back to index2017-11-05 Don't Complain
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Today, I ask our guest speaker to come and cover for me this morning. 00:00:08.520 |
Pastor Nate Quack, he is presently serving at Good Steward Church, and he's a brother 00:00:13.760 |
that we've had contact with for a while, and he's a brother that, again, is a like-minded 00:00:21.320 |
And our youth group actually went to several retreats together with their church, and so 00:00:26.640 |
we participated and had a relationship with him for a while. 00:00:29.160 |
So he comes to us with his wife, Kazeah, and they have two young children, Addy and Hudson. 00:00:36.120 |
And so they are here with us, and so they are somewhere, somewhere that you're, they 00:00:39.400 |
were in the first service, I don't know where they are now, but if you see them, say hi 00:00:43.040 |
But Pastor Nate is a, again, an encouraging brother. 00:00:45.760 |
We were able to have lunch several times, and getting to know him, and he's, again, 00:00:51.240 |
like I said, he's a very like-minded brother, and so we asked him to come and share God's 00:01:01.520 |
It's good to see all of you, and as Pastor Peter said, thank you for inviting me. 00:01:08.520 |
I'm Nathan Kwok, and I come from Good Stewards Church. 00:01:12.920 |
It's a church that I've been pastoring at for about the last eight years or so, ten 00:01:18.800 |
years as an intern, and I've been there for all my life, pretty much. 00:01:22.440 |
I grew up at that church, and you know, I've heard lots of things about Berean. 00:01:27.160 |
This is the first time I'm actually here on a Sunday, and I've preached at a college 00:01:32.360 |
retreat last year, and so if you remember me, please come and say hi. 00:01:36.680 |
I most likely won't remember your name, but I do want to get to know you again and things 00:01:45.920 |
I graduated from UCSD, about four years of colleging there from 2004 to 2008, and then 00:01:55.200 |
I grew up in La Palma, California right there, and yeah, UCSD, I've been meeting a lot of 00:02:01.760 |
I feel like this place is covered with UCI students, so we all know UCSD is the best 00:02:15.280 |
And you know, I just want to remind you guys that there are other places outside, so again, 00:02:23.880 |
Well, today we're going to be covering a topic. 00:02:26.960 |
It's a topic that's close to my heart recently because of something my daughter has been 00:02:32.200 |
going through, and because of that, I've not only been seeing my daughter's heart, but 00:02:37.600 |
I've also been seeing my own heart reflected in her. 00:02:40.960 |
So if you could turn with me to Philippians chapter 2, verse 14. 00:02:45.920 |
This is the passage we're going to be covering today. 00:03:06.680 |
Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children 00:03:11.720 |
of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom 00:03:16.240 |
you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day 00:03:21.040 |
of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 00:03:35.180 |
God of heaven, we declare to you your majesty and might. 00:03:39.320 |
God, you are God above, you're second to none. 00:03:46.240 |
And Father, your words are the ones that we're pouring over this morning. 00:03:53.720 |
Would it be something that we draw to our heart and hide it? 00:03:56.920 |
Help us, God, to remember that this is not just some philosophy, and it's not just the 00:04:08.560 |
This is our bread, this is the thing by which we live. 00:04:12.400 |
So God, draw all of our hearts open, mine included, that we might be changed by your 00:04:22.720 |
Well today we're gonna be addressing the topic of complaining, and that's why it came to 00:04:27.980 |
my attention, and I was trying to think through, like, how do I take our daughter Addie through 00:04:33.760 |
And so this is why I started actually looking into this passage, and then it grew and grew, 00:04:38.160 |
and it made me realize how prevalent it is, not in just my own heart, but we already know 00:04:48.200 |
I don't think I need to preach it here, but we see it all around us, a grumbling heart 00:04:53.760 |
that is almost just permeating throughout all of society. 00:04:59.320 |
We know that social media is something that has really, really done a work on this, because 00:05:05.040 |
never in all of history has there been a place where you had a forum or a platform where 00:05:11.240 |
just a blink of an eye you can make your complaint known to thousands of people. 00:05:18.600 |
Also in our companies, we see it in our HR departments, we see it in complaint departments, 00:05:24.040 |
and it's easy to be critical, and so easy to justify our complainings. 00:05:43.000 |
It's been so much easier also to compare ourselves and our situations with others. 00:05:48.240 |
So you can see even the complaining hearts that begin to arise as you listen to other 00:05:54.800 |
We have access to the greatest preachers around the world, and so it can be easy to complain 00:05:58.240 |
about your own pastors and about your own leaders. 00:06:04.440 |
We can complain about it, that everyone else in the world, it seems like they're traveling. 00:06:13.880 |
Why does it seem like everybody has a Disneyland pass? 00:06:20.200 |
Why does it seem like everybody has tried that new eatery across the street? 00:06:24.720 |
Well, this passage today, the surrounding context shows, and this book of Philippians 00:06:30.520 |
about this theme of humbly rejoicing in the midst of suffering through the example of 00:06:41.960 |
There is no place for grumbling and disputing in a place like this. 00:06:47.800 |
And Paul writes this from prison, a place where maybe grumbling and complaining rules. 00:06:58.040 |
He has just concluded his exhortation to the church of Philippi, asking them to be unified 00:07:02.200 |
in heart and mind, given the humble example of Christ. 00:07:05.520 |
And in light of that, if you look just a passage up in verse 12 through 13, Paul is saying 00:07:09.600 |
there to work on your own salvation in light of Jesus and the unity we're called to in 00:07:14.800 |
That we're called to work on our faith and sanctification, and that not grumbling, not 00:07:32.560 |
The second is the why, which is you are children of God. 00:07:37.040 |
Whenever a command is given, our rebellious hearts' natural reaction is we question why. 00:07:42.760 |
And then the second why is point three, you are to shine as lights in the world. 00:07:49.920 |
It's by holding fast to Scripture's life-giving words. 00:08:02.560 |
Look down with me at chapter 2, verse 14 there. 00:08:06.200 |
Do all things without grumbling or disputing. 00:08:15.720 |
You've probably been told this a myriad of times before, but we've probably again forgotten 00:08:19.760 |
that when someone gives a command, if an authority gives a command, it is not an option. 00:08:28.960 |
You hear, you listen, and you obey the command. 00:08:33.540 |
If you're a part of an army in war and a general gives you a command, it's not an option. 00:08:38.600 |
You don't sit there and say, "No, not for me. 00:08:42.920 |
And more than that, you can't even say like, "Oh no, can you just give me a second?" 00:08:52.720 |
No, actually the greater the authority, the greater the power, the faster you're expected, 00:08:57.320 |
the more with more urgency you're expected to follow that command. 00:09:01.480 |
And this is a command given through the Word of God, through an apostle of God. 00:09:15.680 |
Well, the command is that in all things, you are to do them without grumbling or disputing. 00:09:22.480 |
By the way, I'm going to be using today grumbling and disputing and complaining kind of very 00:09:26.160 |
synonymously because I believe that the thought is similar. 00:09:29.760 |
And basically, this is a command to us to, in a nutshell, it's about complaining. 00:09:40.040 |
There are no conditions given to this command. 00:09:45.240 |
There is no time and place in our life where it's okay for us to complain. 00:09:51.640 |
In the verses before, this is specific to our faith. 00:09:54.320 |
As we're working out our salvation, that is, as we're being sanctified, and maybe even 00:09:58.320 |
as we're being persecuted for it, as our faith is being tested and stretched, there is going 00:10:02.880 |
to be a natural temptation there to grumble and dispute against other people and against 00:10:08.400 |
But Paul makes it crystal clear, do them without grumbling or disputing. 00:10:12.680 |
Now some of us might be thinking, shouldn't we speak up at certain times? 00:10:17.100 |
If there is injustice or unfairness happening, should we not speak up? 00:10:21.600 |
Should we not open our mouths and speak the truth, and you would be right? 00:10:26.540 |
But that would be something like defending or reasoning or rebuking or exhorting. 00:10:31.640 |
We are still called never to do it with a grumbling and complaining of heart. 00:10:36.260 |
There is no time or place in our lives where it's okay. 00:10:39.240 |
I mean, we're getting this command from the Apostle Paul. 00:10:46.480 |
If we should be listening to a command, maybe it should be from this guy. 00:10:52.240 |
God speaks through him and gives this command to us. 00:10:54.800 |
But Paul, he doesn't lord over the Philippians, telling them, "You should do this," and he 00:11:06.280 |
He had actually just gone through this thing. 00:11:08.720 |
In Acts 16, it talks about this account of Paul in Philippi. 00:11:13.240 |
Maybe some of these church members that are receiving this letter were a part of that 00:11:18.960 |
That Paul exercises the spirit out of this girl. 00:11:22.480 |
And after he does that, because the crowd, they go crazy on him and they start beating 00:11:28.540 |
him and throwing stuff at him, Paul is brought before the magistrate, and they strip him 00:11:37.040 |
So Paul and company, they're beaten, they're bruised, they're probably, you know, so sad. 00:11:43.640 |
They're taken into the inner dungeon, the lower dungeon, and they're shackled to the 00:11:48.600 |
And the lower dungeon is the place where it smells, it's raining, because this is a horrible 00:11:55.280 |
The worst of prisoners were sent down to this kind of place. 00:11:58.720 |
They can't move, they're not eating well, and they're surrounded by people who are grumbling 00:12:09.840 |
Man, this passage sometimes frustrates me, because I ask Paul, "How can you do this?" 00:12:15.440 |
In Acts 16.25, it says this about Paul and Silas. 00:12:18.440 |
About midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening 00:12:28.680 |
A guy like this, in a situation like this, is singing. 00:12:35.080 |
And this is the very guy who's telling Philippians, "Don't grumble or complain about anything." 00:12:39.640 |
Man, doesn't that make your head hang in shame? 00:12:47.600 |
How can we have the gall to complain about anything? 00:12:50.680 |
Now let's look at these two words, grumbling and disputing. 00:12:52.920 |
The first word, grumbling, it's to express one's discontent. 00:12:58.200 |
That is, in grumbling, you are showing that your heart is not satisfied. 00:13:02.440 |
You're not content with your life, with the way things are going. 00:13:06.840 |
Later on in Philippians 4, verses 11 through 12. 00:13:12.920 |
Paul says this, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever 00:13:24.440 |
In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance 00:13:30.320 |
See, grumbling and disputing and complaining is the exact opposite of where we're called 00:13:38.920 |
Grumbling doesn't only show discontent, but there's something about this word that brings 00:13:43.320 |
out this idea of murmuring, of whispering, of mumbling. 00:13:54.840 |
I'm a parent of a child that's three years old. 00:14:02.640 |
About six months ago, Addie, she got a new favorite word. 00:14:08.200 |
And I really wanted that favorite word to be something like, "Yes, Daddy," or "Thank 00:14:13.000 |
you," or "I'm sorry," or something like that, right? 00:14:36.120 |
It didn't take long for her sinfulness to start coming out through that word. 00:14:41.760 |
It was just an eruption of discontent and of sin. 00:14:56.380 |
I'd say, "Oh, because it's good for you, and we're giving you good food to eat, and you're 00:15:14.380 |
It questioned whatever else anyone else wanted. 00:15:18.260 |
And like that last question, sometimes it wouldn't even make sense. 00:15:24.700 |
So we began to teach Addie that she doesn't need to ask why in everything. 00:15:28.340 |
And we're trying to do what's best for her because we love her. 00:15:33.640 |
And that God commands children to obey their parents. 00:15:36.220 |
So that's when the quiet grumbling started happening. 00:15:48.500 |
"Mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble, whisper, whisper, mumble, mumble, mumble in the heart." 00:15:54.220 |
It shouldn't be this difficult to eat a few more bites of food. 00:15:58.500 |
We would portion it out and say, "You just have to finish one, two, three, four more 00:16:07.620 |
Finally, we got her to finish the food, and you can see it written all over her face. 00:16:14.220 |
You can see she was so complaintative in her heart. 00:16:20.180 |
Would it really have been that difficult to stick a couple more bites in the mouth? 00:16:29.260 |
It's a type of faithlessness where you don't believe that the person is telling you to 00:16:33.340 |
It's a type of rebellion where you want to do what you want to do regardless of what's 00:16:37.620 |
It's a deep and inward selfishness where our eyes are pointed inwards, looking at our own 00:16:47.300 |
Now when this is one person, it's frustrating. 00:16:50.420 |
Now get a bunch of these people together, and it could be downright terrifying. 00:16:55.500 |
It was happening in the Philippians church when grumbling, with this grumbling came disunity 00:16:59.780 |
and a spirit of competition that was disruptive to this church. 00:17:05.180 |
We see it in Philippians 1, verse 15, that people were in rivalry against each other 00:17:13.460 |
All through chapters 1 and 2, Paul keeps reminding them, "Be unified in heart. 00:17:20.500 |
Have the mind of Christ who was humble to show that example to us." 00:17:25.140 |
It shows that something was going on in this church. 00:17:26.980 |
In chapter 4, verse 2, it actually names two people, which is kind of sad. 00:17:32.460 |
He says, "Have them agree with each other because they were disagreeing." 00:17:40.140 |
With grumbling comes a second word, disputing, which is basically along the same vein, but 00:17:44.140 |
it's the idea of giving your thoughts, your opinions, your ideas, your heart, meaning 00:17:53.980 |
Disputes when your ideas and thoughts clash with other people's. 00:17:56.620 |
At the heart of this, just like grumbling, is rooted in rebellion, selfishness, and self-centeredness. 00:18:06.260 |
Do all things without grumbling or disputing. 00:18:12.020 |
This is all-encompassing, all-expansive phrase. 00:18:14.940 |
There is no situation you can ever find yourself in your life, no matter how small or how huge, 00:18:24.340 |
Again I want to draw our attention to Paul and what he had already been through. 00:18:27.340 |
In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23-27, he says this, "I am talking like a madman, with far 00:18:33.620 |
greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. 00:18:38.820 |
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes, less one. 00:18:50.620 |
On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, 00:18:55.660 |
danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger 00:18:59.500 |
from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger 00:19:03.500 |
and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure." 00:19:08.220 |
Even in this, Paul is saying, "Do all things without grumbling and disputing." 00:19:12.340 |
And now don't think for an instant that this was easy for Paul just because he was an apostle 00:19:19.180 |
And yet I know that even after he wrote this to the Philippians, he would preach this to 00:19:29.420 |
Are you a person marked by grumbling and disputing? 00:19:38.380 |
And this doesn't need to always be an outward physical thing or a voice thing. 00:19:47.900 |
And there are so many things we complain about, don't we? 00:19:51.060 |
And one of the easiest things that just shows the outward expression of our complaining 00:20:00.580 |
It's such an easy sermon illustration to use. 00:20:02.660 |
I'm sure you've heard these things all the time. 00:20:05.260 |
I remember this one time I was supposed to be there somewhere by 11 a.m. and a type of 00:20:10.940 |
personality where if I'm not there by that time, I get really nervous, I get really frustrated 00:20:15.820 |
There was traffic and I remember complaining, "Why is there traffic at 11 a.m. in the morning?" 00:20:23.660 |
I remember that day so vividly because I journaled at the end of the day. 00:20:31.140 |
There was this car that was in front of me that was so slow in traffic that like six 00:20:40.700 |
I remember passing by the two cars that had gotten in collision. 00:20:45.220 |
"Because of you guys and your reckless driving." 00:20:59.060 |
We complain about it when we get stopped at like three red lights in a row. 00:21:08.500 |
I don't drive too often in Irvine, but I noticed that about Irvine. 00:21:13.940 |
You get stopped at a light and then it's just red even though there's no cars coming in 00:21:20.500 |
I remember I went to my sister's house and then I was the first car to get stuck at the 00:21:25.540 |
red and we were there for like seven minutes or something. 00:21:36.220 |
We complain when the car in front of us stops so suddenly that our coffee spills. 00:21:41.220 |
We complain when things don't go our way in the morning. 00:21:43.780 |
When one of our grocery bags rip open at the bottom. 00:21:47.980 |
When our parents ask for help about how to send a photo again. 00:21:52.700 |
When we get to the dryer and our clothes aren't dry and now it smells like a rag. 00:21:56.080 |
When our kids stop every two seconds distracted by something on the way to what they're supposed 00:22:00.700 |
We complain when one of the coaches of the Dodgers pulls a starting pitcher too quickly. 00:22:04.740 |
We complain when it's supposed to be our wind down time at the end of the day and someone 00:22:08.540 |
We complain when our roommates leave their dishes again. 00:22:11.020 |
We complain when a coworker won't get the hint and keeps standing next to our table 00:22:15.880 |
We complain when we're asked to cover another person's shift. 00:22:19.060 |
We complain when in basketball that ball hawk keeps chucking up shots when I'm wide open. 00:22:23.240 |
We complain when we get to McDonald's at 10 p.m. and for some reason the line, the drive-thru 00:22:28.660 |
We complain when it's too cold, when it's too hot, when it's too sunny, when it's too 00:22:32.660 |
We complain about the liberal leftist, the hard-headed rightist. 00:22:40.980 |
All over our lives, deep in our hearts, rooted there. 00:22:48.060 |
Are you a person marked by complaining, grumbling, disputing? 00:22:51.940 |
Do you realize that it's a command given by God himself to all things without grumbling 00:23:00.780 |
And we love to go, "But this guy, but this situation, but you, God." 00:23:14.660 |
If this begins to root in our hearts, if it becomes habitual for us to complain, then 00:23:19.060 |
it's only a matter of time before this kind of thing creates disunity amongst the church. 00:23:26.380 |
Grumbling and disputing does something to our hearts to create an environment where 00:23:30.780 |
selfishness, self-centeredness, rebellion, and discontent thrives. 00:23:35.980 |
And if in our hearts this is happening, it's very easy for it to happen against each other. 00:23:41.700 |
This word grumbling is used three other times in the New Testament. 00:23:44.460 |
It's found in John 7, 12, Acts 6, 1, 1 Peter 4, 9, and each time it's grumbling towards 00:23:53.660 |
Commentator Peter O'Brien says, "Grumblings promote ill will instead of harmony within 00:23:58.740 |
Grumblings of any kind may include complaints about other members of the congregation, its 00:24:02.300 |
leaders, or even outsiders at whose hands they were suffering." 00:24:07.300 |
Berean, I'm always so encouraged to hear about you guys. 00:24:11.860 |
I know some of you here and I hear good things about this church. 00:24:15.900 |
You know, in San Diego I went to Lighthouse Bible Church, so we were loosely affiliated 00:24:19.540 |
and we spent some time with you in like, I forgot, Love Bowl or something like that, 00:24:36.300 |
If you have a heart of grumbling or disputing and you're cultivating that in your personal 00:24:39.780 |
life, then it's only a matter of time before it infiltrates how this church will be able 00:24:47.620 |
There's a deep, deep danger if you are grumbling and disputing about another brother or sister 00:24:52.900 |
within the church, or how a leader is running a program, or how things operate. 00:24:57.660 |
And while it isn't wrong to voice your opinions, you must, you need to, if you begin to see 00:25:03.240 |
those seeds of grumbling and complaining in your heart, listen to this command of Scripture. 00:25:08.500 |
Do all things without grumbling or disputing. 00:25:17.420 |
The discontent found in the depths of the heart threatens the very foundation of our 00:25:28.560 |
It's a declaration that we deserve better, that I deserve more, that I'm the most important. 00:25:37.340 |
Have you ever tried to stop complaining about something? 00:25:40.900 |
A lot of times you might try to stop complaining about something by comparing your situation 00:25:49.820 |
I remember in the early days of Addie, in the first few months of her life, she was 00:25:54.660 |
A lot of health conditions, all these things. 00:25:56.860 |
All the night, you know, Kazee would be crying. 00:25:59.620 |
Addie would be shrieking for like, you know, three hours straight, and I'd be holding her. 00:26:03.300 |
And you know, after a few months, it's like, "I can't do this anymore." 00:26:06.420 |
I remember trying to soothe my grumbling heart and saying things like, "Well, at least you 00:26:16.620 |
Well, at least she's healthy in that kind of way." 00:26:23.340 |
When finances are tight and difficult, we say these things to ourselves. 00:26:26.660 |
So by comparing to others, we say, "Well, you know, you live in a top couple percentile 00:26:41.740 |
And while that kind of thinking works temporarily, it's not nearly where we need to be. 00:26:45.620 |
This is still selfish thinking that shows how inward complaining is, that even in our 00:26:54.300 |
We might be tempted to do that even with the Apostle Paul. 00:26:56.460 |
I know sometimes, like Pastor Peter, as I've been interacting with Pastor Peter more, all 00:27:03.380 |
And I hear it, and sometimes I'm like, "Oh, man, I put my head down. 00:27:11.140 |
And we might be tempted to look at Apostle Paul sitting in prison, and we make ourselves 00:27:15.800 |
feel better by comparing ourselves to people in these situations, and it's actually a little 00:27:22.060 |
See, in doing this, we console and comfort ourselves, but it doesn't deal with the real 00:27:29.980 |
It becomes a quick fix, and we manipulate our circumstances to stop our mouths from 00:27:36.220 |
But when another circumstances arise, there it is again. 00:27:43.660 |
What are we supposed to compare our situation with? 00:27:46.300 |
Well, we have been saved from the clutches of darkness to the kingdom of light. 00:27:51.740 |
We were enemies of God, destined for the eternal fires of hell. 00:27:58.260 |
Saved from its flames, now adopted into the house of God. 00:28:13.020 |
That's why later on in Philippians chapter 3, verse 7 through 11, Paul says what he knows 00:28:20.540 |
And when he sees that he has Jesus and everything else, he says, "I count on his loss." 00:28:27.420 |
See, complaining is so dangerous because we think we deserve better instead of understanding 00:28:34.980 |
We think we deserve more, and so we complain. 00:28:46.420 |
A pastor in college used to say that sometimes. 00:28:49.580 |
He would say, it was always in dating seminars. 00:28:54.180 |
He would call out to all the girls and say, he would call out to men and he would say, 00:29:03.780 |
And she'd be like, "Ladies, what are you guys talking about? 00:29:08.500 |
You know, it was such a good reminder to me, even in college, that, man, we deserve hell. 00:29:17.820 |
This word grumbling is very reminiscent of the words used in Exodus and Deuteronomy, 00:29:23.820 |
talking about the Israelites when they're in the wilderness. 00:29:26.540 |
The ones who had just been saved from Egypt, this terrible, terrible place, with a tyrant 00:29:32.980 |
And they were brought into this wilderness and given everything that they needed. 00:29:39.660 |
And this word grumbling comes out, grumbling, grumbling, grumbling. 00:29:42.180 |
They would say, "Oh, that we're back in Egypt." 00:29:47.220 |
When we complain, we cast out the greatest, heaviest, most weighty, precious truth that 00:29:52.100 |
We throw out the gospel that we have been redeemed. 00:29:55.580 |
We say, "Well, I have salvation, but what this guy is doing is wrong." 00:30:00.060 |
And so instead of lovingly, kindly, humbly approaching each other, knowing who we are, 00:30:04.460 |
knowing where we came from, we grumble in our hearts when we declare our righteousness, 00:30:16.100 |
I do want to take a moment and say that there will be undoubtedly situations in your life 00:30:19.900 |
where circumstances are going to be very difficult. 00:30:22.260 |
And I don't want to downplay situations and circumstances because they're hard. 00:30:27.340 |
There are going to be nights where you're weeping because it's so hard. 00:30:30.700 |
And yet the Bible still says, "Don't grumble and complain." 00:30:47.780 |
Well, point number two is because we are children of God without blemish. 00:30:55.340 |
If you look down with me on chapter 2, verse 14 through 15, "Do all things without grumbling 00:31:00.820 |
or disputing," the command, "that," and there's the purpose, "that you may be blameless and 00:31:15.140 |
It answers the question, "Why are we to follow this command?" 00:31:19.940 |
If you search, you'll see that God always gives commands for our good and His glory. 00:31:24.180 |
It's always going to be the same thing, His glory, our good, and that's why He gives commands. 00:31:30.300 |
And that is that we are children of God without blemish. 00:31:33.940 |
Here's what He says about children of God, "Blameless and innocent." 00:31:37.260 |
That word blameless obviously means without blame. 00:31:45.460 |
When someone looks at you, they can't find fault. 00:31:48.780 |
There is no evidence they can dredge up to slander you unless they're lying about you. 00:31:54.820 |
There was nothing that they could get Him on, so they lied about Him to get Him on that cross. 00:31:59.660 |
In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 10, Paul says that his conduct towards them was blameless. 00:32:04.780 |
That is, they looked at Paul's ministry and they couldn't blame him for anything. 00:32:09.580 |
The second word, innocent, is pertaining to being without a mixture of evil and hence 00:32:17.660 |
It's given to words like unalloyed metals or undiluted wine. 00:32:21.940 |
It's a purity, sincerity, integrity of heart. 00:32:27.180 |
Obviously, these two things, blameless and innocent, aren't talking about the external 00:32:33.580 |
Our hearts must not be producing grumbling or disputing, but we are called to be blameless 00:32:41.180 |
Why are we called to be blameless and innocent? 00:32:53.100 |
These are the two sides you could be a part of, grumbling, disputing, blameless or innocent. 00:33:02.620 |
And the point is not for us to simply to be blameless and innocent, but what that fact 00:33:06.220 |
points to, children of God are blameless and innocent. 00:33:09.460 |
So in a converse example, what happens when someone sees a child of God grumbling and 00:33:18.100 |
People question the entire faith on the basis of your testimony. 00:33:20.560 |
When you see divisions in the church, it is the worst testimony to the world. 00:33:25.640 |
People question the entire faith on the basis of it. 00:33:27.940 |
People wonder if you believe in what you believe in. 00:33:32.340 |
The more difficult the circumstance, the more tempting it is to grumble and complain. 00:33:35.740 |
The more we resist grumbling and complaining, the more we show the blamelessness and innocence 00:33:43.340 |
And the more people see that, they're going to see God. 00:33:50.660 |
His glory, His kingdom, His name, not to be fazed, tainted, broken, manipulated, perverted, 00:34:14.100 |
Actually, you look a little bit worse than me because you say you're a Christian." 00:34:25.300 |
What do your roommates, your children, your parents, your family see in you? 00:34:34.780 |
People striving towards this end, working out their salvation to this end? 00:34:38.580 |
Or do they see the markers of the child of God, or do they see a complainer? 00:34:44.220 |
This actually moves us into our third point, the second why, which is it's because we shine 00:34:59.740 |
Look down with me at Philippians 2, verse 14 through 15 again. 00:35:05.140 |
"We are all things without grumbling or disputing that we may be blameless and innocent, children 00:35:11.660 |
"In the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world." 00:35:22.700 |
We're children of God in the midst of something crooked and twisted. 00:35:26.180 |
Crooked has this idea of being warped, mutated, not how it's supposed to be. 00:35:31.620 |
Something is not crooked unless you see straight. 00:35:35.300 |
And the twist it has the idea of perverted or depraved. 00:35:38.180 |
When someone tries to twist something, manipulate something, pervert something, taking something 00:35:42.220 |
that's innocent and good and changing it into something that's evil. 00:35:47.820 |
And it's our generation because this is every generation. 00:35:53.580 |
We are not living in some era where sin is now worse than before. 00:35:58.320 |
It has always been terrible and we shouldn't grow surprised when we see evil in our generation. 00:36:08.680 |
Something that is blameless and innocent and without blemish then is awesome and refreshing 00:36:17.620 |
Put that up against something crooked and twisted, it's made that much more powerful, 00:36:25.560 |
And grumbling and disputing is not a small thing. 00:36:27.920 |
It's a deep and dangerous divide in the heart and reveals the condition of it. 00:36:33.180 |
And the sin and darkness engulfs everything, everything on this planet and engulfs it. 00:36:38.700 |
And so when you see something pure, it's powerful. 00:36:42.060 |
And we have that ability in our workplaces, homes, classes, places of leisure. 00:36:50.220 |
It's only natural for people to grumble, dispute, complain, rebel and be selfish. 00:36:55.500 |
But shocking is when you see the opposite, a child of God, blameless and innocent, not 00:37:00.980 |
grumbling, not complaining in the hardest of situations and circumstances. 00:37:10.980 |
I'm talking about the Monday through Saturday us. 00:37:13.200 |
I'm talking about the ones that interact with our parents back at home. 00:37:20.420 |
We see it all over Facebook, all over social media. 00:37:22.820 |
It's very common in the workplace where we indulge in grumbling and the quietness and 00:37:26.460 |
hidden places of our hearts and then we plaster on a face. 00:37:35.660 |
Everyone and everything is twisted in this world. 00:37:39.340 |
And not just compared to the most depraved of your friends. 00:37:42.460 |
We're not talking about your heathen friend, the one that like, you know, all of us have 00:37:45.980 |
that one friend that's like, that is kind of crazy out there. 00:37:48.900 |
I'm not talking about comparing to, I'm talking about comparing even to the, maybe to the 00:38:00.100 |
The words used here are among whom you shine as lights. 00:38:04.980 |
That means the Christian is to look different by shining. 00:38:18.100 |
There's only church light that comes through Christ and darkness, that's it. 00:38:29.900 |
Or like there's all these lights that we're competing with. 00:38:32.860 |
As a Christian, we need to be that stark of a difference. 00:38:36.140 |
That contrast needs to be that pronounced where we look like lights and darkness. 00:38:42.980 |
Our fighting against grumbling and disputing, our fighting towards blamelessness and innocence 00:38:47.660 |
as to people's accusations against us, it needs to pop as lights and darkness. 00:38:54.980 |
When we shine as lights, we're not just being lights, but the light is doing something. 00:39:01.140 |
Yes, something about us that we follow God, but ultimately it shines light on who God 00:39:06.940 |
And when we are properly shining as lights by not grumbling and complaining, people will 00:39:10.780 |
not leave saying, "Wow, what a wonderful person that guy is." 00:39:15.100 |
It's going to be, "Wow, what a wonderful God they serve." 00:39:20.940 |
In Matthew 5, verse 16, it says, "In the same way, let your light shine before others so 00:39:25.180 |
that they may see your good works and bring glory to your Father who is in heaven." 00:39:34.780 |
So in a way, evangelism is not just going out and preaching the gospel. 00:39:39.300 |
In a way, it's all mixed together with your character in life. 00:39:42.860 |
And you must be so unmarked not by grumbling and complaining. 00:39:46.900 |
Isn't that crazy that our grumbling, that our complaining can do a disservice to God's 00:39:52.180 |
kingdom where we can actually stop people from bringing glory to God? 00:40:00.060 |
Because if our light shines so that people see it, so that they'll glorify the Father, 00:40:16.780 |
By holding fast to Scripture's life-giving words. 00:40:25.140 |
We complain when we have competing truths in our hearts. 00:40:28.780 |
And since I've been a youth pastor for a while, one of the things I commonly see parents and 00:40:34.620 |
Now, in elementary, we helped out with like, we call it Harvest Festival. 00:40:40.380 |
But I've helped out with like, those programs. 00:40:42.380 |
You know with the elementary kids, actually at our church, they don't really like, ask 00:40:46.740 |
their parents for smartphones and things like that. 00:40:51.980 |
Why aren't they like, so crazy about getting these smartphones? 00:40:54.420 |
Well, it's because their truth is, well nobody else has one. 00:41:00.140 |
Well, what happens when they like, all of a sudden their voices start deepening and 00:41:05.420 |
It's that they start looking at each other and like, the truth changes. 00:41:10.540 |
There's a competing truth that happens with the truth. 00:41:16.620 |
The competing truth becomes, I need the smartphone. 00:41:31.540 |
You can't just go to a kiosk that your mom and dad goes to and like, that random like, 00:41:48.900 |
Obviously the problem here is not whether it's right or wrong to have a nice phone, 00:41:51.780 |
but the state of the heart is being displayed in grumbling and complaining against the parents. 00:41:58.140 |
And that is why in order to do all things without grumbling or disputing, the scriptures 00:42:06.300 |
It's the truth by which everything gets standardized. 00:42:13.620 |
It's the truth by which we fight perceived wrong truth. 00:42:18.060 |
That's why Jesus says in John 17, 17, "Sanctify them in the truth because your word is truth." 00:42:27.020 |
We go back to the same truth of the gospel we talked about just a moment before. 00:42:34.900 |
Remember what you deserve and look at what you have now. 00:42:37.580 |
It goes far beyond the superficial things of this world. 00:42:40.300 |
In 1 John 2, verse 15, it says that the world is passing away along with all its desires. 00:42:51.580 |
It's something that cannot be taken away or destroyed. 00:42:54.860 |
We have a truth of the gospel, a hope of the gospel, a hope of inheritance that we have 00:43:04.020 |
How can we ever complain about anything ever again? 00:43:14.260 |
The reason why complaining leads to disunity in the church is because when we are clinging 00:43:19.740 |
to these things that are so peripheral, it competes against this greater truth of what 00:43:26.140 |
And that's why churches go through splits over how money is used. 00:43:29.260 |
Of course the discussion is that we're trying to use finances for God's kingdom and glory, 00:43:32.980 |
but when some littler truth supersedes that of the gospel, you begin to see division. 00:43:40.260 |
First in our hearts and actually physically, congregation split. 00:43:47.620 |
But when we're in the word of God, that needs to always be the central starting point that 00:43:57.540 |
So that humility and understanding and kindness and compassion and gentle rebuke and sharpening 00:44:02.380 |
happens and precedes all these other things that are important. 00:44:06.620 |
About how we use money, about what kind of programs we do, about which way our church 00:44:14.580 |
I'm talking about this because we've been talking about this a lot at our church. 00:44:19.260 |
The word is the thing that in Hebrews chapter 4 it says divides the thoughts and intentions 00:44:24.740 |
You can feel so right in what you're saying, so justified in what you're saying, but the 00:44:28.380 |
word is going to open us up and just display the ugliness of our hearts. 00:44:33.660 |
In James 1 it says that scripture is like a mirror that just reveals the truth. 00:44:36.980 |
The mirror is not going to lie to you and say, "You look beautiful." 00:44:42.940 |
You look at it and you go, "Whoa, I better fix myself up before I go to church." 00:44:50.340 |
It's called the word of life that we are called to hold fast to. 00:44:59.260 |
It constantly needs to be the instrument by which our hearts are refined and purged. 00:45:06.020 |
Have you been grumbling, disputing, and complaining lately? 00:45:09.620 |
Have you been a bad witness lately to family, to friends, coworkers, teachers, classmates, 00:45:20.860 |
That means that even though you might be reading your Bible every day, it might be like a mile 00:45:25.940 |
behind you, you're just on a leash and you're just pulling it behind you. 00:45:29.620 |
The Bible says here we need to hold fast to it, cling, it needs to be close to us. 00:45:40.420 |
You will not be distracted by what the world says, by what the enemy says, or even what 00:45:48.820 |
It doesn't matter if you're a boss or your teacher is unfair. 00:45:51.500 |
It doesn't matter if your children are going crazy. 00:45:56.700 |
If the word gives life, then without the word there is death. 00:45:59.460 |
We need to meditate on the gospel over and over and over again every single day. 00:46:07.460 |
For me, I like to go through Ephesians chapter one and two whenever I forget what I have 00:46:11.380 |
Just study and just look at the richness of what we have. 00:46:15.580 |
If we indeed have everything that the gospel promises, if we have been given Jesus Christ 00:46:20.700 |
himself, I don't think we're going to be complaining about some of the things that 00:46:30.380 |
There's no quick fix to our complaining hearts. 00:46:33.820 |
We need to cling fast to the word of God that is constantly going to remind us, change us, 00:46:39.180 |
cultivate in us a heart of gratitude, which is the opposite of complaint. 00:46:46.420 |
Scripture is the timeless standard of truth that stands above everything else. 00:46:53.700 |
It needs to be changed by the work of the spirit through the word of God. 00:46:59.220 |
So as a reminder to us, this is a command that we all will fail in. 00:47:03.100 |
The idea is not to legalistically force ourselves to stop complaining, to leave this room and 00:47:07.020 |
say, "I gotta stop complaining, stop complaining," but simply to remember the truth we have in 00:47:11.620 |
our gospel identity, that the word of God will draw us to a reminder of these truths 00:47:18.100 |
My favorite passage is in Philippians chapter two, verse five through 11, and it shows us 00:47:21.620 |
this example of Christ, who was God, came to earth, and died the worst. 00:47:29.580 |
Christ is ultimately the greatest example of someone who didn't complain, a Christ who 00:47:33.340 |
would willingly give himself for others and endure hardship and persecutions, even to 00:47:37.900 |
the point of death, even death on a cross, and he would do it silently. 00:47:43.220 |
No complaint from his mouth, never screaming of injustice, never thrashing about the unfairness 00:47:49.480 |
The only one who could actually say, "This is not fair," was the only one who remained 00:47:56.180 |
God gave his son for us, and through him our sins are paid. 00:48:04.940 |
This world is passing away, but the kingdom is at hand. 00:48:09.920 |
It says that this light momentary affliction is preparing for us this weight of glory that 00:48:18.580 |
What is to come is so much greater than what we have, and so when we fix our eyes on that, 00:48:26.700 |
When you cling to the word of life, grumbling cease and complaining turns into praise. 00:48:30.980 |
It's a call to us to remember that the word of life, clinging close, holding fast, is 00:48:39.080 |
The only way Paul, so beaten up, so derided in life, can say that I count all things as 00:48:44.380 |
lost compared to the surpassing worth, I'm knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. 00:48:47.940 |
It is the only way, church, by which we will be marked by this kind of heart, where the 00:48:51.960 |
world will see that we are people who don't grumble, who don't complain, not because life 00:48:57.580 |
Actually, life gets harder, but because we treasure something so much. 00:49:04.940 |
And so there as a testimony, whenever you see a testimony on an infomercial, you see 00:49:08.740 |
that person who loves their product so much, you go like, "Oh, I'm kind of interested in 00:49:13.100 |
In a similar way, they're going to see your life, and you will shine, and people will 00:49:18.940 |
come to Christ, and God will be glorified in you and in me.