Sermon: Thankful or Grumbling?
Thesis: The attitude of thankfulness vs the attitude of complaining can make or break your life – thankful attitudes come with the blessings of Heaven and the Promise Land of God but complaining will leave you in the wilderness wandering aimlessly with no joy, no contentment and the struggle of wilderness living. Being thankful will change your life and your perspective about life. You cannot complain when you are thankful and you cannot be thankful when you are complaining. The two mindsets are opposite and one or the other will dictate how your day will go.
Scripture:
Colossians 3:17: 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Phil 2:14-16: 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
Phil 4:8-9: 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Proverbs 17:22: 22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Swindoll: quote: The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you, we are in charge of our attitudes.
Quotes on the power of having a thankful attitude:
“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction." -H.A. Ironside
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks".--Unknown
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."--Marcel Proust
"Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone." -Gertrude Stein
"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." -Meister Eckhart
"Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty." -Doris Day
By giving us the command to always give thanks, God is not rubbing salt in a wound or calling us to set aside reason. He knows that being thankful in all circumstances has a powerful impact on every area of our Christian life.
T.S. - We need to live, approach life, work and even play with the right attitude and mindset because it does make all the difference in our day and for eternity.
1. Attitudes impact us every day either in positive or in a negative way.
a. Nelson, “Everyday, when you arrive at your workplace, an attitude arrives with you. Our attitudes are like the perfume or cologne we are wearing; we smell the fragrance when we first put it on, but others smell it throughout the day” (page 93).
i. How do you smell?
1. The apostle Paul reminds us that we are to have the fragrance of Jesus – the attitudes we wear and put on each day should smell like Jesus. These smells are associated with the fruits of the Spirit
a. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
i. These character traits should define our attitudes even at work.
1. Galatians 6: 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self–control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
ii. Nelson states, “Martin Luther reminds us that it is not God who needs our good works, but it is our neighbor who needs our good works. A transforming truth must firmly grab onto is that God is very much at work in our work. God is transforming us in our work and transforming the world through our work.” (Page 92).
1. So having the right attitude makes all the difference in the kind of witness we are for the Lord.
b. Many need to replace a complaining attitude with a thankful one!
i. Quote, “Complaining is an attitude choice that if left unchecked will wither my capacity to experience joy and genuine thankfulness” MacDonald
ii. Case in point Numbers 11:1-3:
1. “Moses made a journal entry one day about the people: “1Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. 3So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.”
a. This journal entry by Moses tells us a lot about the people of Israel – they fell into a habitual complaining mindset and by Numbers 13-14 this attitude of complaining and ungratefulness to God causes them to be banished into the wilderness for 40 years.
i. In numbers 14:27 it is highlighted again by Moses the problem was the people’s “murmurings” – can I give you some spiritual advice this type of mindset drives God a little crazy and makes Him angry!
b. The result of complaining puts us into the wilderness – Macdonald states “Those who choose murmurings as their lifestyle will spend their lifetime in the wilderness.”
c. I add this “Those who are thankful find the Promised Land while those who complain end up wandering in the wilderness”
i. The truth is they chose their attitude – Macdonald adds, “nobody wants to be told ‘Your attitude problem is in the mirror’-but it is. Until we embrace as fact the idea that we choose our attitudes, we will never be able to choose differently, and life will always be like a wilderness.”
d. In case you look at this story as only the Old Testament way of God dealing with complaining people let me bring you into the NT.
i. I Corinthians 10:1-11: Warnings from Israel’s History: 1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty–three thousand of them died. 9We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
1. Did you hear the warning about our attitudes? This story of the Israelites in Numbers serve as a warning to us today to not follow their patterns of thinking – their attitudes – by the way attitudes are patterns of thinking formed over a period of time.
iii. Reality check —- Complaining is a sin even at work! The word sin means “missing the mark” or “failing in regard to God’s holy standard and just demands” (Page 37 MacDonald).
1. The truth about complaining is this – (From book Lord Change My Attitude by James MacDonald).
a. When I complain I hurt myself first and foremost!
i. This response does you harm not good. Our complaining leads to anger, bitterness and yes even depression!
ii. Complaining is not suppose to be rooted in a Christian.
b. When I complain I hurt God also – God is impacted by my complaining because in the complaining I am saying to God – “You are failing at your job – You are blowing it – You are making mistakes!” In the process of complaining about circumstances and insulting God I hurt myself more and more and I can make God angry with my constant complaining! Complaining will separate us from God so I must choose to cultivate an attitude of gratitude!
c. When I complain I hurt and injure the people around me – yes, we will impact people with our toxic attitude of complaining. We will bring them down and cause them not to want to be around us!
i. Quote: “Those who choose complaining as their lifestyle will spend their lifetimes in the wilderness. Complaining is sin that makes life like living in a wilderness.” (page 41).
1. Reality Check: God is listening to what you say!
a. The worst kind of complaining revealed in Numbers 11 is when we are always complaining about adversity! Blaming God for it and not understanding that everyone has been entrusted with a measure of adversity.
2. Reality check: God hates our complaining – Macdonald says but he adds this thought alone side it, “God can both love us extravagantly and hate our sin passionately at the same time. God can embrace us and forgive us eternally but judge us in the moment because of our attitudes that are not pleasing Him. This concept may be a bit confusing to us, but it is perfectly clear to the Lord. He loves us and hates sin. Both are true” (Page 44-45).
a. God wants us to be good positive witnesses at work so complaining needs to be avoided.
c. Action step: We need to replace a complaining attitude with a thankful attitude!
i. The truth is thankfulness is a perfect replacement for complaining – let me share a story from Jesus life about his healing of 10 lepers found in Luke 17:12-19:
1. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
a. Macdonald states, “The point is, no one has an acceptable excuse for ungratefulness. Everyone can make the choice to give thanks and acknowledge the goodness and the grace of God. Sadly, however, only a small fraction of the human population ever personally thanks God for His grace.” (Page 55).
b. This story makes it clear that Jesus knows who is thankful and who is not!
i. But those who express thanks to God for His grace and mercy get even another blessing from him! This leper was healed but his faith took him to a more intimate relationship with Jesus!
c. Truth: An unthankful; or ungrateful attitude with God will always suppress the awareness of God in our life.
ii. Statistics from Mind and Body magazine reveal 20 ways to feel calmer, happier and healthier and the top way is being thankful.
1. See study from page 59-60 in MacDonald’s book!
Conclusion:
What do we need to know from this message?
We either have an attitude of thankfulness or one of complaining and grumbling and we need to know God does not like nor reward complaining attitudes.
We need to know this truth because many believe its okay to complain all the time and think there is no repercussion for having bad attitudes.
What do we need to do?
We need to approach life with good positive attitudes and not bad attitudes – why? So we reveal the presence and love of Jesus to those we work with, associate with and or connect with throughout our days and nights.
We need to cultivate thankful attitudes so we are have a healthier more happy life.
The best way to cultivate a thankful attitude is by being intentional in thanking God for His goodness each day and making a commitment to drive out a grumbling mindset and replacing it with a thankful one.
Handout cultivating an attitude of thankfulness.
