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13 "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may
become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved
Four Common types of complainers
1. The Whiner: __________________________________________________________
(King David) "Have I been wasting my time. Why take all the trouble to be pure? All I
get out of it is trouble and woe." Psalm 73:13 (
"they took their money and started grumbling against the employer…‘we put up with a
whole day’s work in the hot sun
yet you paid them the same as you paid us.’ Matt.
12 (Good News Bible)
2. The Martyr _______________________________________________________
"Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why pick on me, to give me the burden of a people like this? I
can’t carry this nation by myself!...If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me
possible situation!" Numbers
3. The Cynic _________________________________________________________
Solomon) "Life is useless…you spend your life working and what do you have to show
for it…what has been done before will be done aga
4,9 (Good News
4. The Perfectionist ____________________________________________________
"A nagging wife is like water going drip, drip, drip on a rainy day." Proverbs 27:15
(Good News Bible)
"Better to live out in the desert than with a nagging complaining wife." Proverbs 21:19
(Good News Bible)
2. How to conquer Complaining
1. ___________________________________________________________________
"A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesse
and forsakes them, he gets another chance." Proverbs 28:13 (Living Bible)
2. ____________________________________________________________________
"Some people ruin themselves by their own stupid mistakes and then blame the Lord."
Proverbs 19:3
______________________________________________________________
, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ." 1
"…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. "Philippians 4:11
4.______________________________________________________________________
"This small temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory,
much greater than the trouble. So we
not on the things that are seen but
t are unseen. What is seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen
lasts forever." 2 Corinthians 4:17
18 (Good News Bible)
5.__________________________________________________________________
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,
up according to
, that it may benefit those who listen."
"Don’t keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful;
…and godly advice" Ephesians 6:4 (Living
Complaining is a killjoy. It makes you unhappy. Everybody else around you is unhappy.
The problem is that it is a hard habit to break. We are naturally negative. We tend to look
at the bad things in life. We are conditioned in this by our world. Bad news makes the
headlines. We are bombarded continually with what is wrong with everything. By our
own nature and our conditioning we tend to develop the habit of complaining/
The Bible says that God wants us to be
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
What does the word of god have to say about dealing with this habit of complaining?
1. There are four common types of complainers.
1. the whiner.
These people wake up negative. They rise and whine. We think of King David as an
example of being pure of heart. He was. He was also an adulterer and murderer. He could
also whine. He does it in more than one of his psalms. In Psalm 72:13 "Have I been
wasting my time. Why take all the trouble to be pure? All I get out of it is trouble and
is: "It’s not fair, I don’t deserve this. Everybody else gets all
the breaks."
"they took their money and started grumbling against the employer…‘we put up with a
whole day’s work in the hot sun
yet you paid them the same as you paid us.’ Matt.
ood News Bible)
Life is not fair. God never said that it was going to be fair. It will be fair I heaven. He will
settle the score in heaven and hell. As long as you complain about the fact that life is not
fair, it only makes you more miserable. But it will never change the fact that life is not
always fair. Complaining doesn’t work.
2. the Martyr
Favorite phrase: "No one appreciates me."
"Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why pick on me, to give me the burden of a people like this? I
by myself!...If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me
it will be a kindness! Let me out of this impossible situation!" Numbers
These people are pros at having pity parties. When they are sick or under pressu
want everybody to know about it. How do you react when you don’t get your own way?
Do you start a complaining campaign?
Favorite phrase: "Nothing will ever change."
"Life is useless…you spend your life working and what do you have to show for it…what
has been done before will be done again." Ecclesiastes 1:2
4,9 (Good News Bible)
4. the Perfectionist
Nothing is ever right for this person. It is never good enough.
Favourite phrase: Is that the best you can do."
s like water going drip, drip, drip on a rainy day." Proverbs 27:15
(Good News Bible)
"Better to live out in the desert than with a nagging complaining wife." Proverbs 21:19
(Good News Bible)
This refers to husbands too! Nagging perfectionists. Nothing is
arguing. Nothing destroys the warmth of a home faster than complaining. Nothing
destroys the harmony of a marriage faster than complaining. Nagging doesn’t work. It j
just makes everybody upset.
If your children or grandchildren are complaining continuously, ask yourself if you are
setting the example.
How do you conquer complaining?
1. Admit it is a problem.
Admit it is a problem for you, not for other people, but for you. Proverbs 28:13 says "a
man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and
forsakes them, he gets another chance."
Often the most difficult part in leaning how to handle complaining is recognizing it in
yourself. If someone recorded you for a week, what would it reveal about your speec
How much time do you spend griping, grumping, complaining, arguing, and saying "life
stinks"? You have got to admit it is a problem for me.
The words admit and confess point to the heart of the problem. Complaining just isn’t a
bad habit; it is a s in. We need to confess it. It is a sin; it is serious. Complaining was the
sin that kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land. God destroyed them in the desert
because they grumbled, complained and refused to stop after repeat warnings from God.
says seven times, "they murmured." The reason that the children of Israel never
got into the promised land was because they were complainers. That I s how serious God
says what we are talking about it. Admit it!
2. accept responsibility for your own life
any times complaining is just an attempt to blame other people for the problems that I
have created. Or it is an attempt to excuse myself and to put the blame onto someone
else. I brought the problem into my life; I am the cause of it, but if I complain, m
can shift the focus onto somebody else. This will make me feel just a little bit better. We
like to pass the buck; it makes us feel better.
"Some people ruin themselves by their own stupid mistakes and then blame the Lord."
Proverbs 19:3
mplain how the ball bounces if you are the one who dropped it! When I bring
problems into my life, I have no legitimate right to complain. Sometimes complaining is
just an excuse to be irresponsible and to refuse to accept that I caused the situation. We
eap what we sow. When I don’t like what I’m reaping because of what I have sowed, I
have no legitimate right to complain about the results. You are free to choose what want
to do in life. God has given you the freedom of choice. Once you have made the choi
you are no longer free. You are free to make the choice but you are never free from the
consequences of that choice.
Some people complain about being in debt. Is it possible that you were irresponsible
about spending and saving. Is possible that you made a purchase that you really shouldn’t
have made? People say, "I’m just not appreciated at home." Could it be that you don’t
appreciate others at home. We reap what we sow. Whatever you want in life you have got
to give it out. That is one of God’s rules that you can’t violate if you know what is good
for you. If you want friends you have to be friendly. If you want appreciation you have
give appreciation. If you want to be first in your marriage, you need to put your partner
first in you r marriage. We reap what we sow.
Accept responsibility for my own life and the choices that I make. The changes that are
going to take place, happen because I choose to change.
There are three kinds of people in life: accusers, excusers and choosers.
Accusers are always going around saying, "It’s your fault." When Adam sinned he took it
like a man and blamed his wife. "Eve did it." And then he blamed God. "You gave me
that woman.
Excusers say, " I’m a product of my environment. It is not really my fault.
The people who are really successful in life are neither accusers nor excusers. They are
chosers. They accept responsibility for their own decisions. When they reap what they
sow, they take it and move ahead.
3. Develop the attitude of gratitude. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "
, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ." God says I want you to be
thankful in al circumstances. It does not say "for all circumstances." You cannot be
thankful for the circumstances, but you can be thankful in the situation. I know that god is
working all things for good. He has a pattern and he fits even the bad things in our lives
into that pattern for good. God’s purpose for my life is greater than my problems, so in
everything I can give thanks. Not for, but in
I develop the attitude of gratitude. I learn to grateful for what I have. It is the antidote for
the poison of complaining. Whenever we are complaining we are, usually, being
ungrateful. You can focus either on the negative of the positive. Is the glass
half full. It depends on how you look a it. Why is it that we often don’t value what we
In southern Alberta we have much to be grateful for. But we take so much for granted.
North American tourists overseas have a reputation for complaining.
Of there are things in you life that have not satisfied you. There are tragedies that will
take a life time or more to get over. There are some things in your marriage that you
don’t like. There things in your work, business, farm, habits in yourself, your spouse,
your children, your boss. But there are some things in those situations and people that
you could learn to be thankful for.
The Bible says that Christians are to be different. We are to do everything without
ng or complaining that we may sons of God, blameless and without harm in the
middle of a crooked and depraved county in which we shine like lights of the world. We
stand out in a crowd. We shine like lights because we are different.
"…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. "Philippians 4:11. content is
the important word here. Paul wrote this when he was in prison. The situation does not
determine the happiness.
When you learn to be happy and joyful in spite of circumstances that is matur
mature when I am not determined or controlled by circumstances around me.
Boredom is actually a complaint
a complaint against God. You are basically saying, "god
you gave me a raw deal. I can do nothing with the circumstances that you dealt me. I
were you God, I could do a better job. I am bored God because you did not give me what
I really need in life and therefore life is lousy.
Develop the attitude of gratitude.
4. Look for God’s hand in circumstances. If you want to get victory over compl
look for God’s hand in your circumstances.
"This small temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory,
much greater than the trouble. So we
not on the things that are seen but
en. What is seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen
lasts forever." 2 Corinthians 4:17
18 (Good News Bible)
Paul is saying that there is no doubt that problems come into our lives. But the way you
look at them determines your attitude. Because god is working these things for god in
your life and the good you are going to get out of them will be much more long lasting
than the problem. The problem is temporary in light of how long you are going to live in
eternity. So look for god’s hand in the circumstances. Positive people realize that God is
controlling circumstances. God is fitting everything into a pattern and his purpose is
greater than your problem.
Over and over the bible tells us not to complain. This is because complaining is rebellion
gainst God. When I complain abut circumstances that are beyond my control, I am really
saying that if I were God things would be different. If I were in charge the whole human
race would be much better. That is why it is rebellion. That is why complaining
serious. And God says don’t do it.
When we complain we are challenging three things. I am questioning God’s wisdom. "Do
you really know what you are doing? Do you really see what is going on? Is this really
wise?" I am doubting God’s care. "Do you really love me? Do you really care for me’? I
am forgetting God’s goodness. I am focusing on what I don’t have rather than focusing
on what I do have. I’m being ungrateful.
Often the thing that I personally complain about the most are the very things that G
knows that I need the most in order to become all that he wants me to become. It is a
warning light of God. He is saying, "there is something wrong here. Let’s change it. Stop
complaining. Start changing." The only way you change other people is by chan
yourself. Then they have to react to you differently."
5. Practice speaking positively. Complaining is a habit. Habits are only broken when we
replace them with something else. Take out the negative complaining. Replace it with
something else. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only
up according to
, that it may benefit those
The bible says that we are going to give an account for every ideal word. Pau
"don’t let any junk come out of your mouths, but only that which helps people with there
needs, that benefits them. If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all.
Replace you criticisms and complaints with something else.
a crucial factor in parenting. Affirming always gets better results than nagging.
"Don’t keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful;
rather bring them up with loving discipline…and godly advice" Ephesians 6:4 (Living
). Parents do you help your kids or do you hinder them? Are you building your kids
up or tearing hem down?
What are the results of complaining? Paul writes, "do everything without complaining or
arguing." Then he gives three results. "…so that you may become blameless." This means
that when you don’t complain, nobody can find fault with you. Nobody can point a finger
"…and pure…" the Greek word here means having integrity. People who don’t complain
become people of integrity.
out fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine
like stars in the universe. Sometimes our culture can be so negative. When you find a
person is genuinely positive, they stick out like a sore thumb. The contrast is obvious.
e a star in the middle of a dark night. It so different to be positive, to not
complain, not to be critical, not to put down other people. When you are a person in your
own life who doesn’t complain, yow will shine like a star.
The point of the passage is that Paul is saying that Christians are to react differently to the
circumstances in life. A complaining Christian is a bad witness. A positive attitude is a
great witness. It has impact.
How can you make an impact in your world so that world will take notice? Check your
attitude. Be positive in a negative world.
Wouldn’t it be great that our church would have the reputation of "that’s where all the
positive people go"? You never hear a complaint or a grumble over there. That is the
church where there is
Where there is love, unity, and harmony you would have to lock the doors to keep people
out. The church would grow because people are looking for love. Every time you say
something with a smile, shake somebody’s hand, say "Hi", greet somebody, give a hug
you are spreading love in this body. You are making a difference. You are making an
impact. You are shining like a star in a dark world.
What would happen of in your work or at your business, all of sudden all of the
d? What would happen if your family made an agreement that no
would be critical, no one would complain about anyone, or tear one another down? Kids,
what would happen in your family if all of a sudden, you stopped gripping? Do you think
your way a little more often?
Last week we looked at verse 13
"For God is at work in you to will and to act according
to his purpose." The first thing paul talks about after he talks about God working in us is
complaining. How do you know when God is working in your life? When you are
stopping complaining. The first clue; check your attitude.
But to do this you need power beyond yourself
Jesus Christ.. He is the antidote to the
poison of our culture and our nature. Jesus makes us new people inside. It may be that
complaining is an embedded habit
hard to get rid of. The only way that will be broken is
by a power outside of us, an external and eternal power in your life who will begin
changing you from the inside out. Will you ask him? Will you let him?
GOD’S PART/MY PART IN CHANGING ME
Philippians 2:12 "…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 purposes." "Work out":
"Your salvation": "God works in you":
part in changing me. Three Tools he uses
______________________________________ "The whole Bible was given to us
by inspiration from God and useful to teach us what true and to make us realize
what is wrong in lives; it straightens us out and helps us to
God’s way of making us well prepared in every point…" 2 Timothy 3:16
_______________________________________ "Once the Spirit…lives within
you, He will bring to your whole being…new strength and vitality." (Phil
Bible) "As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more like Him." 1
Cor. 3:18 (Living Bible)
__________________________________________ "To those who love God and
are called according to his plans, everything that happens fits into a patte
good. For God chose us to bear the family likeness of his Son." Romans 8:28
(Phillips) "Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways"
Proverbs 20:30 (Good News Bible)
2. My Part In Changing Me
Three Choices
1. I can choose ___________________________ "Be careful how you think. Your life is
changed by your thoughts." Proverbs 4:23 (Good News Bible). "Your mind must be
changed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created
in God’s way…" Ephe
25 (Jerusalem Bible). Romans 12:2
Think Feel Act.
Value of Bible Meditation Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:16, Psalm 119:9&11, Joshua 1:8
I can choose ________________________________ "Take care to live in Me and
let Me live in you. For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine.
Nor can you be fruitful apart from me. I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever lives in Me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit." John 15:4
I can choose ___________________ "When all kinds of trials crowd into your
lives, don’t resent them as intruders but welcome them as friends! Realize that
they come to test your faith and produce in you the quality of endurance. But let
the process go on until that endurance is fully developed and you become people
of mature character, people of integrity with no weak spots." James 1:2
"We can be full of joy here and now, even in our trials and troubles. These very things
will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character…" Romans
What would you like to change in your life? The poet W. H. Auden wrote that we would
rather be ruined than changed. We sometimes hear a person say "Jesus changed my life."
How does Jesus change your life? Does he do surgery? Does he brainwash you? Does he
zap you with lightening and all of a sudden, you are changed?
We sometimes get confusing advice on how God changes us. Someone tells us, "Just wait
on the Lord." Other people tell us "If it is to be, it’s up t
What am I supposed to do in order to grow? Is it all up to me? Does God do it all
himself? Is it a combination of the two?
Paul deals with this issue. He writes that when it come to your spiritual growth, God has
a part; you have a part. Paul uses two phrases to explain this cooperation.
"Continue to work out you salvation with fear and trembling, for it God who works in
you to will and to act according to his good purposes." Paul says work out and work in.
Work out is your part; work in is God’s part. We work out what God is working in.
Paul is not saying work for your salvation. He says work out. The bible says, "It is not of
works so that no man should boast." The people Paul is writing to are already Christians.
He is saying develop what you already have. Work out the implications. You are born
again. Keep growing. Work it out.
What do you do in a physical work out? You do a workout not to get a body. You are
developing the one you already have. When you work out a puzzle, you already have all
e pieces. You just have to put it together. A farmer works the ground. He is cultivating
it. It is not work for; it is work out. Work out the implications, the associations, the links.
Paul writes, "…work out your salvation." "Your" is important here. Paul
an individual assignment. He is saying be personally responsible for your growth. It is
your salvation and not somebody else’s
individually. God wants you to work out
how it effects you individually. God doesn’t want cookie cuter Christians. He doesn’t
want a bunch of spiritual robots walking around. He doesn’t want everybody copying
each other. We are each uniquely different individuals. He does not want you to be Billy
Graham o Joni Eaerkson. He wants you to be you.
trembling." Don’t be afraid of God. Christians don’t need to fear God in
the way we might be afraid of someone. There is nothing that we do or don’t do that
makes us a son or daughter of God and a brother or sister of Jesus other than accepting
that Jesus died for our sins. We are a part of God’s family. We can have a healthy fear of
missing out all that God has made us for. So we fear and tremble in the sense of taking
our life in Christ seriously. It has implications for eternity. There are life and death
Nothing is more important than your own spiritual growth. In God’s eyes, nothing is
more important than our relationship with him. Take it seriously.
"For is God who works in you." That is God’s part. God works in us. We get the word
energy from the Greek word here for works. God is the energizer for change
in your life. He says, "I will give you the power to do what you want to do, need to do
and know what is right to do. I will empower and energize you." God is the energizer to
and to act. He will give the will power and the ability. He’ll give you the desire and
the capability to change.
There are three tools God uses to work change into your life and three choices you have
to make to work them out.
He uses the bible. The whole bible was given to us by inspiration from God and
useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our
lives; it straightens us out and helps us to do what is right. It is God’s way of
making us well prepared at every point. 2 Timo
The Bible changes our thoughts so it changes us. If you want to get serious about
change, you need to get into this book. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Meditate on
it, live it in your life. The more you get the word of God into your life, t
you are going to be changed.
Someone says I don’t have faith. Ask them, are you reading your bible? They say
no. What can they expect. The bible says, "Faith comes from hearing and hearing
by the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit
God puts his Spirit in us. This is where the power to change comes from. Romans
8:11 says, "Once the Spirit Lives within you, He will bring to your whole being
new strength and vitality." God will bring power into your life. The Holy Spirit is
. When you commit your life to God, He comes
1 Corinthians 3:18 says, "As the Spirit of the Lord works with us, we become
more and more like Him." God ‘s number one purpose in your life is not to make
you happy. His number one purpose is to make you like Jesus.
Genesis 1:27 says that when God formed the world, He said, "Let us make man in
our image." His goal ever since then has been to do this. That is his ultimate goal
to change you and me into his image.
God’s ideal is to tell us how to change through his word and to give us the power
to change through his Spirit. We read his word and then he empowers us to do it.
Unfortunately, we don’t always, or rather we usually don’t follow the ideal. So,
God has to use a third way to change us when we don’t respond to or make use of
his word or the Holy Spirit.
Circumstances.
Problems, pressures, stresses, headaches, difficulties always get our attention.
29 says, "To those who love God and are called according to his plan,
at happens fits into a pattern for good. For God chose us to bear the family
likeness of his son." There is nothing that could come into the life of a believer without
God’s permission. He doesn’t say that they are all good, but he will use them for good t
fit into a pattern. There is a divine pattern.
Where are my problems coming from" Did I cause them. Are they from Satan? Are they
from God? The answers to these questions require more time than we have right now. For
our purposes, here it really doesn’t matter where the problems in our lives come from. No
matter what the source, God can use them in your life if you will let him. All things can
to make you like Jesus.
If God is going to make me like Jesus, then he is going to take me through some
situations that Jesus went through. There were times when Jesus was lonely. There were
times when Jesus was tempted. There were times when Jesus was tempted to get angry or
depressed and to blow up or to be impatient. And God allowed Jesus to go through those
things. Do you think that he is going to spare you those things? He is more interested in
your character than in your comfort.
Hebrews 5:8 says, "Jesus learned obedience through suffering." How do you think that
rn it. Hebrews 2:10 says, "Jesus was made perfect through suffering."
How do you think you are going to be made perfect?
God works first through his word, then the Holy Spirit. Then if those two don’t work, he
uses circumstances. For example, Scripture says, "Be humble. Before honor humility is
necessary." You read this from the word of God. You ask God for the power to get rid of
the ego, the screaming me me’s in your life. That is God’s ideal way of dealing with this.
But if you don’t learn to be humble from God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit, he
It is very easy for God to humiliate us. He has a 1001 ways to do it. You can read the
bible for six hours a day, but that is still not a major section of your d
life. How many hours of a day have circumstances? Twenty
four hours a day have
circumstances.
God more often has to depend on the third way that the first two. Those are the tools that
we force him to use in our lives. Proverbs 20:30 says, "Sometimes it takes a painful
situation to make us change our ways." We rarely change until we get desperate. We
don’t change too often when we see the light, but we always change when we feel the
heat. God lights a fire under us and we get moving.
n we will put up with things in our lives that we know need to be changed until we
begin to be uncomfortable. God sometimes has to bring thunderstorms into our lives to
say, "Do something. I want you to change. Don’t get stuck in a rut
with the ends kicked out." How many people after the tornadoes struck in the southern
US emerged able to say "I have all my possessions with me." A Christian could.
My Part In Changing Me.
I can choose what I think about. Growth does not happen automatic
come passively or spiritually. Change is a matter of choice. I can choose what I think
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts."
You aren’t what you think you are. But what you think, you are. Your thoughts don’t just
direct your life, they are your life. If we could see on a giant screen what you think about,
we would really know who you are. Whatever change you want to make in your life
starts with your thoughts.
ays "Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you
can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way." Change always begins with
new thinking. The bible word for change is repentance. We have been mistakenly taught
e is being sorry for your sins and changing the way you behave.
Repentance in the Greek means to change you mind.
When I repent, I change my mind. I change the way I thought about God, the way I
thought about my self, others, the world. I changed my outlook. If we don’t change our
mind we are sorry for our sin but just go back to doing it over and over again because we
haven’t changed our minds.
When I became a Christian it changed my whole life. I begin to see things differently. I
e of my old ways of thinking, my old values.
Romans 12:2 says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ If you want to be
changed, start with the renewing of your mind. Psychologists have found this out 2,000
years later. They have discovered that the way I think determines the way that I feel. The
way that I feel determines the way that I act. We don’t eat because we are hungry. We eat
because we are sad, mad or glad.
Changing the way we act is a big deal today. It is called behavior modification. P
are trying to change their actions rather than going back to the root of those actions.
There is no action without a thought behind it. We don’t do anything unless we think we
even going out the bar, getting drunk and then gettin
wheel of a car.
If you are acting depressed, it is because you feel depressed. You feel depressed because
you are thinking some depressing thoughts. We have to be careful here because some
people suffering from the
ay require medication and
professional counseling.
But normally the key is to start with the way you think. You can’t fight a feeling.
A speed boat has an automatic pilot. It is set to go east. You suddenly decide that you
want to turn the boat around 180 degrees and go west. One question pastors are often
asked is how can I change? There are two ways. One way is to grab the steering wheel
and force it by sheer willpower to turn around and go the opposite way. The automatic
pilot want to go east. But you are forcing it to go west. You are forcing yourself to go in
opposite to your nature. You are holding the wheel. You are getting tired because of the
tension. Soon you have to let go of the steering wheel. You go off a diet. You start
tart watching the TV shows you know you shouldn’t. You get back
to reading the magazines you have been trying to stop reading. Whatever it is, sheer will
power doesn’t work.
The Bible says that change starts in the mind
"Be transformed by the renewing of
mind. Change the automatic pilot. If you change it, the direction changes easily.
What is your automatic pilot? Finish this sentence: "It is just like me to be…. That is the
agenda you have set in your life. One of the things that you can start choos
about is God’s word. Jesus said, "Thy word is the truth." If you want to change, start
filling your mind with Scripture. Psalm 1:1 says, "Blessed is the man who meditates on
God’s word. We meditate on God’s word. It gets into our mind. It chan
Philippians 4:8 says, "think on these things, and it tells us all of the kind of things to think
about. Psalm 1:19 says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
God." Joshua 1:8 says, "The secret of success is meditate on God’s word day and night."
You begin by thinking God’s word. If you are not having a daily quiet time, you are not
seeing much change in your life. At least not as much as you should be.
I can choose to depend on God’s Spirit moment by moment. This where the power comes
in. Jesus gave a beautiful picture of this in John 15:4
5. "Take care to live in me and let
me live in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit when it is cut off from the vine. Nor
can you be fruitful apart from me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever lives in
me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit."
A branch is totally dependent on the vine. When it is cut off from the vine, it won’t bear
any grapes or figs. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself. It has got to be connected
is saying that is the way we have to be with God. We have to be plugged in. God has the
power. It is not automatic. It is when you are plugged in, tuned in to God that the power
comes through you.
Fruit is an inside job. What if I planted a dead tree? Then two weeks before harvest I tie a
bunch of apples to it. Many Christians are trying to do this. They are trying tie good
works onto their life to look like they are making progress. But really it is something they
have picked up from the outside rather than let it flow through their lives as they depend
on God’s Spirit. And that is a choice.
How do you know when you are depending on God’s Spirit? Check your prayer life.
Whatever you pray about you are depending on God for. Whatever you don’t pray a
you are not depending on God for. What does it mean to depend on God? It means to
pray continually. Your decisions, your feelings, your relationships, your deadlines,
purchase, everything. Whatever you want God to bless that what you pray about. You
aware that God is constantly with you. You practice his presence. You have a running
conversation with him. You whisper up prayer to God no matter what you are doing. Talk
to God about anything and everything. That is what it means to depend on his Spi
I can choose to respond to circumstances. I can choose to depend on God’s Spirit moment
by moment. God’s resources run parallel with your choices. God has the resource of his
word. He wants you to read it. God has the Holy Spirit. You can choose to de
Him. God uses circumstances. You can choose your response to those circumstances.
4 says, "When all kinds of trials crowd into your lives, don’t resent them as
intruders, but welcome them as friends. Realize that they come into your lives to test your
faith and produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that
endurance is fully developed and you become people of mature character, people of
integrity, with no weak spots."
It is a process. The Christian life is
time event. It is an event followed by a
process. You are born again, but you have to grow, develop, and work out the salvation
that you have given. Not work for but work out the implications. You develop it. The
more you use your muscles, the more you develop your muscles. There is a process going
on in your life to produce a mature character. That is God’s goal
Christ like character in
James is saying that I can choose my response to life.
Victor Frankel, the famous psychologist was imprisoned in one of the concentration
camps in WW11. He said that one
day they stripped him naked. They had taken his
clothes, shoes, family, and even his wedding ring. He said that they had taken away
everything physically that they could. But standing there in front of the Nazis soldiers, he
realized that there was one thing that they could never take from him. That was h is
choice to respond to the circumstances he experienced in his life. That is ultimate
freedom.
We cannot choose what is going to happen to us next week, next month or next year. We
don’t have that choice. But we can choose how we are going to respond. We can choose
how we are going to react. We can choose whether it is going to make us or to break us.
Is it going to make you bitter or make you better. Is it going to be a stepping stone to
maturity or a stumbling block to failure. The only difference between a stepping stone
and stumbling block is the way we use it. It is our choice
the way we choose to respond
to the circumstances that co
What really happens in life the most is not what happens to you. In fact what happens
after what happens is more important than what happened. What happens to you is not
the most important thing in your life. What happens in you is the most important. That is
a choice. We’ve seen people put into the same bad circumstances. One will come out a
winner; the other will come out a whiner. One is complaining; the other is turning it into
4 says, "We can be full of joy here and now, even in our trials and troubles.
‘These very things (the trials and troubles) will give us patient endurance; this in run will
develop a mature character."
Character is in both verses. It is the bottom line. In these verse from Romans the word
means "something that has proven reliable". It has passed the test. When we choose the
way we respond, it produces character.
God produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives
love, joy, peace, patience, goodness,
kindness, faithfulness and self
by putting us in the opposite situation. You want
to learn love? God is going to put you with some unlovely people. It is easy to love the
lovely. You want to learn joy? God will put some tragedies in your life where you will
om happiness. Peace? It is easy to be peaceful sitting on a
beach in Hawaii. We learn peace in the middle of chaos. Goodness? He will put you in
situations where you are tempted for badness. Self control? God allows us in the opposite
help us to grow.
What most needs changed in your life? The power to change comes from God’s power
and our choices. When we choose to do the right thing, god will give us the power. What
God tells you to do he will give you the power to do. Whatever you want to change takes
cooperation from God. He will work it in you if you will work it out. God has promised
to give us the both the desire and the ability to make those changes. He will do it through
his word and through his Spirit. He will energize or life to make those changes. But it
starts with our choices.
2008 Sermon by Pastor Robert Derrick Monarch Reformed Church
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