MS Top 6 Season 3 #3

This is the Truth Network. Can they take communion by themselves? I don't see anything in Scripture that says you can't. Normally how it's done biblically is in the context of a church service with other people. Our tradition is that we have an official clergy person who administers communion, and I don't see that as a necessity in Scripture as well.

Since I like to judge everything by Scripture, I don't see anything in Scripture that says only clergy can give communion. You have to have two or more people there. What about a person stuck in the home? People with disabilities who can't go anywhere, can they do that then?

I think that they could. Number five. That's not the right way to phrase bad things happen to good people. To be charitable to Christians who might say it that way, I think what they're trying to say is, why do bad things happen to people when we look at their lives, seem to be cleaner and living better in a lot of ways, and then there are people who seem to be committing worse sins that don't have the same bad things happen to them. Why are the bad things that happen in life not in proportion to your degree of badness?

Or something like that. But I don't think to be charitable that those Christians are trying to say that there are truly good or righteous people. But I would agree with you, that isn't the right way to say it. Other than Christ, there are no good people.

Number four. There's a language learning app called Babbel, teaching people how to learn different languages. Well, it has that name, similar name of the Tower of Babbel.

If there's anything to that, it's safe to download that. I haven't looked at that specific language app before. My assumption would be it's named that because that's where the language originally comes from. The whole reason we all speak different languages is because of the Tower of Babbel. My guess is it's just a clever play borrowing from the biblical story. Truth is, historically, that is where the diversity of human language stems from. And so yeah, I don't think the name Babbel would inherently discredit the app for Christians to use.

Number three. God ensured that the Messiah would arrive and Israel had a covenant relationship with God and there's covenant boundaries. Read the Ten Commandments with rewards and punishments for keeping or not keeping the commands. This is covenant theology.

There's two tablets, ten and ten. Each party, God, man, got a copy. And so when they broke the covenant, God dealt harshly with them.

But he also was very loving and patient with them because he would send prophets to them. I'm warning you. I keep warning you.

I'm warning you again and again and again and again. Okay, here it comes. Okay, boom, judgment. And then we read about the judgment. God is so mean.

But wait a minute. He already gave them the parameters, the truth. He's very patient with them and then they reject him and they pay the price for it. And that's what's going on in the Old Testament.

Number two. There is certainly nothing in scripture that would forbid Christians from being directly involved in the political process and living in a republic that utilizes democratic processes and a lot of its political functions. There's a good in Christians having our voice in those issues. I certainly wouldn't agree with the idea that Christians should stay out of politics entirely. I think there can be a worldly way of doing politics that we should certainly avoid. There is a worldly fixation on politics over the things of the gospel that we can be tempted to fall into.

And so I would understand cautions in that direction. But no, I certainly wouldn't say that we should be uninvolved when there are unjust laws. Christians who know the word of God ought to be proclaiming the unrighteousness of those laws and calling our elected officials to repentance. And in a place where we're free to run for office, Christians who are so called and have the opportunity to do so locally, state level, or even federally get involved in the process.

Number one. There are people who receive the gospel even excitedly, enthusiastically, and seem to spring up quickly when in fact they're not rooted in the gospel. And those people who never bear fruit are not people who were ever saved. In Jesus' own explanation of it, the good soil, they are the ones who hear the word and accept it. And the ones who genuinely actually accept it are the ones who bear fruit and are good soil. When we look at the categories that Jesus gives us and we read Paul's letters that way, we can understand the kind of people he's talking about who responded early on to the gospel, but are now showing signs of not being rooted in the gospel.

And Paul is challenging on them. He is genuinely pastorally concerned for these people. I don't want you to be rocky soil. I want you to be the good soil. I want you to not just outwardly look right for a while. I want you to be right with God through Jesus Christ.

But that means being rooted in the gospel of grace, not just doing right things, but having the right faith underneath that. I always trust a guy named Matt Slick on the radio. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Matt Slick's Top Six. For more on Matt and his live syndicated call-in radio show, go to truthnetwork.com. Got a question? Matt Slick has your answer. This is the Truth Network.