When it gets dark enough, a little light will do.

Steve Brown:
When it gets dark enough, a little light will do. Let’s talk, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’re sick of guilt and manipulation, and if you’re looking for an honest and thoughtful presentation of Biblical truth, you’ve come to the right place. This is Key Life with the founder of Key Light Network, Steve Brown. Keep listening for teaching that will make you free.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you tuned in on Friday expecting Q&A with Pete and me, we decided that I’d just keep teaching Philippians this Friday because everything has been skewed during the Christmas season and we decided we’ll just go ahead with Philippians and next Friday we will resume with our Question and Answer broadcast. If you were listening yesterday, we were talking about faithfulness Philippians 2 and 14 through 15. And we saw the contrast of faithfulness and we have seen the definition of faithfulness. It simply means, don’t leave. Even if you’re messed up, don’t leave. And this is what Paul says in Philippians 2:14 through 15 and we talked about it yesterday.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may

And when you do it without complaining or arguing, what does that mean? That means, you recognize that a sovereign good God is overseeing this mess.

so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault

Parenthetically, because of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and the blood of Christ in justification.

without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

And yesterday, if you were listening, we talked about that when things get really dark, you can see the light, even a little light. Did I tell you about a fountain I created in our backyard one time when we lived in South Florida? Now, I’m not good at fixing things or at building things. Trust me on this, but I said to my wife, we were standing in our backyard, you know what would be pretty out here? She said, what? And I said, a fountain with a pool. Would be so pretty in our backyard. And she said, yeah, it really would be. And I said, I’m going to do it for you. And then she winced, she thought, she didn’t say it, but she thought if he does that, we’re going to go bankrupt trying to fix it after he messes it up. But she said, well, go ahead and see what you can do. And I did. I worked really, really hard on this. And it turned out pretty good. I had this little pool, I put concrete down and then I had a fountain coming out of the top of a wall and going into that pool. And it was so pretty. And Anna came out and said, and this I worked on for two or three weeks. Anna came out and said, Wow. And then she said it backwards, woW. And if, when I get to heaven and God asks me why he should allow me into his kingdom. I’m going to say Jesus died for me and I created a pool and a fountain. I’m, the reason I’m telling you this is that I’m quite proud of what I did. And then Anna said to me, you know what would be great? To shine a light on this. And so, I went and got a small light, and plugged it in, and nothing happened. And then I thought, you know, the light is just not big enough. If it were big, it would make a difference. But the problem wasn’t that the light was a problem, it was because it was daylight, and the light wouldn’t show anything. But that night, when I was thinking about getting a bigger light, I went out and turned on the little light. And do you know what happened? What I had created turned into the most beautiful fountain and pool you have ever seen. I mean, it was like emerald diamonds were falling into that pool. And I came on a principle that I taught you yesterday, try to remember it. When it gets dark enough, even a little light will do. Sometimes I hear from people I don’t witness because I don’t know enough. Listen to me, nobody knows enough. But when it gets dark enough, even a little light will do. And you say, well, I don’t want people to know I’m a Christian because I’m just not a very good person. Duh. That’s what this is all about. And besides, when it gets dark enough, even a little light will do. And you say, well, I haven’t been trained. I’m not really good at this. I think I’m going to go back to the kitchen and wash dishes. No, because when it gets dark enough, a little light will do. And so, the first thing you ought to remember from this passage on faithfulness is the contrast of faithfulness. And the principle is, and I’ve said it 80 times, when it gets dark enough, a little light will do. Now, the second thing you ought to note from this text, when we talk about faithfulness. Please note, if you will, the gift of faithfulness, Philippians 2:16a.

As you hold out the word of life.

Now, the Greek here means to hold forth for others. Why are we faithful? Because it makes us feel good? No. Because it’s helpful? No. Because we want people to know we are nice and love us? No. We are faithful so that people will receive the word of life, meaning and joy, which is the gift that we give to them. Sometimes we forget that we’re here for them. We really are. And this passage emphasizes that. Holding out the gift that God has given us and giving it to others. I’ve told you that for most of my life, I didn’t care about them. You know, I wanted to, and I knew it should. I have friends who stand in malls and they look out at people and they can come to almost tears when they think that the majority of the people in those malls are people who’ve never reached out to Jesus, who have no idea about the gospel, and they want to go and tell everybody. Well, I don’t have that experience, or I didn’t for such a long time. And I said one time to a conference or a large church where I was speaking that millions of people are going to hell and I don’t care. And I said I’m not bragging, I’m confessing and you’ve got to pray for me. I don’t know their names, I don’t know their children’s names, I don’t know what they do in their jobs, I don’t know what they look like. I just don’t care, I’ve never met them, and I never will meet them, and that’s wrong. And I want to be different than that, so will you pray for me? And those people, after they got over their shock, they never had a pastor say that before. After they got over their shock, you know what they did? They prayed for me. And Jesus listened to that prayer, and I began to see the world in a whole other light. I began to make Philippians 2:16a a reality in my life as I hold out the word of life. I want to say, I don’t care. I want to say, I don’t give a rip. When people don’t know Christ and don’t want to hear about Christ, I want to say I’m not your mother, but something has happened in me. And it’s because those people prayed. I began to see through his eyes, to look at the world the way he looks at the world, to think of unbelievers in the way he thinks of unbelievers. And to care. And sometimes it kills me that I care. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the way I was before. Sometimes I wish I could say, I’m not your mother, but I am. And I care. And I understand what Paul was saying. Our faithfulness has nothing to do with telling the world how wonderful we are. Our faithfulness has nothing to do with how good we are and how well we keep the rules. Our faithfulness has to do with being the light in the world. To offering up for those who have never heard and never understood, not our goodness, not our purity, not our knowledge, not our being right, but offering to them the gift of the Good News. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. And that does it for Key Life this Christmas week. Hope you had a great week and that this program was at least a small part of that blessing. And by the way, if you’d like to re listen to any of this week’s broadcasts or maybe something encouraged you and you’d like to share it with a friend, great news. All of our shows, all of our podcasts, articles, videos can be found at keylife.org and I don’t think I’ve shared this with you before, but Steve has actually recorded the entire book of Philippians. But, I mean entire, I mean it’s four chapters, that recording is part of a special bundle we offer for I think a very reasonable $10, but listen, we’re friends, right? I’m going to give you a special website where you can hear that audio for free. Got your pencil ready? keylife.org/philippians that’s keylife.org/philippians go there to hear that special audio from Steve. It’s just one more feature we bring to you at keylife.org for free. Something that we’re able to do thanks to the generous support of listeners just like you. If you’d like to donate, just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. If you’d like to send your donation by mail, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Or e-mail [email protected]. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. And of course, you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 then follow the instructions. 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.