Good morning, you see the East Lake and friends watching across from America and elsewhere I'm so glad that you're joining us this morning as we gather before God and as we get to hear His word this morning continuing in our study. We're almost done in this short series in the book of Philippians and As Pastor Gustavo and I've named him Pastor G. That's his new name As he preached to us last week in chapter four verses You know the verses in the middle verses four through seven reminding us of how we can rejoice Always and reminding us of this idea of sanctification or being Christ-like on a daily basis That takes discipline that takes hard work that takes effort not our own effort not our own ability But by the grace of God by the Spirit of God working in us to allow us to pursue righteousness and pursue the the disciplines that God wants us to have and so we pick from there because Paul has been offering in Exaltation which we saw in verses two through and three and then an encouragement which was Pastor Pastor G's encouragement and then in verses Eight and nine which is what we're going to be looking at Paul is offering a prayer for us on how to have the mind of Christ We're going to begin reading or passage this morning in Spanish and then I'll read in English
Enfim todo lo que sea excelente o merezca elogio Pongan en práctica todo lo que de mi han aprendido Recibido y oído y todo lo que han visto en mi y el dios de paz estará con ustedes a men Philippians chapter four Two verses verse eight and nine Here now the reading of God's holy in errant word 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 This is the word of God Thanks be to God Do you pray with me Precious Lord we come to you now as we consider your word Given to us You are breathed life into it. This is your very Word that comes from you the bread of life The word that is active and living In us that is able to renew to transform our hearts and minds Lord speak to us And by your spirit may we hear you May we receive your word may we see you through your word You pray this in Christ's name Amen This is indeed My father's world It's a beautiful world But it's a world that is corrupted by sin It is a world that is full of trouble A world that is full of fear An anger Hatred Injustice Anxiety Violence Pain and suffering It is a world that sometimes pushes us to the edge That we feel like we want to escape from it from all its troubles and pain Sometimes we want to empty our minds just so that we can run away We can escape the pain and trouble in this world So that we may just find a little bit of peace in our mind I must admit the past few weeks I have felt That way I've been wanting to empty my mind and to escape every aspect of living in this troubled peace This troubled world My thoughts I must admit have not been pure and just and lovely and commendable I wonder about your words and what you've been thinking looking at this pandemic And hearing about the racial injustices that we experience in this country and in this world And yet Paul here in this in this passage that we just read this morning is reminding us That we do not experience peace in our hearts and in our minds by escaping from our very thoughts So by escaping from them from this world from anything that we experience But Paul is reminding us that we experience peace by filling our minds with the right stuff That there is a place, there is a store There is a place that we can go to find peace There is a place we can go to properly fill our minds with that which is right And Paul is telling us that the peaceful mind that is freed and guarded from anxiety must dwell on these things And that when we think right we will be able to live right And so in this world this beautiful world that God has made This world that we're living today far away from our heavenly home We need to know that there is a place we can go We need to have an idea in a way or being well stocked by God's grace so that we may have peace So that we may have joy and so Paul begins in verses 8 by reminding us on Right Thinking if you want to think right verse 8 he says finally brothers. What is true Whatever whatever is true. Whatever is honorable. Whatever is just whatever is pure. Whatever is lovely Whatever is commendable if there's any excellence if there's anything worthy of praise Think about these things again Paul is yet concluding his remarks right He's exhorting the church together in Philippine to fill their minds With things that are excellent with things that are that are praise walking and he's basically saying to the church Feed your mind with the right kind of food healthy food for your mind And he's here appealing to them and pointing them to them to things that they already know by the way these virtues this These excellent and praiseworthy things are things that they already knew they were among non-believers These are virtues were not just exclusive to Christianity But they were to be found in record Roman moral philosophy and culture They knew about them. They knew what it meant to be just and what it meant to be pure and lovely and all of those things Definitely the the common grace is a reality in the New Testament church, right But the difference here is that while most of the people admired and pursued all these virtues They were unaware of their own brokenness and their own sin But Paul is basically saying for you who are in Christ Those who know that your sins have been forgiven that you are in Christ that you actually have the mind of Christ You have now been equipped to think of these virtues in a Christ-like manner So they could be a shining light They could be a shining light to the broken world That for them understanding what is pure and what is just and loving and and all these things It would actually help them to to be a powerful witness to this broken world to to an evil generation of their time And so Paul is you're borrowing from the from the culture if you will He's actually encouraging the church in Philippi to appreciate what is good in their culture in the in this running culture So to speak it doesn't mean that Paul is is is wanting them to pursue this popular morality So to speak but he wants them to acknowledge what is good and knowing that ultimately for them life in Christ Is what brings about the fulfillment of the highest moral expectations and aspirations It's not the culture But it is what Christ is doing in their life And that to them they need to focus on it when what is excellent on what is praiseworthy because God's peace Which is guarding their hearts and minds is what is going to allow them to do that And so he gives us a list of If you counter them six things Six right things for them to fill their minds That's the storehouse that I talked about a place where they can go to to to think about to to contemplate And to have all these things affect how they think and how they live their lives But I want you to remember that when Paul talks about think about these things that the idea of thinking is not just You know Keeping something in your mind It is taking to account. Yes, but it is actually reflecting upon and allowing these excellent things to shape How we act and how how we acted out we behave or conduct on a daily basis It's more than just keeping something in your mind and so he begins by saying whatever is true That's the first thing think about whatever is true. What is that? Truth we know begins with a divine person right God through his son Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of what it means to be true That Jesus God himself is all truth. His gospel is truth. We're told in Colossians one five his word is truth We're told in John 1717 And so to think of what true means one sees Christ one sees his word one sees the gospel But also engages God's creation and rejects irrational thinking and speaks the truth Truth is what enables us to rightly relate with everything around us with God with one another and with everything that God has made for us Truth is what enabled us to to work and to relate with others in business in politics and our family And recognizing that there's so many things in the world and things around us that are deceptive that make false claims and false promises And and Paul wants us to focus not on those things, but on what is true Beginning with God himself One commentator writes and he says quote in a difficult if in a difficult relationship with we allow our minds and judgment to be clouded by half truth Or if we allow frivolous and damaging thoughts about the other person to simmer in our minds We are hardly being like Christ. He continues We should rather determine to think only the truth about the other person to value What is attractive and praise worthy about him this will prove to be the way of peace that's what it looks like to have the mind of Christ Second thing he says think about whatever is honorable Entitles we read in titles to it is what is dignified is signifies a personal moral excellence that's worthy of honor Noble that's with that which is majestic that which is all inspiring as opposed to the mundane and easy And then he continues number three think about whatever is just or right Again defined by the character of God just is it is defined by the character of God himself doing the right thing And then we're told in scripture Romans tells us that no one is righteous no one is right so to speak right No one is right no one is just that the only way for us to be right and to be just with God is through the redeeming work of Of Jesus Christ in a broader sense I think probably is actually here speaking Of what is morally right and pure what is clean what is pure It is being just in our relationship with God and with others and The idea of stopping to set our minds on on comfort and pleasure and instead Focusing on minds setting on minds on others number four Think about whatever is pure this is not just you know sexual immorality as as we like to think about when you hear that word about purity It actually is purity in all areas of our life right moral purity in our thoughts in our in our speech in our actions And for Paul gear purity in all of life begins in the thoughts of life itself Think about whatever is pure think about number five whatever is lovely Paul says I mean things that put themselves forward by their attractiveness both aesthetically and morally All that is beautiful in creation in human lives from the beautiful sunset that we enjoy to look at To to to to to listening to a beautiful Awesome jazz ensemble to caring for the poor It is that which is winsome Which promotes brotherly Love it is dwelling on sympathy and kindness and love and patience It is refusing to to let bitterness and anger and criticism and vengeance and vile things to simmer in our hearts and minds and then finally says whatever Is commendable or admirable. I mean what is of good report? That's basically what Paul is saying and this has to do with our conduct right that's highly spoken of by others One commentator puts it this way says you know, it's actually an idea of speaking words that are good For God to listen Did you hear Speaking words that are good for God to listen do you can you imagine what a lovely thing? It would be if everything that we entertained in our minds and in our hearts what came out from our lips Was something that we could say that is a good thing for God to hear the God who is perfect and just and holy Whatever comes or whatever is in our minds. Whatever comes from out of our lips is actually good for God to hear Hmm Paul is saying contemplate Think reflect on these things continually without ceasing. He is here demanding of us an idea of discipline a refusal to think otherwise Again that idea is really being enforced here by him saying if there is any excellence if there's anything worthy of praise Paul says think about these things We've been wondering why does Paul focus on the mind We all know the great philosopher René de Carr right that talked about I think therefore I am the the idea that we are thinking being that I don't think that that's where Paul is going But Paul is actually speaking of the idea that the measure of a man lies in how he thinks and not in what he owns or the gifts that one has The measure of a man The measure of all of us men and women is in how we think not in what we own Or in in our gifts that our thoughts reveal our true character and our the true monitor of who we really are That's what Paul is saying that our thinking is what frames the life that we lead the path that we choose to take in life He would say elsewhere in Romans 12 12 do not be conformed to this world But be transformed by what by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God What is good and acceptable and perfect Romans 12 to It's impossible of course right to get rid of the trash in our own mind, isn't it And so for Paul he's saying it we don't just get rid of it and And leave our minds blank so the people we must replace it with it an entire different way of thinking In the Old Testament in Isaiah 55 we read let the wicked forsake their ways or their unrighteous ways their thoughts They don't stop there. He says instead let them turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on them and to our God for he will freely pardon It's replacing what is not right with what is right in our minds and again for Paul He abarring from you know from from this surrounding culture of all these things that people knew whether you're Christian or not You knew about justice and and and things that were lovely and beautiful and all those things But he's not advocating for the so-called positive thinking as we might want to think about in or days or positive energy Paul is not saying that these virtues are mere mind games or phrases that we can repeat 12 times and they magically somehow transform and renew our thinking and make us have peace with God now It is only by the peace of God Paul says by the peace that comes from God that we can keep these things in our minds only by the power of the Holy Spirit Can our minds be renewed and transformed by him The honest truth is that we all fall far shorts right of the mind of Christ Having this mind of Christ means that Jesus has to take full control of everything that we have Reminded of your enemy chapter six verses four through five A passage that all the Israelites said to memorize right? You know when the Bible says here or Israel the Lord your God the Lord is one You shall love the Lord your God. We thought your heart and mind and strength And then he continues to say that you need to practice and memorize these things, you know bind them on your heart You know just kind of keeping God's word in your heart in your life in your mind all the time Mean think about it. How do we teach our young children on how to memorize the alphabet? We teach them songs that they keep repeating every day A B C D and they have to keep saying them over and over and over and over again Why so that they may have those words in their mind and in their heart That it's from our thoughts that a real reform must begin that we must spend time in scripture That's why we often feel because we don't want to do that That we must we must hide God's word in our hearts that we may not sing against him We must memorize God's word we must read it over and over and over again And that it's only such absorption to his word that would enable us to confront and to change The unbiblical views in all world. Do you want to change the world? Have his word in your heart and mind. That's the way to change the world That's what scripture tells us Paul also in 2nd Corinthians speaks that we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself Up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thoughts to make it obedient to Christ By his word Given to us Engage in what scripture says so that we're able to tell what is true and what is false To so that we're able to tell what is lovely what is just and what is honorable You know how they train bankers on how to know a counterfeit notes from a fake one They always use the real notes so that a banker knows The good notes the real notes touch it feel it see it so that you know what is true so that when someone comes to the fake note You can see that the only way for you to know what is false is by knowing the truth and knowing it well Have the gospel The gospel is the ultimate paradigm or what is good or what is beautiful and what is true And Christ is the truth Jesus is the one who is pure the one that is just the one that is lovely He's the one who is beautiful beyond description the one who is the wonderful counselor the one that is the mighty god and prince of peace And that everything that is excellent everything that is praiseworthy is fulfilled in Christ And that by his death and resurrection Is the one who exposes our lives of those things that are impure and ugly and simple And that those who trust in him for their salvation their minds are now being renewed every day so that they may have the mind of Christ Jesus And so as followers of Christ We are to be attentive We are to be reflective and meditative thinkers and this requires a lifetime right of discipline of Descerning and being disciplined throughout our lives so that we may pursue so that we may think about the things that are excellent and praiseworthy listen friends Our minds will always be set on something the question is What are you going to set your mind upon So Paul in verses 8 says think right In verse 9 he says think right so you may live right Getting in verse 9 what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me Practice these things and the peace of God will be with you But sex thinking as we've talked about you know the whole idea of thinking will only be of value If you put it into practice. That's what Paul is saying It's not enough to simply reflect and contemplate on these excellent things They must be put into practice That's why Paul is offering himself as an example to be imitated by the church The noble thoughts are useless unless we practice and live them out walk the talk As people often say again Paul lived or walked the talk he lived these virtues His language here, you know, the way that he actually uses or think logisa mind greek Means to to ponder it means to to give proper way to account and value to to allow For resultant appraisal to influence the way of life that is to be lived It's actually saying listen This is how you think and let you thinking Help you in how you live The meaning goes beyond contemplating into putting thoughts into practice You can almost feel The force of Paul's words here when he says what you have learned what you have received What you have heard what you have seen again from a Jewish perspective here, you know, what Paul What you have learned is what you received Unless you I mean if you haven't received if you don't receive it you haven't learned it And it's what Paul is trying to instill in the minds of the church Paul is not being an egotistical maniac by asking people come and follow me and take what I tell you and take it and go with it No, by asking them to follow his example. He's actually alluding to the tradition that he himself has learned It to a tradition that all the apostles have learned about God's word and it's true and saying I have learned this truth And I can tell you that it is true. I want you to think about it. I want you to put it into practice What is just and commendable? Because what we think Will inevitably influence how we live and what we do and so if you want to live right Then start thinking right If you want to please God then think about what pleases God and then put it into practice That's why it's important for us to think right otherwise our actions will not be right Again all of our learning everything we learn in life is for living is so that we may live accordingly so we may live right I mean I often think about when we hear God's word being expounded Even now as you listen to God's word being expounded what is going on in your mind what what are you thinking about What is God teaching you what are you receiving what are you hearing are you seeing Christ are you seeing him in his word Again John reminds us that if you know these things God's truth Blessed are you if you do it if you practice what you hear One commentator silver says that a mind drilled in the things of which God approves is the steadiest way into practical holiness A mind drilled in the things of which God approves is the steadiest way into practical holiness and quote I love how Paul ends verse 9 saying think right so you may live right and then he gives us a promise There's a promise to actually practicing what you are thinking about And the promise is this that if you combine your Christian doctrine and practice it that the God of peace will be with you Isn't that awesome And it's not he's not just promising peace. He's actually saying the God of peace himself will be with you Who you know the God who is the source of all spiritual blessings will favor you with his peace and be with you always As the hymn writer writes and says trust and obey for there is no other way to be what to be happy than to trust and obey God's peace here's Shalom A state of true wrestling Christ Jesus in this life and in the life to come will radiate the light of Jesus Christ to this surrounding world when we think and live right One preacher says quote if we are to know and enjoy the power of God within us and his peace We must surround our circumstances with prayer. We must drill our minds with godly thinking and our lives subject to the instruction of God's word If we miss it our lives will be messy If we miss it our lives will be messy and so again policy instead of trying to empty your mind in order to be free from anxiety and the troubles of this world Remember the true peace is ours only when our minds are properly filled A mind that's full Will have less anxiety because it is always focused on what God approves and we can anticipate his peace with us now His peace with us tomorrow his peace with us forever. It is or it is training our minds to think right To bring our anxious minds and our troubled hearts to him See the world might be able to think and practice these things. Yes, they may But there's one thing that's missing. That's the promise that we have has got people The world can practice things that are right and pure and all of those things Their morality is pure rubbish Because it's not been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ It is only when our thoughts Have been cleansed by Jesus by the precious blood of Jesus Christ That we may think that we may live that we will practice these things and do them well The world lacks the peace that comes from God And again for the Jews peace was not this absence Absence of trouble but everything that makes a person or for a person's highest good For the Jewish the the the whole idea of peace was something that was only found in a relationship in a friendship with God Peace Shalom can only be found when we have our right relationship with God and a right relationship with one another That is our hope To have peace with God Which is indestructible because it is founded on the eternal God We've talked a whole lot about the mind haven't we? I read this week about a research on what the mind is all about Listen to this research shows that the capacity of the human brain has about 12 to 14 billion with the bee Billion cells and that's just a only a shadow of its complexity That each cell Sends out thousands not hundreds thousands of connecting 10 reals so that each single cell may be connected with 10,000 neighboring cells all of which Is constantly exchanging data impulses and that this 12 to 14 billion cells times 10,000 connectors. Yeah, I know it's crazy make the human mind and an imperial computer That the mind activity has been compared to 1,000 switchboards 1,000 switchboards each big enough to serve the whole new york city All running at full speed as they receive and send questions and orders put another way There is more electronic equivalents in one a single one brain one brain than all of the radio And television stations all the entire world put together Can you think about that for a second one single brain has more radio equivalents Then all of radio and television stations of the entire world put together You know what that means? It means that our brains Miss absolutely nothing Our brains have the complexity The amazing complexity to capture everything I mean you think about it from the from the beautiful harmonies of Bach To the amazing arts of Picasso To the amazing and beautiful poetry of Maya Angelou And the brimmit minds of scientists and and athletes and and and all the professions we have in the world The mind is a complex thing But here's the beauty of it friends That God in all of his wisdom Made our human brain to be so creative and so complex But the purpose that God gave us or brain is so that our brains Reach its apex in the possibility of possessing the mind of Jesus Christ himself through the ministry of the Holy Spirit
and that the only way As we live in this Our father's world that is beautiful and yet broken That the only way for us to counter the busy and the noisy inputs in this world is by filling all minds with Which is good with that which is right by practicing what we learn and what we receive and what we hear and what we see in Christ
And so friends I encourage you this morning Don't be blinded by the God of this age was blinded Unbelievers so they're not able to see the gospel of Jesus Christ but set your heart set your mind on things that are heavenly not on earthly things Because you and I have died in Christ our life is now hidden with Christ in God That's how we feel that's how we feed our mind With the things of God the things that are above May that be true of us today and every day of our life in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen