Scriptures: Philippians 2:12-16

“Never excuse. Never explain. Never complain.”

motto of the British Foreign Service. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 3.

1. Small Stuff – “Do everything without complaining or arguing.”

Sometimes it is the very small things that make the greatest impact. Many times it is the little things that make the most significant difference for eternity. Too many times God’s people communicate themselves as unhappy, disgruntled, malcontents to the people that they work with and share life with. If spiritual vitality is linked to our ability to face life squarely and positively, then there are a few people who have some challenges ahead of them. I think that God challenges me with the truth that I believe I am to communicate. This AM I was both bothered and blessed

q 3 tries at Tim Horton’s

q sermon notes didn’t come through

q computers & e-mail

q Parking lot

q Hugh Elkins – “God’s taking good care of me – I have no reason to complain.”

The saintly Horatius Bonar, reflecting on this subject, realized that the little things can either make or break the Christian. He wrote, "A holy life is made up of a multitude of small things. It is the little things of the hour and not the great things of the age that fill up a life like that of the apostles Paul or John, or David Brainard, or Henry Martyn. Little words, not eloquent speeches or sermons; little deeds, not miracles or battles, or one great heroic effort or martyrdom, make up the true Christian life. It's the little constant sunbeam, not the lightning, the waters of Siloam that go softly in their meek mission of refreshment, not 'the waters of the rivers great and many' rushing down in torrent, noise, and force, that are the true symbols of a holy life."

One afternoon, our 5-year-old daughter, Katie, was singing a Scripture song we had recently learned. While my husband and I listened proudly, she came to a verse about becoming blameless. Katie confidently sang out, "Do everything without arguing, that you may become brainless and pure, children of God" (Phil. 2:14-15).

Lynn Hall, Worland, WY. Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart."

a) Is this really possible? Can I face every task , every request, every circumstance and respond without complaint or argument? You might say to me this morning that this is an unreasonable request. If Paul the Apostle stood before you this morning and read this short scripture passage, written while he was in chains and imprisoned, what would your response be? Would you try to ascertain all the reasons that he was “expecting too much” or would you set your minds and hearts on finding a way to be this kind of person? What would have to take place in my own life for this to truly happen? God would have to deal with my ego. He would have to take away my tendency to be oversensitive. He would have to give me a basic respect for other people and an ability to see that there are many ways to “skin a cat”. He would have to help me to understand that people’s actions are a product of their values and if I want to understand their actions I must take time to understand their hearts. If it depends on circumstances being personally favorable, we will never be anything more than complainers. If it depends on me getting my own way, we will be unhappy. There are greater issues that are internal that determine whether or not a person can truly avoid the complaining habit.

i) There are certain people who have to exercise control.

ii) There are certain people who genuinely believe that their insights are better than others. This is pride.

iii) Perfectionism is another problem for certain people. They cannot handle things that are not “up to snuff”. I certainly believe that we should all aim for excellence but we need to realize that imperfection is a reflection of humanity. We all are imperfect in every way.

b) Is this really desirable? People who complain are unhappy about something and generally, people who are argumentative are angry or dissatisfied about something. I believe that people are happier, healthier, easier to live with when they can release certain aspects of life. I cannot live other people’s lives for them. I don’t need to have an opinion on everything. I am not my children. My children are not me. I am not a perfect parent and feel no obligation to try to pretend that I am. On and on the list goes.

c) Is this really necessary? It depends on what your spiritual aspirations are. It may not be as far as you are concerned. However, if you are to have a positive impact for the kingdom of God then it is essential that we express our faith and trust in God by letting Him be God alone. Let’s remember that he created a world full of gifted people.

2. Standing Before God – “. . that you may become blameless and pure, children of God, without fault. . .” There are certain “un-skippable” steps in the pathway to godliness. There are things that you can’t bypass.

a) It is an elementary principle of faith. This is baby stuff. James 5:9 Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! Your attitude is one of the first things that God proposes to change when you come to him.

"Suppose we return your tithes, give you a reserved parking place, make you an elder, fire the youth minister, and eliminate the music committee. Would that be satisfactory?"

Cartoonist Jonny Hawkins in Leadership, Vol. 13, no. 1.

Ephesians 4:20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. [21] Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. [22] You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

b) Attitude is contagious. The people with whom you work reflect your own attitude. If you are suspicious, unfriendly and condescending, you will find these unlovely traits echoed all about you. But if you are on your best behavior, you will bring out the best in the persons with whom you are going to spend most of your waking hours. - Beatrice Vincent

Five guideposts have governed my life: To thank God for every adverse event; to hold a bolt of lightning in my hand rather than to speak against a brother; to pay any price in order to be obedient to the Holy Spirit; to administer in love and never to govern in anger; to pay three compliments every day.

-- R. Stanley Tam

c) Bad attitudes indisputably block growth toward spiritual maturity.

1Corinthians 3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. [2] I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. [3] You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? [4] For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?

A mature Christian has no part with pettiness or grudge bearing or divisive talk.

Petty people are ugly people. They are people who have lost their vision. They are people who have turned their eyes away from what matters and focused, instead, on what doesn't matter. The result is that the rest of us are immobilized by their obsession with the insignificant.

It is time to rid the church of pettiness. It is time the church refused to be victimized by petty people. It is time the church stopped ignoring pettiness. It is time the church quit pretending that pettiness doesn't matter. ...

Pettiness has become a serious disease in the Church of Jesus Christ--a disease which continues to result in terminal cases of discord, disruption, and destruction. Petty people are dangerous people because they appear to be only a nuisance instead of what they really are--a health hazard.

n Mike Yaconelli in The Wittenburg Door (Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985). Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 12.

By the way, divisiveness is any conversation that tends to make one person line up against another. If you are a part of that then you are not doing God’s work nor serving His kingdom regardless of the issue that you represent – rather you are dividing the body.

3. Setting Determines Beauty – “. . . in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in which you shine like stars in the universe . . .” It is crucial that we define our role and our relationship to the world in which we live.

Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in my life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott. Jamie was trying out for a part in a school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen.

On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. "Guess what Mom," he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me:

"I've been chosen to clap and cheer."

Do you understand what the role of the church is in the world in which we live? I believe that we are here to help other people come to find Christ. If you know Him and you enjoy that relationship with Him then more than anything else:

? you want to see your loved ones and your friends come to Him,

? the waitress at Tim Horton’s who forgets to put milk in your coffee. She doesn’t know that you are on a diet and the cream that she put in there may frustrate your efforts but the possibility of having her discover that you are a Christian prompts you to give the most understanding response that you possibly could give her as a deliberate attempt to portray something that other people make no effort to portray – the love of Christ.

? the guy who services your car and throws your monthly budget out of whack. Because you are more concerned that he make heaven then you are that your finances may be tight because of the repair bill, you thank him sincerely and profusely. You couldn’t bear the thought that someone would ever think you to be a poor representative of the kingdom.

? the person who cuts you off in traffic is headed either to heaven or hell. You’d like to make a suggestion as to his destination but you grab your judgmental tendencies and shake them into their senses because you know that this person really didn’t do anything to deliberately upset you. They are merely in a hurry and rude. Just kidding – if your faith doesn’t change your attitude behind the wheel, remember what Jesus said, “If driving in traffic offends you, try walking or riding the bus.”

a) Hoops. There are dear folks who want to create hoops for people to jump through if they want to be “real Christians”. There are those who insist that everyone in their own church should see things the same way. I pray that the Lord can help us in our church to see the altar as a wonderful place to come and pray. I think it’s a great place to meet the Lord. But you know, you don’t have to walk this aisle to come to Christ. That’s a hoop. My challenge to you is this. If you’ve come to Christ then let the light shine. Let someone know somehow. Tell a friend. I would have come to Christ much earlier in my life if I had known that I didn’t have to walk down the aisle to do it. You can know Him today. It is so simple. Just bow your head and pray to Him – ask Him to forgive your sin, accept the sacrifice that he made for you on Calvary’s cross. Invite him to invade your life and to transform you into the likeness of Christ.

b) Walls. I had a couple come to me one day, wanting me to marry them. They had some difficulty in the past that had caused some rejection in their efforts to find someone who would marry them. They told me about one of the stories of a church where they were allowed to be married in the gymnasium but not in the sanctuary. These sorts of stories come from churches where the people build walls in the name of purity. They send clear messages to people saying “stay out – you’re not good enough” My heart was broken when an aboriginal friend told me the story about the two back pews in the church he attended as a child. They were reserved for “native people”. To this day when he visits his home and that church, he sits in the back pews.

c) Bridges. Thank God for bridge builders. For people who extend themselves and step out of their comfort zone. Thank God for those who are longsuffering toward others just as God is for each of us. I have found myself praying the Lord’s Prayer daily, of late. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I see Wayne Cliff and Tim Billings hosting a bearded man who doesn’t smell very nice. He comes to our church every once in a while. He stays behind after everyone else leaves and stays and stays until someone is willing to give him a drive. These two men have faithfully extended themselves to this fellow. I’ve been in the car with him as well. The stench is terrible and it stays long after he has been delivered somewhere. But you know, for Tim and Wayne, they treat him with the same respect as the most wealthy person in our congregation. Thanks God for bridge builders.

4. Shining Naturally – “ . . . as you hold out the word of life . . .” What we do is a function of who we are.

a) If it walks like a duck . . .

James 3:9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. [10] Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. [11] Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? [12] My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. [13] Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. [14] But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. [15] Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. [16] For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

One of the wonderful things that I have learned is that people who have not accepted Christ act as they are. Someone has said it another way, “I am not a sinner because I sin, I sin because I am a sinner. Our behavior is not detached from what we are, it springs from our identity. Jesus saw that people who did not embrace his teachings were blind and deaf and he could find it in his heart to forgive them because he had compassion on their condition or their plight.

If you profess to “BE” a Christian it is natural to live that way. That is the way that you are bent.

Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. [6] The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; [7] the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. [8] Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. [9] You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. [10] But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. [11] And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. [12] Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. [13] For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, [14] because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." [16] The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. [17] Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

b) How do people see you? When people think of you, how do they see you? Do they consider you to be authentically Christian?

WHEN I SAY, "I AM A CHRISTIAN"

By Carol Wimmer