Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
October 13 P.M.
Christian Lights Do Not Murmur
Reading - Philippians 2.12-18
Our Sunday evening series is titled... Hearts Fit for The Journey.
We are what we think... We are what we are in here... In our heart.
So... If we are to enjoy the JOURNEY OF LIFE... We must prepare our hearts.
All too often we do not enjoy the journey because of all the baggage we are carrying. With this series of lessons... We are learning to TRAVEL LIGHT. We are learning how to jettison the everyday psychological baggage which...
- Burdens our hearts...
- Drags us down...
- Exhausts us physically...
- Tries our patience...
- Depresses us...
- Holds us back...
- Makes us weary of the journey...
DO YOU KNOW SOME THINGS IN LIFE THAT HAVE THIS EFFECT ON US?
Tonight we want to notice something that really inhibits our spiritual success as individuals and as a church... Something that really contributes to making life miserable... It is...
- Murmuring...
- Complaining...
- Faultfinding.
And so many of us are guilty... RIGHT?
Let me begin with a story... A circus owner walked into a restaurant to see everyone crowded around a table watching a little show... On the table was an upside down pot and a duck tap dancing on top of it. The circus owner was so impressed that he offered to buy the duck from its owner. After some wheeling and dealing they settled for $10,000 for the duck and the pot.
Three days later the circus owner runs back to the restaurant in anger... Your duck is a rip-off! I put him on the pot before a whole audience and he didn't dance a single step!... So... Asked the duck's former owner... Did you remember to light the candle under the pot?
Well... That might be one reason that someone would put a lighted candle under a pot... But that's not what candles are for!... Is it? Jesus said... In the Sermon on the Mount... Candles are meant to give light to all who are in the house.
In like manner... Our Christian lives are to shine before men. The reason is that we are to be a positive influence on others around us. Listen to Paul from our reading... "Do everything without complaining or arguing. Do all things without murmuring and disputing" (WHY???)... So that you may be blameless and pure as the children of God... Shinning like stars... LIKE CANDLES in a perverted age... In a crooked generation.
Let's begin by noticing closely just what this verse is really saying.
First... Paul says that the Christian is a light shinning in a dark world. Jesus said..."You are the light of the world... You are the salt of the earth." We all have influence... People are watching us... Listening to us... We are not alone in this world. Paul says... "No man is an island... No man lives and dies to himself."
The question is not are we influencing others?
The question is HOW are we influencing them?
Secondly... Paul says... Our light... Our examples... Our influence... are enhanced OR diminished by how we deal with life's circumstances and situations. How we act and react to daily life and living. Whether we murmur... complain... and find fault, or whether we are found rejoicing?
Thirdly... Blamelessness and purity in the church of God at Bella Vista is partly dependant upon our ability to control our tongues in this matter of murmuring and complaining among one another.
Then number four... He says plainly... Murmuring is forbidden in all areas of life.
Do you see it?... Do all things... In everything without... (WHAT?)... Complaint.
Folk... This is powerful stuff. When have you ever heard it preached...
- That the purity of each individual Christian...
- That the purity of a church was based upon NOT complaining?
Usually we understand a church is pure if...
- It is doctrinally sound.
- If its members live good... clean... morally pure lives.
But Paul says to those in the church at Philippi... and to us... NO... There is more... Purity... Blamelessness before God and the world is a life without complaints... A life free of murmuring.
The second thing I want to notice is... What God thinks of murmuring.
I believe we can catch a glimpse of what God thinks of a particular sin in two ways...
First... By the frequency of its condemnation. If God says something is wrong once... It is wrong... RIGHT? However... If He says something is wrong more than once... Then this tells us how strongly God feels about a particular sin.
Did you know that MURMURING is mentioned more than 40 times in the Bible... And each time it is in a negative connotation?... Murmuring is outright condemned by God.
- First Corinthians 10.10 says... Neither murmur as did some of them did and were destroyed.
- Philippians 2.14... Do all things without murmuring.
- James 5.9... Do not grumble or complain against one another.
- Jude 16 defines murmurs... complainers... fault finders as evil and sinful men who walk after their own lust.
The command is clear isn't it?... God hates murmuring... God says stop complaining. He says... My children... The church... This church... Must not be found murmuring.
Secondly... We note that what God thinks of a sin can be seen by the context He places it within... Within the company it keeps. In First Corinthians ten... Paul gives five failures of the Israelite people. Because of these failures they were not pleasing to God... And as a result they lost their reward. The warning is that we must not lose our reward, our blessings by following suit. Listen as I read these warnings from Israeli history...
- Do not lust after evil things... Verse 6.
- Do not become an idolater... Verse 7.
- Do not commit sexual immorality... Verse 8.
- Do not test or try God... Verse 9.
- Do not grumble... murmur... or complain... Verse 10.
This same test can be applied to Jude verses 15 and 16. The list there goes like this:... "The Ungodly... Sinners... Grumblers... Faultfinders... The lustful... And braggarts... Those that boast and flatter themselves." Not a very impressive list... Not a list any of us would want to be included in... RIGHT?
The third point in our lesson is... What are some of the consequences of murmuring and complaining? The first and worst thing is that it discourages others.
Moses was ready to do God's will... After overcoming all his excuses... At the burning bush... He went to Egypt to deliver his people... But in Exodus 5.21... The people of Israel complained because Moses was making Pharaoh mad. Now here is Moses working God's plan to deliver Israel from hundreds of years of bondage... Yet they are complaining because life is not comfortable to them... And God's deliverance is not going to suit them.
Scripture says Moses became discouraged and wanted to quit. Is it possible that we are responsible for...
- A soul being lost...
- A soul NOT being delivered from the bondage of sin...
Because we discouraged them by our fussing... griping and complaining?
Secondly... We note that murmuring is both malignant and contagious.
When Israel complained in Exodus 5.21... We find Moses complaining in 5.22 & 5.23. Grumbling breeds grumbling... Ever notice how this is true? Boy it's tough... When someone starts to complain, not to just jump in there and carry on... RIGHT? Murmuring is malignant... It grows like a cancer. You see church, complaining grows in two ways... It grows in intensity... In severity... And it spreads numerically.
Let me illustrate... Our complaints begin small.
- We complain about the lack of our spouse's sensitivity... He doesn't help me with the dishes... She is not appreciative of my hard work at the office.
- We complain about the length of the preacher's sermons.
- The decisions of the Eldership.
- Perhaps the lack of friendliness on the part of someone in the church family.
Then this cancer begins to grow... The malignancy goes much deeper... And deeper still. Before we know it... We're looking for another spouse... Another preacher... New elders... And we're found visiting other churches. What is wrong?... Murmuring is cancerous.
Folk... We've seen it happen right here in this congregation. We must not hide our face from this sin... But acknowledge it... Confess it... And deal with it appropriately... Or it will destroy us individually and corporately as a church family.
Then grumbling grows numerically. It spreads through the church until it affects everybody... The whole congregation is weakened. Did you know that murmurs tend to operate in groups?
Most often... In the Gospel narratives... We see a plurality of murmurs...
- The Scribes...
- The Pharisees...
- The Sadducees...
Fussing... Complaining.... Murmuring about Jesus. Grumbling... Murmuring... Complaining... Faultfinding grows... Not only in its severity... But also it spreads numerically among others around us.
Well... God delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery... He brought them to the very edge of the Promise Land... But this didn't stop their complaining... They just found something else to complain about... Remember this morning?
- The water...
- The lack of spices and onions...
- The meatless diet...
- The leadership of Moses and Aaron...
You see... Even when God blesses us richly... Beyond our imagination... We still murmur... RIGHT? God deliver us from this spiritual cancer!!
If you want to know how God feels about murmuring... complaining... faultfinding... If you want to know the consequences of such ugly behavior... Consider this... In the Old Testament it caused Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. In the New Testament, murmuring placed Jesus on the cross. QUESTION... What ugly consequences are we bringing on God's people by our murmuring?
Next... I want us to understand that there is no doubt that murmuring is a sin... And that it separates us form God. Why do you think this is so?... Why is murmuring such a bad sin?
I believe we can see the answer in Exodus 16.8... Moses says... The Lord hears your grumbling which you grumble against Him… Moses said... Your complaints are not against us... Moses and Aaron... But against (WHOM?)... God.
This is it... All our murmuring is against God. Here it is... Complaining is a lack of faith.
- Israel fussed about Moses making Pharaoh mad... But this was God's way of working
their deliverance.
- They complained at the Red Sea... Why have you brought us out here to die... To be killed
by the sword or drown in the sea... What kind of choice is this? As they murmured, one of the greatest miracles of all time was about to take place.
- They murmured at Kadesh-Barnea because there was no grain... no figs... no grapes...
no pomegranates... and no water.
Even though God had led them for 40 years... Provided them with manna every morning... Delivered them from their enemies... Healed their diseases... Their shoes didn't wear out... Their clothes didn't rot... Their food didn't spoil over the Sabbath... Yet they complained!!
Sound like anybody you know??? Here it is church... We complain about our current circumstance or situation, but perhaps God is in this circumstance ready to give us...
- Some great blessing...
- Some great deliverance...
- Some great demonstration of His power.
Perhaps we just need to be like David..." Be still and know that I am God." Perhaps we need to be still and let God work His will... His plan in our life... Or in the church. Murmuring is a sin because it is faithlessness toward God and His ability to work all things out to our benefit... To our good.
A little side trip here... I believe we can see how God hates the sin of murmuring by how He treated it in His chosen people. In Numbers fourteen... God promises those who complain would die in the Wilderness of Sinai. Two chapters later Korah led 250 complainers to Moses. God responded by opening up the ground swallowing them all... Along with their belongings. Sure enough, the next day the malignancy had spread to many others of the congregation. They didn't like how God had handled the situation. As a result... God sent a plague... And what happened church?... 14,700 murmurers died. Are we beginning to get the message?... God hates MURMURING... COMPLAINING.
NOTICE WITH ME NOW THE CAUSE OF MURMURING
I think the first and major cause is an inordinate focus on self. Church, when you hear me complain, you can just automatically know that it is my own selfishness that is prompting my fussing... my complaining... my murmuring.
In the case of Israel notice the common denominator that was always present...
- Exodus 5.21... Moses you have made US an offense to Pharaoh.
- Exodus 15.24... What shall WE drink?
- Exodus 17.3... Why have you brought US out of Egypt to kill US?
- Numbers 20.4 & 5... Why did you bring us to die here... Why did you bring us to this terrible place where there is no grain... no figs... no grapes... no pomegranates... no water?
Listen to the self-centeredness in these verses from Exodus 14.11 & 12... "They said to Moses... Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?... What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt... Leave us alone... Let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!
US... WE... ME... Their focus was not on God and His power and purpose for this church in the wilderness... But upon themselves and their own selfish wants. It was not... "God have Your way with me... Thy will be done... But... I want my will to be done... I want my way." Aren't we glad that Jesus didn't have this kind of grumbling attitude in the Garden?
Another cause of murmuring is because we think that our complaining will change the circumstances... It won't. We think that with a change in circumstance and situation that we will stop complaining... We Won't!!
For instance...
- Does a new husband... Or new wife always stop the murmuring?... NO!!
- Does changing preachers stop the complaining in a congregation?... NO!!
If it did... All churches would just change once and it would be all over. This is the reason we don't care if complainers come to our congregation or not... Because more likely than not... If they complained there... They'll complain here... If they were dissatisfied there... They'll probably become dissatisfied here.
You see... A change in circumstance and situation does little or nothing to stop our murmuring... Because complaining is in here... In the mind. Folk... Murmuring is a heart condition... Not a condition of circumstance... And situation.
Well... this is terrible... What is the cure for such a sin? What can we do to break this ugly habit?
We must know that the cure is not in a change of circumstance... But how we view the circumstance in relationship to God.
- Do we trust Him?... Do we have confidence in Him?
- Do we really believe that He is omnipotent?... That He is still in control?
- Do we believe that... Whatever the situation... Whatever the circumstance... That He is working all things out to our benefit... To our good?
How do we respond to life's challenges?
- Do we see these challenges... These struggles through the power & presence of God?
- Do we ask Him to guide and go with us through the hard times?
- Or do we respond by murmuring and complaining?
The ship was lost in the storm. The roar of the waves crashing onto the rocks could be heard on deck. The Captain said... "Keep looking... Keep looking for the lights along the shore. Keep watching." They never saw the lights. The ship slammed into to the limestone bluffs and hundreds of lives were lost. The next day they found the man responsible for keeping the shore light burning. Complaining... Murmuring... He said... It was cold... Foggy... Damp... And I thought nobody will be coming into the harbor on a night like this... So I didn't light the lights...
From this incident Philip Bliss wrote...
"Brightly beams our Fathers mercy... From His light house evermore.
But to US He gives the keeping... Of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning... Send a gleam across the waves.
Some poor fainting... Struggling seaman... You may rescue... You may save."
We must know this tonight... The communities of Bella Vista... Bentonville... and Rogers will come to know God by our light shinning in this dark age... In this crooked and perverse generation.
Are we keeping our light...
- Trimmed...
- Bright...
- True...
- And pure...
By our saying... NO... No... I will not murmur... I will not complain.
If you're here tonight and you've seen the lights along the shore and want to be a participant in God's salvation made possible by the blood of Jesus, we want you to come in faith... repentance... and baptism... Become a child of God.
Perhaps some of us have not kept our light trimmed... bright... and true... by our murmuring and complaining. Tonight is the time to ask God help us change.
If you're subject to this invitation... Come as we stand and sing this invitation song.
