You may have heard the story about the fellow who is kind of suffering a little bit. He complained to his wife that he was just aching, and she didn't pay much attention to it. He always seemed to be complaining about something all the time, and he just kept complaining, and now she knew it wasn't that bad because he went through his daily routine all the time without much interference and all but he just kept talking about it all the time. He was complaining, and murmuring about this thing, and she finally said, "All right. You're going to the doctor."

He hated going to the doctor but all right, she forced him to go to the doctor. He goes to the doctor, and the doctor says, "All right. All you need to do is to take one of these pills a day, and one sip of wine." And so, sent him home, and that was the last the doctor saw him. The doctor hadn't seen him in weeks and weeks, and finally the doctor's nurse called up his wife. Called him up, and said, "Well, how's he doing?"

And, she said, "Well, he's a little bit behind in the pills but he's about six months ahead in the wine." (Laughter)

Now the reason I tell that story is because of a scripture that is a little bit of a pain to me. Have you ever read a passage, and it just bothers you? Maybe because it hits home more than you would like it to, and it's just one of those passages that, oh, it's  just, it's hard to get around. For me, one of those passages is Philippians 2:14.

Philippians 2:14, because like our friend in the wine story, Philippians 2:14 ties in with that story by telling us to - Do all things without complaining and disputing. Now we all got that one down, right? No, this doesn't bother any of us, does it because we've got a handle on this, don't we? I mean, absolutely.

V. 15 - We want to be blameless. We want to be harmless. We want to be children of God. We don't want to be faulted. We want to be forgiven. We want to stand out like a shining light in this world but boy, verse 14 comes all too easy to grumble about things, doesn't it? It comes too easy to murmur. It comes too easy to complain about things.

Or, like my Jewish grandmother would say, "Kvetching, Kvetcher, kvetching." In fact, I think if you looked it up in the Complete Jewish Bible it even says that. "Do all things without kvetching." The Wycliffe version says, "grutchings." So how many of you are grutching? All toooften. Yeah, I think Paul was inspired to write this because this is a pretty good explanation of our frame of mind all too often.

And, in fact, there was a recent study that proves it. A recent study that was done by "The Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology." Do you know what their study found? This is the real thing. This is not a joke. This is the real thing. You know what they found? They studied all kinds of different sounds. And guess what sound came up as the most annoying sound? Whining.

Whining was found to be the most distracting sound on the planet. See, Paul must have had some special insight to be able to see that. Well, he probably experienced it all too often. This is our frame of mind.

I remember a little book we used to read to our kids. It was a whole series of them. They were called, "Help Me Be Good", and the author, named Joy Berry wrote about all kinds of different characteristics, and one of the ones she wrote about was whining. She wrote about crying, or complaining, and nagging in a way that is childish.

And, of course, we adults, we don't have a problem with this at all, right? A little bit different than constructive criticism, and there's no doubt whining is a childish action but it's not limited to children, is it? It's not limited to children. In fact, the BIBLE has a lot to say about whining.

Exodus 16:2 doesn't focus on little children but instead focuses on the big children of Israel. The big children as they're coming out of Egypt. Notice what is recognized here right near the beginning of Exodus 16:2. Here we have one of those all kind of statements again but it's turned around the other way.

Exodus 16:2 – It says, "… the whole congregation, all the congregation, of the children of Israel, (What did they do?)They complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness."

V. 3 - And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger."

So they were whining, but not only about the lack of food but they were whining about Moses,  and whining about Aaron, and complaining about them because we all know they had it was so great in Egypt, like making bricks without straw? That's no problem. "Oh, yeah, maybe we forgot about that." But here they're whining about it, and complaining about it, and begrudging ultimately the most down to -

Verse 8 – This grumbling and complaining, it wasn't against Moses and Aaron specifically. It was against God. And all too often, how do we look at that when we do it? When I'm the culprit that complains and murmurs. Sometimes I say, "Yeah, really, it's not that big a deal though, is it?" Is it really that big a deal? What does God think about it?

Well, look at Numbers 11, right at the very beginning of that chapter. Here we have another incident with the murmuring, complaining, whining children of Israel with that most annoying sound in the universe.

Numbers 11:1 – It says, "Now when the people complained, (What did God think about that?) it displeased the Lord; that's the WHWH, the Eternal. It displeased the Eternal,  for the Eternal (Lord) heard it…." What do you think that's like in God's ears? I'll bet He kind of feels like that survey, don't you think? It's not the most pleasant sound that He likes to hear either. What happens as a result of Him hearing this complaining? It says, …" His anger was aroused." That's kind of putting it mildly because look what happens. "…So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.

V. 2 – "Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.

V. 3 – "So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them." Had not only burned among them, but actually burned some of them. So if we had to put it on a scale of one to ten, how much does God like murmuring, and complaining, and whining? Well, we'd have to say it's right up there among the things that He really dislikes.  In fact, the New Testament zeroes in on this same attribute.

1 Corinthians 10:8 – Sometimes we don't realize what comes before that passage that talks about things that happened in the Old Testament were for our learning, or for example for us. Notice what comes before that verse.

I Corinthians 10:8, citing the example of those children in Israel that came out of Egypt. He looks back to their experiences, their example, and Paul says, "Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;"  Obviously God hates that kind of behavior.

V. 9 – "nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;" So that was also a terrible circumstance that God didn't appreciate at all. Then there's verse ten.

V. 10 – "nor complain,…" that same word we read back in Philippians 2. That same word that is all about grumbling, and whining, and murmuring. "Don't do it," it says, V. 10, "…as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer." Now the interesting part, He says,

V. 11 - Now all these things happened to them as examples,… Those things, it says, "…were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. You see, God's saying, "Just because that happened to them doesn't mean I like it any better today. This is as unacceptable as sexual immorality, as tempting Christ. Whining, complaining, and murmuring is an affront to God. Isn't that what it comes down to? Isn't that true? I think He makes it very plain.

So, what is God telling us we need to do? Chill the whine, not the physical bottle of wine. But see, when those of us of the younger generation want to kick back and relax, we chill, right? We just want to get rid of all the worries and we chill. Well, God's telling us, "Chill it. Chill the whine". But it's so easy to put that whine in the refrigerator and make it ice cold, and use it in a wrong way. Why don't we chill the whine?

Why do we fall into this type of situation all too often in our lives? I think there's a number of reasons if we're really honest with ourselves. We don't chill the whine because we don't like the way things are happening. Things aren't happening the way that I want, or the way that I think they should, and I'm gonna make sure people know about it. I'm dissatisfied with the way things are going so I've got to talk about it. I've got to tell other people how I feel about it.

Well, is that what we're supposed to do? Well, we saw a couple of examples back in the Old Testament. An interesting one over in Mark 14:3. We'll find an example that ties in with this idea of things are not going the way that I think that they should, and I'm dissatisfied so I'm going to let people know about it. Mark 14, we have the example of Christ at the leper's house.  He's there for dinner. They were sitting at the table, and an interesting circumstance comes about.

Let's notice this in Mark 14:3 - And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, (talking about Christ), a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.

V. 4 - But there were some who were indignant among themselves, … This irritated them. They were mad about this. They said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted? Well, were they really worried about the oil or is there more to the story?

V. 5 - "For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor." (And) so they criticized her sharply. That's what the New King James says, "Criticized her sharply".

V. 6 - But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me." See, Christ points out the fact that it wasn't the murmuring and complaining about what the oil was used for. They just didn't like the way it was handled. They didn't like the fact that, hey, we could have done something better in our eyes with this. And so they whined, and complained by criticizing. They criticized this woman, and groaned about what she did because, you know, that wouldn't be the way I'd do it.

"I would have been much, much better in my action. I would have sold it and given it to the poor rather than just wasting it on one person we could have helped so many." And yet they missed the point. Now you can say this in a lot of different ways. "When things aren't happening my way. It's not going the way that I want. I won't get my way. If I don't get my way I'm gonna  whine about it. Or maybe when I hear the word no." We whine when we hear the word no?

Or maybe we complain when we're kept from doing something we want to do. Or maybe when we're asked to do something, and don't really want to do it, and so we've gotta make sure that everybody around us knows that we really don't want to do it.

And of course, as little children, why do they whine sometimes? Because they hope they can change mom and dad's mind. "I'll be able to change their mind if I whine long enough. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." You see, we all too often are like those little children but the truth is, you can't have it your way all the time. It's not gonna happen, is it? That's the way life is, and what does complaining do to those circumstances? Whatever problems there may be, I'm sure we all know that by complaining about them makes them so much better. Nah it doesn't. It really only makes life worse.

And, you know, some of us have gotten very good at speaking in tongues, speaking in different languages. Some of us are very good as "whinees", all right? Most of us here should speak English, and not "whines," right? Because it becomes very clear this isn't acceptable before God. In fact, it ties in to some of the meaning behind the celebration that we're having today. We're having that today, and it should impact us because too often when things don't go "my way" I'm gonna complain about it.

But that's not the only reason we don't chill the whine. I think sometimes we don't chill the whine because I want attention. I want attention just like that little kid throwin' a tantrum, I want attention. I want to be noticed. I want the limelight. I want to be in charge, and complaining about things let's everybody know I'm not gettin' my due. They're not noticing my contribution. "Don't they know how important I am?"

You see, those are all different ways to say, "I want the attention." And so often times we complain, and we whine. It's certainly not a new thing. We go back to the children of Israel in Numbers 12. The beginning of Numbers 12 we see another example of God's people complaining against Moses but this time even in the family.  Numbers 12:1 - Before it was murmuring and complaining against Moses and Aaron. Now Aaron turns that around, and he starts complaining about Moses.   

Numbers 12:1 – (Then) Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman (whom) he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Probably not the best choice, was it? But what did they do about it? What action did they take? Did they go to Moses and say, "Wow, I don't understand. What are you doing? What is this all…? Instead of doing that, what we're told here is -

V. 2 - So they said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?..." Implication, did they say that to themselves? Did they just say that to each other? It sounds like they said it to a bunch of people. Maybe a lot of the leadership they said it too.

"Has the Lord only spoken through Moses? What's the deal with Moses? What about us? What about me? We're on that same level as Moses. And maybe we're even better leaders than Moses." And, of course, like we read in Numbers 11, we read back in Exodus, this doesn't get by God. God knows what's going on.

So, it says here, "…And the Lord heard it." God heard what was going on. God heard that. Well, what was God's reaction to that? It wasn't very good for Miriam and Aaron, was it? You can read the rest of the story. They were whining because they wanted the credit. They wanted to be noticed. They wanted the limelight.

And, in fact, all too often, if we really examine ourselves. If we really look at ourselves, and the reasons why we do things I think sometimes we might realize that's why I do the things that I'm doing, and we're not motivated by the right way of thinking. Too often we get caught up in the way things look rather than the reality of the way that they are.
I heard the story of, "A man was walking along the street, and bumped into an old friend, and his friend was kind of discouraged." He said, "Hey, what's going on?"

The man said, "Well, three weeks ago a rich uncle of mine died, and I was surprised. He sent me ten thousand dollars when his will was read."

The man said, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that your uncle died."

He said, It's not that big of a deal. I really didn't know him at all."

He said, "But wow! Ten thousand dollars, that's really great. Why should you feel bad then?"

He said, "Well, two weeks ago another check came in the mail, and this time it was for twenty-five thousand dollars from that same estate."

The man said, "Wow, that is amazing! Twenty-five thousand added onto ten thousand you got three weeks ago. You got twenty-five thousand two weeks ago. Why in the world would you be complaining about that? That is amazing. You've really been blessed."

The man said, "Well, you don't understand." So he started to complain a little bit more. He said, "You know, last week I got another check in the mail, and it was for a hundred thousand dollars."

The guy was just shocked. His friend just couldn't believe it. He says, "Well I don't get it? You got ten thousand dollars three weeks ago, two weeks ago you got twenty-five thousand dollars, last week you got a hundred thousand dollars, and you're whining and complaining about that?"

And the guy said, "Well, yeah," he said. "This week, nothin'".

I think too often we are so blessed that we begin to think that we're entitled to everything we have. Everything we have, we must deserve it. All the good things are things that I deserve and then, like this man, is it ever really enough? It's never really enough then when we begin to take on that mindset.

We want more. We want more attention. We expect more. And then, if we ever lose the things that we've come to expect, hoo boy, that's when we then get back into that complaining and whining about things because none of us have ever complained if the electricity went out and we can't watch TV, right?

"What's wrong with the electric company? Are they crazy? It's terrible;  I can't believe this is going on."

But we expect it. We deserve it. It should happen. You see, if we have to miss things that we've come to expect does that attitude of resentfulness or anger, complaining, does that come to mind? Do we forget that these things truly are just privileges. They're not rights. Because if we got what we deserved, where would we be?
How grateful are we for what we do have especially here in the United States? Oh, spoiled. We are so spoiled, aren't we? None of us deserve the things that we have. We live comfortably while so many around the world suffer, and yet we still find ways to whine and complain about it.

And so I think God gets our attention once in awhile, and says, "Wait a second. That's no way to think. That's no way to think."

The other day in our leadership clubs we were discussing Diotrephes. Diotrephes is an interesting example. He's found in 3 John 1:9, and I have a feeling Diotrephes kind of fell into this category. He was a leader in the church. He was a leader in the local church except his problem became one of, "I want the attention. I want to be in charge. I'm the one that deserves to be the head honcho".

And so when you read 3 John, it says, "He loved the preeminence." He loved the attention. He loved the limelight. He loved being in charge, and he wouldn't accept John, the apostle, wouldn't accept those who came on behalf of God. And so, he seemed to be one that , it says, "Prating against John and the others". Whining probably, complaining about their leadership, and explaining how much better his was.

And I think there's no doubt, when we complain, and we whine, do we get attention? Yeah, I think we do. But is that the kind of attention we want? Is that the kind of attention we should have? Because I think in the end complaining and whining doesn't get the kind of attention we really need.

And so, we have to chill the whine, but there's so many ways that it goes unchilled. You know, when you think about it, sometimes I think we complain, we don't chill the whine because we're bored. You see, that's the third way we don't chill the whine. Sometimes we just don't have anything to do, or we don't have enough to do, or we used to say, "I got nothin' better to do." And so, we oftentimes fall into this way of thinking.

Of course, maybe we whine and complain to get others to entertain us, others to talk to us - anything to keep us entertained. Example: How about 2 Thessalonians 3:10, because after all, if I can complain about somebody else then my problems don't seem so bad. My problems, I can avoid other things in my life if I complain about others.

Let's go to 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Here Paul gives an order, you might say. Notice how he words this in 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Of course he lived there, worked with them. He says, "…when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work, should (shall) not eat."

So we need to take care of ourselves, right?

V. 11 – He says that, "…we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work." Well, what were they doing then?

V. 12 – He says, "Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly  and earn their own living.
V. 13 – "Brethren, do not be weary in doing what's right. Don't become weary in well-doing)" because if we're not doing enough we're idle as it says here, "What begins to sink in. He makes this direct connection between idleness and being a busy body, worried about everybody else's lives, and not your own. My sister always used to say, "MYOB, mind your own business." I guess because I had a tendency not to do that. (Laughing) MYOB, that's kind of what Paul's saying here, isn't he?

What are you so worried about everybody else for? And busy body always has such a positive connotation, doesn't it? "Yeah, I'm so worried about that I'm gonna scrutinize them." And so, this comes up over, and over, and over again.

Christ talked about it. You might just write down Matthew 12:34. Christ talked about this same kind of example. You know, "What comes out of your mouth?" He says, "How can you speak good things on one side of your mouth and evil things on the other side. He said, "…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

You know what He says after that? "You're going to give an account." We have to account for every word, every careless word some translations say, every idle word.

V. 37 - "And so by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." So there's not a difference between whether you're reading the Old Testament, and what Christ taught. He taught that this is a serious matter. The idea of complaining, and murmuring, and grumbling, and whining is an issue that every one of us has to deal with in our lives.

In fact, one of the other ways that we don't chill the whine, Joy Barry talked about this one. She said, "We whine because we're hungry, or we whine because we're tired, or we whine because we're sick."

Anybody ever whine because they're hungry? Well, do the little kids become cranky when they don't eat? Yeah, it seems that way.

When our body is ill. I think the same thing is true spiritually speaking because if we are weak spiritually, when there's a spiritual sickness that sets in, I think it does set us up for complaining. It sets us up for the wrong frame of mind.

2 Timothy 2:14 – Here Paul, once again, writing to the young minister, Timothy talks about the complainers and the grumblers. Notice what Paul writes to Timothy here. 2 Timothy 2:14, he says, "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord…so this is a command …charge them not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers."

V. 15 - He says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed,…" What kind of work is he talking about? He's talking about how we talk, how we treat each other. He says, "…rightly dividing the word of truth."

V. 16 - He says, "… shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.

V. 17 – "… their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,

V. 18 – "who have strayed concerning the truth,…" So, he talks about empty, useless talk, profane babblings," he says. "Idle, godless," is another translation for that particular verse there in verse 14. People who talk a lot about useless things. In fact, one of the translations translates that, that passage there where he says to rightly divide the word of truth, and shun idle babblings.

It says, "Quit your nitpicking." We don't use that word a lot today but that was one of my mom's favorite words. Quit nitpicking. Quit your nitpicking because we're picking, and whining, and complaining about each other, and what happens when we begin to do that? That takes us the wrong direction. He says, "When we are not healthy spiritually it comes out in what we say, in what we do, and it causes us to stray, and walk from the truth.

And so, he says, "If we're going to avoid that we cannot continue to act that way. We've gotta make sure we're healthy spiritually or we'll begin to stray."

In fact, I have one other way that we forget to chill the whine, and unfortunately it's because it becomes a habit. It becomes a habit. Whining is habit forming, isn't it? I think we've whined so long, and we do it so often that we're used to it.

You've ever seen that at the grocery store? I think most of us probably have. You have mom and her little one, and this little one is just whining, and complaining, and throwing a tantrum, and the mother's just walking through the store totally oblivious to what this little one is doing. Just totally ignoring it. It's become a habit, and she's become so used to it, it doesn't even have any impact at all.

Is it possible that we are like that, but on an adult level, of course? That we've complained so long, and whined so long we don't even realize that we're doing it. We don't even recognize it in our own lives.

There's a story about two construction workers. They're building this big multi-story office building. They're part of a crew. Lunchtime comes. They're sitting on one of these girders way up in the sky. They open their lunchbox, and they began to take all the good stuff out. One guy starts complaining. "Aw no, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." He takes like three bites, just skrunches it up, and throws it down, and watches it fall, what seems like miles to the ground.

Next day, lunchtime comes again. They get out their lunchboxes. They open then up. One man starts eating his lunch. He's all happy and thrilled. The other guy goes, "Oh no! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches again. I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Aw, this is awful." What does he do? He takes a couple of bites, scrunches it up, throws it down to the ground.

Next day they're out there on the beam at lunchtime. Get their lunch out. You guessed it. "Oh, no! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches again. This is awful. I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

Finally his friend had enough. He said, "What? This is ridiculous. If you don't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches why don't you just tell your wife to quit making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don't want to see ‘em anymore."

The guy says, "Listen buddy. You just wait a minute. You don't bring my wife into this. I make my own lunch." (Laughter)

You see, it becomes such a habit we don't even recognize we do it ourselves. Is there anybody else to blame when we make another whiny peanut butter and jelly sandwich? We can't blame anybody else. We did it. We're not the victim of circumstances.

Ancient Israel could have claimed that. "Oh, we're former slaves. We've had it so bad. I mean this is our frame of mind." No, God brought them out of that. God's brought us out of that frame of mind, from that way of thinking. We don't have to think like that. We have the power through God's Holy Spirit to control what happens to us, but we've got to do something about it. We can't keep making the same whiny sandwich over, and over, and over again.

So, what do we do? Is there really a way that we can chill the whine? I think we can. I think first and foremost we've gotta ask God to help us see we have a problem. We're not gonna be able to deal with the problem if we don't even realize that we have it. If we have a bad habit, when there's a challenge in our life, we need God's help so that we can see ourselves as we are.

There's that famous passage over in Psalm 139:23. Here we have David petitioning God. I think he's setting an example for each of us that if we're gonna chill the whine then we need to petition God and ask Him to help us see that we really do have a problem, that this does actually apply to me. I am not doing all things without murmuring, and without complaining. So Psalm 139 is one of those passages that I think is a reminder for us to ask God, and pray to Him that He would help us to see ourselves as we are.

Psalm 139:23 – It says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart…." In fact if we were to read all of Psalm 139 it already tells us God knows our heart. God already knows us.This isn't some  surprise to Him but there's a little twist on it. God already knows who we are, what we're like,  how much we love Him. How much we act in a godly fashion. How much we complain and whine. But notice what David says here. He says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, my anxieties:

V. 24 – And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. In other words, God, I know you know me but help me to see myself  through your eyes. And that's a whole different perspective.

It wasn't just that David wanted to see himself, or just have a little extra information on who he was. He wanted to know himself better so he could see the problems, and deal with the problems, and seek God's help in changing his mind, and his heart. That's what David was seeking here. He was seeking God's help in truly changing.

So if we're gonna chill the whine we've gotta ask God to help us not only to see the problem but then to do something about it. And we've gotta go to Him. There's a wonderful passage over in 1 Peter that reminds us that this is something we can do, we should do. In fact, maybe we should turn over there. It's in 1 Peter, I think it's in chapter 5. Yes, 1 Peter 5:6 is where it's at. We just got done saying, "God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble," talking about our frame of mind.

1 Peter 5:6 – He says, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

V. 7 – "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." And so we can come before God, we can pray to Him, and ask Him to see us as we are so we can begin to deal with the kind of individual that we really are, so we can begin to deal with our critical nature, and do something about it because if we're going to chill the whine, it's not just asking God to help us see ourselves but what are you gonna do about it? What are we going to do about it? That's where we gotta take action. That's the second thing we do.

Once we ask God to help us see the problem, to see ourselves clearly. Now we've got to do something about it. What can we do? Well, what is whining always about? Anybody ever hear anybody whine about something positive and good, helpful? No, it's always negative. We're always focused on the negative.

What isn't right, and so we need to take action, and focus on the positive.  Look at the good side of things. There's that famous passage in Philippians 4 where it says, "Be anxious for nothing…" Let's turn over there, Philippians 4. Notice it's positive perspective when we take action. That has to be our mind set.

Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing,… sowe don't have to have an anxious care for  anything. We're in God's hands, remember. How? He says, "…but in everything by prayer and supplication,…" So there's our point number one. We're petitioning God. We're asking Him for help, and guidance, and seeing ourselves as we are. But He also says then, "…with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Thanksgiving,looking at the positive side of things. Instead of  focusing on the negative, on what's wrong, he says, "Focus on what's right, what's helpful, what we can be thankful for."

We've gotta practice a different kind of attitude. Instead of the grumbling and murmuring kind of an attitude we need to have gratitude, a thankfulness. An attitude of gratitude is what Paul's talking about here as he speaks to us. Are we practicing that kind of an attitude? That's where this whole topic ties into thanksgiving. Are we truly thankful, and do we express that? Do we focus on what's right and what's good? Or do we focus on what's wrong and what's negative? It's much easier to do that, it seems.

Do we truly take time to thank God every single day for the wonderful blessings that we've been given? Or do we just focus on those things like that whining, complaining, nagging little child that nobody really wants to hear anyway? You know, what do we do? Do we take time to do that? Because, I believe when we're thankful, if we're able to look at every day a little differently. It's not dependent on whether I get my way today, or I get what I want, extra blessings, or whatever I may get because it's not our focus.

We're focused on what already is positive, and there are so many things that would take up all of our prayer time if we really started to think about those things, wouldn't it? And so we're supposed to do that, to focus on that instead of every single fault of someone else. Can we focus on what's right, what's good? If we're upset with someone can we go and talk with them? Can we have a godly, Christian conversation with them without being complaining or whining?

If it's not going our way can we do our best to fix it? Can we move on from there? Can we treat other people the way that we want to be treated? Course that's part of our mission, that's part of our calling, isn't it? To treat one another the way we want to be treated. It sounds like the "Golden Rule" doesn't it? Matthew 7 talks about that.

I think if we find ourselves whining and complaining there's one way to stop it. Yes, we need to go to God. No doubt we need to take action. One of the ways we can take action is to ask ourselves, we start thinking those negative things. We start whining and complaining maybe within our way of thinking we can ask ourselves, "All right, what are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about it?" And if we would stop and ask ourselves that question I think it's gonna force us to move from a whining mode into problem solving, especially when we think about it in a spiritual sense.

I think it would force us to remember God has given us the ability to change, hasn't He? Hasn't He given us the ability to change? With God's Holy Spirit we can overcome obstacles. We can grow deeper, and stronger in our relationship with God, and have more of His way of thinking so that His thoughts are becoming more and more my thoughts.

If we truly want to, if we dedicate ourselves, if we petition God about it. If we ask ourselves, "What can I do about it that is right, that is good? How can I do this without murmuring and complaining?

It's a good example all the way back at the very beginning, one that probably doesn't often come to mind but I think it's the same thing that God told Cain. Well, maybe we should look at that, 
Genesis 4. Remember in this section of scripture his countenance had fallen.

Genesis 4:5, Abel had brought this beautiful offering that was pleasing to God. Cain's did not please God. It wasn't up to the expectation that God had. What was Cain's attitude? In verse 5,   
… Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. What was God's response to Cain? God says,

V. 6 - …"Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

V. 7 - "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." You see,God's given us the power to rule over that way of thinking. One of the translations even said, "Cain, why are you throwing this tantrum?" The implication that he's whining and braying about his brother. What do you mean mine's not good enough. Are you kiddin' me? It looks fine to me.
God's saying, "Why are you sulking? Why the tantrum? If you do well, if you do what's right, if you change your perspective, won't you be accepted?" Turn to God, and it's possible to do that.

And so even with Cain God makes it clear, we have the ability to change. When we have God's spirit, do we have authority over that way of thinking? Absolutely. Absolutely. And so God has given us the power to stop the murmuring, to stop the complaining.

It's one of the passages we turn to. It's over in Philippians 4. It's right here, that passage that we began with. Philippians 4:11, it was just a couple of chapters before this where Paul had just got done saying, we can do all things without murmuring or complaining. Well, here we are two chapters later,  

Philippians 4:11 – Paul says, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I'm in, or any circumstances," he says, "to be content." But if there was ever anybody who ever had the right to whine and complain, do you think Paul could have been one of those guys because, did he have a perfect, did he have a carefree life? Well, read through that list of how many times he was shipwrecked, and the times he was beaten, and scourged, and left for dead. Yeah, I think he could have claimed he had a right to do that. But he says, "Wait a second. I've learned whatever state to be content, whatever circumstances,

V. 12 – "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both (to) abound and to suffer need." So was he given the power over his frame of mind? Was he given authority so that he could control the way he thought?

That instead of whining, and complaining, and grumbling about his circumstances of being hungry, or being beaten, or being shipwrecked, he was given the authority over that way of thinking, and he used it. He took action against that way of thinking, and the way he did it is –

V. 13 – His perspective, our perspective has to be:I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Because if I look to my own strength I'm gonna be whining and complaining. But through God's Holy Spirit I can, even in hunger, even in need, I can learn, I can grow, and be content, and be satisfied, and not be whining and complaining about those circumstances.

And so, God's perspective at Thanksgiving, to truly be thankful. Ask God to help us to see ourselves as we are so that we can think His thoughts. We can think His way. Focus on the positive. Take action, and realize whining's not gonna solve anything. It's not helpful.

Ask yourself, "What are you gonna do about it? And begin to solve the problem through God's Holy Spirit, especially when things aren't going our way, especially when we think we need attention. Especially if we don't have much to do, or if we're tired, or hungry, or sick. God says, "Break that habit." And most importantly He says, "It's possible because with His help we can chill the whine."