- July 22, 2020
To the saints at Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon:
Greetings in the noble name of Jesus our Lord!
Last week I wrote about spiritual warfare from Ephesians 6, and then I spoke about the weapons of our warfare on Facebook Saturday night. Make no mistake, we are in a war for the souls of men and women—and for our own souls as well. We need to walk as Jesus walked. This warfare is of a mental and spiritual nature. We have to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ while demolishing arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. I would say that these are thoughts that come to us from the outside—interjected into our thought life by the enemy of our souls. So we shouldn’t occupy ourselves with them, but rather take them captive when they come. That would be a good defense for us. But there is some offense to be had as well. What kind of thought life should we nurture? If we are going to entertain some thoughts in this spiritual warfare… what kind of thoughts should we be thinking? The Bible gives us a clue in Philippians 4:8-9:
“8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
In the final remarks of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he had already told them to rejoice in the Lord, to let their gentleness be evident to all. Do not be anxious about anything but to pray in every situation. As a result, Paul says, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,” vs. 7. What more could be said, because that just about covers it all! It is at this point that we read about this offensive approach to our thought life that is so important. That is why Paul says, “Finally,” It is the last thing in the list, and some would say this is the most important idea that he wants to convey to them in his imprisonment. It has to do with going on offense with our thinking. We are to direct our minds and not simply let them wander. Our thoughts are to be disciplined FOR Christ.
Many view Christianity to be about feelings, and how this is a subjective experience for individuals. Yes it does include our feelings, and there is a place for that—but Christianity is about objective truth. We are to think critically about truth! Yes there is truth in this world even when many say “there is no truth.” To say there is no truth, or that truth is simply relative to each person is a lie from Satan and that falsehood needs to be taken captive to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus declared that God’s word is true, John 17:17. David in Psalm 19:9 writes that “the judgments of the Lord are true.” We read in Psalm 119:151 that “all your commands are true.” Jesus Himself declared that “[He is] the truth,” John 14:6. So we as believers should think about what is TRUE. The word “true” has many meanings. Truth includes facts and statements that are 1. in accordance with reality (not lies, rumors, or embellishments); 2. sincere (not deceitful or with evil motives); and 3. loyal, faithful, proper, reliable, and genuine. Truth is a characteristic of God. Truth lines up with reality and it does not change—like the simplicity of 2 plus 2 equals 4 every time. Falsehoods change—but not the truth. Romans 3:4 declares, “Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.’” This is like the difference between Barnabas who gave all that he received from his land—and Annanias who said that he gave all of the money for his land to the church. Barnabas thought about what was true and that is what he did. Annanias thought about what was simply true for him. Let me also remind you that the gospel is true. These are the things we are to disciple our thought life with—the truth of God.
Next Paul says we are to think about whatever is noble, (some translations: honorable). The Bible says we are to think about matters that are worthy of respect, dignified, and exalted in character or excellence. It is the difference between serious and frivolous thoughts. There is a place for frivolous—don’t get me wrong. Sometimes we need a little fun in our lives—but there is a difference if we go to seed on frivolous. Take Moses and Aaron in Exodus 32 for example. Moses occupied himself contemplating God and the giving of the 10 Commandments to the people of God. While he was away on the mountain receiving the law from God—Aaron was down in the valley with the people. Their thinking was that this guy Moses wasn’t coming back so they decided to collect some gold and make a calf idol. Aaron should have been contemplating the greatness of God and His ability to deliver the people of God from Pharaoh—how much more could He deliver Moses from harm? Instead—Aaron contemplates with the people about making a golden calf? Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” vs. 21. The people didn’t do anything to Aaron—Aaron simply failed to discipline his mind on the noble things of God.
Next we are to think about whatever is right (or just). This word means that our thoughts and plans are to conform to God’s standards of rightness. Do they reflect the truth of God? Now this standard of rightness happens to be God’s standard of rightness—not simply what we want to have happen. In our fallenness we often cherish the idea that somebody who did us wrong will get it back twice as much as us. Our own righteousness in short doesn’t mirror God’s righteousness—and this is the standard we should contemplate. It has a way of refocusing our own judgmentalism. That’s why Jesus told us to take the log out of our own eye before we help our brother with the splinter with the speck in his eye. Contemplating God’s standards helps us with this. Consider these two men who sat in judgment of Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea and Pontius Pilate. Joseph was part of the Sanhedrin who counted Jesus worthy of death but Joseph spoke up for him. In the end he repented and followed Jesus and had him buried in his own tomb. Pontius Pilate sat in judgment of Jesus and deemed him not worthy of death—yet had him executed out of expediency. Joseph thought about what was right while Pilate thought about what was easiest for himself.
Now we come to the word: pure. The word pure means that it is to be free from contamination or blemish; unmixed and unmodified; and to be wholesome. Cultivating a thought life like that takes work—especially with all the media around us that suggests just the opposite. In other words we are to fill our thought life with moral thoughts instead of immoral thoughts. Many really struggle with this, especially with so much pornography available online. Many are caught in this secret trap. There is addictive power to impurity because sexual sins can easily take our soul captive—even for people you would never suspect. James talks about this addictive cycle in his book, chapter 1, verse 14-15 saying: “But each person is tempted when they are dragged away (taken captive) by their own evil desire (it is already in them) and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived (the sinful thought in us), it gives birth to sin (the action itself); and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (we can’t escape it).” King David let himself slip in this area that night on his rooftop. Had he disciplined his mind to think about pure things he would not have fell into sin with Bathsheba. Uriah was more pure than David. Even when David got him drunk and tried to make him go home to his wife—Uriah wouldn’t. On Uriah’s mind was his pure devotion to King David and the Lord’s Army that was out in the field. To cover up David’s dilemma he had Uriah killed. One impure thought leads to another and drags us away and ends in death.
Paul then tells us to think about that which is lovely. Literally in the Greek this indicates that we are to think about what leads to brotherly love. Think about the things that are pleasing and agreeable—promoting peace rather than conflict. In our current world we are often on the defense thinking about who it is that is out there to “get us.” We tend to be suspicious of others, thinking the worst of them. Why is that? It is the way of the world and we are in the midst of that chaos. God would have us become a “peacemaker” rather than a peace breaker. To do that, we have to think differently. How can we cultivate the lovely things that lead to peace? We start by looking for what is good and right rather than focusing on what is wrong and bad. None of us measure up to God’s standards, and yet He accepts us. So why do we insist that others live up to standards we can’t meet before we are willing to accept them? In Acts 23 we read about a silversmith by the name of Demetrius. He lost some business making silver idols due to so many turning to Christ, and as a result he stirred up the crowd there against Paul and the believers. It was a great ruckus that went on for several hours. But there was a city clerk there who quieted the crowd. He used the things that were lovely to help bring about peace.
The sixth word to describe our thought life is admirable. That means we are to think about stuff that is praiseworthy, or attractive; positive and constructive rather than negative and destructive. In this world people tend to be focused on tearing others down. It’s the battle of “Who’s the greatest in the kingdom?” all the time. But in the Kingdom of God we are to be exactly the opposite. Instead of tearing others down we are to be building others up. The greatest in the kingdom—according to King Jesus, is the servant of all. So we should be focused on admirable things and assisting that. This is the picture of Tobiah and Sanballet versus Nehemiah and Ezra in Nehemiah 4. Tobiah and Sanballet had nothing good to say about the work of Nehemiah. He was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem—a noble and good thing that God had called him to do. But these outsiders ridiculed and harassed him at every turn. “Even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones,” Neh. 4:3. What does Nehemiah do? He prays and continues his work in honor of his God. Remember, we are on the construction crew in God’s Kingdom—not the wrecking crew. Let’s build others up because as a team we complement one another, we don’t compete with one another. Train your mind to think admirable thoughts.
Paul is no pretender. What you see is what you get. So in verse 9 he writes, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.” In other words his life is an open book. He practices what he preaches. Yes they learned stuff from Paul and his associates. He lived with them and they saw just how he lived and Paul is not bashful in saying, “Do as you see I have done.” Now that is pretty real and authentic. If Paul was a pretender he would have been exposed for that and his advice would have fallen on deaf ears. But it didn’t. Now I’m not saying—“Go be like Paul.” That is moralism. God wants you to be you in the power of His Spirit. We each have a part to play—and if you try to be Paul, then who is going to be you? But the things he taught here we are to implement in our own lives with the help of the Holy Spirit. We all struggle with: truth, nobleness, righteousness, purity, lovely, and admirable things at times. This doesn’t mean we can be perfect, but are to press on toward the mark of perfection. We need to take the next step in these areas in your thought life. Why? Because there is a great promise as a result… “And the God of peace will be with you.” I think we all want that as Christ-followers. We know theologically that God is with us. God promised that He would never leave us. But what I think Paul means here is that the experiential reality of God’s presence would be made very real to you and that you could feel it, as if you could cut His presence with a knife. Then, like Enoch of old, you and God would walk hand in hand. Your life will become more like Christ than ever!
- “More about Jesus would I know, More of His grace to others show; More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me.
- More about Jesus let me learn, More of His holy will discern; Spirit of God, my teacher be, Showing the things of Christ to me.
- More about Jesus in His word, Holding communion with my Lord; Hearing His voice in every line, Making each faithful saying mine.
- More about Jesus on His throne, Riches in glory all His own; More of His kingdom’s sure increase; More of His coming, Prince of Peace.
Chorus: More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus; More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me.” –Eliza E. Hewitt
“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Pastor Russ Hilsinger
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, OR