Stop Complaining, Part 2 (Philippians 2:15–16) John MacArthur

Let’s open our Bibles then this morning to  Philippians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16 and   the second and final message in our little series  entitled “Stop Complaining.” Moving through this   wonderful Philippian epistle, we have arrived at  verses 14 to 16 and we have heard a very simple   command by the apostle Paul in verse 14, “Do all  things without grumbling or disputing.” And that,   of course, is the substance and basis of the  exhortation for our text. We looked at that   last time and today I want to give you the reasons  for obeying that, they are given in verses 15 and   16. So, the command is in verse 14, the reasons  are in verses 15 and 16. Before we look at them,   however, let me go back and just touch a  little bit on this matter of complaining. Social critic Christopher Lasch wrote  and I quote, “Every age develops its   own peculiar forms of pathology which express  in exaggerated form its underlying character   structure.” End quote. And I would suppose  that he would agree that the pathology of   our age is narcissistic self-indulgence.  We are a culture who conduct ourselves   like that legendary Greek youth Narcissus who  was looking in a pond one day and saw himself,   and fell furiously in love with himself. And so,  much in love with himself that he kept staring   in the pond pining over this shadow of himself  which he loved. Rapturous was his self-love.  

And it seems as though we have found ourselves  in the pathology of narcissism in our society,   and as we continue to love ourselves, as we  continue to indulge ourselves, we continue to   breed within ourselves a very great discontent  and we add the fantasy world that is around us,   the fantasy world that demonstrates to us  that there should be out there some plastic   perfection. We see it on television. We never  seem to attain it. And so, our Narcissism only   casts us into deeper shadows of despair. We feed  on self-indulgence. Having everything, we still   brood over what we don’t have. We complain to the  degree that we are rarely, if ever, satisfied. I think there’s another factor in our  complaining. At MIT there is a psychologist   by the name of Kenneth Kingston. He made an  interesting statement, listen to what he said,   “If you live in a society where you believe the  public institutions are deeply flawed and not   easily improved, that leaves the pursuit  of individual happiness in a private way   as the main challenge to your energies.”  End quote. And I really believe that we   are living in that time today. I think we  are a more than ever complaining society,   not only because we are more indulgent than  ever, because we are more exposed to a fantasy   world which we can’t attain than ever, but also  because we have become disillusioned about the   social things that once gripped our hearts, and we  have left only the pursuit of personal happiness.

The best illustration of that would be a  comparison between the ‘60s and the people   of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The students in the ‘60s  were protesters. They were so much protesters   that I remember reading about a group of Harvard  students who came to their professor and said,   “We have a group that would like to protest. Do  you know of a good cause?” It was as almost as   if the protesting mentality came before the issue  to be protested. But what happened? In the ‘60s   we had all of the protesting students, they tried  and they failed to change the flawed institutions   of our society. And when they realized that all  of their efforts and all of their work could   not change the flaws of the social institutions,  they then became the materialistic money-hungry   success oriented Yuppies of the ‘70s and  ‘80’s who said, “We can’t change the social   institution. We will pour all of our energies  into our own personal pursuit of happiness.” And that’s where our society is, madly  pursuing things and fulfillment and happiness,   narcissistically looking at itself wanting to  indulge itself, realizing it can do very little   to change social institutions, it begs the issue  of self-indulgence by constantly focusing on that.   And built into it is terrible, terrible potential  disillusionment. So, you have a mood of complaint.

And I see it everyplace. You see it all over. You  are part of it. Let me give you some things that   people complain about. Now, you have to think  about this, and think about how frivolous they   are and see if you identify. Here are typical  things that cause people to have increased blood   pressure, that make them angry, hostile. Even  in some times make them violent. Things like,   for example, traffic jams bring incredible  hostility, anger, complaint. Slow drivers in   front of you can be enough to cause you to lose  your sanctification. Freeway cutters who cut in   front of you, talkative people irritate you, long  lines, short lines, any lines, having one person   in front of you makes you complain. You want it  your way and now. Crying babies, if you don’t   think there is a terrible frightening brooding  discontent over crying babies, then ask yourself   why there is such an increase of frightening  child abuse, precipitated by crying babies.  

Once held to the breast of a mother, now hit with  an iron or a frying pan, or who knows what. Phone   calls at inappropriate times, misplaced keys,  would you believe, great trauma caused by that,   non-housebroken puppies, I mean we really  get distressed by the biggies, don’t we? But you see, it’s a mood, stuck zippers,  especially if you’re already in the car half way   there. Cold food, we not only want it we want it  the temperature we want it. Somebody interrupting   your conversation, noisy neighbors, being rushed  by your husband, late airplanes, tight clothes,   unsuccessful diets, peeling onions, squeaking  doors, incompetent people around you,   flat tires when you’re in a hurry. Some people  complain constantly over the fact they have to   balance a checkbook. I’m not going to ask those  of you who have never balanced your checkbook to  

raise your hand. I don’t want to know. Doing the  dishes, your mother-in-law, weeds, high prices,   these are the things that, imagine it, these are  the things that generate hostility in people,   cause tremendous conflict in marriage. We  complain about all these things. How ridiculous. Now, if you’re in Hiroshima and  it’s 1945, you have a problem   worthy of considerable concern. But just because  you lost out on a promotion or a business deal,   just because your child announced last week  that she hates her room, just because the bank   notified you this morning that you’re overdrawn,  I’m sure you can find a way to survive. Calm down,   review the situation, think it through. I hear  all about mid-life crisis, do you know that there   are nations in the world that don’t ever have  mid-life crisis because they don’t live that   long? Some people aren’t bothered by such things  at all, there are parts of the world where the   average lifespan is 37 years and men and women are  spared the distressing reality of a 40th birthday.   Some people complain about grocery bills. More  than 10,000 people die of starvation every day and  

you’re complaining about grocery bills? Millions  more suffer from malnutrition. Some people say   they complain about the high cost of rent.  Well, maybe you’d rather be a pavement dweller   in Calcutta, they don’t pay rent. They’re born,  live, and die on the pavement. They only thing   they have to worry about is to find a rag they  can put under their head when they go to sleep. You see, while these kind of horrors go on  around the world in sort of normal accepted pace,   we throw tantrums because we got seated at a  poorly located table in a fancy restaurant.   Or we’re frustrated because we can’t lose ten  pounds. Or we gripe about our monthly debts.   You’ve got problems relative to what? But you see,  it’s the mood of the mob to complain. And then,   the idealistic fantasy oriented consumptive  culture feeds the sin of discontent. How   can we be discontent? Remember Lamentations  3:39, “Why should any mortal being or anyone   offer complaint in view of his sins?”  What do we have to complain about? So,   Paul gives us a general principle in verse 14. And  it really speaks to us at a time when we live in   a culture of complaint. “Do all things without  grumbling or disputing. Do all things without  

grumbling or disputing.” What do the “all things”  refer to? The living out of your inward salvation,   the working out of your salvation. Here is the  pervasive attitude for the Christians’ experience.   As we work out our salvation, as we live our godly  life, we are to do it without ever complaining   about the circumstances which God has put around  us. We are to live a life without complaint.   We are to rejoice always, to use Paul’s later  terminology, and again I say rejoice. We are to be   content whether we are based or whether we abound,  whether we have much or whether we have little,   whether we like the circumstances or don’t  like them. There is no place for complaining. And I only submit to you that it’s much  more difficult it seems in this culture   than in some because we are breeding a  culture of complainers, absolute culture   of complainers. And Paul then gives us a general  principle that does speak to us very directly.

Now, note as I pointed out last time, that this  matter of doing all things without grumbling or   disputing has reference to God. Not so  much grumbling disputing among others,   that too is a sin, but the idea here is to accept  that providential plan which God has ordained for   your life, live out your salvation without any  complaints directed at Him. A joyful heart, a   thankful heart, no emotional grumbling, that’s the  grumbling word, and no intellectual disputing or   arguing with God. But rather, without complaint,  gratefully we live out our salvation. That is what   he calls for Christians to maintain in terms  of an attitude that pervades all their living. Now, he gives us three reasons why. Okay? And  I’ll just lay these before you. They’re not new,   they’re just a brief review, a summary, and I know  you will be familiar with them. But nonetheless,   they are the word of the Spirit of God for  us today. Reason number one, in verse 15,   “That you may prove yourselves to be blameless  and innocent, children of God above reproach.”   Let’s say, first of all, then we are to stop  complaining for our own sake, for our own sake,   that we might be the kind of children that God has  saved us to be. It starts with us. And this is,   by the way, clearly a purpose result clause, a  little particle hina with a subjunctive always  

indicates purpose result. And so, it could be  translated “in order that,” or “with the result   that,” or “given the purpose that.” In other  words, this is the very reason why you are to   do this, so that you will be a blameless,  harmless, above-reproach child of God. You   are called to be all that a child of God should  be. In Ephesians 5:1 that very, very important   injunction of Paul where he says, “Be imitators  of God as beloved children, be imitators of God   as beloved children.” If God is your Father, then  imitate God, then pattern your life after Him. If   you are a child of God then live the way a child  of God should live, manifesting the character   of God. As it says in Titus 2, adorning the  doctrine of God in the manner in which you live. So, note again then, we’ll  look at the verse specifically,   you are to stop complaining, doing all  things without grumbling or disputing,   in order that you may prove yourselves  to be. Now the Greek literally says,   in order that you may become, in order that you  may become. And I believe here is a process,   you are to be in the process of becoming a  blameless innocent above-reproach child of   God. So, you are not to complain in order that  process may work, that you may be in the process  

at the end of which you become a harmless,  blameless, above-reproach child of God. Now, those two words, blameless and harmless,  or some of your translations will say blameless   and innocent, really are not a great deal  apart in terms of meaning. They both speak   of moral purity. Blameless simply means a life  that can’t be criticized, a life that can’t be   criticized. There’s nothing for which you  can be held responsible by way of sin,   evil, wickedness. It’s a life without  blame, it’s a life that has no blemish,   no blot on it, no sinful stain  which people can discern and see. And then, the word “innocent” could be translated  “harmless.” It is so translated in Matthew   10:16 where Jesus says, “Be wise as serpents and  harmless as doves.” It is also translated “simple”   in Romans 16:19, I think it is, Paul says that  we are to be simple concerning evil. It has to do   with being pure. It has to do with being unmixed,  unadulterated, undefiled; it is used, for example,   to refer to unmixed wine and unalloyed metal.  So, he’s simply using two somewhat basic terms,   saying that your life is to be a life which  cannot be criticized for sin, and which is pure  

and undefiled and unadulterated and unmixed with  evil. So, really two ways to say, essentially,   a pure life, a life without fault and a life  without flaw. That’s God’s desire for His people,   that their character and their conduct should be  so pure that they cannot justly be accused, that   they are above criticism that is legitimate, there  is no foreign element which contaminates their   life. We are to be, in the terms of 2 Corinthians  11, a chaste virgin, a pure virgin, in terms of   Ephesians 5, the church is to be a blameless  without spot, without blemish bride. Same concept. Then, you’ll note also in verse 15 he uses the  term “above reproach.” That too is one word in the   Greek, you have amemptos, akeraios, and then you  have ammos, all of them have an alpha-privative   which means they’re negative terms, and this means  above reproach: faultless, flawless, spotless,   blemishless. This word, by the way, is used in  the Greek Old Testament in Numbers, I think it’s   several times, Numbers 6:14, Numbers 19:2, I  found in both places, and it’s there referring   to a sacrifice, without blemish, without spot, the  kind of sacrifice to be brought to the Lord. So,   really three ways he’s saying the same thing:  harmless, blameless, flawless, faultless, sinless,  

pure. That’s what he wants. Why? And the key is  this, children of God. You are to be becoming the   proper kind of child of God. In other words, the  kind that would rightly represent God, that would   be believable if you said I belong to God, He’s  my Father, I’m His son, I’m His child. We are to   be truly God’s children not only by divine decree,  but by testimony as well. In Romans 12 we are to   present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice,  acceptable to God. So, we are like a sacrifice,   to be without spot, without blemish, without  stain, undefiled, pure. We’re children of God. We have to get in touch with that. Who do  you belong to? Whose are you? Who owns you?   Whose name do you bear? Whose identity  do you share? Whose life do you share?   The very life of God. And so, every believer  needs to live in consistency with who He is.

Peter gives us a good motivation, I think, in  2 Peter 3. He’s talking about the Second Coming   of Christ when He comes, the day of the Lord.  And he says in verse 14, “Therefore beloved,   since you look for these things,” in other words,  since you look for the coming day of the Lord,   the intervention of Christ in the world, the  Second Coming, since you look for these things,   “Be diligent to be found by Him in peace,  spotless and blameless.” In other words,   if you know Christ is coming, that ought to clean  up your life. If you know His coming is imminent,   that ought to clean up your life. You live in  the light of the coming of Christ. You’re His   child, and Jesus is coming for you, you want to  behave as a child of God should behave. Because   we are children, we bear the Father’s name, and  we need to be sure that we are consistent in   living a life that will speak well of the name we  bear. That means no complaining in this context. No complaining. If you are a complainer, a  grumbler, a griper, a bellyacher, if you are   a disputer with God, or if you are a grumbler, and  if you are discontent, and if every little thing   in life from stuck zippers to slow drivers and all  of the other stuff causes you to blow your fuses   in discontent and complain and so forth, then you  have distorted the picture that some are seeing   with regard to the child of God. You have sinned,  you are not without blemish and that’s a tragedy.

So, for your own sake, because of who you are,  it is mandatory that you obey the injunction   of verse 14 in order that you might properly  represent the children of God. I remember as   a boy, I mentioned this to you some years ago,  getting caught in a very compromising situation,   and having a deacon of my father’s church say to  me, “Don’t you know who your father is? How can   you act like that?” That has stuck in my mind  as a spiritual truth. I do not want to behave   in any way or conduct myself in any matter  of conduct which will cause someone to say,   “Don’t you know who your Father  is? How can you act like that?” Second point, when we talk about the reason  for obedience, not only for our own sake but   for the sake of the unsaved. Here’s a very basic  principle here, for the sake of the unsaved. He   says in verse 15, “You are to become blameless  and innocent children of God, above reproach,   in the midst of a crooked and perverse  generation among whom you appear as lights   in the world holding forth the word of life.”  Now, here he is saying this matter of how you   live has a dramatic impact not only on whether  or not you’re consistent as a child of God,   but how you affect the world in which you appear  as lights. Now, we’re talking about the unsaved,  

now we’re talking about our witnessing,  now we’re talking about our evangelistic   mandate. And this is the heart of the appeal,  by the way. The first part just led into this;   the last part just leads out of it. This is the  main issue. Evangelism is primarily a matter of   God’s children shining as lights in a dark  world. But doing that effectively comes down   to two things: character and content, character  and content, or personality and proclamation.   It’s not just what you say; it’s also what you  are. And we know that. This is good reminder. Now, would you notice verse 15, just to get you  in touch with the specifics, he says, “In the   midst of a crooked and perverse generation,” and  he there borrows a phrase from the song of Moses   in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 5. There, Moses was  speaking to apostate Israel and saying you are no   more the children of God for you are a crooked and  perverse nation. So, he borrows that same phrase,   only this time he’s not defining an apostate  Israel; the writer of Scripture is now defining   the society of the world in which the church  exists. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses characterized   apostate Israel as a crooked and perverse nation,  and here Paul borrows that phrase to characterize  

the whole world in which the church exists.  And we are living in the midst of a crooked   and perverse generation. And that is something  we need to be very careful to understand. I thought, you know, well maybe I could just take  some time and talk about the perversity of our   nation. And then, I thought, “No, everybody knows  how perverse it is, anybody need any information   on that?” I don’t think so. We live in a crooked  and perverse generation. Please note: we are in   the midst of it. Jesus said in John 17 when He  prayed to the Father, I’m not going to ask you   take them out of the world, I’m going to ask You  to keep them in the world. There we are as lights   in the world. It is a world of God-rejecters. It  is a world of Christ-haters. It is a tragic world,   morally warped, spiritually perverted. It  rejects God’s message as Israel of old did.   Would you notice those two words, “crooked  and perverse?” The word generation is genea,   could translate nation as well. But the words  “crooked and perverse” are interesting. Crooked   is a Greek word, skolios. Have you ever heard of  an illness called scoliosis of the spine? It’s   a curvature of the spine. It comes from this word  because the word means curved, bent out of shape.   It describes something that is out of  proper alignment, that is off and deviated  

from the standard. Proverbs 2:15 describes the  society of this world in these terms. It says,   “Their paths are crooked, and they  are devious in their ways.” Isaiah 53   puts it this way in verse 6, “All we like  sheep have gone,” what? “Astray.” And so,   man has a spiritual disease, scoliosis of  the heart, in which he is deviated from God,   in which he has left the standard, moved away  from the straight plumb line of righteousness. And then, an even stronger word is the word  perverse. This word means to be severely twisted   or severely distorted. So, man has deviated  from the path, and in the deviation become   severely twisted and severely distorted.  It is an abnormal condition. By the way,   our Lord also used this basic same  expression in Luke 9. Jesus said,   “O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long  shall I be with you and put up with you?” So,   this is a good characterization, one used in  the Old Testament, one used in the gospels,   one used by the writer of the epistle to  describe someone who has deviated from the   path of righteousness, deviated from the  plan of God, become twisted, perverted.

Now, you’ll notice here that it says  “in the midst of a crooked and perverse   nation,” and then it says, “Among whom  you appear as lights in the world.” So,   in a sense, generation and world go together.  Generation speaks basically of the populous;   world speaks of the moral, ethical, sinful system  in which they think and by which they operate   their lives and conduct their behavior.  So, we face a twisted distorted world.   This is continuously brought home to me. It’s a  twisted perverted world. Fornication is right,   adultery is right, homosexuality is right, lying  is right, cheating is right, and all the rest of   it. Not the Word of God. So, the whole culture  has deviated from the standard of righteousness,   and in the deviation become distorted and twisted,  and their thinking is so convoluted that we would   never expect the natural man to understand the  things of God. They are to him what? Foolishness.

Now, that leaves us then with two very important  things. We are to reach this perverse world,   we are to reach this crooked world and  there are two ways: one, what we are; two,   what we say. Let’s look, first of all, at what  we are. Verse 15, “You are children of God, above   reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse  generation, among whom you shine as lights in   the world.” Now, this is what we are. This is  what we are. Among whom you appear, phainomai,   probably could be translated “you are shining,”  could be, “you must shine.” But he is saying you   have to shine, and this is talking about now what  we say but what we are, what we are. You shine,   and here’s his analogy, as lights, phstr, that  word in a metaphorical sense can refer to a   lot of different lights. But whenever it’s used  in a specific non-metaphorical sense it always   refers to the sun, moon, or stars. And I take it  here that that is probably what Paul is saying.

We find, for example, such a use of this term in  the Septuagint in Genesis 1:14 and Genesis 1:16,   we find some non-biblical sources where  this word is used to refer to the sun,   moon and the stars. And what he is simply  saying is you live in a dark universe,   and you are the stars and the sun and the moon;  you’re the only light the world has. As the sun   and the moon and the stars shine in the heavens,  and as they illuminate an otherwise dark sky,   so you shine in the world, illuminating an  otherwise totally dark society. We shine. Now, what do you mean by shine? We demonstrate the  light of God. What is that? It’s the life of God.   I’m not going to go into a whole study, but light  and life are one. Life, the life of God in us   emphasizes the character of that life. The life of  God in us as light emphasizes the impact of that   life. And you find John jumping back and forth  to those concepts, light and life, as well as   Paul on some occasions. Jesus says in the Sermon  on the Mount, “You are the light of the world.”   You are a vessel in whom the light of God has been  poured with the life of God and now you have life   as to its quality and light as to its impact.  It is a shining life. It is a living light.   And so, we are called to be what Israel failed  to be. You remember in Romans 2:19, Paul says,  

“You’re confident that you’re a guide to the  blind and a light to those who are in darkness,   but you’re not.” Israel, the Jew as the Jewish  leaders of Paul’s time thought they were the   lights but they weren’t, and thus they  are called the blind leading the blind,   and both will fall in the ditch. But we  are the light of the world. Why? Because   the light of life shines in us and the light of  His life in us shines from us. We are vessels. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul says God who first  ordered the light to shine in the darkness has   flooded our hearts with His light. We can now  enlighten men by giving them the knowledge of   God’s glory that comes through the gospel of  Jesus Christ. We are lights. We are children   of light. In Ephesians 5:8, there’s a good  reminder of that and you know it very well.   “You were formerly darkness now you are light  in the Lord, walk as children of light.” Then,   he even talks about the fruit of light and  what is it? The fruit of light is goodness,   and righteousness, and truth, trying to  learn what is pleasing to the Lord and   not participating in the unfruitful deeds  of darkness. Our light shines in our deeds:   goodness, righteousness, truth, what  we are, that’s how the light shines.

You actually light people one way or another.  You send out an impulsive light, you as a child   of God. You cannot come in contact with other  people in this crooked and perverse generation   without impacting them in some way. And if you are  a godly, holy, obedient Christian, you will have   an almost startling impact on most people. And  they will feel the light and they may even shy   away from the light because it is so obvious that  you possess something they don’t possess. They may   feel the vibrations, to put it in another analogy,  of your own holiness; they may feel a yearning to   be something better than they are. They may even  sense the appetite, the hunger, the thirst for the   unseen and the eternal which they know they don’t  have. It’s also true that if you’re a bad person,   you’ll bring dark vibrations, and your life  will touch someone else and it will put out a   corresponding current that you’ve induced. So, you  affect people for good or for bad, everybody does.

In a sense it’s a terrible thing to think about.  FB Meyer wrote, “These thoughts press on one’s   heart that one can never speak a word, never  transact a piece of business that one’s face   is never seen lighted up with the radiance of  God or clouded and despondent without it being   made harder or easier for other men to live a good  life. Every one of us every day resembles Jeroboam   the son of Nebat who made other men sin, or we are  lifting other men into the light and the peace and   the joy of God. No man liveth to himself and no  man dieth to himself, but the life of everyone is   telling upon an increasing number of mankind  what a solemn responsibility it is to live.”   And we have that responsibility. You are light.  You have been called to light the dark world.   And the quality of your life is the platform of  your personal testimony. You have to understand   that. By the kind of life you live, you build a  platform on which what you say is made believable.   If you have no platform because of your life,  your message isn’t believable. And a murmuring   discontent, grumbling, griping, complaining  Christian is never going to have a positive   influence on others. You can’t be talking about  the gospel, forgiveness, joy, peace, gladness,   comfort, and be moaning and grumbling and  complaining all the time. People are not going to   believe the gospel will do what you’re trying to  say it will do. That’s why the philosopher Heine  

in Germany said, “Show me your redeemed lives and  I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer.” But in addition to our character is our content,  it’s what we say. Look at verse 16. Also he adds,   in the process of shining as lights in the world  you are “holding forth the word of life.” Now,   some would translate it “holding fast.” Now, my  own feeling is that if Paul wanted to say “holding   fast” he probably would have used katech, instead  he uses epech, holding forth or holding out. That   same verb used here is used in Homer’s “Odyssey”  to refer to holding out a gift of wine for someone   to take and drink, so it’s kind of an offer. It  can mean holding firmly, holding tightly, but the   context here is one of shining in a dark world.  It’s one of sending light into a dark world. So,   both the word, its uses, its comparison to  other terms and its context seems to me to   favor holding forth, holding out. We are shining  as stars in terms of character. We are holding out   the Word of life. What is that? The Word that  gives life. What Word gives life? The gospel,   the gospel, the message which gives life,  the gospel of salvation that gives life,   the life of God to the soul, the soul of  man. Men are dead in trespasses and sin,   Ephesians 2:1 says, they need life. We  hold out that life. We hold forth that  

life. That’s proclamation. So, on the  one hand it’s personality; on the other,   it’s proclamation, it’s character, and it’s  content. It’s what we are, it’s what we say. So, stop grumbling, Paul says, stop complaining,  stop arguing with God, obey God joyfully,   work out your salvation without complaining. And  in the process of shining as lights in the world,   hold out the gospel that saves and you  will find there will be a ready reception,   because a transformed life is the greatest  advertisement for the gospel. Not a negative,   griping, complaining spirit. So,  it’s your joyful, thankful, positive,   enthusiastic trust in and love for and obedience  to God that makes your witnessing effective. Third and last point, and I saved this for the  last, and I only want to say a brief comment or   two on it because I don’t want you to think that  it’s self-serving. But this is a most interesting   point. Point number three: stop complaining for  your own sake, stop complaining for the sake of   the lost or the unsaved in the world; thirdly,  stop complaining for the sake of your pastor. Did   you get that? You say, “Wait a minute, is that  in the Bible?” It is, it is. Look at verse 16,   “So that in the day of Christ I may have cause  to rejoice because I did not run in vain nor  

toil in vain.” He says, “Look, if you’ll obey this  command, I’ll be happy in the day of Christ, and   I’ll look back on my life and I’ll say it wasn’t  in vain, it wasn’t in vain.” So, he says do it for   my sake. And his pastoral heart is showing here.  He says, “Be pure, be godly, without complaint,   for the sake of the one who has given his life  in service to you, for the sake of the one who   has been called by God, for the sake of the one  who has been commissioned by God, for the sake   of the one who has extended himself that he might  minister to you. Please do this for my sake, and   not for my temporal sake but for my eternal sake,”  he says. Not to make me like my ministry better.   No, but to give me a greater joy in eternity. Why?  I believe it’s very simple. This isn’t proud, this   isn’t self-serving. Paul’s saying this, look, “I  love God. I love God with all my heart, soul, mind   and strength. I live in this life to serve God.  And I look forward to heaven for one great reason:   I want to glorify God. And the more effective my  service has been in this world, the greater my   capacity to glorify Him will be in the world to  come. So, don’t limit my capacity to glorify Him   in the world to come by rendering my labors here  in vain because you have not followed through.” And so, here’s his third and compelling  motivation: do it for your sake that you  

might be a proper child of God. Do it for the  lost’s sake that you might shine as a light in   the world holding forth the Word of life. And do  it for my sake that out of love for me and esteem   for me and desire to see me fully able to glorify  God in eternity, do it. Marvelous point, isn’t it?   He had given his life for them. He was the human  instrument of their salvation. It’s recorded in   Acts 16 how the Philippian church was born. Now,  he’s in prison. He doesn’t know how long he has.   For all he knows at this point he may lose his  life. It turned out he didn’t lose it until later   in a second imprisonment. But at the time he faced  that prospect. He looks forward to meeting the   Lord and he says, “When I meet the Lord,” verse  16, “in the day of Christ,” and that, by the way,   is different than the day of the Lord. It’s a  different emphasis. Day of the Lord emphasizes   judgment; day of Christ emphasizes rewards.  Day of the Lord focuses on the unbeliever;   day of Christ focuses on the believer. So, he  says, “As I look at the day of Christ,” and by   the way, we did detailed study on that in our  message on chapter 1 verses 6 and 10, “As I   look forward to the day when I see Christ and I  receive my reward,” he says, I will have cause   to glory,” or better, “cause to rejoice, cause  to rejoice.” And why will I rejoice? “Because I   will know that I didn’t run in vain,” and that’s a  word that’s used to speak of runners in a stadium,   making a maximum effort to win a great event,  “and I didn’t toil in vain,” that’s kopia,  

work to the point of sweat and exhaustion.  In other words, I want to get to the end,   I want to see Christ and know that none of the  tremendous effort that I made was for nothing. Will you encourage my heart throughout all  eternity by being faithful? I don’t think   anybody ever has that kind of thought. Do you  ever have that kind of thought? Boy, I want   to be a faithful Christian in order that John  MacArthur might get a full reward. Yeah. I mean,   that’s so bizarre you never thought of it. Well,  now you know, right? It’s right here. I don’t   say that selfishly. I mean, some people think the  best thing you can do for the preacher, you know,   is take him to dinner or send him a card and  write him a nice letter. And those are wonderfully   encouraging. The best thing you could ever do for  the pastor, and the pastors, and all of those who   lead you here and whatever other churches you’ve  been in, the best thing you could ever do is to   live out everything they ever taught you so that  when they get to glory, they will have the fullest   capacity to praise and glorify the God they’ve  served all through eternity. I don’t want anything   in this life. Neither did Paul. Interesting.  You are to esteem them very highly in love sake,   it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, for their works.  You are to follow their faith, it says in Hebrews   13:17. You know what John said in 3 John 4? Listen  to this, he said, “I have no greater joy than to   hear of my children walking in love.” The greatest  joy of any servant of God is the obedience of his  

flock, that’s the greatest joy. Then, you’re going  to get to the day of Christ and know you didn’t   run in vain, and you didn’t labor in vain. You  didn’t work to the point of sweat and exhaustion,   and you didn’t run to the max in the race  for nothing because the people were faithful. It’s not egotistical. It’s that you so  cherish the responsibility of ministry   that you want God to know you have  rendered the very best effort possible.   Paul, if he’s going to boast, Romans 15 says, in  Christ Jesus, I have found reason for boasting,   but I will not presume to speak of anything  except what Christ has accomplished through   me. He knows. Whatever we rejoice in Christ  has done, whatever good happens in your life   Christ has done. But be faithful for the sake  of those who have poured their life into you.   Be faithful for the sake of those who planted  the seed and those who watered the seed.

Contrast this, just as we close, with a verse back  in the 49th chapter of Isaiah. Listen to Isaiah.   Listen to what he said. Way back in chapter 6 he  was called to ministry, now he’s looking back.   Verse 4, “But I said, I have toiled in vain, I  have spent my strength for nothing in vanity.”   Isn’t that sad? “I’ve toiled in vain. I’ve spent  my strength for nothing in vanity.” Heartbroken   prophet. Oh, Paul knew it wouldn’t all end bad.  So did Isaiah. There was a reward for Isaiah. And   Paul knew that it wouldn’t totally be for nothing,  because he said in 1 Corinthians 15:58 that he   knew that his toil in the Lord was not in vain.  But what he is saying is, “I want a full response,   I want a full reward so I can have a full  rejoicing and a full capacity to glorify God.” And so, I say to you, dearly beloved, be  faithful to this command for your sake,   for the sake of the unsaved  and for the sake of those who   have given their service to you as your  shepherds. Let’s bow together in prayer.

Father, we needed this reminder again because  we are so prone to a complaining spirit.   We remember the words of Isaiah 45:9, “Woe  to the one who quarrels with his maker,   an earthenware vessel among the vessels  of earth, will the clay say to the potter,   what are you doing? Or the thing you are  making say, he has no hands?” Are we going   to complain against You? Are we going to answer  back to You for the way You’ve made us? For the   design of our life? Help us, Lord, to do  all things in working out our salvation,   all things, without complaining, with joy  and thankfulness that we might be children   that bring honor to their father, that we  might be shining lights in a dark world,   that we might bring eternal joy and rejoicing to  the heart of those who have labored in our behalf.   And we all, Father, have precious shepherds  who have given portions of their life for us,  

may we be faithful that they may come in the day  of Christ to see that their labor was not in vain.   Thank You, Lord, for all that You’re  doing in our congregation. Thank You   for the continually faithful way in which  You manifest Your grace to us. Forgive us   for our complaints and set our feet on the  path of obedience, for Christ’s sake. Amen. You've been listening to John MacArthur,  Bible teacher with Grace to You. For free   access to all of John's lessons and a listing  of Study Bibles and books available for sale,   visit Grace to You's website at gty.org.  John MacArthur and Grace to You reserve   all copyright protection under applicable  law. Our copyright policy is available at   gty.org and it includes instructions for and  limitations on duplicating this digital file.