Key Life Network

Guest (Male): When is it okay to look for a new church? The answer to that and other questions on Key Life.

Guest (Male): If you think laughter isn't spiritual or that faithfulness to God means conformity to Christian stereotypes, then this program probably isn't for you. But if you're looking for honest biblical answers to hard questions, then welcome to Key Life.

Guest (Male): Here's our host, author and seminary professor Steve Brown along with Pete Allanson from Forge Truth.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hi Pete.

Pete Allanson: Hey man, how you doing?

Steve Brown: I'm doing really good.

Pete Allanson: All right. All right. Good.

Steve Brown: I'm getting ready to go on vacation.

Pete Allanson: Yeah, wow.

Steve Brown: That's not bad.

Pete Allanson: You know, people, people don't know this, but you work hard. You do a lot of recording and a lot of teaching. You need a break.

Steve Brown: Yeah, I really do and they needed a break too.

Steve Brown: That's Pete Allanson as always, go to forgetruth.com. And soon we'll be telling you about his new book, which is going to be great.

Steve Brown: Pete comes in every Friday and we spend this time answering questions. And we love your questions. You can you can call 1-800 Key Life. That's 1-800-539-5433.

Steve Brown: Follow instructions. Give us your question and sometimes we put your voice on the air. Or you can send your question to Key Life Network, Post Office Box 5000, Maitland, Florida 32794.

Steve Brown: In Canada, it's Key Life Canada, Post Office Box 28060, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L6J8. Or you can email your question to steve@keylife.org.

Steve Brown: And do help us financially, if you have the money and you can, and we promise that we'll be faithful with your gift. We're a member of ECFA in the states and Four C's in Canada, both of those organizations affirm that Pete and I are both handsome and wise.

Steve Brown: But they also look at our books and make sure that we're ethical, and we are. So help us if you can, if you can't, say a prayer for this ministry. Pete, lead us in prayer and we'll get to this.

Pete Allanson: After that introduction, we definitely need prayer. So let's pray. Our great God, what a joy to come into your presence at the end of this week, and we give you praise. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Pete Allanson: And we praise you for who you are and what you've done for us in setting us free from sin and death and hell. How you have set us free to a new life for women to become fully feminine, men to become fully men and masculine. And Lord, what a joy. What a joy it is to follow you.

Pete Allanson: We thank you for how grace redoes our identity in Christ. And how we are the deeply, deeply beloved, redeemed daughters and sons of the Most High God.

Pete Allanson: And so we give you praise, and this weekend we want to celebrate and worship and hear from your word and allow your grace to sink in. Oh Father, we need your grace, not just for salvation, but for sanctification too. And we ask that you would help us to understand it at a deeper level in our lives.

Pete Allanson: Thank you, Father, that you have provided everything for us for life and godliness.

Pete Allanson: And now as we come into your presence doing Q&A, we recognize that we have a lot of questions. We have a lot of needs as your people. So fill us with your truth and we commit this time to you in Jesus strong name we pray. Amen.

Steve Brown: Amen.

Steve Brown: Okay, Pete, this is an email, when is it justifiable to find a new church?

Pete Allanson: Yeah, you know, there's probably a lot of, that's a, it's phrased interestingly.

Steve Brown: Yeah, it really is.

Pete Allanson: And I think, I think it's why some people would say it's not justifiable is if you're just running away from problems or if you're just running away from community. Or if you've been criticized, you know, don't, don't leave quickly.

Pete Allanson: But there are times, I would say one, one way, one reason it's justifiable to leave a church, is when there are doctrinal problems that you have tried to help repair, but they just keep going away from scripture.

Steve Brown: Yeah. And we've often said and you've said too, that when you're looking for a church, look for a church that believes the scripture and teaches them to exalt Christ and try to love each other.

Steve Brown: And that's a major thing, because those are not churches when those things aren't going on. They're religious organizations, so you should feel free to leave.

Pete Allanson: Yeah. But there are other times too, right?

Pete Allanson: Yes, that's right. That's right. I think, you know, Chuck Colson, Nixon's hatchet man, when he was a bad guy, but when he was a good guy, Prison Fellowship was talking to a pastor once and the pastor said, you know, I try in my sermons never to offend anybody because my main job is having them return next week.

Steve Brown: Gosh.

Pete Allanson: What a terrible thing for a pastor to say. But he admitted that to Colson and former hatchet man probably had something to say to him.

Steve Brown: Oh, I'm sure he did.

Pete Allanson: Can you imagine?

Pete Allanson: But I think that some pastors struggle to to just preach the word and and to apply it in the current cultural environment. And we need churches that are not afraid to do that. I think it's justifiable to look for, to be in a church where where the pastor will speak the truth in love, but speak the whole truth and not move away from it. Show me how to be, how to live as a Christian in this culture.

Steve Brown: And there's sometimes, and you need to pray about it and you need to do it in the right way, when there are serious problems with the culture of the church you're going to that may not be biblical or doctrinal. And I'm just not comfortable, this is not my kind of church and I, I, I don't have any problems with that. I understand that.

Pete Allanson: Sometimes we change and sometimes the culture of the church changes.

Steve Brown: That's true.

Pete Allanson: We do go through phases and I've come to the point where I say, it's good that we have multiple expressions of the local body of Christ.

Steve Brown: So you can do that.

Pete Allanson: So we can do that.

Steve Brown: That's right.

Pete Allanson: Don't do it precipitously. Pray about it, get godly counsel. And if there are real issues, seek to be a part of solving those if you can.

Steve Brown: Yeah. And and be kind. Don't cause division.

Steve Brown: You know, I recently have left the church that we've attended for the last few years, and the pastor's a former student, and I love that church, but it was a denominational issue that I had to report to my denomination. And so we had lunch, and I said, I got to leave, and I hate it. And I went over the reason and boy, was he supportive.

Steve Brown: And that was done, I was kind of proud of myself, I did it right.

Pete Allanson: Yeah. You went to him and you talked to him.

Steve Brown: Yeah, and say, look, you you I and sometimes I went to people when I was a pastor and said, you know, this church would be better off if you'd leave. That always surprised them because most pastors will do anything to get somebody else in the pew.

Steve Brown: And I would say, look, I'll help you find another church, but you're not comfortable here, and frankly, I'm not comfortable with you. So let's be friends and you go somewhere else. And I would go somewhere else, but I can't do it for a lot of reasons.

Steve Brown: So, you know, you got to be kind of light about it, but there are a number of reasons that are justifiable, but check with other Christians and make sure that you're not just doing it out of ego.

Pete Allanson: Amen. Amen. Yeah.

Steve Brown: Okay. Um, are there more, this is an interesting question. It's an email, are there more sins than just those listed in the Ten Commandments?

Pete Allanson: Huh. Well, yes.

Steve Brown: No.

Pete Allanson: Well, you're going to you're going to add to that.

Steve Brown: I'm having trouble with the big 10.

Pete Allanson: Steve, I can think of three or four of yours right now. No, yeah, of course. Now the big 10 are the big 10 and they cover a lot of ground, don't they?

Steve Brown: They really do.

Pete Allanson: Wow.

Steve Brown: You know, when you you know, we have a tendency to say, well, I haven't done that, I haven't done that.

Pete Allanson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: But there isn't a single one of the Ten Commandments that I can't by looking through the what the scripture say, say I've violated that. You know, I never got a gun and shot anybody, but I'm sure, I'm sure destroyed people sometimes, in ways that weren't intended, that weren't good.

Steve Brown: You know, I haven't dishonored my father and mother, but I've dishonored others in authority over me. So, and that covers that. As you go through it and you began to look. I haven't slept with anybody. I'm committed adultery, but I've had, you know, I thought, I've had a lustful thought on occasion. So, and Jesus said it was the same thing.

Steve Brown: And so both the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments are given so that we don't have any excuse as Paul said, oh man, whoever you are.

Pete Allanson: Oh, good. That's so good. And and so yes, there there are other sins outside the Ten Commandments, but they cover so much. Study them deeper.

Pete Allanson: You know, one thing I heard the other day about the Ninth Commandment, shall not bear false witness. It's not just not lying. It is more about your role in society.

Steve Brown: It's true.

Pete Allanson: And and and I hadn't really thought about it that in that way, but as a member of the Covenant community, always seeking to tell the truth and and and being a witness for the truth always.

Steve Brown: That's a part of it too. And it's good. Yeah. And that was designed that way.

Pete Allanson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: Yes, there are a lot more sins in the Bible than just the big 10, but the big 10 are the big 10.

Steve Brown: Well, um, how do we, this is an email, how do we differ from angels?

Pete Allanson: Oh, well, well, some of us do. Of course, you are quite angelic, right? You have the voice of an angel, right? A scary voice and uh, well, um, yeah.

Steve Brown: Well, an angel is a messenger.

Pete Allanson: A messenger. We're messengers in that sense.

Steve Brown: Yeah, we are. But that's the essence of what an angel is, serving God as a messenger. In some ways doing exactly what God and I don't think that angels, you know, Paul says they look at us and they're jealous.

Pete Allanson: That's right. We are made in the image of God.

Steve Brown: Yeah, that's the difference.

Pete Allanson: And angels are not. Yeah. And and and why did God create us? Well, ultimately for his glory. And and you know, as the Westminster Confession says, to enjoy him and glorify him forever. So, it's both. God didn't have to create us, but he wanted us to be a part of the the Triune community, which is is hard to wrap your head around.

Steve Brown: Oh, it blows you away when you start thinking about it.

Pete Allanson: I know.

Steve Brown: It's major.

Pete Allanson: But we do differ from angels. Angels, if they fall, they can't be saved apparently.

Steve Brown: That's right. Because that's a Satan fell was an angel.

Pete Allanson: But we can be saved.

Steve Brown: Yeah, there's hope for you, Pete.

Pete Allanson: Amen.

Steve Brown: And for me. Guys, we got to go. We do appreciate you joining us on Fridays when we answer these questions. And we're open to input from you too. Got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.