Responding differently—becoming a rejoicer rather than a complainer—means first recognizing the truth of Philippians 2:13: “For it is God who works in you.” “Philippians,” Paul says in essence, “God is at work. God is in charge. God is willing and empowering you to live and serve in a way that pleases Him.”
When God’s work in and around me seems slow or nonexistent, I’m prone to grumbling. But there are also many other times, I’m noticing, when I’m quick to grumble or complain: when I’m under stress or experiencing suffering, when I can’t be sure of guaranteed outcomes, or when I’m focused on myself and want my own way.
What is the antidote to grumbling? How can I become not only a noncomplainer but rather a wholehearted rejoicer? Paul’s words to the Philippians have washed me afresh with the salient, transforming truth I need:
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, holding fast to the word of life. (Phil. 2:14–16)
This seems a strange segue from Paul’s previous reminder that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (v. 13). However, by using very specific words—“grumbling” and the phrase “a crooked and twisted generation”—Paul references an Old Testament story in which the Israelites, having escaped slavery in Egypt were, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, making their way toward the land God had promised them.
The Israelites had forgotten how God provided for them, and so they’d become worried about their future and their children’s future. Because they’d forgotten God’s promises and neither trusted Him nor the leaders God had given them, they wept, grumbled, and searched for an escape from their circumstances. Just before he died, Moses referred to this scene, calling the grumbling Israelites a “crooked and twisted generation” (Deut. 32:5).
We may think of murmuring in discontent or disputing as a relatively small thing. The Israelites were simply sharing their hearts, right? What did it hurt that they grumbled against their spiritual leaders?
Paul uses the language of Moses (“crooked and twisted generation”) in order to teach the Philippians—and us—that grumbling and disputing is ultimately a grumbling and disputing against God. Therefore, Paul’s command is that the Philippians respond to their own uncertain times and difficult persecutions in a way that is different from how the Israelites responded.
Responding differently—becoming a rejoicer rather than a complainer—means first recognizing the truth of Philippians 2:13: “For it is God who works in you.” “Philippians,” Paul says in essence, “God is at work. God is in charge. God is willing and empowering you to live and serve in a way that pleases Him. You are secure and provided for by your Abba Father, even if you can’t see it. This leaves no wiggle room for grumbling or disputing.”
And so it is for us, too. God is at work even if we can’t see His work unfolding quite yet. With this truth in mind, we can read verse 14 as “do all things [then] without grumbling or disputing,” because the command follows Paul’s description of the continual work of God in our lives. Grumbling and disputing are antithetical to the idea that God is at work in all things, for these actions convey that God has abandoned us, will not provide for us, or does not have our good in mind when He sets leaders over us.
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