by Dan Stevens

Philippians has always been one of my favorite books of the Bible because I believe there are so many lessons to be learned that can impact our daily life: joy, service, imitating Christ, joy, perseverance, more joy…even in the midst of hardship.

As we look at Philippians 2:12-18, verse 14 particularly stands out to me.  “Do everything without complaining or arguing”.  It seems our society tends to be more and more negative as we constantly hear people complaining or arguing. The fast food worker didn’t get our order right or it took too long, so we complain: either verbally to the workers or internally to ourselves.  We complain about traffic.  We complain about the lines at the Driver’s License office.  Even our politicians complain and argue with or about each other.  It seems sometimes they get nothing done because of their willingness to argue and unwillingness to work together.

I’ve been a basketball official for several years now and recently I refereed an 8th Grade game and by the reactions from the stands you would have thought it was the NBA championship.  It was a very close game and I’m pretty sure from the sound of things that there weren’t many people there who thought my co-official and I did a good job. Our society likes to complain.

The sad part about it though is that we often like to complain about church as well.  Whether it’s churches complaining about other churches, which sadly goes on way too often within our fellowship, or individuals complaining within a church, it happens all too frequently. Arguments or complaints center around worship styles, personalities, leadership, why things weren’t done a certain way. I learned in a class once that 90% of church conflicts are a result of power struggles within the church. Basically, “I want things done my way.”

Paul goes on to give us a reason that we should (vs. 14) “Do everything without complaining and arguing, …(vs. 15) SO THAT you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you SHINE LIKE STARS in the universe.”  If our church (or any church for that matter) is going to shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation, we must be about unity and focusing on the things that God has called us to be to the world.  One reason I love Richardson East is because I believe the heart of this church truly desires to be about things that meet the needs of God’s people. Ministries like CARE Corps, Pit Stop and Ruth/Naomi puts that desire into action.  Let’s keep it up. Let’s don’t let complaining be a part of the fabric of this church, but rather let’s roll up our sleeves and be about the work of the Kingdom.