When Jesus says, “You done good,” rejoice.

Steve Brown:
When Jesus says, “You done good,” rejoice. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Because life’s hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author, Steve Brown.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hope you had a great week-end and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. If you’re just joining us, we’re studying the Book of Philippians with some significant breaks along the way. Always coming back until one day, probably 10 or 15 years from now, we will have finished our study in the Book of Philippians. If you have a Bible and you’re in a place where you can open it. Open it to Philippians 2:14 through 18. We’re talking about faithfulness. Let me read that text to you because it’s not generally a text that’s used for faithfulness. But as I read through this text, I thought to myself, that’s exactly what Paul is talking about, faithfulness. Listen to what he says.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a praise, a drink offering, on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Now, if you’ve been listening, we’ve been talking about faithfulness and its importance. And with the first thing we saw was that you should see the contrast of faithfulness, that’s Philippians 2:14 through 15. Listen, we’re different. Peter called us peculiar. If you’re a Christian, that makes you not fit in a lot of places. And that’s bad. No, that’s good. And you think that your faithfulness, if you’re good enough and you’re pure enough, and righteous enough will change the world. No, it won’t, cause you’re not good enough, and pure enough, and righteous enough, and I’m not either. When we saw the contrast of faithfulness, we saw that when it gets dark enough, a little light will do. We’re living in some dark times. I’ve been living a long time, and this is darker than any time I can remember. And that’s bad. No, that’s good. That means that my little light, the fact that I shine it, even if it’s not much, is enough. And then secondly, we noted not only the contrast of faithfulness, we noted the gift of faithfulness, Philippians 2:16.

As you hold out the word of life.

Now, in the original language, that statement means to hold out something as you kind of give a gift to somebody else. That’s what we do. Even if they don’t know it, even if they don’t like it, we are a gift to them. I heard the late Dr. Jerry Falwell at a gathering of rabbis from all over America where he was speaking, answer a question and it blew me away. I was there because my good friend Bill Guralnik, who was then the head of the American Jewish Committee, had invited me. And he said, I think you’ll find this of interest, and so I got to be with all those rabbis from all of America. And one of the rabbis during the Q&A stood up and said, Dr. Falwell, what is it you want from us? And he said to them, I don’t want anything from you. I’ve got everything I need, and I’m fine. But I came here to say to you that I love you. And even if you don’t want me to love you, I still love you. I came here to say that I’m your friend. And even if you don’t want me to be your friend, I’m still going to be your friend. Now, that’s what Paul’s talking about in Philippians. It’s the gift that we give to the world, even when they don’t know it. And then thirdly, and this is new, I want you to note from that text, not only the contrast and the gift of faithfulness, look at the reward of faithfulness, Philippians 2:16.

As you hold out the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not labor for nothing.

We took one of our German Shepherds and we’ve had a number of German Shepherds. They’re absolutely great dogs and they’re protective. But one of my German Shepherds was trained at the training grounds for dogs of the police department of Boston. A friend of mine was on the tactical police force and worked with dogs. I learned a lot of things that day. And one thing I’ll never forget. My friend said, Steve, whenever you see your dog doing something right, pet him, and tell him that he did good. That will work better than hitting him, or admonishing him, or yelling at him. And I thought, that is so good. And I’ve tried to do that with our German Shepherds, to praise them when they do good. Sometimes to even give them a treat when they do good. As you can imagine, Key Life is a ministry that gets a good deal of criticism because we teach radical grace, getting those and those you love home with freedom and joy and surprising faithfulness. I used to think that I was so blessed to have that message because everybody would love me when I told them the message. Well, they don’t. They get angry. Or a lot of people do. And then I get these letters. I think I told you about our receptionist who buzzed me, and she was in tears. And she said, I’ve got a man on the line who is really angry. Would you talk to him? And I said, sure, put him through. I picked up the phone and this man said, Dr. Brown, do you know that millions of people are in hell because of you? And I replied, you’re kidding. I didn’t know I had that kind of power. Way cool. You know what he did? He hung up on me. I didn’t have to talk to him anymore, and I thought later, when I was thinking about that incident, what in the world was that man saying? Why was he so angry? Getting those and those you love home with radical freedom and infectious joy and surprising faithfulness. That’s a wonderful message. And it’s what Key Life is about. But you know what makes it possible? And I’m sensitive. People don’t think I am. I’m not as sensitive as I used to be. But when people criticize me, I don’t like it. When I get negative letters, I don’t like it. I don’t want them to see me sweat, but I don’t like it. But at night, the sense that God is pleased is worth it all. It is just what my friend said about my German Shepherd. Don’t kick him, when he does good, tell him he does good. And so often I go to bed at night thinking that I can hear the soft sound of sandaled feet and Jesus saying, you did good. That’s enough. That is the reward of faithfulness. One time, Billy Graham was worshiping in our church. And he had told me I had preached a very good sermon. I want you to know that for the next few weeks, this is when I was a pastor in the Miami area. For the next few weeks I thought about what Mr. Graham had said, and it made me feel good. But you know something? It is so much more important that God thinks I preach a good sermon. That’s what it’s all about. And so stand, even if your light is little. Be faithful, don’t list. Do all the good you can. And then at night, when Jesus says you did good, you’ll sleep better than you’ve slept in a very long time. Don’t thank me, I was glad to help. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That was Steve Brown resuming our journey through the Book of Philippians. And today we explored the theme of faithfulness found in Philippians 2: verses 14 through 18. Still more to discover here in Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. Hope you’ll join us for that tomorrow. Well, we’re past Christmas, but we’re not over Christmas and I suspect we never will be. Why? Because Christmas changes everything. In his Incarnation, Jesus entered our time and space and nothing has been the same since. If you have questions about life, your purpose, even about God himself, there are real answers. All because of what happened there in Bethlehem so long ago. Steve wrote about this in a powerful book called If Jesus Has Come. And for a donation of $15 or more to Key Life, that book is our gift to you. Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to order that book. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. And finally, if you’re blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply text Key Life to 28950. And of course, as always, if you can’t give right now, all good, completely understand it. But if you would, please do pray for us, would you? Always needed, always appreciated. 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.