Gratitude's Nemesis: The Grumble

Big Idea -Grumbling and complaining undermine the grace of God and poison the heart.

Scripture - Exodus 16, Numbers 11, James 1

INTRO: Humans are interesting creatures, we tend to become focused on the negative more than the positive - just look at our newspapers, TV news, any information services of any kind, documentaries, etc.

ILLUS: The loudest boos always come from those in the free seats.

There is a movie series from the 1990s that is about two men. I am going to give you a few descriptive words, and I want to see if you can name these movies: complaining, negativity, intolerance, uncompromising, griping, fussing, grumpiness. What movie series has characters known for these "magnetic" characteristics?

You guessed it – Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.

One of the reasons these movies were well received was because, as Hollywood does well, they allowed us to witness the main characters, Walter Matthau and John Lemmon, get away with exaggerated attitudes and behaviors on the premise of grumpiness. Because these characters were able to express their irritability through comedy, the movies became an audience favorite. However, if we were to practice their words and actions off the screen, we would be far from anyone's favorite.

Because in reality, no one likes to spend time with a complainer – a grumbler - a grumpy old man.

Studies have shown that few things are more detrimental to your health than a bad attitude. Because our attitudes begin with our mindset, if our perspective is stuck in the muck of negativity, our body, behaviors, mental, emotional, and even physical health will begin to take on this posture – a posture of negativity.

Ingratitude

Merriam Webster defines ingratitude as

"the failure or refusal to acknowledge receipt of something good from another; the forgetfulness of or poor return of kindness."

Ingratitude is the choice not to recognize good or kindness in our life. It is the choice to take on the mindset and the spirit of the Grumpy Old Men. The Bible is full of stories originating from a heart of ingratitude. Many of the most disheartening stories in the Bible begin with a spirit of ingratitude.

We all know the story of Cain killing his brother Able. Both brothers offered a sacrifice to God. Abel's sacrifice was acceptable; Cain's was not. Knowing Cain's sacrifice was given from an ungrateful heart, God rejected his offering. Cain's ungrateful spirit sparked a wave of stewing anger, which convinced Cain that the answer to his wounded pride was not a reflection of his ungrateful sacrifice but the murder of his brother.

King David is another example. David lived a blessed life. The Lord gave him a flourishing kingdom, a successful career as king, a wife who loved him, a healthy family, well-being, and provision. However, the moment his gaze shifted from the goodness and mercies in his life and allowed his heart to follow his eyes as he scanned his neighbor's rooftops, David coveted what he didn’t have. And in his heart, he became ungrateful. In turn, his ungrateful spirit led to a great sin - adultery. Even under the umbrella of his grave repentance and God's forgiveness, the remainder of his reign was stained. His life was scarred by his sin. All because his focus shifted from the Lord's grace (charis) in his life, forgetting all for which he had to be grateful.

I would argue that the slippery slope of their sins originated from the sly sin of ingratitude.

Philosopher David Hume wrote, "Of all the crimes that human creatures are capable of committing, the most horrid and unnatural is ingratitude."

that gratitude is a well-spring of life.

I want us to examine Israel's attitudes in its earliest days after they exited Egypt.

DISSATISFACTION & DISTORTIONS 11:1-17

A. Negative Focus 11:1-9

Numbers 11:1–9 CSB

1 Now the people began complaining openly before the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, his anger burned, and fire from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So that place was named Taberah, because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them. 4 The riffraff among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? 5 We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. 6 But now our appetite is gone; there’s nothing to look at but this manna!” 7 The manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium. 8 The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

1. After camping nearly a year at Mount Sinai where they received God's written Word Israel was only 3 days traveling when they started complaining!!

a. They had been comfortably settled for almost a year.

b. Life was pretty good around Mount Sinai

c. They had done well where they were.

2. After only 3 days away from their comfortable routine however they begin complaining about the hardships!

a. Their focus is no longer the promise land, but the problem land!

b. Their focus had shifted negatively, and so nothing could be seen any longer in a positive light, not even the fact that they were no longer slaves!

3. It did not matter what God had provided for them. The heavenly bread (MANNA) was no longer viewed as a gift from God, it was now a loathsome boring routine, they wanted some "real flesh" (MEAT) to satisfy their desires!

a. It only took a few complainers to inflame the entire nation to become dissatisfied!

b. This is often still true!

c. We can become so accustomed to the gifts of God that we no longer appreciate them, we find ourselves wanting something "more"!

4. It is tragic when a soul can't see the positive because they are so focused on the negative!

ILLUS:

Then there's the story of the conscientious wife who tried very hard to please her ultra-critical husband, but failed regularly. He always seemed the most cantankerous at breakfast. If the eggs were scrambled, he wanted them poached; if they were poached, he wanted them scrambled. One morning, with what she thought was a stroke of genius, the wife poached one egg and scrambled the other and placed the plate before him. Anxiously she awaited what surely this time would be his unqualified approval. He peered down at the plate and snorted, "Can't you do anything right, woman? You've scrambled the wrong one!" --

5. Though the description of Manna is so positive in the text, the people have no heart for heavenly bread any more, they want "earthly flesh" to satisfy them.

a. Notice the crazy transition of Israel's thinking once they are dissatisfied with God's provisions - they begin to think their past life in Egypt was idyllic! (see 11:4-5)

(1. They "remember" the fish, meat, cucumbers, leeks, onions, garlic they used to have in their "wonderful" life in Egypt!

(2. WHAT!? - when did mistreated slaves in Egypt ever have that stuff!? When we become dissatisfied with God the old life of slavery begins to look better and better!

(3. They forgot how badly the Egyptians had mistreated them, it was the severe mistreatment that had made them cry out to God in the first place, and God delivered them by His mighty hand - now they romanticize the past because they are dissatisfied with God and His routine provisions for them though they are supernatural in origin!

b. It was the "rabble" (11:4a) among them that started all this dissatisfaction stuff - who were they?

(1. They were "non-Israelis" who left Egypt to go with Israel.

(2. Probably rich Egyptians that went along to get away from the devastated Egypt since many Egyptians were afraid God was going to destroy them all and Israel hadn't plundered all of Egypt's wealth on the way out.

(3. Their motives for coming along on the journey may not have had much to do with a desire for the promise land as much as it may have been to avoid a greater devastation back in Egypt!

6. How quickly dissatisfaction can spread!

B. Needed Focus! 11:10-17

Numbers 11:10–17 CSB

10 Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry; Moses was also provoked. 11 So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me, and why do you burden me with all these people? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,’ to the land that you swore to give their ancestors? 13 Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. 15 If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now if I have found favor with you, and don’t let me see my misery anymore.” 16 The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

1. The "rabble" must have organized a special "wailing" time - note that each family stood in the entrance of their tent at the same time and all wailed out loud together!

a. They must have known Moses would be moving through the camp on his way to the "TENT OF MEETING" - the presence of God, and so they want him to hear their complaint!

b. While Moses goes to God's tent, they stay in their own tents and mourn!

2. Even Moses begins to complain!! 11:11-15

Numbers 11:11–15 CSB

11 So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me, and why do you burden me with all these people? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,’ to the land that you swore to give their ancestors? 13 Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. 15 If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now if I have found favor with you, and don’t let me see my misery anymore.”

a. Now even Moses is struggling with keeping his focus positively!

b. God had earlier sent them a warning about complaining by having fire begin at the outskirts of the camp and it quit only because Moses had prayed for them - this was meant as an early warning to Israel about the nature of a complaining spirit.

c. It obviously had not altered Israel's attitude too much, only temporarily.

3. Though Moses had been used by God to do great things, even he was now focused on the negative and needed a new focus.

a. It is all too easy when we are so used to being negative to see the positive even when it is right there in front of us!

b. Before Israel could get their focus back Moses needed to get his back!

4. God comes up with a plan to help stop the spreading dissatisfaction - to pour out His Spirit on 70 others to be the spiritual support Moses needed!

a. Moses did NOT need these for administrative purposes, his father Jethro had already helped him set up an administrative program (see Ex. 18:13ff - (this had been done before Mount Sinai nearly a year earlier)

b. It was clear that these 70 Spirit filled elders were intended to primarily be a spiritual support to Moses and not an administrative one.

c. Moses needed a new focus, one that can only come from a Spirit filled perspective!

5. If we struggle with discontentment we need to surround ourselves with Spirit filled people who have their eye on God!

a. Unfortunately, negative people tend to find other negative people because it helps them feel "right" about their negativism.

b. BUT, it drives their focus in the wrong direction, away from faith and toward the flesh!

DISCIPLINARY DYNAMICS 11:18-35

A. Necessary Foundation 11:18-30

Numbers 11:18–30 CSB

18 “Tell the people: Consecrate yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you wept in the Lord’s hearing, ‘Who will feed us meat? We were better off in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. 19 You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and wept before him, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ” 21 But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, yet you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ 22 If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” 23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm weak? Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.” 24 Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the Spirit who was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they never did it again. 26 Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth, responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” 29 But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

1. Moses communicates with Israel that God is going to grant their demand for meat, but privately he cries out to God as to how this is all going to happen.

a. Moses became very aware that he cannot meet the needs of God's people, that their needs are well beyond his abilities.

b. God however will provide the spiritual foundation for Moses to handle the whole ministry … so God fills 70 other elders in Israel with His Spirit to be a spiritual support to Moses.

2. Moses' frustration is an old one in ministry, how do you minister to those who refuse ministry, whose focus is "fleshly" rather than spiritual?

ILLUS:

Christians are like autos--when they begin to knock, there is something wrong inside. -- Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).

3. Moses' need was spiritual, and God provided greater spiritual resources through other spirit filled men.

a. Moses himself was struggling with the demands Israel made, they wanted their physical needs met by their standards and Moses was trying to show them the way of faith … the necessary foundation for the whole journey.

b. Unfortunately, they chose a "fleshly" desire over the spiritual one, they chose earthly meat over heavenly manna.

c. This lack of a spiritual foundation in their lives would prove to be their undoing in the desert, they would all die except two named Joshua and Caleb, men who chose heavenly manna over earthly meat!

4. When our demands in prayer show a clear desire that is greater for earthly flesh than it is for heavenly manna we are in trouble!

B. Needless Fatalities 11:31-35

Numbers 11:31–35 (CSB)

31 A wind sent by the Lord came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet off the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction.

32 The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels—and they spread them out all around the camp.

33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.

34 So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.

35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth and remained there.

1. Israel's constant bent to complain and disdain the provisions God had made available to them had a huge cost to them, their lives in the desert!

a. They never reached the promise land, they rejected God's ways for their own human desires and it repeatedly led them away from the spiritual place God intended for them.

b. God never planned for Israel to die in the desert, to miss out on the promise land, but their displeasure with God's ways and their cravings for the ways of the world destroyed them in the end and left them without the promise land.

c. They chose "quails" of the Earth over the "dove" of the Spirit!

2. Each time they listened to the negative people it cost them dearly, God builds us up, the world tears us down!

3. Certainly Israel gained very little for all her cravings - Israel chose to crave the flesh, and they lost the Spirit, it was a bad bargain!

4. When they had heavenly bread they grew tired of it, how we need to guard our hearts that we don't grow tired of God's Word (our heavenly bread) and begin to crave "fleshly" experiences to thrill us - it will be a bad trade too!

5. There is a real danger in our journey, to become discontent with God's provisions and begin to turn away from spiritual resources and trust in physical ones.

a. This will always result in needless losses however.

b. Just how satisfied are you with what God has provided?

c. Do you prefer earthly meat over heavenly bread?

d. Is you desire more for the heavenly dove than the earthly quails?

CONCLUSION: Not dealing with a bitter or complaining spirit means an ever increasing movement away from faith to an ever increasing desire for the things of this world. Israel's complaining hearts desired more "flesh" and less and less "Spirit". The end result was loss and no fulfillment. Real contentment is spiritual in nature, and is available to anyone because it is not based on material wealth. How content is your heart?

Closely examine your thoughts, attitudes, and words. Ask yourself,

Is there a sense of discontentment in your soul?

Where/When or How Often Do I Grumble?

Am I a Complainer?

Do I look at my life and say: This is not enough!

Do I living in a state of I want, I wish, I had, I miss…?

Do I look at others' lives longingly and wish I had their experience, possessions, spouse, children, house, job, friends…?

These grumbles that take the form of questions, murmurs under our breath, thoughts crossing our minds which at times seep out into our conversations, are, in actuality, what the Bible refers to as a spirit of ingratitude.

A grumbling heart is the antithesis of a grateful heart.

Conclusion

The posture of grumbling

Thankfully, grumbling does not have the final say. God's grace surpasses the grumble. He is gracious to forgive, and the answer to our ingratitude does not require a movement of mountains. You can begin to push the needle forward and start practicing gratitude right now.

● How can you move the needle forward in your life this week? Does it include a gratitude practice?

● If you feel stuck in the why, is it because you need to release something to the Lord? Do you grumble in your spirit? Have you taken on a posture of ingratitude? How can you replace this mindset with gratitude?

The beauty of the gospel of grace is just that – it is a freedom based on grace. You do not have to earn your way into a spirit and posture of gratitude. You can receive grace at any time and live in it.

Practicing gratitude, accepting and expressing His grace, can begin right now.

Let’s pray together.

Prayer - Let our focus be on gratitude and grace and not on the things we don’t have.