You know the famous British philosopher John Ruskin once said, We have two basic aims in life.
Whatever we have to get more and wherever we are to go somewhere else. Well you know in that short quote I think John Ruskin pretty well sums up the human spirit. But it's interesting that the Bible comments to this very same dynamic. The Bible says Proverbs 27-20, Death and destruction are never satisfied.
And neither are the eyes of man ever satisfied. And you know folks you can corroborate this by simply listening to people at your office, on the metro, at school, over coffee, even at church. What do you hear? Well we tend to hear a steady stream of complaining about the way things are.
We tend to hear a steady stream of griping and murmuring about things not being the way we want them to be. Why do I have to be here? And why can't I be over there? And why am I still single? And I hate my parents and I hate my job. And how come things don't go the way I want them to go?
And how come she always gets what I can't get? And I don't like this and I don't like that and I don't like the other thing. Sound familiar?
It should because this is the way it is out there in our world system. Just listen. It's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about complaining, griping, murmuring. Because it comes out of a passage in the life of our study of the great man of God Moses. Numbers chapter 16 where we're going to see the Israelites do this very thing and we're going to watch how God responds. And out of that we're going to draw some lessons for you and me today.
So a little bit of background before we dig in. Remember that things have not been going so well lately for the Israelites. They've arrived at the very door to the promised land and there they hesitated in unbelief. There they refused to go into the land in obedience to God. And so as a result God pronounced a discipline, a punishment on them that they were going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. While every single one of them above the age of 20 died except for Caleb and Joshua. And then God said I'll bring you back and I'll lead your children into the land that you weren't willing to go into. Alright, so the Israelites turn around and they head off into 40 years of aimlessly wandering around in the desert.
And that's where we pick up the story. Numbers chapter 16 verse 1. The Bible says, Now Korah along with Dathan and Abiram, these are three men, rose up against Moses together with some 250 leaders of the people. These men assembled against Moses and Aaron and said, You have gone too far Moses and Aaron.
The whole community of Israel is holy, every one of them. So why do you exalt yourselves over the rest of the Lord's people? They're saying to them, Hey Moses, hey Aaron, I mean who died and made the two of you guys king, huh? I mean we ought to have an equal right to say what goes on out here in the desert as you've got.
And we just don't like the way things are being run out here, you know. Then Moses said to Korah, You've gone too far this time. It is really against the Lord that you and your followers have banded together. But as for us, Aaron and me, I mean who are we that you should grumble against us? Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram to come before him.
These were the other two ringleaders, you know, in this grumbling campaign. They hadn't even come out to face Moses. They had stayed back in their tents. Verse 14, And they said to Moses, You haven't brought us into any promised land flowing with milk and honey. Nor have you given us any inheritance of fields and vineyards like you promised. And now you want to lord it over us by commanding us to come out and meet with you?
Hey pal, we will not come. They say, Moses, you know what, we're sick of you and we're sick of you telling us what to do. And we're sick of you marching this round out here in the desert like you're little puppets.
We've got a raw deal here, it's not fair and we're not going to take it anymore. Grumble, mumble, murmur, complain. Alright, then Moses became very angry and he said to Korah, You and your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow. Each man is to take his censer.
A censer was a little pan in which the Levites and the priests burned incense. Take your censer and come before the Lord and tomorrow the Lord will show you who belongs to him and who is holy. Okay, so morning comes and now it's time for the showdown at the OK Corral.
You ready? Here we go. Verse 19, Thus Korah gathered all of his followers against Moses and Aaron at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire nation and the Lord said to Moses, Tell all the Israelites to move away from the tents of Korah and Dathan and Abiram. So Moses walked over to the tents of Dathan and Abiram and there he warned the Israelites and said, Move back from the tents of these wicked men or else you're going to get swept away with them. And look at this, so everyone moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, but Dathan and Abiram were standing at the doorway of their tents with their families and watching.
Man, the insolence of these two guys, the arrogance, you talk about having chutzpah friends. These guys stand at the tent in complete defiance of Moses while Moses is shooing everybody back in a way threatening disaster and they just stand there nonchalant at the doorway of their tent challenging Moses. Amazing. Well, the chickens are about to come home to roost, folks. Watch. Then Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord sent me to do everything I'm done. And it wasn't my idea.
Here's how you'll know. If these men, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, if these men die a natural death, then the Lord didn't send me. But if the Lord does something utterly new and the ground opens up and swallows them up with everything that belongs to them, then you will know that these men have murmured against the Lord. And then immediately the ground under these men split open and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with their households. All these men and all their possessions, they all went down alive into the grave with everything they owned. And then the earth closed back over them and they were gone, just gone.
After this, fire came out from the Lord and consumed the rest of the 250 men who were offering incense with Korah. And then all the people said, It is not good to murmur. No, no, not good. Now that's as far as we're going to go in our passage for today because we're going to stop now and we're going to ask our most important question. So are you ready? You ready? All right, here we go. Nice and loud.
One, two, three. So what? Yeah. You say, Lon, so what? See, I feel sorry for those guys.
Man, the earth swallows them up and closes over them. Bummer. But I mean, what difference does that make to me? Huh? Well, let's talk about that. We're going to talk about three questions we want to ask and answer about what these Israelites did.
What did they do? They murmured, they gripe, they complain. Here are three questions. Number one, what exactly is murmuring and complaining? Number two, why do we do it? And number three, how can we curtail it in our life? How can we get on top of this as followers of Christ?
Okay, so that's the plan. Question number one, what exactly is murmuring, complaining, griping? Well, the key issue I want us to understand here is that murmuring and complaining and griping is not just something we do with our mouth.
Watch. Paul says, Philippians 2 14, do all things without complaining or disputing. It's interesting that Paul linked up these two words, complaining and disputing.
And when we look and see what each one of them means, it's very revealing. Complaining, the first word Paul uses, literally means just to outwardly grumble with our mouth, just the way you think it, what it means about our circumstances. But the second word, disputing, literally means to be inwardly dissatisfied in our heart about how the way things are going. The point is in linking these two words up, what Paul's trying to tell us is that murmuring, complaining and griping is not primarily a sin of the mouth. It is actually a sin of the heart that bubbles over and eventually comes out of our mouth.
Remember what Jesus said, Matthew 12, verse 34. He said, out of the abundance of the what? The heart, the mouth speaks. Friends, you can be sure when you hear somebody griping, complaining and murmuring with their mouth, you can be sure that that very same kind of griping and complaining has been going on in their heart for a lot longer. And finally, it came out of their mouth, but it didn't start there. Murmuring and complaining is not primarily a sin of the mouth.
It is a sin of the heart. Now that leads to our second question, and that is why do we do this? Why do people murmur, complain and gripe? Well, remember what we said. The reason people complain with their mouth is because they're disputing things.
This is what Paul said in their heart. In other words, murmuring and complaining is just the symptom. The real disease lies much deeper. And what is the real disease?
Well, allow me to point out the real disease to you based on a story that Jesus told in Matthew chapter 20, a parable. It's a story about, it's called the workers in the vineyard. Here's how it goes. One morning, a landowner went and hired some day workers to go into his field for the day, and he agreed to pay them, 6 a.m., he agreed to pay them for the whole day's work, one denarius, one Roman silver coin. Okay, they shook hands, deal. Well, the same landowner, according to Jesus' story, comes later in the day, 9 a.m., and even later, noon, and even later, 3 p.m., and hires more day workers and sends them out into the same field as the 6 a.m. guys.
Well, at the end of the day, it's time to settle up. And so Jesus tells the story. The landowner calls in the 6 a.m. guys, and he gives them one denarius, exactly what he said he was going to give them. But he also calls in the 9 a.m. workers, the noon workers, and the 3 p.m. workers, and he gives all of them one denarius also. Now, verse 11, then the Bible says the 6 a.m. workers murmured, uh-oh, there's our word, murmured against the landowner. Now, let's stop and ask the question, why? Why did these guys murmur against the landowner?
Well, it's very simple, friends. The answer is they thought they'd been given a raw deal. They thought they'd been treated unfairly. And my purpose here is not to exegete this whole parable. My purpose is merely to illustrate why people murmur. We murmur when we believe that we've been given a raw deal. We murmur when we think that we've been treated unfairly.
Now, it's one thing to make that accusation against a human being. But the Bible says as followers of Christ, when we murmur, when we complain, when we gripe, it is really God that we're making the accusation against, not another human being, it is really God that we're questioning, questioning the choices that He's made for our life, questioning the wisdom of how He's running our life, accusing God of being unfair to us and giving us a raw deal. Isn't that what Moses said to Korah? He said, number 1611, it is really against, look, the Lord, that you and your followers have banded together. Back in Numbers 14, the Back to Egypt Club, God said to Moses, He said, how long will this wicked congregation grumble against, not you, Moses, me? In Exodus 16, Moses said, you are not murmuring against us, you're murmuring against the Lord. And finally, in Deuteronomy 1, God goes so far as to call rebellion against God and murmuring the same thing.
He says in verse 26 of Deuteronomy 1, you rebelled against the Lord and you murmured in your tents. Folks, why do we murmur and gripe and complain? It's because we believe we've been given a raw deal, we believe things are going unfairly for us, but as followers of Christ, what we are really doing when we murmur and complain, we are questioning and challenging the way God is running our life. J. Dwight Pentecost of Dallas Seminary said, and I quote, murmuring is the outward expression of an inner attitude towards God. It's an attitude of rebellion that shakes its fist at God and challenges His right to supreme rule in our life.
Now, you know what? You and I may never have thought about complaining that way, but this is precisely how God sees it. It's how He saw it here in Numbers 16 and it's how He sees it today. And friends, what this means is that murmuring, complaining, and griping is not a minor issue with God.
It is a serious sin because when we do this as followers of Christ, it offends God, it angers God because we're insulting His sovereignty, we're questioning His wisdom, and we are accusing Him of lying to us when He says He's running our life. He's running our life according to a good and perfect plan. Now, if all that's true, then we ought to be asking our third and final question and that is, wow, if it's really like you say it is, Lon, then this is not a good thing to do, right?
No, it isn't. Well, then how do we get on top of it? How do we beat it? How do we cure this in our lives? Well, let's remember that when we're murmuring, when we're complaining, it's always because, right? Always because there's some circumstance in our life that we don't like the way it's going.
I mean, I've never heard anybody murmur or complain when somebody gives them a thousand bucks they weren't expecting or when they get a raise at work they weren't expecting or, you know, if they go somewhere and somebody surprises them and gives them a brand new car. Whoever heard anybody complain about that? What do we complain about? We always complain about things that are going the way we don't want to see them go, right? And yet, God has some very important things that He tells us in the Bible about our circumstances, even the ones that don't go the way we want them to go. And what I'm trying to say to you is that the cure for complaining is that we need to believe what God tells us in the Bible about our circumstances, whether they're good, whether they're bad or whether they're in between. There are three things God tells us about our circumstances in the Bible that if we believe them, it'll cure complaining in our life.
Let me tell you what they are. Number one, if we want to cure complaining in our life, number one, we must believe God when He tells us that He is in absolute sovereign control of every detail that comes into our life. 1 Corinthians 10 13 says, God is faithful who will not allow you to be tested or tempted beyond what you can bear. Folks, this is an airtight promise that God makes to every follower of Christ.
But listen, there is no way He could make you and me this promise unless He is in utter control of everything that touches our lives. This is where all deliverance from complaining starts. It starts with the absolute unshakable belief that every circumstance in our life is utterly and thoroughly and completely from the hand of Almighty God.
That's where it starts. Number two, if we want to cure complaining in our life, secondly, we must believe God when He tells us that His ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55 verse 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, says the Lord. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. I love what Jesus said to His disciples, John 13 7, He said, what I am doing now you don't realize, but later you will understand.
You say, what's that mean? Friends, what that means is that many times God's choices for our life don't always look logical to us. What this means is that many times the plans God makes for our life when they first unfold don't look fair to us. It means many times God may bring things into our life that He chooses for us, that we don't understand, that we don't realize right now what He's doing.
And you know what? When we go to God and we ask Him to explain it to us, He's not going to explain it to us. A, because God wants us to walk by faith and not by explanations in sight, and B, because His ways are higher than our ways and if He explained it to us, you and I and our puny comprehension wouldn't get it anyway. But you can be sure of this, my friends, when God does something in your life that makes no sense to you, it makes perfect sense to Him. When God brings something in your life that looks unfair to you, you can be sure that God knows it is fair or He wouldn't have done it. His ways are above our ways, His thoughts are above our thoughts, and if you and I are going to walk through this life without a complaining spirit, we're going to have to accept the fact that there are times God does things in our life that we don't understand, that we can't figure out, that don't seem to be fair, but they are fair and they are right because God knows more than we know. Chuck Swindoll said, One of the marks of true spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control, watch now, without the need to always understand why He does what He does.
Third and finally, if we want to be complaining in our life, number three, we must believe God when He tells us that at every moment in time, at every moment in time, He is doing what is utterly best for us. Psalm 84-11 says no good thing. Look at this, no good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly. Romans 8-28, God works, what's the next word, what is it? All things together for good to those who love Him. Psalm 23 says He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters. Friends, this is the only way God knows how to lead His sheep. And if we want victory over complaining in our life, we must believe God when He tells us that if anything were better for us right now than the things He has put into our life, God would have already changed them.
And the fact He hasn't changed them means that in His superior wisdom, He knows this is exactly what's best for us at this moment in time. Now friends, you cannot prove that empirically. You cannot put that in a test tube. You cannot weigh that on a balance and be absolutely empirically proven that that's true. This is a faith statement.
We either believe this or we don't. You know, Fanny Crosby was the most prolific hymn writer in the history of the Christian church. She wrote over 9,000 hymns. You know many of her hymns, all the way my Savior leads me.
What have I to ask beside? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Another one is, pass me not, O gentle Savior, safe in the arms of Jesus.
And on and on and on we could go. Her hymns have blessed the souls and encouraged the hearts of more people than you and I could ever count. As a matter of fact, Ira Sankey, who was the song leader for Dwight L. Moody's evangelistic campaigns last century. He was kind of like the George Beverly Shay for Dwight L. Moody.
You understand what I'm saying? He once said, and I quote, the success of Moody's evangelistic campaigns. And remember, Moody led over a million people to Christ at his campaigns.
The success of his campaigns, listen, was due more to the hymns of Fanny Crosby than to any other human factor including the preaching of Moody. Amazing woman. However, she did not have an easy life. Fanny Crosby was blind from the age of six months. She was born able to see. But at six months old she got an infection in her eyes and some quack doctor put a pumice into her eyes that burned her retinas and blinded her for the rest of her life. Now it would have been very easy for Fanny Crosby to get bitter.
It would have been very easy for her to complain and gripe and mumble away the rest of her life. But she had a godly grandmother who took care of her during the days when her mom went to work. And this grandmother used to sit little Fanny on her knees and used to tell her over and over and over again, God always does what's right, Fanny. And the reason you are blind is because God knows this is right for you and you need to praise God for it.
And you know what? Fanny Crosby believed her grandmother. More importantly, Fanny Crosby believed God. And as a result, she was able to rise up and write 9,000 hymns of praise to Almighty God. She said when she was 95 years old, just before she died and I quote, she said, I believe, stop right there. She didn't say I doubt. She said, I believe, I believe that the greatest blessing God ever bestowed upon me was when he permitted my external vision to be closed.
By doing so, God consecrated me to the work that he had for me. She went on to say, all of us must have sorrows and disappointments, but we must trust. Well, not doubt.
Look at this. We must trust God's ways as best. His ways are far better than we could ever conceive for ourselves. And she concluded by saying, and we must never forget that if commended to God, our trials will always issue out in good. End of quote.
This is why that woman wrote all the way. My savior leads me not part of the way. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide? And she finishes the him by saying, when I get to heaven, this my song through endless ages. Jesus led me.
How much? All the way. Friends, let's conclude and say this. Some of you have got things going on in your life that you don't understand that don't make sense to you.
They look unfair. You think you got a raw deal? Well, folks, all I can do is tell you what God says. A, he's in absolute control. B, he's doing things that you're never going to understand right now. And C, what's happening to you is not a raw deal.
What's happening to you is not unfair. God is doing what he knows to be best. So here's the choice. We believe it or we don't. I got to tell you in 38 years of following Christ, going through some easy things and going through some really hard things. The only thing that's gotten me through is every time I've been faced with that choice, my friends, I have said, you know what? I cannot bring myself to doubt God. I'm sorry. I can't do it. I know him too well. I just can't do it.
It's not one of the above selections. And so if I can't doubt him, I don't have any other choice but to trust him and believe him. As hard as it is, that's what I'm going to do. And I'll tell you, folks, that's what's given me the strength to make it and my wife. And that's what will give you the strength to make it if you will believe God.
I don't care how hard it is. If you will believe what God tells you and not doubt him, I promise you, he'll see you through. He'll deliver you from complaining. And what Jesus said will come true. You don't understand it now, but one of these days you'll get it. And when you get it, you'll turn around and say to me, Jesus, you were right. You were right.
You led me all the way and you led me good. So what have we learned today? Friends, we've learned that when we murmur and complain, what we're really doing is questioning how God has run in our life. We've learned that when we do this, we dishonor God, we anger God, and this is not a good place to go. And finally, we've learned that the way to have victory over complaining in our life is to believe what God says, number one, to believe that he's in sovereign control of our life, number two, to believe that we're not going to always understand because his wisdom is higher than ours and to believe that if there were anything better that God could be doing for you right now, he'd be doing it.
He's doing what's best for you. Folks, my prayer for us is that we'll believe God. Doubting God is not an option, friends.
It isn't. And that we will be able to do what the apostle Paul said. Here's what he said in conclusion. He said, do all things without complaining or disputing that you may shine as lights in the world to a crooked and depraved generation. May God help us be those lights. Let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, as you know, it's really hard sometimes in life to believe you when it looks like everything's going in the wrong direction, when it looks like everything's just falling apart, Lord.
Plus, we've got our friends standing around complaining about their own life and encouraging us to complain about our life. Dear Lord Jesus, help us today to rise above all of that and in the arms of faith, Lord Jesus, to rise and embrace what you tell us and believe it. Not to believe it by experience but to believe it by faith because we know your character and we know you cannot lie to us. Lord Jesus, change the very way we react to our circumstances. Help us be lights in the world by the way we react in the eyes of a crooked and depraved generation, Lord. Use our lives to honor Christ by the way we live each and every day. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. What did God's people say? Amen.
