"From Complaining to Thanksgiving"
Sermon Transcript for February 2, 2003Scripture Reading: Numbers 14:1-3, 26-35
By Rev. Mike Beck
We begin today a very practical series of messages entitled, “Lord, Change My Attitude Before It’s Too Late!” As background for today’s message, we turn to the Old Testament Book of Numbers, the 14th chapter. Let me give you some quick historic background. God, in the progressive revelation of Himself to humankind, had raised up a people, the Israelites--descendents of a man named Abraham. It was through this nation that God desired to bless all the people of the earth and to reveal to them His ways. A famine came up in the land of Abraham’s children and his descendants, at that time just a small group, moved to Egypt. In the years that followed, they increased dramatically in number, numbering over a million. And the Pharaoh of Egypt made them slaves in his growing empire. And then in God’s time, God raised up a man named Moses who would deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt and lead them to the land God had promised, a place called the Promised Land, the land of Canaan.
God had been so faithful to His people. He had delivered them from slavery. Do you remember the story there at the Red Sea? He gave them great victory over the army of Egypt that decided to pursue them. He made provision for His people as they journeyed across the desert to the Promised Land. As we come to this story God’s people stand looking across to the Promised Land of Canaan right at the edge of the Jordan River. And Moses sends out twelve men to scout out the land. When the twelve scouts return, two of them—Joshua and Caleb—tell of a land flowing with milk and honey. But the other ten, so quickly forgetting the power of God they’ve seen over and over again, tell of giants in a land that would surely devour them. And that brings us to these sad words in Numbers 14. I’ll ask you to stand hearing God’s Word.
“The people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites rumbled against Moses and Aaron. And the whole assembly said to them, ‘If only we had died in Egypt or in the 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?’ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, ‘As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will do to you the very things I heard you say. In this desert your bodies will fall. Every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has rumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land. I swore with uplifted hand to make your oath except Caleb, son of Jephunneh and Joshua, son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you, your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years suffering for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years, one year for each of the forty days you explored the land, you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I the Lord have spoken and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die.’ This is the Word of the Lord for the people of the Lord, Amen.
And that is one of those passages of Scripture that you kind of read and say, “Ouch, I don’t know whether I wanted to hear that.” In the events leading up to this story, we find five destructive attitudes we are going to be looking at in the coming weeks.
Rebellion
Covetousness
Criticism
Doubt
And the attitude we’re going to look at today, complaint.
A similar attitude of complaining had appeared back in Numbers 11, and there we see one of God’s most radical actions in all of the Old Testament. In Numbers 11:1 are these words, “Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when God heard them His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp!”
Now we may be inclined to think, “But that was the God of the Old Testament. God isn’t like that today. We know God is a God of love and grace.” And yes, friends, God is a God of love and grace, but it’s interesting to note, this event in Numbers 14 is mentioned in the Psalms, it’s mentioned in the Old Testament prophetic books, it’s mentioned by Jesus, it’s mentioned in the Epistles. 1 Corinthians 10:6 Paul writes, referring to what God did there in Numbers, he said, “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”
There are some very important truths that God wants us to learn and to apply to our lives from this very unpleasant in Scripture. I want us to note carefully the attitude that so infuriated God that He took these drastic actions against His own people that He loved. It wasn’t idolatry. It wasn’t murder. It wasn’t sexual perversion. What was it? Complaining!
Before we go any further, let me suggest a couple of definitions. We’re talking over the next five weeks about attitudes so I’d better define it. Attitudes are patterns of thinking that we have developed over long periods of time. And I want you to repeat these words of truth after me: “We choose our attitudes”. Just say that with me. We choose our attitudes. Now, are our attitudes influenced by our environment and circumstances? Certainly! But, friends, the attitudes that you and I bring to life are not automatically determined by those things. Just think about some people that you know whom their life is filled with one unfortunate circumstance after another, but they are people filled with joy. And then you know some other folks who have the world by the tail and they are some of the most negative folks you’ve ever met. Our circumstances and our environment may influence but they don’t determine. And, friends, attitudes are everything when it comes to the quality of our lives.
Let me give you a definition of complaining: “Complaining is expressing dissatisfaction with a circumstance which is not wrong and about which I am doing nothing to make the situation better.” I want you to note some phrases in the definition. It’s dissatisfaction with a circumstance. We’re not talking this morning about criticism. Criticism is directed against a person; complaining is directed to a circumstance. A circumstance that may not be pleasant, that we may not like, that may be difficult for us. But that’s where attitude comes in. So it’s a circumstance. It’s also a circumstance, which is not wrong. Now, it’s important we understand this. For friends, we have an obligation to speak out against the evils and injustices around us. Hutch preached two weeks ago and talked about the verbal abuse that he received as a teenager, the anger that verbal abuse created within him. Hutch spent a lifetime as a result of that speaking out against prejudice because prejudice is wrong. We Christians have got this very false idea that as God’s people we never get angry. Hogwash! I read my Gospel; Jesus got plenty angry one day with what they were doing in the Temple. And He went in with a bullwhip and ran them out. He said to one of His closest friends, Peter, one day—looked him straight in the eye and said, “Get behind me Satan!” because what Peter was thinking was dead wrong. So we’re talking, when we talk of complaining, about circumstances that may be difficult but they are not evil.
And then, finally, we’re talking about and complaining a circumstance about which I am doing nothing to make the situation better. We all like to complain. We complain about the government, but then we won’t run for public office. We won’t send letters. We just like to complain. I spent ten years in the school business. I listened to all kinds of people complain but when you ask them to get involve, no way! Here in the church to use an example in our Children’s Ministry we sometimes hear people complain. But you know one interesting thing Dan and I almost always find out? The complainers, when you ask them if they’ll help teach a Sunday School class, “Oh no, I don’t have time to do that. I just want to sit back and complain.”
Be aware of this important truth in God’s Word, “complaining is a sin”. God hates our complaining. And be aware of these important principles in interpreting Scripture. “God can both love us and hate our sin at the same time.” When we read Scripture we must understand that. “God can both love us and hate our sin at the same time.” And, secondly, God can embrace and forgive us in an external sense and yet judge us “in the present moment” because of attitudes that are not pleasing to Him.
As I am preparing these messages, I am praying that God will allow them to be heard in two ways. Friends, as I look down at this crowd I see some complainers. So there are some people that I want to hear these messages with God’s Holy Spirit convicted and speaking to their hearts. But as I prepare them I also want to share them from the perspective of a loving God that the reason he tells us, “Don’t complain”, is because of what happens to our lives when we do. Here is the sobering truth that forms the backdrop for this message today. Read it with me. “Those who choose complaining as their life-style will spend their life-time in the wilderness.” Those who choose—note the word “choose”—complaining, as their life-style will spend their life-time in the wilderness.
Now we’re not talking about wilderness in terms of a desert. When we talk in this series about wilderness, we’re talking about those folks who live a cold, cheerless, lifeless kind of existence. Do you know any folks living in the wilderness in your neighborhood? Do you know any wilderness folks down the street? I bet you do. Those of you who live in the Wesley Center, do you know any wilderness folks down the hallway constantly complaining, “Why are we having roast beef again” and seeing life’s joy self-destruct around them.
Friends, God hears our complaining. And there is one kind of complaining that God especially dislikes, and we’re moving from an elementary Christianity up the ladder here. God especially dislikes our complaining about diversity. This is a hard but important truth for us to learn. God has entrusted, now note I didn’t say cause, God has entrusted to each person a certain measure of adversity. Was Jesus spared adversity? Well, if our Lord was not spared diversity, why do you and I think we will be spared it? Is adversity difficult for us to deal with? Absolutely! Pardon my French but sometimes it’s as hard as hell, some of the stuff we have to deal with. But hear me carefully. Here is why God does not want to hear us complain about the crosses that we have to bear in life. When we complain about adversity, number one, we forfeit the grace that God wants to give us to see us through the trial. Complaining and grace don’t mix; they are like oil and water. So when we complain about adversity we forfeit the grace. And then, secondly, we forfeit the learning and maturity that God wants to bring into our lives through the adversity. Now hear me carefully, God doesn’t cause the adversity. Bill and Joyce Green, if God caused what happened to your daughter and your son-in-law, I’m out of this pulpit in a minute. I’ll spend my Sunday morning playing golf if it’s a God like that. God doesn’t cause those things. But the promise in Romans 8:28 is God can take the worst that life can offer and bring good from it if we come to Him with the right kind of attitude. So answer honestly, “Am I a complainer?” It’s easy to see it in others. It’s not always so easy to see it in ourselves.
Identify in your life what are the two or three things that you would most like to change. Have you got them up there? Are you constantly complaining about those things? Are you reaping the consequences in your life that constant complaining brings about? If there is a lack of joy, if you don’t sense God’s presence in your life, if your heart is like a wilderness, then maybe there are attitudes that need to be turned over to God to his transforming grace. Repeat after me, “I choose my attitudes.” Now repeat this, “With God’s help I can change my attitudes.”
We’re going to start each week with a negative attitude and we’re going to end with a positive one. God wants to replace the attitude of complaining with the attitude of thanksgiving. Ponder these two quotes from Dr. James McDonald. He says, “Faith grows in the soil of thanksgiving.” I want you to just think about that for a minute. Many of you work the soil in your gardens. You watch that stuff come up in the spring. What’s the soil that breeds faith—thankfulness. And then I love this quote of his, “Gratitude is the attitude that sets the altitude for living.”
Psalm 107, this verse appears about five times, “Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” In this wonderful verse we see that thankfulness is a decision, “Oh, that men would give thanks.” We know that it is a decision based in the reality of God’s gifts. “Give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” Unfortunately, our blessings all too often are taken for granted or just cause us to want or feel that we deserve more.
An attitude of thankfulness, friends, is a life-changing decision. Perhaps the most important word in this verse is the little word “oh”. Catch the Psalmist’s emotion, “oh” that man would get this. “Oh”. The passion there if they could just discover the liberating power of gratitude. Lou Gerigh, his career cut short by what we now know as Lou Gerigh’s Disease, they had that day for him there in Yankee Stadium. A packed house; they loved this guy. His career’s cut short; he’s going to die an excruciating, painful death. But what does Lou Gerigh stand there in that massive throng and say that day, “I consider myself today to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Attitude! Let’s bring you closer to home. Some of you know the dear lady by the name of Mary McGinnis. She’s been in a wheel chair for over fifty years. They discovered the vaccine for polio shortly after she contracted the disease. Mary hasn’t missed a service in years; she listens by tape. In fact, Mary right now is listening to last week’s service. She listens at 9:30 a.m. so that she’s worshiping when you worship. Life is incredibly hard for Mary McGinnis. Does she get discouraged? Absolutely she does! Anyone who has ever visited with Mary McGinnis walks out blessed because in the midst of all of this adversity she is such a positive, appreciative, grateful person. Mary, we love you. You are an example to us in what we are talking about today.
Matthew Henry who authored the wonderful set of commentaries on Scripture wrote these words in his diary the day after he was robbed. He says, “Lord, I thank You that I have never been robbed before.” He goes on to say, “Thank you, Lord, that although they took my purse, they did not take my life. Lord, I thank You that although they took my all, that my all wasn’t much.” And then he closes this writing in his diary that day by saying, “Lord, let me be thankful that it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed.” Attitude!
I’m going to bring in next week a picture and put it up on the screen. I guess it’s time for confession. First of all, I brought the good weather with me. My conference was in Las Vegas. Scot Stephens who pastors up at Noblesville and I, at the end of the week as we go downtown to see all the hotels and eat, we decided they didn’t build those hotels for people like us. We didn’t even put a quarter in the slot machines. But we were able to play golf a couple of times. And these two beautiful four and a half star courses, Dave, in the middle of the desert! I’ve got this one picture that I’m going to put up on the screen. On the left you see this desolately barren rock-filled desert. That’s where your ball goes if you hit it too far out off the path. And right next to it the most beautiful, lush, green fairway I’ve ever seen. And in the foreground of the picture is the reason for the green—a stream, water. Friends, you can live your life complaining and you can go to heaven. But in this life you spend it in the wilderness. Or you can choose thanksgiving and find the Promised Land.
Ask yourself these three simple questions in closing:
Am I a genuinely thankful person?
Are others able to see the blessings of thanksgiving in my life?
Am I choosing thankfulness over complaining? And here’s how you do it—moment by moment. Will you do it perfectly? Heavens, no! Talk to my wife. I’ve had some major pity parties over this crazy voice thing over the last eleven years. But nevertheless I think that I’m living proof that if you don’t complain about it God will give you grace to see you through it. And I’m choosing that moment by moment. But here’s the real test—even in the adversities of living.
Let’s pray, “This is tough stuff, Lord, that we maybe don’t want to hear. But you want us to hear that out of your live you promised, even in the midst of adversity, we could live life abundant in your grace. Speak a word of conviction, a word of encouragement, that we might change our attitudes before it is too late. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.”
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