"quit Your Complaining"

Title: “Quit Your Complaining!” Script: Phil. 2:14-16

Type: Expos/Series Where: GNBC 6-22-25

Intro: The title of my sermon today might easily be heard in any household where a mother is at home with her small children. Or where possibly teenagers are in the home. Or where young adults are in the home. Or where middle-aged adults are in the home. Or where elderly are in the home. My father detested complainers. “You’ve got the easy part done…complaining. Now, offer a solution or shut up!” William Bowen was keynote speaker at the 2023 Farm bureau Federation in Des Moines (Dec. 2023) The average person complains between 15 to 30 times a day, often without realizing they’re doing it. And if that isn’t bad enough, complaining has been shown to cause negative health impacts, decrease morale within the workplace and shrink areas of the brain needed for creativity and problem-solving. “I would say there’s nothing wrong with a little complaining now and then. The challenge is that most people don’t do just a little complaining,” Bowen said. “I joke that complaining is like bad breath. You notice it when it comes out of somebody else’s mouth, but not when it comes out of your own.”

Prop: In Phil. 2:14-16 Christians are admonished to quit complaining.

BG: 1. Paul was writing this letter from a “dark” place. Imprisoned. Awaiting possible execution. Several false teachers undermining him. A lot of opportunity to complain about his lot. However, he doesn’t. In fact, calls us to the exact opposite!

Prop: Let’s look at Phil. 2:14-16 to realize 3 aspects of Paul’s call for the Christian to quit complaining.

I. Background: The Dangers of Discontentment.

A. The Sad State of Sullen Discontentment

1. Sullen Discontentment Creeps into Any Individual or Society that Doesn’t Express Gratitude to God.

a. Illust: We see this in our society today. “Modern Western society is by far the most prosperous culture in the history of mankind. Nearly everyone has all that they need or could even legitimately want. However, they are seldom satisfied. Consequently, ours is also arguably the most discontented society ever.” (MacArthur, p. 175) The Boomers complain about the young adults and the young adults complain about the Boomers. Many people literally live in fantasy worlds of online gaming and social media with very little interaction in the real world. We have every form of entertainment at the touch of a screen. The media in general and advertising in particular, desire to make us dissatisfied with our lot by continually assaulting our senses with unattainable and alluringly unrealistic options. Although seemingly unattainable, “personal happiness” is the supreme objective of our lives. The end result is disappointment and discontentment.

b. “Discontentment breeds impatience, another defining characteristic of our times.” (MacArthur, p. 176). We see this exemplified in so many areas of life. Fights in Wal Mart lines, rude people, inconsiderate behavior in public, road rage, affairs of the heart, and even violent crimes such as child abuse and murder. Where does it come from? Your father!

2. From Where does our Nature to Complain Originate?

a. Your father! (All mothers said, “Amen”!) Not, however, your paternal parent, but rather, your Federal Head (Not Trump!), Adam! The first man, the pinnacle of God’s creation, the Federal head of the human family, the progenitor of all peoples, Adam, proved to be the first complainer. We remember back in Gen. 3:12, immediately after his disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit, he blamed Eve for his sin and even directed his discontentment towards God: “The woman that YOU GAVE me…” Implication is that it was God’s fault! Oh, dear ones, how often in our sullen discontentment we insinuate discontentment with our Heavenly Father for the manifold good gifts He has given us.

b. The Biblical history of discontentment does not end with Adam. The first child, Cain, complains bitterly to God that his punishment for the killing of his brother Abel (Gen. 4:13-14) is too harsh! The great man of God, Moses, complained to God that He had not delivered Israel quickly enough from Egypt (Ex. 5:22). After a total of three days in the wilderness Israel complained about the water at Marah. After God sweetened the waters it was but a short time and again they were complaining about the contents of the menu (Ex.16:2ff)

B. Discontentment Breeds Impatience that Results in Faithlessness.

1. Again, we need to look no further than the initial days of the nation of Israel.

a. In Num. 13:30ff, we see that Moses had sent the 12 spies (One from each tribe.) to scout the land of Caanan. Two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb, spoke up and declared upon returning: “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly overcome it.” However, that was not the majority opinion. “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us…” And they gave Israel a bad report, What was the result? Because of this faithless complaining, “All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “It would have been better that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would we have died in the wilderness! (Num.14:2). Then they grumbled directly against God! (Num. 14:2-4) This complaining fomented outright rebellion wherein the people determined to stone Joshua and Caleb and Aaron and Moses! (14:10). Their discontentment resulted in their rejecting God’s plans, God’s purposes, God’s people, and ultimately the Person of God Himself. God’s curse fell upon the people and each one would die in the wilderness over the next forty years, never entering the Promised Land that could have been theirs in weeks.