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What’s happening in our world today? You read the news, right? Is the church losing its voice? Is the culture around us rejecting the Church as a source of gospel truth? Do they have any good reasons to? Well, it’s complicated. On the one hand, there is a spiritual battle and sometimes the forces of evil seem to win the upper hand for a while. On the other hand, the church does bear some responsibility for failing to live the way Paul calls us to in this text, until revival comes when things get so bad that we realize we really need God’s help. That’s the way it happened in the Old Testament. We see it especially clearly in the book of Judges.
It is even pointed out for us in Judges 2:18-19 ‘Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.’
There’s this cycle, a repeated pattern of victory and obedience followed by slacking off and falling away that leads to trouble and desperate cries for help until the Lord acts to restore. But we are not living in Old Testament times. God does not raise up judges anymore to turn the tide of the church’s fortunes in history. We have the Holy Spirit! But, there have been spiritual giants such Augustine, Martin Luther, Wesley, John Calvin, Whitefield, Charles Finney, etc. Revivals come and go. I have often wondered if we could see in church history, a pattern similar to the one in Judges. To illustrate, I have relabeled the first slide.
You can agree or disagree with that assessment, but you can’t disagree with Paul in the Bible when he exhorts us all saying, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” I have said before that God calls us into partnership with Him. We are not puppets or robots. Even though it is God who works in you, you also still have a free will and you are called by God to align your wills with God’s will and act accordingly.
This is also similar to when we were working on the armor of God in Ephesians 6 and we learned, "If my position in Christ is secure and my protection is found in Him, why do I have to get actively involved? Can't I just rest in Him and let Him protect me?" That's like a soldier saying, "Our country is a major military power. We have the most advanced tanks, planes, missiles and ships in the world. Why should I bother with wearing a helmet, standing guard or learning how to shoot a gun? It's much more comfortable to stay in camp while the tanks and planes fight the war." When the enemy troops infiltrate, guess who will be one of the first soldiers to get picked off!
And I will confess that I have seen that pattern occur in my own life. Haven’t you seen it in yours, too? The process of sanctification is not a straight uphill climb is it? It’s true for congregations, too. Every church has its seasons of prosperity and seasons of struggle. I think we all recognize the problem. I think we might even have a pretty good idea where this congregation is right now in the cycle. In fact, we’re going to talk about that over lunch today. So, let’s look at what Paul is asking us to do and see whether or not it is easy or hard for us.
Our text begins with a therefore, and every time you see that word you are supposed to ask what is that therefore, there for? In this case, Paul has just finished describing the work of Jesus Christ, how he humbled himself for us and died for us, so he is saying, since Jesus did all that, we should take that salvation with gladness and joy and partner with God to work out what it means for us to live as saved people in possession of eternal life.
In speaking to the Philippians, to whom the letter was addressed, he says in a congratulatory way that they have always obeyed and so they should continue in that good direction. Paul is encouraging the whole church to continue to work well together, exhibiting that unity of spirit and considering others better than themselves that he mentioned earlier, and he gives a little instruction on how to do that, “do everything without grumbling and arguing.”
Shining like stars is the reward for that. It’s not that we do shine like stars automatically, it’s that as we behave the way God wants us to, then we will shine like stars. That would make us brilliant! And the light that shines from us really comes from God, as Paul said in verse 13, “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” This reflects what Paul has said elsewhere about the treasure we have in clay jars. 2 Cor. 4:6-7 say, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” If we let it shine forth in our behavior towards each other and the world.
So, Paul said, “we should do everything without grumbling or complaining.” That’s about how we behave, and behavior is what people around us see and understand. Because Jesus is in us and we are in him that ought to cause us to behave differently than your ordinary unsaved human. The trouble is, being saved doesn’t change us enough so that we are unable to sin. It just sets us free so that we don’t have to sin. So, we are still susceptible to the influences of sin. That’s what we have to guard against by heeding and obeying the exhortations in Scripture. In almost all of Paul’s letters, he starts out telling us who we are in Christ and how wonderful that is, and then moves on to tell us how that ought to have an impact on how we live in the world.
Perhaps surprisingly, at this point what Paul asks us to do is not some difficult spiritual task like moving mountains by prayer or working miracles to save sinners. Rather it is quite simple in concept, but difficult to manage. “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” Who in the world can do that? All kinds of little difficulties challenge and irritate us! It would have been a lot easier if Paul had just said, “Try to ease up on the grumbling and arguing. Give it a shot. But he is so absolute when he says, “do everything.” It’s like he’s calling for perfection! Perhaps just doing that is a miracle.
The goal or standard is set very high, because that’s the only way we sense the need to press on to win the prize. The words themselves are interesting too. Grumbling describes a negative emotional reaction to a request, command or obligation. You could do that under your breath and just have a bad attitude. Arguing is relationally fighting about it with somebody else. In my experience with church conflict, there is very little actual arguing, but a lot of grumbling. In general, people don’t like to deal with conflict, and we know arguing isn’t easy to do in a healthy manner. So, we tend to sweep things under the rug, where they fester and lead to an unhealthy spirit in the church as grumbling grows into destructive gossip.
To emphasize why it is important to do everything without grumbling and arguing Paul said, we should be, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” When Paul wrote that, he was referring back to the Old Testament, to a verse in Deuteronomy 32:5. The verse there reads differently. It says, “They are corrupt and not his children; to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.” In this long prayer psalm in Deuteronomy Moses was talking about the unfaithful Israelites who rebelled against God and so quickly had forgotten all their recent history of his miraculous provision and care for them as they wandered in the wilderness heading toward the Promised Land of Canaan. They sure grumbled when they were hungry or thirsty and especially when the Egyptians threatened them by the Red Sea. They argued with Moses when the ten spies brought back a difficult report about the Promised Land that made them afraid to try to go in. Things didn’t go well for the next 40 years, except that God kept on loving them and providing for them.
In using this verse here, Paul was setting up a contrast, that believers in Jesus are children of God, who should never forget what Christ has done for us, and are therefore distinguished from everybody else, even Jews, who are still part of the warped and crooked generation that grumbles and argues against God because he does things differently than what they want. The contrast between people of faith and people of no-faith is so stark that Paul says the children of God should shine like stars set against the dark background of unbelievers who live in the darkness of being lost in their sins.
That’s what should happen if you let God work through you and do so without grumbling or argument, then you may shine as stars. But it isn’t easy or automatic. Paul makes no affirmation or assurance that this has already happened. I think at this point the church in the U.S. is better known for being grumblers than anything else, at least that’s what those outside the church think. The favorite topic to grumble about? How immoral everyone else is. Real models of not grumbling and arguing are probably better found abroad, in Africa, China and so on where the True church is growing by leaps and bounds in spite of the persecution that seeks to destroy it. We want to grow by leaps and bounds too. But I think we’d prefer to hope that we can do that without the need for persecution to spur us on to love and good works.
Maybe all we have to do is get rid of the grumbling and arguing. We will see later in the book of Philippians that Paul was very deliberately setting this truth down here because some particular people in that church were having problems getting along with each other. And every church since then has had to deal with the problem of what to do about it when we get on each other’s nerves.
Grumbling and arguing come from not being happy with the way things are going. We’re not getting what we want. But that’s the world's concept of happiness, getting what we want. All merchandising is based on this idea. The world says, to really be happy, we need a flashier car, a bigger house, or any number of items that are better, faster or easier to use than what we already have. We watch the commercials, read the ads, and pursue all the latest fashions, fads and fancy doodads. It’s pretty easy to buy into the lie that we're not really happy until we get what we want.
But the Bible says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:6. God's concept of happiness is summed up in the simple proverb: "Happy is the man who wants what he has." As long as you are focusing on what you don't have, you'll be unhappy. But when you begin to appreciate what you already have, you'll begin to experience the joys of life. Paul wrote to Timothy: "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that" (1 Timothy 6:6-8 NIV).
As believers, we already have everything we need to live a joyful life. We have Christ. We have eternal life. We are loved by and belong to a heavenly Father who has promised to supply all your needs. He is in us and we are in him, united with Christ. No wonder the Bible repeatedly commands us to be thankful (1 Thessalonians 5:18). If you really want to be happy, learn to be thankful for what you have and not covet what you don't have. Contentment is the antidote to grumbling and arguing. With gratitude in our hearts the world will see what might be called sparkling eyes and shining faces. Those are both alluding to that light of God shining out from us, like a lamp on its post giving light to the whole house and like a city on a hill. We are the light of the world. But what they will really see is how we behave among them.
This is a very interesting point, because in our Western world, Christians are almost never content with just enough food and clothes. We’re all influenced by commercialism and consumerism, hence why there are so many Christians who leave church when they’re upset by changes in leadership. Lucky for them there’s another church just down the road that they can try, to see if that one makes them happy. Or, there are Christians who grumble about church attendance being down, or the kids these days, and how they just don’t have the same priorities. On the one hand, those younger people are wrong about the church and the hope of the gospel because their sinful hearts have blinded them to the truth. But on the other hand, most of the people around us who don’t go to church aren’t avoiding it because they don’t know anything about church. No, it’s because of what they do know about church, or what they experienced in church in their earlier years.
If we are to have any hope of overcoming this dilemma, Paul says, “you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” That’s the source of any ability to quit grumbling and arguing. Hold firmly to the word of life. Cling to Jesus. Conscientiously and prayerfully depend upon the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength and security and contentment in Christ. Keep on believing the gospel that you are loved by God because he is a loving God who died to save you and that will never change. And keep on praying for God’s help. Don’t wait to get to the desperation at the bottom of the cycle, keep prayer up all the time and success will follow because we are remembering our dependence upon the Holy Spirit. That’s the essence of revival.
Let joy generated by that realization of God’s unending love for you lead to the peace that passes understanding because Jesus has overcome the world in you. Paul said that when the Philippians would do that it would result in the behavioral changes that makes them shine like stars and then he would be able to boast on the day of Christ that he did not run or labor in vain.
Paul’s own confidence and contentment in Christ is exemplified in his willingness to be poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from their faith. And as he is able to do that, he is glad and rejoices with all of them. And he says to them, “So, you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”
Now as we end here, let us consider. Are we so committed to the work of the church, and the ministry of the gospel, that we are also willing to be poured out like drink offerings on top of the sacrifice and service that planted and grew this church in the years gone by? Are we going to just let this work fade away? Or are we willing to heed Paul’s advice and do everything we can do to renew it, without grumbling and arguing, so that the light of the world shines brightly through our love for one another and the ministry we share. Let’s create a cycle of service, like this. I think we all know what we want the answer to be, and what God wants the answer to be, so let’s pray…
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