Risk and laugh. They go together.

Steve Brown:
Risk and laugh. They go together. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
It’s for freedom that Christ set us free and Key Life is here to bring you Biblical teaching that encourages you to never give into slavery again. Our teacher on Key Life is Steve Brown. He’s an author, broadcaster, and seminary professor who’s sick of phony religion.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re talking about joy, joy, joy down in my heart. And it’s the central theme of the Book of Philippians. And I thought we would spend a few days just looking at that particular theme and seeing where the joy came from. The truth is that joy is the flag that flies over the castle that tells people that the King is in residence. And we’re looking at Philippians 1:18 through 26. And we’re talking about the things that you ought to remember about the Christian faith as it relates to the subject of joy. We’ve seen the powerlessness of isolation, Philippians 1:19 and 26. We’ve seen the irrelevance of circumstances, and of a sort of irrelevance of circumstances, philippians 1:19. Yesterday, we talked about the danger of safety, Philippians 1:20. And then I read it to you in the English Standard Version. And I read it to you in the King James Version. And I referenced what it says in the American Standard Version. And the thrust of Philippians 1:20 is that Paul says that he looks for the courage to risk, to stand up to, to be counted for Christ, to exalt Christ above everything else, even when it’s difficult, even as difficult as being executed. And his theme is joy. They go together, they really do. Risk, danger, and joy are the trinity of God, and they dance together. When Jennifer, our younger daughter, was little, she would get on the large slide that was in the town swimming pool, and she would get at the top, and then she would look down, and then she would back off. And I would say, Jennifer, you’re going to love it if you’ll do it. And she’d back off. Sometimes she’d climb back down the ladder. And then she’d shake her head, she’d climb back up, look down and think, I can’t do this. And I would say, honey, just do it. You’re going to love it, trust your dad. So, finally she close her eyes and she came down the slide from the distance, and hit the pool, and she came up giggling. And you know what she said? Let’s do it again. Let’s do it again. She never would have known that joy unless she was willing to risk. Some of you need to risk financially. Some of you need to risk relationally. Some of you need to risk with your witness in the world. And I need to risk in all places. You know, that can happen within the church, too. As you know, I’m a graduate of a very liberal graduate school of theology. And early on, it was very, Jesus started getting into my heart, and I knew that the people at this graduate school weren’t going to like it, they’re going to make fun of me. And the more I spent time with Jesus, the more I realized, I needed to tell my friends what was happening to me. And I was in a carpool at that time, I lived on Cape Cod, and we drove together to Boston to go to this graduate school, and I decided I was going to tell them. And I remember the first day, I chickened out. And I just, and I said to the Lord that night, tomorrow I’m going to tell them, and I chickened out the second time. And then finally the third day I bit the bullet. And I said, guys, listen up, I got something to tell you. It got very quiet in the car. There were five of us and, I said, you know those Bible thumpers? Silence. Do you know the people that are fundies and who talk about loving Jesus and all that? Silence. I just thought you ought to know, I said, that I’ve become one of them. Silence. And then one of my friends said, you’re just going through a hard time because we’re doing exams right now. You just don’t understand. And the others laughed at that, but you know what happened when they let me out at my house on Cape Cod? As soon as they went around the corner, I started dancing. I had stood, it had not been the most clear witness in the history of Christendom, but I had stood, I had risked, I had risked myself with my friends and their thoughts about me, and there was great joy. Pastor came to me one time, he was so miserable, I can’t tell you, he had been discovering great things about Christ, and he was growing like a wildfire. But now that he was maturing in Christ, he was miserable. He was from a prestigious seminary. He was always looking for the acceptance of the liberals in his denomination, theologically. He was well thought of in his community. You know what I told him? I told him go down to the street corner and preach the gospel and you’ll be free and you’ll have joy. He never did that. And recently I heard that he had left the ministry. You know, one of the early mentors in my own ministry was Dr. John Stanton. He was a gift that God gave to me when I first started serving a little church on Cape Cod. He taught me so very much, and I am looking forward to seeing him when we get to heaven. But one of the things that I loved about him is that he had been the pastor of a very large and prestigious church in Pennsylvania, one of the flagship churches of the denomination. He was well thought of, all of the politicians attended his church, all of the scholars from the local university attended his church, all of those who were part of the cool kids came to his church, and Jesus got a hold of him. And do you know what he did? He invited the evangelist Gipsy Smith to come to the city. And nobody would stand with him. And so, he rented the auditorium, he rented the chairs from the local funeral home, and he set them up himself. Now this is a well known, well paid, well thought of minister of a very large and prestigious church fellowshiping with Gipsy Smith. I loved it. And do you know what happened? When he would tell that story of how scared he was and how he was going to be rejected, he would start laughing. And there was such joy there that came from risk. I know, we live in a culture where it’s hard to risk if you’re a Christian. I’m an old guy and I can remember when you got points for being a Christian. If you were a politician, you had to go to church and nod in God’s direction or you wouldn’t get elected. I can remember a day where anybody who was anybody was a member of the church. That’s changed. In some places, if you’re a Christian, you’re hated. They don’t like you. And if you want to, and Jesus will still love you, you can just be quiet about it. I mean, you don’t get to heaven on your words, you get to heaven by God’s grace through Jesus Christ. But you want to know how to laugh more, and dance more, and be filled with joy? Go out and find the meanest, most narrow, most opinionated pagan that you can find. Maybe a close friend of yours, and say, I got something to tell you, and you ought to listen, because you need to hear it. I belong to Jesus Christ, and I don’t give a rip what you think about that. It changed my life, and I will not be silent any longer. I know, that’s not an easy thing to do, but do it anyway, because that is the source of great joy. Safety equals sadness. Risk equals rejoicing. Clearly taught in Scripture. And so, start little, maybe move into bigger areas, but start risking a little bit. You’ll be so surprised that it’s like potato chips, you can’t stop with one. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That was Steve Brown wrapping up another stellar week of teaching from the Book of Philippians. Next week, we’ll pause our study of Philippians for a very cool, very special teaching series from our Justin Holcomb, don’t miss that. And tomorrow, of course, is Friday Q&A with Steve and Pete Alwinson. And tomorrow, they’ll tackle a question that, well, I’m not one-hundred percent comfortable even saying it out loud, so, I don’t know. Tune in for that one. Hey, we want to let you know about two cool things from Key Life that we’d love to put into your hands for free. The first is the annual digital issue of Key Life magazine. This edition features articles from Steve, Kendra Fletcher, Barry Smith, and me. You can access that digital magazine right now at keylife.org/magazines We also have a print magazine with totally different content. If you haven’t claimed your copy yet, we still do have some. So, call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that magazine or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of Key Life magazine. And Hey, before you go, If you value the work of Key Life, would you 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 text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.