A SPIRITUAL WORKOUT (2): NO GRUMBLING!

(Phil. 2:14-15)
August 12, 2018

Read Phil 2:14-15: This instruction didn’t come out of left field. It has
context. V. 12: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Work
out your own salvation – live up to the family name. You’re a child of God;
act like it! Great. But the devil is in the details, right? You don’t want to be
like the cowboy who showed up with a dachshund trailing behind. Someone
asked, “Why the dachshund?” He said, “Somebody told me to get a long little
doggy!” Not quite what they meant. The devil is in the details!

So, Paul could have said a lot of things about how to work out your own
salvation. But he gets specific given the problem that’s cropping up in
Philippi. He’s heading toward 4:2, where he will urge Euodia and Syntyche to
“agree in the Lord.” But he is building such a case they’ll say “Uncle” before
he even gets there! So here’s one more case for unity as a way to work out
your salvation – and the detail is – No grumbling and No disputing!

I. The Requirement

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Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” The detail. “Quit griping
and fighting.” “All things” is in emphatic. “Do (pres) all things without
complaint or dispute. Not some things – all things. Does anyone hear Mom’s
voice here? I do. As the oldest of 11 kids, grumbling and fighting was a
constant around our house. “His hamburger is bigger than mine!” “How
come he got to go swimming?” “Jon is wearing my socks – again.” Mom
would’ve taken a little relief. Paul wants it all gone in all things – all the time!

My brothers and I had a little quartet when we were kids. One of our most
requested songs was “The Grumblers Song.” “In country, town or city, some
people can be found / Who spend their lives in grumbling, at everything
around. / Oh, yes, they always grumble, no matter what we say, / For these
are chronic grumblers and they grumble night and day. / O they grumble on
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, grumble on Thursday, too. Grumble on
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, grumble the whole week through.

They grumble at their husbands; they grumble at their wives.

They grumble at their children; It is their way of life.
They grumble at their parents; they grumble at the school.
They grumble at their teacher; And they grumble at all rules.
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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; and they grumble till they die.

Humorous? Sure! We laugh and then the fatal mistake -- we all assume it’s
someone else. But it’s not. It’s not your neighbor or the guy down the street
or the one sitting next to you this morning. It’s you – and it’s me. Someone
else may be worse – but we’re all guilty; we all think it is justified in our case.
It’s toxic. And Paul commands – “Stop it. All the time. Never justified.”

A bunch of chickens running around a farm with missing feathers – some with
open sores on their skin. The farmer explained: “Oh, they like to peck at one
another.” One pecks; the other pecks back. God hates that. Gal 5:15: “But if
you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one
another.” What goes around comes around. Play that game and you’ll get
yours sooner or later. But a better reason to give it up – because Jesus asks
you to. “Work out your own salvation – by not grumbling and fighting.”

II. The Rebellious Context

So, what drives disputes? First, the flesh! -- our natural tendency to complain
and enter disputes from our own internal workings – the flesh, the old man,
indwelling sin. That old guy is still around protecting his own interests which
means conflict and grumbling. But 2nd is the world! The Philippians lived ““in
the midst of a crooked and twisted generation”, and – so do we! “Crooked and
twisted” could mean a lot of things. But in this context it means people who
grumble and fight. That’s an unconscious challenge to God’s goodness!

“Crooked and twisted” refers to Moses’ last speech where he says of older
Israelites: Deut 32:5: “They have dealt corruptly with him [God]; they are no
longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and
twisted generation.” And what was the primary offense – the orgy at the
golden calf? A murderous rampage? Sexual immorality? No – their crime was
they were the all-time great grumblers! All-time, all-stars! That got them
labeled “crooked and twisted” by God. They doubted God’s goodness after
He performed some of the greatest miracles in history to save them from
slavery in Egypt. They focused on today’s problem rather than eternity’s
promise. They missed the big picture for a trivial problem.

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It’s all over Exod and Numbers. Exod 16:2 And the whole congregation of the
people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” Num
14:2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The
whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of
Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!” -- a wish God granted
them! Num 16:41 41 The congregation of the people of Israel grumbled
against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the
LORD.” . . . 44 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from the
midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”

Listen, Beloved, we think of grumbling and little infighting as minor offenses.

Not God. He knows that chronic complaining creates twisted people. Paul’s
putting a choice to the Philippians: “You can either shine as lights among a
crooked and twisted world by not complaining; or you can become part of a
twisted and perverse generation by complaining. It’s door # 1 or door # 2?
And if you consistently choose # 2, it may show you don’t even have saving
faith. You’re not working out your own salvation – bc you don’t have any!
That’s how serious this is.” Paul knows giving way to a little innocent
grumbling and complaining introduces a toxic poison that destroys the whole.

A tabloid headline in England in 1994 read: “Killer Bug Ate My Face.” It

reported 7 cases of a strep A bacteria (not = to strep throat) that invades a
body. Necrotizing faciitis begins which means the flesh starts to die at an
incredible rate of several inches per hour. Eventually toxic shock causes the
organs to shut down and death ensues. Chronic grumbling and disputes may
not work as fast, but they are just as deadly as Israel found out. Grumbling and
disputing can only happen in a context of challenge against God’s goodness.

III. The Reason

Why no grumbling or infighting? 15 that you may be blameless and innocent,

children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted
generation.” This is mature Xn living. Blameless, innocent, children of God,
without blemish. This is top-shelf incentive, and Paul is saying we can’t get
there unless we eliminate the complaints and disputes. If we expect to work
out our own salvation with fear and trembling, these have to go.

“Blameless” isn’t sinless perfection, not in this life. It means “above reproach”
– no charge would be sustainable against this person or church. Daniel is a
perfect example. When his enemies hoped to find something against him –
some disloyalty to the king, some manipulation of the books, some
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underhanded dealing – they could find nothing. Dan 6:5: "We shall not find
any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection
with the law of his God.” Their only hope to deep-six him was to make it
illegal to follow God. That’s a high standard, and you can’t get there if you are
more interested in disputes and grumbling than in the things of God.

“Innocent” means unmixed. Pure. 100% gold. No alloy. No mixed motives.

No saying, “I want Christ,” while acting selfishly! No hypocrites. Alex
Strauch tells of a friend, Brian, who installed a computer system for a man.
But the guy said he couldn’t pay. Brian said he was the most unreasonable,
mean-spirited person he’d ever dealt with. One day he asked, “What is your
business?” The guy replied, “It’s a conflict management organization!”
Brian thought, “Really – conflict management? And you won’t even talk
about a payment plan?!” That must not be us who are part of God’s family!
The world is crooked; we are to be straight and blameless. But when we’re at
odds with each other, we’re not very straight! We’ve got mixed motives.

That’s why Paul says, “15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of
God.” He’s not saying we are to become children of God; he’s reminding us
who we already are. So live like it! The children of Allan and Twyla McNeff
got into a lot of fights. And occasionally we did some grumbling – altho Mom
didn’t let that go for long. We were doing what comes naturally. But children
of God have the power to avoid what comes naturally – to live by faith – to
realize we don’t have to fix every perceived wrong and win every argument.
God’s children have a great Father. Our standing as a child of God is way too
high to tarnish with the complaints and disputes that we sometimes enter into.

This actually happened in a courtroom one day. A divorce attorney asked a

woman, “Do you and my client have any kids together?” She answered, “We
do – twin boys.” The lawyer then asked, “And is my client the father of both
of those children?” Well, we are! Children of the same Father. To respect and
love each other, rather than devouring one another, is the least that our Father
expects. Acting like who we are – children of God. That’s the reason for no
grumbling and disputes. They give a false representation of the family.

IV. The Result

Here is the ultimate motivation behind avoiding complaints and grumbling

and disputes -- 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God
without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among
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whom you shine in the world.” Listen, as believers in Jesus Christ, our eternal
destiny is settled – once and for all, right? Phil 3:20: “But our citizenship is in
heaven.” We’re already citizens of heaven and that’s now our final
destination. So why doesn’t God just snatch us there the minute we’re saved?
Why leave us here to deal with this messy life?

Well, there are a lot of reasons for that, but one of the main ones is in Mt 3:8:
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” That fruit takes many forms – the
fruit of the Spirit, being lived out in a life characterized by “love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control” (Gal
5:22-23). A true Xn existence will look like this more and more. But this fruit
is not just for my own happiness. It’s also intended to show off the gospel, by
word and deed, to others who do not know Christ. To give them opportunity to
accept Him as well. To lead them to the fruit of repentance as well.

So when we give up the grumbling and begin to live like children of God, we
“shine as lights in the world.” That’s ultimately what this is about – it’s a way
to show the world a God who loves them; a Savior who died for them and a
Father who can give them hope and meaning in the midst of a “crooked and
twisted generation” that can offer nothing like that. Simply obeying His
command to “do all things without grumbling or disputing” will make us shine
like neon lights in a very dark world. That’s worth pursuing, isn’t it?

Why does that make us lights? I’ll tell you why. The reason our generation is
crooked and twisted is the same as it’s always been – ultimately people put
their own interests above those of others. We’re like the Long Ranger and
Tonto when the Indians had them surrounded and were about to capture and
torture them. The Lone Ranger turns to Tonto and asks, “What shall we do
now, Tonto?” And Tonto says, “What you mean “we” Kemosasbe?” Our old
nature will always look out for ourselves first. That’s what grumbling and
disputes are all about – me first. It takes a regenerated person to say, “No –
it’s not going to be about me. It’s going to be about Him.” And it is that
selfless devotion to each other and Christ that flips the switch that allows us to
shine as selfless lights in a selfish world.

That’s what Jesus was encouraging when He said in Mt 5:16, “In the same
way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Listen, no Xn has an excuse
for not being involved in evangelism. The best evangelism there is is showing
patience, kindness, tolerance and love to one another. Jn 13:34: “A new
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commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved
you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you
are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The world has been given
the right to judge us – by how we love one another. And stopping the
complaining and disputes is one primary way to do that – giving up our rights
for the sake of His – and doing it gracefully.

Conc – C. S. Lewis said, “Don’t waste time bothering whether you ‘love’
your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the
great secrets. When you are behaving as if you love someone, you will
presently come to love him." So here’s the application. We need to think of
someone that we have grumbled about or disputed with. Figure out some way
we can reach out to them in a loving way and see what God will do. They are
His children, too, just like we are. And I assure you, when it comes to this,
little things count. So how can we act like it?

Ken Sande tells of how he had a dispute with his wife one day, and before it
was resolved she asked him to run to the grocery store to pick up a few small
items – something he didn’t like to do. He was grudgingly pushing his cart
down the aisle when he noticed some coffee his wife loved to drink. He
thought, “Too bad for her that she was unkind to me or I’d have gotten that.”
But then he realized how really un-Christ-like that thought was – how
unworthy of a child of God. He picked up the can – just to check the price.
But then he says, “My resentment soon melted away, and I was overwhelmed
with love for my wife and a desire to see her face light up as I gave her this
gift. Needless to say, we were completely reconciled shortly after I returned
home.” That can happen all over our homes, our church and our community.
Just a question of whether we will live like who we are in Christ – or who we
were in the flesh. Let’s pray.