(Pause) Alright, good morning. We're going to take a break from the study of Hebrews, and we're going to be jumping into Philippians 2, verse 14-18. Reading out of the NASB. "Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent. Children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory, because I did not run in vain, nor toil in vain.

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering, upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask for your guidance, and let your word go forth and nothing else.

Help us, Lord God, to be discerning hearers, that we would test the scriptures, Lord God, and make sure that it is your voice that we hear. So we pray that you would protect our pulpit, that you would protect the hearers, that all that we believe and all that we apply, that it may be coming with your authority and your word.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, Merry Thanksgiving, everybody. So, did you know Thanksgiving is this Thursday? You would never know by what's going on, but every single year we hear less of Thanksgiving. There's already talks of Christmas. In previous years, Christmas lights and Christmas trees don't get put up until after Black Friday.

But I've heard more about Black Friday this year than I've done Thanksgiving. Have you heard of Thanksgiving? I'm trying to look for who's actually talking about Thanksgiving. All I've heard is what you can't do on Thanksgiving. You're not supposed to do this, you're not supposed to do that. Thanksgiving is a uniquely Christian holiday, and I think part of the reason, it may not be all the reason, but part of the reason why Thanksgiving is kind of slowly dying out is because I don't think the secular knows what to do with this.

Because it's a unique holiday that was set apart for worship, to give thanks to God for what God has done. And I think it's important for us as Christians that, again, not just once a year, but celebrating Thanksgiving is a reminder to us that this is something that we ought to be doing regularly, all the time.

You know, before we even jump into that, I want to get some stuff off my chest, because before we get into Thanksgiving, I want to share with you some of the things that's been bothering me. Just this week, I got new neighbors, we're living in a cul-de-sac, and before they moved in, we had the reign of parking in our cul-de-sac.

And so we're able to park anywhere we want, and all of a sudden, this--it looked like some kind of daycare center moved in, because they got all kinds of cars sitting outside. Now, whenever we park, we have to maneuver with them, you know? So we have to have a strategy.

When you come home, park your car, make sure you park on the street first. So we're going to dominate this, and then park. So every time I come out, I check the city, it was like, "Oh, my gosh, they got like five cars out here." Anyway, I'm getting some of that off my chest.

Ever since the pandemic--some of you guys know, we live right by the train station, and then behind there's like a walkway. And usually it's not used well, but ever since the pandemic, people have been exercising there, hanging out there, the teenagers are riding their skateboards up and down, and so it's always busy.

So every morning, I'm doing quiet time reading the Bible, and I hear them yelling and screaming. Anyway, I'm getting some of that off my chest, okay? So this is what's been going on in my life. This week, I was driving from-- I went to Carl's Jr. to pick a hamburger for lunch, and I asked them to give me extra lettuce on my Famous Star, and by the time I got back, instead of giving me extra lettuce, they gave me a lettuce wrap.

I've never eaten lettuce wrap before. I was thinking, "If I wanted salad, I would have ordered salad," right? And so that same day, I was coming back from Carl's Jr., it was like a right turn right off of coming into, I think, Red Hill in-- what is that? Red Hill in Maine?

And I'm making a right turn, but you know one of those people that always--they're intending to go straight, but they park right in the middle? You know what I'm talking about? You guys know what I'm talking about. You know how frustrating that is? They're not trying to make a right turn, they're going to go straight, and they're taking up both lanes.

So this guy, I was about to make a right turn, and then he wouldn't budge. So I said, "Okay, I'm a pastor, so I better..." So I just sat there waiting for the red light to turn, but he looked, and we made eye contact, and the first thing I see, his middle finger goes up.

And I said, "What did I do?" And he said, "Yeah, I don't have a pleasant resting face." So maybe he looked at me, and he thought I was angry, and he just flipped me off, he's like, "Wow." And that's with the lettuce wrap in the car, which I didn't know.

And then here's the worst. So I've been trying to deal with something that's been going on with Amazon. They said that I owed back taxes for something that happened on Amazon, and so I've been on the phone with them for the last three days, for hours and hours, and I've talked to them over ten people, and I've been trying to contact them through the phone, through the Internet, I've gone to Amazon.com, and the only time they give any kind of response is if I put something on Amazon.

So I was on the phone that day with Amazon, going back and forth to the callers in India, to America, back and forth, back and forth, and then I just was so tired, and I was on the phone for about two hours, and during the two hours, there's long breaks in between, so I said, "Wait a second, let me look this up, let me look this up." And I've already gone through hours of this, and this is the ninth or tenth person, so as I was grumbling inside, I was preparing this sermon about not grumbling.

So I just wanted to get this off my chest, because when I think about Thanksgiving, it's like, what are you thankful for? Every year during Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for? Thank you for the family, thank you for this job, thank you for salvation. And we have this road thing that we go through, it's like, "Oh, I should be thankful for that." So what's bothering you?

That's a much easier question to answer. What's bothering you? For most people, it doesn't really take long. We have to force ourselves, like, "I'm going to be thankful, I'm going to be thankful." But what's bothering us is like always sitting at the tip of our tongue, and the application, right, we always have to apply, say, "Oh, I'm going to be more positive, I'm going to be more thankful." But our heart condition naturally is to grumble.

Our natural condition is naturally to grumble. Today's sermon is about grumbling. The opposite of Thanksgiving, it's about grumbling. So I'm going to be grumbling about grumbling this morning. So the text that we're looking at, Apostle Paul is writing, even though he's writing this letter of joy, if you study Philippians well enough, you know that at the end of Philippians, he's asking, because there's a division that's taking place between these two prominent sisters.

He's saying, "Hey, can you guys please help them out?" And obviously that theme of division in this church, if you restudy the book of Philippians, even though there's a larger theme of rejoicing the Lord, but the reason why he keeps reminding them to rejoice is because there's an underlying division that's taking place in the church.

And if you go back and study Philippians, you'll see that that's kind of what he's touching upon, and then he brings the main point at the end. "Please help these sisters to get along." That's why he writes Philippians chapter 1, chapter 2, "Don't be selfish, look up for other people, consider them better than yourselves, and have the attitude of Jesus." All that is written, not randomly, not just so that we can understand Christianity, it's because there was an underlying division taking place in the church.

And it is in that context, after he says, "Look at the example of Jesus Christ," and then he says in verse 14, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." And the reason why he's saying that is because that was the underlying reason why there was division in the church.

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing." The word for grumbling, another word is murmuring. All the times grumbling is just, "Ugh!" You know, you don't like something, and if you're an extrovert, you'll articulate what you don't like. "I don't like this because of that. I don't like this because of that." If you're an introvert, there's, "Ugh!" And that's the sound that you hear internally.

"Ugh!" You don't like something, it's, "Hmm." So that's what this means. "Do not grumble or murmur." 1 Peter 4:9, "Be hospitable to one another without complaint." If you're complaining, why would you be hospitable? See, he's talking about Christians who are trying to live their Christian life, but they're doing it grudgingly.

That's why he says, "Be hospitable without complaining." Do what you're supposed to do without murmuring. Israelites, the 40 years out in the desert, if there's one characteristic about the Israelites that's highlighted, is their grumbling. They had problems with idolatry. They had all kinds of problems during the 40 years.

In fact, they got into, one tribe, the Simeonites, got into idolatry and sexual immorality. Half of their tribes get wiped out out of judgment of God. But instead, the primary sin that is pointed out in 1 Corinthians 10, 10-11, is that they were constantly grumbling. And it was their grumbling that led to the judgment of God.

When we think about grumbling, usually if we have all the list of sins that we should be concerned about, sexual immorality, murder, slander, you've got a bunch of things that we would think are highlighted. We wouldn't think murmuring or grumbling to be one of those things that we should put on the top of the list.

Yet, when the Bible warns us about why the judgment came to the nation of Israel, one of the primary sins that he points out is that they were constantly grumbling. In fact, the history of Israel starts with them grumbling. Where is God? Why were they enslaved? And they were crying out, and God had mercy on them.

So he sends Moses. Moses challenges Pharaoh with the miracles. And because of that, Moses doesn't immediately respond. And so he makes it even harder for the slaves. And then they start murmuring and grumbling about that. When God delivers them and takes them to the Red Sea, it's like, "Whoa, we're trapped.

Why did he do all of that to bring us out here to kill us?" And they started grumbling. So God opens up the sea, and they go to the other side. They sing and celebrate. Soon as they get to the other side, Moses goes up to the mountain. And he's taking so long.

He came out here to abandon us? So they make the golden calf. They start worshiping God. He divides the whole community in half. And then you would think they learned their lesson. Soon after—we're talking about days—they walk out into the desert. It's like, "I'm so thirsty. Why did he bring us out here so that we could die of thirst?" So they started grumbling.

And then so God gives them water. And then they move out a little bit further. It's like, "That's it? Water? What about food? We're going to die out here." So God gives them miraculous bread, manna, from heaven, literally falling down from heaven. And they start eating that. And then soon after that, they're like, "That's it?

Bread? What about some protein?" And they start murmuring and complaining about that. So God gives them quail. Then after that, it's like, "Okay, we got meat. We got bread. We got miraculous water." And God's in our midst. And this cycle happened all along the 40 years. Constantly grumbling and complaining.

And the Bible teaches us that that was at the root of what caused them to seek idleship. That's a word. It's the constant grumbling and complaining and murmuring that caused them to be discontent and covet what other people had that leads to other sins. And the Bible says the reason why there's murder is because there's coveting.

And because the coveting comes from murmuring. Because they're constantly discontent. In Proverbs 23, 6-7, "Do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacy." Even when he's being generous. He says, "For as he thinks within himself, so he is." He says to you, "Eat and drink, but his heart is not with you." "You will vomit up the more so you have eaten and waste your compliments." He said even if a man who's constantly grumbling in his heart, he has a selfishness in his heart, and even when he is being generous, he said, "Don't eat it." Because that's not really a gift.

It's going to turn out where you're going to end up vomiting. So when an individual is constantly murmuring and complaining, it rises up to other sins. Even his generosity says to question that. See, an individual who's constantly murmuring, it leads to disputing. The word disputing in NIV is questioning, dialoguing.

That's the literal word for that. Where an individual who is constantly discontent begins to question everything. And there's a difference between asking questions and questioning. Asking questions is trying to figure out what is going on, why is this happening, and questioning is, "I know what's right, why are you doing it that way?" And when an individual is constantly questioning, there is no real answer, unless you submit to me.

In Psalm 1 verse 1 it says, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers." Do you notice how he says an individual who is walking according to the principles of this world, he will eventually be identified with the sinners, stand in the way of sinners, and then he will sit in the seat of scoffers.

Who's constantly questioning, murmuring, questioning. In Isaiah 49 verse 5, this constantly murmuring and questioning eventually rises up to God, because your circumstance, ultimately God is sovereign. So if God is sovereign, why is he allowing this to happen? Why are they the way that they are? How come these things are happening, and when we begin to question that, who are we questioning?

The only person who has any control over that, and it eventually rises up to God. Isaiah 45 verse 9, "Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker, and earthenware, vessel among the vessels of earth. Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands.'" Much of the complaining and murmuring that happens in our heart is ultimately questioning, why is God doing this?

Why did God allow this? Why did God put that guy in my life, or this person in my life? Why is he doing this? Because we don't understand. So therefore, we're not asking, we're questioning. Sinclair Ferguson, the professor at Westminster Seminary says this, "A complaining or arguing spirit is an expression of ingratitude to God's providence." Everybody knows how to be happy when God does what we want.

I want this, I want that, and when he answers my prayer, God is awesome, he's great. But when it doesn't fit what we think has to happen, he says it's an expression of ingratitude toward God's providence, and lovelessness and pride toward others. It is a denial of grace. It is working against salvation rather than working salvation into every aspect of our lives.

He said all of this. Again, we wouldn't normally think of murmuring and asking questions and disputing as a rebellion against God. But the Bible says that when we question the providence of God, that's exactly what we're doing. We're asking God, ultimately, to question God. Why are you doing this?

Even when God asked Adam, "Why did you do that?" He said, "Well, why did you put the woman here?" So ultimately it's your fault. He says we ought not to do anything without grumbling or disputing. Because ultimately, that's what identifies as a Christian. Forgiving, thankfulness is exactly what you and I have been called to be.

In verse 15, it says, "So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world." The Bible describes our rebellion against God as not acknowledging him or giving thanks as our creator.

It says in verse 121, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculations, and foolish heart was darkened. And professing to be wise, they became fools, exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God and an image in the form of corruptible men and of birds and of four-footed animals and crawling creatures." You notice here that the downward spiral of mankind's rebellion begins by not acknowledging and honoring God or giving thanks.

They chose to give thanks to the created things rather than the creator. You know, oftentimes when the Bible introduces God, they don't start with, "He saved us." Usually when God is introduced, He's introduced as our creator. So even before we get to the cross, the fact that He created us, our natural relationship between the creation and the creator is to acknowledge our creator and to give thanks to him.

Even before we get to the cross, the cross is that that creator that gave us breath, the very reason why you and I are here, you and I are even able to think and have conversation, that Yahweh is our creator. And that creator happens to love us and gave His only begotten son.

So He says everything that we need to know, He revealed Himself as the creator has been given to us and mankind rather worship the creation rather than the creator. And as a result of that, what happened? They became futile in their speculation. Speculation meaning their thinking, in their contemplation.

Because when an individual has a heart that is murmuring and grumbling and complaining, he says it affects the way that they think. Their whole perspective is affected. And their foolish heart became darkened. Because of their wrong thinking, their hearts became darkened. They professed to be wise but they became fools.

You ever meet somebody who's constantly murmuring and complaining and their primary thing is, "You don't know!" "You don't know what I know!" "You don't think the way I think!" Well, the Bible says the reason why people don't think the way you think may be because in your constant murmuring and grumbling, just as the scripture says, it has affected your perspective.

And your perspective has affected your heart. And because your heart was darkened and your speculation had become futile, it says you think you're wise because you know something that other people don't know, but in reality, you're the one who became a fool. And it's that all of this downward spiral came because you refused to acknowledge and give thanks to God.

If you want to fit into this world, just be a good grumbler. If you want to really fit in, right? Because the world is more united on things that they hate. You know, we try to have fellowships like what we love. You want to see a tight-knit group who's passionate about something?

It's usually about what they hate. You say, "I hate the Republicans!" "I hate the Democrats!" "I hate them!" "I hate these people!" "You too?" "Oh yeah, you too?" The world is united by what they hate. If you have a full-time job, you know, I don't know if you go to water coolers, I don't know if they have that anymore, or boba shops, wherever you go to congregate, right?

If you want to fit in, just tell them everything that's bothering you. "Your boss is unfair." You know, "The government." I mean, just start talking about what's bothering you. Soon enough, people will join in. It's like, "Oh, you too?" "You too?" "You too?" And then you have these people who hate this group on one side, the other group who hates the other group on the other side, and then they hate each other, and you sense fellowship.

Because you feel connected. And the way that you're connected is the things that you hate. That's how the world functions. If you want to fit in, keep grumbling, keep complaining. Let that be the primary thing that you talk about. But he says, "We are to be light." Our very identity as a Christian, he calls us to be a light in this dark world.

Because the world is in rebellion against God, constantly grumbling and complaining about God, about the world, about politics, about everything. And yet, there's no Thanksgiving, because at the root of what it means to be a Christian is to give worship. And at the heart of a person who worships is a thankful heart.

In Matthew 5, 14-16, "You are the light of the world. The city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." God said we are the light, and the purpose of why he put us to light is so that in darkness he may put us on a pedestal and say, "That's what God intended, to give glory to God." Imagine if we were the light and we sat on the table, and the whole time we're talking about is, "Those guys suck!

They suck, and those people suck, and those people suck too! And then they suck, and they suck, and then what about these guys? These guys suck, and they suck too! Believe Jesus with me!" He says we were made to be the light to give glory to God, to declare his glory and who he is and what he has done.

And that's why he says as Christians, as a light, our primary thing that we are to declare to the world is of who he is, not what the world is not. 2 Corinthians 4.15, "For all things are for your sake, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving thanks to abound for the glory of God." Look what Paul says.

Paul says the gospel is continuing to go out. More people are converting. For what purpose? "So that more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God." So he describes conversion as people who were not thankful to be thankful, to have thanksgiving in their heart to give glory to God.

If you have a murmuring heart, we're not saying that we should never ask questions, that we should never have disagreements. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about a spirit of constantly murmuring. That's the sound. That's the secret sound of a complainer. Because that's what I hear behind this thing.

I have extra ears. I'll give you an announcement and I can look it in your faces. Some of you guys are, "Huh? What's going on?" I see some of your faces. I see it. I may be wrong, but there's constant murmuring. And he says as Christians, our core being of who we are is to give thanks.

You cannot give thanks. You cannot spend all week just murmuring, complaining, talking about what's wrong and then come into worship and say, "You're so good, God." You may be saying that, but internally you're saying, "What's wrong with them?" That's actually what's going on in your head and your heart.

"What's wrong with these people, Lord?" At the core of who we are, people who refuse to acknowledge God and give thanks, that he made us worshipers of God because he fills our hearts with no other response, no other logical response than to give our lives as a living sacrifice.

It's a reasonable act of worship. But he also said, "If I just said, 'Stop it,' we'd all leave kind of frustrated." Well, how do we do that? If our natural instinct is to grumble, right? I gave you a short list of things that I was struggling with this week.

I could probably fill that page with about three or four pages of problems, right? Because it's natural. If you guys have Thanksgiving dinner, you might sit around and talk about, "What are you thankful for?" And then it's like, "Hmm." And you have to really--not just this rote answer, "I'm thankful for my parents." I'm thankful for what you're really thankful for.

You kind of have to take some time to actually think through. What's bothering you? How much time you got? Because that's our natural state. So if we just say, "Hey, stop it!" We'd leave saying, "Oh, that was good. Thank you for reminding me." But then to actually practice that, starting from lunch, you're going to start feeling guilty.

Until next Thanksgiving, you say, "Hey, stop it!" Well, he's very practical. He says, "Well, not doing that." Verse 16, "Holding fast the word of life." "Holding fast so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain." What does it mean to hold fast the word of life?

If he doesn't want us to grumble and complain, then that's our natural response. And the remedy for that is to hold fast the word of life. 1 Corinthians 15, 1-3, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand." Not only does the gospel justify you, the gospel is the reason why you're able to stand and be sanctified.

"By which you also are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, that you don't drift from that, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." So what he is saying is to hold fast to the gospel that you first believed.

And not just to say, "Well, you know what? I was justified, and tell me something more deep." You know our communion table? Jesus, very last activity that he had before he went to pray with them, he says, "Do this in remembrance of me." And in different places they have different words.

You have the Lord's table, you have the sacrament, you know, you have communion. But one of the words that is used for the Lord's table is "Eucharist." Some of you guys may have heard that before. The Eucharist is literally the word in Greek, "Euchariste," which means "giving thanks." So part of the core meaning of the communion table is to come and when we receive the elements, to give thanks.

And that's exactly what Paul is trying to get at. The reason why there is constant murmuring and questioning is that we have drifted away from a thankful heart for what God has done. And so we tend to focus on what is not going right, and we rarely talk about thankfulness of God.

So when you examine your life and your speech, how often are you genuinely thankful for your salvation and what God has done? I know we talk about it in Bible study, we talk about it in a certain given time of fellowship when you have questions that you have to ask, but how often when you look at your conversation are you actually responding to the grace of God?

"Man, I don't deserve this grace. God is so good to me." How much of your conversation is that and how much of it is like, "Yeah, yeah, God is so good. He's so awesome. But man, what is wrong with this? What is wrong with that?" That's what he means by "hold fast." In fact, our whole study of the book of Hebrews, when it says, "Do not drift," he keeps saying over and over again, "Hold fast, hold fast, hold fast, hold fast what you profess to believe." Don't make it just a song that you sing.

Don't make it just a verse that you memorize. Don't make it just a doctrinal statement that you believe. He says that's what he means by "hold fast." May it affect your heart, may it affect your speech, may it affect everything that you do. That's what he means by "hold fast." You know, at the core, when we say, "Hold fast to the gospel that was preached and that we profess," first, why it deals with our grumbling is, first and foremost, holding on to the gospel, holding fast to the gospel causes us to remember that we have absolute, eternal security.

No genuine Christian is constantly living in nervousness. "Am I going to make it? Am I not going to make it?" We're talking about, like, eternal heaven, like, eternal bliss versus eternal damnation, eternal. Hell and fire versus euphoria, you know, forever. Imagine living in between these two things. Utter poverty and disease for eternity versus winning the biggest lottery and you're living day to day, like, "Oh, am I going to get this or am I going to go to..." He says, "No, the gospel teaches us that we have absolute security in Christ because we did not earn it, we cannot lose it." So holding fast to the gospel that we profess, it gives us a solid ground that can never be shaken.

And so we celebrate what he has done. We celebrate the eternal security that we have in Christ. So holding on to the gospel message that we profess gives us the foundation that we need to build this house. Secondly, it assures us of his sovereignty, that no matter what happens, he works all things together for those who have been called according to his purpose.

So he orchestrated everything to get us here, and he's also orchestrating everything to make us make sure that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion in his sovereign hands. That no matter what may be happening in your life, no matter what may have happened, no matter how tragic, no matter how confusing it is, why he is doing what he is doing, he says you are in his sovereign hands.

He who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with him give all things? If he loved you enough, if this sovereign God loved you enough to give his only begotten son, why would he spare what you need? Why wouldn't he protect you from what harms you?

Why would he allow these things to happen if he gave the most and most precious thing? So we believe in his sovereignty, that despite whatever may be happening in our life, God is completely sovereign, and we trust him. And third and finally, the word of truth, the gospel, reminds us of the reward that's coming in Christ.

That ultimately the gift is not what is external. You know, very thankful for the families who are adopting children. Obviously before they're adopted, they're in foster care, and you have people who are temporarily taking care of them, and then when they come to the United States or wherever they're coming from, the home that they go to usually is better.

You know, nice home, you have loving parents, you have living in Orange County, get to come to church and be loved by community, I mean, it's so much better. But when the kids come, when they're young, they may look at the external circumstance and the food that they have and say, "Wow, this is great!" But at some point in their maturity, they're going to realize that the real gift that they have is the parents who love them.

And the reason why they have everything they have is because they were adopted by these loving parents. And that the Scripture says that the gift of the gospel is not the external things. Sometimes we may have it, sometimes we may not have it. But ultimately, the ultimate gift is Christ himself.

And that's why he means when Paul says in Philippians 3, 8, "In view of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ," everything else became rubbish in comparison. So when we hold fast to these truths, and it affects our heart, and it affects our thinking, and it affects our words, it tends to drive out murmuring.

And it causes people to worship. And so that's what he means by constantly holding fast. And that's why we have the communion table. And that's why we sing these songs. That's why we gather together. If you have a room full of murmuring people, stay away. People always say, "Oh, we're not united.

We should have more activities to get people united." If you have a room full of complaining people, oh my gosh. Don't go there. Avoid that. Just because you get a lot of people together doesn't mean there's going to be unity. You got a lot of people who are discontent with murmuring, complaining, and questioning, and you think somehow all of a sudden you're going to go there and things are going to change.

No, they spread like gangrene. A murmuring, complaining spirit tends to spread. And that's why the Bible says to deal with divisive people, because it has a tendency to spread. But if you have a room full of people worshiping God, thankful in their heart, have you ever had a fellowship, whether it's four people or five people, they're just happy to be there.

You may have had a bad day, all of a sudden you show up and you just forget. And you're like, "Oh, wow, that's right. Things are good." And a fellowship of the church is meant to be a gathering of people who've been affected by the truth, who have come to worship God.

So it's kind of like coming to a chiropractor. Any of you who've had a bad back or something, you go to a chiropractor, and they go, "Click, click, click." And you're like, "Oh my gosh, that feels so good." And then you're able to walk, the pain goes away, and it just felt so good.

See, the gathering of the believers in the corporate body is kind of like a chiropractor. Because our natural tendency as we walk on this earth is like, "Oh my gosh, that guy flipped me off again. Salad for lunch? Come on. Come on, Amazon, pick up the phone." And then we gather together to worship, "Click, click, click." That's right.

My eternity is secure. I don't understand what's going on, but he is sovereign. Oh my gosh, thank you, Jesus. That's what the corporate gathering was meant to be. To recalibrate, constantly recalibrate, and to give thanks to God. And that's why he says, "Do not murmur." It is unfitting for Christians.

But fourth and finally, he says, "We need to learn to be thankful." That's not something that we just turn on and off. Verse 17, "But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering," let me stop right there. The book of Philippians is oftentimes titled as the book of rejoicing, book of joy.

Paul is writing this sitting in prison, chained to a Roman guard. And it's not a pleasant place to be. And he's writing to the people who are sitting on the outside, telling them to rejoice. When he says, "I'm being poured out as a drink offering," drink offering in the Old Testament was kind of like a benediction.

You gave all your burnt offerings or thank offering and guilt offering. And at the very end, they would give a pour-out offering, right? Or drink offering. Drink offering was kind of like a benediction. It was the very last thing that they did. So what Paul means by, "I am being poured out as a drink offering," he's facing death.

He's sitting in prison, and I could possibly die. But he says, "Even though I'm being poured out as a drink offering, upon the sacrifice and service of your faith." He's not dying because he believed Jesus, and he was quietly trying to take care of his family. He said, "No, he was risking his life to go to these dangerous places and preach the gospel." He's being stoned.

He's being beaten. And in the end, he actually gets beheaded, and he dies. So he recognizes this, and he says, "Even though I'm being poured out as a drink offering for the sake of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." I have to be honest.

I mean, I don't know how many times in the years that I've been in ministry, I've thought to myself inwardly, right? These people don't deserve me. You can judge me, because I judge myself. They don't deserve me, you selfish people. I don't want to keep doing this. Why does God save sinners anyway?

Esther knows, because I usually grumble to her. The greatest mystery that I have found-- the longer I live, I understand hell. I really understand hell, because we don't deserve it. I understand why an angry God who is almighty and powerful, who is holy, would wipe us out and punish us for our sins.

I understand that. I don't understand why a holy God who doesn't need us goes through what he goes through with the constant grumbling and complaining that we do and is continuing to be patient with us. I don't understand. I don't get it. I'm so frustrated with Amazon right now.

I don't know how God is patient with the world for this long. I don't get it. I'm being poured out as a drinker. I'm going to die for your faith, but he says, "I rejoice." How did you do that? How did that just happen? In 1 Thessalonians 5.18, he says, "In everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you." Everything?

Hey, Pastor Peter, you don't know my situation. You don't know what I've been through. You don't know the kind of stuff that I've seen. And you're absolutely right. I don't know. But the one who wrote this does know. The one who says this knows who you are. In fact, probably better than you.

So when he says, "Give thanks for everything," he means everything. Not just for the things that you understand. Not just for the things that make sense. Not just for the things that's going to lead to something better. But he says, "Everything." Because our salvation is secure, our God is sovereign, and because Jesus is good.

He says to give thanks. Philippians 4.11-13, he says, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in." He said, "I learned it." This is a guy who was hand-picked by Jesus, supernaturally converted. Holy Spirit is speaking to him, explaining the gospel to him.

And he's explaining to the rest of the world, writing the New Testament, about the grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of God. I mean, this is a guy who was stoned in Lystra, dragged out of the city, shook off the dust, went back, and kept preaching.

I mean, this is not a normal human being. At least, I don't, you know, we hear stories about it. But this guy literally was stoned and walked back in. He was ready to die. And he actually died. And yet he says, "I learned to be content." "I learned to be content." Because that's what sanctification is.

We hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we convert it. We saw the glory of what that is, and we believe, and we convert it. And then for whatever the reason, we want to be more sophisticated, and then we want to learn systematic theology, we want to learn all this stuff.

It's like, "Oh, those were young Christians." You know, you haven't been a Christian as long as I have. You haven't read as much as I have. You haven't experienced as much as I have. But the most mature Christian is the one who is the most deeply affected by the cross.

Not the one who has a PhD in scholarship. So I'm not saying that none of that is necessary. The more we learn about Christ, the more we should be affected. But learning itself doesn't make you mature. Experience itself doesn't make you mature. You can have a PhD, and you can bear a lot of fruit, constantly murmuring in your heart.

And we're not really giving worship. We're opening up our mouth, we're singing the songs, we're attending Bible study, but we're not giving worship. Because worship is something that happens when we're genuinely thankful, and it's rising up from us. And it's encouraging to me to hear that Apostle Paul had to learn this.

He learned the secret of being content in every and all situations, where Christ became more valuable to him as time passed than in the beginning. And that's a challenge that you and I have, where we have a tendency to have him be so precious in the beginning, and then not so much as we go along.

He learned. So we also need to learn to be content. Not just once a year, but every day. To learn to be true worshipers in spirit and in truth. So let me finish with this one story that's always a reminder to me of encouragement. You know, yesterday we had Ryan and Mel's wedding.

Cindy and Alex also got married in the valley. Ryan and Mel, you know, I was intimately involved with that. And so they were going back and forth, and some of you guys who know the story, because of the COVID situation, was not able to have their wedding where they originally planned.

And so up until even Saturday morning, like 3 a.m., they were scrambling, "What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" I said, "Well, at least maybe just have it at church, you know, and outside." And so, very last minute, they were putting things together, and so we just kind of did that, and outside for people to guests to come and to visit.

And so a lot of us were able to come and see them and participate in all of that. And obviously, I've known Mel since she was a freshman in college. I've known Ryan since he was a kid. So, you know, we're kind of burdened, because I wanted them to have a good wedding.

I don't want the wedding to be something that they're going to look back years later and say, "Oh my gosh, this COVID ruined our wedding." So I feel for many of our members in our church who are going through that, being concerned. But those of you guys who participated, I mean, it went well.

And I'm not going into the details of... And I really feel, and I think they would agree, that it was an answered prayer, because what we really wanted from the wedding actually benefited from what happened. Again, I'm not going to go into the details of that. But I'm very thankful for what happened.

But you know, one of the weddings that I always remember, years ago, there was a couple in our church who was getting married. And it was a disaster from the beginning. You know, we're doing counseling, you have two parents who were going back and forth of what they wanted, what venue they wanted, and they didn't really seem to care, but it was the two parents, you know, like they have a lot of opinions going back and forth, and they were deciding to do it at this one venue, and at the very last minute, they said, "Oh, they didn't like it." And so they had to change.

So it's like, "Okay, okay, we'll just do whatever you want." And so the dad, the groom, said, "You're going to have it at our church, but they don't have a nice facility. Their outside courtyard is uglier than ours." You know what I mean? And so that's where they're going to have the reception.

We're going to have to, "Okay, let's just do it." And so they changed it in the last minute. And then the senior pastor of the church just decided on his own to invite the whole church. So he invited about 250 people, and it must have been like 400 or 500 people who showed up.

So some of you guys know what I'm talking about. And so by the time we finished and went out, the real guest didn't have food to eat afterwards, because after we took the pictures, the church people came out, and they just happened to have an event that Saturday at church, so anybody who was there ended up eating all the wedding food.

On top of that, right before they went into the wedding, the people were supposed to set up a little platform and a cover, like a canopy. The people who hired just brought it and just dumped it on the ground and said, "If you want to set it up, it's going to cost you $500." So they were blackmailing them.

So they said, "Well, you didn't pay for the setup. You just paid for the rental." And so we're about to enter the wedding, and obviously it's like, "Oh my gosh." And I was upset for them. And so what are we going to do? So he basically got blackmailed, paying $500 to set it up.

And right before the wedding started, one of the moms came up to me and said, "You've got to speak in Korean." And so I said, "I can speak Korean, but not to that extent where I can just impromptu give a message in Korean. So I just do what I can." So I went, and I just kind of fumbled through this and that.

I tried to translate what I was saying back and forth. And I was saying, "Oh my gosh, this is horrible," from the beginning to the very end. Years later, I was talking to the groom, years later, and I said, "Hey, what's the happiest day that you remember?" And he said, "Oh, my wedding day." I'm like, "Your wedding day?

Did you forget?" I wanted to sit down, "Did you forget what happened at your wedding?" And he said, "Oh yeah, yeah. It was difficult." I said, "So why do you say that was your happiest day?" He says, "Because I got to marry my best friend." And he said, "Man, I was so happy that day.

I was murmuring for him. I was upset for him. How dare they?" But he said it was the happiest day of his life. We get so caught up in the external things, about the reception, the food, the flowers, and all the stuff. And sometimes the way that we have weddings, that becomes the primary thing, and the actual marriage becomes a side issue.

That's what we do as Christians sometimes. We forget what it is that we have in Christ. We get so worried about church, about our children, about our plans, our goals. We get so caught up in this thing, and then it just sucks us dry in our worship. So we are busy doing things, and we're neglecting what's at the core of why he saved us, so that we would worship him in spirit.

So this constant murmuring and grumbling is sucking the Christians dry for what the church was meant to be, to worship. So I pray that as we face Thanksgiving, before Christmas, we'll give plenty of attention to Christmas after Black Friday, but at least this week, take some time to consider deeply, not the external things, like, "Oh, thank you for the job," and "God answered my prayer for this," but about what every Christian has.

This God of the universe knows me, and he loves me, and he saves me. And the worst possible case, worst possible case that you and I can think of right now, is that we get COVID and we die. I mean, we don't want that, but it's probably the worst case scenario.

But even in the worst case scenario for a Christian, we get to go home early. Even though there's sadness, that's the worst case scenario for a Christian. So I pray that that reminder would cause us to worship him in spirit and in truth. Let's pray. Gracious Father, your goodness is beyond what we could possibly imagine.

I pray that a deeper contemplation of what it is that we have in you would cause our murmuring to be radically changed to thanksgiving and praise of your name. I pray, Lord God, that in this thanksgiving season, as the world begins to marginalize it more and more, that your children help us, Lord God, that we may be a light to this world so that the world may look at us and wonder, why are these people so thankful that you would give us a platform to share that hope that we have in you?

So we pray for your grace, we pray for your blessing. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.