Out of Complaining Into Joy

My friend since seminary days, the Reverend Dr. Tom Steagald, is a pastor in North Carolina and the author of a couple of books on personal sanctification and prayer. He and I have been engaged in an intermittent email conversation for the last few weeks on this topic of joy. In a recent pastor’s letter to his congregation, Dr. Tom wrote the following.

“Joy comes from knowing we are saved. Salvation accompanies the knowledge that we are indeed forgiven. But to know that we are forgiven suggests a prior knowledge: that we are sinners, that we are not what God wants us to be, that we fail to do what God wants us to do and instead often do what God prohibits.

“Sadly, somewhere along the line someone convinced us that we were not sinners at all — that we do not need change, but instead only understanding, acceptance and affirmation.”

Truer words were never spoken, Brother Tom! As long as we view Christianity as a therapeutic source of understanding and affirmation, we will remain untransformed, and the joy of the Lord will remain a distant hope, reserved perhaps for heaven, but generally unavailable until then. And so, we muddle through, grumbling as we go, striving to remain faithful to this unhappy hope we have.

But what a contrast is this watered down version of Christianity with the robust, indefatigable joy of the early church! That group of societal underlings conquered the world with nothing but the love of Christ and the joy of the Lord. And God is still the same today. He is as full of joy today as he was when King David wrote, “In His presence there is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). Christ is as willing to impart joy to you today as He was when He said on the night before His crucifixion, “These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you and your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

So, how do we access that joy? Never diminish the miracle of salvation. Never degrade the incarnation of Christ to a therapeutic mission trip. Never reduce the cross to a means to make you rich and healthy. The finished work of Christ is so much more than that! So! Much! More! Remember the miracle of your salvation.

Or, as Dr. Tom put it, “Joy comes from knowing we are saved.”

So, I ask you: do you know you are saved? Let’s review the Gospel.

God is holy, and in His presence no sin can abide. People, however, are sinners, both by birth and behavior. That means we’ve got a problem, just as we are. So God, Who is holy, made His Son to bear His wrath upon our sin, so that we could be forgiven by repenting of our self will and trusting His Son’s death and resurrection to save us.

As you contemplate and trust this Gospel, joy comes. And then you will able to agree with our North Carolina brother: “Yes, indeed, joy comes from knowing I am saved.”

Next week: Joy and Certainty

Complaining: That Joy-Killing Sin

If someone asked you what is the most pervasive sin in the world, what would you say? Anger? Lust? Hatred? Sure, those are surely all high on the “Top Ten Sins” list, but I believe that higher still on the list is the sin of complaining. Indeed, if it’s not in the top spot, it’s certainly number two.

One of the problems with the sin of complaining is that it’s so universal that many among us aren’t even aware that it’s a sin. Everybody complains about stuff all the time. We are so surrounded by complaining that we hardly notice it, unless, of course, the complaints are directed against us.

However, let us not focus only, or even primarily, on what people think of complaining. We need to consider what God thinks about our complaining. It’s clear from passages like Numbers 11 and 14, Psalm 78 and 1 Corinthians 10, that God is not indifferent to complaining. He is very serious about it, so much so that He issues His church this command: “Do all things without complaining and contention” (Philippians 2:14).

God knows that complaining is an expression of our pride, and not only pride in general, but more specifically, arrogance against God Himself. Think with me. We Christians believe that God is sovereign: i.e., that in some way He controls our lives. Therefore, since we believe He either causes or allows everything that happens in our lives, complaining about what happens is an expression of our doubting His wisdom.

Puritan Thomas Watson, in a sermon on contentment preached in 1653, said, “Murmuring is no better than mutiny in the heart; it is a rising up against God. . . . The murmurer chargeth God with folly. This is the language, or rather blasphemy of a murmuring spirit: ‘God might have been a wiser and better God’ . . . Our murmuring is the devil's music.”

Do you see the subtle rebellion against God that Watson describes? Complaining is nothing less than demanding from God an explanation that suits our convenience and comfort. It is calling God to account for my expectations of how I think He ought to be and what I think He ought to do. St. Paul hinted at the danger of such an attitude when he wrote, “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” (Romans 9:20).

A century before Watson, John Calvin wrote, “As soon as God does not send what we have desired, we dispute against Him . . . but from what spirit is this pronounced? From a poisoned heart, as if we said, ‘The thing should have been otherwise.’ . . . It is as if we accused God of being a tyrant or a harebrain.”

Complaining is sin because it disputes the goodness of God and thus maligns His character. St. Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

You will be a more joyful Christian if you learn the secret of being free from complaining. We’ll look at that next Friday. Until then, “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again, I will say it: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

Next week: Out of Complaining into Joy

Joy Grows Where Gratitude Takes Root

Last week we looked at joy’s foundation in the lives of those who trust Christ. We saw that the primary reason for joy is the astonishing fact of our salvation. Today we’ll begin to examine how joy can grow to permeate all of life. As the title briefly states it, joy grows where gratitude takes root; and, if you’ve been born again, you have a thousand reasons to be thankful. Let me mention just four reasons for living a grateful life, all of which are based upon salvation.

We ought to be thankful to the Lord because of what He has saved us FROM. All of us have sinned, and not by accident. We have actively rebelled against God. By virtue of that, we deserve to be under His wrath in this life, and in hell after we die. But He chose to pour out His wrath upon His own Son, and deliver from hell all those who trust Christ. Thank God!

But that’s not all! We also can live a life of gratitude because what He has saved us TO. He hasn’t simply delivered us from wrath and hell, but He has saved us into a love relationship with Him here, followed by heaven forever. Thank God!

A third reason for being grateful to God is HOW He has saved us. We didn’t do anything to earn our salvation. As Scripture says, we are saved “by grace, through faith;” and even this faith is not something we conjured up, for it too “is a gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God saves people by His own initiative, through His own sacrifice, and by His own grace. It’s a gift! Thank God!

Finally, we can live in an unending flow of thankfulness because of WHY God has saved us. Scripture again is clear on this subject: our salvation is entirely for the glory of God. As we occasionally recite at First Baptist, “God saved us by His grace, from His wrath, for His glory.” If you are a Christian, God saved you so that you could display His glory. This means that your life has an eternal meaning that magnificently transcends the temporal and visible realm. You are alive to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!

And how do you do that? John Piper, author and preaching pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, states it most succinctly: “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.” As a Christian, whether you are eating or working, playing or worshiping – indeed, in everything! – make it your aim to be fully satisfied in the presence of God, Who is with you and in you.

Indeed, the most gratifying experience any human being can have is to live in the glory of God; and that is why God saves people. Christians get to live in the glory of God, and for the glory of God. The whole universe can’t contain His glory; but, if you’re born again, you have the astonishing privilege of living in His glory. Thank God!

Next week: Complaining – That Joy-Killing Sin

REASON FOR JOY

Have you ever noticed how glum and somber Christians can become? Without much provocation or cause, we who sing "Joy to the world!" can act as if we'd never heard the song. Sometimes we’re grim and determined, going through life with clenched teeth and a grimace. Occasionally, indeed far too often, we're downright grumpy. This is a tragedy for at least three reasons. First, we’ve got plenty of cause to be joyful: we don't have to grumpy. Second, God commands us to be joyful, and we ought to learn how to obey Him. Third, unjoyful Christians don’t attract non-Christians to Christ.

With this in mind, today I’m starting a series of articles on how Christians can cultivate a lifestyle of real, deeply-grounded joy. I'm not talking about becoming naive or vapid: this isn't a head-in-the-clouds approach to life. Nor am I referring to personality types and dispositions. I'm talking about world-conquering joy, the kind of firmly-rooted approach to life that Christ commanded and the Apostle Paul exemplified. Other than the Lord Jesus Himself, there never has been anyone with more trouble and responsibility than Paul. Yet, he exhibited a profound joy in everything. His letter to the Philippian Christians includes more references to joy than any other document in antiquity, and yet he wrote it from jail!

Think with me. If ever there was a man with ample reason to be grumpy, it was Paul: five times he was whipped; three times he was beaten; he was shipwrecked; he was stoned and left for dead; he was imprisoned several times. Beyond this, he had the concern of all those baby churches that God led him to start. And yet, he had joy. Where did he get it?

More to the point, where can you and I get joy?

The kind of joy Paul had is founded upon the undeserved miracle of salvation. Think with me about how God saves people.

Though God is the absolute King of the universe, and though He created us exclusively for His glory, we have attempted a coup. We've set up as rebels against His reign, and have sought to supplant Him from His rightful Lordship, not only over our own lives, but over all the affairs of human existence. The human theme song of "I Did it My Way" is the marshaling-cry of the rebellion.

Despite this, God grants us each and all His common grace: the occasional pleasures of human relationships, the warmth of family, and the simple delights of food, drink, shelter, work and rest. Indeed, every good gift of human existence is evidence of His common grace to each human being. But there's more.

He loves us, courts us, woos us to Himself. Through creation and the Gospel, He portrays to us both His law for our lives and His love for our souls. And yet, though He draws us by His grace, we have rebuffed His love and stiff-armed His embrace. To these personal insults we have added our willful rejection of His good law, and have tried instead to make humanity the measure of all things. Paul summarized our willful rebellion against God with these words: “although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him” (Romans 1:21). Thus, having renounced both His love and His law, we turned so fully from God that we lost our ability even to seek Him.

And so . . . He sought us! Down the dark alleys of our sin, as we flee from Him, He has pursued us. It’s amazing, but it’s true. Though we deserved to die under aggravated condemnation, He sent His Son to die in our stead, to take upon Himself all the Father’s righteous wrath. Indeed, it pleased the Father to crush Him. By virtue of this unmitigated and indescribable grace, and through His gracious gift of faith, God saves us from the just penalty of our sin and brings us into a state of peace and favor with Himself. Amazingly, by His own act of sacrifice, He has sought His very enemies, and having found them, made them His own dear children. Astounding!

And – here’s the reason for unrestrained joy! – we bring nothing to this transaction. No merit. No credit. No effort. Nothing. He saves us by His own initiative, simply because He wants to. We don’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. It is entirely a gift, motivated by the astonishing fact that He longs for us with an unchanging, unchangeable love.

That’s all the reason we need for joy. Indeed, it’s reason enough!

Next week: Joy Grows Where Gratitude Takes Root