The Christian faith is crazy…crazy like a fox.

Steve Brown:
The Christian faith is crazy…crazy like a fox. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Welcome to Key Life. I’m Matthew, executive producer of the program. Our host is Steve Brown. He’s an author and seminary professor who teaches that God’s amazing grace is the key to a life of radical freedom, infectious joy, and surprising faithfulness to Christ.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you guys had a great week-end, and as I always say, and always mean, I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. You know, I travel a good deal, and when I’m speaking someplace, it’s getting so very, very often someone will come up to me and say, Hey, Brown, my pastor’s sermon was better than your pastor’s sermon this past Sunday. So, I’m starting a sort of movement among the people of God of encouragement of one’s pastor. Now, we’re studying Philippians 2:1 through 11. And I want to go one more place before we leave this passage. And I’ve told you before that when we finish, you are going to feel, and I am going to feel, that we have only scratched the surface of this particular text. It is one of the high texts in Scripture, well, Scripture is all high text, but this is one of the most important passages in the entire Bible. And therefore, we’re spending a good deal of time looking at this particular passage. Okay, let’s pray and then we’ll study. Father, we come into your presence and we come here as always surprised when we think about it. We didn’t think we were good enough. We didn’t think that we were smart enough. We didn’t think that you would want us. And then you sent the invitation and it was ours, to stand in your presence in the throne room of the universe. Father, we worship you because that’s amazing. We worship you because of who you are. If you had never loved us, you’re still God and you’re worthy of our worship. And we worship you because you came. And you loved us and you walked our roads and you died on our cross, for us. And then you got out of the grave and told us that we could too. And so, we praise you. Father, you know everybody who’s listening right now. You know how difficult it is for some. Come alongside, remind them that you keep the tears that they shed in your bottle, and that you listen to the sound of their tears as they fall to the ground. Father, for those, we thank you that you’re sovereign over our laughter and our parties too. And we forget sometimes that you enjoy them about as much as we do. Father, thank you for mixing your laughter with ours. And now, Father, we come into your presence, we pray for the one who teaches, forgive him his sins, cause they are many. We would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus’ Name. Now, let’s look at the text one more time. I sometimes think with some text, I ought to just read it and shut up. But I am, after all, a preacher. Ha ha ha ha! And so, I’ve got to say something. I just can’t let things go. And so, we’re spending a good deal of time talking about this. This is what Paul writes to the church at Philippi, 2nd chapter, 1st verse.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of the same mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being in the likeness of man. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My. Now, I want to center in on what he said that was really important.

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourself. Let each of you look not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ.

You’ve heard me say it a lot, and it’s true that the Christian faith is counterintuitive. It’s crazy, and it’s crazy like a fox. It’s the family secrets that we as part of the body of Christ understand and nobody else understands. I had lunch with a friend of mine not too long ago who was an auto believer. He said he never, he never had a problem that a little bit of work and a little bit of effort and a little bit of thought, he couldn’t fix it. And then I began to explain to him what the Christian faith was all about. And you know what he said to me, and he meant it. He says, Steve, if that’s true, the world has lied to me, and that ticks me off. He isn’t very far from the kingdom. Listen to me, the world will always lie to you. And what I’m going to tell you is the truth, and it comes from Philippians 2. So listen up, we’re going to examine four great paradoxes of the Christian faith. Paradox number one, you must relinquish in order to possess. Let me say it again, and slower for the slower among us, you must relinquish in order to possess, Philippians 2:6.

Who, being in the very nature of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

Philippians 2:9b

Therefore God gave him the name that is above every name.

Let me tell you about the word translated grasp. It means literally to snatch, or to clutch, to hold on to. And so, Paul tells us that Jesus refused to grab, to hold on to something, and hold it tightly. He relinquished all of that, and he became a human being with all that means. You’ve heard this statement, If you love something, let it go, and if it doesn’t return to you, then it was never meant to be. That’s one of those things that is said often by unbelievers. If you love something, let it go, and if it doesn’t return to you, then it was never meant to be. Friend of mine translated that way or changed it by saying if you love something, let it go. If it doesn’t return to you, then hunt it down and kill it. Well, that’s kind of where we are, man. What do you want most? Let it go. Let it go. That means your family. That means your business. Let it go, doesn’t matter. That means that everything on your bucket list. Let it go. It doesn’t matter. It means your money, and your house, and your wealth. Let it go, doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter. And then, when you come to the point of letting it go, then you begin to understand the paradox. And Paul said it in I Corinthians. He said.

Everything is yours.

That is an amazing paradox. And it’s why the church will never die when we get the paradox and live it out. Whatever is ours, let it go. And it will return always. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That was Steve Brown picking up where we left off last week in our study of Philippians. We have been feasting on Philippians 2:1 through 11, and we’ll continue to do so tomorrow, taking a look at some paradoxes found in that passage. Be sure to tune in for that. So, I think you would agree that we as Christians are often right on issues like salvation and theology, but we sometimes miss the less articulated truths of humility and love and forgiveness. Well, that truth is actually the premise of Steve’s book called Talk the Walk. We created a special booklet that features an excerpt of that book, and we’d love to send it to you for free. So, call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to order that booklet. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the Talk the Walk booklet. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others 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. And as always, if you can’t give right now, or maybe God’s just not telling you to do that, no worries, seriously. But if you would, please do pray for us. All right? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.