Dec. 14, 2025 | Word Out!
Download the Bulletin from December 14, 2025
Sermon – Pastor Dan Peterson
Stop Complaining!
December 14, 2025
READINGS
First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-10
1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and shouting.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.]]
3 Strengthen the weak hands
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp;
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Second Reading: James 5:7-10
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Brothers and sisters, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What, then, did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written,
’See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
11 “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Sermon:
Grace to you, and peace, from God, the source of life, and from Jesus, who is that light and life in the world. Amen.
“Stop complaining.”
This sounds harsh, but it’s not coming from me. It’s in our Second Reading for today, taken from the letter of James. There, James advises his readers toward the end of the first century on how to wait for the coming of the Lord. This is why this reading was selected for the season of Advent, as we wait for the birth of Christ.
So, what does James advise in this letter? How do we wait? As I read it, James offers four pieces of advice on how to wait for the coming of the Lord. First, he says, “Be patient.” He compares waiting to that of a farmer who waits patiently for the crops in his or her field to grow.
Second, he says, “Strengthen your heart.” By that, I assume he means be encouraged by the word. Encourage others in the Word. And when you find yourself discouraged, pray to God through the Word.
He offers next the example of the prophets, who were masters of waiting for the redemption promised them, which came about from an early Christian perspective, in the person of Jesus Christ.
And finally, he says, “Stop grumbling against others.” Stop grumbling amongst yourselves; or more broadly, “Stop grumbling against your neighbor.” As Paul says, “With regard to our community, faith, be of one in the mind of Christ Jesus.” Stop grumbling against others.
And I want to pause here and conduct a brief, unofficial, unscientific, unacademic survey. How many of you, by a show of hands, feel there is too much complaining out there, that people complain, about others in particular, too much? Raise your hand. Okay, that’s a pretty clear majority.
Now, let’s take a step back for a moment, a moment of introspection. How many of you include yourselves in that category? That is, the category of people who complain about others too much?
That’s really interesting. You thought confession was at the beginning of the service, but it’s right here: all of us, or at least most of us, feel we complain too much about other people.
Now the last question is this, how many of you believe that complaining about others is a bad thing, according to the Bible? Raise your hand. That’s good. You heard the Second Lesson.
Now before I give a fuller answer to that question, that is, the question about whether complaining about others is a bad thing according to the Bible, I’d like to offer a couple of disclaimers. First, I would distinguish “venting frustration” from what James calls grumbling against your neighbor. If your knee is in pain, you have every right to vent frustration. If somebody bothers you at work, you have every right to vent frustration. Doing so is healthy, as long as it’s with a person you trust and hopefully in confidence. We all need to vent, sometimes. We all experience pain, in one sort or another. We all find it difficult sometimes to be with others, whether they’re classmates in school or co-workers at a job. To vent frustration can be, and is part of being, a human being. It’s not the same thing, I believe, as what James is calling grumbling against others.
Second, I would distinguish honest prayer from grumbling against your neighbor. The Bible allows for the honest expression of struggles with God, and prayer, and protest, as they occur in the broader context of faith. How many of you, for example, have read the Book of Job? That’s more than 20 chapters of Job complaining, and if you read it, he has good reason to! Job loses his children, he loses his home and livestock, and he loses his health, sitting in ashes. He has, in that context, every right as a faithful servant of Yahweh to complain to God. That is part of what faith is, a trusting relationship, whereby God is big enough to receive our justified complaints.
This is also the case among some of the prophets who complain about God, or who ask the question as to why God has abandoned them, or why God, to use a common Biblical expression, has hidden God’s face. And of course, we see this kind of honest prayer also in the Psalms, where the various authors of these writings, complain to God that God is not present in a way that would be helpful. That’s the second qualification.
The third disclaimer I would offer is this: in some cases, grumbling and complaining is just really funny. It can be elevated to an art form. How many of you have heard of the show Pawn Stars on the History Channel? A few of you. Well, you know that there’s a character who goes by the name of The Old Man who has elevated complaining to an art form, and it’s such a joy to watch. Some of you may recall the series Seinfeld; Jerry Stillers’ character elevated complaining to an art form. It was beautiful.
And of course, if you’ve ever met my dad, you will know that complaining there has been elevated to an art form, and his son is just as guilty of it as he is. In fact, at my memorial and at my dad’s memorial, I’m willing to bet that there will be nobody who ever says, “He never complained.” We both do, and it can, in some cases, be funny.
So, is complaining or grumbling about others, these disclaimers set aside, a bad thing according to the Bible? Well, as you can guess from our Second Reading, it is. Take a look at verse 9. James writes, “Brothers and sisters, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See the judges standing at the doors.”
Now, why would James say something like this? Because James knows that in the context of fellowship and Christian community, complaining against one another can be divisive. Complaining about other people in the midst of the church can be contagious. Think about it: when you grumble against or complain about another person in the church, behind their back, then others, without reason, might do the same.
The better path is to do as Jesus recommends, to talk with that person, if possible, to try to resolve whatever the issue is. And if that doesn’t work, Jesus advises, involve a third person. This is what happens when Jesus says, in Matthew 18, “When two or more gather in my name, I am there with them.” He’s talking about when two or more gather in his name to resolve conflict within the church. So in that instance, what he’s saying is that it is better to express your concerns to somebody else, first to them directly, and if that is not helpful, then with another person, to resolve conflicts within the church.
Now, as your pastor, I realize and confess that sometimes it is hard for me to hear complaints. I’m an Aries. Aries are never good at hearing complaints, but I have worked on that, and what I try to do first and foremost is listen to what the other person says; repeat back to them their concern; and then give myself some time to think about it. And I’m still working on that. Sometimes the temptation is to argue immediately, or defend myself.
I think that’s true for all of us, but I think at the same time, I would rather know if someone has an issue with something I said or did directly, hopefully constructively, than to hear it by way of gossip coming from others. And I think all of us are like that; as long as it’s done constructively, all of us would rather know if somebody has a problem with us than to be talked about behind our backs.
Not saying that’s a pervasive problem here, but it’s always good to be on the lookout for that, to watch for it. Now, there are nearly a dozen other passages against grumbling in the New Testament. I’d like to cite a couple and then offer a suggestion for how we can, if we wish, complain or grumble less.
Consider 1 Peter 4: “Be hospitable,” the author writes, “to one another without complaining, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” Philippians 2: Paul writes, “Do all things without murmuring or arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent and shine like stars in the world.”
1 Corinthians 10: Paul writes, “And do not complain, as some of our ancestors did and were destroyed by the destroyer.”
Why? Because grumbling before God expresses ingratitude for all the good things God has provided. It undermines, as I’ve said, Christian community and fellowship, and it gives a poor witness to others, that is, people outside the church. It prevents us, as Paul says, from “shining like stars in the world” and offering an alternative to a complaining, addicted culture.
So how, knowing why Biblical authors discourage grumbling against one another or to God, can we avoid it, or at least do less of it? Well, let me suggest three things, and I need to hear these as much as any of you, whenever you feel the temptation to grumble against your neighbor.
First, give thanks. Give thanks to God for something good in your life.
Next, pray. “Cast your anxiety onto the Lord,” as 1 Peter says; express your feelings directly to God.
Third, trust in God’s goodness, knowing that even though God’s will is sometimes thwarted, sometimes frustrated, God wants what is good for you, and for me, and for us in fellowship. As Jesus says in John 10:10, “I came that they may have abundant life.” Or, as Irenaeus, the second century theologian, writes, “The glory of God is the human being fully alive.”
Complaining less is part of what it means to live the life God intended; to live the abundant life, to be freed of the addiction of complaining about others.
So what do we do? What do we do if, as most of you, like me, want to complain less, either about the world or about others? Well, when we hear ourselves grumbling against our neighbor, we have two choices.
If it’s really bugging us, we can talk to that person—assuming that person is trustworthy—or risking the possibility, perhaps, in some cases, if not.
And second, in the meantime, and this is my favorite thing to do, we can change the subject by converting grumbling into gratitude! Instead of complaining, in other words, we can focus on one thing for which we are grateful. And my God, there are so many things for which we should be grateful. You and I—to quote the atheist Richard Dawkins, and again, to quote another atheist, Sam Harris, as well as a plethora of theologians throughout the history of the Christian faith—you and I won the cosmic lottery simply by the fact that we’re alive. The odds of your existence, and mine, are trillions to one! Give thanks to God for life! Give thanks to God for food, for the shelter that you have, for the health care you and I receive, for the fellowship we have in the body of Christ, and, most importantly, for God’s love, for Jesus’s compassion, which we’ll sing about in our Hymn of the Day.
Now obviously, none of us can eliminate grumbling altogether. We are, after all, only human. But if you, like me, would like to hear less of it or do less of it, then when you find yourself grumbling, change the subject by converting grumbling to gratitude.
I used to have a relative in my extended family who, whenever I would see her, always complained about somebody else in the family. Do you know how tiring it was to hear that person? You know how ironic it is I’m complaining about her right now?
I mean, my gosh, there is so much more to life than grumbling against your neighbor. And all of us know how exhausting it can be when we do it ourselves, or especially when we find ourselves around somebody who does it incessantly.
So, in those moments, I invite you to change the subject by converting grumbling to gratitude. Think of something for which you are grateful, so that you can be released. And this is the good news: released gradually, freed from grumbling by giving thanks for something good to God.
Because in the end, all of Christian life is two things: God’s grace and our gratitude.
So, let’s stop grumbling, let’s give thanks, and let’s hope, as we wait patiently, with the audience of James, for the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.