Key Life Network

Guest (Male): God knows you and believe it or not, he likes you a lot. Let's talk on Key Life.

This is Key Life with our host, author and seminary professor Steve Brown. He's nobody's guru. He's just one beggar telling other beggars where he found bread. If you're hungry for God, the real God behind all the lies, you've come to the right place.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. If you were listening yesterday, I spent a lot of time, maybe too much, talking about my father. He wasn't a good person and he became a Christian just three months before he died. I've told you the story of the doctor who said to him, “Mr. Brown, you have three months to live and we're going to pray, and then I'm going to tell you something more important than what I just told you.” And he told him about Jesus.

So when we get to heaven, I'll introduce you to my father, but meanwhile, when I have a chance, I'll tell stories about him.

And I said that we are defined often by authority figures, teachers or preachers or people in our lives, and we've accepted their definition. And I taught you yesterday, but you never listened to me. I taught you yesterday that the only person who's who has a right to define us is the one who created us.

And Genesis 1:31, he called his creation good. And in that same book, he says we're created in the image of God.

I said, and I believe, that God isn't blind. He's not Santa Claus. He knows when we do good and he knows when we do bad, and he knows which is which and he doesn't say in the middle of our sin, “You are so cute.” That's not even the issue. The issue is the blood of Jesus Christ.

And because of that, and the imputed righteousness of Christ, we are acceptable. Absolutely acceptable. God knows us intimately. Nothing we will ever do, think, speak or experience surprises him and he likes us anyway.

In fact, like my father, God doesn't enjoy parties when we're not present. Why is that? I have no earthly idea.

Well, I do, sort of. The sacrifice of God's own Son justifies us, and Christ's righteousness is our clothing. But with that being said, before Christ's blood was shed and Christ's righteousness was imputed to us, God created us and called us good.

God did that knowing how his creation would go awry with sin and death and destruction as our reality. God's giving of his Son was because of, not the cause of, his love.

Someone has said, I think it was maybe Augustine, that the cross of Christ did not secure the love of God. The love of God secured the cross of Christ.

Because God isn't blind and he created us in his image, he has no desire for us to be blind either. So often, we don't want to face the truth of where we've been and what we've done and how we've sinned and who we've hurt. We deny it and try to convince ourselves that we are good people.

My friend Brant Hansen wrote the best book I've ever read on self-righteousness. And we're going to cover that subject later on in the lies that we believe. But the title of his book is the truth about us. The very good news about how very bad we are.

His point is that we all think we're good people, but God says we're not. Brant was once waxing eloquent about how Jesus ran the money changers and the thieves out of the temple in Jerusalem. In the middle of it, he said, “You go, Jesus.”

And then his wife said, “But Brant, don't you know that you're the money changers? You're the thieves?” We work so hard to convince ourselves and others that we are good people. Defining ourselves improperly is just as bad as letting others define us improperly. Guilt doesn't get better when we deny that we should feel guilty.

Shame isn't fixed by hiding it. Fear doesn't dissipate when we quote, “There's nothing to fear but fear itself.” And regret still haunts us when we try to change or eliminate the past. All of those efforts to avoid reality and truth only make that reality worse.

That's one of the reasons why Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, when somebody introduces themselves, they say, “Hi, I'm Sam or Jane, and I'm an alcoholic.” If the church required us to introduce ourselves the way AA requires their members to introduce themselves, the church would be different and we would have revival.

I'm Sam and I'm a gossip. I'm Jane and I'm a thief. I'm Jack and I'm an adulterer. I'm Bill and I'm an addict. I'm Sue and I'm a liar. I'm Joe and I cheated on my income tax. And it goes on and on.

Some Christians are a part of the “name it and frame it” philosophy. They say that if you can name your desires, passions, hopes, hopes and dreams before God with faith, you can frame them. Make them your own.

That may be true occasionally, but name it and frame it takes on new meaning when a Christian names sin, dysfunction, failure, fears, shame and regret. It's called, listen up, kissing the demons.

Contrary to the sometimes quite helpful therapeutic methodologies of healing our terrible self-images, the Bible goes in a very amazing and surprising direction. Psychology believes we should name the false self-images, understand their source, and fix them.

God says that we should own those self-images, using them to make us whole and healthy. For instance, Paul in Romans 7 confesses his his struggle with sin and owns it. In First Timothy 1:15, Paul says that he is the chief of sinners, not was the chief of sinners, but the chief of sinners.

One of the most moving and instructive parables Jesus told is in Luke 18, where a terrible sinner, he was a tax collector and a thief, goes to the church to pray. Standing next to him is one of the church religious leaders, who is in fact, faithful, good, and obedient to God. Or at least, he thinks he is. And is a lot closer than the other guy.

The good man is thankful for his own righteousness, while the sinner is guilty. He can't even look up. He looks down at the ground. He hangs his head in shame and he cries out for mercy. Then Jesus, and it's one of the most surprising things in all of Scripture, says that that sinful man left the church whole and healed and justified, while the man with the very positive self-image remained broken, neurotic and sick.

And then there's the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 and we'll talk about it tomorrow. But when Jesus said to the tax collector or about the tax collector, that he was justified, that's the key. And we're going to talk more about it and I'm going to be more detailed, I promise.

When when Jesus said that that tax collector and thief was justified, that assertion, that definition is the key to how a Christian lives with a positive self-image. It's not what you've done for him, it's what he has done for you.

As I said, we're going to talk more about it tomorrow, but for now, try and remember that he loves you. He not only created you in his image, he knows everything about you and he loves you so profoundly and so deeply that it will change your life. Don't let them do it. Let him do the definition. You think about that. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Steve. You know, I just I have to double back on one statement from a moment ago. Defining ourselves improperly is just as bad as letting others define us improperly. That's the good stuff, man. Tomorrow, we'll discuss a party that God is throwing and you didn't hear this from me, but you are invited.

So Father's Day is coming up, but don't worry. You still have 12 more days to buy some socks or a coffee mug or a tie. You know, it's a hard job being a father. It takes more than elbow grease, it takes the grace of God. Steve spoke about the challenges of understanding the role of fathers in a sermon called The Best Father You Ever Had. If you're a dad, if you know a dad, if you had a dad, man, this sermon is for you.

So call us right now at 1-800 Key Life and we'll send you that whole sermon on CD for free. Again, that number is 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at keylife.org to ask for that CD or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for your absolutely free CD called The Best Father You Ever Had.

One last thing, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950. And remember, no matter how you give, big or small, one time or ongoing, every gift matters and every gift really does help. Thanks. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and FORC in Canada, and Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.