Getting Rid of Grumbling
Download MP3Good morning. If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Philippians chapter 2 as we continue our study in Philippians. And I can only laugh at God's sovereign sense of humor and how he has been preparing me to preach on this this morning. It began yesterday. I don't know if you're if you've ever if you're married, if you've ever had one of those days where you just can't get on the same page with your spouse, it's not like you're arguing or you're angry with one another, it's just like you're speaking different languages, and you're constantly misunderstanding one another.
Joel Brooks:Lauren and I had that kind of day yesterday, and and so when you have that day and you're not on the same page, there's just kind of this unsettled feeling. So I went to bed last night with that unsettled feeling, didn't sleep well, woke up with a horrible crick in my back and my neck, Had to go early to the church office to, to print out the sermon and to just kinda go over it. I opened my computer and the sermon is not there. So the sermon that I wrote on Thursday is who knows where. I have no idea.
Joel Brooks:So I frantically just type out some new thing which I'm about to read for the first time before you. So so I type that out and then I try to print it in the copier, the church copier which is broken. So I'm taking apart a copier like I know anything about copier mechanics trying to get that to work, I couldn't. So I zoom home right before this to use my own printer. Lauren's like, what are you doing here?
Joel Brooks:It's like, I I can't print off anything. So I attach my computer to our printer and a malware message comes up. And it essentially says something like this, says and Lauren is like, push this button and it will destroy your computer. Which I was tempted, I just kinda wanted to see what would happen but but I didn't I didn't know what to do. So I didn't push the button.
Joel Brooks:So I called up Jonathan Hawes and, like, could you could I email you something you printed off? He said, sure. He printed it, had it for me here, and now I get to preach in a freezing cold miserable day to you people a sermon about grumbling. That's where I mean God's sovereign sense of humor. We are gonna talk about how we are to not complain, we are to not grumble, in all things.
Joel Brooks:So, Philippians 2, we'll begin reading in verse 12. If I could get my fingers to work to get there. Thank you. Thank you, Jess. Beginning in verse 12, therefore my beloved, have you as always obeyed so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Joel Brooks:For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, Among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life. So that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run-in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am being I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you should be glad and rejoice with me.
Joel Brooks:This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Father, we are gathered here together on a cold, damp day because we want to hear from you. Lord, it's the only reason that we are here is we want to experience your presence through the fellowship of fellow believers. We want to hear you speak to us through your spirit by your word, and so we ask that you would do so.
Joel Brooks:I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So Paul begins this section with the word, therefore. As any good student of the Bible knows, whenever you come across the word therefore, you are to ask what it is.
Joel Brooks:So good class. Yes, you ask what it is therefore. Paul says that says that this therefore, he uses that there to remind us of And every tongue will confess his lordship. And that goes from Caesar down to a servant, we will all confess his lordship. And then Paul says that in light of this, we are to do something.
Joel Brooks:We are to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now Paul is not saying here that you are to work for your salvation. He's addressing, his beloved. He's he's addressing Christians. You have to understand that.
Joel Brooks:He is not saying you work for your salvation. You're working out your salvation. Think of it this way, you are working out what God has worked in you. You're working out what God has worked in you. And this is why Paul immediately follows up with that statement of working out your own salvation with, for it is God at work in you.
Joel Brooks:God who works in you. Think of it this way, any of you watch those YouTube videos, in which, there are, children who are deaf and they just had a procedure done to them and they can hear for the first time, And if you watch those, you know, you have this child, hearing their mother's voice for their first time or their father's voice for the first time, and if you don't burst into tears watching that you're not human. I used to not cry at all and then I had 3 girls, now I cry during commercials all the time. And so when I watch videos like that, I mean I'm just I'm a weeping mess. But you see these these children and they are just overjoyed, when they hear their their parents speak.
Joel Brooks:They hear the voice for the very first time. And in that moment, that miraculous moment, their lives are changed. A dead part of them came alive. But as overjoyed as they are, it's also a little disorienting for them. I mean, they're not used to having this sense, they're not exactly sure how to use it.
Joel Brooks:And becoming a Christian is similar. Your heart was dead, but then the Spirit of God came and He He has made you alive. He did His little surgery on your heart and that dead part came to life. You've now gained new senses. Everything has changed for you.
Joel Brooks:For the first time you can hear your father, you see everything in a different light. But at the same time, it's just a little disorienting, isn't it? What's life supposed to look like now? What are you supposed to do? And Paul says this, it's time for you to work out this miraculous work that God has worked in you.
Joel Brooks:He's done something deep in you and now it's time to work it out, but it's going to be work. You don't nap out your salvation. You don't drift out your own salvation. You work out your own salvation. Believe it or not, I work out.
Joel Brooks:If you don't believe me, I just like to point to those woods over there. No. I actually I I I do. I I go I I lift weights, several times a week. I exercise.
Joel Brooks:There is a week or there's a reason that, lifting weights, doing burpees, push ups, pull ups all of those things. There's a reason it is called working out. It's because it's work. I mean, you you sweat a whole lot when you're doing it. You get really tired.
Joel Brooks:And Paul here, he's telling us that, yes, God has given us a new heart, he's given us new life. It's absolutely wonderful but it's time to work out. It's time to go to the spiritual gym if you will and start sweating. You have got things you now have to do and they're going to be hard. And what are we supposed to do?
Joel Brooks:How are we supposed to work out this salvation that God has worked in us? Paul says, I'm glad you asked. And he gives us a super practical way in which we can work out this salvation. He says, we are to do all things without grumbling or disputing. All things without grumbling or disputing.
Joel Brooks:I I used to think that Paul was just changing the topic here. You know, first he tells us, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, and there's like a new paragraph or something, a new topic. Then he goes on and he says, now do all things, without grumbling or disputing. But this isn't the case, Paul is actually telling us how we are to work out our salvation in with fear and trembling. How are we to do it?
Joel Brooks:We're to not grumble. We're not to argue with one another. The word grumble is a fascinating word. It's a onomatopoeia both in Hebrew, Greek, and in English. You just hear the word and you know what it means, grumble.
Joel Brooks:Grumble. Can I ask you when is the last time you've grumbled or complained? When's the last time? Was it a month ago? Was it a week ago?
Joel Brooks:Was it as you were pulling up into a freezing parking deck having to sit down outside here? When when's the last time that you have grumbled? You see we're a grumbling complaining people. Have you ever once opened up your refrigerator and it's full of food and you have complained, there's just nothing to eat, Or you go to your school cafeteria, which has hundreds of things to eat and you're like, there's no good food here. Have you ever opened up your closet door in which is full of clothes and you say, there is nothing to wear?
Joel Brooks:How many times have you scrolled through 100 of Netflix movies, you know, like, there's nothing good to watch. When we have free time, we often complain that we are bored. When we don't have any free time, we complain that we are too busy. When it's summer, we complain that it's too hot. When it's winter, we complain that it's too cold.
Joel Brooks:When it's finally fall or spring, we complain that well, it's not gonna last. When we get asked a specific question about how we are doing, we complain that people are all into our business. When people don't ask how we are doing, we complain that no one cares. We complain that we never get to see our family, and then we see them and we complain that we see them too much. We complain about complaining.
Joel Brooks:We grumble about grumblers, but we are a complaining people. We actually can do all things with grumbling. We can complain in every circumstance. And yet here Paul says, do all things without grumbling. You are to drive without grumbling, you are to eat without grumbling, Go to school or work without grumbling.
Joel Brooks:Talk about your coworkers or your neighbors without grumbling. Talk about politics without grumbling. Talk about your family without grumbling. Talk with your family about politics without grumbling. And of course, what Paul is alluding to here is the Israelites.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you remember that's what the Israelites did. They grumbled and they disputed with one another. God had worked in them a salvation. He had freed them from slavery in Egypt. So he had worked in them this salvation.
Joel Brooks:He had set them free, he had sent them off into the desert, and now they were to work out the salvation he had worked in them. And what did they do? They grumbled. Parents, have you ever taken your kids on a vacation? One that took a lot of planning, a lot of money.
Joel Brooks:You've had to take, significant time off work to do it and then you're finally there. You're you're you're finally at the beach or you're finally at Disney World wherever it is and your kids complain. It's so defeating, isn't it? It's just defeating. I mean, after all that work, all that sacrifice, everything to get there and and your kids complain, This is why you see parents going ballistic at Disney World, which is supposedly the happiest places on earth.
Joel Brooks:They're having a total meltdown alongside their children because they can't take the complaining. After you making all those sacrifices, spending all that money, what do you want to see from your children? Joy. You want to hear laughter. That's why you brought them there in the first place.
Joel Brooks:What do you think God wants to see from his children after he has worked in them this salvation? Joy, laughter. Your joy brings him joy. I know you're thinking, yeah, but but if God had to live in 2020 or now, God understands what we're going through, but he has worked in us salvation. And what he wants to see from us is joy and laughter and thankfulness.
Joel Brooks:He planned out our salvation long ago before we were born. He paid for our our salvation at a much greater price than a Disney trip. He paid for it with his own blood. And now what he wants to see from his children is trust, thankfulness, joy. Grumbling, you know what it does?
Joel Brooks:It reveals that we actually don't believe we are saved from anything. That's what grumbling reveals that that we actually don't believe we're saved from anything, that we're still a slave to whatever powers are around us. Grumbling reveals to us that we're living just like unsaved people. Perhaps we are unsaved. Paul uses extremely strong language here, when he describes the effects of grumbling.
Joel Brooks:It's kinda shocking actually. In verse 15, he says that if you don't grumble or dispute, then you are blameless and innocent and children of God and without blemish, which implies that if you do grumble or dispute, then you are not blameless, you are not innocent, you are not children of God, and you have blemishes. In other words, you don't really look like a Christian, but instead you look just like this crooked and twisted generation. Just let that sink in for a moment, the implications of what Paul is saying there. He's not talking about mere grumbling.
Joel Brooks:Grumbling reveals the state of our hearts. Jesus said in Matthew 12, that it is out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. And this means that when I grumble or when I get drawn into a heated argument with somebody, it is never due to the evil in their hearts. You hear me? When I grumble or I am drawn into a argument with somebody, a heated argument with somebody, it is never due to the evil in their hearts.
Joel Brooks:It is merely exposing the evil in mine. Out of the heart a man speaks. The only reason we ever attack others with our mouths is because our hearts are not at peace, but our hearts are at war. And so when we grumble, we need to listen. Listen to what's going on in our hearts.
Joel Brooks:Paul goes on to say that when we do not grumble or dispute like the rest of the world we will shine as lights in the world. Your translation might also say that you shine like stars in the sky. Paul gets a little poetic here. I like it. It's it's a beautiful image.
Joel Brooks:It says, the world is a dark place. It's full of grumbling. If you don't believe in the depravity of man, look in the comment section on the happiest article you can find. And you will see the depravity of man on full display. It's it's it's nothing but grumbling and complaining.
Joel Brooks:And Paul says that if we don't participate in that, if we don't grumble, if we don't get in these heated arguments, we actually bring a little bit of light to the world. People look up, they look at us in the darkness and they see us shining, and they become drawn to the beauty of that. Okay. I I know I have an addiction. It's been a few months, but I feel like I can finally quote from Lord of the Rings again.
Joel Brooks:It's it's not just an addiction with me, I think every pastor has a Lord of the Rings addiction. It's why they named their pets, you know, Frodo, Samwise. If you wanna get in any pastor's computer, the passwords always Gandalf, you know, you shall not pass. Anyway, I I so I I Lord of the Rings never leaves my bedside table. It's it's always there.
Joel Brooks:But there's this one moment that I was just I I kept thinking as I was preparing the sermon. And it's in the last book, Return of the King, Sam and Frodo, they're deep in Mordor, which of course is dark all of the time. It's towards the end of their journey, they're about to be discovered, it's a utterly hopeless situation. And you read these words, they are peeking among the cloud wreck above a dark tour high up in the mountains. Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while.
Joel Brooks:The beauty of it smote his heart. As he looked up out of the forsaken land, hope returned to him. For like a shaft clear and cold, the thought pierced him, that in the end, the shadow was only a small and passing thing. There was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. There is a light and a beauty far beyond the reach of the darkness of the world.
Joel Brooks:As Christians we have seen this light, we have experienced this light. Jesus Himself, He is the light of this world, and when we saw Him our hearts were smoked with His beauty. We were changed forever, we we came alive, the light of the world has come to us. And now Paul is saying, we're to let that light out. We're to let that light shine.
Joel Brooks:And trust me, trust God's word here that if we don't grumble, we become shining lights to people. They notice in a world filled with grumbling and arguing that there's something different and beautiful about that person there. They become drawn to Christ. Church, it's been a hard dark year. And when we've grumbled, we've added to the despair.
Joel Brooks:The times that we have refused to grumble though, the times that we were in Mordor, you know, and everybody else around us is grumbling, you know, Trump's name is mentioned and there's grumble, grumble, grumble. Biden's name is mentioned grumble, grumble, grumble. Your school's policy about COVID or your church's policy about COVID, grumble, grumble, grumble. But the times you have refused to participate in that. And it's taken work.
Joel Brooks:You're working it out. I'm refusing to grumble. I am refusing to be drawn into a heated argument. The times you've done that, you have shown like lights, and you have pointed people to the light of the world, Jesus himself living in you. And when we do that individually, we're this little starlight.
Joel Brooks:When we do it collectively, well, we're a city on a hill, a light shining to the whole world. And that's what Jesus is calling us to be. Pray with me. Jesus, we are here because you did not grumble or you did not complain at the task that was before you when you were actually working out our salvation. You were earning it for us, and you did it all for the joy that was set before you.
Joel Brooks:And Lord Jesus, now through your spirit you're living inside us. And Lord, I ask that we would shine, that the world might see we are different, that the world might come to know you. We pray this all in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
