Shining as Lights in the World By Doing All Things Without Murmuring and Disputing Philippians 2:14

Introductory Thoughts So far in this series on shining as lights in the world, we have been given both direction and hope Direction in the form of the admonition - Work out your own salvation Hope in the assurance that it is God who works in you But now we have a warning The need for this warning should become more apparent as we proceed with this morning's lesson

Murmuring The danger of murmuring Murmuring defined - to complain in low mumbling tones; grumble The people of Israel murmured frequently throughout their wilderness wanderings, and many were destroyed because of it - 1 Corinthians 10:10-11 In describing those who would be apostates, murmurers are included in the description - Jude 3-4, 16-19 How can we then shine as lights if we are seen to be a group of complainers?

Murmuring When a person is murmuring, it is an indication of dissatisfaction A Christian has so much to be thankful for Salvation in Christ Jesus, which includes every spiritual blessing - Ephesians 1:3 Assurance of a Heavenly Father who understands and will provide our needs - Matthew 6:31-33 If anything, the people of God should be known as filled with thanksgiving, not murmuring

Murmuring Consider what Paul wrote to the Colossians We should thank God for our inheritance - Colossians 1:12 We should abound with thanksgiving - Colossians 2:6-7 Be thankful for the peace of God ruling in our hearts - Colossians 3:15 Give thanks to God the father through Jesus Christ - Colossians 3:17 Be vigilant in prayer with thanksgiving - Colossians 4:2 Surely an attitude of gratitude will help us shine as lights in the world much better than Murmuring, grumbling and complaining!

Disputing The danger of disputing Disputing simply means - arguing - disputing It is not describing the discussions of differences between individuals who seek to find common ground But rather the sort of divisive wrangling condemned in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 - 2 Timothy 2:14-16 Such disputing can devour those in the body of Christ, against which Paul warned - Galatians 5:15 It can also destroy our ability to convince the world concerning Jesus

Disputing Being different in how we handle our differences There will always be differences among brethren We come into the kingdom with many different backgrounds and perspectives It will take a while until we all develop the mind of Christ and the oneness of mind for which Paul pleaded in Philippians 2:2

Disputing Until then, we can still shine as lights in the world in the way we handle our differences! With the attitudes of gentleness, patience, and humility prescribed in 2 Timothy 2:23-26 With the qualities of longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness described in Colossians 3:12-13 With the willingness to forego personal liberties as exemplified by Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:13

Concluding Thoughts We can truly shine as lights and make a positive impact on the world for Jesus Too much harm has been done in the past by the way we have dealt with differences, and the tendency to complain If we can only take to heart the warning of Paul and other scriptures against murmuring and disputing