WWUTT 960 Q&A Single Christian Missionaries, Religion or Relationship, and Online Debate?

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May 31, 2019

Responding to questions from listeners about single Christians called to the mission field, the phrase "It's not a religion, it's a relationship," and debating online. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

00:00: Does God call all single Christians to overseas missions? Is Christianity about a relationship, not a religion?
00:08: And is there any benefit to online debate? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.
00:24: You are listening to when we understand the text, the daily Bible teaching podcast to help encourage your time in the word, that you may delight in the gospel of Christ and meditate on it day and night.
00:36: For more information about our ministry and a list of other resources, visit our website at www .utt
00:43: .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. And unfortunately, once again, for the third week in a row,
00:52: Becky is not in studio with me for this program. Next to me in the chair where she would usually reside is a big lump of blanket because that's where Becky would be, all curled up in this blanket.
01:04: As you often hear at the start of these podcast episodes, how cold she is down here in this basement office where I record.
01:12: But here once again, I'm flying solo this week. I apologize, especially to you,
01:18: Miss Sonia, because I know she had expressed her upsetness at the fact that Becky had not yet been on a podcast in the last few weeks and had even left our house on Thursday night saying,
01:31: I'm going to go home so that Becky has enough time to be able to get with Gabe and get on the podcast.
01:38: If only this lump of blanket next to me was able to speak in her stead.
01:43: Ta -da! Now she's right here. Just kidding. But she is cold and she is wrapped in a blanket.
01:55: That indeed is what is going on next to me, to my right. The talking blanket. The talking blanket.
02:02: It's May. It is. It's the end of May. It is. It is the final day of May.
02:08: And it even got up to like 80 something degrees today. Thursday and then Friday, I think it's 90.
02:14: It's going to be 90 here in Kansas. All right. Maybe it'll dry up some of that wet. Yeah, we've had some flooding issues.
02:21: Yep. Around here, there's even risk of certain bridges washing out. They're telling people not to go certain places because of the high water.
02:29: We've had tornado warnings this month. Yep. I've seen a tornado pass to the west of Junction City, took a picture of it with my phone.
02:37: Some of you follow me on Twitter or Facebook probably saw that picture. Brought me back to my tornado chasing days.
02:44: No. Back in the day. I'm not. No. I'm not fine with that. Becky called me up.
02:51: I was at the church. I was actually talking with a friend, a former member of our church who lives in Virginia now and in the middle of our phone conversation, you tried to call twice.
03:00: I was like, you know, I'm going to have to go. I need to see what Becky needs because she doesn't typically try to call me like this.
03:07: Nope. I don't call hardly at all. I text you and then I wait. Yeah. Pretty much. So I call
03:13: Becky back and she goes, there's a tornado warning right now. And I said, no, we're in a tornado watch. She said, nope, it's a warning.
03:19: There's a tornado heading toward Junction City. So this is before the sirens went off or anything else. My phone alarm.
03:24: Yep. Alarmed me. You got the alert on your phone. Yeah. So I got off and looked on the radar and I saw where it was coming in from the
03:30: Southwest and I thought, you know, if I headed over to South Park, I bet you I'd be able to see it. So that's where I went.
03:36: Sure enough. And sure enough, I was able to snap a picture of it with my phone. Yeah. You were like, okay, well, let me look into it and I'll get back with you.
03:44: And then the next thing I know, I get a picture of the tornado. Like, thanks, babe, for looking into it.
03:51: Well, the first thing I did was I went next door to Pastor Dwight's and made sure he knew to bring his family over to the church and get in the basement.
03:59: Oh, that was smart. Yeah. We have a tornado siren right behind the church and I told him the sirens not going off yet, but it's about to.
04:04: So you need to get over here and get down. So that's what I did. And he also unlocks the door to the church in case there's anyone around in the neighborhood needs a place to go with a basement.
04:14: So then he gets over there for that. Yeah. And then I went on a hunt. I started heading back toward the house, but I was like,
04:20: I bet you if I went up to South Park, I'd be able to see this thing coming in. Yeah. You and your ideas.
04:26: Yeah. So lots of devastation around the country because of a very rough
04:31: May. Oh, man. Yeah. It was like forever winter. And then all of a sudden, boom, there's rain.
04:38: Then we're getting hit with rain and tornadoes and a whole mess of other stuff. I wish we could share it with Alberta right now.
04:44: Canada. Canada. They're needing the rain. Yes. It was like, wait, you want to push tornadoes up to our Canadian friends?
04:50: No. But if the tornadoes carried the rain, you know, maybe, but yeah, they're having fires big time.
04:57: Oh, yeah. That's right. Needing the moisture up there. So there's natural disasters going on of all kinds.
05:03: And once again, a reminder of the world that we live in that's been subjected to futility because of sin and things of this kind, things of this nature, no pun intended, should make us desire heaven all the more as we pray and ask for the
05:20: Lord Jesus to come back quickly and deliver us from the sin and the effects of sin in the world in which we live.
05:28: In the meantime, if you've got people nearby, you know, have been affected by these storms, be a good neighbor. Yeah, definitely.
05:34: Reach out with some love and affection and be able to share the gospel even in the midst of a situation such as this.
05:41: Now, our church has had a rough year thus far in 2019.
05:48: It's been a tough year for us. It has. And not, I mean, there's been particular things that have been going on in the church in addition to the fact that we live in a very transient community and people moving in and moving out.
06:00: And then Fort Riley, which is right next door to us, has actually downsized a little bit this year.
06:05: Yeah, they have. They haven't replaced the troops that they've sent out. Right. So that's, our church has suffered as a result of that, and we've hit some financial shortfalls.
06:16: If you are able to help us out, we would greatly appreciate it. You go to www .utt .com.
06:22: The website was just revamped a few weeks ago, as a matter of fact, so if you haven't been on the page in a while, it's going to look different to you.
06:28: Go to the top right corner of the page, you still have the tab on there, well along the top, top horizontal bar, and you'll see the option to give.
06:37: Click on give. You can give online, and there's also information on there how you can give by check, if you want to give in the mail or something like that as well.
06:48: And if you can only give by PayPal, shoot me an email and I'll tell you how you can donate through PayPal as well.
06:54: It's a different thing you got to go through in order to give in that way. And the email address is...
06:59: When we understand the text at gmail .com. And that's also the address you can send your emails to, which we respond to on the
07:07: Friday edition of the broadcast. This first question comes from Micah, and he says,
07:13: Pastor Gabe and Becky, I am a long time listener and I greatly appreciate the time that you take every week to answer questions from young believers like myself.
07:22: I am a 22 year old single male college student, and I had a quick question about singleness.
07:29: As of now, there is no one in my Christian circles that I am pursuing or even interested in pursuing.
07:36: I hope and pray that someday I will find a wife. And until then, I know that singleness is a time for me to grow in wisdom and love for the
07:44: Lord. However, I am increasingly concerned as to what a life of singleness would look like.
07:50: I have family members and married friends that have recently told me that a life of singleness should look like nothing short of becoming a preacher, moving to Africa to be a missionary, starting an orphanage or something like that.
08:03: Is there something wrong with being a Christian single male who lives a normal life, who loves and is involved in his church, participates in Bible studies and serves in local church ministries?
08:15: Or must a life of singleness always involve uprooting your life and implementing drastic changes for the
08:22: Lord? Well, Micah, I would say that this kind of life that you've described toward the end of your email is certainly acceptable as long as you're not asking me that question to justify that lifestyle.
08:37: Ah, yes. There is a problem with getting comfortable and being complacent and looking for the simplest life possible.
08:44: Right. I would say that if that's your intention, then you may have selfish motives. I wouldn't be able to tell you that.
08:51: I don't know that for sure. You would have to seek the Lord and examine your own heart to know whether you are selfishly desiring to remain where you are instead of going into the mission field and using an opportunity of singleness to be able to share the gospel with others.
09:07: Start an orphanage. I don't know about that. I know nothing about doing such things, but going into another part of the world, going into even tough parts of your own country.
09:17: As I said on the broadcast, I think it was yesterday or Wednesday, there are even places in the country in which you live where you can go and share the gospel that are dangerous and could cost you your life and would involve great sacrifice, giving up some of the luxuries and the comforts that you enjoy in order to go into those places and share the gospel.
09:39: There are certainly ways that you can do that even near to home. You don't necessarily have to go overseas to do that.
09:46: But I would say the best opportunity that you have in your life to be able to do those overseas kinds of missions works is going to be right now.
09:55: The Apostle Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. He says in verse 25, I'm going to start in verse 25, now concerning the betrothed,
10:04: I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the
10:09: Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is.
10:17: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
10:23: But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you of that.
10:32: This is what I mean, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none and those who mourn as though they were not mourning and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing and those who buy as though they had no goods and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it for the present form of this world is passing away.
10:55: Now there are a lot of different interpretations to this particular section in first Corinthians 7 verses 25 through 31.
11:02: But let me give you what I taught my congregation when we went through this particular section.
11:08: The apostle Paul is foreseeing the destruction of the temple that's coming in 70 A .D. and the displacement of Christians throughout the world.
11:16: And things were about to get a lot more complicated than they already were. Christians were certainly being put to death, but they were mostly being persecuted, not exclusively, but they were mostly being persecuted by the
11:29: Judaizers and the Sanhedrin. They were not being persecuted as much by the
11:34: Romans, but that was about to come. There was some persecution going on, but it was about to get a lot more severe, particularly under Nero and then after the destruction of the temple in the later portion of the first century.
11:47: So the apostle Paul foreseeing that that was about to happen, the worst years of persecution upon Christians was about to come.
11:54: This is why he says what he says here. This is not necessarily as relevant to us in the present time, though there may be parts of the world in which people live where this actually would be rather practical.
12:06: If you as a Christian are being persecuted for your faith, if you are being put to death, if you know that being a
12:11: Christian could cost you your life, it's probably better to not get married and have children so that you would be spared that pain and you would also spare that kind of persecution that would come upon your family.
12:23: That would be a practical application of that in the present day, but this isn't necessarily saying that, well,
12:30: Jesus is about to come back any day, so you should not get married and not have children. No, on the contrary,
12:35: I think that we need to be fruitful and multiply. Right. I think that is still as much.
12:41: That was what God had told Adam and Eve. And it was a commission for all of mankind.
12:48: Yeah, from the beginning. Yes. So. And that still applies. Still does. So we should be
12:53: Christians multiplying. As I've heard Vodie Bauckham said, you want to beat the worldliness that is in this world, outbreed them.
13:02: Yes. Take that for what you will pray and seek the
13:08: Lord in those kinds of things. But anyway. In a godly way. In a godly way. Please. Multiply in a godly way.
13:14: Well, you have to be married. Yes, that's true. I mean. I don't know.
13:21: That was just a funny little caveat, throwing that on there. Well, sorry, but I wanted to definitely put that on there, that was.
13:29: Please be married before you have children. Yes, right. It is true. If you're not married. Yes. Don't be fruitful and multiply.
13:36: Correct. Sorry. Okay. Picking up in verse 32, 1
13:45: Corinthians 7 and verse 32, I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the
13:54: Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife and his interests are divided.
14:04: And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit.
14:12: But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the
14:26: Lord. So you could certainly interpret this according to the way, according to the context that Paul is putting this in, you could certainly interpret this as the unmarried man is anxious about the things of the
14:36: Lord, how to please the Lord. And that could very well be talking about growing in holiness and sanctification and being involved in the church and participating in Bible studies and serving in the local church ministries.
14:49: You could certainly read it that way. There's nothing in there in which Paul is explicitly saying, you must therefore go out into the world.
14:56: Right. But at the same time, considering what he said in the paragraph before and what he's about to say coming up, it certainly could also be interpreted as being anxious about the things of the
15:07: Lord, meaning go out, go out, go into the world, be a missionary kind of thing.
15:13: Yeah. Yeah. Be itinerant. So you would be preaching out in the highways and byways.
15:18: And then, of course, you've got your home -based church, that family that you are growing with that is...
15:25: That keep you accountable. Yeah. Encouraging you, praying for you. They're rejoicing with you in your rejoicings.
15:32: They're weeping with you when stuff gets difficult, which is really the more immediate context of Romans 12.
15:39: When we read, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, we kind of take that in a general sense.
15:45: But it more specifically was talking about when you're going out into the world and you're sharing the gospel, it's hard.
15:51: Yeah. And people are going to beat up on you. And when you get discouraged in that way, you come back into the body and there are people who are suffering with you.
15:59: So you're weeping with those who weep. And then when you go out into the world and you're sharing the gospel and there are those who hear it and turn from sin and believe, then you're rejoicing with those who rejoice.
16:09: Right. So that's really the more immediate context of that instruction that we have in Romans 12. We take it in a general sense, and that certainly is true.
16:17: It definitely applies when people go through tough stuff, just suffer with them, put an arm around them and cry together and pray together.
16:25: And when somebody has something great happen, we can rejoice together. But that's definitely the more general sense from the immediate context that Paul was putting on that.
16:35: Mm hmm. All right. So continuing on here. So keep tabs with your home church and go visit them, even as you're being a missionary going around, if that's what you choose to do.
16:48: And I would say at the very least, yes, I would say at the very least, because this is the commission that is upon every one of us.
16:54: You should be out in your own community. Oh, yeah. Sharing the gospel, handing out tracts at the very least.
17:00: And then those people who seem interested in what it is that you're sharing, say, well, come with me to church and we'll give you more of the gospel that you need to know, what it means to have a relationship with Christ.
17:11: So I want to jump back a little bit to the earlier part of the chapter, 1 Corinthians 7, 8, where Paul says to the unmarried and widows,
17:19: I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. So that's a continued thing that Paul seems to be saying over the course of the chapter.
17:28: Right. It is better to remain single. And of course, he gives the reason for that in the middle part of the chapter, where it says that those who marry have worldly troubles and I would spare you from that.
17:41: Verse 32, I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the
17:47: Lord and how to please the Lord. So what I want to encourage you in,
17:53: Micah, is that you seek the will of God in all things in your life and that if where you're at and what you're doing is not enough, if God is calling you to more, then you need to humbly come before the
18:08: Lord and say, God, please convict me in this. If you want me to go out, if there are other things that you're going to have me do as a single adult, that's going to be more difficult for me to do later, should
18:20: I get married and have children, then open that door for me, lay it on my heart.
18:25: Let me be uncomfortable in the place that I'm in so that my feet will become fast and I will want to go out with the good news of the gospel into the places that you're going to send me to go.
18:37: You have to have the desire for this. Oh yeah, definitely. Please don't, you know, don't hear me saying, well, no,
18:44: Micah, it's better for you to go out and be a missionary and then you feel obligated to do it because some dude on a podcast told you that you needed to.
18:51: You have to have the desire for it. You have to want to do it. And God has to be calling you to do it.
18:57: Right. Because if you do it without God's blessing, then it's going to be all for you.
19:03: And you're going to know it's God's calling through the people around you who are going to help you in wisdom to identify, here's what
19:13: God is having you to do. And the desire that you have in your heart to do it is also an indication that God is calling you to this.
19:19: If you don't feel like going out and doing it, don't go out and do it. That you would actually want to go out with the gospel of Christ and use the opportunities that you have available to you now as a single adult male to be able to preach and have the love for lost souls so that there are others who would hear the gospel and come to faith and believe.
19:40: And there's a lot of freedom in being a single adult and being a young male like you are, you can go over to,
19:49: I don't know, widow's houses and help them with their gutters or other people who struggle with putting food on the table and things like that.
19:59: You can go shopping for them or... You're talking about like neighborhood ministry. Yeah. Not having to go out, but even where you are, there are things that you can do.
20:10: For people in the church. Right. Is what I was thinking. Or even in the community. Or in the community.
20:15: As a chance to open the door up to sharing the gospel with somebody else. Clever. Yes. I wasn't thinking that, but yeah, you can even tag that on there.
20:22: So at the very least, you should be doing mission work where you're planted. Right. But once again, be seeking the
20:29: Lord to see if God indeed would call you to go out somewhere else. As Christians, we are called to work.
20:37: Yeah. We're all called to work. We're all called to this commission that we read in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20.
20:44: It's not just to the disciples. It's not just to those who go out as missionaries. But Jesus says to go and make disciples, baptizing in the name of the
20:54: Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded and lo,
20:59: I am with you always to the very end of the age. Right. This next question comes from Joseph. Hello, Pastor Gabe and Becky.
21:05: I was having a discussion with my dad about the Bible and all, as we tend to do from time to time.
21:11: And in our discussion, he said one of those phrases that it looks like it came out of one of those social media posts.
21:19: So what he said was, it's not religion, it's relationship. And I understand that our relationship with Christ is the most important.
21:27: However, when I hear that phrase, my mind goes to James 1 26, where it says, if anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless.
21:39: So my question would be, is James talking about a professing Christian? And as Christians, should we tell people that we are religious?
21:49: Thanks for all that you do. God bless and keep you. Well, let's look at those last two verses there in James chapter one.
21:56: Do you remember the significance of James 1 27? No. When you and I were married and we went on our honeymoon and we came back home, we came in the living room and started opening up gifts that had been given to us at our wedding.
22:12: And one of the gifts that we opened up was a brand new study Bible. Right. NIV study Bible, a gift from a ministry organization that I had worked for.
22:22: And so you and I together sat down and we were just randomly going to open up to a verse and say, this was our first verse together in our home as a married couple in the first Bible that had been gifted to us as a couple.
22:36: Okay. And the verse that we randomly opened to was James 1 27. You don't remember that?
22:42: Vaguely. A lot has happened since then. And we have a lot more
22:49: Bibles since then too. Yes. Oh my goodness. But one of these Bibles on this shelf right here, in fact, I even know which one it is, has marked on James 1 27, our first verse together.
22:59: Is it the teal one? Nope. No. It is not. No. It's the black one.
23:04: NIV study Bible. Oh, right there. Yep. It was in NIV. It wasn't study Bible.
23:09: Yeah. Yep. Thanks for reminding me. Leave it to me to remember something like that.
23:18: I love it. I love that you have all the facts. I just get through the day to day. Let's do
23:23: James 1 26 and 27 here. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
23:34: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
23:46: And just to kind of add in a little study note on there for you, even though this isn't necessarily the context of what we're going to be talking about here, but where it says to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and keep oneself unstained from the world.
23:58: This does not mean that orphans and widows are the focus of Christian ministry.
24:06: Orphans and widows in the Old Testament were the picture of those who were most in need. And so we do need to look after those who most need help from us.
24:17: Those who are the most afflicted, the orphans and widows in the Old Testament were the picture of those who could not help themselves.
24:25: So how do we reach out to those who need our help? It doesn't mean you go out and adopt, although the
24:30: Lord may be laying that on your heart. It doesn't mean that you have to go find a widow and sit with her in her living room and take care of her and buy her groceries and all those kinds of things.
24:39: Although there may be widows in your church that you should be looking after. But specifically, this means that we need to care for those who are the most unable to care for themselves.
24:50: And so that might be elderly, that might be the sick, especially those who are in the household of faith, as the
24:58: Apostle Paul talks about in Galatians 6. So anyway, that's just a little study note on there, because a lot of people will read that and think that it means we now need to go out and adopt children.
25:07: And that's what true Christianity is. That could go very wrong if you're not set up for that.
25:16: Right. You and I have witnessed that. We've seen that go very wrong. So yeah, there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done for a person to ready their home and prepare themselves and the rest of their family for adoption.
25:28: My friend Tom Buck has said what a lot of people fall into is what's called romancing the adoption.
25:33: Right. So they think of adoption as like, oh, this is going to be fun. Yeah. And we're going to be doing our
25:39: Christian duty like we should. It's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. And you need to be well prepared for it.
25:44: We have friends who have told us how much work that is. Yes. Yeah. That they were not ready for.
25:50: And even there were times it got so hard, they were ready to throw in the towel on it. But yeah, anyway, so it takes it takes a good
25:57: Christian fellowship around them as well to be encouraging. Oh, definitely strengthening, strengthening each other and helping out where available.
26:04: All right. So verse 26 was what Joseph was asking about. And he said, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
26:17: And Joseph asked, is James talking about a professing Christian? And as Christians, should we tell people that we are religious?
26:27: Well, let's consider this phrase. It's not about religion, it's relationship.
26:33: I don't know where this phrase originated from, but I get the feeling that whoever said it first, whenever it got started, had good intentions.
26:42: When it comes to being a Christian, it is about the relationship that we have with Jesus Christ.
26:49: It's not about having a religion. Right. In the sense that I need a religion,
26:54: I need some sort of morality, I have to believe in something. So Christianity is the thing that I think is true and it's the best deal going.
27:02: Okay. That doesn't really seem like a sincere approach to loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
27:11: To love the Lord God is first and foremost, the call of a Christian.
27:16: And we have come to know God and love him and understand his word and obey him because of the
27:22: Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts. We have been regenerated, previously rebels against God, and now having heard the gospel that God gave his son to die on the cross for our sins and rise again from the grave and whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
27:40: Amen. Having heard this gospel, the Holy Spirit has quickened our hearts to God rather than away from him.
27:47: And where previously we were rebels, now we've become sons and daughters of God, adopted through faith in Jesus Christ.
27:55: So that is why we're Christians. It's not because we were out looking for religion.
28:01: We've been brought into relationship and it is the work of God that has brought us into a relationship with him.
28:08: Therefore, the phrase, it's not about religion, it's about relationship is true.
28:14: That phrase is definitely true. But when that phrase gets used to say that we're not religious.
28:21: Usually means it's a cop out for not going to church. Yeah, something like that. Right. I don't really know a lot about being a
28:29: Christian. I just know I love God. And so it's about, it's about relationship. Jesus loves me. That's right.
28:35: This I know. For the song I sang when I was in Sunday school tells me so. Right. Not because you understand the
28:42: Bible and because the Bible tells you so. So when a person says it's not religion, it's relationship.
28:49: If they're saying that to avoid all the responsibilities that come with being a
28:54: Christian, then of course they're using it in an improper way. Right. Christianity is a religion.
29:00: When you think of religion as being the belief in a deity and the worship of that deity, and the worship of that deity coming with all of the systematic things that make up that religion, then you're definitely talking about a religion.
29:17: And we do have religious rituals in Christianity. Yes. Going to church is one of them.
29:22: Partaking in the Lord's Supper. We talked about being baptized, right. The commission of our
29:28: Lord Christ to go out and preach the gospel and baptize.
29:33: These are all religious practices. So this is indeed a religion. We have creeds and confessions.
29:40: We have a canon of text. And not only do we have creeds and confessions that came in the history of the church, but there are even creeds and confessions in the
29:49: Bible. So the whole thing of no creed but Christ, well, that's a creed. Yeah.
29:55: That is a confession. So you do need confession to lay out and outline exactly what it is that you believe the
30:01: Bible says. And all of this, when you start laying this stuff out, identifies your religion.
30:07: So what we have as Christians following Jesus and obeying what he has told us to do as far as the sacraments that he has given us, and even how we are to love one another, and the ways in which we love each other, the ways in which we keep ourselves unstained from the world and live in holiness and righteousness, praying, reading your
30:28: Bible, things of this nature, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making music unto the
30:34: Lord in your hearts together with a congregation, as Paul outlines in Colossians chapter three and in Ephesians chapters four and five.
30:42: All of these things are part of our religion. So Christianity is indeed a religion.
30:48: And it's because we have a relationship with Jesus that we have this religion.
30:54: The religion doesn't cause the relationship. It's the relationship that has given us this religion.
31:00: Right. And it is a delight to partake in it. Yes. And like you were saying earlier, there's the want of being very simple and kind of on the selfish measure of it, of not wanting to be overzealous and too much and actually go out and put yourself out there.
31:21: There is that. Yeah, you're talking about like a person will want to be so complacent.
31:28: It's like they're doing the bare minimum. Yeah. And so you I mean, some people use that line as an excuse not to go to church.
31:36: Right. And they might be Christian. They might not. It just depends on who you're talking to.
31:42: And you should know your dad or at least be able to have that friendly conversation and ask him a few more details on.
31:50: Yeah. What does he mean exactly when he says. I would dig a little further if you don't know.
31:55: Definitely. The part of going to church means that we're also and I talked about this on the podcast earlier this week.
32:02: It means we're opening ourselves up with one another. We're making ourselves vulnerable to each other. We're trusting one another.
32:08: Right. And part of our religion, part of our faith means that we are going to grow in it.
32:14: We are going to mature in it so that you can't do the bare minimum and stay in the bare minimum.
32:20: Right. And you are going to fail just like everybody else. So be prepared for that.
32:26: It's not going to be perfect because we're all sinners. And the whole part of growing is to ask for forgiveness and.
32:34: And grow in righteousness. Yeah. Exactly. And we do that together. As I've heard Tim Challies say, sanctification is a community project.
32:44: So to be sanctified means you're going to be growing in your religion and you're going to have other brothers and sisters in the Lord that are helping you do that, helping you grow in righteousness and faithfulness.
32:55: Right. Definitely. I was looking at the rest of his question. He said, is
33:00: James talking about professing Christian? Yeah, he's talking to professing Christian. So you talk about like at the start of the letter,
33:08: James one, one, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion greetings counted all joy.
33:18: My brothers, when you face trials of various kinds. So he's definitely Christians. Yes. He's talking about Christians that have been dispersed throughout the world.
33:27: And this is who that letter is being addressed to. And he addresses them as brothers. So we're definitely talking about the household of faith here.
33:35: And then what's the second question? And the second part of the question, as Christians, should we tell people that we are religious?
33:41: I would say definitely. If somebody is saying like, what's your religion? You do
33:48: Christianity a disservice by saying, well, I'm not religious. I'm a Christian. No.
33:54: Especially if you're talking to somebody who's an unbeliever, Christianity to them is a religion.
33:59: They don't, they don't understand what you're talking about, right? And it's also, it's, you need to be up front with everything to go through life and tell somebody one thing.
34:11: And then they figure out later on as they get to know you that you're something else. Then I mean, what are they going to think of you that they can't trust you?
34:20: Right. So, I mean, it's good to just lay it all out in the beginning. I tell you that when you say to an unbeliever that I'm not a
34:28: Christian, I have a relationship with Jesus, or I'm not a Christian, I'm not religious.
34:33: I'm a Christian. Right. When you say that, the person who's an unbeliever is thinking about in their mind, whether they say it to you or not, they're thinking, you don't really know much about being a
34:43: Christian, do you? Yeah, definitely. Excuse me. That's, I'm still getting over my respiratory stuff.
34:51: So that's why I'm still. Yep. I've got the whole face hurting stuff, so, and sore throat.
34:56: Like where your sinus cavities are at, and yep. Yep. My whole face hurts. We've had all that go through our family, so we're still kind of getting it out of our system.
35:05: Anyway, so the way that we communicate Christianity to other people, it is a religion, and that's the way everybody else thinks of it.
35:12: Everyone in the world thinks of Christianity as a religion. Right. So you're not doing an apologetic service to Christianity when you say, well,
35:22: I'm not religious. I have a relationship with Jesus. Yeah. Don't shoot yourself in the foot right off the bat.
35:28: Yeah. That's going somewhere that is totally unnecessary to the conversation. Yeah.
35:33: However, you have initiated this conversation with somebody who's an unbeliever, you're trying to get to the gospel.
35:38: So you can share the gospel with them that you're a sinner. You are under the wrath of God.
35:44: The judgment of God is coming upon all of those who have rebelled against them, and that's everybody, and showing them how they've broken the law.
35:51: You're a liar, you're an adulterer, you're a thief, you're a blasphemer, and what you deserve for breaking the law of God is judgment.
36:01: But God has demonstrated his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
36:06: So the person who turns from sin and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is not under the wrath of God, but is in his love.
36:14: And so presenting the gospel to them that they may know Jesus Christ and live.
36:20: And it's that relationship with Christ that brings them into the religion of Christianity, which of course it is a religion, but it is also that relationship.
36:30: And they have a relationship not only with God, but also with the people of God, brothers and sisters in the
36:36: Lord together, growing one another in the faith that we may mature in this religion that we have.
36:42: And the way that we grow in sanctification is not just in love with one another, but even in the understanding and the practice of these sacraments and commands that God has given to us through his word.
36:54: All right. So thank you, Joseph. I hope that's helpful and encourages conversation with your dad.
37:01: Next comment comes from David in Tennessee. He says, howdy Pastor Gabe and Becky. Longtime listener to the what videos and podcasts.
37:11: First I want to thank you for your ministry. We have used your what videos on several occasions. You got to say it with a
37:17: Tennessee accent. No I don't. Come on. No, I'm not. I am not doing that. All right.
37:22: Fine. I'll just pretend you are. Besides my Tennessee is going to come out a lot more like South Carolina.
37:28: This is true. So that's true. There is a difference. There is a difference between the Tennessee and the South Carolina. Yep. There is.
37:34: We have used your what videos on several occasions at our church over the last several years. I listened to the podcast on my drive to and from work during the week.
37:44: I've been waiting to send you this email for several weeks now. I like Doug from last
37:50: Friday's podcast had seen every episode of Game of Thrones through the first episode of the final season.
37:58: This is a statement that I am now ashamed to make and have repented to God for my sin.
38:03: I was one of those guys who would look away during the naked scenes and cringe at the filth that came out of the characters mouths.
38:12: But I kept watching nonetheless. I kept making lame excuses to myself. Then I saw your what video.
38:19: I want to take a moment to apologize to you and ask your forgiveness because when I saw the video I was convicted and I got mad at you for it.
38:28: I told myself those same lame excuses and convinced myself that you didn't know what you were talking about.
38:34: Christian liberty. I said, you've never even seen the show. How could you know what the scenes were like?
38:41: I look away when those scenes are on the screen. No harm, no foul, right? Then I started seeing tweets from other brothers
38:47: I love and admire like Justin Peters saying they couldn't fathom how Christians true
38:53: Christians could watch that show that hurt. That was unloving. That made me mad.
38:59: I owe Justin an apology, which I have since sent to him. Then I heard your video in response to the what video about Game of Thrones when you played it on the podcast.
39:10: It doesn't matter if you have seen every single episode in the series thus far. You are not going to watch this show anymore.
39:18: It is not okay for Christians to view. I mentioned earlier, I listened to the podcast on my way to and from work during the week.
39:25: You said that at the beginning of my drive, and I wept all the way to work that morning while listening to the rest of the podcast.
39:33: When I got to work and parked, I prayed to God and repented. I want to let you know by the grace of God, I have not watched another episode.
39:43: Thank you brother for caring enough for those of us who are fooled into thinking that it is okay to watch those kinds of shows and give us the truth in love.
39:53: Okay, I've rambled on long enough, and I'm hoping to get in a question, haha. What are your thoughts on Facebook groups,
40:00: I know you're not really on Facebook much, that are for Christian debates? I've been in a couple, but never really participated that much.
40:07: I'll get invited, stick around for a bit, then get disgusted at folks that call themselves Christian and then act totally opposite of how
40:14: Christians are supposed to act when others disagree with their position. Also, the misrepresentation of views by the opposite camp seems to be rampant.
40:23: Then there are those who are so intelligent that I have no idea what they're talking about. Thanks again for your time,
40:28: David from Tennessee. P .S. if I ever meet you in person, be ready for a big ol' hug, with your permission of course.
40:35: Aww. Well, thank you so much for that email, David, and apology accepted.
40:41: You're forgiven. He got mad at you, he didn't get mad at me. I looked over at Becky and she's like,
40:48: I don't need to say anything to this. You're the one that's putting yourself out there and making people mad at you.
40:56: But I appreciate that, David, and I am so delighted to know that the video, both videos and the podcast were instrumental in your sanctification.
41:06: That is wonderful to hear. So about debating online, really when it comes, I mean, my answer to this is very simple.
41:12: When it comes to debating online, we need to handle and condition ourselves the same way that we would encounter any debate anywhere else in the world.
41:21: We need to do this with gentleness and respect. Right. 1 Peter 3 .15, in your hearts, set apart
41:27: Christ as holy, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you, but do this with gentleness and respect.
41:36: And Paul gives the same instruction to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2, verse 22,
41:42: I'm going to start in verse 22 just because I love this section. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the
41:53: Lord from a pure heart. There's an instruction right there to go to church. Verse 23, have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.
42:02: You know that they breed quarrels. I think that there are some debates and discussions that are foolish and ignorant, and we should have nothing to do with.
42:10: Right. I don't really have any examples to throw you at the present time. Bigfoot. Let's stay away from a Bigfoot argument.
42:16: Okay. Let's just say Bigfoot is real. Do we need to evangelize to this guy?
42:23: I don't know. Maybe that's a happy -go -lucky discussion that doesn't have to turn into anything ridiculous.
42:29: But I'm just throwing that one out there. But there are some foolish, ignorant controversies that we fall into that just breed quarrels.
42:40: And that proves to be a poor witness to other people in the world, to weak believers and also to unbelievers that we would talk with one another in such a way.
42:51: So if you see a conversation going that way, certainly have the wherewithal to be able to step away from it and go,
42:57: I'm not going to be party to this. And maybe even take it upon yourself where you see an opportunity to do so, encourage other brothers to step back, calm down, treat one another with gentleness and respect as we are supposed to do.
43:13: So then Paul says, he goes on to say, verse 24, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
43:30: That's a good discipline to adopt entering into any kind of debate, whether you're doing that one -on -one, face -to -face, or you're doing that online.
43:39: I think that there is a benefit to online debate. Definitely. Yes. Oh, yeah.
43:45: I would not say, hey, don't debate online. There is certainly a benefit to debate. And I've heard stories from people who've said their minds were changed regarding certain issues and things like that because of a debate that they observed.
43:56: So there are benefits to it, but then there are other ways, of course, where it just devolves into something ridiculous and a poor witness.
44:06: And we would do best to stay away from those kinds of conversations. I do stay away from like Facebook message boards from the most part.
44:15: Facebook's not really the best place to do it. But anyway, I think that you can have those kinds of discussions online.
44:21: And I think that social media is great to be able to put those issues out there in front of people in such a way that we can engage with those things and have a discussion about them.
44:31: I was going to mention your three rule, your three tweet rule. Three tweet rule.
44:38: Yeah. About how if they, not really oppose, but they're not listening to you and what you're saying.
44:51: They're combative. And they're just wanting to argue. Yeah, right. They're just wanting to tell me how
44:56: I'm wrong. So I have a two response rule, basically. And it comes from Titus chapter three.
45:04: I base it. I base this rule on Titus three, where it says, avoid foolish, ignorant controversies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
45:15: As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.
45:21: Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful. He is self condemned. So if you've seen me online confront disagreeable people, you'll probably notice
45:31: I really only tweet them twice. Right. Right. So they'll say something to me. I'll respond once. They'll respond again.
45:38: And I'll respond a second time. And then by their next tweet, I can see I'm making no ground here. So I won't reply again.
45:43: Right. I have no problem with giving them the last word. That's something that you're just going to have to resolve in your mind.
45:49: You don't have to have the last word. Right. That's very tough in today's society. It is.
45:54: Yeah. But you may have to discipline yourself in this same kind of rule. I'll respond one time.
46:01: And then I'll give you one more. And then after that, that's it. I'm out. And then that way you can keep a cool head and you know you're not going to say anything you regret.
46:11: Yeah. And I mean, it's a very, very good rule to live by in the social media world.
46:17: Yes. So to keep yourself cool and not, you know, delve into, excuse me, getting all choked up again, not delving into areas and discussions that would be unprofitable and worthless, of course.
46:35: And casting your pearls before swine. Yeah. That's a good one. Yes. Exactly. Like if they're not getting it, they're not wanting to.
46:43: Right. So, I mean, maybe something will sink in later when they're thinking back on it, but chances are.
46:50: There's some times too when I've been sitting here and replying to people going, man, I could be spending time with my kids. Yeah.
46:55: That's true. I don't need to talk to these argumentative people that really don't even care about me any way.
47:02: Thank you for your question, David. And I'm totally okay with a big old hug. Just warn me before you do.
47:08: Hey, I'm David from Tennessee. I'm coming in for a hug. Just give me a heads up. I'll be okay.
47:15: Give me enough warning so I can take a picture. That's right. Becky is a master selfie taker.
47:21: Yeah. She can get all kinds of people in that frame. I'm like, no, I can't do it. Oh, wait,
47:26: I did. You did. And people are always amazed at your selfie skills too when you post them on social media.
47:32: I just don't look all that great because I'm concentrating on hitting that button to keep them there. You're thinking about others instead of yourself.
47:40: I am. That's great. John from North Carolina has our last email today.
47:46: Dear Gebecki, considering all the issues in the news and all the things that are making headlines,
47:53: I had to scroll back through some earlier podcast. This one is from three years ago.
47:58: You read an article from Denny Burke about transgenderism in public school and how President Obama at that time was forcing schools to adhere to the new gender identity rules.
48:09: I remember listening in 2012 to John MacArthur sermons from 1991 talking about how homosexuality may go if left unchecked.
48:19: Wow. The outcomes were so close. Almost identical to his predictions that it seemed he was preaching the sermon a week ago instead of 21 years earlier.
48:28: I thank the Lord every day that I found your videos on YouTube and your podcast ministry.
48:34: You, the briefing from Al Mohler and Wretched Radio are my three top picks every day while I'm out on the road.
48:41: When I get home, my wife and I listen to the Friday podcast together because we love hearing you and Becky laugh and cut up and share the gospel.
48:49: Aww. God bless you guys and all you do and I hope you feel better soon.
48:54: Oh, thanks John. That's a good email to end on with us hacking our way through this.
49:02: I didn't listen to the podcast that John is talking about. He did send me a link to it, but I haven't pulled it up and listened to it.
49:09: I will say that I'm not really that good at forecasting these kinds of things. We just had a discussion about this with some friends
49:15: Thursday night that we had over to our house. I'm not really good at looking at things the way they're going now and looking into the future and going, well, this is the way things are going to be.
49:24: If you ever go back and listen to something that I did years ago and you're like, wow,
49:30: Gabe hit the nail on the head with that one. I tell you that was just the spirit of God working through my words at that particular time because I'm not a prophet.
49:41: I definitely don't have a gift of prophecy to have some foresight looking into the future and see how things will go.
49:46: In fact, the only claim to fame I think I have in that area is in September of 2015,
49:56: I said, like I stated it, it wasn't even a guess. I said, Donald Trump is going to be our next president.
50:03: And sure enough, he was. And it was because of the way that he was saying things and how I saw that he was doing in the polls.
50:09: And he had his finger on the pulse of nominal Christianity in the United States of America. And I knew that the nominal conservative
50:17: Christian was going to elect this man president. I didn't want him to be.
50:23: I still wouldn't vote for him. Nothing has changed in the three years that he's been president that has changed my mind.
50:29: We do respect him as president. Absolutely. Yep. Still respect him. I still pray for the man and I am willing to congratulate him in the areas where he does well.
50:40: Yes. And of course, I'm also going to criticize in the areas that he does really, really bad. And he does some pretty terrible things.
50:48: I'm not going to go off on that tangent. But anyway, it's just to say that that's that's about the only thing that I've ever been able to see was going to happen.
50:57: And I can say I got that one right. Yeah, I have. I don't know. Like I don't have prophecy by any means, but I have the ability to guess all the things that can go wrong.
51:12: That's true. You can do that. So sometimes I nail it and sometimes it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
51:21: I don't know what you call that. Pessimistic prophecy.
51:27: There we go. Pessimistic prophecy. Prophecy. Prophecy. Prophecy. Prophecy.
51:34: Prophecy. Prophecy. Yeah, there you go. All right, let's finish up.
51:40: We'll pray and close out. Yes, please. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together. And I thank you for our listeners and the emails that we receive.
51:48: And I pray that what we do on this broadcast is a blessing to those who hear it.
51:54: May it continue to spread far and wide. May there be new ears that find this program and they hear the gospel proclaimed and they're convicted in their hearts over sin and they turn to Jesus Christ and know him as Savior.
52:09: And we grow in love and affection for our God who has saved us, who has considered our need and sent his son to die for our sins so that all who believe in him will be saved.
52:22: You are a good God. You show your blessing and your mercy and your grace to us every single day.
52:29: And so we praise you for this continued goodness that we experience as Christians in this world.
52:37: Protect us from the ways of this world. May our eyes be fixed steadfast on Christ.
52:42: May we look to the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
52:49: And may we long all the more for that day when Christ comes back in glory, he delivers the righteous out of this world and brings judgment upon the wicked.
52:58: May we be diligent to share the gospel with others so that they will not perish on that day but come to faith in Christ and know him and live.
53:09: Forgive us our sins this day. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. We pray this in Jesus name.
53:16: Amen. Amen. Okay, ready?
54:24: No. I gotta get my blanket on. It's too cold. It's May.
54:34: It is May. It's freezing. Last day in May. Well, yeah, it is, the 31st.
54:42: Yep. So I got to the kitchen. Good. Earlier. Did you make me a sandwich?
54:51: No, my toes are too long. Anyway. What? What? What?
54:58: So you can stand closer to the counter, anyway. It's a joke, but anyway.
55:07: Don't use it again. Okay, so I got to the kitchen when the kids were getting ready for bed and there's chips all over the floor.
55:20: All over. That was probably Raya. Well, that's what Annie said. And then I looked at Zeej after remembering that he had put a whole bunch in that lunch box.
55:28: I was like, or it was Zeej, and he gave me the sheepish smile like he was totally gonna let
55:35: Raya take the blame. And I was like, it was you, wasn't it?
55:40: And he goes, yeah. Maybe not that low, but you get the idea.
55:48: What did you start saying at the start of that story? Was that what you were going to say?
55:53: Yeah. For some reason, it feels like it started different than that because it started with you making me a sandwich.
56:00: No. No. Probably not.
56:08: Because you make the sandwiches so much better. I do make a good sandwich. You do.
56:14: They are so tasty. I wasted that hot dog. Did you just take one bite of it and throw it away?
56:21: Yep. Aw. It was awful. Babe, you needed to heat it up. Eh. And they're not technically hot dogs, they're sausages.
56:30: Well, it's still... So you need to prep it like a sausage. I got coleslaw.
56:36: You should have just come up and made me mine. I got coleslaw.
56:41: I'm terrible. Specifically for the purpose of being able to have a slaw dog and I didn't even use it.
56:47: Oh, really? And then... I wondered about that because it didn't look touched. Yeah. But it was still out on the counter. Slaw and cheese is what
56:53: I was going to put on it. And then I thought, because when I bought that coleslaw, I was like, I can eat it on my hot dog for lunch and then
57:01: I can put it on my pulled pork sandwich this evening. Oh. And I didn't do that either. What are you doing?
57:07: So I've now eaten a hot dog and a pulled pork sandwich with the intention of putting coleslaw on it. And didn't do either one.
57:13: Did you just forget about it? I just forgot. Yeah. Oh, man. I just totally forgot that I had bought the coleslaw. Because it was open.
57:19: I know. I think I opened it to put it on my hot dog and I never did. I think
57:26: I even took a bite of it. I just, you know, took a fork, took a bite out of the coleslaw. There was a fork next to it.
57:32: Yep. That would be it then. Apparently I did. There is coleslaw in my digestive tract with my hot dog, but I didn't eat it at the same time.