Day 17 Philippians 2:14 (I don't wanna, but ya gotta!)

(so, try and live a life in accord with the Father as Jesus did. It will be impossible to do it to the same degree, but try! Life it out among yourselves. You are the pointers to what a life in community with the Lord is like!)
...so, in everything you do in life (yes folks, EVERYTHING!) you must do it completely divorced from petty behind-the-scenes-water-cooler-type-complaining or clever reasoning as to why you shouldn't do what you are being called to!

Back in seminary I had a friend named Claudia. She's an awesome woman of God with a gift of expressing the joy of Christ by her presence, even when she's having a tough day. We were in a preaching class together and our small group was working on how to preach the parables. We each took turns preaching to each other to gain feedback on how effectively we could communicate the truths in Scripture. She got up in front of us one night and began to preach on a passage calling the hearer to abandon everything to God...."and everything means EVERYTHING people! I looked it up in the Greek!" she exclaimed with her characteristic bright eyes and ear-to-ear-grin. There was no hint of anything but joy in her voice as she told us to leave it all behind.

And so Paul is doing the same to us in this passage. He's finished showing us the reason behind being humble: the newly defined way of discipleship as revealed through the actions of Jesus so as to prove to all corners of the universe that God has the final control. Now we are told to live it out and why. Our lives are to be an example to the rest of the world. Many times Christians will be the "only Jesus people will ever see". This can be frustrating! Often folks complain "I'm only human" or "I hate living life under a microscope!" but that's what's going to happen. Just as Paul says look at Jesus, Jesus says look at my people.

So Paul tells the Church to live out their salvation without complaining behind each others backs or petty reasoning. No compromise folks. We can't complain about the job, the driver in front of us, the government. AHHHHHHHH! Why? Because we are called to submit to the Father's will just like Jesus had. What happens in this world that is not under His will?

But Bryan, I hope some might say, aren't we called to test the spirits, help each other live accountable lives and beware of false prophets? Yes, we are. But we need to check out motivations at the door! Most times, if we are honest, we engage in self-justifying behavior just as the young man did in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We, life he did, want to justify ourselves, to prove our actions.

This passage clearly tells us that we can't but not to worry or try to justify ourselves. Can't. Cross did. So we can live it out without arguing or grumbling because God isn't justifying the world, He's redeeming it. So in the midst of it all, let God be God. Be still the Psalmist wrote. Be joyful in surrendering everything my friend pointed out, because Jesus did just that for us.

A final say here people: be merciful to yourself and full of grace on this one. Don't beat yourself up, but try your best. God's Word is a book about God being kind to the complainers! If you mess up go to the person and ask forgiveness of them and God. If you find yourself talking about people all the time go and reconcile to them or dig deep in yourself and ask if the problem isn't really with you. (most times it is)

Are there things you are talking about at the water cooler? Do people see you as a complainer or a truster? Are you really trusting or trying to appear like you are?