A Huge Complaint Part II: Done Complaining

How do we stop the complaining? The last blog left you with:

The Apostle Paul wrote: Do ALL things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world… (Philippians 2:14-15)

The Bible teaches us that we are to replace sinful habits with Godly habits. So you don’t just stop complaining, you replace it with thankfulness. How do I do that?

Answer: You need to absorb yourself in the Gospel. Not just have the Family Bible on the table. Not just a verse a day.Absorbed in the Gospel. Reading, memorizing, mediating, making it your focus throughout your day. Talking about it, teaching it, praying through it all. Absorbed in the Gospel.

The more you are absorbed in the Gospel, the more grateful you will naturally be, in any circumstance. What does that have to do with anything?

Let me explain. The time-tested standard on whether someone is an optimist or a pessimist is the 50% capacity drinking reservoir. You may know it as the cup that is half full. Or half empty.

Did you know God has a cup? The Bible is full of descriptions of the cup of God’s wrath. Here are a few examples:

Jeremiah 25:15 - Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it…”

Habakkuk 2:16 - You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!

Revelation 14:10 - (speaking of sinners who have rejected God) he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

The truth is what I deserve from God is a full cup… of His wrath. This cup would be mine if I was given what I deserve. So if God gave me an empty cup, that would be cause enough for infinite gratitude! But what if God gave me a cup with just one drop of blessing - I would be blown away by the unbelievable kindness of God. Not getting any wrath, but instead a drop of blessing!

Look at the verses that describe the cup that God has given to His people.

Psalm 116:12-13 - What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD...

Psalm 23:5 - You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

A cup of salvation? A cup of grace that overflows? What else is in this cup?

Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…

In Christ, God has given, not a cup of wrath, not even an empty cup… but instead a cup of every spiritual blessing!

Any circumstance we are in is infinite improvement on the hell we deserve.

Wherever you find yourself, first be grateful for the wrath you are not receiving and will never receive because of Jesus Christ. Second, be grateful for the blessings you are given instead, look at them against the backdrop of wrath you deserve .

This 2 layered gratitude disposes my heart to give thanks in all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 - give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The Gospel intensifies our gratitude, glorifies God, contributes to a peace of mind

Philippians 4:6-7 - do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

p.s. - Eternally grateful for the cup he was given.

A Huge Complaint

I have a huge complaint. Actually, I have a few of them. But complaining is a sin, so I shouldn't. I am such a complainer sometimes. I am sick of complaining. Then I complain about being tired of being sick of my complaining. Man, I am sick and tired of being tired of being sick of my complaining. 

I complain a lot. A lot less now, that my wife has been showing me that I can be a real whiner sometimes. God is working on me.

But it’s a “respectable” sin, right? No harm done, right? It’s natural, everyone does it, not a big deal.

Uh, wrong, wrong, technically since we are all sinners, doesn’t make it right, and wrong, respectively.

We choose to complain. It’s a choice. Let’s acknowledge that first. It IS a sin, it hurts ourselves (we become depressed in our negative thinking), it questions God’s sovereignty (never a good idea), and it affects others (ever been around a constant complainer? ugh).

I love how James MacDonald defines complaining: It is: expressing dissatisfaction with a circumstance that is not wrong and about which I am doing nothing to correct. . If you are expressing dissatisfaction because something is inherently wrong, that is not complaining. Or if you are trying to fix a situation, it is not complaining. But if these two don’t apply, you are complaining.

Not only do we do it verbally, but how often I catch myself doing it inwardly! “I don’t like this, I don’t prefer this, I wish I had my way, boo-hoo.”

It is a trendy thing, too. Websites are devoted to allowing people to post complaints, as I first learned, again, from James MacDonald. So I decided to check one out personally. For research. (I didn‘t post anything.)

I went to mybiggestcomplaint.com. One person actually was griping about people using the brand name “Styrofoam” for things not made by that brand. Wow, really? People that do that should be fined…or shot… or SOMETHING, for Pete’s sake! We have to stop the misuse of the Styrofoam name, those people are running roughshod in our society!

Enough sarcasm. That is silly, but true. And maybe you and I say, “At least I complain about important things.” Does that matter?

Numbers 11:1 - And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

God doesn’t give a pass for complaining about adversity. There is no gage on how bad things can get before God allows you to complain.

The Apostle Paul wrote: Do ALL things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world… (Philippians 2:14-15)

The Bible teaches us that we are to replace sinful habits with Godly habits. So you don’t just stop complaining, youreplace it with thankfulness. How do I do that? Part II is coming…

p.s. - moving out of Whinersberg

He's Alive!

On March 20, my then-4 year old son was kicked by a horse. 

It was a freak accident. He was in the barn at my in-laws' house, a horse got out into the yard, and an excited little boy ran up behind it to get a closer look. Before anyone could even react, he was kicked square in the chest and neck and launched across the yard. All I could think as I ran to him was, "There is no way he survived that impact." And as I picked his limp body up, I thought my fears were reality. Until, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds, he gargled and began to cry. I screamed, "HE'S ALIVE!!!"

The Lord protected him that day, and he baffled all the doctors at Children's Hospital as he had not one broken bone, no internal injuries... and he was up playing and laughing the next day. He came out of that experience with only a few broken teeth.

Though he didn't die, I thought for a few moments that he had. So when I realized I was joyfully wrong, all I could say is, "HE'S ALIVE!" And I ran around telling everybody that for about 2 weeks. He's alive. My son is alive. Praise God, my son is alive. 

The whole ordeal gave me a tiny morsel of what the disciples must have felt three days after the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Just a morsel. Because Jesus was really dead. Beaten, crucified, hung on display for people to walk by and insult him, dying on that cross in the worst agony as God was pouring out judgment on Him for the sin of the world. Stabbed with a spear. Laid in a tomb. Dead. He's gone, our Teacher, our Rabbi, our Master... we watched Him die. 

Imagine what was going through their minds the next 2 days. "Now what? We left everything to follow Him, and He's gone."

Those brief couple days must have felt like months. But on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples. How did they react? Luke 24:41 uses an interesting phrase, they "disbelieved for joy." In other words, they exclaimed, "I can't believe it!", with smiles and tears, I'm sure. 

He's alive. HE'S ALIVE! And that means everything. 

His promises are true, He always keeps His Word. "...Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things...and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (Matthew 16:21)

Satan and death are defeated. "...through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil..." (Hebrews 2:14)

We can be forgiven of our sins and made alive. "For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Romans 6:10-11)

God help us to never lose the impact that those first disciples felt. We are not following the moral teachings of a dead Jewish man from ancient history. We have been pardoned from sin, restored to God, and given life. 

Because HE'S ALIVE!

p.s. - "I died, and behold I am alive forevermore." (Revelation 1:18)

Who killed Jesus?

It's a question that has fueled hatred and controversy since that first "Good Friday". Who is tho blame for the crucifixion of the Son of God?

Some have put it on the Romans. Crucifixion was the Roman form of execution, Pilate could have released Jesus, Roman guards nailed him to that cross. But ultimately, it wasn't the Romans who killed Jesus. 

Others blame the religious leaders. They were always after Him. Caiaphas and company made it their life's ambition to find a way to kill Him (Matthew 26:4, John 11:53), so surely they could be credited as the ones who killed Jesus. 

It has to be Judas Iscariot, right? Luke 22:3-6 even says that Satan entered Judas, who went to the aforementioned religious leaders to cash in on selling Jesus out. Wait, maybe Satan is to blame, then. No and no, ultimately it is neither Judas nor Satan who killed Jesus. 

Constantine and Martin Luther are among those who had a disdain for the Jews, because they have to be credited for killing Jesus. John 7:1 says the Jews were seeking to kill him. It was the Jews who demanded his death in John 19:7. Can we blame an entire nation of people, even those alive today, for killing Jesus? No. Repent from the anti-Semitism, God has not forsaken His chosen nation, read Romans 9-11. It was not the Jews who killed Jesus. 

The answer is astounding. According to the Bible... God killed Jesus!

Isaiah 53, written long before Jesus Christ walked the earth, is prophecy all about Him and His ministry. Verse 10 says, "Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him, he has put him to grief..." Let that sink in for a while. Who killed Jesus? It was the will of the Lord to crush Him. Some translations say it PLEASED the LORD to crush Him!

Wha...? So the next question is easy: WHY?! Well, the answer is right there in the next line: "when his soul makes an offering for sin." God the Father was the one who killed God the Son, it was the Father's will! Jesus knew this, of course. In John chapter 10, Jesus was talking about laying down His life. John 10:18 says, "No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (emphasis mine) 

Jesus knew that His death on the cross was the will of His Father, so in His perfect obedience, He was nailed to the cross. 

The result of this sacrifice is also in Isaiah 53. Verse 11 says that His death was to make many to be accounted righteous, bearing their iniquities. To those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, this is why we look back to the cross on Good Friday. My sin and your sin, our rebellion, is spitting in the face of our Holy Creator. We deserve to be punished, but on the cross, God the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus Christ. Upon receiving Him, God pronounces us not guilty! We can be perfectly righteous in God's eyes, not by anything we can do, but because of what Jesus Christ accomplished. 

So God killed Jesus. And He did it so you and I could be forgiven. 

p.s. - "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthians 5:21