Don't ignore who's watching your life.
Notice, so that you will prove or demonstrate to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach, now get this, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Paul isn't saying we'll go buy some land, build a commune, escape it. Try never to come in contact with unbelievers.
Go to a monastery. Paul isn't saying that he's actually informing them that our demonstration is intended not just in here with each other, but out there. Have you ever caught yourself complaining about life, even when things weren't that bad? It's easy to get swept up in a complaining spirit, but did you know that how we handle discontent can reveal a lot about our faith? In today's episode, you'll discover how a spirit of joy, rather than grumbling, can help you shine like a light in a dark world.
This message will challenge and inspire you to live with a heart of gratitude. Let's dive into the truth about how we can stop complaining and start reflecting Christ. So turn to the second chapter of Philippians and to where we left off at verse 14. In this phrase Paul is going to start issuing some more pointed commands and warnings.
It's going to step on all our toes. As we work through these few verses, what I want to do is give you four statements that Paul is effectively communicating to keep this church on track to keep individual Christians as well from being pulled out by the undertow of discontent and allow this complaining spirit to take up residency. The first command is this. Let me give it to you and then we'll look at the text.
You're already looking at me. Let me give you the point and then we'll look at it together. Don't complain about anything in life.
Really? Verse 14, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Now obviously there's a really critical word in the text that needs to be understood. It's translated in my Bible, all. Do all things without grumbling. Literally translated it needs to read do all things without grumbling. Now my personally revised translation that I'm much more comfortable with says something like do some things without grumbling. I like that. That suits me much better or try to do as many things as you can without grumbling.
That's better. See those are loopholes in all our revisions. Paul was literally writing do all things without grumbling. Stephen Runge writes that Paul really isn't allowing us to pick and choose what we will do with a happy contented heart. I know somebody's going to say, but it's by nature to complain.
It's my gift to the church. I try to exercise it often. Howard Hendricks would often say in class there are some people that are just born in the accusative case. Well can Paul actually mean all things? All?
As in like everything? Does this mean to cut your lawn without complaining? Does this mean do the laundry, paint the fence or do your homework or your chores or slug through those revisions or edits or change orders or ministry assignments?
Does that mean to deal with people in your job that want to make your life as miserable as theirs evidently is? Or is Paul referring to not grumbling whenever we come together to worship for an hour? I think I can do it. Some of you are going, man I've already blown it. The guy came up to me after the eight o'clock service. He said as soon as you finish your sermon, a lady behind him said I don't like that sermon. Hang with me now.
Make it through at least the next 30 minutes or so. The fact that Paul never clarifies or describes the object of grumbling leads New Testament authors, linguists to say that he is evidently intending to be understood as entirely, frustratingly comprehensive. No exclusions.
No outs. All means all. Now obviously this command relates to the things that are difficult, right?
It relates to the things that are undesirable, the things that are mundane. I mean we're not going to complain in the middle of vacation, at least not usually. We don't have a problem, you know, complaining or grumbling as we're going down that super slide at the water park.
I mean is that fun or what? Or sitting out on the deck at sunset and it's quiet and beautiful or perhaps today going to your favorite restaurant or biting into a hot Krispy Kreme or two or three. They're not chocolate glazed. You've stuck with just glazed in conviction. Good for you, Stephen.
I mean good for you for doing that. Now these kinds of circumstances don't need to come with a warning. You're not going to get that dozen that says please don't grumble. Or on that deck, there's no little sign out there, make sure you don't complain that you're sitting here at sunset. The word Paul uses in verse 14 for grumbling is a word that means to mutter or murmur under your breath. You can be heard but you just don't want it to be that obvious.
But you're going to complain. It means to express dissatisfaction. And by the way, as I studied and read nearly every commentator and scholar that I researched in my study all pointed to the fact that this word grumble is used over and over again in the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint as the descriptive word for the nation Israel.
Paul obviously with some of the expressions he uses is thinking of Israel. This is their bad example. They had things that were good examples but this was sort of a categorical bad example when you think of Israel. They grumbled when they were in Egypt. They grumbled when they were freed.
Oh, we'd just like to go back. They grumbled when they didn't have anything to eat and they grumbled at this miraculous manna that tasted like honey. They grumbled about their leadership. They grumbled against their God. They grumbled for 40 years. In fact, God says of them in the book of Numbers in chapter 14, how long will this evil people, this evil congregation grumble against me?
That's the point to remember. The psalmist summarizes the Israelites biography in the wilderness with this description in Psalm 106 23, they grumbled in their tents and they did not obey me. You see, you need to understand that grumbling is more than just complaining under your breath. It happens to be a theological problem which is why Paul follows up his comments that we've studied about the fact that God is invested and involved in everything you do, every aspect of life, sovereignly relating himself to every aspect. So grumbling then is the result of a lack of obedient humility.
It's actually a declaration of pride against God even if you just mutter it. I deserve better. See, it comes from the self-centered notion that we're getting something we don't deserve or we're not getting something we do deserve. Something isn't working out. It's time I registered some dissatisfaction and started grumbling and that uninvited guest, that brief stay has turned into a resident spirit. You know, as I was preparing, studying this text, a couple of little courses we used to teach our kids came to mind. They're good for grown-ups and some have come up and reminded me of others but I had these lyrics running through my mind and I finally did some surfing and found it.
Here it is. They grumble in the city. They grumble on the farm. They grumble at their neighbors.
They think it is no harm. They grumble when it's raining. They grumble when it's dry. They grumble all the year round.
Yes, they grumble till they die. Grumble on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Grumble on Thursday too.
Remember this? Grumble on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Grumble the whole week through. They, another stanza, grumble at their husbands. They grumble at their wives. They grumble at their children. They grumble at their parents. They grumble at their pastor. Okay, I made that one up but it fit the song here. They grumble in their schools, at their teachers, at the rules.
Get this? It is their way of life. Listen, this happens to be the national anthem of fallen humanity. It began with Adam. In fact, after sinning, the very first human being registered the very first complaint against God.
It's that woman you gave me. It's not a good place for an amen, brother. Adam, come back.
Adam becomes effectively the first complainer in human history and we're just like him. Oh, some are more obvious than others. Some mutter it. Some yell it.
But we're all related. And this song, this anthem is picked up by the patriarchs. It's picked up by the nation and guess what? It has swept into the dispensation of the church age.
And we sing it too. And now, Paul is warning the Philippians and he closes any and every loophole. There's no need to get frustrated with it. Accept it. And it brings the reminder though, which is why he's writing the church, that a complaining spirit doesn't just affect the complainer but everyone within earshot is affected, is influenced.
A complaining spirit loves company. That's why it's verbal. One author wrote about entering a triathlon. This was called a half Iron Man because everything was cut in half because they were not professionals. This author was actually a pastor who wanted to accomplish the feet because he needed the exercise. It could be the donuts, I don't know. But at any rate, he wrote that after the 1.2 mile swim and the 56 mile bike ride, he says, I didn't have much energy left for the 13.1 mile run. Neither did the fellow jogging next to me. I asked him how he was doing and I soon regretted asking him the question. He said, man, this is terrible.
This stinks. In fact, this race is the dumbest decision I've ever made in my life. I knew if I ran beside him for very long, I'd start agreeing with him. So I sped up. I eventually caught up to a 66-year-old grandmother. I love that.
I caught up. Her tone was just the opposite. She would say things like, it's hot. But you know, it's not raining.
That's better. Make sure you drink. We get thirsty so quickly.
Just stay hydrated. Keep it up, she would say. You're going to finish this race, she encouraged. He writes, I ran next to her until I couldn't keep up.
She waved and ran on ahead. What a difference. You know what I'm talking about.
Do these things, do all things without grumbling. Notice he adds to that, just to sort of lock it down even more, or disputing. Now the word he selects under inspiration is a word that refers to arguing or we could just simply call it in our vernacular bickering.
It's a word that gives us our English word dialoguing and yet the prefix understood in this context is a negative prefix. One author defined it as ill-natured, useless disputing. Another, quarreling and divisive arguing. One author made the interesting observation that grumbling seems to be emotional and disputing seems to be intellectual.
However, both are emanating from pride and discontent and both of them are useless, counterproductive, nothing's solved, nothing's fixed, becomes discouraged, discouraging and divisive. Now you've been with us perhaps and we're going through this letter, this wonderful letter to this wonderful church and the thought hits me. Paul is writing to this as a potential threat to the Philippians. I mean, this is one of the most effective, winsome, visionary, faithful, fruitful churches in the first century. Them too? Absolutely.
They're related to Adam as well. It is our nature even as believers to get caught in the undertow of a complaining and bickering disputing spirit and it just takes joy and hope out to sea. Something's got to give. Something's got to give. Don't complain about anything in life. Don't forget that you have come to life.
Let me give you a third. Don't ignore who's watching your life. Notice, so that you will prove or demonstrate to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach, now get this, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. In other words, you are right in the middle of it, smack dab in the center of it.
It's all around you. Paul isn't saying we'll go buy some land, build a commune, escape it. Try never to come in contact with unbelievers.
Go to a monastery. Paul isn't saying that he's actually informing them that our demonstration is intended not just in here with each other, but out there, out there, right in the middle of our crooked and perverted generation. Would you notice, by the way, that some things never change? Paul described his generation as crooked and perverted. The word for crooked comes from scalia. It means to be bent or twisted. In Paul's day, it referred to being morally twisted.
We use the term today and transliterate it in the medical community for scoliosis, the curvature, the abnormal curving or bending of the spine. Paul is describing the first century in the way that we can describe the 21st century, morally bent and twisted. With it comes an inability to render judgment or common sense.
See expressions of that. In fact, I came across one news agency that reported a major league baseball team, which I'll not name, was sued. They decided they had a home game in their stadium on Father's Day and decided what they do is pass out Father's Day gifts, and they were sued for passing out the gifts to fathers only, and they won. The same report told of a psychic who was actually awarded $986,000 when a doctor's CAT scan impaired her psychic abilities. You have to wonder how she won.
I mean, if she was really a psychic, wouldn't she have known not to have that done? Listen, the twisting and defiance of biblical truth is opening the door to all sorts of entitlement. Our culture is unable to render decisions of common sense, twisted, confused. Now he adds another word, perverted or perverse generation.
The word diastrefo is simply a way of adding to the idea in perhaps a categorical attempt. For those who abandon the plumb line, for those who abandon the straight line, drawn as it were in the sand, the standard of moral value, don't ignore those who are watching your life, but even further, let's not forget this, don't neglect, fourthly, those who desperately need life. Look at verse 15 again, the latter part and the first part of verse 16. Among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. Listen, when you think you've got a really bad living in whatever the state of discontent is you're living in, don't forget that the world, the unbelieving world around you is living in the state of darkness. So this is the offer of light to a world that is lost in the dark, a world that is hungry and thirsty for meaning, forgiveness, a clean conscience, hope, but it's wandering in the dark and it only grows darker. We sang a hymn earlier, the words couldn't have been more perfect.
Let me read through them. I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way. The sin that promised joy in life led me to the grave. I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will and if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still. But as I ran my hellbound race indifferent to the cost, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross and I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place.
You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all I know is grace. Now Lord, I would be yours alone and live, watch this, so all might see the strength to follow your commands could never come from me. But Father, use my ransomed life in any way you choose and let my song forever be my only boast is you. Hallelujah all I have is Christ.
Hallelujah, Jesus is my life. Let me summarize by drawing three principles from this passage and I'm going to read through them fairly quickly. Number one, when you refuse to complain about your life, you choose to submit to the purposes of God.
That's what you're doing. No matter how painful or difficult, you are humbly submitting to the purposes of God. Number two, when you refuse to compromise your light, you choose to demonstrate the character of God. When you refuse to mix, dilute, compromise, the character of God is revealed and as your father, you reflect his grace and love.
Number three, when you refuse to cover up the light, you choose to invite others to the grace of God. So in a sentence, get rid of the clouds of complaint and compromise and shine. That's who you are. That's what you do. Shine. Your world around you crooked and perverse is wandering in the dark.
You're the light turned on to show them the way to the word of life and the gospel of God and his grace. So how do we start? We'll go back to the very beginning. It isn't profound. It's just convicting.
Stop grumbling and complaining about life and each other. By the way, the world knows how to do that better than we'll ever know. I mean, they got it down. You turn your back and you are not safe. Are you different from them? They're watching.
They want to know. In fact, I do close with a simple testimony and yet very profound to me as I came across it from Chuck Colson. He's now with the Lord. But a few years ago, he was standing in a long line in the airport in Jakarta, Indonesia.
And for those of you that travel internationally, there's nothing quite as difficult as some of these international airports. He and some colleagues from Prison Fellowship had been traveling all night long, long, long flights. It was now early morning. The terminal was not air conditioned. He said it was hot and steamy and they were absolutely exhausted.
And he relates it, my passport was in my sticky hand. I was not only exhausted but exasperated at this long inefficient line snaking way ahead of us. And I was worried after all of it, we would miss our flight out of here. We had ministry friends waiting and rest. He says, but I became obviously by the Spirit of God determined not to let my frustration get the better of me.
So I chose to talk with my friends and we spent our time making the best of this frustrating situation, even laughing together from time to time. And they eventually flew away. Two years later, he received a letter from a businessman who lived in Singapore. The man had been a follower of Confucius, but he sent his children to a nearby Presbyterian church so that they could receive some quote moral training.
Be good for him. Well, one Sunday as he picked up his kids, he heard the end of the sermon in that church. A visiting missionary was holding up a copy of Chuck Colson's book, Born Again, and on the back a full cover picture of Chuck Colson.
A few months later, the businessman writes, I was stuck in a long, exasperating line in the steaming Jakarta airport in Indonesia. Glancing over into the next line, I spotted the same face I'd seen on the cover of a book whose title intrigued me, Born Again. He wrote, I was so taken by your demeanor and cheerfulness that when I got back to Singapore, I purchased your book.
I read it. And I want you to know I've committed my life to Jesus Christ. Listen, if anybody would ask you, how are you going to win a devoted man to Confucius, to Christ?
Well, there's got to be a semester of training for that. Who would ever guess that God would do it off the platform of someone who refused the undertow of discontent and muttering and grumbling, evidencing a spirit of humility and joy. So let's go impact the world. Let's go out there and be a testimony. By the way, out there, you know this, it's deeply devoted to darkness. And in many ways, it's not going to appreciate you shining a light in their eyes. Be gracious and winsome, but shine.
And you demonstrate first and foremost that distinctive that's unique in your demeanor, in your conversation. And God just may allow you to offer to them the word of life. That was Stephen Davey, and this is wisdom for the heart. Leaving the state of discontent isn't easy, but when we trust God's purposes and choose gratitude, we become a beacon of hope in a world lost in darkness. Let's commit to shining brightly, not through grumbling, but through joy in Christ. You can learn more about us by visiting wisdomonline.org. There you'll find Stephen's entire Bible teaching ministry, including the daily broadcasts and hundreds of sermons. Previous broadcasts are also available if you want to revisit older teachings.
And the best part? Stephen's messages are free and on demand. Visit wisdomonline.org anytime. Make plans to join us next time here on Wisdom for the Heart.
