Jesus Christ. So ordinarily, I think, you know, we direct our prayers to the Father, and we come to the Father through Jesus, our great high priest. And one of the things I love about that is that because Jesus is our great high priest, glory, we can come to the throne of grace, to the throne of the Father, boldly.

Not in our own righteousness, not in our own standing, but in what Jesus has done for us. And we pray in the Holy Spirit. You see this language throughout, especially Paul's writings, and I think what that means is that we're praying in line with God's word and God's will. And so we approach the Father, His throne of grace, through the Son, praying in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And so that's one way of looking at it, but it's also clear, and you see this in the New Testament, that there's nothing wrong with praying directly to Jesus, the Son, crying out to Jesus.

I mean, Stephen, when he was being stoned at the end of Acts chapter 7, he cried out to the Lord Jesus. He was praying to him. Jesus himself said in the Gospel of John, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. And so you don't have to feel bad about praying to Jesus, praying to the Lord, praying to the Father.

We're praying to God, the Holy Trinity, but I think that the approach of praying to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit ordinarily is what you see in the New Testament. So thank you for your question, Glory. May the Lord continue to bless you. I appreciate so much Glory's questions about the faith and how she's really attempting to understand and live out her Christian walk as a new believer.

Super encouraging. We are so blessed by your call's Glory. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go to Andy from St. Louis, Missouri. Andy, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, yeah, I was wondering, I grew up in a church to where you, somebody did a performance, like they play the number or they sang, and they would just say, Amen. And then I went to another church to where they would clap and cheer. And then I went to other churches where they danced. And I know David, when he was rejoicing for the Lord, he danced because he was so happy. And I was just trying to figure out what is not quote unquote biblical, but what is seen, because a lot of churches have differences of opinions.

Yeah, and I think some of this might be cultural. I mean, I certainly, you know, would not bless anyone if I tried to dance in church. I don't know that it would edify anyone. I don't even know if it would be pleasing to the Lord if I tried to do that. But the fact of the matter is in scripture, you do have these different postures that are associated with worship. You see this in particular throughout the Psalms, you know, raising the hands, bowing down before the Lord, that kind of a thing. And there are some churches where that takes place, where it's reflected in the worship service.

And I think that that's totally okay. And frankly, I think one of the things it does, it helps to exhibit in one sense, the attitude of the heart, raising our hands, for example, is this picture of vulnerability and openness before the Lord, you know, ready to receive what he has or bowing down before the Lord, saying, God, I am humbling myself before you. I'm approaching you with humility, knowing that I'm a sinner. One thing personally that I would say as a pastor, I think it's important for us in worship to do things decently and in order. Paul talks about this in First Corinthians 14. And so I don't know that it's helpful when everybody's kind of doing their own thing. Sometimes today, people view corporate worship, the gathering of the saints as still their own sort of individual personal time with Jesus. And we should really, I think, do whatever we're doing together as a body. So for example, in our church, you know, at the end of the service, we sing what we call the doxology, and we all raise our hands together in unison as a congregation. As a congregation to praise the Lord. And so I don't think, Andy, that there's anything wrong with these different postures. I think we want to be careful that we're doing everything decently and in order, and that the focus is on the Lord.

You know, one danger I see with this is that we can draw attention to ourselves. These different motions can be a way of saying, hey, look at how holy I am, or look at how pious I am. And that's never supposed to be what Christian worship is. No, worship is a time to gather together around the throne of God, and to bring Him praise, the sacrifice of thanksgiving. And we should do that together as a whole church in unison, in whatever it is that we're doing.

And so I appreciate your question. I will not be dancing in church this Sunday, but I will be making a joyful noise to the Lord. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.