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EPISODE 93: Q&A

Date: 10/27/2021

Questions

If God knows everything and already knows the choices we are going to make then what exactly would be the purpose of life? If God loves everyone then why is there hell and why would he create them?

    1. The purpose of life is to glorify God. God being all knowing doesn’t affect why he created us. This, however, is a God-centered view of life (instead of a “me” centered view).
    2. I recently was asked a similar question about God’s love. Here’s the question that was emailed to me:
      1. The scripture referenced in the Sunday sermon a few weeks back Malachi 1:3 uses the terminology God hated Esau.  It was said that God does hate some people, which went with the conversation of free will versus predestination.  When I use the term hate it has very strong connotations (try to minimize it for sure 🙂 We talk all the time of translation from the Greek or Hebrew and how imperfect it is but in all the different translations our life group looked up it used the term hate.  But yet at the end of the message you stated that it was important for everyone to understand  that God loves them, which you say every week.  My question is how can he love us all but hate some also?  Seems to be a contradiction, there should be some in the congregation that he hates.  Is this just in line with hate the sin not the sinner?  It doesn’t seem so to me.  Our life
    3. Here was my answer (I’m just going to read it, so bear with me):
      1. The short answer is that we probably have too narrow of a definition of what it means for God to love all people (including those he “hates”). Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 are helpful. ““You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

    Though this isn’t a saving love, towards those who are evil and unjust, God does demonstrate love for his enemies by sending rain to water their crops. Additionally, he loves those who will never believe in Jesus by blessing them with friends and family, enjoyment of his creation, and so on. And again, though this isn’t a love for them that saves them, neither is this a love they deserve. Yet, in love, God demonstrates for us what it means to love all people — even our enemies — as he loves those who are his enemies.

    So when I tell everyone that God loves them. I in no way am defining “love” by “God will save you” or that “God doesn’t hate anyone hearing my voice”, in a salvation sense. But Scripture teaches that God does love everyone — just not all with his saving love. And I don’t know who God will save. So I trust, in faith, that some who hear me say the words “God loves you” will be awakened to his love and be saved.

    Just recently, I was told of a young couple who started coming to Gateway during the pandemic. He was delivering some food to one of our worship band rehearsals and someone took advantage of the opportunity and invited him to come on a Sunday. So he and his wife came. But what brought them back, according to his wife, was me saying, “God loves you.” She had never heard someone tell her that before. But it stirred in her a reason to come back and to keep coming back. So there’s my short (long-winded) answer.

    I read a TGC article about church growth among the Iranian people. Do you have any book recommendations about the underground church and the ministry that is taking place there?

      1. I’ve not read either of these books, but I’ve heard some buzz about them.
      2. Iran’s Great Awakening released in 2020.
      3. Too Many to Jail: The Story of Iran’s new Christians released in 2014.

      Josh, I love learning the history — very helpful! Can you recommend a source for more study?

        1. Bible Project videos on YouTube
        2. Old Testament surveys can be helpful. Longman and Dillard have written An Introduction to the Old Testament which is sort of the standard book on the subject.
        3. Honestly, knowing your Bible better helps the most. Find a chronological reading plan (where you read the Bible as history unfolds), this has helped me a ton in putting the history together.

        He probably knew he would get asked this (in regards to the sermon teachings about Jesus seated at the right hand of God), and I’ve heard “standard” explanations on this before (BSF) but what about Acts 7:55-56 in this context? I have an investment in this answer because I have used lyrics in one of my worship compositions “… Jesus standing, alive at the right hand of God.”  Is this lyric theologically incorrect? Thank you for your help!

          1. We answered a similar question on the kid’s episode that we recorded about a month or two ago.
          2. Jesus standing, in Acts 7, was for a specific moment — the stoning of Stephen. I’d be cautious to take this one moment and make it a universal posture for Jesus in Heaven. Especially with other references about him being seated. Him standing, as Stephen is killed, is impactful because Jesus is usually seated.

          Why does the “Church” only apply to our congregation when it comes to tithing?  Giving to other ministries included in the “Church of Jesus Christ” should be part of our giving. I’m not a stickler on this, I don’t lessen my Gateway giving when I give to other Christian missions like CRU. Doesn’t Gateway pay music royalties to churches like Hillsong, Elevation and Bethel, which are questionable in their theology and reputation? I like to ponder these issues, but my dad and one son would say “just try to understand the Gospel basics, do the right thing and don’t worry about controversies.”

            1. We’ve addressed this person’s concerns about money going to Hillsong, Elevation Church, and Bethel on episode 66 when they asked a similar question. So we won’t tackle it again.
            2. But why does the tithe go to the “church” — meaning a local church — and why isn’t it OK to split your tithe between the local church and other organizations?
              1. Let’s first acknowledge that some split their tithe between the local church and non-Christian non-profits. Obviously, there’s no way to consider this to be giving to the church.
              2. This person uses the example of CRU — formerly Campus Crusade for Christ. But here’s a fairly obvious question to ask. What do we call organizations like CRU, YoungLife, Women’s Resource Center, etc…? We call them para-church ministries. “Para” is a Greek prefix which means “alongside of” or “beside”. So para-church means “alongside the church” or “beside the church.” Which means “not the church.” Christian organization? Yes. The church? No.
              3. So should we give to these para-church organizations? Yes! But do so as an offering, which is above and beyond the tithe — which goes to the local church. This is what my family does. We give more than 10% to Gateway and then we give above and beyond to other missionaries and para-church organizations.
              4. But aren’t we all part of the “big C” church? Yes. But the Bible speaks more about local churches than it does the “big C” or universal church. And the giving passages in the New Testament are almost always in regards to local churches. In fact, if Christians all tithed to their local church, para-church ministries would all be fully funded by local churches. This would keep all Christian ministry directly connected to local churches as opposed to the disconnectedness that often happens in our day. 
              5. Finally, there are instances where para-church organizations start doing things that the church is mandated to do. Things like communion and baptism — sacraments of the church — that Jesus commanded his church to do. It starts getting weird — honestly it’s biblically suspect — when these things are done outside of the church. These things happen when we start to overemphasize the “big C” church and undervalue the local church. And — with giving — along with other things — the more we undervalue the local church the less surprised we should be when the local church doesn’t have the resources to be the “city shining on a hill” in our dark world that she’s supposed to be — that Christ has commissioned her to be. The less surprised we should be when churches are understaffed and unable to be there for us when we need pastoral care or financial assistance because we’ve taken resources away from the local church and given it to other organizations. Organizations we won’t show up to for pastoral care. Organizations we won’t show up to when we need the help of the church.
              6. So prioritize the first fruits of your giving to your local church. Then give above and beyond to other Christian ministries that are working alongside the church — but not in place of the local church.