Have An Unhappy Complaining Day - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. It could be a lot worse. You see, it really could. And by the way, when the stakes are the greatest, it could be a lot worse. Visiting people in intensive care or hospice, I don't know how people lay there without Christ. I don't know.

You see, it could be a lot worse. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I want to ask you something. On your own, ask yourselves these three questions. Am I a complainer? Ask yourself that.

And by the way, if you can't come up with the right answer, ask those who are close to you. Ask people at work, in neighborhood, your family, your spouse, ask them. Am I a chronic complainer? Because you might be. Am I reaping the consequences of my complaining attitude? My life's not marked with joy.

It's not marked with peace. I'm a slave to the circumstances in my life. When they're great, I'm great.

When they're not great, I'm rotten. Maybe the most important question, am I willing to repent? Am I willing to stop that? You see, the antidote to complaining is thankfulness.

That's the antidote. Go to Luke 17 with me now. Luke chapter 17, verse 11. You know the story.

It's pretty familiar. And Luke writes this. He says, while Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met him. And they raised their voices, crying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said, go and show yourselves to the priest, which was required, by the way, by Levitical law. And as they were going, they were all cleansed. Now, just imagine.

Just imagine. This is even more astounding or more profound than the Exodus generation. These men were lepers. They couldn't have anything worse happen to you on this earth in that world, ostracized by everybody, put in your own colony, going through a really difficult way in a long, slow death. They were all cleansed.

How would you feel? Now, one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at Christ's feet, giving thanks to him.

And then Luke says this. He was a Samaritan. Now, remember, the Samaritans are the sort of half Jewish, sort of heretical wing.

They did not, did not like the Jews of Judah or Galilee, and the Jews hated them. And yet this Jewish rabbi prophet heals him, and he goes to him and worships him and thanks him for what he's done. And Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed, but nine, where are they?

And he says, was no one fine? He says, who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner? And then he said, stand up and go, your faith has made you well.

Now, this is kind of interesting on a couple of different levels. One thing here, there were 10 actions received and there were 10 attitudes chose, and only one gave thanks. The other 10 did not. And notice what he says is the blessing. He said, stand up and go, your faith has made you well.

That can't be from leprosy because all 10 were cleansed. The ungrateful ones were cleansed. But they didn't say thanks. Jesus says, but your attitude, your gratitude of gratitude, of gratitude, your thankfulness has made you well.

What's he mean spiritually well? You see, there's nothing we should be more than thankful. All of us are lepers. You see, all of us have sinned. There are none righteous, no, not one.

None of us have a uplifting, positive future. The wages of sin is death. Christ cleanses the expectation is, of course, thankfulness, gratitude. By the way, don't misunderstand. Secondly, thankfulness is far more than saying the right words. We can sing thank you. We can say thank you. But thankfulness is not the same thing as just what we say. It may be, but thankfulness is born in our heart.

It's an attitude that we have inside. It doesn't matter what the words are we say. It's like the parent, you know, the parents at a function and a man walks up and gives little Johnny a cookie and little Johnny's ready to shove it in his mouth and the parents say, stop. What is it you say to the nice man? What do you say to the nice man?

Thank you. And he puts it in. Now, is Johnny really have gratitude or not?

I don't know. But I know this, it's not enough just to say thank you. Maybe an illustration would be better when you think of what thanks is this is maybe the restaurant. You go to a restaurant and the hostess takes you to your table and you say thank you. And then the server comes out and offers you a menu and you say thank you. She says I have some coffee, would you like some coffee?

Yeah, thank you. She brings out the appetizer, thank you. She brings out the entree, thank you. She refills your coffee, thank you. She brings out dessert, thank you. She brings your bill and you say thank you. Now ask anyone who's ever served in a restaurant. There is not a never a direct correlation between how many thank yous you hear and the tip you receive.

Because a tip is thank you. You see, it's more than words. The definition of gratitude, to show that a kindness received is valued. It does involve our lips, but it has to generate from our hearts. There are levels of gratitude, sort of like stages.

Let's look at those for a moment. The first level, let's go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews chapter 13. As the writer of Hebrews is closing down this letter and he's given them everything in a nutshell at the end, he wants to say a particular thing and he says it in verse 15. He said through him or because of him, Jesus Christ, through him let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.

That is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. You see, it's good to do that. It's good to say thank you to God. It's good to sing thank you to God.

In fact, if you'll notice what he talks about, it uses the word continually. Thank you. Thank you. Wake up in the morning. Thank you for this new day.

Wake up beside a spouse. Thank you for my spouse. Meet the needs of your children. Thank you for my children. Thank you for my house. You see, thank you. Thank you.

Continually. Thank you. Thank you.

Continually. Thank you. Thank you. And actually say it to God.

Thank you. See, that's a level of thanks. He's assuming that our motive is sincere and sometimes it is and sometimes maybe it's not, but the point is we should say thank you to God, especially for Jesus Christ.

And then there's a second level. 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

We alluded to it in some of the songs we've sung. Verse 16 says, rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.

And then Paul says this. He says, in everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. In the midst of everything, give thanks.

In other words, no matter what it is you're going through, try to have that perspective of what is it I can really be thankful for in this situation. Years ago, I ran into a story from Budapest and a man goes to his rabbi and he complains that his life is unbearable because there are nine people living in a single room. And he said, we can't go on like this. Life is just unbearable.

What can I do? So the rabbi said to him, well, there is something you can do, but you have to tell me right now that you will commit to it no matter what it sounds like to you when I tell you what to do. The guy said, I'll do it because we're desperate. So the rabbi told him, take your goat from the outside stall and bring the goat into the room with you and keep him there for a week and then come back. So a week later, a week later, the man came back to the rabbi and he says, rabbi, we can't stand it. That goat is filthy. That goat stinks. He said, okay. He said, now there's the second stage. I want you to go home and take the goat out of the room and put him back in a stall. And so he does. The next week, the man comes in radiant before the rabbi and exclaims, life is beautiful.

We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat in the room. It's sort of like that's for a lot of times. You see, the rabbi had a lot of wisdom. Whenever you think about complaining instead of giving thanks, please understand something. Whatever your situation is, it could be a lot worse. You see, it really could. And by the way, when the stakes are the greatest, it could be a lot worse. Visiting people, intensive care, hospice, I don't know how people lay there without Christ. I don't know.

You see, it could be a lot worse. So, fruit of our lips in everything, and now sort of the graduate school, Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Paul talking about the filling or the controlling of the Spirit of God in verse 18.

He said, do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled or controlled by the Spirit of God. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always, remember the word, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. First, just give thanks with your lips. Secondly, give thanks in everything, in the midst of it. Now, Paul says, give thanks for all things. Wow, that's sort of the Mount Everest of thankfulness. James McDonald, in his book, Lord Change My Attitude, says this, maybe you're reading this with a health crisis or a great sorrow that won't go away.

Maybe you've got a financial need. You and I need, he says, to get to the place by faith where we can say thank you, God. This is the thing that you're using in my life.

You've allowed it because you love me and I trust you. Thank you, God, even for this. He then says, and when we allow the Lord to bring us into that kind of thankfulness, we will experience a depth of joy that we never thought was possible. You see, thanking God, not just in everything, but thanking God for everything. We need to remember, we truly need to remember what God has done for us. Thankfulness is a decision we make. You make a decision.

It's a choice. Turn with me to Psalm. The last passage I want to look at is Psalm 107, a thanksgiving psalm. But I want you to just see what the psalmist writes here. Just a couple verses out of this psalm. The psalmist writes, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His loving kindness is everlasting. One of the favorite words of the psalmist, the great Hebrew word hesed, which means loyal, love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, all wrapped into one, hesed.

Thank you for your hesed. And then look at verse eight, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for the wonders, he says, and for his wonders to the sons of men. Verse 15, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. Verse 21, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the son of men.

Verse 31, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. You see, the psalmist is saying, look, you've got to do this. It's a decision. And by the way, it's a decision based in reality.

You are the recipient of the grace, love, mercy of God, the forgiveness of God. You see, there's a reality to that. And look at the wonders that God has given us.

Think of all the things that God has given us, the uniqueness of our biological life, our biological life, the uniqueness of our planet, the uniqueness, the blessing that we have. See, there's a reality of that. Thankfulness is a decision. It's a decision based in reality.

And it's a life changing kind of decision. It's all fine in one word to me, the first word of the psalm. Oh, you see that?

Oh, what's that mean? It has an emotional content to it. He's saying, oh, give thanks to the Lord. You see, be thankful.

It's the passion of the message. Again, let me ask you three questions. One is, am I a thankful person?

And again, if you don't know, ask somebody else. Am I a thankful person? Do I value acts of kindness from God and from others in my life?

Do I express that value? Am I seeing the blessings of thanksgiving in my life? You see, if you're a thankful person, it'll show up. It'll show up on your face. There's almost always a smile on the face of a thankful person. They have a sense of peace, a sense of joy, a sense of contentment.

It's there. By the way, I have met many people like that, even in our own church. And I know of people that I have visited in the hospital and you can't wipe the smile off their face and they're the patient. It's astounding. Maybe the first word you hear instead of how terrible this surgery must have been is, isn't God good?

And in some cases, the next thing you hear is sort of a surprise. How are you doing? Well, you're not visiting me. I'm visiting you. I'm here to see how you're doing.

You say, how do you do that? They've chosen the attitude. They've gone through the same surgery. They face the same rehab.

They just have a completely different perspective. Am I seeing the blessings of thankfulness in my life? What percentage of my thoughts are focused on good and positive and praiseworthy things? Sort of what Paul said, let your mind dwell on these. What's your attitude?

What do you think about? Secondly, how often do I go out of my way to thank God and to thank others who have done things for me and meant it? And am I choosing thankfulness over complaining moment by moment in my life? Because, by the way, you have that choice every moment. You could leave here and say, man, that guy wouldn't shut up. That was really long. It was too hot. It was too hot.

What are they doing? It's too cold. Someone wasn't friendly to me. You see, you could do it. And I know some of you do.

That's a choice you make. Over 250 years ago, I've loved this story ever since I heard it as an early Christian by Matthew Henry, a great biblical scholar who was robbed. And this is what he wrote in his journal. Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before. He says, secondly, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life. Thirdly, he says, let me be thankful.

He says that although they took my all, it wasn't much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed. And he said, and not I who robbed another. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed.

And he said, and not I who robbed another. Lord, I am thankful. You see, that's a thankful person.

Put yourself in that same spot. What would the words be come out of your mouth? What are the thoughts in your head?

And what's the feeling in your heart? So this Thursday, the choice will become yours. Are you going to have a happy thanksgiving or an unhappy complaining day?

In fact, by the way, that's your choice every day. Let's pray. Father, I am afraid that often when we say thank you, we may mean it for a split second or even a couple minutes. But immediately after we do, we find ourselves just like the Exodus generation going back to complaining. Father, complaining is not only chronic among us, but it's contagious.

When we are around people who complain, we find ourselves complaining. Father, what I would pray is that we really understand how truly blessed we are. That every good thing that we have in our life comes from your hand. That you have placed this in our lives in this world. That there is a measure of adversity that has passed through your sovereign loving heart that comes to each of us. And that your grace is sufficient to get us through. And that we can do all things through him which strengthens us. Father, we should be known as people of gratitude because of the kindness that we have received and the value that we give to it. Father, I pray that we challenge our heart.

Are we complaining people or are we thankful? In Christ's name, amen. And you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.