September 3-5, 2010
Philippians 2
Pastor Luke Lang
Philippians 2:14-15: “Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” (NLT)
My dad had one of those super powerful flashlights. It was as big as my leg and it weighed about 12 pounds. I think that he got it from a police auction or the army surplus store. I had to use 2 hands just to hold it! I would carefully brace myself, reach over and flip it on and…BOOM…LIGHT! It put out an intense, amazingly bright light that, I’m pretty sure, you could see for miles. It would blind small animals and confuse air traffic controllers.
In contrast, I remember one time when I was camping out in the woods with a buddy. It was dark, so he pulled out his “flashlight” so we could find our way back to the campground. It was a weak little pen light that barely produced any real illumination (I think he had gotten it out of a box of cereal). We stumbled around in the dark because his light really made no difference at all!
God wants us to SHINE in a dark world. The intensity of our shine really depends on our choices. We can be a weak little penlight for Jesus or a SUPER powerful TURBO LIGHT!
The surest way to REALLY shine is to choose to live in direct contrast to the world, and one way to do that is to live without complaint. You don’t have to walk around very long to hear someone complaining and griping about their life. It also doesn’t take long for someone to challenge or try to pick a fight with you. It’s human nature. It is so easy to fall into that trap, to gripe and get cynical about our circumstances. We justify it by saying that we are just being truthful.
Yet Paul (who actually did have a lot to gripe about…stonings, shipwrecks, beatings, etc.), tells us in the verses above that if we really want to shine, we will live free of complaint. Then we will stand out. Then we can make a difference.
Try it this week…refuse to complain, even when you have a really good excuse. Refuse to argue your cause and your case and watch how people notice that there is something different about you! Let’s get shiny!
Pastor Luke leads “The Tribe” for 6th-8th grade (middle school) students and in support of their families. The Tribe gathers twice each Sunday morning – 9:30 and 11:15 – in Room 225, along with 6:45 each Wednesday night in Clanton Hall.
