Quit complaining about each other

Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! – James 5.9

I like this English word ‘grumble.’ It verges on being onomatopoeic. Think about what it is like when we grumble. It involves groaning and sighing and mumbling. I wonder if the word is a combination of groaning and mumbling? It comes from a Middle French word meaning ‘to mutter between the teeth’ and that really seems to give the sense of the Greek word here. 

Grumbling of any kind is bad enough. Grumbling always expresses a spirit of discontent. It means that that we are not happy with the way things are. The Bible tells us that we should do all things we do without murmuring or complaining, or using this word – grumbling. 

Grumbling is an awful thing. We hate it when our children or grandchildren do it and correct them for their attitude. 

How much more must God dislike it. 

The grumbling here is especially bad. James warns against grumbling about each other. It is so bad that we are even warned about the danger of judgement. Now we know that this judgement is not regarding our eternity, but there is a sense where God does judge His children. In Hebrews we read about how God chastens His children to produce works of righteousness. There are only a few passages where God addresses this kind of judgement. 

The church’s key trademark is love. Love and grumbling about each other are not compatible. It is a sad day when we see the church at war with itself with its members bickering and fighting and grumbling and complaining about each other. There is no room for it. God hates it. It will bring God’s chastening. Let’s just stop it.