Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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WHEN THINGS DON’T GO OUR WAY.
We all know what it is like to not have things go the way we think that they should go.
It happens all the time.
It is a natural part of life.
If you have never had something not go the way you wanted it to go then we need you to share with us the secret to that kind of living.
We all know what it is like to not have things go our way.
This is easy to admit and no great revelation to anybody hearing this message today.
I brought this issue up because the real problem is not in how things do not go our way.
The problem is how we respond when things do not go our way.
When things do not go our way our default response is to complain.
We complain when the whether does not acomodate our plans.
We complain when a server doesn’t refill our drinks in a timely manner.
We complain when our bosses and/or coworkers are not doing as we think they should.
We complain about people, politics and even our churches when they are not doing as we think they should.
Complaining has become so commonplace in our lives that some have labeled it as our “national pass time” and complaining has become so common that many think that it is a God given right.
If we had a whiteboard up here and I asked everybody in this room to list one thing that we know to be a sin according to the Scriptures, I’m not sure that complaining would make that list.
That is how common complaining is.
Regardless of its frequency, God is not a fan of complaining from His people.
Today we are going to see how God, in preparing His people to experience life with Him, responds to His people when they begin to complain about His sovereignty and providence.
Our time will be shaped by three things today.
First, we are doing to see the power of complaining.
Second, we are going to see the consequences of complaining.
Third, we are going to see God’s remedy for complainers.
COMPLAINING IN THE CAMP: As we reflect upon this experience in the lives of God’s people as recorded here in the Scriptures I think we can all connect with the complaining that is revealed to us.
First, by way of introduction, we are told that God’s people were complaining about their hardships in the Lord’s hearing.
We get this feeling that, much like today, complaining about life had become a “national pass time” for the Israelites much like it has become a “national pass time” today.
As we continued reading, we find that the general attitude of the whole produced a specific demographic of people that the Scriptures identify as being riff-raff/contemptible/rabble depending on your translation.
This is the only place in all the Scriptures that we find this particular word used and that contributes to the different words/phrases used to convey the meaning of it.
At the end of the day, what we can be certain about is that those who are chronic complainers certainly do not find favor in the eyes of God.
GOD’S RESPONSE TO COMPLAINING.
So the issue of complaining by the people, if we are honest, is not the real striking/standout issue of this passage.
This is because we know what it is like to offer up our own complaints.
We know what it is like to live in a world where complaining is a cultural norm.
We even know what it is like to experience those who are chronic complainers.
They are never happy unless they are unhappy about something with which they can complain.
Therefore, this isn’t the real striking thing about this passage.
The thing that stands out so much is God’s response to the complaining.
We find that God responds to His people’s complaining in a very serious way whenever He sent fire to rage among them.
The dichotomy that exists between the commonness of complaining and the seemingly uncommonness of God’s response to complaining begs us to consider why God responds the way He does to complaining by His people.
The answer, I think, lies in what complaining reveals:
COMPLAINING REVEALS A LACK OF TRUST AND CONTENTMENT IN GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
COMPLAINING REVEALS
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