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will be reading that now.
wharever i'n teiru, wharever i'n nobel, wharever i'n rai, wharever i'n pur, wharever i'n lobeli, wharever i'n admiral.
If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. 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.
Good morning again church. It's great to be together if we've not met before. My name is Michael and I'm a pastor here and we are absolutely delighted to have you if you're visiting with us.
This morning before we turned to God's words, as God's people, let's ask him to help us with this passage this morning. Would you pray with me?
Father, we are eternally grateful for the work that you have done. We ask this morning as we come around your words, words that have been breathed from you and written to us,
we would ask that you would help give us understanding and that Christ would be held among us of the highest value and that you draw all manner of people to yourself.
We ask for this in the name of Jesus.
Dieticians around the world are in the absolute throngs of celebration because of a new Netflix special that's coming out called You Are What You Eat.
Now they're all excited because last year Stanford Medical released the findings of a groundbreaking new study that involved 22 sets of twins. From May to July 2022, one person from each pair of siblings followed a vegan diet while the other stuck to an omnivorous diet.
Now please don't misunderstand me here this morning. I'm in no way promoting a certain dietary lifestyle as I'm a keen carnivore myself.
But why dieticians are finding the documentary so enticing is because the age-old phrase of You Are What You Eat really does hold some weight to it.
In other words, what you put into your body really does affect it and it works its way out in the long term.
Well this morning we're actually going to see that that same sort of theme is running through our text.
Now that's not to say that Paul is concerned with what we put into our bodies but what we put into our minds.
To put it simply, Paul wants to speak to us about what we take into our minds and digest because it really does matter as what we think on will work its way out in our discipleship as we sojourn this world.
Now talking to Christians about our discipleship isn't anything new in the book of Philippians as you might remember that just a few weeks ago Scott took us through chapter 3 and in particular verses 17 through to 21 in which Paul taught us how to fight against all the things that come against us in this world.
And you might remember that one of the ways that we fight against things that come against us is by following godly examples of mature believers around us.
And I think that's important for us to remember this morning as we go through our text before us.
Paul was writing to his beloved friends who were going through difficult times while himself under horrible persecution for his faith.
And so his life was one that could be looked to and seen as an example of encouragement of how a Christian might have absolute peace while facing terrible persecution in this world.
And we're going to think on the importance of godly examples a little while later this morning.
All that to say following examples of mature Christians is one of the tools that our apostle encourages us in while we fight the scams and the schemes of the enemy because as you might remember last week the church isn't going to have an easy life this side of kingdom come.
No there's going to be much to fret about both from the external and the internal as we strive and thrive as the church.
That's the thing that we saw last week.
Though the church will go through hard times we aren't doing any of it alone.
That's because we are in the Lord and His Holy Spirit is at work among His people and we have a promise and that promise is that His peace will guard us no matter what we face in this world.
That's what we saw in the first seven verses of chapter four. As Christians we have the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds as we battle in this world.
Though we have to learn to walk in it.
And I mention that because you might notice as we heard the passage just read out for us this morning that once again we have a similar pattern as to what we saw last week.
Paul gives a series of exhortations and then finishes the whole thing off with a promise and that promise is very closely related to what we saw last week in verse seven.
And it all has to do with the peace of God.
We see it right there in verse nine of our text this morning.
There's exhortations that we're to obey and follow but again there is a promise in all of it.
So if you have your Bibles with you this morning have them open at this particular text and look with me at verse eight.
Paul says finally brothers and sisters whatever's true whatever's noble whatever's right whatever's pure whatever's lovely whatever's admirable if anything is excellent or praise worthy think about such things.
OK so the first thing that we notice is there's a lot of whatever's going on right a lot of whatever's and we'll explore exactly what Paul means to show us by all of this in a little bit more detail a little later.
But first I want you to notice what actually comes at the very end of this verse and it's what Paul tells Christians to do with all of this and that's to think.
Now again we're going to have a look at everything else he has said in this verse in greater detail because it's incredibly practical that every single Christian does so.
But the first thing that I want us to concentrate on is exactly trying to find out what Paul means by telling us to think on these things.
Well the word that sits under the word think in our NIVs means to carry so much more than a brief second thought or mindful glance.
As it can also be understood as dwell fixate consider ponder or meditate.
That's what Paul wants us to do here.
He wants Christians to really hone in on and fixate on these things that he has mentioned to really meditate on what he's told us.
Now before we move on from that definition I want to say a little bit more on that because as soon as I mentioned the word meditate well it might conjure up all sorts of preconceived ideas in your mind.
I remember just a few years ago Haley and I we went to go and see famed Australian poet and musician Nick Cave at Perth Concert Hall for a night of Q&A.
And it was asked of him what he thought life was all about to which he replied that that's an impossible question to answer.
But then he went on to say I'll answer your question with a question and then he asked the audience member if they meditated because he went to go on to say that meaning comes in silence.
Now as soon as I heard that my eyes rolled into the back of my head that people in the back row would have been able to hear it as he was defining what was going on here at least is the act of emptying yourself of everything and concentrating on nothingness.
Well church let me say from the get go that's definitely not what Paul has in mind here.
But because that type of meditation is unbiblical as we never find instruction in the word of God to empty our minds just the opposite.
Notice it's in our text. Paul isn't saying ruminate dwell meditate on nothingness brothers and sisters.
He's telling us to fill up our thinking with God's thoughts as we'll see a true and commendable.
That's what our apostle wants us to do.
He wants us to not just hear what's being said to give things a second glance or a minute thought but to for what is said here to sink into our minds to fill up our thoughts
so that we might ruminate on it.
He wants it going around and around and around in our thoughts for us to be thinking over and over and over.
He wants us to think. He wants us to fixate. He wants us to meditate on such things.
See church we run into problems if we meditate on nothingness because nothingness is not what God has revealed to us.
God the creator of the universe has spoken and he is speaking to us. His word is alive and active.
If we take the world's view and meditate on nothingness or look for the peace in the void, it's dangerous because that will work itself out in our lives.
What Paul wants for the Christian here is for us to be filled up with these things and to meditate on them.
Paul is saying dear ones you must think, you must ruminate, you must fixate, you must dwell on these things.
So that naturally leads us to our next question.
What exactly are these things you want us to meditate on Paul?
Well we've already read what Paul has told us to fixate on this morning and we noticed six whatever's if you were counting through them.
Whatever's true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable.
Let me just say from the get-go there could be a sermon on every single one of these and all of them as a whole.
But this morning we're just going to go through each of them briefly so that we know from the get-go what he's talking about here, where to meditate on.
So that leads us to the first thing. Paul is telling us to know and fixate on the truth.
Where do we find the truth?
Well dear ones, there's actually true things all around us in this world.
But what God defines as truth is clearly on view here and we find that truth most clearly revealed in his word to us.
And so reading and meditating on God's word every day is vitally important for us to do because every day, every single one of us is bombarded by millions of things that are true and untrue.
And much of it, for one example, comes through social media.
And much of it is believed by the masses and passed on as hashtag truth.
And so it seems true.
And so if God's truth is not guiding our thoughts, is not a lamp unto our feet, as the psalmist says it, well we'll be inevitably informed and conformed to the pattern of this world.
And like the rest of the world, we'll be tripping all over the place in the dark.
Church, it's impossible to be transformed by what God defines as true if we don't really take it in and meditate on what God reveals to be true.
And I just want to say something as a side note here.
Is that to say that social media should be banned for all Christians everywhere? Absolutely not.
That is not what I'm saying here.
Social media is used for a lot of really good things. Some really godly things as well.
But what I think we should all consider here is that there is a danger in this technological world and we are all prone to it.
I mean we all meditate on words and thoughts that come to us because in reality we're blasted 24x7 by our little devices that live in our pockets
which demand our attention and feed us information.
So when they vibrate or beep, well we're in danger of fixating and ruminating and meditating on the trivial and the false all day long.
So we should be aware of that and learn to stop and ask,
is this information that is coming to me true in light of what God says?
And we can ask that through the filter because in God's grace and goodness, He has given us His Word.
He has revealed truth to us.
Church, let me say so many destructive thoughts, so many panicked minds are cultivated by believing things that are just not true.
So when we begin to replace lies in our minds with the truth of what God has said in His Word,
when we begin to meditate on the wonderful truths of who God is and who you are in Christ,
that the world is in His hands, that He is good, that He is sovereign, that He is over all things,
when we meditate of who we are in the Lord and what we have to look forward to in eternity,
even in right now where we can look to the past that has been totally forgiven and that doesn't define us,
when we start to experience a peace that God has designed for His children to walk in while we are in this chaotic world.
So let's meditate on what's true.
But Paul says what's noble as well.
The picture is pretty simple here.
As Paul is basically saying, take your minds out of the gutter and think on the things that are worthy of respect.
If we're honest with ourselves, so much of what we think on is the what-ifs and the maybes, the frivolous, the meaningless,
sometimes the filthy and the vulgar.
And so Paul says, make the conscious effort, dear ones, when your minds are dwelling in the mud to lift your thoughts out of that place
and take them to a higher place.
For one example, take your mind to the things that matter to God, to the things that please Him.
So where to meditate on what's true, what's noble, Paul also says what's right.
Now this could be understood as just.
That's how some translations render it.
And that's something that is important to God.
We see it all throughout His Word, justice.
But again, not justice in the way we define it.
Justice in the way God defines it.
And so we want to meditate on what God sees as right and good for His creatures and creation according to His Word.
And so when things are happening around us, we might ask, what would God have to say about these things?
What would He have to say about the orphan, about the widow, about the downtrodden?
What would He have to say about our neighbours?
What would He have to say about those who are lost or spiritually dead?
What would God have me to do in this situation?
So where to meditate what's true, noble, right.
But no, no, Paul also directs us in thinking on what's pure.
And that's such a beautiful word that defines so much of what God desires and in His grace for His people,
what He is working out in our lives.
He desires pure words, pure thoughts, pure desires, pure motives.
And the more we fixate on what He is, who He is, the more our thoughts will be on what He sees as pure.
Which will in turn cause us to run, hopefully, from those things that's so easily defile.
Paul also says, dwell on what's lovely, which is anything that is pleasing and beautiful to God.
The Bible defines many things that are pleasing and beautiful to God, such as holiness that pleases Him.
He sees the feat of those who bring glad tidings as beautiful.
They are beautiful, they are lovely to God.
Then last, what's commendable?
This one's a little bit more difficult.
But I would say to dwell on things that are commendable would mean that you would be able to recommend a particular thought
that you're having to someone else in a way that they would be edified or encouraged by thinking the same thoughts as you.
Paul says, think about those kind of things, not the kind of things that if someone was to hear, they would be discouraged or even disgusted.
Paul says, fixate your mind on the things that are so wonderful to God that you could, in a good conscience, commend these thoughts to others.
Church, you might notice that Paul ends the whole thing by saying, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, if anything.
Which is to say that there are things all around us in this world in which God, in His goodness and in His common grace, has given to all His creation, to all His creatures.
And His creatures do do excellent and praiseworthy things.
Yes, we are to define everything we see in this world through the lens of God's revealed word, but that doesn't mean we can't see excellent and praiseworthy things around us in this world.
No, His goodness can be seen all throughout His creation.
I heard it said like this, you can see His fingerprints on His wonderful work of art.
And so Paul encourages Christians to meditate on all the wonderful things that God in His good grace and providence has allowed to happen.
Yet we should define those three things as true and commendable through the lens of His word.
Now, before we move on, I just want to be crystal clear with you this morning.
Paul has given us these exhortations, but this isn't the gospel.
We have to be very mindful of the context here.
He's telling Christians who already have received the gospel how to live out our discipleship in this world as we battle.
No, this isn't Paul telling us how to become a Christian.
Paul is telling Christians how to live.
So I just want to say that if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, the first thing you have to deal with is the claims of the gospel.
The first thing you have to deal with is that you are a creature who has been made by your creator and that you have broken your creator's good law, like I and every single other person has.
Thus, without forgiveness for that law-breaking, you won't spend eternity in the presence of the one who created you for himself, in heaven or the new creation.
But this is the good news, dear one.
Your creator, God, in his love and mercy has made a way for total and utter forgiveness to be offered by giving us the solution to our problem.
His precious son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect law-abiding life on behalf of his people,
who took the punishment for his people's sins, that's what the cross was all about.
And just so we would know that our debt has been paid, our death, which became his death, couldn't justly remain on him.
Remember, righteousness, justice, it's important to God.
Hence why Jesus was raised from the grave.
And this is the good news in all of this. If you will believe and trust in Jesus as the only way, then that total and utter forgiveness offered is received.
And reconciliation, Matt said it so wonderfully before in our confession, reconciliation isn't something future only, but present between creator creation.
And we are adopted into the family of God.
He becomes our father. It's a real and living reality.
That is the gospel and meditating on what is true and pure, what is just and right, lovely and commendable and excellent and praiseworthy in God's word and world will ultimately lead all of our reflections to this truth.
This is all been very practical for us this morning, right?
Paul wants us to meditate on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, everything excellent and praiseworthy, so that what we meditate on works its way out in our lines.
So it's a little wonder that Paul then points to the practical outworking of what discipleship looks like in the real world.
Verse nine, whatever you've learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice.
Do you see what our apostle is doing in just these two verses?
He's essentially giving us a beautiful pattern of Christian discipleship.
We're to think, we're to know, but notice this, the Christian isn't just meant to think and know.
No, we're meant to act on what we know.
That's the pattern that Paul has set out here.
See, all of us think, all of us fixate, all of us dwell and meditate on things.
And so Paul gives us instruction on taking what we naturally do and directing it to how it should be used,
because what we meditate on will work its way out in our lives, so he says, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, put into practice.
But look at what else he says here in verse nine.
He also says, whatever you have seen in me, put into practice.
And so, simply put, Paul knows that we all need to not just hear about, but to see the Christian life worked out in this world.
I used to be a drum teacher for many years.
Now imagine if you wanted to be a drummer and you came to me and said, I want to be a drummer.
And so I just give you a whole bunch of drum music and say, read this and you'll be fine.
Imagine if I didn't know how to play the drums myself.
Imagine if I didn't know how to demonstrate the very thing that I'm telling you to play.
Be ludicrous, right?
Well, how does Paul instruct the Philippians?
How do we live the Christian life?
Well, in a couple of ways, he taught them the truth, but, and this is important,
he also lived the Christian life out right in front of them.
That's how Paul sees discipleship happening.
He taught, but he also lived as an example as to what they were to do so they could see
how a real flesh and blood disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ lives in this world.
They didn't just hear the truth, but they saw the truth worked out.
Paul, an example of one who had become what he was feeding on.
Brothers and sisters, might I say that is why the local church is so very important.
That's why we mustn't isolate ourselves from each other and just attend an online church.
That's why connect groups are wonderful and important because being around each other
and having a real siblings in the Lord being examples to one another,
living out our obedience and encouraging one another in hard times,
it's so vitally important to our discipleship.
And seeing things in that way,
guards us from making the church about me, myself and I.
It guards us from individualism and consumerism.
Heavenly Father has put us together.
Paul has said it throughout this book, we are in the Lord.
We are in this together to be with one another, to encourage one another,
to be an example to one another,
meaning you are valuable to this church community,
meaning you have purpose in this place.
Paul is giving the church what we need.
He's also giving us instruction,
but also demonstration because that's what we all need.
We can meditate all day long on the wonderful truths of the gospel,
but we also need to see how it's worked out in this world.
Christians, we need each other.
We need each other to demonstrate the grace of God to one another in our Christian discipleship.
Thinking and knowing and doing, it all goes together.
Like we saw last week, this all ends with a promise.
This promise is even more striking than the promise that we saw in verse 7,
and it's awesome. It's absolutely awesome.
The exhortations, they came in verses 2 through to 6,
and then he ends on a promise.
The peace of God which transcends all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
But look at what he says in verse 9.
Follow these exhortations.
But what does he say?
And the God of peace will be with you.
Do you see the difference?
Verse 7, Paul says, follow this, and the peace of God will be with you.
In verse 9 he says, follow this, and the God of peace will be with you.
It's a beautiful difference.
The God of peace himself, the God who gives peace, will be with us.
Brothers and sisters, it's incredible.
In many ways, the battle of the Christian life, it is a battle of the mind.
And the victory in the battle is the experience of the peace of God.
And as dieticians have been harping on for years, you are what you eat.
And thus, in like manner, we might say we become in practice
what fills our minds and thoughts.
Godly thoughts will produce godly living.
Holy thinking will lead to holy living.
So we must conclude that the opposite of this is true as well.
We must be relying on nothingness, on ungodly things, on vulgar things, on the what ifs,
the maybes of this world.
Well, it will lead us to all kinds of places.
So it's critical that we guard our minds and meditate on the things
that we have been directed in this morning.
It's as we've seen.
We must set our minds on the written word of God, dwell on the gospel,
and guard the good things and the good things that God has given to us
so that in his light, we may come to experience what has been promised in these verses.
So with that said, Church, I actually want to end our time this morning
by getting very practical.
And I want to do that by asking you to have a think through what we've heard today
with these kinds of questions in mind.
Maybe you'll want to put some time aside today or this week with this passage,
and I do recommend that you have this passage open before you.
Whatever works best, maybe by yourself or in a group,
but might I encourage you to work your way through this passage
asking these kinds of questions.
First, in what specific ways do I need to replace untrue thoughts with true thoughts?
Some things I'm prone to dwell on that are simply just lies
that are untrue about God, that are untrue about others in the Lord,
that are untrue about who I am in Christ.
How might I go replacing those lies with that which is true?
Second, in what specific ways do I need to replace thoughts
that are not noble with those that are?
How are my thoughts prone to spiral downwards into the mud
when I have God calling me to look heavenward?
What are some specific ways I need to replace my thoughts dwelling in the Maya?
Third, in what specific ways do I need to replace unjust thoughts with just thoughts?
How can I obey God in His good and righteous will?
Fourth, in what specific ways do I need to replace impure thoughts with pure thoughts?
Has my phone, my computer, my TV become a stumbling block?
What is pure?
Again, sexual purity, moral purity.
Think about your motives, desires and aims.
Where are your thoughts going?
Fifth, what specific ways do I need to replace unlovely thoughts with lovely thoughts?
What does God categorise lovely things as being?
Finally, what specific ways do I need to replace thoughts
that if someone was to walk into my mind, to rummage through my head,
what would they find in there?
What would lead someone to anxiety and distress?
Well, ask yourself,
how can I change those thoughts to things that would be edifying for others in their walk with Christ?
Again, let me encourage you because there is a promise in all of this for all God's people.
And that is the peace of God and the God of peace.
That is the promise being held out to God's people.
As we seek to obey God and thought and indeed,
He is with us, by His Spirit.
And so know as that you go into your weeks, that you go and sit with these questions before you,
that you have the God of peace with you in the work.
And the promise is that the peace of God will protect us
because we will know that the God of peace is with us.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for these tremendous words of life and truth
that you have held out to all your people.
Father, we began our time this morning by asking that your precious son, our Lord and Saviour,
our Master, would be held high in our midst that you would draw all manner of people to yourself.
Father, each and every single one of us, we dwell.
We meditate on things, we fixate.
Father, you know what goes on in our hearts, in our minds and in our lives.
Father, because you know the hairs that are numbered on our head, you know everything about us.
We ask that you would help us in this task.
You have set these things before us, not to watch us trip and stumble,
but to see us rely more and more on your grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Father, I ask that there would be a testimony to knowing that you are with us in the coming days and weeks.
We ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen.