June 16, 2002

Quit Complaining

Phil. 2:12-15

Since today is Father's day, I wanted to talk about an aspect of the father/child relationship that we don't always hear about. I'm sure that among the various people in this congregation, there have been all kinds of father/child relationships. Some of you probably had fathers that were wonderful and some of you probably had fathers that were terrible, and some of you probably had fathers that fit somewhere in between. Some of you probably had fathers that were really easy on you, spoiled you rotten, and some of you probably had fathers that never cut you any slack at all. And some of you probably had fathers that fit somewhere in between. That's pretty much the way things work, no surprises there.

But if you have been born again, it you have been converted, you now have another father, a Heavenly Father. What kind of relationship do you have with Him? What kind of relationship does He have with you?

Go ahead and take your handouts, turn to Philippians 2, and verse 12. " Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain."
I want us to especially focus on that little verse 14; "Do all things without murmuring and disputing." I don't normally think it is too important to talk about the Greek words behind our English words, but the Greek word for murmurings is so much fun you need to hear it. It is gong goose mos (goggusmos) and it means grumbling, grudging, carrying on a secret debate inside yourself. You are unhappy, but you don't really say anything to the person you're unhappy with. The other word, disputings, is from the Greek dialogismos, a dialog, you are carrying on an internal discussion, an internal debate, reasoning, you are in doubt, trying to decide if this is a good idea or not. Kicking it around.

Question: when you were a little kid, or more likely a teenager, did your father ever tell you to do something and you didn't much like it, so after you had turned your back and started off to do whatever it was, you kind of muttered and mumbled about how stupid it was, and it was a waste of time, I don't know why he wants that, he is always wanting me to do something stupid, why doesn't he ask my brother to do it, my brother never has to do this kind of stuff, I always get stuck with it instead of him...
Did you ever do it loud enough that your father heard you and called out; "Wait a minute, what did you say?"
"I didn't say nuthin."
"Yes you did, what were you saying?" That's when it really got bad... No matter what our history as kids, all of us can relate to that, we've all been there.

If you are a believer, you now have a Heavenly Father, and sometimes He wants you to do something, or be somewhere that you really don't want. Have you learned anything? Or do you still go off muttering and mumbling about how stupid it is, and it's a waste of time, I don't know why He wants that, He is always wanting me to do something stupid, why doesn't He ask my brother to do it, my brother never has to do this kind of stuff, I always get stuck with it instead of him... Has it ever occurred to you that your Heavenly Father hears all that stuff? Oh, yes...

Now that we've got the context, now that we are really tuned in, let's read the verses again, and see how they apply to us. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." When Paul tells these people to work out their own salvation, he is speaking to believers, Christians, they are already saved, and the idea is - now that you are saved, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to act?

God is working in you, grinding off the rough edges, filling in the dents and rough spots, His goal is to make you more like His Son. With that in mind, take it serious. That's where the fear and trembling comes in; it is not being afraid of losing your salvation or anything like that, it is that we should not be proud, or careless, or casual and boastful about it.

It would be like an athlete who is determined not to fall short of victory, a fighter who is determined not to lose, that is the picture you ought to have. God is working His will out in you, and you ought to be like a hunting dog that is standing beside the hunter, quivering, anxious, waiting for him to say go, so you can get with it, get it on. That is the opposite of murmuring and disputing, griping and complaining, reasoning within yourself about the what and the how and the why. That hunting dog is not worried if he has to run through briers, or jump in the icy water, or run over some rocks, all he cares about is getting the job done when the master says GO. Are we like that? What are we like?

How does the world see us? Does the world see us as Christians sitting on go, waiting for the Master to say; "Get it?" Or does the world see us as a bunch of grumblers and complainers? That is what verse 15 is asking.
"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life;"
That hunting dog's job description is to go when the master says go, and bring back the game. Our job description is to testify that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and changes lives. That He makes us new creatures with a new goal, a new game plan, and a new way of thinking and acting. Very different from what we used to be.

How well is that going to work if we grumble and murmur and complain at what God has planned for us? How will we have a testimony for Jesus Christ if one day we are trying to tell somebody the gospel of slavation, and the next day we are whining, grumbling and complaining because of something we don't like about our current situation? Unbelievers will either think that God doesn't make very good plans, or else that we are just the same as they are, grumbling and complaining at all the various things of life just like the rest of the world. Not good.

God intends for us to be good at witnessing. Paul wants the believers at Philippi to do well so that he can be pleased at how they turn out. He tells them: "that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." He doesn't want his efforts to have been a waste of time, he put a lot of teaching and work in those folks, he wants to see them live up to their potential. And in that way at least, I am like Paul. I want to see this congregation live up to it's potential. I want to see every one of you live up to your potential. Because it's up to you. You have a choice.

One of the most commonly quoted verses in the New Testament is Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Whether the affairs of your life are easy or hard, smooth or rocky, God plans to use those situations for good. And no matter how you respond to the affairs of your life, He will get some good out of them, even if you choose to totally screw things up. You may not get as much good out of them as somebody else, but God will still use your situation for good. Let me show you what I mean.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 1. Paul is about to point out to the Corinthians how God used the Israelites as an object lesson when He brought them out of Egypt. Some of them did well, but some of them did very poorly, and their good purpose turned out to be an example, an object lesson of what not to do. Verse 1:
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers -Israel- were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."
He is saying that they were saved on the same basis that we are, trusting in God for salvation. At that time they didn't really understand much about Christ, but God counted their faith as pointing towards Christ, and God saved them through faith, just as He saves us, even though we know more about God's salvation in Christ that they did. Verse 5:
:5 "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer." Murmuring... Hmmmm...
:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

When you murmur, what are you doing? You are saying that God doesn't know what He's doing, aren't you? You know better than He does? The problem is, those people back then thought they knew better, but they didn't know better, God had planned to bring them through the desert, but they murmured, they rejected God's plans for them, and they wanted to go back to Egypt.

So what happened? They wandered forty years in the desert until they died. And their children went into the Promised Land instead of them. Sad. Murmuring can have serious results, it can have sad results, it can cause you to wander out of God's plans for you until you waste all your life because of your complaining.

I want us to see the specifics of what it was that the Israelites did when they murmured against God, turn to Exodus 16 and verse 1.
"And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt." They have been free from the Egyptians for only six weeks, and the murmuring begins. Verse 2:
:2 "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
:3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Skip to verse 8: "And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD."

What was it that the people were doing here? They were accusing God of being wicked. "Moses, your God is wicked. Why didn't God just kill us in Egypt when we had lots of food? We had plenty to eat there. God brought us all the way out here just to kill us with hunger." That's blasphemy.

Calling God wicked is blasphemy, and that's serious business. Christian; that will get you taken out to the woodshed big time. You will get to become an object lesson of sinful stupidity, if you go around saying that your God is wicked. What do you suppose would happen to a person who professed Christ for salvation, thought they were saved, and then turned around and murmured against God because of all the problems in their life, murmured and complained, accusing God of wickedly mishandling their situation?
"Oh how I wish God had done things different, my situation is so bad, why didn't God let me do this or that instead, be here or there instead of where I am, I think God has really messed up on this one..."

What's the difference between that person and the Israelite that accused God of wickedness for bringing them to the desert instead of just letting them die with a full belly in Egypt? I don't see much difference...
I don't know exactly how God deals with that sort of Christian, but I suspect that a Christian who blasphemes the goodness of God is probably not in a real good place to be. You don't want to be there.

Eventually Israel got to that place, let's look at the situation, the occasion where God said "That's enough; you will not go into the promised land." Numbers chapter 13 and verse 26. The people had come to the edge of the promised land, and Moses sent twelve spies into the land to spy it out before they attacked it. The spies return, and here is what happens. Many of you are familiar with this passage, forgive me if I review it extensively, but this is important, and I want all our new Christians to see what happens here, because this is a turning point in the history of Israel.

Numbers 13:26 - the spies are speaking -
"And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
:27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
:29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
:30 And Caleb -one of the spies- stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Chapter 14:1 - And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
:3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
:4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
:6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
:8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
:10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel." Skip down to verse 22, the Lord speaks to the people:
:22 "Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it." Go to verse 26:
:26 "And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
:28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me.
:30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
:31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
:32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness."

Rabbit trail- If any of you want a sobering Bible study, spend some time in the Scripture comparing what God says about sexual misbehavior as an object lesson of how He sees our spiritual unfaithfulness to Him.
God even uses some fairly crude comments to describe what it means for us to be unfaithful to Him, and how our spiritual unfaithfulness to Him is as if we were acting like a really sleazy person. Very serious stuff. End of rabbit trail.

Verse 34: "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
:35 I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
:37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still."

Heavy stuff. Serious stuff. And God says that He gives it to us for an example, so we ought to take it seriously. When the people murmured against God, what was it that they were complaining about? What were the specifics?

They murmured against the dealings of God. They didn't like the way He did things. When they got out into the desert and started looking around, they probably noticed that no one had gotten around to building a Food City in the Negev desert, or at least they hadn't back then, and there was no place to buy unleavened tacos and kosher salsa, and they got nervous. "We're hungry. We're gonna' starve! God's not gonna' feed us! Wah!" Things really looked bad. I have been out in that desert, I have seen the places where the Israelites had to travel, and there is nothing there.

Do you suppose God took them there, to a place where they were totally unable to provide for themselves, so that they could learn to trust Him? It was a great chance to learn how loving God was, how well He could meet their needs. But they couldn't see beyond their empty grocery carts.

Hold that thought and think back to Romans 8:28 - "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose." That is such an incredible promise.

But if you can't see the promises of God, if all you can see is what is right in front of you, how big your bank account is, how much stuff you own, how big your paycheck is, then you will look around at whatever wilderness you are in, and you'll say something like: "Why didn't the Lord just let us die back where we used to be, at least there we were better off. I can't understand why God has brought us out into this wilderness here to destroy us. That just seems like a terrible thing, it is so bad here, what on earth is God trying to do to me?"

Think about this: God is perfectly free to do anything he chooses. He is perfectly good. He is perfectly wise. He is perfect in His judgements. He has all wisdom and all knowledge, He knows your end from your beginning, and His desire and goal is to perfect you, to make you like Jesus. And He can do it any way He wants to.

Will He use methods that are second best? Or will He use the best circumstances He can? I believe that He will use the best methods possible.

That means that whatever He brings into your life, or allows to come into your life, is going to be the best thing for you. Maybe you're not so sure about that. Maybe you're in a situation right now where that doesn't sound like what's happening.

Let's look at it another way: as God works to make you like His Son, will He have to use just whatever situation happens to come along, is God at the mercy of time and chance? Or does He call the shots?
In Daniel 2:21, Daniel tells us that God "... changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.
In Daniel 4:17, we read "...that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." If God can remove Kings, set up kings, and even set the basest of men up over a kingdom, can He arrange your life? He could probably manage that...

Best of all, God has a perfect character, a perfect morality, He is perfectly good. If He puts something bad into your life, it is in order to bring forth a good result. And because God is perfect, because He is perfectly consistent, and because his goal is to make you more like Jesus; things happen to you because He knows what He is doing, and He knows the best way to do it. Our responsibility is to trust Him and look to see what His good purpose is, -if possible; sometimes we won't know -and get with the program.

Sometimes we don't do that. Sometimes we act like we are stuck out in the desert, and things look hopeless. So what do we do? Complain? Murmurings and disputings? I hope not. When you do that, all you are doing is insulting your Heavenly Father and being stupid. You need to quit it.

What should our attitude be when things get tough? How should we behave? Philippians 4:6 gives us a pretty good idea; "Be careful for nothing; -don't be worrying and fretting about things- but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Do you see the exchange here? Stop fretting, and especially worrying or complaining, murmuring, trying to decide whether you will trust God or not, and tell Him what you need, and thank Him -as best you can, it may not be easy- have a thankful heart, even in the situation you find yourself in.

You don't necessarily have to be thankful for the situation, but you can be thankful that God loves you, and thankful that He will use that situation for good. You need to make sure that's it's for your good, and not just so you can be an object lesson to someone else.

Perhaps He is using some difficult situation to teach you how to trust Him more. Maybe He is using some difficult situation to teach you more about His character, or how He does things, who knows? But the point is, when you quit fretting and fussing, and just make your needs known and at the same time, be thankful, then He can bless you, He can give you a peace that passes all understanding.

There is something about human nature, it appears that we have to get into some sort of difficulty before we can appreciate how much He is doing to meet our needs, and then move into that Godly peace. Maybe this is the sort of thing that doesn't happen when everything is going perfectly smooth. Maybe it is really OK when things go wrong. Maybe it is OK when things around you seem like they are falling apart, because that is when God can show Himself strong to give you that peace.

Next time things start to go to pieces all around you, wouldn't it be great to be able to just hang in there, peaceful, calm, trusting, just waiting to see what God is going to do?

Or maybe you would prefer to murmur, and just keep hashing it out in your head, turning it over and over, trying to decide if God has messed up or not. Demonstrating your lack of faith by murmuring. Blaspheming God's goodness by murmuring. Missing out on the blessing of God by murmuring. Bringing yourself into the judgement and chastening of God by murmuring.

Is that a better option? I don't think so. A better option is to remember that "it is God which is working in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." He is your Heavenly Father. It is His good pleasure to have you turn out to be a wonderful child. That's what's happening.

And since that is what's happening, why not cooperate with what He is doing, and quit slowing up the process? Maybe then you'll soon get done learning whatever lesson it is He is currently trying to teach you, and you can get on to something else? Something that you might like better?
It's worth a try; go for it. Let's pray.