Creekside Church Sermon of October 10, 1999 "The Power of Negative Thinking" Philippians 2:1-4, 14-16, 4:8-9	Rev. David Bibbee
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Know anybody like this? How long can you stand to be around them? The total negativity of this cabby might seem extreme, but all of us know people who bear a resemblance to him. You work with them, worship with them, live with them...some of us see them in the mirror every day. They are not bad people. They are often very fine, Christian people, but are susceptible to slipping down a slope of negativism which colors their outlook and has an impact on those around them.

Today I want you to reflect with me on the power of negative thinking. I know that Norman Vincent Peale made his mark selling Christians on the power of positive thinking, but it's negative thinking that concerns me today. Did it ever occur to you that the negative is stronger than the positive? The negative can weigh things down and tear things down faster than the positive can build them up, and my specific concern is the detrimental impact that negative thought is having on our church.

I want my remarks to be kind, but I also must be candid about a contagious spirit of negativity which has been spreading. We are in need of an inoculation from our Lord because left unchecked, negativity is a spirit killer. Before I go further I want you to know that when I say "you", I include me. I acknowledge my own weakness in this respect. I am susceptible to negative thinking and if I am not careful, can contribute to the problem. And a quick word to our visitors today-I want you to know that this is a good and gifted church. The love of Jesus is very present here in the many expressions of compassionate care and concern. But like everyone needs a visit to the doctor for a regular check-up, from time to time churches need check-ups also and must eliminate certain things from the daily diet to improve spiritual health.

The apostle Paul shared compassionate counsel in his letter to the Philippian church. He understood that one of the greatest dangers to the church he planted wasn't external, but internal. The danger is disunity. Elkhart City isn't the church of David or Don or Debbie. It is the church of Jesus Christ. We see things differently, but we are to be of the same mind in Christ, having the same love, being of one accord, as Paul puts it. To be a Christian is to be humble and not insist on having our own way. The church is not about us, but Him.

The seeds of disunity are very tiny. They hardly seem like much at all at the time. Just a comment here, a little criticism there but it has a cumulative effect. Sometimes we get pleasure from adding to it. "I hear you didn't care much for the hymn selection last week. Well, me neither, and we're not alone." It's like the two birds sitting on a pine bough during a snowstorm speculating on how many snowflakes it would take to break the bough. Certainly it would take millions, but while they speculated, the branch snapped beneath them. They concluded it didn't take millions, it took just one flake. One added to all the others was all it took. So it goes with complaints and criticism.

"Do all things without grumbling or questioning," Paul said. Grumbling is a descriptive word. Paul picked it intentionally. It is related to the word murmur. While the children roamed in the wilderness, the Bible says they murmured against Moses. It means a "low, threatening, discontented muttering." As Paul uses the word here, it means useless, ill-tempered disputing and doubting. "Go about the business of living in the midst of a crooked generation, shining like the lights of Christ you are. You are the children of God. You must be without blemish." And nothing blemishes the body of Christ and renders it unattractive like grumbling.

I have to tell you, I've been saddened by the drone of comments I hear in the hallways and committee meetings of the church. Too many of our conversations are prefaced with, "We can't." "We won't." "We shouldn't." "We musn't." "We aren't." "We can't afford a new building or even the land to put it on. No one will support it." "We aren't going to change locations. "There's no point in asking people to help with this project. They're all too busy." "I don't know why we're going to all the trouble with this service. We tried it once before and nobody came." "We've asked everyone we know to serve, and they all say, 'no.'" I have sat in meetings where there is a wonderful exchange of exciting ideas and just when something concrete is about to be born, someone throws cold water on it. "It's an interesting idea, but here are all the reason it won't fly, and besides, it's not what I need." Enthusiasm duly squashed. Meeting adjourned.

We don't give much thought to our comments and attitudes. But we need to be aware of them because negative thinking is like cigarette smoke. If you're in a room with smokers, you stink. Negative attitudes, like smoke, clings to you. If you're around it enough you'll start spreading it.

The staff have become lightening rods for criticism and gloomy outlooks and I speak for them all when I say it's a downer. We must always listen to the valid concerns clothed in negative feelings, but I think there ought to be a limited tolerance for attitudes which do not contribute to honoring God and sharing Christ. "Do all things without grumbling. If we are not careful, we can lose sight of those things in our midst which are good and right and a foundation to built upon. And there is an even greater reason for protecting the positive perspective. Someone put it like this, "The constant clang of the riveting machine of dissatisfaction shuts the still small voice of God."

Jesus said we live by every word which comes from the mouth of God, but we can be deaf to his words because of the grumbling words of "our" mouths.

Our secretary, Denise, said that in addition to the spell checker and grammar checker on her office computer she wished Bill Gates would add an attitude checker...some technology which would highlight and call our attention to negative thoughts so we could state things in a better way. But that has already been done for us. In Philippians chapter 4, Paul is drawing his letter to a close. He has given them practical counsel on what Christian obedience and maturity is all about, and in 4: 8 he pulls it all together with the positive component to his admonition against grumbling:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, honorable, and just, whatever is pure, lovely, and gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, Think About These Things.

Think about these things. If you're going to think about something, Paul says, fill your thoughts with something good. Don't dwell on all that's wrong. Paul wants us to realize how influential our thoughts can be. The more you think about something the more it possesses you. We become what we think.

My mentor in ministry liked to tell about a sign posted at the start of an unpaved Iowa road. The road had a series of deep ruts worn in it from all the traffic that had gone that way. Underneath the names of the towns and the mileage to each there was this warning, "Choose your rut carefully, you'll be in it for the next forty miles." Choose your ruts and choose your thoughts well. Conversion starts with your thinking. The biblical word for conversion, metanoia, literally means "to change the mind." This was what was behind Paul's plea, "I appeal to you, be transformed by the renewal of your minds." And again in Philippians, "Have this mind in you which is yours in Christ Jesus."

Life is too precious and the ministry entrusted to us too important to wallow in negativity. I like the approach advocated by a pastor who claims that the negative is three times more powerful than the positive, therefore there is a rule for every meeting in his church-three positive statements must be made before the mention of one negative. I think we should put this in our church constitution. What sort of effect do you suppose it would have if we would look for the positives rather than the negatives which put stifling weight upon us.

Whatever is pure, lovely, gracious; if there is any excellence or anything worthy of praise think about these things. It's not a matter of "if" these positives are present. They are always present in Jesus. Those good things of Jesus are among us in this body of believers and if we would dwell more upon them, the God of peace will be with us.

There is an image that might be helpful to us here which underscores our need to accentuate the positive. I read about an old-time practice among western ranchers for dealing with rambunctious steers. They used a "gentling burrow." A little burrow was tied to a much larger steer, then both were let go. The two creatures would disappear in a cloud of dust with the steer running, bucking, snorting, and doing everything it could to get rid of the burrow. (Someone call the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Donkeys, please!) But after a few days came an amazing sight. The two would return, usually with the little burrow leading a now docile steer behind it.

Negative thinking and behaving is more powerful than the positive. But we are converted when we tether positive, constructive, Christ-like thoughts and gentling actions to what we do. "Do everything without grumbling." Let those who buck, snort, and stomp be aware they are tied to the one who is always there; one whose patience and positive persistence can change them, and in the process, change the church.

There is no such thing as a negative church. If negativity rules in a church, it ceases to be a church. Remember...nothing positive for God can be built on negative emotion.

So in the practical spirit of Philippians, I want to leave you with a piece I have been trying to find for several years. I finally found it in my files this week, and I interpret the discovery to mean I should share it with you now. It was written by Cardinal Cushing and declares the terms which are profoundly simple and yet absolutely essential if we are to change:

If all the sleeping folks will wake up,
And all the lukewarm folks will fire up,
And all the dishonest folks will fess up,
And all the disgruntled folks will sweeten up,
And all the discouraged folks will cheer up,
And all the depressed folks will look up,
And all the estranged folks will make up,
And all the gossipers will shut up,
And all the dry bones will shake up,
And all the true soldiers will stand up,
And all the church members will pray up,
And the savior of all is lifted up-THEN
You can have the world's greatest renewal.

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