“Listen up. I’m going to disabuse you of false expectations.”

Steve Brown: Listen up. I'm going to disabuse you of false expectations on Key Life.
Matthew: 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. You were listening yesterday. I talked about how as a seminary professor, I was charged by the faculty of the seminary where I was teaching to make things practical for students who were being chewed up by the church. Church is not a safe and comfortable place all the time. And for pastors, it can be really difficult. And I told you yesterday, those students didn't like what I taught them, and I told them to be quiet and take notes and I was going to test them on it. And I said the day will come when you'll call me and thank me for what I'm teaching you in this class. And they did. I still hear from students who thank me for what I taught when I disabused them of false expectations. We all do that, don't we? You would be surprised how often Christians leave the faith because they feel that God didn't fulfill his promises. I don't blame them. I blame those, and I include myself, who said that God would do one thing or another when God never said he would do it. We live in what in many ways is a dark and dangerous world. And Christians are a part of that dark and dangerous world. That means that people get cancer, go through divorces, have serious relational problems, struggle with doing the right things, sometimes fail, sometimes fall. Christians don't get a pass on all of that. And it's unrealistic to think we do. Jesus promised that he would love us, that he would never leave us, that he would always forgive us, and that we would get into trouble. In one incident, Jesus had just told his disciples that they would abandon him, and contrary to what one would expect, he didn't admonish them for their coming unfaithfulness. He said, and this is John 16:33, and I love it. He said, "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." The world of tribulation is a given. What isn't for many in Jesus' statement that his followers would take heart because he had overcome the world sometimes we forget. So we're going to talk about that. But I know, I don't want to do this anymore than you want to hear it, but we got to talk about the tribulation first. As I've already told you, I'm a cynical old preacher. That's why I'm drawn to the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, probably by King Solomon. In that book, the king sets aside his role as king and believe it or not, takes on the role of a cynical old preacher. Every Christian should read the wisdom of that preacher at least once a year to keep a street smart. For instance, he writes, "Again, I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time, like a fish, or like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time when it suddenly falls upon them." No, I didn't say that. That's what the Bible says. It's Ecclesiastes 9:11-12. For years, I taught a seminar that was called Born Free. We taught it in a number of cities across the country. An interesting thing happened, and this is an aside. The seminar was very, very honest about a whole lot of things, about me and the people that came to the seminar. A lot of people did. My mother was alive at the time. She told her Sunday school class, "I've spent my life trying to hide the family secrets, and my son is out telling the whole world." And so for years, I would tell whoever was representing us on these broadcasts, always leave the mistakes, the problems, the times I flop, because that's human. But if I say anything that embarrasses my mother, edit it, take it out. Well, she was really and I was thinking, good heavens, I'm going to be teaching this seminar across the country. And I'm going to be talking about my father who was who was a drunk and who loved me deeply and my brother deeply and profoundly, who did a lot of bad things, but in the end ran to Jesus. I'm going to talk about how he was the son of a single mother, which made me a second generation, you know what? I was going to talk about being an adult child of an alcoholic. I was going and I thought, you know, I can't do this. My mother will be so embarrassed. And do you know what happened? My mother, who was quite elderly at the time, died. In fact, my wife and I traveled to the mountains of North Carolina where I was raised and lived with my mother. We did these broadcasts from the back porch of the house where I grew up. And we were with her when she died. And I wanted to call all my friends and say, "You want to see a Christian, how a Christian dies? Come and look at my mother." She met her friends, she said goodbye, she loved on them. She called her grandson and instructed him to marry the girl he was getting ready to that he was dating. She gave me a lot of good advice and she said, "I'm going home." And I was sitting by her bedside, holding her hand when she died. But the reason that is so well, it's not cool, it's sad, death is always not a fun thing. But the thing that was so good about it was the timing. Immediately after my mother went home and didn't care about the family secrets and would never again be embarrassed and would rejoice before the throne. Just before she got that, she died. And I taught that Born Free seminar all over the country. But at any rate, what I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself. The seminar was called Born Free. We taught it in a number of cities, and it included a session on the building blocks of freedom. And the first building block was not dissimilar to what the cynical preacher in Ecclesiastes said. And this was the building block: Nothing lasts, nothing is fair, nothing is perfect, and you're not home yet. If you get that truth, you'll be spared from a world of hurt. You'll be able to deal with guilt and shame and fear and regret, because you won't be surprised. And at minimum, you can stop obsessing over it. Since it's so important, let me repeat it to you because you should take this to heart. Write it down and apply it to your life. I do sometimes when I remember, this is it. Nothing lasts, nothing is fair, nothing is perfect, and you're not home yet. That's important. In the 60s, Billy Joe Royal recorded a song, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." Jesus didn't either. A wise Christian will know the difference between what God promised and what he didn't promise. There's a difference between promises and principles. And I'm going to teach you how to know the difference and how to deal with dreams that you thought were of God, but failed. But for now, nothing's fair, nothing lasts, nothing is perfect. You think about that. Amen.
Matthew: Thank you, Steve. If you're just joining us, we're currently in a special teaching series exploring the biblical basis of Steve's new book called, "God's Not Mad at You." The book addresses the lies that keep us trapped in guilt, shame, fear, and regret. This week, we're specifically drilling down into the lies that test us. More tomorrow, do join us.
Matthew: I've got to admit, it's getting better, a little better all the time. Yes, those are Beatles lyrics, and honestly, there are days when it feels like Paul McCartney might be the only person who could say that. Why? Because struggling to get better all on our own is just exhausting. If you've experienced that, then you might be interested in a sermon Steve did called, "Getting Better."
Matthew: In that sermon, he teaches us from Ephesians 2 about how our sanctification really happens. We put that entire message on a CD that we'd be happy to send to you today for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE, that's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email [email protected] to order that CD, or go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Again, the CD is called, "Getting Better."
Matthew: Last thing, if you believe in the work of Key Life, would you give today to help continue that work? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or you can text KEYLIFE to 28950, then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and for CN in Canada, and Key Life is a listener-supported production of Key Life Network.