Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:8-9
Paul is getting toward the wrap up of his letter to the Philippians. When I read this, it feels like I have jumped from reading a letter to reading Proverbs. The first part of this passage lends itself to lots of contemplation and self-evaluation. Paul makes it clear that our thought life should be controlled. We shouldn’t just let our minds be filled with whatever is floating around in the mental atmosphere.
The terms Paul uses aren’t difficult to understand. There are no mystifying terms here. Our thoughts should be dominated by ideas that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and commendable, things that are excellent and worthy of praise. The imperative is to think about these things. The spiritual work is to take time to ask ourselves if we are focusing our minds to dwell on things that fall under one or more of these categories.
We can’t leave the real world we live in and escape to some heavenly realm that is unaffected by the sin of this world. So, how do we approach this? Let’s take politics as an example. Political thought and discussion is possibly the most rancorous topic we can entertain. We do need to think about political reality. We are not to escape it or ignore it. We are citizens of two kingdoms and must participate in both, the kingdom of God and the kingdom (or republic) in which we live.
First up: think about things that are true. Good luck. With all the fake news being distributed from all media channels it is hard to know what is true in the realm of politics. For me, this reduces the amount of information I want to spend time thinking about because I don’t in many instances know what is true. I just wait it out a while until the truth has time to bubble to the top of the pot. Then I can consider the things that are true.
Next: think about things that are honorable. What didn’t get eliminated from political consideration by requiring that I only think on what is true, a great deal more is excluded from my mind because even what is true is often not honorable. These first two filters eliminate most political thought.
Then keep running it through the additional filters of just, pure, lovely and commendable, things that are excellent and worthy of praise, and I don’t have much left to think about in the realm of politics. There are some academic works on political thought that are worth reading and thinking about, but the popular media are to a large extent eliminated as a source of thought.
I have just used politics as an example because it is controversial. Maybe it will hit home with most of us with a greater punch than many other topics.
In addition to how we think, Paul goes on to tell us how to live, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things.” What we have learned, received and heard refers to that teaching Paul has done. The only way we get to access his teaching is through his writing so technically; we don’t hear him, we read him. I think there is a distinction when Paul uses the term “received.” I think he is going beyond mental understand to receptivity in our hearts. Lastly, Paul refers to what we have seen in him. Again, we can only see Paul by reading his writing and those things written about him, primarily the book of Acts.
Paul’s admonition then is to take all of this material and practice it, or as the old Nike ad says, “Just do it.” It is apparent to me that most western Christians put themselves in a different category than the early Jesus-followers who did see and listen to Paul. Those folks were supposed to put their lives on the line for Jesus because they were first-century believers. But not us. Christianity is well established so we shouldn’t have to give our all for Jesus. When we think this way we are not thinking Biblically and we certainly aren’t following Pauls admonition to “practice these things.” Things like preaching the gospel even when it will mean being chased out of town and stoned. Things like following the Lord’s command to us even if it means leaving the comfort of our homes and taking the gospel to a new people group that has never heard the gospel. Things like being a bi-vocational minister of the gospel.
I am challenged to study the life of Paul afresh so I can practice these things. I’m old, but I not dead. I am still to be obedient to God’s word, and so are you.
How about it? How is your thought life? How are you doing at practicing the things exemplified by the life of Paul? This is a tough passage when we take time to consider what it is saying. It certainly convicts me of my sinfulness, laziness, and lack of passion to practice these things. Let us pray for one another then just do it.
The payoff? The God of peace will be with you!
