Complaining As A Second Lanuage

Complaining as a second language

With Pastor Timothy Porter

Philippians 2:14-15

Introduction:

Today, I want to give you a few reasons to stop complaining. Now, there are plenty of reasons not to complain, and you may be thinking, I know the first reason, “Because God said so.” Well, God did say so, and that should be enough,We could say amen right there and go home. I’m going to go a bit further, I am going to speak on the topic of "Complaining as a second lanuage" and show you the consequences of complaining.

*** STAND *** READ *** PRAY ***

Complaining is like a second language! We all speak it fluently and sometimes don’t even notice when we’ve slipped into it. We complain about the weather, our jobs, traffic, the lines at the store, lack of parking, the cost of gas, the school system, the Rec. coaches and the list goes on. And even after all our complaining, we don’t feel any better; we usually feel worse and so do the people around us.

I have noticed over the past several days that complaining is a huge problem not only in the world but in the church and unfortunatley in the home, so to have a home like God desiers us to have the complaining must be stopped.

Here we are in this room of complaining: It needs remodeling bad! It's a mess! We need a General Contractor - when it comes to Home Improvements Jesus must be the G/C

Answer some important questions about complaining:

1.) Is complaining always wrong? 2.) What is complaining? 3.) What does God think about it? 4.) How does it affect those around us?

I.) Complaining Turns Your Light Out

Philippians 2:14-15 (NLT) “14 In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them.”

Stay away from complaining and arguing.

I want you to know, if you complain and argue, someone can “speak a word of blame against you.” What does that mean? It pretty much means that if you complain, the person who hears you can rat you out, tattle tell on you.

If you complain, you’re not being a very good example. The Bible says to: live clean, innocent lives in a dark world and to let your lives shine brightly before them.

Brightly before who? Who are they (them)? The people living in the dark (the lost and undone, your family, you husband, wife, childern, friends co-workers.

?How can you shine like a star when all your conversations are full of complaining?

?How can you be a night-light for someone living in a dark room when you complain every ten seconds?

?How can you lead your family and be an example when all you do is complain?

?The answer is You can’t.

You can’t show somebody the good news when all the news you speak about is bad. You can expect your childern to be godly childern a speak accordingly like they are supose to when all they hear is complaining from Mom and Dad! You can't expect your pastor to be all excited and in a good mood when all he hears is complaining from you. Its draining, it makes his light go dim and it must stop !

? Nobody likes a complainer. Nobody wants to be like a complainer or around a complainer. Why not? Because a complainer is always negative.

What is complaining? We may know it by different terms -- such as griping, grumbling, whining, or belly-aching. In the KJV Bible, the common term used was “murmuring.”

But regardless of the word we use to describe it, complaining always has the same symptoms.

The dictionary defines it as “an expression of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, or discontent.” Complaining is the outward expression of discontent from within.

What does the word complain mean? Complain means in the Greek to grumble, whine, whimper, protest, object to, disapprove of, criticize, or make a fuss. An inner rebellion that defies God to His face and disputes His right to rule. That’s not a very positive definition. Why do you complain?

Illustration: How many of ya’ll have ever had bad service at a restaurant? How easy is it to complain about it? (I am as guilty as anyone in this room) It’s pretty easy. I mean, we’ve all been there. But suppose your waiter/waitress has had a horrible day and can’t seem to get anything right? His/her world is so dark, he/she can’t see their hand in front of his face. What kind of attitude is going to light up their world? An encouraging one, or a complaining one?