Well, please turn, if you would, to Philippians chapter 2. And as you do, I want to read from Jerry Bridges' book, Respectable Sins. He says, We often indulge in what I call the respectable or acceptable sins without any sense of sin. Unkind words about a brother or sister roll easily off our tongues without any effort or any awareness of wrongdoing. We harbor hurts over wrongs long past without any effort to forgive sin as God has forgiven us. We can look down our religious noses at sinners in society. We can be quite judgmental toward the grosser sins of society, but pridefully unaware of our own personal sin, our own selfishness, our own critical spirit, our impatience. Acceptable sins, he says, are subtle in the sense that they deceive us into thinking that they are not so bad. Or not thinking of them as sins. Or not even thinking about them at all. We commit them without even thinking about them either at that time or after. But sins we consider respectable, God considers reprehensible. Some of the things that we consider to be acceptable, God considers to be an abomination. Some of those are listed in Proverbs 6. Some of the things that are an abomination to God are a haughty or proud spirit and sowing discord among believers. And there's others in that list in Proverbs 6, but I want to look with you at Philippians 2 verse 14 at one of those sins that's confronted for us here, and that is the sin of complaining. The sin of complaining. There's a lot of sins the evangelical world talks about. The evangelical church has talked much about the sin of gay marriage, but little I've heard on the sin of grumbling. Jerry bridges book respectable sins has related chapters on the sin of discontentment behind our disputing and ingratitude or Irritability behind our inappropriate murmuring today. We're gonna look at verses 14 and 15 and the sermon title is stop complaining, be a compelling witness. The way this is structured is it assumes that this is something that we can tend to do. Stop complaining, be a compelling witness. Verse 14, do all things without grumbling or disputing. 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. This is the word of our Lord. And the big idea of this section is the words of Christians must be a shining contrast to a world that is crooked and is complaining. And to do nothing with grumbling starts back in the context in verse three where it says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. This is such an important chapter. I was reading someone who says every family should memorize Philippians 2, 1 through 18. We should consider memorizing these verses, some of them, if not all of them, but this is where it all starts. It all starts with humility. There's a little booklet I read recently called The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness. the path to true Christian joy. And this is what he says, the ego is always making us think about how we look and how we are treated. He's speaking of ego really is synonymous with self-ambition or conceit in verse three. People sometimes say their feelings are hurt, but he argues it's actually the ego that hurts. My sense of self, our feelings are fine, it's my ego that hurts. Walking around does not hurt my toes unless there is something terribly wrong with them. My ego would not hurt unless there was something terribly wrong with it. Think about it. It is very hard to get through a whole day without feeling snubbed or ignored or feeling stupid or getting down on ourselves because there is something wrong with our ego. It's never happy. It's always drawing attention to itself. It's like a bloated stomach, he says, that is distended and it is also painful. The cure in Philippians 2 is, I must decrease. Christ must increase. And I need the mind of Christ. In verse 5 and following. If I'm going to think of others before myself and more than myself, I need to be looking to the cross. I need to be looking to Christ. And I need to see it's actually, in the words of verse 2, it's actually lack of love when my words are not building up the unity of verse 2. And in the language of verse 3, it's actually a lack of humility when I selfishly grumble, as if I'm more significant than others. or when I wanna dispute about my interests and my concerns, like verse four, instead of giving thought to and consideration to others and how my words are affecting others. There's a lot of different words we could throw in here in verse 14, what this is talking about. King James has the word murmuring, grumbling, many of your translations, but we could add words like dumping, bellyaching, whining, emotionally, vomiting, venting. Sometimes we like to use words that are different than the words that the Bible calls sin, but all those things, as you put them together, fall under what this is talking about, and they are self-centered, and they are sin. Those who gripe reveal pride. Like verse 3, if you grumble, as I said last time, you reveal you're not humble. You're not putting the needs of others above what you want to unload on them to make you feel better. And maybe it does in some sense make you feel better to get that out there, but are you considering what you have now put on that other person? Because the Christian life is not about what makes us feel better. We need to be thinking of others, our impact on them. When I complain, I reveal conceit. This is a convicting thing, but this is the force of this passage. When I am thinking, I deserve better than how things are going for such a one as I. Here's how the Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones diagnoses this. Murmurings indicate a lack of love. So disputings are always indicative of a lack of faith. There is nothing, he says, that leads to such havoc in the Christian life. There is nothing that so ruins church life as this spirit of murmuring and disputing. It ruined the whole story of the ancient people, Old Testament Israel. It has ruined the Christian life and experience of many a Christian. And it leads not only that, but it leads to a poor, Testimony. It brings disgrace and disrepute upon the Christian name. And that is Paul's concern here as he calls Christians to stop complaining and to be a compelling witness. So if you're taking notes, those are the two parts here. Stop complaining, verse 14. Be a compelling witness, verse 15. Stop complaining. The NIV has do everything without complaining or arguing. All things is emphatic in the word order in the original language. All things, no exception. All things are to be done without complaining or arguing or disputing. That word at the end of verse 14 is the result. When we complain, we can become combative. And not just disagreeing, you can disagree in a respectful way. You can discuss things where you have different opinions, even strong opinions, without violating this verse. But this is really disputing with doubting, with distrusting, with debating and leading to dividing. of brethren. Those are some of the nuances of this word. It's used in other scriptures of opinions that we're not to quarrel about or judge people over. That's Romans 14.1. It's used of these opinion matters where we have a different view or opinion that we're not to make that a source of quarreling or judging others who do not see it the way that we do. Some versions say doubtful or disputable matters. We're not talking about matters that are very clear like earlier in Philippians, the deity of Christ, things like that. We're talking about other doubtful, disputable matters. It's translated dissension in 1 Timothy 2.8 where Paul says men need to be holding up hands and they need to be praying without dissension is tied there to sinful anger and it's used in the gospels of evil thoughts when you're when you're thinking evil of Others it's used of the Pharisees Challenging and disputing with Jesus and it's it's not an honest respectful dialogue. There's nuances of an argument of antagonistic accusatory or inflammatory interchange It's the word also used of the disciples, arrogantly arguing about which one of them was the greatest. As we think about that word, it's not hard to see how that's sinful when we're fighting, when we're dividing, when we're striving with evil thoughts. But I want to spend more time on the first verb. in verse 14, the verb complaining or grumbling, because I think this is one we don't think about enough as sin. In fact, some of you commented last week when I talked about this, that's a sin that we don't think about, or it's a sin that we can easily see in our kids or in others, but we don't often think about how big of a deal this sin is to God, and so we need to see We need to see this as the evil that God sees. Let me just give you some other verses. James 5.9 says, Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. That's strong language for grumbling. Against one another God judges grumbling seriously God condemns grumblers James brother Jude wrote in his letter to the letter the epistle that's had his name Jude Jude 15 and 16 he wrote also of those the Lord will bring end times judgment on because of They're described this way as the grumblers and the complainers the grumblers the complainers those where that's what marks their life and are spoken of as those that God's judgment and wrath are gonna come on. Other versions include words like fault finders, malcontents. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10. And while you're turning there, this Greek word, gongosmos, it's actually one of those words that sounds like what it means. Like in English, we have whoosh, and it kind of sounds like what it is. Gongosmos is kind of like a muttering mumble, gongosmos, gongosmos. Do this. That's kind of the idea of the word actually is this muttering and mumbling. And the idea is a negative response to something unpleasant, inconvenient, or disappointing. And it's rooted in the self-centered notion that it is undeserved. And so this related verb is used of the resentful laborers who grumbled at the landowner in the parable in Matthew 20, or the Israelites in the wilderness. That's what Paul is going to talk about in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1. the sea. This is Old Testament Israel in context clearly here in verse 10 though calls Christians to not grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. They grumbled and as a result they were destroyed by the destroyer. He says we're not to be like them. We're not to grumble as Israel did. Verse 11, now these things happened to them, that's to Israel as an example. But they were written down for our instruction. Do you realize that the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and those wilderness wanderings there, those were written directly for the instruction of Christians by way of application to not follow their negative example, to not fall into the same sins that they did. Verse 12 says, therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed. lest he fall." And he's just been talking about the sin of grumbling. The sin that Israel fell into. Verse 13, no temptation. It's a familiar verse but remember the context now. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. Here's the good news. God is faithful. And He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape. And remember, he's just been talking about the sin of grumbling. When you're tempted to grumble, it's not gonna be, if you're a Christian, beyond what you are able to bear. There's gonna be a way that you can escape this pattern of sin, if it's the sin that so easily entangles you. Verse 10 warns Christians not to grumble like Israelites who were destroyed for their sin of grumbling. What happened to those complaining people of God in the past is an example for us, and it is a warning to take heed lest we fall. This is a temptation common to man, then and now, but we can never say it is beyond our ability to escape it based on our circumstances, based on the person that we, or the situation in life that we have to endure. There is a faithful God who will help us endure without falling to this sin, to help us endure without complaints. Verse 10 really sums up the history of God's people. Psalm 106.25 is another one that sums it up where it says the Israelites, quote, grumbled in their tents. Something they were doing in private in that context. They're in their tents, therefore it says God swore to them that He would cast them down in the wilderness. because of their grumblings in their tents. God is very displeased with grumblings in homes or hearts. He brought destruction for it. And Paul argues that's for our instruction. Verse 10 is clear. Complaining is a destructive sin. It is a destructive sin. It's always destructive spiritually. And many times in God's The history of God's people, it brought destruction on them physically as well. But we could trace this out at Exodus 16, right after the Exodus, right after they're delivered through the Red Sea, right after they sing the song for him who has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider fell into the sea and all that, right after that Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. But the inspired insight of Moses in reply was, the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him. The text says they grumbled against Moses and Aaron, but he says, the Lord has heard your grumbling against him. And he says this, what are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but it is against the Lord. And that's very instructive for us. Because grumbling against leadership or life's frustrations or situations, I mean, that's a very American thing to do in our country of free speech where we can say whatever we want. It's kind of expected, but it is an abomination against a God who sovereignly orchestrates all things in our lives that we complain about. The person that you're talking to is not in charge and has not ordained all these things in your life for your good. But there is a God who loves you, who has poured himself into this. And we can understand this on a small scale. Some of you moms in particular, as you pour yourself into a meal and making something that will be good for your children, if they complain against you, that's something that you can take personal. But that's just a small comparison compared to what God has done for us. He is working all things together for my good and so grumbling, grumbling is ultimately against him. It's not the person next to you that you're grumbling about the food that's supposed to be for your good that ultimately it's actually towards the one who has designed that and brought that to you and is working in that. So Jerry Bridges says to tolerate grumbling in our spiritual lives is as dangerous as to tolerate cancer in our bodies. He says, if I complain about the difficult circumstances of my life, I am actually impugning the sovereignty and the goodness of God. Think about that. He says, when I am complaining about the things that God has allowed or brought into my life, I am impugning the sovereignty and the goodness of God. And he says, and I'm tempting my listener to do the same. And he says, in this way, my sin metastasizes. into another person. I am now sharing what is eating me from the inside out. I am now putting that on that other person. Numbers 11 says, and the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes. And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them. That's how the Lord thinks about his people complaining about misfortunes and about how miserable life is. Numbers 14, 2, and all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, would that we have died in the wilderness. And then they start talking about how good it was back in Egypt, kind of a jaded perspective. But they say, let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt. The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, Remember, they're grumbling against Moses and Aaron, but God says, Again, they're grumbling against fellow people, but God says they're grumbling ultimately against me. We need to understand complaining is not just a weakness, it's a wickedness that the Lord takes. Personal numbers 1428 goes on as I live declares the Lord what you have said in my hearing I will do to you your dead bodies shall fall in the wilderness and all of your number listed in the census from 20 years old and upward who have Grumbled against me. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people 20 years and older who have grumbled against God not one shall come into the land. God heard them saying, oh, that we would have died in the wilderness instead of this, and God gives them what they had said. Verse 36, Paul says, if you think you're standing firm, if you think that's just something for those Israelites in the past, take heed. Take heed lest you fall as well. Number 1641, the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, get away from the midst of this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. Imagine if we were meditating on that passage here. The idea there is as people are grumbling, the idea there is step back, step away because God's judgment may come on them. R.C. Sproul talked about, I think it was Friday night in our 1828 group, this man who was just raising up his hand to heaven. And R.C. Sproul said the next day that man literally physically died and he'd never forgotten it. We need to remember in the book of Acts, Ananias and Sapphira died for their sin. We need to understand God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we are alive, it is by his mercy. It is by his mercy God said in Numbers 17 10 make an end of their grumblings against me lest they die. This is not just the Old Testament Romans 1 talks about the indictment on all of us who are not grateful and how we use the phrase deserve to die. It is by God's mercy that we are not consumed. It is by God's mercy that we are not consumed. Lamentations 3 39 says, why should any man offer complaint in view of his sins? Let us examine and probe our ways and let us return to the Lord. We lift up our heart and hands toward God in heaven. We have transgressed and we have rebelled. That's the right response. as we examine ourselves, and that's what Paul's gonna say in the next chapter of Corinthians. We should be regularly examining ourselves, certainly before we come to the Lord's table, but we should regularly examine ourselves, and 1 Corinthians 10, 10 includes the sin of grumbling, like Old Testament Israel, the sin that destroyed them can have a devastating impact on us as well, but there's good news. There's good news if you feel the weight of that. The good news in verse 13 is God is faithful. We are unfaithful, but God is faithful. That temptation to complain will not be more than you or I can bear if we are Christians. There is grace to endure. There is grace to escape this sin. There is grace greater than all our sin of grumbling. and disputing. It is by grace that we are still breathing despite what might have come out of our mouths this last week. And it is God's grace that can change what comes out of your mouth this week to come. It's by God's grace that we are alive. The scripture says repeatedly, the soul that sins, it shall die. From the beginning in the garden, it was the day that you sin, you die. It's only by God's mercy when that justice is not carried out. Mercy, as we sang earlier, God's mercy, God's grace. We need to be saying all the time, Jesus, thank you. When you realize my sin that deserved God's wrath. And you realize that the wrath that I deserve for my sins this past week was poured out on Christ on the cross. I need to say, Jesus, thank you. And then I also say I need to ask him to make me more like him. Turn to Colossians 3, if you would, for a very practical application of what to do when we have a complaint against another person. Because Paul doesn't just leave this in general terms. Lamentations 3 asks, How can I offer complaints in view of my sins, especially since God has wiped out sinful complainers in the past? If I recognize that God graciously has let me keep breathing despite all of the times I have sinned with my lips, that should make me humbled. By His mercy, that should make me grateful, that should make me merciful when I'm meditating on that. And how I speak of sinners and circumstances He allows, that should be a framework for how I think of it. Colossians 3.13 commands, bearing with one another, and if One has a complaint against another. There's no qualification. If you have a complaint forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Forgive, I think that's the same idea as the heart forgiveness that Jesus talks about in Mark 11, 25. If you're praying and you realize that you have something against someone, forgive while you're talking to God, then and there, just you and God. Paul doesn't say if they ask forgiveness and ask it just right, then you need to bear with them, then you need to forgive. No, it's if you have a complaint, go to God in prayer, as Jesus taught, and forgive in your heart then and there. Ask him to help you bear with the, Source and it's not based here this what this is talking about here isn't based on a good apology This is based on the gospel grace that you have I think the best way to deal with most offenses is to not take offense and certainly not to share that offense with others especially in light of our offensive sin against God and to bear with much sin. The best way to deal with most things that relate to myself is to try to take myself out of it. And there are times where I need to help a brother and come alongside and even lovingly seek restoration in a difficult speaking the truth and love conversation. But love covers a multitude of sins. before we get there. There are sins that multiply. There are sins that make relationships difficult that do need addressing. And relational restoration is a different thing than what takes place in our heart, but it needs to start there. And when we do need to address those things with others, we need to do it in concern and grace, not in complaining and grumbling. And we need to speak to God much about those things first before we speak to others. That's what Colossians 4.2 talks about. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word. Verse six, let your speech always be gracious. seasoned with salt. I've shared that image before. It's like sometimes we season things with salt before they come into our mouth. We need to think about what's coming out of our mouth and seasoning it so it can be more palatable to the person that we are giving it to. That's for the purpose of our gospel witness on gracious, grateful lips, not Grumbling lips and that takes us back to Philippians 2 and that takes us to our second point be a compelling witness Be a compelling witness kind of like Colossians 3. There's the there's the put off and there's the put on what we need to be putting on is a compelling witness the reason we need to stop complaining or grumbling speech is so we can have a compelling gracious speech instead as the salt of the earth as Jesus said is the light of the world and We need to stop disputing to have a compelling witness. Philippians 2.15 says it this way, 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, holding fast the word of life. This could also be translated holding forth. holding forth, I think of the Statue of Liberty, holding forth a torch to people from all the world that see here. We have this message for the world, for the world's tired and poor and huddled masses yearning to be free. Christ's liberty from sin is something we are offering to the world. We're to lift up the light of the gospel to the wretched Tempest-tossed people from every shore. were to lift up the word like a lamp to their feet and like a light for the path to heaven's golden door. We need to think about this image of holding a torch, holding a light in much deeper ways than that image of the Statue of Liberty. But that gives us a visual picture of this. And the big idea is the words of Christians. What comes out of our mouth is to be a shining contrast to a world that is dark, to a world that is crooked, to a world that is complaining. All around us, a sea of complaining is all around us. For us to speak like that and be like that is nothing different. Those who are living in the darkness around us grumble as they stumble through the darkness. But if you are a child of God, you've got something to hold up that is totally different than the way the world responds to life. We're not to whine, we're to let our light shine. Don't join the murmuring sinners around you. Join the mission to reach them by your witness and by your words that should be so utterly unlike our negative culture. This is the challenge to me. This is the challenge to us in this text. If our words in all things are positive and not argumentative, that's going to make a difference. That's going to be evident to people in our hopeless generation. People are going to notice. People are going to notice that who you work with. And some of them may ask you on a break or sometime, what is the reason for this hope that is within you? And Peter says that should be shining out of us in the way that we speak and we should be ready so that we might tell them the hope, the reason why that is. It's not just that we're trying to be more balanced or deal with stress in our life better. The reason we are seeking to do that is to be a light for what God has done in our hearts through the gospel. And in order to do this, especially in verse two of Philippians two, the context has to do with the church in particular, the unity and love in particular of the church. And this should flow out to how we speak in general, but especially in the context about the church. The main point of verses 12 through 18 has been summed up this way. Working against disunity is a crucial element in working out salvation before a watching world. It's a watching world, but it's also a listening world that hears complaining speech, but needs to hear a compelling witness. Paul's goal is much higher than us just not expressing discontentment or us just not disputing with our fellow Christians. He's concerned about Christian disunity because of a gospel and because of God's glory that should be manifested in loving words to or about one another. So turn to Acts 2, if you would, and listen to Christ's prayer for us. Just a few weeks before Acts chapter 2, John 17, he prayed for all those who would come to believe that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. the glory that you have given me i have given to them that they may be one even as we are one i in them and you and me that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me christ is praying for those who would believe through the apostles holding forth holding forth the word of life and that's We're going to see weeks later that prayer began to be answered Acts chapter 2 when the day of Pentecost arrived They were all together in one place. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. You know the story, or at least many of you do. God's Spirit came like fire, like lights shining in the midst of them, and Peter's move then to hold up the gospel to Jerusalem there, to point them to Jesus, the light of the world. So in verse 22 he calls them to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Peter preaches lordship salvation, if you will, verses 34 through 36. He calls them to repent in verse 38 for forgiveness and to be baptized. He's holding forth the word of life to them. And that's as I'm reading these words and as I'm preaching right now, I'm doing the same thing. I am holding forth the word of life to you who are in this place. And the message is if you have not yet repented of your sins, repent, that means to turn from your sins and to trust in Jesus who died for your sin of complaining and for your other sins and who rose again as Lord. so that all who call upon His name, all those who come and beg Him, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner, they can be saved. They can be saved that very day, that very hour. This is the message Peter preached. Peter, who weeks earlier had been marked by complaining, he is now, by God's grace, through his spirit, a compelling witness. He is letting his light shine. And in verse 40, and remember, Peter also, weeks earlier, was denying that he even knew the Lord before a servant girl. Privately now, Peter has been emboldened to speak the word of life publicly to thousands, knowing that he might have to die for his faith in what he's doing. He calls them to be saved, in verse 40, from a crooked generation. By the way, that's the same phrase as Philippians 2.15. It's actually the Greek word we get scoliosis from. There's twistedness of the spine. But he's talking about how the gospel is to make right the soul. And now watch how the early church let their light shine to this crooked, twisted, dark world around them. Verse 44, all who believed were together. and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts." And we could say that's the opposite of grumbling and disputing in Philippians 2.14. Verse 47, they were praising God and having favor with all the people. That's Philippians 2.15, blameless, without blemish before the world. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. That's a compelling witness that we see there when believers stick together, when they sacrifice to care for each other, when they attend worship together, when they have people into their homes, when they share meals and share life with each other. That's part of how the church can be a lighthouse to this dark world. And certainly we want to be ready to speak the gospel as well, but this is a part of it. We need to be that lighthouse to the world so that sinners don't shipwreck. their souls. This is a world that is a materialistic culture that sells or that seeks possessions and individuality and what a difference it would be to be a counterculture where we actually sell possessions, actually set aside self to help out others. The church expressing gratitude instead of grumbling before the world is a key part to letting our light shine. Christians can be quick to complain about how the church falls short, but Acts 2 shows they contributed to help fill in the needs. It's easy for people to have a jaded heart about the church, but generous hearts is what the church needs, and that starts with you and how you speak about others. generously, graciously. In our day, many are quick to open their mouth about what they shouldn't and to take pot shots at the church or people in it, but in Acts 2, they opened up their pocketbooks, they opened up their hearts, they opened up their homes, and they opened up, in that process, there were doors being opened up for the word of life. Peter was there in Acts 2. And he experienced that. And this is what he later wrote in 1 Peter 4, 8. We need to keep on loving each other deeply. Because love covers a multitude of sins. And then he says this. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Peter knows even in the midst of serving others, you can be grumbling. Even in the midst of Preparing a meal or preparing to serve someone, you can be grumbling. He says, That's the ultimate goal that grumbling prevents from happening. Turn to Acts 6. And Peter may be thinking there of how in showing hospitality to widows, grumbling later arose in the midst of serving. And there were some church growing pains happening in Acts 6 verse 1. Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists rose against the Hebrews. The Hellenists were more integrated with the Greek culture. The Hebrews were more keeping their Jewish culture. So the Hellenists, a complaint arose by them against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. This was some form of meals, ministry, benevolence. There's a people group now that is complaining and disputing, like Philippians 2, verse 14. And so the 12, verse 2, summoned the full number of the disciples and said, it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. And by the way, the word serve there is the Greek verb dikoneo. We get the The English word deacon from that is the verb form. The idea there is preaching by the apostles was not to be given up to deaconing, but serving of widows and preserving unity was essential. And this all-important duty needed godly, spiritual, wise leaders who could be shock absorbers, who could be unity builders, who could come and help out over this duty and this task. The later New Testament calls men like this deacons. But the language of verse three is, Therefore, brothers, pick out men from among you, seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves, these are the apostles speaking, to prayer and to the ministry of the word. That's the biblical non-negotiable for those preaching and ministering the word. The later New Testament writers call those pastors or elders who have the role of overseers And the later New Testament writings also mention deacons, recognized servant leaders who fill the role that we see here in verses three through four. And deacons, that word, the idea there is a servant leader, it's not just these men who are servant leaders, but other servant leaders throughout the church following in their example are critical in this process. and important to unity and to be conflict defusers and wise peacemakers and to help with the practical needs of the body beyond what the elders are able to do. The goal of that is so that the word of life might go forth and that these other things would not hinder it. And so in verse 5 the whole congregation was involved and in verse 6 the men were brought to and prayed for and publicly Appointed by the leaders and we've looked at that passage many times before but just notice verse 7 and here's the result the word of God continued to increase and The number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith this is the first time we read about priests becoming obedient to the faith and it's a great many of them as they see this and as they see this taking place in the church. And it was even different than they had seen in their religious circles in Judaism. And that's exactly what Philippians 2 is talking about. And you can go back to Philippians 2, but the idea there is the word of God, the word of life shines forth as it's held forth by a church that is working together under servant leaders to not let complaining or disputing divide. And as the church was unified, they multiplied and God was glorified. And what Paul wants us to see, very much similar to what Acts and Peter wants us to see, is that grumbling can hinder the gospel and the glory of God and his grace from shining. And so that's why Paul says, do all things without grumbling or disputing 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. And that language comes out of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 32, God's children of Israel proved faithless. And this is the phrase that was used of them. These children are blemished. They are a crooked and twisted generation. He's talking about Israel, not the pagans around them. They had become like that world. Paul's saying don't be like Old Testament Israel when they became that. Don't become the crooked and complaining world around you. Be a contrast. Be a witness. to it. Don't let blemishes of grumbling or disputing darken your testimony. If you are God's children, Jesus said, you are the light of the world. You are a city on a hill that is not to be hidden. We don't hide a lamp under a bushel. We take it out and let it shine to all. Jesus says, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. That's the ultimate goal in all this, that people would see our lives as they shine and that they would give glory to our Father who is in heaven. That's what it's all about. That's what our kids sing when they hold up their finger and sing what? Any kids here can help me? Hold your fingers up if you're 12 and under, just for a second. Hold your fingers up, come on, you can do it. This little light of mine, what do we do? Let it shine, I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? No, I'm gonna let it shine. Don't let anyone, it out. You know what? Get out for our light is when we grumble, when we complain. That's one of the ways that we can let our light go out, when we let complaining go out of our mouth. Don't do it. We are the light of the world. We are, as the song says, the city on the hill. And we gotta, we gotta, we gotta let our light shine. So hear the call of the kingdom to be children of light. with the mercy of heaven, the humility of Christ." That's Philippians 2, 5 through 8. Loving all that is right, that the light of Christ may shine through us. And that humility of Christ takes us back to verses 5 through 8. We need to recognize we can't obey verses 14 through 15, if not for the one in the earlier part of this passage who first came and obeyed for us. There's only one person. whoever did all things without grumbling or disputing sinfully. We need to look to the only man who was ever fully blameless and innocent. In fact, that's what he's called, blameless and innocent in the book of Hebrews, of this sin and of all sin. He is the son of God who was also the Lamb. of God, the unblemished sacrifice, the substitute for sinners like you and me. Jesus, just like Israel, wandered a wilderness without food. And like them, He, and like us, He was tempted in every way. But in all those wanderings and all of what He did here on earth, He never complained. He never argued with His Father. He never said a mumbling word as He went to the cross. What boundless love. What fathomless grace. Christ has shown us a God of compassion. And so each day we should live as an offering of praise as we show to the world His compassion. It can even be in the ways that we speak. I've heard people say, sometimes I'll ask them how they're doing, and they say, hey, I can't complain. And then sometimes someone will say, actually, there are some things that I'm tempted to complain about, but God is good, and so I'm trusting in Him. Or sometimes I'll ask, some people will say, how are you doing? And the answer is, better than I deserve. I'm doing far better than I deserve. Even the way that we speak being different than the world as we go and as we interact with people in the world, those can be avenues and opportunities for us to explain why we can have a different perspective than the rest of the world. We're to show to the world He is the light of the world with a capital L. He's the one holding forth the word of life to people that he called while he was here on earth, a twisted and crooked generation. And he calls us to join him in reflecting that light. We're like the moon reflecting the sun. And to do that, we need to turn from our supposedly respectable sins. We need to not whine. We need to let our lights shine. Stop complaining. Be a compelling witness. Let me pray. Our great God, we thank you, we praise you, that as you bring conviction, you also bring, you bring us Christ. You point us to Christ. You show us Christ. And I pray that we would keep our eyes on Christ as we go from here. And Lord, many of us will be tempted in just a few minutes, just a few moments, in this very area we've been talking about. Lord, I pray that you would convict us, that you would convict me, and that you would point us back to these gospel truths for the glory of Christ and for the sake of the gospel to the world around us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.