Read Philippians 4:1-23

“Finally, brothers, 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.”
(Philippians 4:8)

Thoughts… Do you want to know the key to everything in your life? Here it is: It is how you think.

The term Paul uses for “think” in this verse is from the Greek term is “logizomai”. It literally means to compute, to calculate—to think deliberately, proactively and strategically. It speaks of an exercise in mental reflection that affects one’s conduct.

Herein lies an important truth about the human mind: What we do — our behavior — and what is done to us—our circumstances — do not produce what we think. Rather, what we think produces our behavior in any given set of circumstances.

Psychiatrist William Glasser, the father of reality therapy, discovered in his study of how the brain works that man isn’t controlled by external factors, but by internal desires. Furthermore, our desires are predetermined by our thinking. So he concludes that the mind is the command center determining conduct, and therefore, the critical issue for man is how he thinks.

Glasser only discovered what the Bible had long ago said—that we are the product of our thinking.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks within himself, so he is.” We are what we think!

That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart” — the heart in Hebrew thought was the center of thinking — “for it is the wellspring of life.”

So to change one’s way of life, it was necessary to change one’s way of thinking. If you want to improve your experience of life, deliberately and strategically change your thinking.

Now when Paul says, “think about,” he doesn’t mean leave it up to whatever pops into your brain. He’s saying to intentionally and rigidly allow only certain things into your mind. He is referring to the practice or spiritual discipline of setting godly virtues and Biblical values as the gate-keeper of your mind. He’s not simply talking about positive thinking, mere optimism, self-hypnosis or silly mind-games. He’s saying to think deeply, rationally and habitually about the things of God.

God created us with a mind, and he commands us to think. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together.” And the primary path for our reasoning is God’s Word. When God gave us his revelation, he didn’t give us a movie, or a series of music videos, not even a book on tape with background organ music. He gave us the written Word, which by nature calls us and causes us to think.

In a his book, “Your Mind Matters, John Stott wrote, “Sin has more dangerous effects on our feeling than our thinking, because our opinions are more easily checked and regulated by revealed truth than are experiences.”

That’s why Paul calls us in verse 8 to think deliberately, deeply, and critically about six things:

One, about truthful things—Jesus said, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). This calls for meditating on God’s Word.

Two, about noble things—the Greek term means “worthy of respect” and refers to what is noble, dignified, and reverent, as opposed to what is profane!

Three, on righteous things—this which is in perfect harmony with the eternal truth of Scripture.

Four, about pure things—that which is morally clean and undefiled.

Five, about lovely things—this word appears only here in the New Testament, and it means whatever is gracious, uplifting and ennobling.

Six, about admirable things—which refers to that which is worthy of veneration by believers and reputable in the world at large. In other words, things that are “excellent and praiseworthy.”

When you get serious about the spiritual discipline of right thinking, it will produce a new pattern of thinking. That new pattern of thinking will produce a new pattern of living. A pattern of thinking that follows what Paul has taught in this verse will produce a new pattern of living that Jesus described as the reason he came to earth: to give us life, and life to the full.

Everything God’s wants you to experience in this life is keyed by how you think. Ruthlessly tune out that which is inconsistent with your spiritual values and Biblical truth and practice thinking Christianly. Allow the mind of the Master to be the master of your mind. Then you’ll act Christianly and you’ll feel Christianly.

So start today—think about these things!

Prayer… Father, take my mind and let it be always, only thinking of you. Saturate me with your Truth. Consume me in your Word. Let the mind of the Master be the master of my mind. Today, O God, guard my mind in Christ Jesus.

One More Thing… “Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny”

Read Philippians 3:5-21

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake
of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared
to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him…”
(Philippians 3:7-9)

Thoughts… “What is more…” Those three words in the Greek language of the New Testament are an untranslatable string of five participles used to introduce the next thought. Literally, Paul is saying, “but indeed therefore at least even!”

What was he doing? He’s contrasting in the strongest possible way what he previously did to find significance and satisfaction in his life with the joy that he discovered on that Damascus Road when he dramatically met Jesus Christ. And having met Christ and made him Lord of his life, Paul now considers all of his previous efforts to gain righteousness pure rubbish.

That word in our modern translations for “rubbish” is far too nice. The Greek word is “skubalon” — the strongest word Paul could think of. It literally meant dung, waste, or manure, and that’s still too nice. It was used for human excrement. Get the picture yet? In graphic honesty, Paul says when he met Christ, “skubalon hit the fan!”

That day on the road to Damascus, Paul discovered a new purpose in life which he now describes in verses 10-11, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

“To know” is from the Greek noun, “gnosis”, which describes a transcendent communion with Christ compared to an intellectual or even an experiential knowledge. The Hebrew counterpart to the word is “gnosis” is “yada” — which for our benefit, helps explain what Paul was getting at.

“Yada” was often used to denote an intimate knowledge or even a love bond. It was sometimes used in the Old Testament euphemistically for sexual intercourse: “Adam knew his wife and she conceived…” for example,

You read that a lot in some translations, like the King James Version: So and so “knew” his wife and she conceived…then he “knew” his wife and she conceived… again he “knew” his wife…”yada, yada, yada”. But “yada” also described God’s intimate love bond with Israel. Amos 3:2 says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”

So Paul says, when it came to his previous efforts at righteousness, it was a no-brainer to flush them down the toilet—because by comparison, that was what they were worthy of—in order to exchange them for a true righteousness that comes from God solely on the basis of faith.

In other words, righteousness—right standing with God, the pinnacle of success and the zenith of joy—comes by relationship, by knowing—not knowing about, not knowledge of—but an intimate love-bond with Jesus Christ.

Paul wants to know Christ in a personal and deep way. He is no longer trying to earn points, he is trying to know Christ. He wants to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. He doesn’t want to wait till heaven, he wants that resurrection power to impact now!

But he also wants “to know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” He’s not is saying that he wants to suffer. But he understands that following Christ will inevitably bring some suffering. Paul wants to face the sufferings and even death with the same kind of perspective that Jesus had. Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote, “You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.”

And finally, Paul says he hopes to “somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” That is not a statement of doubt— it is a statement of humble gratitude to God for the grace and mercy that has made it possible to know Jesus Christ and Savior and Lord. Through God’s grace and mercy, Paul knew who he was and he knew where he was going!

Back in 2000, 80-year-old Billy Graham was honored at a banquet in his home state, North Carolina. His Parkinson Disease was worsening, making it increasingly difficult to stand and speak. After a glowing introduction, Billy stepped to the podium, looked the crowd over, and said, “I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist, who has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the passenger’s tickets. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket, but he couldn’t find it. So he frantically search his pants pockets, he looked in his briefcase, he checked under the seat, but he couldn’t find his ticket anywhere. The conductor said, ‘Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket, don’t worry about it.’

“Einstein looked at him and said, ‘Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.’”

Billy then said, “See this suit I’m wearing? It’s brand new. My family tells me I’ve gotten a little slovenly in my old age…So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion. You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to remember this suit. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am … I also know where I’m going.’”

Billy Graham could say that because he had made his highest pursuit in life to know Christ. Nothing else compared to that. So had the Apostle Paul. Everything else was “skubalon” compared to intimately knowing the Savior.

If you want the joy of knowing who you are, and where you’re going, then make every other pursuit, every other effort, every past accomplishment, a distant second to knowing Jesus.

Prayer… Father, thank you for the mercy and grace that saved me. Thank you for the promise of eternal life. Thank you that I don’t have to earn it—Jesus earned it for me on the cross. I humbly accept it with gratitude and with the promise to never forget the gift of love that brought me to you.

One More Thing… “Jesus Christ is not valued at all until He is valued above all.” —Augustine

Read Philippians 2:19-3:11

“Rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same
things to you again, and it is a safeguard to you.”
(Philippians 2:14)

Thoughts… Paul is saying that the experience of authentic joy in the Lord is so important to the believer that he’s going to keep saying it until we get it. And in fact, Paul says, Christian joy safeguards our faith.

Now just what is it that our faith needs to be safeguarded from? Simply this: Trying to achieve salvation—the fountainhead of our joy—through human effort. That’s the crux of what Paul goes on to attack in the next several verses. Last

The truth is, we can never achieve our way to joy. So Paul launches an assault in verse 2 against those who teach that you can: “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.”

He’s talking about a group of “false teachers” who came to be identified in the New Testament era as Judaizers. These folks believed that Jesus was the Savior, but they taught that true salvation was evidenced by observing the Law.

In their theology, you had to conform to all the Jewish rituals, observe the Jewish feasts, follow Jewish traditions, and mainly, submit to the Jewish rite of circumcision. This was a very big controversy in Paul’s day—the first heresy the Apostles came up against.

Notice “kind” words Paul uses to describe these Judaizers: They’re “dogs.” Not the kind of family pets we’re used to, but the kind of dogs you see a lot in the third world. They’re mangy, flee-bitten scavengers. They’re filthy, vicious, dangerous and to be avoided.

Paul also calls these Judaizers “men who do evil.” That is, they pervert the Gospel of “salvation by grace through faith” by teaching that salvation is by grace plus by works of the Law. People who corrupt the truth that our good works are the result of and not the means to salvation are, frankly, evil! Literally, the Greek says they “promote evil.”

And Paul takes it a step further calling them “mutilators of the flesh”. He is referring to the practice of circumcision and he uses a descriptive and forceful word. The normal word for circumcision is “peritome”, but the word he uses in verse 2 is “katatome”, which some translations put, “false circumcision”, but the NIV renders with blunt and brutal accuracy, “mutilators of the flesh.”

Paul’s language is so graphic because what these false teachers are insisting on is akin to the pagan religious practice of cutting the body, a practice that did nothing to transform the heart. And as strong as Paul’s indictment was here, he takes it a step further in Galatians 5:12 by saing, “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”

Here he uses an even stronger word that meant to castrate. Paul’s point is that if these Judaizers believed that the mere outward ritual of circumcision is what pleased God, why didn’t they take that devotion all the way and castrate themselves. Using circumcision, or any other religious act, to feel good or be good before God, is just abhorrent to God. True righteousness and real joy comes from putting our confidence in Christ alone—not from cutting ourselves.

Paul knew this from first-hand experience, which he describes in verses 3-9,

“For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh…”

In other words, who come to God because of a relationship, not through ritual…

“…though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more…”

Then Paul goes through a litany of efforts people sometimes rely on the impress God:

“…circumcised on the 8th day [rituals], of the people of Israel [race], of the tribe of Benjamin [rank], a Hebrew of Hebrews [reputation]; in regard to the law, a Pharisee [rules];

In other word, he was depending his religious past and pedigree…

“…as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

In other word, he was depending his reputation for passion and perfection.

Let me paraphrase what Paul is saying, “I was a church member all my life. I attended church every Sunday—it was the biggest and best in town. I took notes, sang in the choir, served as an usher, taught junior high. I was a deacon, too! I was sprinkled as an infant, and just to make sure, baptized as an adult. I never missed communion—red juice only, and I always gave more than my tithe. I spoke in tongues and interpreted my own messages. I was the model Christian.”

Paul had climbed the ladder of spiritual success, only to realize when he got to the top, it was leaning against the wrong wall. All the accomplishments, awards, and applause that were once the foundation of his righteousness and joy were gone in an instant when he met Christ on the Damascus Road.

What is Paul saying? That the joy of our salvation that safeguards our faith is simply the pure pleasure of knowing—intimately knowing—Jesus Christ as our Savior—the one who saves us by his grace, and Lord—the one who rightly rules over our lives with love and purpose.

Why don’t you safeguard your faith today by making every other pursuit, every other effort, every past accomplishment, a distant second to knowing Jesus.

Prayer… There is no greater thing than knowing you, Lord Jesus. You are first, you are best, you are the greatest, you are my all in all. And I lovingly give myself to you.

One More Thing… “Everything that Jesus did while He was here, He did it for you.” —Maze Jackson

Read Philippians 1:27-2:18

“Do everything without complaining or arguing…”
(Philippians 2:14)

Thoughts… Christian writer Evelyn Underhill describes the believer’s call to joyful obedience this way: A Christian should be like a sheep dog. When the shepherd wants him to do something, he lies down at his feet, looks intently into the shepherd’s eyes, and listens without budging until he has understood the mind of his master. Then he jumps to his feet and runs to do it. And at no moment does the dog stop wagging its tail.”

Do you realize how unlike that most of us are? We’re a grumpy, dissatisfied race of people living in a culture of complaint. We’re the most indulged society in the history of the world, yet we’re the most discontent. The more we have the more we seem to be discontent with what we have and the more we complain about it.

I read some intriguing sociological research recently about this culture of complaint that tied our discontent, particularly among the younger generation, to the trend toward small families. The thesis is that in a materialistic society where families average two or less children per household, there you will breed self-indulgent kids.

Think about it: When you have two kids, mom asks them as they’re getting ready for school what they want in their sack lunch. One kid says he wants PBJ and the other says she wants a tuna-salad sandwich. So mom makes them their made-to-order brown-bag. As she drops them off at school, she asks what they’d like for dinner. One wants this; the other wants that.

The kids are making the choice. They’re given a great deal of input in family decisions, big and small: Not only what they want to eat, but what clothes they want, where they want to go to school, even what church they want to attend.

Now if you were raised a generation ago and/or were in a large family, how much choice and control did you have in your home? If you were like me, mom gave you two choices for dinner, and everything else: Take it or leave it.

Do you know what the difference is? Where you had larger families, the child bent toward the needs and values of the family. But for 50 years or so there’s been a sea change with small families and family systems that tend to bend toward the needs wishes of the child. As a result, child-centered parenting and child-controlled families characterize the home in today’s society!

Social critic Christopher Lasch has observed that “every age develops its own peculiar forms of pathology which express in exaggerated forms its underlying character structure.” What is our cultures’ exaggerated form? How about a pathology of Narcissism!

Narcissus, you’ll recall from Greek Mythology, was the handsome youth who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Narcissism is self-love and self-indulgence—the double-pneumonia of our day.

What happens when the child finally leaves his or her child-centered home into a society that doesn’t bend to that now adult-child? They find a world where they don’t get to be in control; where they are not indulged; where people don’t bow to this needs and wishes.

As a result, what that breeds is what sociologists call “moody discontent”, a society full of sullen, discontented complainers. That’s our world today! Just look at the surveys. Poll after poll shows how richly blessed but increasingly unhappy we are—and willing to loudly express it!

Did you realize that few sins are uglier to God than complaining—especially among people who claim to belong to him. Just read Exodus and Numbers if you don’t believe me. The word for “complaining” here in Philippians, which means murmuring and giving voice to your discontent, is the same word used in Exodus and Numbers of the complaining Israelites. Do you remember what happened to them? God punished severely.

The second word Paul uses, “arguing,” actually referred to getting into an intellectual debate with God. It means to express joylessness and displeasure in the circumstances you are going through. In reality, that is to call into question the sovereignty and wisdom of the God who allowed you to go through those circumstances for his purposes. Both arguing and complaining have no business among God’s people.

On the other hand, few graces are more pleasing to God than joy and contentment. Why? While discontent and complaint exposes your lack of trust in God’s sovereign control, joy and contentment express complete trust that God is working things out for your benefit and for his glory.

Think about this: Both complaining and contentment reflect your theology—what you believe about God. I trust that that your joy and contentment are making the people who watch want to follow your God. And if you are whining and complaining, call a stop to it right away. God deserves better representation than that.

Prayer… Lord, forgive the whining and complaining that I sometimes fall into. I have so many reasons to rejoice. From this time forward, I pray that everything that comes out of my mouth will be only that which brings praise and pleasure to you.

One More Thing… “Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.” —Benjamin Franklin

Read Philippians 1:1-26

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy…”
(Philippians 1:4)

Thoughts… Anyone who reads Philippians quickly realizes that “joy” is the overriding theme in Paul’s letter.

As the letter begins, Paul is filled with joy in his prayer for the Philippians because of their willing partnership with him in the proclamation of the Gospel. Not only had they heard and received the Good News, they had joined Paul in the mission of proclaiming and advancing the Good News. They had even helped Paul finance his missionary efforts (4:15-16). There was a wonderful partnership between this pastor and his people that was a source of great joy for Paul.

Now that doesn’t imply that everything was perfect in Philippi! It wasn’t. But Paul was still full of joy.

That’s interesting because the circumstances of both the writer and the recipients were not the kind you would expect to produce much joy. Paul wrote this letter while he was in jail of all places. In fact, there was very little of Paul’s post-conversion life that would have been expected to produce joy. From the outset, Paul had experienced:

…Rejection from his countrymen

…Caution from his new Christian friends…

…Beatings and imprisonments (one of which happened right here in a Philippian jail)

…Shipwreck, backstabbing, abandonment, stoning and a death sentence…

In fact, as he writes Philippians, he is in his fourth year of Roman custody, awaiting Emperor Nero’s final decision.

Yet Paul had everything he needed for joy! How could that be? What was the secret to Paul’s joy?

Paul didn’t confuse happiness with joy. Happiness is based on happenstance, on happenings; joy is based in God. If the fleeting feeling of exhilaration we call happiness is elusive, joy is not. Biblical joy is the settled conviction that God sovereignly controls the events of life for the believer’s good and for God’s glory. This is the kind of joy Paul had, and it is the kind of joy that is the theme of Philippians.

And these Philippians have had their share of problems, too:

…They are desperately poor, so much so that Paul was surprised at their contribution to the offering he was collecting for the poor in Jerusalem. (II Corinthians 8:1-5)

…They were being persecuted for the cause of Christ. (vv. 27-30)

…They were being assaulted by false teachers. (3:2, 18-19)

…The unity of the church was being threatened by two prominent women who were at odds with each other. (4:2-3)

Yet Paul tells these hard-pressed believers that they have everything they need for joy.

In spite of these circumstances of both writer and recipients, joy permeates so much of Philippians that it has become known as the letter of joy. One commentator, R.C.H. Lenski, writes, “Joy is the music that runs through this epistle, the sunshine that spreads over all of it. The whole letter radiates joy…”

And so should you! Your whole life should radiate joy!

So just how is joy produced in our lives? It is said that as Benjamin Franklin concluded a stirring speech on the guarantees of the Constitution, a heckler shouted, “Those words don’t mean nothin’. Where’s all the happiness you say it guarantees us?” Franklin replied, “My friend, the Constitution only guarantees the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself.”

The Bible speaks of seven ways you can catch joy.

First, you catch joy by practicing God’s presence. David declared in Psalm 16:11, “In your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forever.”

Second, you catch joy by hearing God’s voice. Jesus told his disciples, “These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11)

Third, you catch joy by obeying God’s Word. David begins the Psalms by writing, “Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and they study it day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

Fourth, you catch joy by yielding to God’s Spirit. Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:6, “you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” And we know from Galatians 5:22 that “the fruit of the Spirit is…joy…”

Fifth, you catch joy by sharing God’s truth. John wrote in I John 1:3-4, “We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it … Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!” (The Message)

Sixth, you catch joy by embracing God’s plan. And that includes embracing the part of his plan that includes trials. James writes, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” II Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Seventh, you catch joy by trusting God’s work in your life. Right here in this first chapter of Philippians is one of the outstanding and most profound thoughts in the Bible, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (v. 6) God always finishes what he begins, and that should be a cause for great joy in our hearts.

Michelangelo, the great Italian Renaissance artist, once said, “Do not fret, for God did not create us to abandon us.” Michelangelo knew something about starting and finishing works of art. God leaves no work unfinished. The God who saved you, who begin a good work in you, will complete it!

And because of that, you have everything you need for joy!

Max Lucado tells the moving story of a man named Robert Reed, who was fond of saying: “I have everything I need for joy”, which was amazing given that he had cerebral palsy. He couldn’t bathe or feed himself, or brush his teeth, comb his hair or put on his underwear. His shirts were held together by Velcro strips; his speech was slurred

Yet Robert from graduated Abilene Christian University with a degree in Latin. After college, Robert moved to Lisbon — alone — rented a room and begin studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him and a tutor to help him master the language.Then he stationed himself daily in a park, where he handed out Gospel tracts. In 6 years, he led 70 people to Christ, one became his wife, Rosa.

Robert became a motivational speaker. Whenever he spoke, he would have to be carried in his wheelchair onto the stage, where he would lay his Bible in his lap, and force his stiff fingers to open the pages as he began to force the words from a mind and a mouth that weren’t in sync. But each time be began to share, invariably his audience would have to wipe away their tears as they listened to a man who could have given into despair and misery, yet instead would thrust his bent hands into the air and shout, “I have everything I need for joy!”

And so do you!

Prayer… Lord, you give me joy unspeakable and full of glory. You have saved me from my sin and given me eternal life. You began a work in me, and you have promised to complete it. What you begin, you finish. I was a mess when you found me, but you have turned me into a masterpiece for your glory. Because of you, I have everything I need for joy.

One More Thing… “When was the last time you laughed for the sheer joy of your salvation? People are not attracted to somber doctrines. There is no persuasive power in a gloomy and morbid religion. Let the world see your joy and you won’t be able to keep them away. To be filled with God is to be filled with joy.” —Anonymous