Focal Point

Dave Drewy: Every week, the phone lines open, and ordinary listeners bring Pastor Mike Fabarez the questions they've been carrying for months, sometimes years. Today's calls cover a lot of ground: a young man weighing whether an older branch of the church has a stronger claim on the truth, a long-time listener second-guessing who she's allowed to pray to, and a man who's carried decades of quiet doubt about whether he's truly saved. Pastor Mike meets each one with Scripture and clarity. I'm Dave Drewy, and this is Ask Pastor Mike Live.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Let's talk to Dawson. Dawson, you're on the air with Pastor Mike. How can I help?

Dawson: Basically, there's a growing trend online, especially with younger people like myself, to get very into tradition and the Orthodox Church. A lot of claims they'll make are things like, "I know you have these Bible verses that support the church, but I have these quotes from fathers who say this is the one true church. We have apostolic succession. You guys don't have unity because you can't trace your lineage," and all these claims where you can't even talk from the Scripture because then they would bring quotes from church fathers. As someone who's biblically based and wants to go from the Word, how do you handle conversations like that with people?

Pastor Mike Fabarez: It's kind of like yesterday. Monday was my day off, and my wife bought this thing for our grandchild. It had a million pieces to it. She buys it, and I'm supposed to put it together. It probably had 120 pieces, and I'm not exaggerating. I spent a good part of my off day putting this thing together, and it came with instructions, thankfully.

Let's just say my grown boys were there, and they got to it first. They started saying, "Here's what I think the instructions mean." Then maybe my neighbor came by and said, "This is what I think the instructions mean." Then I came in and said, "This is what I think the instructions mean." It doesn't matter who gets to the instructions first and says, "Here's what I think the instructions mean."

What really matters is who's going to handle the instructions and cut it straight, handle it accurately, and who's going to be diligent in understanding the instructions. The instructions aren't determined by who's first to get to it and make authoritative statements about it. This is basically what Orthodoxy or the Roman Catholic Church is trying to say.

They build into their theology that they have apostolic succession, so we can listen to the pontiff and the vicar of Christ because he's still active. It doesn't matter to me who came first in handling the instructions. We have instructions, and so we're going to build on and stand on the shoulders of those who've been trying to interpret the instructions. I have no problem with that. I read old commentaries all the time.

It really matters that I'm going to be subjected to the authority of God, which has been revealed in the instructions. It doesn't really matter how long it took to figure out how to rightly state the Trinity. We know just from that, whether it was Chalcedon or Nicaea, we can go through all of the councils where we finally locked in how to rightly understand it. Was it homoousia or homoiousia? Those are things that we had to sharpen our understanding of.

To say we didn't really have a clear understanding of the Trinity is wrong; we sharpened our understanding of it. We were better off later because we did go through all that of trying to figure out what about this false teaching and that false teaching. Let's make sure we're careful about the difference between persona and essence. Let's make sure we know the difference between the persons of the Godhead and the essence.

In my mind, I don't think just because the Orthodox come along and say, "I'm going to quote church fathers, and therefore I'm sticking with them," is right. In fact, I do think you're right, Dawson. The young people love sometimes just the tradition of it all. They want to go back. There are two things to this. I do think there's a belonging. Sometimes they like the connection. There's a connection to something that has a long history, and there's comfort in that.

Secondly, I do think there's a kind of Gnostic pride in it, like, "I know the history, and because I know the history, you don't know the history. You just gone to your little plastic church down the street, and you got some dude just telling you from the Bible what he thinks. I know some guy with a beard from the third century, and you don't know him. You don't even know anything about him, and I'm telling you what it is."

Their chest gets puffed up. I think there's pride that sometimes in a sinful way attracts them to this. Sometimes I think there's comfort, which is maybe more virtuous, that attracts them to this. But in my mind, all I want is the best interpretation of the instruction pamphlet, and it doesn't matter if it came an hour or two hours or two days after it got laid on the workbench. Let's figure it out and let's get to it.

Whether it's eschatology, christology, or ecclesiology, sometimes it's going to take time to sort it out. Think of the Reformation. 500 years ago, there were a lot of things that got reformed that I think were great, but not everything got reformed right away. That's why I think it took time in successive generations to reform other things in the church. I don't want to be a Lutheran because I think there are some things that didn't get quite reformed in Luther's theology. I just want time to keep looking at the instructions because it's not simple. The Bible is complex, and that's why I just don't want to say whatever snapshot from the earliest time we can pick, let's just go with that.

Dawson: Awesome, super helpful, Pastor Mike. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking my call.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: You're welcome. Call me back. I appreciate that question. It's a good one. I've seen people steer that direction, and I think there are lots of motives for it. I just picked two, but thanks for the call. Let's go to Judy. Judy, you're on the air with Pastor Mike Fabarez. How can I help?

Judy: Hi, Pastor Mike. It's so nice to hear you on the radio. I always look forward to you coming on and listening to your answers to the questions. This is what I'm struggling with right now, and I have for a while. I have a wonderful, beautiful, full relationship with the Father and with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I'm always talking to the Father, saying Father this and Father that. I don't really say, "Jesus, what about this?" or "Jesus, what about that?"

I do talk to Jesus like that, but mainly it's with Father. I feel so bad. I feel like I'm ignoring Jesus, and I don't mean to be doing that. Is it wrong to talk to the Father? I feel like I'm ignoring Jesus, and I don't mean to be doing that.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: I don't think you are. I think you're actually honoring Jesus because in Matthew chapter 6, when he was teaching his disciples to pray, he said, "Pray like this: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name." Jesus taught his disciples to pray to the Father. He taught them to pray in his name, which means a couple of things.

Number one, it means we don't come to God the Father in our own righteousness; we come in the authority of his Son. We should always remember that we are unworthy to speak to God. As it says in 1 John chapter 2, he is our mediator. He's the one who is our great High Priest, as the book of Hebrews says. He is the one who makes us worthy to even be heard before the Father. He's our advocate.

Hopefully, that's in your mind somewhere that you know that I'm coming to God the Father because of Christ. As long as that's in your mind, whether you say it or not, that has to be in your consciousness that I'm only able to come to the Father through Christ. Secondly, in his name certainly means that I'm saying things that are in keeping with what Jesus would want. That's another way of also saying what the Spirit would want.

Praying in the Spirit is praying in line with what the Spirit would want. The Spirit has written us a book full of his virtues, his commandments, and his precepts, so I should always be praying for things that he would want. That's why I'm not worried about praying to the Spirit or praying to Jesus, although you could. But really, the prescription is to pray to the Father in the name or the authority of the Son and within the purview or the parameters of what the Spirit would want us to pray, which is not for selfish things, not for vindictive things, not for terrible things, but for all the things the Spirit has revealed to us in his word. I don't think you should feel bad about that, Judy. I think you should feel fine about it as long as you don't forget that your worthiness comes from what Jesus has done for us, which I doubt you're forgetting that.

Judy: No, oh no, that is forefront right there. I never forget that. I tell Jesus a lot of the time too, "You know I'm not trying to ignore you. You know that I do talk with you and I think about you all the time also." Your thoughts there really help me. I have been wanting to talk with you and bring that question before you for a long time. I feel very blessed that I was able to get on and actually talk with you and have you answer that.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Very good. One more thing I might add to this is that when you go and tell people about Jesus Christ and we say "Jesus Christ is the Lord" and "Jesus is the King," the Father is so pleased with that. It says in Philippians chapter 2 that this is all done to the glory of God the Father. God is so pleased when we proclaim that Jesus is the King and Jesus is the boss.

Whenever we are his ambassadors in this world and you tell your neighbors and friends they need to come and hear about Jesus, or they need to submit to Christ, or they need to know their need for Jesus, we talk about Jesus. We pray that people would come to faith in Jesus. They need to understand that Christ came to live and die in our place. Those things bring honor to the Father because all of our attention is really bringing people to Christ. All of it is working out just the way it ought to, and your prayers directed to the Father all make perfect sense, Judy. I don't want you to feel bad at all about your prayer patterns. It sounds like they're just exactly what they should be.

Judy: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks again for talking with me and having a wonderful program.

Dave Drewy: That's just a glimpse of what rolls in every week on Ask Pastor Mike Live. Pastor Mike's call-in broadcast airs Tuesday through Thursday at 1:00 PM Central. The lines are open to anyone with a question, and yours could be the next one on the air. For the call-in number and every other detail you'll need, visit askpastormike.live or catch up anytime on the Mike Fabarez channel on YouTube. Let's go to Randall. Randall, you're on the air with Pastor Mike Fabarez. How can I help?

Randall: I appreciate you taking my call. I'm rather surprised I got through that quick. I've been listening to your sermon series for quite some time. I've seen you down in Pennsylvania a while back. One of the things you've been talking about is being in Christ. I can't help but wonder—I've never really seemed to—all my life I've been around church, but I've been in a row pretty roughly.

I'm not going to get into the thing about the drugs and all that stuff that I went through in the past. I'm 67 years old. I've always had this—I don't know if you could call it a draw to Jesus since I was a little boy. But I've never seemed to live victoriously in any manner. In my mind, I said, "I want to be a Christian, and I want to be saved," but there always seems like there's something back in the background of my life that I don't know how to let go of.

It's like the old story of the man tied to a pig. He stayed on and he finally stayed on, and the guy says, "You can let go." He said, "I can't seem to let go; it won't let go of me." I don't know what it is. I think to myself, "Am I really a Judas walking around with a cloak?" Because those words that Christ will say in that last day—and I know it will happen, I know he will say that someday—"Enter into the joy of thy Lord," or "Depart from me, I never knew you, Randall. I never knew you. You played games with me, but I don't have time for that. You're gone."

I dread that because I know what hell—I don't know exactly what hell is, but I know it's worse than I can imagine. I know heaven's greater than I can comprehend. Right now, I'm 67, I have two children, I have a wife, and I've been given more than I ever deserved. But somehow I don't know what that is that I'm not letting go of. I've asked him to save me many times. So it shows I don't know what. I don't know where I'm at.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Let's think this through, Randall. You're onto something very important because Jesus did make this clear in Luke 14 verse 33: "None of you can be my disciple if you do not renounce all that you have." We can't hold anything back. We can't say, "Yeah, I'll follow you, but..." That's what Luke 9 was all about.

They said, "Yeah, I'll follow you wherever you go," and Jesus said, "Wait a minute. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." In other words, "You'll follow me as long as it's convenient and comfortable." Then to another, he says, "Follow me." The guy says, "Yeah, I'll follow you, but first let me go bury my father." No, let the dead bury their own dead, but for you, come and proclaim the kingdom of God.

The next guy says, "I'll follow you, Lord, but first let me go say goodbye to those at home." Jesus said, "No, can't do that either." It's like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. The identification of what it is that stands in the way is important, and Jesus had to get to that because the guy could say to him, "I've kept the laws. I haven't committed murder, I haven't committed adultery, I don't steal. I'm ready to give up all the lying. I've honored my mother and father. I've done all this stuff. And yet, what do I still lack?"

That's where Jesus was going to say, "Here's your problem." It's the first law of the Ten Commandments. When he talked about the commandments, the first law is "Have no other God before me," and he says, "That's where you're failing. The problem is you love money." You're a rich young man, and you're not willing to put me above your money. He goes right for the heart of it. "Are you willing to go take your money and sell it and follow me?" He goes, "No, I'm not."

He says, "Okay," and then he turns to his disciples and says, "Look how hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom." Why? Because everyone has to say everything's under new management now. Everything is under new management. Everything now, as a Christian, I become a servant of Christ. Whatever God wants to do with me is fine. I'll do anything, anyplace, anytime, and therefore, everything is on the altar.

The rich young ruler could not give up certain things. In Luke 9, they couldn't give up certain things. That's why in Luke 14, it started with great crowds were following him, and he stops and says, "Wait a minute. You got to sit down and count the cost." That's why we're saying to you, okay, well, what is it? You're saying, "I don't know what it is." All I'm telling you is Christ would never want to hide from you what it is.

I know that from reading Matthew 19. A guy is saying, "God, what is it?" and Christ immediately says, "Here's what it is." I'm saying to you, Randall, if you really want to know what it is—what is the thing that you will not give up? What is the thing that you're saying, "anything but this, anything but her, anything but these things, anything but over here"? You've got to be able to say, "Is Christ really greater than everything?"

Is there anything in your life that you say Christ is not greater than? In my mind, that's the idea of real faith in Christ. Christ has to be your King, your Redeemer. This is what real faith is about. It's about knowing that Jesus is Lord and being able to say, "I trust you as my Savior, my King." I don't think God would ever want to play a game or a charade with you. If you say to God, "Surely you've asked him this, Randall, right? You've said to him, 'Okay, God, what is it?'" Has he never given you any prompting?

Randall: There's so many different things. It could be this, it could be that. I've come to believe that my judgment about anything's wrong. I know objectively that God is God and he is good and he doesn't fail. He's not a liar. He's not a cheat. He doesn't deceive people even if the worst thing happens in this world. He still is just and right. I know that. But there are just so many failures. I don't know if I can't let go of all my failures. I've got to figure out how to fix them. The fault is mine. It cannot be his. I know that. I'm at wit's end.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: This sounds like you're saying you don't feel worthy. If you don't feel worthy, that's a completely different concern. In my mind, if I said to you, if Christ came down today, sat in your living room, and said, "Randall, you're packing up and you're moving to Seattle, and I got a job for you there. I want you to live there, leave everything behind, and you're going to go do something for me over there. I want you to sell insurance for Allstate." Would you do it? I hope you'd say yes if Jesus said it and I knew it was really Jesus. You would do that, right?

Randall: Yeah, Allstate. I'd be happy with my success, but yes, I would.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: You would do it, right? So I don't think it's about the fact that you don't see Christ as King. I think you would do whatever your Savior tells you to do. But it sounds to me like you've got the focus too much on yourself. This is where you've got to get yourself out of your own view. You need to say, as the Scripture tells us, you've got to stop putting yourself in the equation. You've got to stop thinking about you as anything in this.

When you do everything you're commanded, you should say, as Jesus taught us, "We're unworthy slaves; we've only done that which we ought to have done." You and I are nothing. Only God causes the growth. Your failures, your unworthiness doesn't matter. The thief on the cross was unworthy, and yet today you'll be with me in paradise. You and I are qualified to be in God's presence and will hear "enter into the joy prepared for you from the foundation of the world" because of Christ's righteousness, not yours, not mine.

We're not worthy. Of course we're not worthy. You and I deserve the outer darkness where there's weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. That's what you deserve, that's what I deserve. So let's get over ourselves and know this: the only hope we have is Christ. Stop thinking about your failure. Stop thinking about your past. Let's just start thinking about how we can do something good for Christ today.

Each day has enough trouble of its own. Let's stop thinking about tomorrow. Let's stop thinking about yesterday. Let's start thinking about today. How can I do something positive for Christ? How can I do something that's going to make a difference for Christ today? How can I represent him? How can I thank him? How can I be useful for the church that I go to? How can I do something good? That's your job, to serve him. That, Randall, to me, I think you become your own stumbling block. You've got to stop thinking about you. That, to me, is your problem. You've got too much of you in the lens of your life. The eyeball is on you.

Dave Drewy: You're listening to Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez, and those calls came straight from Ask Pastor Mike Live, the weekly broadcast where anyone can bring a question directly to Pastor Mike. It airs live every Tuesday through Thursday at 1:00 PM Central, and you can watch or revisit any episode on the Mike Fabarez channel on YouTube and by going to askpastormike.live. For more Bible teaching from Pastor Mike, head on over to focalpointradio.org.

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