Let's take our Bibles and turn to Philippians. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4, we'll read the first nine verses. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Judea and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 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. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. Now last time we were here, we were in Colossians. I haven't deserted our study of Colossians. We study verses 9 and 10 where the Apostle Paul prays that the Colossian saints be filled with the knowledge of God's will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Paul was telling us there that we must learn in order to live. Right thinking leads to right living. Well, around the same time that he wrote the letter to the Colossians, he also writes this letter to the Philippians. And in Chapter 4 of this book, he admonishes these saints to do exactly what he prayed that God would do for the Colossians in Chapter 1 of that book. Learn in order to live. Think rightly. in order to live rightly. And this again shows the universality of what we've said, that Christianity is a thinking religion. It applies to every church, every Christian In every age, Christianity is a thinking religion. You cannot expect to live the Christian life by coasting through. Your mind must always be engaged to fight off temptation, to live rightly before the Lord. And this is such an important point that I thought we should consider this topic of thinking or learning to live from what Paul writes here in Philippians. And then we'll go back again to Colossians chapter one. Here in Philippians, Paul explains more of how to think. so that we can do more of God's goodwill. But let's first consider the context before we get to verse eight, which is our text for this morning. Verse one again, therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Paul is writing the Philippians from his prison in Rome. He's in adversity, but he writes to them about spiritual stability. He says, stand firm in the Lord. That's the exhortation. That's the theme of the entire passage. Be spiritually strong, spiritually stable. The question though is how? How are we to do that? Well, the following verses tell us. He lists several requirements in order to have a stable walk. First, spiritual stability requires cultivating peace within the fellowship. Verses two and three that we read expresses how deeply Paul was concerned for unity in the church. As citizens of heaven, we are to stand firm together But there were two citizens of the heavenly kingdom there in the Church of Philippi who were at odds with one another, two women, Syntyche and Eudea. They were at odds. And such disunity always has a negative impact on the spiritual stability of a church. As the saying is true, a house divided against itself will fall. And sooner or later, if not happening already, there were factions, or there could be factions. One takes Udiasi, one takes Suntike. I mean, they were fellow servants with the Apostle Paul. They know things, all right? They've done things. And so there's faction against faction. And there goes the stability of the church to be a beacon and a lighthouse in the area where they are. So Paul, but when God's people cultivate a unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, when you're working together with others and they with you, when you know that they are washing out for your souls and holding you accountable, but also helping you and encouraging you and praying for you and nurturing you, that provides stability. Secondly, spirits of stability demands joy. Verse four, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Note that the rejoicing is in the Lord. If your joy is based in circumstances, it's gonna come and go. But if your joy is based in the Lord, it's always gonna remain the same. because he never changes, nor does his relationship with you ever change. His power is always there to protect you. His love, his comfort, his mercy will always surround you. And since God is in control of every excruciating circumstance as sovereign, then such a believer will rejoice and never give up in his Christian walk. He'll be stable. Thirdly, spiritual stability comes to those who are gentle. Verse five, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. That word reasonableness has to do with, or can be translated gentleness. It means to be mild in reacting to others. In other words, this is a call for patience with those who would otherwise provoke you to anger. It is a call to overlook the faults of others and be gracious toward them. Like what Solomon writes in Proverbs chapter 15, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stir up anger. And the spiritually stable here in verse five are commanded to be gentle to everyone. Christians and non-Christians, to every believer and unbeliever alike, and they do this because, the end of verse five, the Lord is at hand, that is, he's near. The spiritually stable think, so what if I'm mistreated? So what if I'm abused, overlooked? God is near me, and he transcends every problem that will come up So I'll trust him. That kind of trustful attitude makes us stable in any storm. Fourthly, spiritual stability requires reacting to problems with thankful prayer. In verse six, Paul says instead of worrying about things, instead of being anxious over everything, he says pray. Now he doesn't deny that agony and sorrow come to us, How could he? He's suffered so much. He knows that comes to us, but he knows the solution. Either worry will drive out prayer, or prayer will drive out worry. And he said, pray with thanksgiving. Praying with gratitude, gratitude for all of God's wonderful provision, banishes worry. Because you're looking at all the good things God has given you and you're thankful for these things. And so worry is replaced with peace, contentment. That's the mark of a spiritually stable person. And then in verse eight, Paul tells us of a fifth necessary element for spiritual stability. And that's right thinking. Thinking Christianly. Focusing our minds on godly virtues. You see, the mind is where the battle of the Christian life is fought. And that's why I said Christianity is a thinking religion. Temptations attack our minds. Sin comes from evil desires in our minds that are mulled over and over in our minds. And so we need to guard, we need to discipline our minds. And the way that happens is to conscientiously to be thinking right thoughts. Right thoughts, verse eight, leads to right living, verse nine, as we'll see next time. He says, what you have learned and received and heard, practice these things. Right thoughts lead to right living, but right thinking always comes first. Now the main verb of verse 8 is that word think or meditate. Think on these things. It's the Greek word logizimae from which we get our English words logarithm or logic. It's a mathematical term and carries the idea of making careful calculations. It's translated elsewhere to reckon or to consider. It means to evaluate, to ascertain, to give proper weight and value to something. And the implication is, as we make those calculations, as we ascertain those things, as we think on these things, the resulting appraisal will be having an influence upon the way we live. Now, the grammar of this word is also important. It's in the present tense, and you know, if you've been here any length of time, the present tense is the tense in the Greek of continuation. We should always be thinking on these things. It's a matter of, I'll think about it on Sunday, but for the rest of the week, maybe Wednesday night, I'll think about it. But no, it's all the time. There is never a day off from the requirement of the Christian to be thinking right thoughts, to be thinking Christianly. It's also in the active voice, indicating we must actively dwell on those things, not just hope that they'll occur, that hope that they'll pop into our minds. It takes an effort, an active effort in doing this. And it's an imperative, which is a mood of command. This is an apostolic command issued with divine authority. This is Jesus telling you, think on these things. In other words, there's no excuses. He says, think of these things, you say, yes, sir, and you do it. Now, why do you suppose there's this emphasis on right thinking in the New Testament? Because Jesus said, we are the product of our thinking. He says, out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. In other words, as a man thinks, so is he. If we focus on the right, we'll live rightly. If we focus on the wrong, we'll live wrongly. There is an inseparable link between what we think about and how we live. Right thoughts produce right living. Wrong thoughts produce wrong living. We can't think on what is wrong and then live out what is right. It's the old adage, the computer talk, garbage in, garbage out. The quality of the output is determined by the quality of the input. John MacArthur says spiritual stability is the result of how a person thinks. The Bible leaves no doubt that people's lives are the product of their thoughts. So what does Paul say we are to think on? Verse eight provides us with principles that stretch over centuries and continents and cultures and applies to everyone here today. Each of these Descriptions should form a fence around our minds to surround our minds, to protect them from wrong thinking and so also wrong living. So what does he say? We should think about things that are true. That means that which is reliable or faithful as distinguished from that which is false or a lie. People often say of their neighbors, they make me so mad. Is that the truth? Does another person have power to make me angry? Can they somehow control my brain? No. The proper truthful statement is I'm angry because I'm choosing to think a certain way. Are you an angry person? A negative person? A worrywart? Complainer? Look at what you're thinking about. I guarantee you'll find the source of your negative feelings in your thoughts. If you've lost your job, and you grow despondent and say things like, I'll never get another job. I'll never be happy again. My life is worthless. Are those things really true? Never happy again? Really? Is your life worthless and meaningless without that job? It will seem that way if your mind is not fixed on what is real and genuine. But where do we find truth, reality, genuineness? Jesus says in John 17, 17, thy word is truth. Ephesians 4.21 says the truth is in Christ. 2 Timothy 2.25 says the truth is in God. So the thought that my life is worthless is wrong because scripture says the opposite. If you're a Christian and you have a Christian mind that's thinking Christianly thoughts all the time, then your mind will be in tune with scriptural truth and you'd know John 1, 12, that whoever's received Christ and believed in his name, you have the right and you have become children of God. Think of that, children of God. Romans 8, 17, you are joint heirs with Christ. Hebrews 2, 11, Christ is not ashamed to call you his brothers. And Jesus says in Luke 10, 20 that we are to rejoice, have inner joy and happiness in knowing that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's the kind of things you need to think of when turmoil comes in your life and trials come and loss comes. These are the truths upon which we are to think. I belong to the Lord. So I'll be content with what he sends my way and I'll trust him to lead me to another source of income or whatever the situation is. Now I understand that there's time for grief and sadness at the time of loss. Been there, felt that. But God doesn't want his children camping there. He wants us to think on things that are true. and that means scripture must be the focus of our minds. It'll give us a strong foundation on which to anchor our lives so we won't flounder when something unseen happens. We won't fly off the handle. We won't give into despair to the events of our lives. There are far too many Christians who are slaves to negativity. to insecurity and faulty feelings. Paul wants us to think about and consciously meditate on truth. Number two, we're to think on things that are honorable. That word is used in the Greek to describe what was sublime, dignified, majestic. It's often used to describe the gods of the Romans. It means that which evokes respect, dignity, reverence, being serious minded, dignified. The opposite is that which is frivolous, silly. It's lofty thoughts, not trashy, mundane, or common. The word really comes from a term that means to worship. Whatever is worthy of awe, honor, respect, whatever's worthy of adoration, that's what we're to think about. Turn the page in your Bible to Colossians chapter two, I mean chapter three, I guess you maybe turn two pages. Colossians three. Paul emphasizes it to the Colossians here as well. He uses the word seek rather than think, but it's the same thing. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds, think, on things that are above, not on things on the earth. Don't be so consumed with this life. Believers must not think so much on the trivial, temporal, mundane, and earthly. Now, we have to think those thoughts. We live in this world. We live on this earth. We work in this earth. But our thoughts must always come back to that which edifies us spiritually. We should dwell on things that pull us above the muck and the mire of the world. We should concentrate on things that are principled, decent, and upright. Paul says, get your mind off low and base things and get your attention off frivolous things and focus on the honorable. Thirdly, think on things that are just. Now, if you want to know what the word just means, substitute the word righteousness for it. It's the same word translated different ways in the New Testament. To be just is to be righteous in our actions and dealings with others and God. It means that which is upright, that which is holy, that which conforms to God's word and righteous character. In ancient times, this word was used in the marketplace of scale, when you had a scale, the balancing of the scales. A standardized measure would be put on one side and grain would be poured out on the other and when it equaled out to the standard, it was declared to be right, just. That's the idea here. On one side of the scale of the Christian living is the holiness of God. And on the other side is what a believer's mind is focused on. Whatever a believer thinks about must be in conformity to God's will. What about your thoughts? Your plans? Your desires? Are they in harmony with God's will? Do they balance? Are they right? And are they pure? That's the next one. The root of this word is the same root for holy, holiness, sanctification. It means unmixed. Again, illustration of the ancient world. Salt was a traded commodity. Often people were paid with salt. It was that precious. But its purity meant everything. And people of the Near East tried to stay away from salt from the Dead Sea. You know how the Dead Sea is filled with so many minerals and it's salty, yeah, but it's got all kinds of other stuff, including gypsum. Now, how would you like to sprinkle Sheetrock dust all over your steak. That's what we're talking about here. And Jesus even uses that as illustration in Matthew 6. He says, salt that's mixed with its worth is only good for pothofiller. And the mind of the Christian is not to be mixed with moral perversions, as is so prevalent in the world around us. The Philippians and us, we should fill our minds with whatever is morally pure and think on what is wholesome, virtuous, unstained by corruption. In other words, there should be a censorship on our minds, a censorship from God's word on our minds. and whatever is found there that doesn't belong is cast out. The Philippians lived in a pagan society, as do we. They were surrounded by unchaste things, as are we. So they and we are exhorted to fill our minds with whatever is unstained and Christlike. Don't give in to the sexy ads. I saw in Carlo, I was watching woodworking videos this week, a lot on YouTube. And you look over at the next one, and it's a picture of a lady in, you know, tight fitting things. Woodworking videos. It's what the world puts out in front of us all the time. We need to put that fence around our minds to think Christian thoughts. Thinking about purity. Fifthly, we have to think about that which is lovely. This word and the next word only appears here in the New Testament. Lovely means that which is love-inspiring, that which is pleasing, attractive, agreeable, beautiful. In the Old Testament, it's used of gracious speech in Ecclesiastes 20, or the person who makes himself attractive to the assembly in Ecclesiastes 4. Lovely represents that which is sweet, gracious, and generous. Its opposite is that which is raw, crude, and ugly. The ugly side of life is what many in our society is drawn to. You ever watch those fail videos on YouTube where people stumble and they do stupid stuff and they hurt themselves? There's millions of views on those things. See if you can find any viral videos that showcase the beautiful and the lovely. But believers are not like the world. Their thoughts are to be on that which is beautiful in the eyes of God and spiritually attractive to the pure in heart. You see, God defines what lovely is, not us, definitely not the world. The world often hangs something unlovely as bait and labels it lovely. So Christians must make every effort to remain focused upon that which is truly lovely as scripture defines it. In other words, believers must direct their thoughts into what the Bible says is pleasing to God. And then we are to think strictly on things that are commendable. admirable, or the old King James I think says good repute. It has the sense of being fair sounding, well spoken of, and implies that which is highly respectable in the eyes of God. When you're with others, are your words about them fair sounding? Do you speak of others in a good light or a bad light? How many times have we come away from a conversation with regrets? Too often our table talk degenerates into gossip or idle chitchat. We may not be vulgar or crude, but our words do not build character because we have not cultivated the habit of meditating on things that are commendable. But note what comes next. Paul then summarizes the list that he's given with two clauses that are comprehensive of the rest, as well as making sure nothing is left out. He says, if there be any excellence, or virtue, if there be any praise. Now that word if, Paul is not expressing doubt in the lives of the Philippians here. It's a word that means Can be translated since or if as is the case Christians are to think on excellence Now to get Paul's meaning of what he's trying to get across here. You need to add a word before excellence and That's the word moral moral excellence He's not talking about doing a job excellently or making a product that's excellent. It's moral excellence. In other words, having a right mind that reflects on the holiness of God. That's the standard. And that standard is all-encompassing standard. It covers everything he's already said. That which reflects God, his character, his holy character. and then the word praise. This is used often in New Testament of offering praise to God for what he has done. It can also mean the kind of conduct that wins the praise of fellow humans. In other words, Paul brings every other good thing outside of scripture in the world that a Christian can think upon. There is much good in everyday life that should be acknowledged and appreciated, whether it's done or said by a Christian or not. If it's a good product, if it's a helpful service, if it's a wise insight, a superb article or a beautiful photograph, praise and celebrate it. That's what he's saying. Look for the good in the world. We shouldn't give up the phrase positive thinking. It's been taken by other kinds of preachers and done bad things with it. But that's what Paul's talking about here, isn't it? Positive thinking? Thinking on what is good, what is excellent, what's praiseworthy. Don't look first to what you can criticize, look for what you can admire. Now if you think Paul is overstating the necessity of right thoughts, consider what the world daily places in front of you to ponder. Read the newspapers, watch the news. Their stories are rarely on that which is true, honorable, and noble, but rather it centers on the unholy, the unjust, the impure, the ugly, and that of ill repute. The articles, the programs, the policies slant truth to fit their agenda. How will you combat all of that? How will you live a sanctified life in such wickedness? Think Christianly. I've done this when Tim was young and we'd be watching something on TV and some terrible unscriptural thing came across the screen. I'd say, Tim, that's not what the Bible says. That's not how it is. You have to continually think Christianly. Center your thoughts on scripture. This is what Jesus said. You wanna know how you live a sanctified life in this terrible, wicked world? Again, I referred to it earlier, John 17, 17, Jesus said in his high priestly prayer to the Father, he makes this request to the Father of us, about us. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. We must take the time to fill our minds with God's word. If you don't meditate on the scriptures, if you're not reading the scriptures, how in the world are you gonna face the world out there and live Christianly? You have to think Christianly in order to act and live Christianly. That's Paul's point here in Philippians 4, it's his point in Colossians 1. Think Christianly so that you can live Christianly. And what does that put following after Christ? Do you see Christ in verse eight? Yeah, he's there, isn't he? We cannot think of Jesus ever being anything but true. We cannot conceive of him telling a lie, being deceitful or underhanded. We cannot think of him being anything less than honorable. He was always just and fair, whether it was dealing with a fallen woman or dealing with a righteous Pharisee. And oh, how lovely he was. We cannot imagine him doing any unlovely thing. And he had a good report. Even as a boy, he was commendable. And this commendable reputation followed him all through life. At his trial, nobody could think of anything to accuse him of wrongdoing. They had to put up false witnesses to get a charge against him, to twist his words, or resort to mob psychology to get him condemned. He's the pattern we are to follow. His thoughts were always true, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. How do we know? Because that's how we lived. In every circumstance, at every point, it was true, honorable, noble, pure, all those things. And we are to be so like-minded. Back in chapter 2 of Philippians, he says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Now, we are constituted to be able to think consciously of only one thing at a time. I tried this when I was typing out my sermon. I'm trying to think of other things, but your mind goes there and it comes back. You can't think of two things at once. It's one thing. If we're thinking about something good, we can't be thinking about something bad at the same time. So we can avoid unprofitable thoughts by choosing to think on things that are true and right and lovely and pure, always. But we have to make a deliberate choice to think rightly. Our minds will not automatically drift into these channels of Earth 8. Most people are mentally lazy. And because of the fall, we have a bias toward wickedness. But as believers, we have Christ within us. passage in Galatians I referred to last time. It's no longer I, Paul says, who live, but Christ who lives in me. And so the life that I live in this flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And since I'm crucified with Christ, I'm able, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, to think on these things, in verse eight. and thereby live righteously and truthfully, and so on in verse nine. And so I pray that as you live your lives this week, that you'll think rightly about your marriage, that you'll think rightly about your family, about your job, about your relationships, about your driving, about your entertainment, about your responsibilities. And be aware that Satan will try to slip in doubts and fears and worry. But you must be sensitive to the spirit's leading so that you will be spiritually stable and not get sidetracked from right thinking. Humanly speaking, your mind is the greatest treasure you have. And as a believer, you must protect it. and the way you protect it is by thinking Christianly. Make that your goal this week. The rest of today, the rest of your life, think rightly, think Christianly. Let's pray. Our dear Heavenly Father, There are so many things in this world that's thrown at our minds to get us sidetracked from thinking Christianly. We pray that she'll give us the discipline to center our minds always upon Christ, upon your word. Help us to hide its words in our heart that we might not sin against thee. Help us to use it as a lamp, your word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path to keep us from the pitfalls and the stumbling blocks that the world would throw at us to get us off track of sound Christian living. So help us, Lord, to think rightly, to focus on your word, to read it, to study it, to meditate on it, to memorize it, so that it becomes a part of us, so that when a particular circumstance comes up, we'll know exactly what to do, how to react, what to say, because our minds have been bathed in scripture, and our desire is to follow Christ. Help us to be such a follower of Christ, a disciple of Christ, looking to him as we walk through this life. We pray these things that you'll make them true of us in Jesus name. Amen.