July 30, 2017
Reaching Toward the Goal | Philippians 2:12-18
- Philippians 2:12-18
- Jon Graybeal
My name is Jon Graybeal and I’m the Director of Student Ministries here at ZPC and if you’ve been with us this summer, you know we are going through Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, but before we get into Philippians this morning I want to say thank you. About a month ago I stood here and asked for your help. As the Director of Student Ministries I asked for your help, whether it be to lead a small group of students, to simply attend one of our weekly programs and just be with students as they worship, learn, and grow, or to possibly provide a meal for one of weekly meetings, cause let’s face it, they’re coming because of the food, not me. I asked for your help and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the responses and your willingness to serve. At least I can’t thank the ladies enough. Guys, it’s time to step up, we need men to step up and walk alongside the generation behind it. Our students need to see men serving, they need to see men worshipping and praying, simply, they need to see you. So if you’re a guy in the room, student ministries needs you….I need you. If you’d be willing to serve in any way shape or form or you’re just willing but don’t know what the next step is, please let me know. Call me and we’ll talk, shoot me an email and let me know. We definitely have a need and our students definitely need you.
Ok, now we’re ready, Philippians. We are in the fourth week of our series on Philippians which takes us up to chapter 2, verses 12-18. If you have your Bible go ahead and grab that, if you have the Bible app on your phone you can follow along there or it will be on the screen as well.
Philippians 2:12-18:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 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. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Do everything without grumbling, do everything without complaining. Seems simple enough, right? I say this often but typically when we read the Bible, there’s more going on than meets the eye, you know, like Transformers. Our text this morning is no different. Paul is doing something in our text this morning. He’s using language that should remind us of another story. Or at least remind those who are familiar with this other story. Does anyone know where in Scripture we find this grumble and complain kind of language? Yeah, the Exodus story. Paul conjuring up the story of the Exodus. The next question……why? What does the Exodus story have to do with the church, the church in Philippi, and this church on the northwest side of Indianapolis? Just to recap.
The story of the Exodus is the story of a group of Israelites, God’s people as they’re called, who were slaves in Egypt and God reaches out His hand and, in grace and mercy, rescues them from slavery. But the people, they grumble and complain. The path in the wilderness, post slavery, is difficult and they grumble and they complain and they say to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here, did you bring us out here to die?” And they just don’t get it. So when Paul says do everything without grumbling and complaining, he’s essentially saying, “Don’t be like the Israelites, instead you, you shine like stars.”
I was fortunate enough when I was studying in college to be living in the metropolis known as Cincinnati and Cincinnati.....was, well……Cincinnati. Anyone know the Mark Twain quote about Cincinnati? Mark Twain said, “When the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati, because it’s always twenty years behind the times.” Having lived there myself, to Mark Twain I say, Amen.
There was one perk however being in Cincinnati, I was able to take some of my Old Testament classes at Hebrew Union which is one of the largest schools in the States to study to become a rabbi. Studying Old Testament scripture, as a Christ follower, with a full-fledged rabbi as your teacher is quite the experience.
In rabbinical tradition, which I envision as a bunch of old rabbis with big beards sitting around a table eating, drinking, and talking about Scripture and coming up with stories that help us better understand the Scripture. The rabbis tell a story that I think relates to what Paul is doing here in Philippians. The rabbis tell a story of the Exodus and about how these people, these Israelites, who have been rescued from slavery continued to grumble and complain and argue even after this unbelievable amazing act of liberation had been done on their behalf. In fact, the Israelites grumble and complain a lot in the Exodus story. The rabbis tell a story of two former slaves, two Israelites who are walking across the parted Red Sea. Two slaves who had been rescued. The Sea has been parted and they are being miraculously led through to the other side but they find themselves on the Sea floor, walking along and they’re complaining and grumbling because it’s muddy. The one says, “I’m getting mud in my sandals” and the other says, “I’m getting mud between my toes, I hate this.” The rabbis say the two continued on grumbling and complaining about the mud and the slime and their dirty sandals because their heads were down, they just saw their own muddy feet as they walked, all the while missing what was around and above them, walls of water being held back, walls of water being held back for their liberation, their freedom, their safety, and their mercy but all they could do was grumble and complain because they were staring at their feet. They missed the miracle, they missed the awe and wonder of God’s grace, mercy, and redemption because they were focused on some tiny detail that was a slight inconvenience to them.
Of course this has nothing to do with our world, does it?
Paul essentially takes the Exodus story and he flips it and says, “You aren’t like them.” Paul is essentially saying, “How the story went, the grumbling and complaining and the mud, how the story went is not how the story has to go, they may have missed the point but you don’t have to miss the point, they may have grumbled and complained but you don’t have to, do everything without grumbling and complaining.”
This is how the story went, they complained and grumbled about the mud on their sandals, they said let’s just go back to Egypt as slaves, we were better off. This is how the story went but this isn’t how the story has to go.
Your father may have been an alcoholic but you don’t have to be.
Your mother may have been emotionally detached and distant but you don’t have to be.
Your parent’s marriage may have fallen apart but yours doesn’t have to.
How the story went is not how the story has to go. You can break the cycle and create a new kind of tomorrow. You can create this new kingdom that Jesus has been talking about, that Paul has been attempting to architect and build, through churches like the church in Philippi.
Shine like stars in this world and how do you shine like stars, well Paul suggests that we don’t grumble or complain.
The word grumbling in greek is gongysmos.
I, of course, hear at the front end of that word…….gong.
So maybe another way to say this is, do everything without gong-ing. Paul of course uses that same picture in his letter to the Corinthians in chapter 13 when he talks about love. Paul says, “If I can speak in all the languages of men and in all the languages of angels but don’t have love, I’m nothing but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” Do everything without gong-ing.
It’d be a lovely word for our kids to learn. When they hear mom and dad bickering, “Hey Mom, Dad, enough of the gongysmos, enough of the gong-ing.” Maybe you should have a gong in your house, when you catch an offending family member gong-ing, you simply…….gong.
Maybe one in your car and when you run into traffic and you say oh this traffic or oh this construction. Really? This traffic, this construction, wow, epic apocalyptic issue. You just have this in the car and when the grumbling and the complaining kick in, you just…….gong.
A teacher could have this in their classroom, student walks up to teacher, student begins to explain why they haven’t turned their work in……gong.
Remember The Gong Show? Or now there’s a new Gong Show so maybe you don’t have to remember it. But the Gong Show, you get gonged when the judges have had enough of you.
When we gong, when we make noise, when we grumble and complain, what’s really going on? Is construction really that big a deal? Is bickering over dinner really that big a deal? Is having to wake up early that big a deal? What’s really going on?
It seems to me that we grumble and we complain because we forget. Remember those two Israelites we talked about earlier, the ones who were staring at their feet, complaining about the mud on their sandals all the while missing the massive walls of water on either side of them, being held in place for their safety, for their freedom and liberation. Remember when the Israelites came out the other side and were complaining again in the desert?
No water, Moses!
Where’s the food, Moses?
I have blisters on my feet, Moses!
Who died and made you the boss, Moses?
Are we there yet, Moses?
We forget and we forget quickly. We forget that God delivered us, we forget that we’ve been saved, we forget, we forget, we forget. We forget to remember. Scripture is all about remembering. Remember grace, remember mercy, remember that all of this is a gift. We grumble and we complain because we forget to remember. We forget that all of this is a gift.
My daughter Emma started playing softball this past year. My daughter is 8. Watching 7 and 8 year olds play softball is…….well…….it’s something. It’s organized chaos at its best. You have some kids who are pretty decent and some who are chasing butterflies in the outfield. You hear parents yelling things like, “Get a hit”, “Keep your eye on the ball”, “Throw it, throw it”, “Run run, run”. And so many of these kids (insert sarcasm here) come up to their parents afterward and say, “Mom, Dad, thank you. Thank you. When you said run run, run, I decided to run, thank you that was helpful.” Or, “Mom, Dad, thank you so much, when you said get a hit at the top of your lungs, I decided I would get a hit. Thank you so much.” No…..the kids don’t do that. At one of these events, cause I’m not even sure that it qualifies as a game, one of the girls from the other team comes up to the fence because her Dad had called her over. The father says something quite harsh to his 7 year old daughter. Now let’s just pause for a moment, is this the time or place to chastise your daughter for her actions on the field of a 7 and 8-year-olds softball game?
It’s an exceptionally beautiful day, the sun is shining, there’s a breeze blowing, the grass is green. You have a daughter, she’s healthy. She’s running to 3rd before she runs to first, but she’s beautiful. She’s just out enjoying herself. You have the resources to pay for her to wear the uniform and to play sports. You have the freedom to come and watch. You have the resources to take her to the game, to drive to the field and to drive home afterward, you have the resources, the ability to put gas in the car. 8% of people in the world have cars, 1/3 of Americans have more than 2 cars. Life is a gift. This day is a gift. A child is a gift. A healthy child is a gift. This is all one giant gift.
We gong, we grumble and we complain when we forget to remember that today is a gift. This breath that you breathe is a gift.
Perhaps that’s why Paul is reminding us of the Exodus story. Reminding us that there is always a larger story than the story we’re choosing to tell. So we’re choosing to tell this story, the story that:
I’m so upset, you wouldn’t believe how long I had to wait in line at the grocery store,
this parenting thing is just sooooo hard,
car shopping is such a pain,
our new house is great but we really need our previous house to sell,
we just got home from vacation, you wouldn’t believe how much I have to do to catch up.
Pause for a minute. You have the resources to have that problem. You have the free time to actually have created that mess. You have the physical health to have even gotten to a point where this was possible. There is always a larger story. Remember.
Maybe that’s why if you read through the book of Deuteronomy which I’m sure you do often, you come across the phrase, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt”, Deuteronomy 15. Deuteronomy 24: “Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt.” Deuteronomy 5: “Remember that you were slaves in a foreign land.” Deuteronomy 28: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that God redeemed you” and on and on it goes.
Scripture is trying to tell us to remember, why? So that we’re reminded that this is how the story went but it’s not how the story has to go. And in order for this kingdom thing to work, you have to remember, you have to remember so that things are different, remember so that you stand out, remember so that you shine like stars in a world where the native language is grumbling and complaining, where the native language is arguing and manipulating and positioning and bickering.
Have you ever spent any time on this thing called social media? We love to complain, we love to argue, we love to bicker and take sides all the while hiding behind our screens and our keyboards. What if we stood out, what if we were to shine like stars in the midst of a culture that feeds on hurtful, destructive words. It’s not until we stand out, it’s not until we shine, it’s not until we choose to say I love you rather than I can’t stand you, it’s not until we choose to say what can I do rather than what can you do for me, it’s not until we choose to say I was wrong rather than I’m always right that this kingdom thing grows and begins to look like what Jesus had in mind and what Paul had in mind. In order to make a difference we have to somehow be different. How are we being different, how are we standing out, how are we shining like stars?
We have to remember to look up from our muddy sandals and our muddy toes, look up because we are surrounded by a God that saves, we are surrounded by a God that frees, we are surrounded by a God that redeems and restores.
And so I think about the people that shine. I think about what they look like. I think about those that have spent or are spending their lives bringing about this kingdom that Jesus talked about. I think about the people that have spent or are spending their lives continuing to build this kingdom that Paul had begun to architect and build through churches like Philippi. I think about people like Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa didn’t walk around complaining about a gluten allergy or that she didn’t like the way her outfit fit or that she didn’t have shoes that matched, she had stuff to do. Martin Luther King didn’t grumble or complain about being in prison, he didn’t grumble and complain about the legal system, he had stuff to do. I think about Joe Loudenback. Joe’s a part of our church family and I don’t hear Joe grumbling about how early he has to get up so that he can hang out with a group of high school guys before school starts, Joe’s got stuff to do. I think about my friend Brooke who moved from Carmel, Indiana 6 years ago to live and serve the children of Haiti, Brooke doesn’t talk about how difficult her Whole 30 diet is because she has stuff to do.
I think about Haiti and I think about this past spring. This past spring I was in Haiti with 40 high school students. We spent a week digging trenches in the Haitian dirt, cutting heavy brush with machetes and it was hot and it was…hot and the one thing I didn’t hear, grumbling and complaining. We spent the week in Haiti and then we started our journey home only to arrive in Atlanta and find out that our flight was delayed….then it was delayed again and then it was finally cancelled. 40 students stuck in the Atlanta airport, sleeping on the floor, waiting on another flight only to find out that there are no other flights, for days potentially and then we charter a bus to drive from Atlanta back to Indy, 10 more hours in a bus after a week digging trenches and a night spent on the airport floor and what I didn’t hear…..grumbling or complaining. Why?
Because they had spent a week playing a part in the larger story, they had spent a week being reminded that this, our little stories, are not THE STORY. And what was I doing? (HAITI TWEET PIC.) I was looking at my feet, complaining about the mud, complaining about the slime, grumbling….all the while missing out on the miracle around me, missing out on the larger story, all the while missing out on the wonder and missing out on the grace because I was focused on some tiny, insignificant detail.
Sacred moments stay hidden until we look up, until we look up and notice that the walls of water are being held back for our safety and for our liberation and for our redemption and our restoration.
In order to become the kind of people that Paul is asking us to be, in order to become people that shine like stars, we go through difficult things and we learn to read them and accept them not as signs that God is absent but signs and invitations to keep going and to get through it and to slog it out through the mud and the slime because on the other side we will become a new kind of person. That’s what we’re called to, we’re called to be a new person, a person that remembers, a person that is reminded of the larger story, the story of heaven on earth. So let’s get into the story, let’s shine like stars.
Paul, sits in a prison cell, wondering how this kingdom thing will play out, wondering if this church in Philippi will finish what he started, wondering if this church we call ZPC will finish what he started, wondering what it looks like for the world to be the way God intended. Let’s not spend too much time focusing on the mud between our toes. Let’s remember that the way the story went is not the way the story has to go. Let’s always be reminded of the larger story…why? So that we might shine like stars, so that we might be different, so that we might make a difference.