Theology Of Complaining – Philippians 2:14 Series

As I was looking at the passage that I was studying this week, I came across or I remembered a book that I really liked. This is a children's book. I'm sure you've heard about it. This children's book is called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I'm going to read just a few pages of this book to you. “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

At breakfast, Anthony found a Corvette Stingray car kit in his breakfast cereal box and Nick found a junior undercover agent code ring in his box of cereal, but in my breakfast cereal box all I found was breakfast cereal. I think I'll move to Australia. In the carpool Mrs. Gibson let Becky have a seat by the window. Audrey and Elliott got seats by the window too. I said I was going to be scrunched. I said I was being smushed. I said if I don't get a seat by the window I am going to be carsick. No one even answered. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” Well, you know, I think we all are like Alexander and have days like that that are terrible, difficult and challenging.

That's why we need our verse for today coming from Philippians 2:14. One verse that says this: Do all things without grumbling or disputing. One verse. Now this verse is a part of a paragraph. And the paragraph is really powerful. We're going to look at the paragraph next week. But as I was doing my own research in my study here, as I’m looking at the Greek words and just trying to understand this particular passage of scripture, I was just so impressed with the things that we learn about complaining. So today we're going to do a theology of complaining. I'm going to take you through the Bible and show you what the Bible has to say about complaining. Because it's really interesting.

Let's start by looking at this verse. And look at the first Greek word there. The first word grumbling there is the word gongusmon. Even the Greek word gongusmon sounds like complaining. But it's gongusmon and it means to murmur or complain. That's what the word means. Now when someone complains, what it means is that they're focusing on the problem instead of focusing on the solution.

When I asked myself the question, why do people complain anyway? Just think about it. Why do people complain so much? I think some people complain because they think that's how you solve problems. You complain. I think some people learn that when they're children. Because children come into the kitchen, “I'm hungry.” And what happens? Mom says, “Oh you're hungry? Oh here. I'll help you stop complaining. Here's some food for you.” Now what I teach parents to do is if your child comes into the kitchen and is complaining by saying, “I'm hungry,” it would be better not to say, “Here, let me solve your problem.” It would be better to say to a child, “Oops. That's complaining. Go back out, come back in, and try again.” Now if you were coming back into the kitchen, and you were going to try again, instead of saying, “I'm hungry,” which focuses on the problem, what might you say to focus on the solution? What do you think? There we go. “Hi, Mom. Can I have something to eat?” Good job. So yes. Let's focus on this solution. “Could I please have a snack?” Wow, amazing. But I think that sometimes parents make the mistake of trying to squelch their children's whining by giving them what they want. I think we grow up with a generation of people who like to whine and complain because that's how they think they solve problems.

But I think another reason that people whine and complain is just because they're self-focused. They just think about themselves. It's as if they say or believe that if I'm uncomfortable I have the right to make everyone else miserable. So this whining and complaining just starts coming out of people. Complaining focuses on the problem, not on the solution.

Now Paul is saying that Christians don't complain. That's what he's saying. You can live a life that doesn't involve complaining because believers think differently than nonbelievers think. That's the difference. We think differently than people who are nonbelievers. In fact, I want to show you now let's expand out of this verse. Let's just go into the book we're in, the context of Philippians so far. What have we learned about God that would remind us not to be complaining?