No Complaints (Philippians 2:14)

Introduction

At the end of my heart’s testing with thy likeness, let me wake. What a great phrase we sing in that song, Jesus, draw me ever nearer. And tonight’s lesson is certainly in that vein. One of the challenges of being a preacher of the gospel is that we must attempt to accomplish what Paul said in Acts the 20th chapter, to not refrain from teaching anything that is profitable and to present the whole counsel of God. That’s Acts 20, verse 20, and Acts 20, verse 27. So if I am to accomplish that, it is inevitable that I’m going to address subjects that are particularly challenging to me. And some of the best sermon material that I think about comes from my own personal experiences and struggles that I have.

I want to talk to you for a moment tonight about extremes, about opposed behaviors. And I want to start with Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 through 20. And I know this passage addresses imbibing of an intoxicating substance that is not the challenge personally that I’m talking about. I’m just illustrating in the beginning this idea of behaviors that are extremes and opposed to one another. And I think it’s helpful to see that in this text. And do not get drunk with wine. That is to be filled with wine excessively, or to pursue that course. Do not get drunk with wine. For that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. And so we have two opposed courses, one that leads to intoxication and excess, and the other that leads to an honoring of God and thinking right things in our heart.

And that’s what we want to accomplish tonight. And helping with being filled with the Spirit instead of being filled with wine is to meditate on spiritual things. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. That contributes to being filled with the Spirit. And then verse 20, which does relate to the subject I want to address, always giving thanks for all things. And I always like to ask the question what does that leave out? Giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the basis of all that He is to God, even the Father. And so the extremes that I want to talk to you about tonight are gratitude versus grumbling.

Now, I got these slides from the source that I use, Graceway Media, and the passage that they had that’s a little hard to see, because that’s not the one where I’m going to spend my time tonight, is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 12 through 28. I thought it was an interesting selection. And when I look through the context, I certainly see the relevance to that thought, these two extremes, gratitude or grumbling, to acknowledge those who lead among us, who have charge over you in verse 12, and esteeming them very highly, in essence, being thankful for their work. But he goes on to say a lot of things that involve gratitude in our hearts, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus, and to be careful in our walk.

But the passage that I want to address, I discovered yesterday morning, is a passage that Scott used. Last Sunday morning in my absence, I probably should communicate with those who are speaking in my place as to what their intentions are, because I was probably looking at the same article Scott was at about the same time he was looking at it the week before I left. And so I’d been planning for about 10 days to preach on Philippians chapter 2, only to discover from Scott in a text exchange yesterday morning that he had used the same article that I am using for my lesson tonight. So some of the material that I am presenting will be repetitive. But at about lunchtime on Saturday, it is sort of hard to change what you were intending to do.

But Scott said, since he only addressed it for a few minutes, that perhaps we won’t overlap too much. If we do, that’s just fine. I need it, and you do too. Okay, Philippians chapter 2. Let’s read these verses together.

1. Do All Things Without Grumbling or Disputing

Even Scott. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That’s our heart’s testing that we’ve sung about. Working out our salvation. To do so with great sobriety and reverence and seriousness, with reverence, respect for God, with trembling. That’s how important these things are.

I’ll just say, here we have it, along with his providential assistance in our lives, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This treasure in earth and vessels that we mentioned this morning, that the power may be of God and not of ourselves. For it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And then verse 14. What stands opposed to the accomplishment of that task is the problem of grumbling or disputing, the New American Standard says. Or murmuring and complaining. These are the words that are used by the variety of translations, grumbling, murmuring, complaining, disputing. And I might suggest about Philippians chapter 2 and verse 14 that it may seem to cover a variety of ideas that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent.

Okay, verse 14 is not a sentence in and of itself. In fact, it is a part of a very complex sentence that runs all the way through verse 16. So this all goes together. This is all one sentence in the Greek. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Remember the circumstances in which we are called to work out our salvation, our calling, the fact that we are being watched and observed, and that we are to influence a wicked world around us, a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, holding it fast, so that in the day of Christ, Paul says, I did not run in vain.

2. Is It Possible to Change?

Now he speaks of his relationship with the church at Philippi. That in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain, nor toil in vain. Okay, so this is where I say Philippians 2.14 is not one of my favorite passages in all the New Testament as it relates to my heart’s testing. I’m not tempted to drink alcohol ever. But I am tempted to murmur and complain. In fact, I think it’s a national pastime in the United States of America. But before I get into some of that, I want to ask you this. Is it possible to change? Even necessary for us to change. I’m getting some of this in the audience tonight. And I’ve got to tell you what people say, even some Christians.

I’ve had a lot of discussions where the statement is made, people don’t change. People don’t change. I believe that’s a generalization. And I don’t have a problem with generalizations. But I think it does illustrate a truth that most people don’t change radically. And that’s what the gospel calls us to. It calls us to a radical change, that we no longer be consumed with ourselves, but consumed with the Lord who has saved us and his will for us. And that involves a radical change right at the very outset, and that is called repentance. Our conversion to the Lord cannot be accomplished without repentance. More than just belief that God exists and the Bible is God’s word, but we must turn ourselves toward God’s purposes for us. And thus working out our salvation is going to require and necessitate change.

And the fact is, most people don’t change. And in regard to that generalization, I’ve noticed through the years that a lot of Christians find a contented place in regard to their imitation of Christ, and they’re pretty much done. That’s pretty much how they’re going to be perpetually. Now they’re going to study their Bibles because they’re going to attend to assemblies like this and Bible studies, and they’re going to keep studying. But in terms of change, we pretty much did it back there when we obeyed the Lord. But you know, when I obeyed the gospel, I wasn’t thinking about attitudes very much. I was thinking about having told lies. And of course, those things emanate from the heart. Attitudes that have related to sexual lust, all kinds of things that relate to behavior.

But I never thought much about the concept of murmuring and complaining. That just really wasn’t on my radar then. And I keep reading Philippians chapter 2, and this all builds on the context of possessing the mind of Christ that lends itself toward unity and striving together for the faith of the gospel. Go back into chapter 1 in the beginning of chapter 2. And so we come to verse 14, and then I discover wait a minute. If I’m going to go to heaven, simply refraining from alcohol and sexual misconduct and lascivious conduct and skipping assemblies and neglecting spiritual pursuit and worship of the Lord’s people, that just as long as I accomplish those things may not be enough, may not be all of the areas where change needs to be found.

People don’t change. Can I? Will I? Will you? You can. If it is true that you cannot change, then the Bible has no meaning at all. Murmuring and complaining. Ever been guilty of that? What is that about? General disagreeableness based in personal unhappiness and disappointment. So I’m planning to preach this sermon. And I thought about this before I ever left. That I’m about to face a very difficult week in my life. Meetings take it out of me. Like I mentioned this morning, home is living done right. I am leaving the precious place. And I am going out to all places, Alabama. No, Alabama’s just fine. I’m just throwing that in. And I say to myself, looking at the weather to determine what I’m going to pack, oh no.

It’s going to be winter when I get there. Now I heard we had a couple of cold days here, but on Wednesday, the temperature did not break 35. I thought my bones were going to break. I told people in Alabama, this could be the coldest day that I experienced all year. We’re only going to have a couple of days like this back in Houston, probably the rest of the winter. I’m getting winter while I’m here. And I’ve often made the observation that when Tony goes north, cold weather comes. And then I’m thinking about this sermon that I’m going to preach. I’m going, okay, can’t complain about the weather. It is what it is. You’ll survive. But if you don’t, that’s fine too. And so we come to Friday, and I had intended to work on these sermon ideas that I had, but the schedule just did not permit.

And so here I am on the plane, hammering out some things on my laptop, trying to get these sermons somewhat preachable, and then try to finish them on Saturday. And so everything was great. I arrived at the airport in Houston, but then I have to drive all the way across town to get home. And it wasn’t that bad. I built it up this morning like it was really awful. But it’s never fun. Not anymore. To drive from just hobby to Tomball. Especially on a Friday before a holiday. And so I thought to myself, on the way home, I can’t complain about this. So I thought, how relevant. And I decided to preach this sermon. Because even if Scott does preach it before I get back, because we read the same great article by Tim Jennings, it was tremendous.

And I read it, I said, wow, I’ve got to share that with people. It’s something that I need. I even emailed Tim back thanking him for the article that he wrote. And with Thanksgiving coming up the next week, I thought, perfect timing for this sermon. Complaining happens so mindlessly. Now, as I talk about this before I get into some of the specifics tonight about this, it is not wrong to point out less than ideal things. This passage is certainly not saying, well, don’t mention sin because that’s negative. No, you’ve got to deal with the problem of sin, especially as it manifests itself in the local church. You’ve got to deal with that. And so it’s not saying to overlook something like that or overlook doctrinal error that threatens the souls because you’re not supposed to say anything that’s a complaint.

That’s not what I mean by my sermon title tonight. And I would even say, in discussions about the weather and about traffic, and about politics and things that go wrong in our lives, that some of that discussion is not about just being upset with everything in your world. Some of that is about just conversing with people, having relationships with each other. I mean, if we’re going to weep with those who weep, then we need to know something about their struggles, and for the expression of those struggles to occur is not necessarily murmuring or complaining in a violation of Philippians chapter 2 and verse 14. But we must be careful to the extent that we talk about these negative circumstances in our lives, so that we do not deny something that is very important.

3. Grumbling Denies God's Goodness

One of the things that should be a parameter for the things that we discuss and how much we discuss it that’s less than ideal in our lives. The problem with grumbling is, as Tim pointed out in his excellent article, and I believe Scott probably addressed this, we deny God’s goodness. We may think that we’re just complaining about or griping about the food, weather, leaders, and our plight in life, but really we might be saying what God has done for me is not good enough. Complaining pulls down the shade so that we cannot see the magnificent kindness and lavish gifts that God has bestowed upon us. Every good and perfect gift that comes from above. James chapter 1 and verse 17, leading into verse 18, which talks about the fact that we have been brought forth by the word of truth in the exercise of his will.

What a marvelous thought that is. I think it’s an illustration of our point. As the article suggests, we need to look at the nation of Israel. Tim chronicled, or at least he mentioned eleven times that it mentions specifically that Israel complained. And this is after they are brought out of Egypt and they’ve seen the awesome plagues of God. I mean, they’ve been given a front row seat to the miraculous work of an awesome God. And they have seen the ten plagues brought upon Egypt, most of which, from most of which they are spared. And then they are sent out of Egypt. Finally, freedom at last. No more hard servitude and brickmaking. They’re on their way. Freedom has been provided. And furthermore, the Egyptians are giving them stuff to get rid of them.

They’re taking out material possessions as they go. And so here is this newfound freedom. Oh, and by the way, during the day when they travel, there is a cloud that leads them. How impressive is that? I’ve always wanted to see that. Even more. The pillar of fire that guided them at night. Can you imagine? Which way do we go? Oh, let’s just follow the fire in the sky. When it moves, we move. And so you’ve got God’s provision. And then they come to the edge of the Red Sea and they’re hemmed in by the sea on one side, and the Egyptian army that is now pursuing them as Pharaoh has changed his mind. Why have you brought us out here to die? The Israelites say. Wait a minute.

Did you not see those plagues? Stand and see the salvation of the Lord. Moses extends his staff. And of course, they walk through on dry ground. Oh, that fixes everything, right? Then they start grumbling. Now, Paul uses this as an illustration for us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Read 1 Corinthians 10 this week and see all the explanation of how they tried the Lord and they murmured and complained. We’re dying here of thirst. And so God provides water from a rock. And then they’re hungry. And then he provides manna from heaven. And then they’re thirsty again. And he provides water again in Exodus chapter 17 to test them, the text says. Murmuring and complaining. And then something interesting happens. The law is given at Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 20.

And then we come to their wanderings in the book of Numbers, as a result of their faithless report. Oh no, they murmur and complain again. Oh, we’re we’re you’re all we’re going to be like grasshoppers. We cannot take the land. And they believe the report of the ten spies. They murmur and complain. They even want to kill Moses. And God says, You’re going to wander and die in the wilderness. But something interesting happens after this. Every time there is murmuring and complaining from this point on someone dies.

In Numbers 11, Numbers 14, Numbers 16, Numbers 20, and Numbers 21. Whenever someone complains, death occurs. Now remember what he had said about everyone dying in the wilderness. God expects his covenant people to be finished with a cranky attitude and fighting behavior. They will keep you from the promises of God. And that’s the point Paul is making in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, when he says, You, in contrast, are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come. You would think the more you are blessed, the less you would complain. But look at all the things with which they were blessed. The miraculous that they witnessed with their eyes, the provisions from Egypt, the provisions of food and water from heaven, the leadership of Moses. And the list goes on the promised of a land that is flowing with milk and honey that had been promised to their forefathers.

The fulfillment of the promise was coming true in them, and yet they failed. Because life wasn’t perfect. Contentment is not found in perfect circumstances, in a plethora of things, perfect relationships, or fun-filled experiences every day. Contentment is found in knowing God and his will, and trusting in him to provide. That’s where contentment is. And so when we’re headed toward complaint, think this one thing. When I start murmuring because politics isn’t going like I think it should. Well, in my 55 years, I think it hasn’t gone as I think it should, probably my whole life. Or the weather isn’t as good as I would hope that it would be. But look, if it never rained, then we would complain about that, right? I prefer when it doesn’t rain on Sundays when I’m trying to get from the parking lot into the building.

4. What We Have That Should Limit Our Complaining

I would prefer it rain while I slept. Every single time. But that’s not the way it works. We need the rain. Isn’t that right, Grassmaster? We need the rain. And wouldn’t it be great if our sports teams won every single time? And I wouldn’t have to complain about the coaching. You know, I’m a far better coach than most of the guys that coach all of my teams. You know, I’m an armchair coach. I know that if I was the coach, things would be better. And you know I say that facetiously. We want everything to be ideal. But I want to show you what we have that should limit our complaining to some degree. We know saving truth. That item alone, you realize how many people go through life with not a clue as to where to find salvation and what it looks like.

They believe lies. They are led down the path of error. You make them twice as much a son of hell as yourselves, Paul told the Jesus told the religious leaders in Matthew chapter 23. We possess saving truth. How wonderful is that? Not only that, as a result of knowing truth, we have come into a relationship with God. And despite the fact that I sometimes fall short of what he wants me to be, I can simply explain to God.

I see that. I’m sorry. I want to change. Would you help me? And I can move on spiritually in my relationship with God. Though I make missteps. And then there’s some other things that I think are icing on the cake. We were talking the other night about people who may perceive this as not being a loving church, so on and so forth. And I just want to say this. I’m glad I’m here just from the nature of the assemblies that we have together. The wonderful singing we’ve had tonight, wonderful worship. You know, in some churches, what they wouldn’t give for godly men who could serve as elders. There’s some churches that don’t have elders, haven’t had elders for years. We’ve got good men who serve us.

Some congregations don’t have any kids. And yeah, sometimes we trip over them and they run around and they act like kids, amazingly enough. But it’s much better to have kids and not have them in it.

And the fact that there’s 175 of us here, some churches probably didn’t break 30 tonight. You think this is an encouraging environment? And beyond that, our song leaders are really good. They keep up the pace. I actually feel something when we sing. That’s awesome. I’m happy to be here just for that. And yeah, is everything ideal? Does everyone always act perfectly? Absolutely not. I get that. I know sometimes the sermons are harder to listen to than other times. But maybe it could be worse somewhere else. Maybe. We have a lot to be thankful for. Instead of murmuring about what is less than ideal. And I gotta tell you, I know the weather comes some and the traffic can sometimes be frustrating, but we live pretty comfortable lives.

We have very nice beds. I don’t think we realize how well we live. Perfectly controlled environment. Thermostat. Now, everybody in the family’s got to agree. I wish everybody had the same body temperature. But again, you can’t have everything. What are you gonna set the thermostat on? And as you get older, you don’t even turn the air conditioner on, I think. Haven’t gotten there yet. I like it cool. We live such comfortable lives. There’s so many conveniences. I mean, we have food at our fingertips. Think of how hard they had to work for food in biblical times just to prepare meals and clean up. Not a problem for us. We can just go pick something up at the grocery store, ready-made meals. We got fast food restaurants everywhere.

When I was growing up, I thought we had a bunch of stuff. We could go to McDonald’s. My dad hated it. But sometimes on Sunday night he would let us go to McDonald’s. And there were other places that we could eat on Sundays. Sometimes there’s food places everywhere. They’re all over the place. And we’ve got the we’ve got credit cards at the very least to buy our meals on. We have all of these conveniences, and yet I’m going to complain because everything’s not perfect. Not to mention family, and I realize everything about family isn’t always beautiful, isn’t always pleasant and wonderful. But family is usually a blessing to some degree in our lives. Not always, but usually. And we have fixes. Things can be fixed. You wreck the car, you got insurance, it can be fixed.

Or maybe you get a new car out of the deal. But there’s all kinds of fixes to our problems. Things that break, can be replaced. We have so many things. And beyond that, some of you even like your pets.

5. When We Grumble We Disturb, Discredit and Discourage

Well, if dogs and cats are man’s best friend, and some of you really love your pets. I mean, it’s almost overboard, I think. Apparently, they do something for you. They make your life better. You enjoy them. They love you when nobody else does. Hopefully, other people do. And there’s something about you that is lovable that more than a dog could love. But don’t you see? And this list could go on forever, but I’m out of room on the slide. Take inventory of all the good things in your life, and you won’t be so likely to complain and murmur quickly. When we grumble, we disturb our relationship with others. Part of this isn’t just about complaining about our circumstances, but it’s just generally being upset and unhappy and making sure everybody knows about it.

And this disrupts and disturbs our relationship with others. And we discredit our testimony to unbelievers. You know, if all we ever do is complain about the less than ideal in our lives, then why would anyone around us want what we have? Oh, I want to be like them. Serving God really seems to be doing something for them. And so I’m going to go worship where they worship. If all we’re doing is murmuring and complaining and everything is negative, and beyond that, I’ve got some negative things to tell you about the church. Why in the world do we think anyone is going to want to join us? If we’re just a bunch of cyberpusses, as we say. No wonder we’re told to rejoice in the Lord always.

And again, I say, rejoice. And all the negativity. And again, I sometimes delve into that negative frame of mind, especially when I get tired. But when we are continually negative, we discourage others. We cause them to feel like things aren’t what they should be. And it feeds, it spreads like cancer. As it did among the nation of Israel. So we discredit our testimony to unbelievers and we discourage God’s workers. Let’s pray together. Our Heavenly Father. Sometimes it is a struggle to be all that you call us to be, and we get lax in our pursuit of our salvation and don’t think about the kinds of attitudes that we need to have and how blessed we are to know you, to have this access, and to have each other.

We get discouraged in our lives at times. And we need you to guide us and help us through those times. But help us, our God, to take inventory, to realize what you’ve done for us and what you still do for us in working through us to communicate your saving message to the world. Help us to realize just how blessed we are, that we know you, and that we have this salvation. Help us to focus on these things, and not as much on the troubles of our lives, but to cast all of our cares upon you and further our God. We pray for our church. We pray for every member for everyone here tonight that we might be prepared for the last great day, that our hearts testing might be such that we can find a home with you by your mercy and by your help.

6. How to Defeat Complaining

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Quickly, five solutions. Or six. How to defeat complaining. Change the negatives to positives. Focus on the things we get to do, not the things we have to do. Observe a complaining fast. We talk about fasting. We usually talk about food. Maybe we ought to try some of that, but observe a complaining fast. Turn complaints into solutions. Instead of decrying how terrible everything is, look for some solutions to the problems and then thank God more. And that’s what we saw in Ephesians 5 and in 1 Thessalonians 5. Be more thankful. Memorize Philippians chapter 2 and verse 14. Do all things without murmuring and disputing, loving upset, and fighting, and dwelling on negative circumstances. Let’s put that out of our hearts. And so in conclusion, understand that if we are in the Lord, that our lives are greatly blessed.

Conclusion

And we want that for you. If you’re subject to his invitation, come now as we stand and sing.