A 12 Point Cure for Complaining:
1. God commands me never to complain (Phil. 2:14).
2. God commands me to give thanks in every circumstance (1 Thes. 5:18).
3. God commands me to rejoice always, and especially in times of trial (1 Thes. 5:16; Jas. 1:2).
4. I always deserve much worse than what I am suffering now, in fact, I deserve hell (Lam. 3:39; Lk. 13:2-3).
5. In light of the eternal happiness and glory that I will experience in heaven, this present trial is extremely brief and insignificant, even if it were to last a lifetime (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:19).
6. My suffering is far less than that which Christ suffered, and He did not complain (1 Pet. 2:23).
7. To complain is to say God is not just (Gen. 18:25).
8. Faith and prayer exclude complaining (Psm. 34:4).
9. This difficulty is being used by God for my good and it is foolish for me to complain against it (Rom. 8:28).
10. Those more faithful than I have suffered far worse than I, and did so without complaint (Heb. 11:35-39).
11. Complaining denies that God’s grace is entirely sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).
12. The greatest suffering, the worst trial or difficulty, can never rob me of that which is of greatest value to me and my greatest joy, namely the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35-39).
A 12 Point Cure for Complaining, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Some would suggest that Jesus was “seeker sensitive” in that He worked His miracles in order to attract large crowds to which He could share the gospel. But in several passages it is plain this is not His motive: Mark 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, 30; and Luke 4:9-12 (and these are by no means exhaustive). Clearly, Christ did not intend these miraculous works for public exploitation. There is little to indicate Christ worked miracles in order to draw a crowd. He was opposed to selling the gospel by appealing to their love for the sensational. (See Jn. 2:23-25)… He sharply rebuked the five thousand for seeking Him for merely physical satisfaction. Jesus did not teach us to draw people to Him by appealing to their senses. Instead He claimed full responsibility for drawing all to Himself by way of the cross (Jn. 12:32); therefore, exalting Christ, "and Him crucified," is to be the primary object in worship, as well as evangelism. (See Rev. 5:8.)
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
For many churches, designing worship has become most closely associated with that which will best suit the attendees or best attract the hesitant church-
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
If we are obsessed with making our Christian worship comfortable and non offensive to those who hate Him, we are in danger of denying Him and His call to holy living. Are we justified in taking such a risk, only that we may not offend? Surely Christians are not to seek to offend, but Christ says those who follow Him will be offensive – it is unavoidable.
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
The act of purposefully designing worship to accomplish the goal of evangelism is without biblical precedent… We may worship through evangelism, but never are we instructed to evangelize through worship.
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Nobody loves the unbeliever more than Jesus. (Rom. 5:8) He is the true Seeker come to seek and save the lost. But Jesus was not "seeker sensitive" as the term is used today. There were many who came to Jesus only to be turned away because they had come for the wrong reason.
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Neither can we say the disciples were “seeker sensitive.” In Luke 10:10-16 Christ gave seventy of His most faithful followers specific instructions to symbolically “shake the dust from their feet” as a rebuke to those who do not accept the gospel. He doesn’t tell them to try a different method, revise their message, or buddy-up to the people in an effort to win them over. Instead they were to do exactly as Christ had commanded, preaching the gospel He had declared and ministering in His name, no matter what the result. And what about Paul? Hear again Galatians 1:10: “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Instead of seeking to be a people-pleaser, the true disciple, and thus the true worshipper, mirrors Christ’s uncompromising zeal to please the Father.
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
A church that seeks to look more and more like the world is in danger of presenting a God that is no longer holy because He is hardly discernible from the world.
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Worship is a holy expression before a holy God. To invite nonbelievers into such a holy process is a precarious thing, and to design worship in such a way as to accommodate their secular mindset is not only ineffective evangelism but also severely compromised worship.
The Sensitivity of True Worship, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.