Meditations on Murmuring

As I get older I notice I tend to complain and murmur. I excuse my behavior as just a symptom of getting old. However, I also notice that the bible has some rather strong teachings against murmuring so I decided to do some digging. A linguistic key gives definitions for words as they are found within a biblical passage. Renecker and Rodgers in their linguistic key defines "to murmur" as the following:

to murmur, to complain, to give audible expression to unwarranted dissatisfaction (Lenski). It contains the idea of a judgment and a condemnation of God by man who instead of giving God thanks and showing obedience sets himself up as a judge over God (s. TDNT; CBB) (A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, Renecker and Rodgers)

This definition is in reference to "grumble" as used by the apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians.

We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:9-10, ESV)

Commentators differ on who the "Destroyer" is, but most commentators agree that Paul is referring to Numbers 14. The people Israel just heard the bad report from 10 out the 12 spies who were sent out to assess the land of Canaan as to its defenses and bounty. 12 spies spent 40 days in the land. 10 out of the 12 said the land would be hard to conquer: the current inhabitants of Canaan were large and their cities were well fortified. The people responded to this bad news in the following way.

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! (Numbers 14:1-2, ESV)

Notice murmuring is second guessing not only the leadership, but God who put those leaders in power. The people were also doubting God's ability to help them conquer the land, God's promises to their forefathers to give them the land, and God's sovereignty over the circumstances. God severely punished the people for murmuring. None of the adult Israelites were allowed to enter the land. Paul in the passage is illustrating for the Corinthians that doubting Paul's God-given authority and second-guessing God's commands and ordinances is wrong. Murmuring is blatant sin.

Paul also encouraged the church at Phillipi to not grumble.

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, (Philippians 2:14-15, ESV)

The question that needs to be asked is how does "doing all things without grumbling" lead to being blameless and innocent? Paul is probably referring back to Leviticus as he did in 1 Corinthians. The Phillippians were not trusting his leadership or their elders' leadership. The next verse (Phillipians 2:16) encourages the Phillippians to "hold fast to word of life." Paul is pointing out that the purity of a group of Christians who hold fast to their common faith and core doctrines while loving each other would be a shining light in this dark world. Paul again addresses the content of our speech in his letter to the Ephesians.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29, ESV)

John Piper in one of his sermons on this passage poses some questions that we should ask ourselves about our speech.

The question for your mouth will not merely be the moral question: Am I avoiding dirty words? But the Christian question: Am I building the faith of others by what I say? Is my mouth a means of grace? Am I frightened and anxious and angry about my life, or am I filled and overflowing with hope that the Spirit of God will keep me safe for the day of redemption?

The apostle James also commands Christians to not grumble against one another.

Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. (James 5:9, ESV)

The following tables shows how James refers back to Leviticus 19, which lays out the Ten Commandments.

James		Leviticus 19
v. 5:12	“Do not swear”	v. 12	“You shall not swear”
v. 5:4	“Behold, the wages of the laborers…which you kept back from fraud.	v. 13	“The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night”
2:1,9	“My brothers, show no partiality”	v. 15	“You shall not be partial.”
4:11	“Do not speak evil against one another.”	v. 16	“You shall not go around as a slanderer.”
v. 5:9	“Do not grumble against one another.”	v. 18a	“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge.”
2:8	“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”	v. 18b	“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

Notice how grumbling is tied with holding a grudge. If we murmur against leadership, are we not holding a grudge? If we grumble against one another, are we not trying to harm one another? Murmuring against leadership secular or ecclesiastical is wrong. It ultimately shows that we are not trusting God and we are handling the mistrust in harmful ways. If you question leadership, do not complain to others, but seek out that leader in a godly manner. We honor God through trusting the leadership. We can disagree with leadership, but complaining and murmuring among ourselves is not the correct means to handle the disagreement.

Our speech reflects our life. If God is giving us hope through Christ, then our speech should edify and give hope to others and not be filled with complaining and murmuring, even when we are suffering. The apostle Paul reflects this attitude we should have in 2 Corinthians.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, ESV)

Ephesians 1:4 -- God Chose Us

Our House Church is studying Ephesians. People dislike the ideas of predestination and election; however, in Ephesians, Paul sees those two ideas as reasons to glorify God.

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, (Ephesians 1:4-5, ESV)

Charles Hodge, who was president of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878, noted two results of meditating on God's election of us in his commentary on Ephesians 1:4: first, confidence that God will not fail His adopted children, and second, humility that God saved us based on nothing in us or performed by us.

From eternity the whole scheme of redemption with all its details and in all its results lay matured in the divine mind. Hence every thing is certain. There is no possibility either of failure or of any change of purpose. The eternity of God’s purpose is, therefore, a strong ground of confidence and comfort. The other is, to express the sovereignty of the divine purpose. The grace was given to us before we existed, before the world began, and of course before we had done any good or evil. It was, therefore, not for works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. If the one aspect of the truth that God chose us before the foundation of the world, is adapted to produce confidence; the other aspect is no less adapted to produce humility.

How the Monks Civilized Europe

Mark Noll in his excellent book, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity outlined the expansion of Christianity into Eastern and Western Europe during the Middle Ages. He made the following observation at the end of the summary.

The missionary effectiveness of the monks usually depended as much upon their plain virtues as upon more highly visible exertions in preaching or teaching. For a monastery to be established in a pagan area allowed the local population to see the application of Christianity to daily existence, as monks tilled the soil, welcomed visitors, and carried out the offices of study and daily prayer. So arose the saying that the monks civilized Europe cruce, libro, et atro--with cross, book and plow. (p.100, Turning Points)

May the modern Evangelical Church be characterized in the same way.

Yellowstone National Park, Rudyard Kipling and Me

I was watching National Parks: America's Best Idea by Ken Burns. They had a story about Rudyard Kipling visiting Yellowstone. He was writing journal articles about the United States and poked fun at American culture and the tourists. He kept his cynical outlook throughout his travels through Yellowstone, but he was impressed by the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, especially by the Lower Great Falls. This reminded me of my own experience of the waterfall.

My brother and I were looking for work in the summer after our freshman year in college. A help-wanted ad in the Council Bluffs Nonpareil stated that Hamilton Stores Inc. was looking for grocery store clerks and some other miscellaneous positions I do not remember. The key attraction for the position for us was the fact the job was in Yellowstone National Park. After begging our dad and a few phone calls, my brother and I found ourselves on a greyhound bus headed out of Omaha headed toward Yellowstone.

We were placed by the HR department as clerks at the grocery store in Canyon Village. After a few preliminary orientation talks and a tour of the store, we were shown to our rooms in the dorm. After we were done unpacking, my brother and I were left to our own devices. Just off the parking lot outside the dorm, we saw an asphalt-covered trail that led into the woods so we decided to take it. After a mile or two, we heard a deep rumbling. We decided it had to be the waterfalls we've heard about. Encouraged, we kept going. However, the trail headed in a different direction from where the rumbling came. Being good scouts and Iowa farm boys, we unwisely decided to cut through the woods. After about 15 minutes we were second guessing ourselves. We were in the mountains, the woods were thick, and it was getting dark. However, we still heard the falls so we kept going. After a few more minutes, we saw more light coming through the woods indicating a clearing ahead. Eventually, we stumbled out of the woods and the brush onto a highway. A couple a hundred yards up the road, we saw a bunch of cars and RVs in a small parking lot. We headed toward them. It was the scenic outlook for Upper and Lower Great Falls. A sign indicated this was a trail-head of a path that led down to the top of the Lower Great Falls. The trail was asphalt-covered with a bunch of switch backs. It was less that 2 miles down so my brother and I decided to take it and raced down the trail. We passed old people complaining about their knees going down the path and met young families with fathers carrying their toddlers on the way up the trail. Everybody looked out of breath. When we we arrived at the top of the Lower Falls, a slight mist covered my face. The sound of thunderous, rushing water filled the air. The golden hues of the canyon walls mixed with the greens of the vegetation in the setting sun. My experience matched the scene described by Rudyard Kipling so many years before:

All that I can say is that without warning or preparation I looked into a gulf seventeen hundred feet deep, with eagles and fish-hawks circling far below. And the sides of that gulf were one wild welter of color--crimson, emerald, cobalt, ochre, amber, honey splashed with port wine, snow white, vermilion, lemon, and silver gray in wide washes. The sides did not fall sheer, but were graven by time, and water, and air into monstrous heads of kings, dead chiefs--men and women of the old time. So far below that no sound of its strife could reach us, the Yellowstone River ran a finger-wide strip of jade green. The sunlight took those wondrous walls and gave fresh hues to those that nature had already laid there. Evening crept through the pines that shadowed us, but the full glory of the day flamed in that canyon as we went out very cautiously to a jutting piece of rock--blood-red or pink it was--that overhung the deepest deeps of all.

This was my first and best real experience of Yellowstone. I hiked over two hundred miles that summer on the trails around the canyon. I saw the Lower Great Falls from several angles and it always moved me. Needless to say I am enjoying the Ken Burns DVD series and it pleases me to imagine that Kipling and I covered the same paths around 80 years apart.

March 2014 Haiti Mission Trip Prayer Requests

Ten of us are on the mission team for the March 2014 Haiti Mission trip. We met this morning (01/05/2014) for orientation. It is a Medical Soul Care trip. The mission is to care for the Haitian's body, mind and soul. The trip will be from 02/28/2014-03/07/2014. More information will be posted, but I am nervous about the trip so I thought I would post prayer requests. Here are the team's prayer requests:

• Pray for God to be working in the hearts of the Haitian people in preparation for our trip and the message that He desires for us to deliver.
• Pray for our team that we would be given His heart for the Haitian people and that we'd be able to deliver His message effectively and clearly.
• Pray for God's vision for this team and this overall endeavor to become more clear as a result of this trip.
• Pray that above all God will be glorified.

I don't have medical training so pray the following points for me: 

• I'll be useful to the team. 
• I'll have boldness and wisdom in ministering God's Word.
• God will protect me both physically and spiritually.
• God will help me in preparations for the trip both logistically, physically, and in bible study.

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Thank you,

Jeff