Attitude of Gratitude
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Intro: Thanksgiving is upon us.
What are you thankful for?
Shoutout all at once what you’re thankful for....
Today… let’s talk about complaining.
Growing up, I always complained about… I would complain about not getting to watch tv as much as I would have liked.
Now I complain about football etc.
Complaining seizes our joy…
The old - testament gives a-lot of insight on complaining.. One of the biggest offenders of complaining were the Israelites.
First let me give you a little bit of backstory. Think back to the story of Joseph and the technicolor dream coat. If you remember, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, and yet, he eventually became Pharaoh’s right-hand man, Joseph. Joseph’s family (Jacob, whose other name was Israel, was his dad, and his 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel) moved to Egypt during the 7-year famine that Joseph saved Egypt from. So, they settled there and eventually Joseph died and time went on and the new Pharaoh of Egypt forgot about Joseph and became intimidated by the way the Israelite nation was multiplying. So, he put them into slavery for hundreds of years until the time of Moses, who you may have heard of, led them out of Egypt through a series of plagues, culminating in parting the Red Sea and entering the wilderness.
Now first of all, the Israelites complained twice during this whole ordeal when Moses was trying to lead them out of slavery. They were actually upset that they were being rescued from slavery! You can check this out in Exodus 5:1-22 and Exodus 14:11-12.
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’ ”
Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”
Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”
That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”
Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ” So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”
Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”
The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?
They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
And after all of this the complaining went to a whole other’ level.
Exodus 15:22 The taste of the water bothered them.
Exodus 16:1-4 They didn’t like the bread Moses gave them in the desert.
Exodus 17:1-4 They were thirsty.
Exodus 32:28 They got impatient waiting for the 10 commandments, complained, and built a golden calf idol to worship.
Numbers 11:33 They complained about the food again.
Numbers 12:1-12 Miriam and Aaron complained about Moses’ leadership.
Numbers 14:1-10 They didn’t want to enter The Promised Land that God wanted to give them because they were afraid. So they complained.
Numbers 14:10 Again, the Israelites didn’t like Moses and wanted to kill him.
Numbers 16, Numbers 16:41 They were still rebelling against Moses (who God appointed to lead them—and remember—SAVED THEM FROM SLAVERY!)
Numbers 20:1-5 They complained about the water again.
Numbers 14:1-10 They didn’t want to enter The Promised Land that God wanted to give them because they were afraid. So they complained.
Numbers 14:10 Again, the Israelites didn’t like Moses and wanted to kill him.
Numbers 16, Numbers 16:41 They were still rebelling against Moses (who God appointed to lead them—and remember—SAVED THEM FROM SLAVERY!)
Numbers 20:1-5 They complained about the water again.
Here is what we need to realize today from the Israelites example and in our own lives.
Complaining is a drain.
Psychological research points to complaining can actually rewire your brain. This means your brain becomes more accustom to complaining.
Complaining is all around us. But not complaining is refreshing and gives you a witness because it is counter cultural.
Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.
What do you complain about the most?
How are you draining yourself and others?
Let’s stop the drain game and choose to turn our emotions into prayers or solutions to the problems we face.
2. Pop your bubble
We live in our own “bubbles” what we say is right, and it’s all about us. It’s easy to complain when life is all about “me”
We are called to make life about others.
We are called to love the Lord your God with all of your heart soul.
3. See life as a gift
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
