Philippians 2:14

Murmuring is completely foreign to a servant's true character. He ought to accept his Master's will with prompt willingness. And once the Master has made His will known, reasonings about the advantages or disadvantages of obedience can only show treachery against Him. The Master, not the servant, is the judge of what is suitable.

What can more quickly produce disunity among the saints than murmuring? Working out this salvation depends on keeping unity. Murmuring would bring in a spirit of disunity at once. The other thing Paul warns us against is disputings, a word which means to reason or argue. We are not asked to reason things out, but in faith to obey.

We murmur at a thousand things in our lot, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness. By doing so we question the care, the love, and the wisdom of Him who orders all our path. We lose the blessed sense of His presence with us. As a result, we become easy prey to the suggestions and temptations of the enemy. That is why disputings or reasonings are also mentioned. The moment unbelief wins, so that we walk by sight, reasoning takes the place of faith. There is nothing so destructive of confidence in God as a questioning mind.

These murmurings and disputings are truly the little foxes that spoil the vines! And more than that, the connection here is very serious. We must avoid these things so that we may be blameless and harmless, which we never are when we fall into murmurings and disputings. It is not too much to say this: nothing dishonours the name of Christ more, nothing contradicts our character as God's children more. And yet they are so common that little is thought about it. But how could I murmur, if I have any sense of the Father's care and love? How could I be disputing, if I know my place as a child with the Father? No; both of them give a false picture of the grace of God.

Believers are themselves marked out as "of God," and if the Spirit leads them, they do their works in Him, and in His own manner. But God neither murmurs nor disputes. His patience is salvation, and His words are peace to those whom His goodness is now leading to repentance... A grudging spirit will be far from anyone who remembers how freely he has himself received.

We are vessels of God's power against Satan. Here I am, standing in Christ's name in Satan's world! God works in me. But this makes it only more serious still: I should not fail. Before God we never murmur, never dispute. If we saw God, there would not be one murmur, one dispute; and faith realises His presence.

It is a description that might almost do for Christ Himself, so high is the standard for those who belong to Christ. Christ was blameless in the highest sense, and His ways were harmless... Christ shone as the true light in the world — the light of life. He held it forth; more than that, He was it.