Key Life Network

Matthew: 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 had a great weekend and I hope your pastor's sermon was as good as my pastor's sermon. If you're just joining us, I'm spending a good bit of time on a book that I've written but hasn't been published. I'm doing it, sort of, as an experiment.

As I teach on this broadcast, I'm listening to your comments and probably making some changes in the book. I'll let you know when it's published. It'll be out probably sometime next year. There are a number of titles. We had an old title, "The Lies We Believe," dealing with guilt, shame, fear, and regret.

Then we, the staff, changed it to "The Liberating Power of Truth," a practical handbook to dealing with guilt, shame, fear, and regret. And then we finally came up, and this is the last one we're using, and I'm not sure this is going to stay, but that title, the one we're using right now, is "God's Not Mad at You: Confronting the Lies of Guilt and Shame and Fear and Regret."

If you've been listening, we've talked about "Lies 101," the nature of truth and untruth. We've spent some time talking about the lies that charm us, kind of a Disney World thing that messes up our lives. And then we talked about the lies that cheat us. God loves you, but don't let it go to your head.

And right now, this week, and probably next week, we're going to talk about the lies that define us. You're ugly and your mother dresses you funny. Hey, let's pray and then we'll get down. Father, we come into your presence because Jesus said he didn't just speak truth. He told us he was truth.

And Father, we're thankful for the gift of your son who was and is and will be the truth. We live in a world where people lie. They don't tell us the truth, and coming here in your presence, we know it's solid, that it's good, that it's right, that it's true. And we praise you and worship you because of it.

Father, you know everyone who's listening to this broadcast. You know there's some hard places and some soft ones, some laughter and some tears. Father, remind us that you're sovereign over every molecule and that we can trust you and that you are good all the time.

And now, Father, as we study, we pray for the one who teaches. Forgive me my sins, because they're many. We would see Jesus and him only, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you were listening last week when we opened this subject of the lies that define us, you're aware that the basic text in terms of understanding the truth is from Genesis 1:26. You're valuable, you're important, you're something else because you were created in the image of God.

I told you last week about my father, who was not a good man by earthly standards, and in fact, became a Christian three months before he died. But the main thing about my father is, I never had anybody who loved me anymore, who was more proud of me than he was. And my brother had exactly the same experience. And that definition my father gave me has stuck with me throughout my whole life.

A lot of criticism in this kind of ministry, a lot of people who don't like me in this kind of ministry, a lot of people who think I'm a heretic in this kind of ministry, but I remember my father. And then I remember my heavenly Father who defined me from his love. And that's what God does.

And I suggested last week you shouldn't let others do it to you. They have. Authority figures, teachers, people who did. In fact, throughout life we bounce ourselves off of other people. And the response we get often becomes our definition. And that can kill you. It can create guilt and regret and shame on steroids.

And we we started last week looking at how God defines his people. He defines us as a masterpiece. For instance, we saw that's Ephesians 4:8 and 10. You ever think of yourself as a masterpiece? Well, it's time you started doing that if you're a believer. A masterpiece created by an artist who is incredible and his name is God.

And then we saw that we are a valuable masterpiece. You know, the value of anything is defined by the one who creates it. And the one who created us, his masterpieces, sent his son to die on a cross in our place. And that ought to give us some idea of the of the value that we have in the eyes of the God of the universe.

And then last week we saw that we are defined in the Bible as the family of God, as his son or his daughter. John wrote, "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to be a church member." It doesn't say that. "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to serve him." Doesn't say that.

"To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God." That's John 1:12-13. We've been made his sons and daughters. As it were, we don't, as I said last week, we don't live in the servants' quarters. We live in the big house with our Father, our brother Jesus, and our siblings.

Jesus said that when we pray, we should pray, "Our Father." Matthew 6. Hebrews 2:10-11 teaches that Jesus is our brother. Paul wrote in Romans 8:14-16 that we are sons and daughters, having been adopted as the children of God.

And not only that, Paul wrote in that passage and in Galatians 4:6 that we should call our heavenly Father "Abba," which is a common Aramaic word for father that references an intimate relationship not unlike a child calling their father "Daddy."

My late friend, Jack Miller, former professor at Westminster Seminary, founder of World Harvest Mission, now Serge, and one of the forefathers of the Grace Teaching Movement, would often say to his friends who were depressed and confused and sometimes sinful, he would say, "You're acting like an orphan."

We do that, you know. When we're defined by guilt and shame and fear and regret, it is a sign that we have missed who we really are. We've forgotten our family. We have forgotten what is really important.

And so, one of the ways you deal with guilt and shame and fear and regret is don't buy what people have said about you. Only one person has the responsibility and the authority to define us. And that one, God, defines us as his son, as his daughter. And when it looks dark, when things aren't going well, when you're wondering if you're going to make it, stop.

Stop it and say to yourself, "I'm something else. I'm the son of the living God of the universe. His creation." You think about that. Amen.

Matthew: Thanks, Steve. That was Steve Brown resuming our new series called "God's Not Mad at You." If you need to catch up on any episodes, you can find this entire series at keylife.org/notmad. Tomorrow, we'll dive deeper into the subject of the lies that too often define us.

Well, sometimes you see a deal and it's not really a deal. You know there's some hidden kicker. I saw an ad recently for a restaurant. I don't want to name names. It involved crackers and barrels. But if you ate there three times in one week, your fourth meal is free. It's not a deal. But Jesus is the exception. Jesus said, "We would know the truth and we would be free indeed," as in like free, free. No kickers, no catches.

If you needed that reminder, then we would love to send you a free booklet called "Radical Freedom: Surprising Faithfulness." It's a newly reprinted excerpt from Steve's classic book on Radical Grace called "A Scandalous Freedom." Get your copy now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to ask for that booklet, or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Again, it's called "Radical Freedom: Surprising Faithfulness."

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