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1:15Let me pray for us, and then we'll open God's word together. Lord, we thank you for this church. We thank you for the truth that it stands upon. The leadership and their commitment to you. We thank you for the people here and their devotion to Christ as well. We just thank you for the body and what a blessing that is that you can step into a new place on the other side of the world and instantly connect because of Christ. What we sang earlier about Christ, who is our treasure, and indeed he is. Lord, Jesus has purchased our salvation with his life.

2:06We are right with you because you put your wrath upon Christ instead of us. That's an amazing blessing that we have. But we know, too, that that's not the end, that Christ will return in glory and put down his enemies and rule and reign in righteousness. And all injustices will be set right as we look forward to that day and we pray, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Thank you for that. Lord, as we open your word now, we pray that you would open our eyes, that you would give us understanding, as we look to a familiar truth. I pray that it wouldn't just be something we gloss over, but that we would look afresh at it. We ask these things in your name. Amen.

3:00Well, I'm sure you're familiar with six flags and the theme parks here in Texas, right? Six flags. I learned recently, last night in fact, and I'm sure this is something that you all know, but I learned that six flags is for the six nations that have governed Texas throughout history. And that was a big deal for me, because I'm from Southern California. And we actually have a six flags theme park there. And I always wondered, why six flags? Why not seven? Why not five? And so now I understand six flags. That was big for me. Well, in Southern California, we also have another amusement park that's well known, Disneyland.

3:44Now, apparently, read this recently, Disneyland has been using a secret shade of paint. This color is a gray-green with a hint of blue in it. And it's called Go Away Green. Go Away Green is painted on less desirable items, items that take away from the park experience, things like trash cans and fences and backstage areas. Disney expert Gavin Doyle explains: the goal of this color is to cause the object to fade into your color spectrum so that your eye will miss it completely. In this way, the illusion of the park is better captured. Now, this should come as no surprise to anyone. Everything about Disneyland is artificial, designed to give you the perfect experience.

4:44When it comes to amusement parks, blending in is good. But when it comes to the Christian life and our testimony, we don't want to blend in. We want to stand out. And that's what our text is about this morning. So take your Bibles and turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. Not the morning. Usually I preach in the morning. This evening, Philippians chapter 2. In Philippians chapter 2, verses 14 to 18, we see two necessary requirements for having a powerful testimony in a wicked world. I don't have PowerPoint for you. You've got to write this down. I encourage you, write this down. This is my outline.

5:31Two necessary requirements for having a powerful testimony in a wicked world. As Christians, we want to stand out. We want to have an impactful testimony in the world around us. And Philippians 2 gives us two things that we need to do in order to have this kind of testimony. So let's look at the first one together here. Stop complaining. We see this in verses 14 to 16. Stop complaining. Right now, I'm reading from the ESV, so I'm trusting you can keep up with me here, right? This is a sharp crowd. Philippians 2, verse 14. Do all things without grumbling or disputing. And this word grumbling, it means murmuring, complaining, griping, moaning, making a fuss. It's an onomonopoeia. This is where the word sounds like what it is, like clap or click. The word here is ganguzman.

6:42It just sounds unhappy. This is having a negative response and communicating it, often without even using words, just from the sounds that you make or your tone of voice. You may conform with something outwardly, but it's clear that you are not with it in your heart. The word disputing, sometimes it's translated questioning. It's arguing, creating friction, dissension, strife, clashing. This word inside of it is another word embedded from which we get the word logic. This is having a reasoned argument. It may not be a very good one, but you have a reasoned argument for why you are right and something else. Is wrong.

7:32This is your inner lawyer saying, How come no one else has to do this? That's not fair. I can't believe what's going on here. And Christians, according to Philippians 2 here, we are to do all things without grumbling or disputing. The word without it means total exclusion, complete absence of. This is a command, it's not optional. It is a sin if we are grumbling or disputing. And notice that it says, right, it doesn't say do some things, not do most things, but all things without grumbling or disputing. Everything from sitting in traffic to putting up with the incompetencies of government, all of this should be done without grumbling or disputing.

8:35These words, all things, they are in the emphatic position here. They're first in the sentence. It literally says, all things do without grumbling or disputing. And if you look at the context, if you look back to the previous verses, they are speaking about working out your salvation, right? And so this is a way of doing that. But Really, you need to back up to the beginning of the chapter. Verse 3, there's a series of commands here. Starting in verse 3, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each one of you look only, look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

9:27Now we have the example of Jesus. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing without grumbling or arguing. Taking the form of a servant without grumbling or arguing. Being born in the likeness of men, being found in a human form, he humbled himself without grumbling or arguing. By becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, without grumbling or arguing. 1 Peter 2 says, he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

10:29So. All things means all things. But contextually, most immediately, Paul has in mind humble, lowly, others-oriented service. And he says, this we need to do without grumbling or disputing. Now, for most of us, complaining has become an invisible sin. It's like breathing. When was the last time that you noticed if you were breathing or not? It's just something that we do all the time without thinking about it, and so it is with grumbling. We have forgotten that it's wrong, and we dress it up with nicer words, and we say, oh, I'm just venting. I'm just getting something off my chest. I'm just being honest here.

11:22It's like an appendix. It's always just hanging around, and we never give it any thought. And we need to do surgery and dig out the appendix of grumbling in our lives. This is the sin of Israel in the wilderness. They grumbled because they didn't have any food, and so God gives them manna. And then they grumble about the manna. They grumble in Egypt, and so God delivers them. And then they want to go back to Egypt. They're like flies on a screen door. The ones that are on the outside, one in, and the ones that are on the inside, one out. And they're never content no matter what. Where they are or what they have. And therefore, God kills them, the entire generation. And the New Testament says that they are to be an example to us of what not to be like. That's how serious God takes the sin of grumbling.

12:23Ever notice that there's one type of sin that skips the normal four-step process of church discipline? Matthew 18. Someone's in sin, you go and you confront them in their sin. And if they don't repent, then you go bring a witness. Step two, and you confront them again. And if they don't repent, then you tell it to the church. Step three. And if they still don't repent, then eventually you put them out of the church. And as you move through this process, it takes a long time. It can. It can take months to go from step one to step two to step three and so forth. But in Titus 3, verse 10, it says, as for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once, then twice, have nothing more to do with him. That's it. One warning, two warnings, and he's gone.

13:25Why is that? Why are you more patient with Someone who commits adultery, than you are with someone who causes division. It's because division spreads. If you don't deal with it quickly, it overtakes your church. See, grumbling is like Ebola. I'm not sure if you remember Ebola, right? Before the days of COVID, right, there was this concern about Ebola, an Ebola outbreak. If that happened, you didn't just leave it alone and say, ah, we'll see what happens. Maybe it'll go away. Oh, you broke out the hazmat suits. You brought in a military escort. You quarantined that place. You did everything you could to eradicate that disease.

14:13Are you doing everything you can to eradicate grumbling from your life? Are you just minimizing it, right? Trying to get it to a tolerable level. It's okay as long as it doesn't get too out of control. So, what exactly is complaining? Can we state the facts without complaining? How do we work through that? If you turn over a chapter or two to chapter 4, verse 6, Paul says, do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

15:10So, things that make us anxious are things that are not going the way we want them to go, things that we're dissatisfied with, they're problems, and we are told here to communicate them to God. And this is what we see in the Psalms all the time, where the psalmist is in some situation and something negative is happening to him, and he cries out to the Lord and explains his problem. And so, I think what's going on here is it's a different of heart attitude.

15:42What's sinful is the grumbling, the negative response, and the arguing, the inner lawyer fighting against things. But not all communicating about negative circumstances is necessarily grumbling. If you think about this, if you ask your children to do the dishes, you can get at least two different responses. One would be, oh, come on, Dad, I've always had to do the dishes. All right, that's not a good one. Or you get something like, Yes, sir, I'll get right on it.

16:25If I may, I believe last night I did the dishes as well. And you said tonight, my brother, it would be my brother's turn to do the dishes. Two very different responses. The difference there is the heart attitude. The problem is it's a slippery slope. You can start talking about something, and it can quickly deteriorate into being self-centered or grumbling or self-pity or something like that. You can share a prayer request, and it can quickly become railing against God. Our hearts are prone to sin and prone to complain. Jeremiah 17 says that our heart is deceitful above all things, and so you can think that you are just stating the facts when really you end up grumbling. And so, how do we sort through this?

17:20And so, to help us with that, I have come up with what I'm going to call the O-rats test. All right, O-rats, because maybe that's something you would say if you're frustrated. Maybe not. O-rats, it's an acrostic. So, each letter is a question. Okay? O-H-R-A-T-S. Each letter is a question to help you discern whether or not you're complaining. And you want yes answers. If you say no, it's probably a complaint. Okay, so I'm going to run through this real quick, write this down, and you can come back to it later. Okay? O. O is for outlook. Do I have an eternal outlook? Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Do you believe, do you hold on to the fact that God is working all things together for good, even if it doesn't look good right now, that he's working through that mess to accomplish his will?

18:312 Corinthians 5, 9. Whether we are home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Therefore, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. So as Christians, what we should want most is to glorify God to please him. What happens if what you want conflicts with that? Right? What the Lord is bringing, what honors the Lord, isn't necessarily what I want. What are you going to do? Do you trust his sovereignty? Do you submit to his will?

19:14Right? H. H is for heart. Is my heart right? 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 says, pray without ceasing. Are you praying about the situation as much as you should? Right, the next verse says, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Are you thankful? Are you thankful for your circumstances, even if they seem bad? R is for reasoning. Right? Is my reasoning fair? Is my thinking fair? See, so often we look at things from our point of view, and we forget that there is another point of view, someone else's shoes you could step into and look at things from.

20:10Proverbs 18, 13. If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. Have you listened to the other side? Proverbs 26, 21, as charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. How you respond to that situation, you can be charcoal and make that fire get hotter, or you can be water and put it out. Are you charcoal or water? A is for agreeable. Am I agreeable? Am I pleasant? Am I responding in a godly way, even if I don't get what I want?

21:032 Corinthians 12, Paul has a thorn in his flesh. And there's debate, is this a disease? Is this a person? Whatever it is, it's some trial from the Lord. And Paul asks the Lord to take it from his life. The Lord says no. And he asks again, and the Lord says no, three times. And in verse 9, God says, My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Paul's response, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness, 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.

21:55We don't have an audible voice from God telling us things are going to be okay. But we do know that every non-yes answer to prayer is from God. And if he leaves a trial in your life, a trial that helps make you more Christ-like, a trial that accomplishes his purposes, are you going to boast in your weakness? Are you going to be content in your circumstances? Are you going to gripe about it on your own? TikTok or Instagram or whatever online thing.

22:36T. Treating people. Am I treating people right? Romans 13, verse 2. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. Verse 7. Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. These were Roman authorities that persecuted Christians. And Paul says, respect them. Not because of what they're doing, but because of their position, that it's from God.

23:30The golden rule, right? That Jesus says, treat others the way that you want to be treated. Right? Are you doing that? Or do you make a scene when things don't go well? S is for solution. Is there a solution that I can offer? And here I'm thinking of Daniel chapter 1. Daniel and his buddies were taken into exile, and they were told to eat from the king's table, and they couldn't do that. Because that was against the law of Moses. They didn't want to defile themselves, but they didn't just say we can't do it. Daniel went to the captain and he said, Hey, can we eat bread and water? Instead, he offers another solution. And the guy says, Okay, we'll try it, and it worked out.

24:20So there you have it. Oh, rats. Right? You can take that and work through that in your own time. All right, back to Philippians chapter 2, verse 14. Do all things without grumbling or disputing. In verse 15, here we have the purpose of that: 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, or literally stars in the world. The thing about stars, they're always there. You just don't notice them unless it's dark, right? Unless there's a contrast. It's like buying a diamond. You go shop for a diamond. They don't just show you the rock, they put it on a black piece of velvet because they're trying to make that diamond stand out and sparkle more. That's what's going on in the text. Here, there's a contrast, right? The blameless and innocent children of God without blemish, that's the diamond. And the crooked and twisted generation, that's the velvet background. See, the world grumbles and disputes. That's the whole point of marketing: to make you discontent with what you don't have so that you'll buy what they're selling you.

25:54And Christians are not to blend in, we're not to be painted with go-away green. We are not to be a part of that, we're to be a sound of dissonance. How do we do this? How do we shine? Stop complaining. What do we do when we fail? What do we do when we do end up complaining in front of the world instead of shining? Why? I think we confess our sin to God and to those that we've grumbled in front of. Because this too shines, this too contrasts with what the world does. And then we get right back on to working out our salvation in front of them.

26:45Now, notice the text here. It doesn't say that we shine like stars if we follow the Ten Commandments. It doesn't say we shine like stars if we avoid sexual sin or getting Drunk or cutting corners in business. Those things are different than the world, and those are things we try and do to have a good testimony in front of the world. But why is it that the essence of shining here is not complaining? I think James chapter 3 helps us out here. So turn over real quick to James chapter 3.

27:29Right, this is a familiar text. It's a caution to becoming a teacher because you'll receive a stricter judgment. And in verse 2, James 3, verse 2, James says, We all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. In other words, the tongue is the hardest member of our body to control. I think as we pursue holiness, sins like grumbling and complaining are the last ones to be purged from our lives.

28:13And so it's easier to avoid sexual sin and drinking and cutting corners in business. And if that's your only standard, it's not high enough. We need to rid our lives of complaining because then we'll be blameless and Innocent children of God without blemish, and then we will shine like stars in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. How do we do this? Verse 16, sorry, back to Philippians chapter 2. Verse 16, how do we do this? By holding fast the word of life.

28:58Word of life is the gospel. It's a phrase that's often used to refer to the gospel in chapter 1, verse 14. That's what it refers to, and I think that makes the most sense here as well. The key to not complaining and being able to shine like stars is to cling to the gospel. How does this work? Because of our sin, we deserve wrath and judgment and eternity in hell away from God. But because Jesus offered his perfect life in our place and died on a cross and absorbed the wrath of God that was meant for us, we can have his righteousness by believing and trusting in him. That's the gospel.

29:45And so everything that we have is not because we've earned it, but because of the grace of God. So if there is something that we don't have, right? If we don't have every little thing that we want, we have nothing to complain. Complain about. Jesus purchased our salvation with his life. How can we turn around then and complain that the weather is too hot? Griping is a slap, is a slap in the face of God. We often ignore the cornucopia of good gifts that God has given us and we make a fuss about nothing. But in light of our sin and the wrath that we deserve, but yet do not receive, we have nothing to complain about.

30:42The amount of complaining in our lives is a thermometer about our walk with the Lord. See, the less mature we are, the more we focus on our problems and the more we gripe. But the closer we draw to God, the more focused on the gospel we get, and the more grumbling fades from our life. What does your gripeometer reading say about your walk with the Lord? What if I were to ask your spouse or your roommate?

31:24Continuing on in verse 16. So that. Here's another purpose of all that has come before, so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. The day of Christ is a reference to the coming day of judgment before the Lord. 1 Corinthians 3, you don't necessarily have to turn there. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 13 speaks of this day. It says, Each one's work will become manifest, but the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

32:27Now, it's not talking about salvation here, it's talking about rewards for what we've done. You'll get a reward if you have good deeds, and you'll have a loss of rewards if you have worthless works. And Paul is saying, Look, if I bring you the gospel and I invest in you, only to have you turn back to your belly-aching ways before you were a Christian, then all my work will be in vain, and I don't want that.

32:58It's not impossible. Implying that they can lose their salvation here. If you look back, one chapter, chapter one, verse six. He says, I'm sure of this: that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So if God has begun a good, if he's begun a good work in you, he's going to bring it to completion. You're not going to lose your salvation. So when we read warnings like this in Philippians 2, we don't glibly say, believers don't glibly just say, oh, what does it matter if I pursue this or not? I'm saved. I'm not going to lose my salvation. No.

33:50We take the warning seriously. We take heed. We're vigilant. We pay attention to not grumble. Paul says, that's what I want in your life. That's what I want. I want to be proud, not of me, not Paul doesn't want to be proud of himself. He wants to be proud of the Philippians. It's like a parent who's excited for their kid when there's a recital or a sporting event and their kid does good. He's saying, that's what I want. On that day of judgment, we stand before the Lord. I want to say, that's the church I planted. Those are the people I decided. He wants to rejoice with you when all those works are revealed.

34:33If it was Judgment Day and your pastor or church leader or discipler or whoever it is was there with you, when it's revealed how much grumbling you've done, how would that go? Love for our pastors, our parents, whoever has invested in us, can be motivation to not grumble. Stop complaining. This is the first necessary requirement we see for a powerful testimony in a wicked world. Second, start rejoicing. We see this in verses 17 to 18. Start rejoicing.

35:28Verse 17. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. Right? So here Paul is speaking with another metaphor. He compares the Philippians' faith to an offering or a sacrifice. Paul's effort to strengthen their faith is compared to a drink offering. Now, a drink offering is secondary. The drink offering is a complimentary offering to the main offering. It's added to the main offering. The main offering is a piece of meat on an altar that they set on fire.

36:23And the drink offering is a cup or a pitcher full of wine. And the priest takes it and he pours it over the main offering. And when that alcohol hits the fire, what happens? Big flame, big flash of flame that pops up. It makes the main offering brighter, more visible, so that it can be seen in the back. Paul says, look, even if my role in your sanctification is just meant as a liquid explosion to draw attention to something else, I rejoice.

37:08Even if I'm momentary, a compliment, a spotlight directed to someone else, I'm happy to play that role. He could have said, look, I'm the apostle. I'm the main event. I'm the main sacrifice, and you're the complimentary one. You're just a decoration in my life. But that's not what he does. Finds joy in lowly, humble, others-oriented service. If you look at the end of verse 17, he says, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Right? Now you look at these words here. I think they're a little different in the NASB, but they're similar, they're different, right? Glad and rejoice, they're different words in my translation, they're different words in yours, and you think, oh, they're different words. They're not different words. Okay? The rejoice, the second one, is the same one as the first. It's just the second one has an extra word added to it that just means with or togetherness. Right? I am glad and I'm glad with you, is what he's saying here. If my ministry efforts play a secondary role in your faith, I rejoice for myself and I rejoice with you.

38:32Then in verse 18, it says, likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. Again, it is command. It is not optional. It is sin if we are not rejoicing, like Paul. The previous verse, Paul rejoiced with them, and here they are to rejoice with him. It's contagious. It's like. Putting your kid in a nursery, right? They get a germ and they pass it on to the next kid. This is the way the joy works. Part of the joy is sharing it with others. You know this when you go to a sporting event, right? Half of the fun is the celebration with other people, it's the high fives and the excitement and the going crazy with people.

39:24But if there's a great play and you sit there on your hands and go, go, team, that's not fun. Right? You want to share your joy with other people so they can share it back with you. And then there's this word likewise. Literally, it means in the same way. There's a reciprocation, not just in the rejoicing, but rejoicing in serving the Lord. Even if your efforts play a secondary role, that's what was going on with Paul, and likewise was to go on with the Philippians. Rejoicing in lowly, humble, others-oriented service.

40:12The beginning of the text opened with that. We were not to grumble in doing that. And here, at the end of the text, it closes with rejoicing in that. It's not an accident that this has come up again. They're two sides of the same coin. We are to put off grumbling. Put on rejoicing. This is one of the main lessons of Philippians. True happiness comes not from your circumstances, but how you perceive your circumstances. You can't change your circumstances, but you can change the way that you look at them, which can lead to grumbling or rejoicing.

40:55Paul is a great example of this. He is in prison. He is in a small, dark cave. He is in chains. He's awaiting trial. He doesn't know if he's going to live or die. And yet he's the happiest man in Rome. The happiest man in Rome is in prison. Next to the words the or and, this word group for joy or rejoice is the most frequent word in Philippians. How is it that he can be so happy?

41:35Look over at chapter 1. Let me just show you this. Verse 12. He says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me? He's speaking about his imprisonment. He's thrown in jail because of the gospel. If you have a reason to complain, this would be it. I was doing the right thing and I'm thrown in jail. That's not what he does. Not only does he not complain, he finds two reasons to rejoice. He says, What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel that it's become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. So I'm joyful. I'm rejoicing because the gospel is being spread throughout all the guard. And not only that, but verse 14, and most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

42:46People are being emboldened to speak up for Christ now because of my imprisonment as well. What a great thing! I'm in prison. And then look at this in verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. But the former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. Again, you could complain, right? There's these people that are preaching Christ out of the wrong motive to try and put a burden on me.

43:24But he doesn't complain. Look at his perspective, verse 18. What then? That in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice. I have the opportunity to serve the Lord in a lowly drink offering sort of way. And that is work that has eternal value, that will not burn up on the day of judgment, and therefore I will rejoice. Put another way, chapter 4, he says, I have learned to be content in every circumstance.

44:09This is the challenge of the New Testament: to be deeply and joyfully content in our circumstances. Matthew 5:11, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. James 1:2, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Ephesians 5:20, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:4, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, Rejoice.

45:03The children of God are not complainers. We don't grumble, we rejoice. We don't gripe, we praise God. We don't get bitter, we get grateful. When? In all things, how are you doing? Turn with me to the book of Jonah. We wrap up our time here. Jonah chapter 4. We've looked at Paul. We've seen how he didn't grumble, but he rejoiced. He was content in his circumstances. In stark contrast to this, we have Jonah, who was called to preach the gospel to the Ninevites. But he hates the Ninevites, and so he tries to run, and it doesn't work out. And the Lord brings him back, and he preaches to these people, and they repent. The whole city, part of probably one of the greatest evangelistic efforts of all time.

46:07And he's not excited about it. Chapter 4, verse 1 says, It displeased Jonah exceedingly. He was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, Oh, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

46:54That again, perhaps the greatest evangelistic effort in all time. And he wants to die. He's angry. And God grows up this plant overnight to provide shade for him. And then a worm eats it and dies. And the shade is gone. And in verse 8, again, he is angry and he says, It is better for me to die than to live. But this is utter silliness. His beach umbrella flops over and he wants to die. He's angry.

47:33As silly as that seems, we do the same thing in light of our sin and the wrath that we deserve, but yet we don't get it. And then we turn around and complain about the silliest of things. How do you respond to your circumstances? Like Jonah or like Paul? Pray, Lord, we desire to be brighter in this dark world. We desire to stand out, to shine as lights, to not blend in with this negative, fault-finding, critical spirit in which we live. But it's so easy to fall into grumbling and disputing. It's our nature. We pray that you would set a guard over our mouths, that we would watch our lives our lips, that we would rid our lives of the joy-sapping habits of complaining. Help us to have an eternal perspective on life and the things that happen to us so that we will be murmur-free rejoicers and honor you with our lives. We pray all these things in your name. Amen.

49:02All right. And with that, we are dismissed. Have a good evening.