Sermon 8-31-08

Old Testament – Jeremiah15:15-19 You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering – do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails? Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.”

In our second reading God again gives us some great advice. Today we kick off our series “21 Days To the Life You’ve Always Wanted!”; how to be happier, healthier, and have more joy in your life! God’s advice on how to have those things is found right here in Philippians Chapter 2.

Epistle – Philippians 2:12-15 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

In the Old Testament reading, Jeremiah was not happy as he considered God’s plan for his life. In our Gospel Lesson, Peter, as he considered God’s plan is not happy either.

Gospel – Matthew 16:21-23 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Never, Lord!” he said, “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Sermon –

Well, here it comes! Twenty-one days, beginning right now, to the life you’ve always wanted, the life you’ve always dreamed of living, the life where you just feel healthier! Sound good? How about more satisfaction in your job or your daily activities of life? Sound good? How about less conflict in your relationships? Sound good? How about more peace and more joy in your life? Sound good? If you had all of that, you would think that life was pretty good, right? It would be the life you’ve always wanted; the life you’ve always dreamed of!

You can have it, the life you’ve always wanted is yours for the asking, it’s yours for the taking. And to have more satisfaction in your job or daily activities, you don’t have to change jobs or find different activities; to have less conflict in your relationships, you don’t have to find new friends; to be healthier you don’t have to find another doctor. You don’t have to change any one of those things that are sucking the joy and peace out of your life! All you have to do is change one aspect of your personality that you can control. Remember, we can’t control the world around us, we can’t control what people are going to think or say about us, we can’t control what people are going to do to us, we can’t control our jobs; the thing we can control is our attitude, we can control what we’re thinking about. It’s not beyond reach to have a whole new life. All you have to do is one thing that God tells you to do, and it’s in Philippians 2:14.

We always think that God tells us to do stuff because it’s just what He wants us to do and that there’s no benefit from doing it. But that is never true. When God tells us to do something there is always a benefit. And in Philippians 2:14 God tell us to “do everything without complaining or arguing”. Today we’re going to focus on the complaint aspect. God tells us to do everything, absolutely everything without complaint! That’s it! That’s the key to a whole new life. That’s a key to a whole new you. That’s the key to being healthier, happier, to find more job satisfaction, and to have better relationships. That’s it… “don’t complain”!

When I was on vacation, I was on a train traveling from Penn Station to my sister’s house on Long Island and was thinking about my job and this sermon I was going to preach when I got back. Sitting across from me were two guys who worked together and all of a sudden one of the men turned to the other, mentioned a co-worker’s name and said, “I cannot stand that guy’s complaining. All he does all day long is complain!” And the other guy said, “I know what you mean, when I see him coming, I close my office door; if he’s headed to the bathroom the same time I am, I wait!” Complaining really does drag us down and we don’t realize it because complaining comes so naturally to us. If God says that we are to do everything without complaining and we complain, is complaining a sin? Yes it is! The thing we have to work on is changing our sinful nature and that’s what we’re going to do today.

First of all let’s look at some of the effects complaining has on our lives by looking at the Bible readings for today. What is going on it Jeremiah’s life? He’s not a happy person; he tells God, “Lord, I’m trying to do what’s right. You pulled me into this job, you told me what I’m supposed to do and because of that I suffer reproach for your sake all day long!” He is complaining and dwelling on the bad stuff that’s going on in his life. Jeremiah says, “I suffer reproach for you all day long. I was delighted that your words came to me but Lord, it’s been terrible. I never ever hung out with the bad guys and I’m persecuted for it. It shouldn’t be this way. I don’t like it. My pain is unending, my wound is grievous and incurable and, Lord, I think you deceived me. You were like a deceptive brook. Things were supposed to be better than they are now and I don’t like it.” Is he feeling good? No – he feels bad because bad thoughts are in his head. How is his job satisfaction? It’s non-existent! How are his relationships? Not good either – when they see him coming, they close the office door! And his relationship with God is bad too – he’s irritated at God! Jeremiah’s words are not the words of one who has peace and joy in his life. So God tells him, “Look, Jeremiah, repent, turn your life around, turn around and I will restore you; quit uttering worthless words. Be my spokesman - say something worthwhile – stop complaining.”

So let’s say Jeremiah stopped concentrating on everything he doesn’t like, and started concentrating on the good. God’s Word has come to him, he has been chosen by God, as you have been chosen, to be in God’s kingdom; God has a plan for his life. He has eternal life in heaven, he can talk to God in prayer and God answers. God will come in Jesus Christ and provide forgiveness for his sins. God will be his constant companion and no matter where Jeremiah finds himself, God will be there with him. Are all those things good? Yes they are! And as the Bible says, “as your mind is, as you think, so are you”, so if Jeremiah would concentrate on the good things in his life, job-wise he would be doing great, relationship-wise he would be doing great, health-wise he would be doing great, and his relationship with God would be excellent. Everything would be great because he stopped uttering worthless words and started thinking about the reality of what God has done for him.

And let’s look at Peter’s life in the Gospel lesson. Peter is at work, he’s been called as an apostle, and Jesus says that He is going to have to go to Jerusalem and suffer some things at the hands of the chief priests - be killed and be raised to life on the third day. Peter took him aside and said, “Never Lord, this should never happen, You shouldn’t have to suffer. All that would be wrong.” And Jesus told Peter, “You are trying to stop God’s plan to save the world from sin. Be quiet.” Peter, in this state of mind, had bad thoughts going on in his head. He thought that these events should never happen, that they were a really bad idea! How do you think Peter feels with these thoughts in his head, how is his job going, how is his relationship with Jesus, how is his relationship with the other disciples, does he have peace in his life? Peter’s words in Matthew are not the words of someone who has peace and joy in their life.

What Peter needs to do is get rid of the bad stuff in his mind and replace those thoughts with good things - God is going to save him from his sin by going to the cross, God will give him an ongoing relationship with himself so that he can always go to God in prayer, God has promised to never leave him or forsake him, he has eternal life in heaven, he’s going to be an eyewitness to the greatest event in the history of the world! Are all those things good? It’s the greatest thing that could happen! If Peter had these thoughts in his mind how do you think he would feel about his job and about his relationship with God; would he have peace and joy in his life? Peter would say, “I feel great! Good things are happening!” It changes everything around and furthermore, God gives us permission to do it. He tells us to do everything without complaining.

So how do we, then, go about doing everything without complaining when complaining is so natural to us because of our sinful condition? We need help! God promises that He will help us do whatever He tells us to do - that’s a Bible promise. If God asks you to do something, He will give you the power to do it and that power comes from the Holy Spirit who touches our lives through God’s Word. This is why Bible study is so important; we need the power of God’s Word in our lives. Here are the steps God has given us to:

HAVING THE LIFE YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED…..

DO EVERYTHING WITHOUT COMPLAINING – Philippians 2:14

PUT OFF THE OLD SELF…BE MADE NEW IN THE ATTITUDE OF YOUR MIND – Ephesians 4:22-23

WHATEVER IS…PRAISEWORTHY – THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS – Philippians 4:8

USE THE WRISTBAND AS AN AID TO BREAK THE OLD HABIT OF COMPLAINING AND START A NEW LIFE THAT IS COMPLAINT FREE.

ENJOY YOUR NEW LIFE; THE LIFE YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED!

We need to know that it is God who wants us to stop complaining. Philippians 2:14 says “Do everything without complaining.” Keep that passage in mind. This passage was very beneficial for me last Friday. God always sends me through something so that I have an illustration for my sermon! On Thursday night and Friday morning I was trying to book an airline reservation on the computer through one of those booking agencies. There are all these attractive rates and I thought, “Wow, I could make the trip for $158!” and started booking. All I got was a bunch of messages that said, “I’m sorry – that flight is not available!” but I finally got my flight booked and even had a confirmation number. So I was happy and went off to bed only to get up Friday morning and see an e-mail that read, “I’m sorry, the airline did not recognize your reservation.” Please call so we can help you.” So I called and was on hold for 2 ½ hours! Needless to say, I was not happy; I was complaining! Computers and I don’t get along very well and I was complaining. I’m just glad Jimmy was in school so he didn’t have to hear me! I thought, “God, why do I have to go through this?” And then I realized, “I start a sermon series on Sunday about not complaining. God has put me in a situation where I can very easily complain. Maybe He’s trying to help me with this, maybe he’s trying to tell me that before I preach this to the congregation I need to go through a situation and see if it actually works!” So I did…

At that point, I had Philippians 2:14 in my mind which says “Book your airline tickets without complaining!” So I said, “Alright God, I’ll book the airline tickets without complaint, that’s what I’ll do.” And at that point I stopped complaining. And then I started doing Point 2: “Put off the old self…be made new in the attitude of your mind” (Ephesians 4:22-23). I said “I’m not going to complain, my old self used to complain, but my new self isn’t going to. I’m going to change my attitude!” And then I did Point 3: “Whatever is…praiseworthy – think about such things (Philippians 4:8). So I started doing that. I said, “I’ll not complain, I’m going to rearrange my attitude and not think about how terrible it is to book tickets online. I’m going to start thinking “Thank you God that you’ve given me an illustration for Sunday. Thank you, God, that I can now see the power of your Word working in my life. Thank You, God, that I can go to You in prayer about this.” And you know something? I immediately felt better. And when the Customer Service Representative finally came on the line we had a good relationship because I was pleasant, the customer service representative was pleasant, they apologized for the delay and were helpful. Everything worked out fine. Everything changed when I stopped complaining.

So think on the good things. Just like Jeremiah and Peter, we have good things. God chose you, God brought you into His kingdom, He’s forgiven your sins, He’s given you a Savior, He’s planted His Holy Spirit in you. And the list goes on and on and on. Dwell on the good things God has done for you!

And for some help in “dwelling on the good things” – point four says Use the wristband as an aid to break the old habit of complaining and start a new life that is complaint free. What does this mean? It takes twenty-one days of doing something different to stop our life-long habit of complaining. We have purple wristbands as a “no-complaint” reminder. Our goal is to go twenty-one days without complaining so that a new habit is formed. Put the wristband on your wrist and, if you catch yourself complaining, take the wristband off and put it on the other wrist. Then start again trying to go twenty-one days without complaining. If you find yourself complaining again, you have a reminder. Put the wristband on the other wrist and start again – trying to go another twenty-one days without complaining. If you can’t wear the wristband because it might be a hazard at work, you can do something else – put it in your pocket. If you find yourself complaining, put it in the other pocket! But if you have it on your wrist, it’s a good reminder. You can do it with your watch also. If you find yourself complaining, put your watch on the other wrist! These wristbands are from www.Complaint Free World.org. The wristbands also have “SPIRIT” written on them to remind us that we can only live in a complaint-free world through the power of the Holy Spirit who comes to us through the God’s Word.

On the average it takes from four to eight months to go twenty-one days without a complaint but when you do, you will have the life you’ve always wanted. And for anyone who didn’t get a wristband here today, we have more in the Church Office; just call 603-352-4446 and let us know you would like one!

I must admit that on Friday morning, I was enjoying complaining! My life was miserable because of it, but I was enjoying complaining! So what you need to do is not enjoy it. When I thought of the Bible passage, “Do everything without complaining” and “Put off the old self”, it changed me; I didn’t enjoy complaining any more. That’s the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life, working through God’s word; He will help you revamp and change things.

So start today and, just think, by September 21^st you can have the life you’ve always dreamed of. Or at least be on the road to have the life you’ve always dreamed of. We will be doing several sermons on this; next week we’re going to talk about “Explaining Complaining”, what’s behind complaining and what leads us to complain. It’s also important to note that there’s a big, big, difference between complaining and dissatisfaction. Complaining leads to unhappiness, dissatisfaction leads to progress - we’ll talk about the difference.

A complaint-free world, the life you’ve always wanted - healthier, more satisfaction with your daily activities, more satisfaction in your relationships, more joy, more peace - is right in your grasp. You can do it because there’s nothing around you that has to change!

Prayer –

Great God, Heavenly Father, Thank You for your Word that guides us and Your Holy Spirit that empowers us to actually do what it says. Be with us as we make the commitment, as we consider coming into line with doing everything without complaining. We ask that You would be with us and guide us. And Heavenly Father, thank You for this opportunity You’ve given us. We pray your blessings on it and pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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