Stop Complaining
And the whole congregation of the
people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. – Exodus 16:2
Someone is always upset about something. Some days
that seems especially true in the church. We complain about everything. The
music, the preaching style, the Sunday school lesson, the temperature, the
sound (either too loud or not loud enough). We “hate” the sermon or we “love it”,
depending on how it convicts us. And that preacher better not go too late.
Doesn’t he know how important Sunday lunch is?
Come on now. You know I’m speaking the truth. Who
among us hasn’t grumbled about something at church?
So let me ask you a question: Why do you attend
church? I hope most of you answered that you attend services in order to
worship God. What else? Do you go because it’s something you’re “supposed to do”?
Do you attend church because you want to see your friends, get caught up on
everyone (gossip!) and maybe learn a little about a Jesus? Maybe it’s about
exposing your children to worship or taking your elderly parents to services?
And maybe, just maybe, it’s about all those things.
And none of them. We allow ourselves to get so caught up in what doesn’t matter
that we miss what does matter. We have the freedom to worship God without fear
of being arrested as we raise our hands to exalt Him. Most of us have an
abundance of Bibles. Few of us sacrifice in order to attend church. You would
think we’d be a little more grateful. We aren’t.
Every summer my Sunday school class gets out the
blankets. Really. Because in order for another class to be comfortable, our
class temperature is freezing. It’s just easier to wrap up in a blanket than to
deal with people who refuse to compromise so that everyone is comfortable.
We are blessed with a pastor who has a very dry sense
of humor. You guessed it. Some people don’t like that. He isn’t a “feel good”
sort of preacher. He’s not going to tell you to claim all you want “in the name
of Jesus” and it will be yours. He will, however, teach you what the Bible
says. You might leave feeling convicted. Most will leave feeling determined to
live more for Jesus and less for self.
Maybe that will last for a few days. Then we’ll get upset
about something else. You see, we want it to be all about us. We want
everything to be exactly the way we want it to be, no compromises required. And
we get mad at the church, we get mad at God, when we don’t get what we want. We
get mad when it isn’t about us.
Ah, there it is. We want God to give us what we want
when we want it. We believe the church should do the same. We get all in a tizzy
about things that don’t really matter because we’d rather not face the things
that actually do matter. Things like sin and death and illness and right
living.
The next time you start to complain about something,
hit pause and consider why.
Are you upset about something that truly makes a difference or are you upset because you aren’t getting your own way? Be careful. Those complaints you’re lodging are against God and the people He has called to serve Him. You may be pointing your finger at the church but God sees you pointing it at Him.
Are you upset about something that truly makes a difference or are you upset because you aren’t getting your own way? Be careful. Those complaints you’re lodging are against God and the people He has called to serve Him. You may be pointing your finger at the church but God sees you pointing it at Him.
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