From Grumbling to Grateful Worship!

In the heart of a lush countryside, there lived a dog. And this this dog, had everything he could have ever wanted. He was never leashed, Never kenneled, And never brought to experience the terrors of the vets office!

And day after day, this dog trotted along known familiar paths, Enjoying life to the fullest. And as it did, it always brought with it it’s most prized position, Which was a large bone, that it gripped firmly between its teeth.

However, one day, the dog journeyed down a path it hadn’t explored before Where it encountered a stream of water. Carefully the dog approached the stream, Looking to quench it’s thirst.

But then, as it approached, suddenly, without so much as a warning, a larger dog appeared before him, Holding in his mouth, something that caught the his eye. For it was the largest bone that he had ever seen!

And with that, his most-prized position suddenly became not-so-prized, As this dog suddenly began to ENVY the bone in the larger’s dog’s mouth. Then, almost without thought, the dog began to growl at the larger dog, who instantly growled back, with the most menacing of looks!!!

But instead of backing down and retreating with the bone he had loved for so long, The dog became emboldened further by his envious desires, and so it began to growl louder… and louder… until the dog could contain it no longer! In which he then let out the most viscous of barks!

And with that bark, his bone slid out of his mouth, and landed with a splash in the river, sinking out of sight past its own reflection, never to be seen again...

When it comes to envy, It’s a sin we don’t typically think too much about in our culture today, Even though it’s something past generations sure did, And they did, because they tended to see envy something that is very dangerous. Which is why they considered it to be one of the 7 deadly sins.

See, Envy isn’t just wanting something because it’s a genuine need in your life. It’s wanting something simply because someone else has. Which is really quite odd, because we live in a culture where we all, more or less, live like Kings and Queens! We do. And I can prove this to you with one small example.

See, as rich as King Solomon was, he never had the luxuries that you and I have. Not even close! Think about it. This morning, what was one of the first things you did after you woke up? Which room did you go to in your house? Your bathroom, right? Which contains such luxurious in it, that King Solomon likely would have traded half of his GOLD to have it!

And that’s just one of the many modern examples I could give us that put us miles ahead of previous generations. And yet, if you look around today, what are most people doing? We are growling, maybe not out loud, at the things others have, desiring them for ourselves. Which only serves to sap us of enjoying the life we have, Which leads to a grumbling, or barking, spirit.

So far in our study through the book of Philippians, we’ve seen how Paul calls us to live a life, not of grumbling, but of “REJOICING!” Which is why he says in Philippians chapter 4,

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Philippians 4:4 ESV

And it’s why he says in chapter 2, as we saw last week,

¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

Philippians 2:14 ESV

And as we saw last week from that verse, If we are going to turn our grumbling into rejoicing gratitude. We have to remember 4 things: Do you remember them? See - I kept telling you there would one day be test - and today’s the day!

We have to remember that:

1. God is always at work (v. 12-13).
2. Grumbling is unbelief (v. 14-15).
3. Gratitude makes us shine (v. 15-16).
4. Glory is coming (v. 16-18).

Now, this morning, we are gonna take a second look this grumbling issue, And you better not grumble about it! But the reason we are going to take second look at this, is because when it comes to grumbling, there’s a lot to it! Sure, on one hand it’s pretty simple, But on another, it’s not.

And so we need to take another look at it. And we are going to so, by looking at this verses again, through the lens of Psalm 73. Which is a Psalm we briefly touched on last week during our Sunday School Hour.

In Psalm 73, we find a Psalm written by a man named Asaph, Who was Israel’s worship leader, And yet, he found himself struggling to worship God, as he fell into a pit of grumbling despair to the point where he almost loses his faith entirely and falls into ruin! And yet he doesn’t. Instead, he comes out on the other side, rejoicing in the Lord as he turned his grumbling into grateful worship.

And so for us, if we too want to turn our grumbling into grateful worship, we need to need to see the 3 truths that Asaph saw, And here they are:

To turn our grumbling into grateful worship, we must see:

The cure for grumbling

Beginning in verse 1 of Psalm 73, we read:

¹ Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. ² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. ³ For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Psalm 73:1-3 ESV

Right away, we see two realities at play in the Psalmist’s heart, First, the recognition that God is good to those who are pure in heart, And second is that those who are not pure in heart, seem to have God’s goodness upon their lives in a way that the pure in heart do not. And this causes the Psalmist to see the bone that God has given him, And begin growling when he sees the bigger bones that the unrighteous have! And it leaves his heart weary.

So really, what we have here is doubt, driven by envy. the Psalmist is looking around at the world, and He is saying: “OK, I know God is good, but it sure doesn’t seem like it sometimes! Look at the wicked! Look at all of the joys of life they are experiencing, And here I am, as one of Israel’s worship leaders, And it’s not going nearly as well for me as it for them! HOW IS THIS FAIR! HOW IS THIS JUST!”

In verses 2-13, Asaph describes all of the prosperity he sees in the life of the wicked, And it causes him to nearly stumble and fall, Which in the Bible, this is often a metaphor for spiritual destruction. Which I like how one theologian I read put it, who said this basically spiritual vertigo.

And some of you know what I’m talking about here, because vertigo is a terrible feeling! Several years back, I had a bout with vertigo, and when it hits you, it’s debilitating! You can’t do anything, other than fall down - in a not so gracious way!

See, what happens with vertigo is your eyes are giving your brain something it can’t process, And it then causes you to get dizzy and put your foot in the wrong place, Which can lead you to stumble.

And so for the Psalmist that’s exactly what’s occuring here, Because his knowledge that God is good toward’s those who are pure in heart isn’t fitting with what his eyes are showing him - which is the flourishing of the wicked!

Now, when it says “pure in heart” here in verse 1, that doesn’t mean sinless, It simply means someone who is totally committed to God. And so what Asaph is wondering is, “Why should I keep hands clean and pure,” Why have I spent so much time “washing my hands in innocence,” when the unclean and impure are living such wonderful lives! They drink as much as they want, They sleep with whoever they want, They are prideful, mockers of God, who seem to go completely unpunished! and part of him is a little jealous, A little envious...

When it comes to grumbling and envy, Have you ever thought about the fact that what it really is, is wanting someone else’s life? Because that’s what it is.

Think about it: By taking just a few of the 10 commandments, we easily can see this. You shall have no other gods before me. And yet what did Israel often do? They saw the other nations around them, and because they wanted what they had, they chased after their gods. You Shall not steal or commit adultery or cover your neighbor’s house, wife, or things. And what do we often do? We see our neighbor, and we want his life! So we go after his house, wife, or things.

Grumbling Envy is saying: “What I have is not enough!” And the way we know it’s not enough, is because we look around and see other dogs with bigger bones, “it’s not fair!” “I work 10 times harder than they do!” “Why do they deserve that nicer house, car, or vacation!” See… Envy…

And this works with our looks and beauty too. Think about it. If you were the only person on the planet, and you looked in mirror, do you know what you wouldn’t be thinking? “I sure wish I was better looking…” Because to say that, means you have someone in mind that you’re comparing yourself to! And what you’re doing is you’re saying: “I wish I had their looks!” “I wish I had their life!” See?

And yet, all of this grumbling envy we do, it never satisfies, does it? Because even if you lose the weight you wanted, Even if that wrinkle cream or Rogaine works. And even if you get the picket fence with the bigger house, the new car, or the fancy job, Guess what. You’ll still want a bigger bone!

And why do we want a bigger bone? It’s not because we truly need it, It’s because our pride needs it! We need to have more than everyone else so we can know we are somebody who matters!

C. S. Lewis once talked about this, and he said: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.” ~ C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

And yet, even IF you end up above the rest, you’re going look to look in the mirror and realize a terrifying reality! And that reality is, It’s STILL NOT ENOUGH! It won’t stop the grumbling! It won’t stop craving of envy!

I love how the actor Jim Carey put it when he said: "I wish everyone could get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of… so they can see that it’s not the answer."

The moralist - FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD "Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it."

The truth is, even though the wicked look like they are having all the fun and more, The reality is, they are miserable They are empty! And if they don’t look like they are, just wait a little while - cuz they will be! And it’s because they have stumbled and fallen into spiritual ruin! Which happened when they gave up worshiping the creator God to worship and live for created things, as Romans 1 speaks of.

And so when we consider that the happiness we see them experiencing is just a hollow shell, coupled with the fact that it is a preview of the eternal unhappiness they have coming, WHY WOULD WE EVER GRUMBLE AND ENVY THEM? I’m afraid it’s because we are experiencing spiritual vertigo, as our perception isn’t matching reality. But the problem is our perception, NOT REALITY. Because the reality is, God is going to judge the wicked. Which leads us to our next point.

To turn our grumbling into grateful worship, we must see:

The danger of grumbling

¹⁴ For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. ¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

Psalm 73:14-15 ESV

Here the Psalmist tells us something incredibly important about the nature of grumbling and envy. And what he tells us is how contagious it is! Which is the reason he didn’t open his mouth to speak the words that were in his heart! Because that would have betrayed the generation of God’s people!

Last week we saw from Philippians chapter 2, how all grumbling is against God. And that’s because it is. and when we grumble, we betray each other as we tempt them into our grumblings! into our envy!

And I can think of no clearer example of this that the Israelites in the Old Testament. Last week we talked about the wilderness generation, Who never entered the promised land, and all died in the wilderness instead. And why? Because they GRUMBLED! And their grumbling was against God!

After God had freed them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites continually grumbled about their circumstances in the wilderness, And how did that start? Did they all wake up one day and collectively say: “WE ARE SICK OF THIS MANNA!” “WE ARE TRIED OF QUAIL!” No… It started with one or two comments… “Ya know… it’s sure nice that we have something to eat… don’t get me wrong… but do you remember those Egyptian Falafels we had!” “Oh, the hummus… the hummus… What I would give for some of it right now!” And before long this spread like a plague throughout the camp, as mob mentality took over, and the people were in full-fledged grumbling and envy.

Does this apply for us as Christians? Of course it does... See, sometimes all it takes is one or two grumblers left-unchecked to infect the hearts and minds of God’s people, to the point where a church can go from a pace of blessing and spiritual nourishment, to a place of grumbling and disputing! And this happens all of the time in churches! Which is why Titus 3 says to warn a divisive person once, then twice, and then have nothing to do with them... And that word divisive is the same idea of the one we find here in Philippians 2 where Paul says to do all things without grumbling or disputing.

See, the way this works is that sometimes all it can take is one or two people to start complaining about: the music, the preaching, the facilities, or even the people That’s it! And with just a few words an entire generation can be betrayed, As they too spiritually stumble and fall. And this can go on NOT JUST FOR ONE generation, But for GENERATIONS! As the sins of the fathers are past onto their children, and their children’s children, who now view God and His church as a something to grumble about! Absolutely tragic.

And so realizing this, the Psalmist writes: “If I had said, ‘I will speak what I’m struggling with to others’, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.” And in Philippians 2, Paul warns us about this in verse 16 saying:

¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing, ¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Philippians 2:14-16 ESV

Do see what Paul’s saying!? He’s saying: “Don’t grumble and dispute!” “Don’t be like the wilderness generation who spiritually fell into unbelief!” “Don’t make my gospel labor fruitless!” Instead, work out your salvation in fear and trembling, as you hold fast to the world of life, so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that i did not run in vain or labor in vain!”

Church, Paul takes grumbling and arguing so seriously that he’s worried about the eternal state of these Philippians Christian’s souls! Not because they could lose their salvation, But because to not take grumbling envy seriously, can indicate that there is no God who as work in you willing you to work as verse 13 says! And if there is no God at work in you, A God who began this good work you and WILL complete it on the Day of Jesus Christ, Then your lot will be with the wicked! Not with the redeemed people of God, Which is something we must see if if we are going to cure our grumbling.

To turn our grumbling into grateful worship, we must see:

The cure for grumbling

¹⁶ But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, ¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. ¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. ¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! ²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. ²¹ When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, ²² I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

Psalm 73:16-22 ESV

Here the Psalmist tells us the cure for grumbling, And it’s to go to GOD with your grumbling and envy! Not others - God... And Asaph did this by going into the sanctuary of God, Where He discerned - He thought about their end! And when he did, he saw how their flourishing is all one big giant facade that will end in bitter, eternal destruction! and after he thought about this, he concludes: “I was BRUTISH in my thinking of you o Lord!” “I was ignorant!”

What got him there? What about the sanctuary and worship healed his wounded heart?

First, he put himself right into the center of worship. That’s what he did... He placed himself with God’s people and began to sing and hear the truths his head knew but his heart had forgotten! Which is why we said last week in the Sunday School Hour that WORSHIP IS WARFARE! Because it is!

Do you realize that worship is what helps cure our spiritual vertigo? It’s what centers our eyes back on where they should be, Which prevents us from experiencing the dizziness and nausea that our sin-fallen world heaps upon us!

In Asaph’s day, there was another thing the sanctuary provided that would heal his wounded heart, Which was found in the blood sacrifices that happened throughout their worship. And why? Because they showed Asaph a preview of what God would one day do so Asaph could experiences the goodness of God that verse 1 mentions. Which was the atoning of sin so Asaph’s redemption price could be paid. And understanding this, Asaph writes:

²³ Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. ²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Psalm 73:23-24 ESV

Here Asaph comes to realize something in part, that we now see in full. Which was that GOD was the one who holds his right hand! He is the One who guides and counsels him, And will, after this life ends receive him to glory! And realizing this, Asaph is overjoyed! For unlike the wicked, Asaph is near God who is his refuge as verses 27-28 say, Which means that the perception Asaph had of the wicked, was COMPLETELY WRONG! And it was seeing this cured his spiritual vertigo!

Asaph came to recognize a glorious truth, Which is that the wicked had NOTHING at all for him to envy, Not really! Because all they had was the temporary, meaningless pleasures of life, which is nothing but vanity, vanity, all of it is vanity! - As Qoheleth told us in Ecclesiastes. And Asaph had, not just God’s goodness and blessings! BUT GOD HIMSELF! And when you have that, WHAT IS THERE TO ENVY?

And realizing this, Asaph writes:

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25-26 ESV

At first, like all of us, Asaph went to God to get what God has to offer, And then Asaph went to God to get God! And when you have God, you lack in nothing…

By faith, Asaph felt for God’s hand, And he found it. And the same can be true for you and I today. For today, we come together for worship not looking around at bloody sacrifice after bloody sacrifice, Instead, we look to the perfect and final sacrifice that all of those sacrifice were pointing to, Which is a sacrifice Paul mentioned earlier in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2:5-10 (ESV) Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but instead He emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

This is the answer Asaph found in the sanctuary, And the same answer we find more clearly in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And so I ask you - Have you found that answer in the midst of life’s vertigo-causing hardships? Or are you still grumbling with envy hoping that what they have will provide you the comfort and joy you’re looking for?

In 1871, Horatio Spafford, A successful lawyer and businessman faced incredible hardship when the Great Chicago Fire destroyed much of his investments. But despite this setback, he remained resilient in his faith and trust in God.

However, tragedy struck again in 1873 when the steamship "veel doo ahv-r" Ville du Havre) which was carrying his wife and four daughters to Europe, sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Causing all four of his daughters to perish.

And yet, remarkably, in the mist of his profound grief, Spafford penned the words to the great hymn "It Is Well with My Soul" Which lyrics say:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And as he wrote this, there is no doubt in my mind that he had the words of Asaph in heart, Which say:

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25-26 ESV

By God’s grace, may we not grumble with envy, Knowing that God is the strength of our heart, and our portion forever!

Let us pray

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.