Key Life Network

Steve Brown: I need you and you need me. Let's deal with it. And talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: Welcome to Key Life. I'm Matthew, executive producer of the program, and our host is author and seminary professor Steve Brown. The church has suffered under do-more-try-harder religion for too long and Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. We're talking about what difference the church makes. If you've been listening the last day or two, we've seen that when you start talking about the church, you're talking about what the Bible teaches the church is: people who have been bought close to God at a great price.

The Bible teaches that the church is not only brought to God at the price of the cross, it's a family brought together at that same price. The church is not only a family brought to God and to each other at the price of the cross, the church is a family with a fantastic heritage.

Yesterday we saw the church is not only all of that, but it is more than that. It's a family whose head is Jesus Christ. The church's responsibility is not to meet together and decide what to do or even to look at the problems in the world and decide which ones we're going to address. The church comes together to discern what Jesus wants to do and then do it to the best of our ability.

Christ is the head of our family. The family is his responsibility. We hear a lot today about the demise of the church. That's not going to happen.

I'll tell you, on our talk show, we've interviewed a number of people, some of them from Europe, talking about the resurgence that's taking place in the church. In America, I've been saying for years this is going to happen, and I know it because it was God's way.

The church is going to be renewed. Just when it gets down to the last skeletal member, something's going to happen and Jesus is going to intervene and the church is going to grow. And you can't stop it.

Somebody said about Baptists that they're like weeds. They grow everywhere and you can't get rid of them. Well, that's true of the church and members of the church. We're like weeds and you can never get rid of us and it's never going to die.

Why is that? Because the people who are part of the church are so wise and courageous? No, because the church belongs to Christ and he doesn't stand—listen to me—Jesus doesn't stand behind dying concerns.

Okay, I move the previous question: what difference does the church make? Let's look at some of that. First, the church makes a difference because, as a Christian, you are incomplete without other Christians. Listen to what the Bible says. This is 1 Corinthians 12:14, 19 through 21, 26, and 27.

For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

The forces of the world, by the way, are angry, consuming, and strong. If you ever expect to stand for one minute, you've got to stand with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Without your brothers and sisters, you won't last.

When you are ridiculed, you'll cave in if you don't have somebody who understands. When you're wounded by the arrows of the world, you will die if you don't have somebody to bind up your wounds. When you're afraid because of the forces set against you, you won't make it if you don't have brothers and sisters to stand with you.

The best way for a military leader to bring the arguments and divisions in his forces to an end is not to speak of the divisions and the arguments, but to speak of the enemy. A Christian needs the church because without the church, the Christian would be incomplete.

I didn't always believe that. I'm kind of into John Wayne and individualism, and I still am in some ways. But I thought that the church was a place where individuals came, got taught, and went out and tried to live what they were taught as best they could. That was a lie and it was from the pit of hell and it smells like smoke.

I remember coming out of the church one evening after an evening service, and a young lady called me over. She was talking to a boy and she said, "Pastor, this is Jimmy. Jimmy said he came to the church and nobody spoke to him. And I told him we don't come here to be loved; we come here to be taught. I was right, wasn't I?"

And I thought, that doesn't sound right. I remember driving home that night in my car and thinking, I've done this thing wrong. It's deeper than that. It's more important than that. we really are a part of one another. And I said, "God, put these people on my heart and put me on their heart and enable us to walk together simply because we can't walk alone and survive."

And so the church is important. It's important because we can't do this by ourselves. I hate it. Please, Father, I'd rather do it myself. But I can't. You think about that. Amen.

Well, it's Wednesday, and sometimes on Wednesdays when we have a little time, I answer one or two questions. As you know, Pete will be in on Friday and, as always, we spend the whole broadcast answering questions, and we love your questions.

You can ask a question anytime you want by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. Just follow instructions. We'll record your question and sometimes put that on the air. Or you can send your question to Key Life Network, Post Office Box 5000, Maitland, Florida, 32794.

If you live in Canada, it's Key Life Canada, Post Office Box 28060, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 6J8. Or you can email your question to steve@keylife.org. And by the way, and you knew I was going to say this, if you can help us financially, I would very much appreciate it.

I promise we'll squeeze every dime for the glory of God. Not only that, you'll help your brothers and sisters in Christ, and there are a lot of them who can't afford to help. So if you can help us financially, if you can't, say a prayer.

All right, let's turn to one or two of these questions. A staff person said this is from a college guy, and the question is this: "How can I deal with singleness?"

I want you to know that I've changed my mind about that. I think that your desire to no longer be single is a God-given desire. There was a time when I was a young pastor and single people were wanting to get married and it wasn't happening, and they would ask me what to do.

I would say, put it on the altar and give it—pray a prayer of relinquishment. Then maybe God will bring somebody into your life and maybe not, but since you gave it up and put it on the altar, it doesn't matter each way.

We had a lady in our church who had written a book on singleness. She came into my study without knocking and she said, "Brown, I can't believe what you're telling these young people. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Then she said, "Do you know what you're saying to them? You're saying that if they want to be married, they've got to stop wanting to be married. And when they don't want it, then maybe God will give it to them."

I thought, you know, she's right. That's what I've been saying. So I quit saying that. Listen, your desire is God-given and God loves you more than you can imagine.

It will be sad and difficult if you want to be married and you're not. I know that and I don't minimize that, and that can be a really big deal. But go to God. Say, "You gave me this desire, and I ask in the name of Jesus that you would give me a relationship that is a lifelong relationship of closeness." And you'd be surprised how often God answers that particular prayer.

What is a covenant child? A covenant child is a person who's a part of a family that is a part of the covenant of God, which is the church. That is not an absolute assurance that your child will become a Christian, but it does mean that God has a special, focused, and loving kind of relationship in the covenant with the children of the covenant.

I'm a Presbyterian and we baptize infants. What we do when we do that is that we claim those promises. You can do it if you're not a Presbyterian and you believe only in adult baptism. When you dedicate the child, you are claiming those covenant promises and they're very important.

In other words, no matter what you've heard, no matter who you heard it from, they're wrong. The family is a big deal to God. God makes covenant not just with one person; he makes covenant with a bunch. So now you know. If you're a believer, God has a special thing in his heart for your children. Got to go. Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.