Baseball is basically a no-contact sport. I can think of 2 exceptions. When players of the same team run into each other while chasing a fly ball. And when a runner is coming home only to be confronted by a catcher blocking home plate. But baseball is among the most whining, complaining, ill-tempered sports going. Every week you can see a player storm to the dug out and begin to take out his wrath on a water cooler and anything else within arm’s (or bat’s) reach. Complaining is part of the fabric of baseball.
Bitterness. Envy. Wrath. Complaining is as American as baseball, apple pie and mom. Sometimes the Lord’s work – His Church – suffers because people behave poorly.
1Cor. 10:10 “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.”
The children of Israel were delivered by God from Egyptian slavery. God took care of them, but they were dissatisfied. They wanted the food back in Egypt – evidently preferring good food and slavery to freedom and the food God provided.
Not much has changed really. Today, some Christians – freed from the slavery of sin by the blood of Christ – are unhappy with the Church, the Gospel, their local congregation, the preacher, the elders and brethren. They don’t like this. They complain of that. Like the Israelites of old they are full of murmuring.
Perhaps our democracy has ruined us to submit ourselves to each other as we really should. We want OUR way. We want everything done to suit OUR lifestyle. We want what WE want. We don’t much care what others want. We’re so focused on our desires that we grow angry sometimes when we don’t get our way. We often complain – sometimes with venomous demeanor. We sometimes behave as poorly as the baseball player or manager who throws a tantrum.
People murmur against God. They murmur against His leaders, elders. They murmur against one another. It has been so for centuries. God was often the focal point of murmuring, but Moses and Aaron (and other leaders) were, too. Brethren murmured against each other.
What does it mean to murmur?
To grumble or complain.
John 6:43 “Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.”
That doesn’t stop Christians from complaining and murmuring. Against each other. Against elders or leaders. Against teachers. Against preachers. Against God.
The Hebrew writer made this declaration about elders who faithfully serve in the Lord’s Church.
Heb. 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
This passage implies one central issue behind all complaining and murmuring in the Church – a lack of respect.
When people have insufficient respect for God, they’ll be tempted to complain against Him. When people have insufficient respect for God’s Word, they’ll be tempted to complain against it. When people have insufficient respect for faithful gospel preachers, they’ll be tempted to murmur against them. When people have insufficient respect for faithful leaders, they’ll be tempted to complain or murmur against them. When people have insufficient respect for each other, they’ll complain or murmur against each other.
An interesting fact of murmuring and complaining is that there is no biblical evidence that it accomplishes anything other than death for the complainant. Death. That seems a severe penalty for what so many freely engage in, but Christians who devote themselves to the practice will find themselves weighed and found wanting at Judgment. God will not tolerate disrespect.
Exercise care to protect yourself against murmuring and complaining. Take care to show proper respect to God and those who faithfully conduct the Lord’s business. Examine yourself. Walk in the Faith.
