Hello. Thank you for calling the complaint department.
Please press 1 for weather, 2 for traffic, 3
for my boss gets on my nerves, 4 for my friends
are fake, 5 for my spouse won't accept that I'm
perfect, 6 for my kids are lazy, 7 for restaurant
food quality, 7 for restaurant food quality.
Eight for waiting in line, waiting on the phone,
waiting for spring, waiting for summer, waiting
for fall, waiting for winter, waiting, waiting,
waiting. If you would like to hear these options
again, please press pound. Don't we wish there
was a complaint department? Oh, a complaint department
that would fix all of our issues in life. If
you haven't figured it out. We're going to be
talking about fasting from complaining today.
Last week, Pastor Greg introduced us to desire
paths. They're paths that we prefer to take versus
the ones that have already been created for us.
Did you hear that? Sometimes it takes a second
time for reality to sink in, so I'm going to
say it one more time. They are paths that we
prefer to take. versus the ones that have already
been created for us. In the study that Andrew
Furman, a professor in interior design, did,
as Pastor Greg said last week, he said that desire
lines tell us something about the endless human
desire to have choice. The importance of not
having someone prescribe your path. Feels about
right. Right? We want our own entity. We want
to be our own individual. We want to make our
own choices. But we'll come back to that. The
Lent season began last week, and many people
fast from foods, other things that get in the
way of a relationship with God. How was everyone's
fast from social media? Cold. Looked a little
bit different for all of us, I'm sure. Fasting
is not a focus on what we take away, but on what
we want to bring into our space. Fasting is not
a focus on what we take away, but on what we
want to bring into our space. So what do we want
to fill ourselves with? Let's think about that.
Perhaps it's asking God to help us grow in a
certain area of our spiritual lives and making
a real conscious effort to stay near God. He
must become greater and I must become less. That's
John 3 .30. Let's pray. Father God, we just come
before you and we thank you. We thank you for
bringing us here today. We thank you for the
snow this morning. We thank you for the grumbles
that we had on our way here. We thank you for
the dog that got loose this morning and had me
running around for it for three minutes. We thank
you for bringing us here today. Allow us to clear
our minds right now and focus on what we want
to fill ourselves with this morning. Amen. If
you could stand with me, we're going to be reading
out of Philippians 2, verses 14 through 16. There's
Bibles on the tables, or you can open your apps.
Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 through 16.
This verse was written by Apostle Paul while
he was in prison, and he was talking to the Philippians,
and it says, Do everything without grumbling
or arguing so that you may become blameless and
pure, children of God without fault in a warped
and crooked generation. Then you will shine among
them like stars in the sky. As you hold firmly
to the word of life, and then I will be able
to boast on the day of Christ that I did not
run or labor in vain. Amen. You can be seated.
Have you ever had a friend that has a problem
for every solution? And sometimes maybe you avoid
picking up the phone. Oh, it's that person. They're
going to keep me on the phone for 20 minutes
about the complaints of something that they're
doing, the same thing they complain about, but
they haven't done anything to change it. Right?
They say they can't do this, they can't do that,
but did they ever even start? To complain is
of our flesh. It's natural. Things happen, right?
So do we think that we're the only ones that
complain? Like, do we think that the Bible is
full of all this glorious information of beautiful
things always and in everything give thanks?
Nope. The Israelites, after being delivered from
Egypt, they had a complaint to the food quality
department. They said, you brought us here to
starve and we're only eating the manna from the
heavens? This is all we get? Complaint department,
for sure. Job, he never cursed God, right? But
there's 42 chapters of him really going through
it. Right? At one point he even says, I curse
the day that I was born. Right? Read them. Interesting
story. Like if you really want to have a chapter
story, Job is it. Jonah, a prophet, he complained
and became angry when God wanted him to go to
Nineveh. And what happened to him? He got swallowed
by a whale. We know how that story goes, right?
And he got spit back out and he still had to
go to Nineveh and fix some things. So to complain
is of our flesh. It is natural. It's okay to
feel that life has treated us unfairly. To feel
desperate, sad, and frustrated, disappointed,
annoyed, or even disgruntled. It's okay, right?
There are feelings. They're real. We have them.
It's human. But it's not okay to stay stuck there.
Right? So, let me grab something real quick.
Is the glass half empty? Or is it half full?
Who said half empty? Who said half full? Sermon's
over, we can go home. Psychology teaches us a
few things, right? It says that glass half full
is optimistic. Glass half empty is pessimistic.
So if you're optimistic, you focus on things
that... Optimists tend to focus on what they
have rather than what they lack. Acknowledging
the presence of something like water and its
potential. It's half full. It's got some potential.
While pessimists might focus on the absence of
what's missing. the empty space in the glass,
leading to a more negative outlook. And I was
asking my friend this morning, is it half full
or half empty? And she said, well, if you get
a smaller cup and pour it in there, it's full,
right? That's a good way of thinking of it, too.
Optimism can contribute to a greater happiness
and overall well -being. We're able to look at
challenges as an opportunity for growth. We are
more resilient in the face of adversity, more
likely to focus on solutions and maintain a positive
outlook. Doesn't that sound like a relationship
with our creator? A little bit of optimism, half
full. Proverbs 17 .22 says, a cheerful heart
is good medicine. A crushed spirit dries up the
bones. Our brain has 100 billion neurons in it.
Our mind is connected to our body, our blood
pressure, our stress management. So how we look
at things affects our body. It's a fact that
childhood affects adulthood, that our life experiences
mold us and our thought process, right? If you're
a glass -half -empty pessimist, maybe one bad
thing happened after another. Maybe you were
just in survival mode for most of your life.
And if you've gone through childhood trauma and
you're in survival mode for most of your life,
things look a little different, right? Survival
mode is real. I know a little bit about that.
Maybe you say, that's just the way that I am.
Maybe the grumbling and the complaining is just
who you are, right? But let me tell you something.
In him, we are a new creation. Psychology might
tell us something. But in him, we are a new creation.
In him we step into a body of Christ working
together for his good. In him we find hope no
matter the circumstances. Our mouth cannot speak
what our mind does not tell it. I don't know
if you've ever been next to a person in bed while
they're in a coma. They don't have the ability
to speak. Their mind might be shut off. But in
him, we are a new creation. We are alive as a
body of Christ. Let's shift a little bit to our
heart. Matthew 12, 33 to 34. Jesus is talking
to the Pharisees. And he's telling him, you know
what? You have to be known by the fruit of your
tree. And we know the fruits of the spirit, right?
Kindness, gentleness, patience, all those beautiful
things. And then he goes on to say, for out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
So what are you holding in your heart? Is there
any bitterness or resentment? Is there any past
hurt? Is there any forgiveness that needs to
take place? A person's words reveal their character.
Have you ever been around somebody and they say,
I didn't mean to say that. But did they? Sometimes
we have to let whatever's in our heart go so
that it can be filled with the things that take
us closer to Christ, that hold us near him. It's
easy to say, just let it go. Easier said than
done. But the word of God does say, do everything
without grumbling and in everything give thanks,
right? It's okay to feel it. To process it. Sit
with it. But don't get stuck there. Sometimes
we want to go to the complaint buffet too. We
just want to go fill ourselves of all this complaining
and ugh. the world and we eat our feelings away
just full of it right just full of the we want
to be in this sorrow we want to be having a pity
party we want to be there we just want to be
there and it's a buffet we get to go again second
round third round we just get to be there right
and you know what that's okay too just don't
get stuck there make sure you tell your friends
to pull you out of the buffet And we just can't
get stuck there. Ephesians 4, 29 says, do not
let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth,
but only what is helpful for building others
up according to their needs, that it may benefit
those who listen. So how does complaining build
us up? How does... Complaining build up your
friend, your sister, your mom, your daughter.
How does that edify the church? How does it build
us up? Guess what? It doesn't. It doesn't. What
you're doing when you're complaining is having
a spirit of ungratefulness, and you're telling
God that you don't trust him. You're planting
a seed of doubt, and you're telling him, is his
goodness really good? And we know that God is
good, right? So coming back to desire paths,
they can also reveal where people refuse to tread.
If you've been walking the same route for years,
An itchy -footed urge to go off, even just a
few meters, is probably something you'll identify
with. And that's in the article that was in the
Desire Paths. If you've been walking in the same
route for years, you're just a natural complainer.
You're just a natural grumbler. You just want
to be there sometimes. But guess what? We can't
get stuck there. How do we cultivate a glass
half full mentality? How do we start to feed
into the spirit of gratitude, a heart of thanksgiving,
a mouth of joyfulness? Who wants dried up bones?
Anybody? I don't. How do we cultivate that? We
start practicing gratitude and focusing on the
positive aspects of our situations and things
that are going on. And when we have a negative
thought, we fill it with a positive one. Does
that sound easy? Maybe. In the situation you
might be going through, maybe not. But maybe
it does. Reframing negative thoughts can help
cultivate a more optimistic perspective. There
has to be at some point in our lives, if we are
holding on to old things and negativity, as a
body of Christ, there has to be a point of surrender.
of complete surrender, a real desire, an immediate
response to getting into our deepest relationship
with Christ. When I was young, the story of Zacchaeus
stuck in my mind. There was a song in Spanish.
It's in English, too, isn't it? Zacchaeus was
a little, little man who lived in Jericho. Where
did he live? Okay. Well, in Spanish, it tells
us that he lived in Jericho. Ours is a little
better. Porque a tu casa voy a ir. Okay, and
it says that, can anybody sing it in English?
I don't know it in English. He was a wee little
man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in
a sycamore tree to sing to the sea. Jesus saw
him and said, take it, come down, for I'm coming
to your house today. I'm coming to your house
today. Yep. Same concept, right? Mine sounded
better. But imagine if Zacchaeus in the Bible
says that he was a short man. And that's why
he went up to the tree to see Jesus. And when
Jesus was there with him, he said, Zacchaeus,
come down from the tree. Because I want to go
and meet with you and have a relationship with
you in your home. Like our home is our intimate
space, right? And imagine if Zacchaeus was like,
I'll be down in a minute. Just taking my time
here. I can imagine Zacchaeus jump down from
that tree. And that story stuck with me like
all of my life because if anybody in here, is
anybody an overanalyzer? Like overanalytical?
I'm like, man, what if he like, you know, like
I said, took his time and... But I can imagine
that it was an immediate surrender. It was an
immediate response to Christ calling him down
from that tree. And at one point or another,
that's the kind of surrender that we have to
have. An immediate surrender. I had a disclaimer
in the beginning. That I should have said. There's
mental health problems, right? There's psychological
problems. There's things that we go through.
There's depression is real. All those things
are real. Those feelings are real. Justice. All
those things are real. So this is not to say
that those things are not real. This is not to
say get over it. This is not to say you can't.
talk to your friend about a real concern. This
is to say that we have to want to fill our space
with things that edify us. We have to not want
to be stuck in those spaces that don't build
us up. Right? You like that one? So, in closing,
getting into our deepest relationship in the
body of Christ takes some work. It takes relationship
building. It takes wanting to know him. It takes
inviting him to your table. It takes inviting
him into your space. How do you get to know him?
Just by coming here on Sundays. The word of God.
Worship. Fellowship. Intentional practices of
positivity and positive thinking. Gratitude.
Gratefulness. Cultivating that complete surrender.
So this week. Our fast is to stay away from the
complaint department and the complaint buffet
and to replace them with gratitude in your hearts.
I challenge you this week that when you want
to grumble or complain, and my daughter knows
that that number six for restaurant food quality
is my favorite call to the complaint department.
I promise, daughter, I will not do that this
week. So when you want to complain this week,
fill it with three things that you're grateful
for. That's my challenge to you guys this week.
And I'm going to add to what Greg said last week.
When you want to complain, try smiling while
you're complaining. Is that a good one? Hey,
I really don't like the food here today. The
quality is not that great. And so just try to
replace some. complaining with gratitude. Amen?
Amen. Father God, we just thank you so much for
this time of your word, of building us up, of
filling our space with you. Less of me, more
of you. And as we go into this time of taking
bread, and your blood that is shed. Help us to
find those areas of gratitude in our lives. Help
us to dig deep. Help us to surrender. Help us
to come down from that tree immediately and want
to be transformative. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.