Philippians 4:8 July 1, 2012

First Baptist Church Jackson, Mississippi USA

THINKING ON GODLY VIRTUES

Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Copyright © 1992 by Chariot Victor Publishing, an imprint of Cook Communication Min.

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2007.

Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”(4:8)

The word “finally” indicates that Paul has arrived at the climax of his teaching on spiritual stability.

The principle of: “dwell on these things” is both the summation of all the others and the key to implementing them.

The phrase - “dwell on these things” -introduces an important truth: spiritual stability is a result of how a person thinks.

Romans 12:22“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what

the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Romans 12:2

The imperative form of logizomai(log-id'-zom-ahee) “dwell on” makes it a command; proper thinking is not optional in the Christian life.

Logízomai (the root of the English term “logical") – to take into account; to come to a "bottom-line”; to reason to a logical conclusion (decision).

“dwell on” means more than just entertaining thoughts, it means: "to seriously evaluate”, "to thoroughly calculate” or"to strongly consider”.

We as believers are “to consider” the qualities Paul lists in this verse and meditate on their implications.

The verb form of “dwell on” calls for habitual discipline of the mind to set all thoughts on these spiritual virtues continually.

The Bible leaves no doubt that people's lives are the product of their thoughts. *Proverbs 23:7 declares: "For as a man thinks within himself, so he is."

The modern counterpart to that proverb is the computer acronym GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out

Just as a computer's output is dependent on the information that is input, so people's actions are the result of their thinking.

Jesus expressed that truth in Mark 7:20-23: "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the

(garbage out) evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and

foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

Mark 7:20-23

“What is down in the well comes up in the bucket.”

Paul's call for Biblical thinking is especially relevant in our culture. *The wrong focus today is on emotion and pragmatism, and the

importance ofserious thinking about Biblical truth is downplayed.

People no longer ask: "Is it true?" but

1"Does it work?" and

2"How will it make me feel?"

Those latter two questions serve as a working definitionof truth in our society that rejects the concept of absolute divine truth (the Bible).

John 6:63 63 “It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Truth is wrongly thought of as whatever works and produces positive emotions. *Sadly, such pragmatism and emotionalism has crept even into the Church.

Some churches are often more concerned about whether something will be politically correct than whether it is Biblically true.

Such a perspective is far different from the noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true, not whether it fit in.

Acts 17:11“the Bereans received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Too many people go to church not to think or reason about the truths of Scripture, but to get their weekly spiritual high; to feel good about themselves.

Such people are spiritually unstable because they base their lives on feeling rather than on thinking.

Bill Hull writes,

“What scares me is the anti-intellectual, anti-critical-thinking philosophy that has spilled over into the Church.

This philosophy tends to romanticize the faith, making the local church into an experience center. . . . Their concept of "church" is that they are spiritual

consumers and that the church's job is to meet their felt needs.” (Right Thinking [Colorado Springs, Colo:NavPress, 1985], 66).

Philippians 4:1919“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

John Stott also warned of the danger of Christians living by their feelings: "Indeed, sin has more dangerous effects on our feeling than on our thinking,

because our opinions are more easily checked and regulated by revealed truth than our experiences" (Your Mind Matters[Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity,1972].

God commands people to think.

*He said to rebellious Israel, "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isa 1:18).

Jesus chided the unbelieving Pharisees and Sadducees for demanding a miraculous sign from Him. *Instead, He challenged them to think and draw

inferences from the evidence they had, just as they did to predict the weather (Matt 16:1-3):“Red sky at morning”…Discern the signs of the time

Hebrews 11:1 KJV 1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

God gave us His revelation in the Bible and expects us to use our minds to understand His truths. *Careful thinking is the mark of the Christian faith.

Paul called for believers to "set their minds on the things above, not on the things that are on earth" (Col 3:2).

More than a dozen times in his epistles Paul asked his readers, "Do you not know?" *The apostle expected believers to think and

evaluate.

*Believers must discipline their spiritually sensitive minds to think about right spiritual realities.

In this brief list, Paul catalogues eight godly virtues to concentrate on:truth, honor, righteousness, purity, lovely things, things of good repute, excellence,

and things worthy of praise.

The Word of God is the repository of what is true.

*In His High Priestly Prayer Jesus said to the Father, "Your word is truth" Jn 17:17.

In Psalm 19:9 David wrote, "The judgments of the Lord are true," *while Psalm 119:151 adds, "All Your commandments are truth."

The Bible is true because the "God of truth" (Ps 31:5; Isa 65:16; Eph 4:21) inspired it. *Thinking on whatever is true means reading,

analyzing, and meditating on the Word of God. *The remaining seven virtuous categories of thought are all based on the truth of God's Word.

All seven of them are ways to view the truths of Scripture. *When a dentist takes out a tooth, he wants to get it all out but leave the bone alone.

So at the dental school we tell the students during an extraction:“What we want is the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth.”

Second, believers are to think on whatever is honorable, whatever is noble, dignified, and worthy of respect.

Semnos (honorable) comes from a word meaning "to revere," or "to worship." *In its other New Testament uses, it describes the dignified lifestyle required

of deacons (1 Tim 3:8), deaconesses (1 Tim 3:11), and older men (Titus 2:2). *Believers must not think on what is trivial, temporal, mundane, common, and

earthly, but rather on what is heavenly, and so worthy of awe, adoration, and praise. All that is true in God's Word is honorable.

Third, believers are to think on whatever is right.

*Dikaios (right) is an adjective, and should be translated "righteous."

It describes whatever is in perfect harmony with God's eternal, unchanging standards, again as revealed in Scripture.

Believers are to think on matters that are consistent with the law of God.

just – right towards others.

Psalm 19:8a

8 “The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;”

9 “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;The judgments of the LORD are true;They are righteous altogether.” Psalm 19:9

Dwell on things that are:1 true 2 honorable 3 righteousness4 pure

Fourth, believers are to think on whatever is pure. *Hagnos (pure) describes what God in Scripture defines as holy, morally clean, and undefiled.

In 1 Tim 5:22 it says:  ”Keep yourself free from sin (pure).” *Believers are to purify themselves because Jesus Christ is pure (1 John 3:3).

pure -- "chaste," in relation to ourselves.

Psalm 19:8b

“The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”

Fifth, believers are to think on whatever is lovely.

*Prosphiles (lovely) appears only here in the New Testament.

It could be translated "sweet," "gracious," "generous," or "patient." *Believers must focus their thoughts on what the Bible says is pleasing, attractive,

and amiable before God. lovely -- lovable

Sixth, believers are to think on whatever is of good report.

*Euphemos appears only here in the New Testament.

It describes what is highly regarded or well thought of.

*Believers' thoughts are elevated by Scripture to fix on the loftiest themes.

As "lovely" refers to what is lovable face to face,of good report is referring to the absent (Php 1:27).

Philippians 1:27 27 “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear

of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel;”

Philippians 1:27

The seventh virtue: praise -- whatever is praiseworthy; not that Christians should make man's praise their aim but they should live so as to deserve men's praise.

The eighth virtue is to dwell on -- have a continual regard to, so as to "do" these things(Philippians 4:9) whenever the occasion arises.

In summary, Paul exhorts, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. *The key to godly living is godly thinking.