If you suffer, say something.

Steve Brown:
Hey, if you suffer, say something. Let’s talk about it on this edition of Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
The deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. That’s what Key Life is all about. So, if you’re hungry for the hopeful truth that God isn’t mad at you, keep listening. Steve Brown is a professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible open it to the first chapter of Philippians. We’re looking at verses 11 through 18a in our study in Philippians. And we’re talking about what do you do when really bad things happen? And the first thing that we saw is that there’s a principle of commonality. That’s Philippians 1:7, 1:13, 1:14, and 1:17, where Paul said, I’m in chains, I’m in jail. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to bad people. And I didn’t say that, Jesus said it, that God lets the rain fall on the good and the bad. Bad things happen, and that’s because we live in a fallen world. And I’ve said that when bad things happen, unbelievers are probably surprised. Christians should never be, because we’ve been told that bad things happen to believers. And good things too, but the one who decides the good and the bad is God, and that’s the second principle when we’re talking about bad things happening. It’s the fact of control, Philippians 1:12.

I want you to know that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

And I suggested yesterday, if you were listening. And you never listen to me, I suggested yesterday that the hardest thing for a Christian to do is to turn over control to God, because we want to be God. We want to be in control. And then I taught you, and I hope you were listening, how to use a contract in your prayers. Turn it over to him, everything without exception or reservation, and say to him, You know me. I’m a living sacrifice, and I make this sacrifice of worship to you by giving myself to you. But living sacrifices crawl off the altar, so make it a contract before you, and conform my heart to that contract. And I believe that’s a powerful prayer. It’s a prayer that God uses. I was one time on the board of Christianity Today, and Harold Myra was the top guy, and Paul Robbins was the executive officer. And those were good days to see what God was doing all over the country. I was on the executive committee for years, and I one time said to them, this is a dangerous place to be. When I first went on the board, we were down 6 million dollars. And I said, how do you guys do this? And they both said almost in unison, because it’s not ours. That’s how. It’s his, and we’ve given it, and if he wants to destroy it tomorrow, that’s his business. If he wants to honor it and use it, that’s his business. It’s not ours. Ours is to be here, available, and to do what God said for us to do. The essence of Christian maturity is to recognize that God is God. I went around the world with a friend of mine who’s now in heaven, name was Sam Rowan. He called me one time and his son was really sick and he said, Steve, would you pray for him? And I did. And he called me two days later and he said, Steve, God was faithful, he’s well. And then there was this long pause and Sam said something important. But I just thought, Steve, that if my son had died, God would still be faithful. There’s a sense of peace when you say, this is not my world. This is not my responsibility. Being in control is way above my pay level. And then to say, but it’s not above yours, God. And so, I want to be a person who trusts you to be over and sovereign everything that happens to me, period. And I believe that God does that in the lives of the believers. There’s no explanation. And I’ve seen so many stories over the years as Christians have gone through hard stuff, I don’t understand, but it’s God. One of the Covenanters, and that was a strong bunch of Christians, when they brought his son’s head on a platter to his jail cell, fell on the floor and cried, and then he brushed himself off, got up from the jail cell, and said this.

It is God. Good is the will of God.

Now, I wouldn’t have known that. I’m not that mature, but he did, and that’s the way Christians are to live their lives. Now, let me show you something else when bad things happen to Christians. I not only want you to see the principle of commonality and the fact of God’s control. Please note also the necessity of communication, Philippians 1:13.

As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.

How did they know that? How did everyone else get it? Because he told them, that’s why. Have you ever noticed how we reverse things from the way they ought to be? I was talking to a young lady not too long ago whose father refuses to go to church. He says, and I’ve heard it a million times, sometimes I say really snarky things back, but most of the time I bite my tongue. I know how those people pray on their knees on Sunday and on their neighbors the rest of the week, and I’m not going there. You know, we should wear signs telling people about our sins. What would you wear on your sign? Well, probably The last place you’d want to wear your sign would be at the church. My late mentor Fred Smith used to, and I heard him do this a thousand times. He would be talking to a group of men, or to an individual. And Fred would say, and by the way, if you have never gone to the website BreakfastWithFred.com you ought to go there. And there’s a book by that name, too. And a lot of people think I made up Fred so I could say some really out of the box things. But he was my mentor for over 30 years. And I still miss him. But I’ve seen Fred say to somebody, Look, if you were arrested for drunken driving and your name was in the paper on Sunday morning, would you go to church that morning? And the answers were really interesting. Fred, are you crazy? Of course I wouldn’t. I’d stay away from the church, man, until this thing died down, and then I’d go to church. They would say, Fred, there is no way I’d go near a church. I’d go out and even buy all the papers where the story had been printed and burn them. I don’t want people to know I was arrested for drunken driving. Then Fred would laugh. And he would say, that’s like a man who gets hit by a car and he’s really hurt and his clothes are torn and there’s blood all over the place and they come from the hospital and they start putting you on a stretcher to take you, and you say, wait, don’t do that. Let me go home. Let me clean up some of these wounds and get a shower and get rid of the blood and then I’ll go to the hospital. He was making a very good point. And the point is the church is not a gathering place of people who have it together, the church is a gathering place of people who don’t. And just so the church is not a gathering place, where everything works out fine for believers because Jesus works that way, and he answers all of our prayers the way we want him to answer all of our prayers. The church is a place where there’s transparency, where we communicate to one another what we’re going through. John Powell talks about the five levels of communication. The first is a cliché, that’s not really sharing. The second is a fact, that’s when we share what we know. The third is an opinion, and that’s what we think. The fourth way is emotion, that’s what we feel. And number five is transparence, that is who you are. But the last place we do that is in the church. And so, if you’re a prisoner, if it hurts, if bad things are happening, don’t suffer in silence. Do what Paul did. He told everybody he knew, and they came alongside, and they did it together. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. And guess what sports fans? That wraps things up for this week’s study of Philippians, but wait, there’s more join us tomorrow for the nearly world famous Friday Q&A with Steve and Pete right here on Key Life. Hey, do you ever have questions? I’m not talking about the everyday questions like why did Taco Bell stop offering the beef mexi-melt? Seriously? Does anybody know, Jeremy? No, I’m talking about the big questions, questions like, does God exist? Am I really forgiven and free? If all of this is true, then why don’t I feel different. Well, Steve wrote about these things in a special mini-book called Faith and Doubt: When Belief is Hard. In it he explores the reasons behind our doubts and explains how we can rest in faith. May we send you this mini-book for free? Yeah? Then call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that mini-book. Or to mail your request go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for the free mini-book called Faith and Doubt: When Belief is Hard. And one last question, do you value the work of Key Life? If so, why not join us in that work through your financial support? Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.