I doubt that.

Steve Brown:
I doubt that. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is a radio program for struggling believers sick of phony religion and pious clichés. Our host and teacher is seminary professor Steve Brown. He teaches that radical freedom leads to infectious joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
If you were listening yesterday, we’re listing the bad things that Christians can expect because we’re human. And you say, I thought we were talking about the Holy Spirit. Well, I’m going to talk about the Holy Spirit and the joy and the struggle, but you can’t hear the good news until you hear the bad news. And I illustrate it by showing when Jesus told his disciples all the bad things that were going to happen, he told them about the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the power, the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. And so, I’m kind of doing what Jesus did, in a similar way. Now we’ve seen, if you’ve been listening and you never listen to me. We’ve been looking at some bad things you can expect as a Christian. You’re going to be hated the way Jesus was hated. You’re going to lose friends sometimes. You’re not going to get out of a lot of the things they tell you you’re going to get out of when you’re a Christian. And we’ve talked about the struggle, we’ve talked about the fear, and by the way, I quoted yesterday, if you were listening where Paul says in II Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and sound mind.

And so, when we’re afraid somebody will say, well you’re not even a Christian or if you are a Christian you’re not a good one. And then I pointed out that Paul said to the church at Corinth and this is I Corinthians 2:3

I was with you in weakness, in fear,

what?

and in much trembling.

What’s with Paul? Was he a hypocrite? Was he something less than a good Christian? On the contrary, he was human. And like us, stayed awake at night with the human fears we all have. He struggled with fear and probably did until he got home. Let me show you something else. We not only are afraid, we not only struggle, we not only fail, we sometimes doubt. Most of us who live in the 20th century are quite provincial. We think we’re sophisticated and rational. Of course we think the people who lived in the first century, being primitive and all, didn’t have the doubts that we have. However, nothing could be further from the truth. When a dead man gets out of a grave, it was hard for them to believe it, and as hard for them to believe it as it is for us. In one of Jesus’ post resurrection appearances, he said to two followers on the road to Emmaus.

O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

Jesus told me something similar this morning. Not too long ago one of my students gave me a cassette of a debate between the late Greg Bahnsen and one of the finest reformed scholars in the church and a famous atheist over the issue of God’s existence. Now, I’m not going to mention the atheist’s name because I’m sure it was an experience he would rather forget. I’m a Christian and out of compassion I’m not going to cause further embarrassment by giving you his name. But the Christian scholar ate the atheist’s lunch. The atheist was so flabbergasted that he could hardly talk and frankly looked like a fool to which the Psalmist referred, when the Psalmist said.

The fool has said in his heart there is no God.

In fact, it was so bad when I was listening to that particular debate, I was pulling for the atheist. When it was over, I was glad for the arguments presented by the Christian scholar about God’s existence and was totally convinced in my mind of their veracity. But my heart had some other ideas. Before the day was over, my actions reflected the doubt in my heart about God and his goodness. What we believe is astounding, so amazing, unbelievable, that the person who says he or she never has any doubts is probably living in denial. One would be foolish to buy a used car from that kind of person. The truth is that you aren’t weird when you have doubts. It’s a part of the struggle with which we deal before we get home. Some Christians talk about the victorious Christian life. That has a nice ring to it. And I suppose some Christians even though I haven’t met any, live lives with such power and grace that all of the stuff I’ve described in the last few minutes and throughout this week, all the stuff I’ve described is known only to those people by hearsay. But as I said, I’ve never met a person like that. Let me tell you the truth about the victorious Christian life. Mostly, it’s keeping your nose above the water. It’s being on the other side of tragedy and looking back with relief and praise and surprise that you got through it. The victorious Christian life is somehow getting through the bad things in your life without exploding. The victorious Christian life is still being here. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Struggle. Failure. Doubt. If you thought it was just you, hopefully you now know that’s not the case. Thank you Steve Brown for that encouraging reminder and be sure to join us again tomorrow when we’ll talk about some good news. Hey, have you met Brant Hansen? He’s an author, radio host and generally just a good dude. We recently spoke with him on Steve Brown Etc about his new book called Life is Hard, God is Good, Let’s Dance. Take a listen to part of that conversation, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer.

Steve Brown:
In your first chapter, you say we are on a sinking ship.

Brant Hansen: Yeah, that’s the thing. Like in this culture, if you’re not anxious or angry, you look like you don’t know what’s happening, but you must be out of it, you must be naïve. And people on all political stripes have the same reaction. Like if you’re not worked up, if you’re not anxious, you don’t get it. I didn’t even notice this story in Acts until like, while I was writing this book. But at the end of Acts, Paul’s on a ship that’s going down. Everybody on board, including the experienced deck hands and the captain, literally there’s 276 people on the board. Everybody knows they’re going to die. And Paul was told by God through an angel that they’re not going to die. He’s relaxed. Now, anybody looking at him would say he’s an idiot, right? I mean, he’s got to be naive, but he’s not naive. He actually has more information and that’s where his source of sense of wellbeing comes from. So yeah, that’s, that’s right off the bat. I’m trying to establish that peace doesn’t come from a lack of knowledge, it comes from more.

Steve Brown:
You haven’t always been so laid back. You can be really intense, really uptight, really worried, really afraid. What happened to you?

Brant Hansen: Well, it’s this. It’s the Kingdom of God honestly. And I know that that phrase gets thrown around a lot, or maybe it’s not thrown around enough, actually. It’s Jesus’ favorite topic. And it’s so beautiful. So, if I didn’t believe in that, I would be one of the most fatalistic people you could possibly be around. I’m a skeptic by nature. I’m a pessimist by nature, but the difference literally is that Kingdom. Everybody knows it’s beautiful. You can do this today. Go on YouTube, look up people hearing for the first time. You ever see these videos? I watched an adult woman this morning hearing music for the first time in her life. And they turn on the machine and you can’t even hear it yourself. You just see her looking from one side to the next, trying to process what’s happening and then bursting into sobs, just heaving sobs as she’s listening to music for the first time. But you can watch one after the other, they’ll put compilations, or somebody that can see for the first time. And then you can watch videos of soldiers surprising their daughters in a classroom, a reunion that people don’t expect. I saw one guy, his four adult daughters had surprised him by gathering together there for the first time in years. And he was an older gentleman, he came up the stairs and saw all four of them, stopped and then just started heaving, sobbing. Soldier comes in a classroom and his daughter’s in there, she’s surprised to see him, he’s been gone for a year. She sees her dad and she freezes. Doesn’t say a thing and then just crumbles into his arms and starts sobbing. Well, you watch these videos and you’re like, why is this? Why do I get goosebumps? Why do I get goosebumps when I see the Olympics opening ceremonies? I see all these nations and races gathered together in peace and there’s a processional. Why, when I’m at these cure hospitals, I can see a kid come back to the hospital, he’s now able to run and jump and play, couldn’t walk before. Why does this give me goosebumps? Well, it’s an advanced trailer of heaven. Right? This is the Kingdom breaking through, when we see it, it resonates with everybody, whether they’re believers or not. It resonates with them because they’re made for that. That’s our home. Like, we’re nostalgic for this place we haven’t been yet, but it’s so beautiful. And I get to be a part of it cause I work with these hospitals, but I get to, when you see it breaking through, it’s what everybody wants. So, Jesus is saying, Hey, the Kingdom is now here. It’s breaking through and he starts healing people to demonstrate it. Well, that’s tough to turn away from for me. I like that, I find that compelling. If there’s a better alternative, somebody can let me know, but I haven’t found it. So, that over time has changed my point of view. To me, that makes all the difference and that the joy I’m talking about, the joy isn’t a happy, slappy feeling, and you know. It’s this, what Dallas Willard called a pervasive sense of wellbeing, regardless of circumstances. And you can have that even in the worst case scenarios. I know people who’ve gone through the worst case. And they’ll talk about a peace that exceeded their experience.

Matthew Porter:
I’m telling you, you are going to love Brant. We put that whole episode on a CD and we would love to send it to you absolutely 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 ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring Brant Hansen. And finally, if you find value in the work of Key Life, you can join us in that work through your giving. Giving is easy. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.