Sermon 9-7-08

Great God Heavenly Father, we gather in Your house this day and thank You that through the Scriptures you have shown us that You are the Light, that Jesus is the Light of the World. And Heavenly Father, as we hear You speaking to us through Your words in the Bible, may your Spirit lead us in Your truth. Heavenly Father, we ask that You shine Your light upon us. And we pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen

Scripture Readings-

As you know we started our sermon series, “21 Days To The Life You’ve Always Wanted” last Sunday. Essential to that life is to make just one little change in your life – stop complaining! In our Bible reading this morning we read about some people complaining and this will serve as the basis for our sermon today.

Old Testament – Numbers 14:1-9 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All of Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them”

In our second reading we see just how deeply God is involved in all aspects of our everyday life. A lot of times one of the reasons we complain is that we have forgotten that God’s hand is involved in everything. In this election year it is a good idea to read Romans Chapter 13 because of all the complaining we’ve heard about the candidates and the elections. All of the complaining stops when we realize that God has his hand in the election process and whoever He wants in office, good or bad, He will place in office and use to do His purposes and to show His power and glory over the whole political system. Our Epistle reading reminds us that God is in control!

Epistle –Romans 13:1-7 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

The Gospel Lesson is a parable, a story that Jesus told that illustrates a concept about the Kingdom of Heaven. In this parable the land owner is God, and what God is telling us about Himself is that He is exceedingly merciful and that He does what He says He is going to do. There are a lot of applications of this parable, but the direct application is that some people are in the faith their entire life, serve the Lord and go to heaven. Others come to faith in the last few moments of their life; but they, if they believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, go to heaven too. Some people think that is unfair, but it is God being merciful and providing a plan of Salvation.

Gospel – Matthew 20:1-16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us’, they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard’. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour’, they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have born the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Sermon –

Well, some of you are just fourteen days away to the life you’ve always dreamed of, the life you’ve always wanted. Others who were not here last week are just 21 days away. We are just days away from the life we’ve always wanted, a life where we feel healthier, a life where we have more job satisfaction, more satisfaction in our daily activities, a life where we have fewer conflicts in our relationships, a life with more peace and more joy. And, as we discussed last week, we don’t have to change our jobs, change our doctors, or change our friends; we don’t have to change any of those outside influences that have bearing on our lives. All we have to do is one thing that the Bible tells us, “Do everything without complaining”. That’s it! And why twenty-one days? As we talked about last Sunday, being sinful people we complain by nature and it takes twenty-one days to develop a new habit. If we can go twenty-one days without complaining, we will have developed a brand-new habit and have the life we’ve always wanted. It all comes by just not complaining!

What we want to do this week is look at why complaining is so serious. We may say, “So what if I complain? I haven’t murdered anyone, I haven’t committed adultery, I’m not living an immoral lifestyle, I haven’t stolen anything from anyone. All I’m doing is just saying how I perceive things. What the big deal?” Well, I’ll show you what the big deal is. In our Old Testament reading God had delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and they were on the verge of going into the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. They had sent out spies who came back and said, “Boy, are we in big trouble. The people in Canaan are big, they’re strong, and they’re warriors. We’re going to get wiped out!” When the Israelites heard this, they started grumbling and complaining. They had forgotten that it was God who put them in that position in the first place and that it was God who said “You will be able to go in and take the land”. So why did God have it appear difficult? Because the people needed to know that they couldn’t do it on their own, they had to have God’s help; with God’s help they could go in and take the land.

When the Israelites heard the news, some of them started complaining. What happened as a result of the complaining? In Numbers 14:26 God said, “I’ve had it, how long will this wicked community grumble against me? And then we go on to read in verse 36, “So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading the bad report about it - these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land, were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. Of the men who went and explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb survived.” Did God say, “You’re not going into the Promised Land because you’ve murdered people?” Or did He say, “You’re not going into the Promised Land because you’ve committed adultery or are living an immoral lifestyle, or stealing”? The reason they were not going into the Promised Land is simply that they were complaining. That’s how seriously God takes complaining.

Now we have to wonder why God takes complaining so seriously. There are several reasons. Complaining says that God lies to us; complaining says that Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose”, is wrong. Complaining says, “I’m in a situation that God cannot use and cannot bring good from.” If we are complaining, what does that say to others? It says that God hasn’t given us a very good life, that we are not very happy about what God is doing. Others won’t want our God when they hear us complain. They think, “I’ll get my own god, I’ll worship another god.” That’s why complaining is so serious - it leads people away from our God – and the whole purpose God has in life for us is to lead people to Him. Complaining leads people away.

And complaining destroys our quality of life; we saw this last week in our Bible readings about Jeremiah and Peter. We’re going to see it this week with the Israelites in our Old Testament Lesson. They are complaining, “We should have gone back to Egypt, we’re going to get wiped out, God can’t give us the Promised Land, this is really a bad idea.” What is in these people’s heads? Bad stuff, bad thoughts, bad everything! How do the Israelites feel? Do they have satisfaction in their daily activities? How are their relationships? They feel bad, they have no satisfaction in their lives, and they’re in conflict with God, with Joshua and with Caleb! Are they at peace; do they have joy in their life, are they saying, “O boy! We’re entering the Promised Land!” They have no peace, no joy at all; everything is going bad.

So let’s look at how God wants us to view things. He says, “No complaining! Trust in Me!” So if they would have said, as Joshua and Caleb did, “OK, we’re on the verge of entering the Promised Land. We’ve waited for this, we’ve hoped for this, we prayed about it and now it’s here!” how do you think they would feel, how would their relationships be, would they have joy and peace? They would feel great, they would not be in conflict with God or Joshua or Caleb. They would have peace and joy, everything would be changed around.

And think about the workers in the Gospel Lesson. Pay time comes at the end of the day and some of them said, “What??? I worked all day in the hot sun. I know I agreed to work for a denarius, but those guys got the same thing I did and they only worked an hour!” They feel bad. When they get home and the wife says, “Glad you’re home, we’re all set for dinner, how was your day?” They would answer, “Bad”. There would not be a happy home life, there is conflict with the boss – things are bad; there’s no peace and no joy!

But if they would stop and think, “Wait a second, I agreed to work for a denarius. I got paid a denarius. What a great boss - plus he is generous. Those other people didn’t have work, no one hired them but he hired them to work just one hour and still paid them. That’s a good boss, that’s a good guy, I can trust him. Thank you God that I can work for this guy, He’s going to take care of me.” If they said that, how do you think they would feel at the end of their day? When they came home and the wife said, “How was your day at work?” they would answer, “Good, I’ve got a great boss, I’m going to work for this guy again; he treats people well.” Everything changes if we can just stop complaining.

So why do we complain? As we have been discussing, we are sinful by nature, complaining comes easily to us. And we don’t understand, or we have forgotten just how much God is involved in everyday life; He more involved that you could ever possibly imagine. That’s why 2 Samuel 14:14 is so important. It says, “God lets things happen to draw people to him” and sometimes those things are not always good things. Last week we looked at Psalm 107 that talks about how God lets bad things happen, difficulty comes into lives so that we go to God in prayer, and He delivers so that we will praise him. When the bad things happen, we have to ask, “OK, how is God bringing about the good stuff from this?”

The next reason we complain is that we want to feel important. When we complain, we are saying, “I’m smart enough to analyze the situation and I’ll tell you everything that’s wrong because I’m so smart!” Those guys in the Old Testament lesson thought, “We’ve analyzed the situation and we don’t care what God says, we’re going to get wiped out! We’re smart enough to see that! We should go back to Egypt. Aren’t we smart? You should make one of us your leader!” We complain because we want to feel important.

And we complain as an excuse. If I don’t like my life, my job, where I live, or what I’m doing, and can come up with a bunch of excuses, then I don’t have to take responsibility for my problems, nothing is my fault. My life isn’t what I want, but it’s not my fault because I had bad parents, bad schooling, a bad boss, a bad job, bad this, bad that. I’m blameless – nothing is my fault.

So what do we do about this? How do we get this complaining out of our system? The first thing we do is go to God and confess that we have complained and know that when Jesus went to the Cross, He paid for all sins, even that of complaining and that you’re forgiven, you have a fresh start. And then listed below are the steps God has given us so that we can have the life we’ve always wanted. To have the power to stop complaining, we need the Holy Spirit, the power that comes from God through His Word. And we have God’s Word here that enables us to make the change.

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!

The ushers have wristbands for you and they are a “complaint reminder”. Put it on and when you catch yourself complaining, switch wrists and begin again. See how long you can go without complaining. When you’ve gone twenty-one days without switching wrists, you’ve developed a new habit – you’ve done it! And you will find that you are healthier, happier and have more peace, more joy, and more satisfaction in your life. There are also wristbands at the Church Office. Call us at 603-352-4446 and let us know you want one. A gentleman was telling me during the week that he was at a stop light in town and the light changed. The guy in front of him must have dozed off because he wasn’t moving. After a gentle tap on the horn the guy moved, but by that time the light had turned red again. He said, “I could have started complaining except I had my hands on the wheel and saw my wristband, a reminder to not complain about that driver.” So you know what he did? He said a prayer for the other driver, that he would be safe and well. Instead of complaining, he did something positive, something admirable, something praiseworthy.

But if we’re not supposed to complain how do we change things? Certain things do need to be changed. Next week we’re going to talk about the differences between complaining and dissatisfaction; how complaining leads to unhappiness but dissatisfaction leads to progress.

Prayer –

Heavenly Father, thank You for that wisdom that is in the Bible. Sometimes we overlook it but, Heavenly Father, You have made it clear to us in the Bible readings for today. May you help us, may the Holy Spirit be there so that we would do everything without complaining. And we pray all this in Jesus’ Name. Amen

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