2010 BBC Preach-A-Thon - Paul Moran

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Today, we're going to look at a verse that a child could understand the first time they read it. And yet,
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I can say that it's the most challenging verse I've ever tried to preach. The basic meaning of the passage is crystal clear, and the applications are so abundant that it's like looking for a drop of water from an artesian well.
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There's no need for a pump, the water just flows right out. There are primarily two challenges with this verse.
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The first is understanding the context. Why did God put it there, and what did Paul have in mind when he wrote it?
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I've done the best that I can do to solve this challenge for you today. The second challenge is to actually live out the truth of this passage.
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And to this challenge, I'm convinced that even the Apostle Paul would say, not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on.
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Open with me to the book of Philippians, chapter 4. I'm going to begin by reading verses 8 and 9.
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These do, and the God of peace will be with you. For the first half of this chapter,
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Paul is giving a list of several individual commands. In English, it looks like verse 8 is its own command, and verse 9 is a separate, different command.
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At first, I also thought that verse 8 is a continuation of the thought from verses 6 and 7, making it one thought.
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Now, I'm not an expert in Greek, but as best as I can tell, and according to the experts, the noun things in verse 9, when it says, the things which you learned, those things is pointing back to verse 8.
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It's the same things that were described in verse 8. So verses 8 and 9 contain one complete thought, which isn't dependent on the previous two verses.
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It's not dependent on 6 and 7, although it certainly is connected to them. So verse 8 talks about meditating on things that are excellent, and verse 9 continues the thought saying that you should not only meditate on them, but you should also do them.
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And then it continues to say that if you do them, you can rest assured that the God of peace will be with you.
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I'd love to preach this whole passage today, but there isn't enough time for that. So today I'm going to focus on the jugular portion of it, the poetic verse, the verse that is written above so many
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TVs, on so many mirrors, and memorized by so many people. Today, with God's help, I'm going to exposit the meaning of verse 8.
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My purpose today is to encourage you to grow in Christian maturity by setting your minds on excellent things so that you may be at peace in your hearts, your relationships, and that you may be assured of peace when you stand before God.
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I also want you to understand this verse and its context. Why is this verse here? How does it relate to the rest of the book?
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Does it summarize the book, or does it stand on its own? So today I'm going to give you six thought groups that your mind ought to consume so that you will grow in maturity, unity, and peace.
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And you may say, wait, but I see eight. Stick with me for now, and we'll get to the last two later.
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So first, do you see the main verb in this verse? It's all the way at the end, but it controls the entire sentence.
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The verb is to meditate. To meditate or to dwell or to think has the idea of carefully considering something, weighing it, and letting its truth guide your thoughts and your actions.
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This is a serious word. It's not just imagining or watching or reading about some fictional world where all these wonderful things supposedly exist.
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It doesn't mean to be entertained or briefly distracted by these things. It refers to real life, to the spiritual and physical reality.
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It implies that you are considering these things in your mind and in your heart with the intent to imitate them.
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It requires effort, and it doesn't happen naturally. So the first, meditate on things that are true.
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This is directly from the text. Look at it again. It says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true.
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And then at the end of the verse, it says, meditate on these things, referring to all of these things.
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This is truth in general. It refers to things that are altogether true. Occupy your mind with such things.
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The converse is implied. Don't meditate on things that are not true. Don't waste your time on them. This includes not only false doctrines, but also pretend things, imaginary fantasies, or doubtful rumors.
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Paul is urging the Philippians to think about things that are true with the intent of living their lives based on that truth.
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So what does it look like to meditate on these things? I don't think Paul has in mind some hermit on a mountain spending his life thinking about abstract concepts, nor is he picturing a
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Greek philosopher extolling the intrinsic goodness of truth. It's not truth that we're commanded to meditate on, but rather things that are true.
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This includes doctrines or concepts, and in particular, true attributes of other people and of God.
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Based on the rest of this book, Paul was thinking about a couple of different things here. He warned the
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Philippians in chapter 3 to beware of the Judaizers and of other false teachers. The meaning of this text can certainly be applied to that situation.
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He was also thinking about a particular dispute between two women in the Philippian church,
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Euodia and Syntyche. We can infer from the text that these two women were not of the same mind.
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And sprinkled throughout the entire epistle, Paul includes numerous powerfully stated pleas to be like -minded, united, without complaining or disputing.
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In fact, based on the amount of time that he spends talking about it and the number of different subjects that he links to this, this was very near and dear to the apostle's heart.
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Being like -minded, of course, is only beneficial if both minds are in the right place. This verse, verse 8, supplements the instruction to be like -minded by describing what types of things their minds ought to be thinking about.
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If they're all thinking about these types of things, then their complaining is going to die down.
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Especially if they observe these types of things in one another, they'll begin to focus more on God's grace in each other's lives than on their weakness.
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And they'll glorify God for what he has done in the other rather than complaining about what remains to be done.
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So all six of these thought groups today apply to this situation. In particular, meditate on things that are true.
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Urges these women to be careful not to allow any falsehoods or misunderstandings to disrupt their harmony, but rather to focus on the truth of what
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God has done. So meditate on things that are true. It's not very difficult to find ways that this applies to our lives.
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There's no need to convert it or principalize it. We don't need to make it into something that's applicable today.
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When it says to meditate on things that are true, that's exactly what it means. This applies to your relationships as well as it did to Euodia and Syntyche.
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It also applies to many more situations as well. Your choice of entertainment, the topic of your casual conversations, the general theme of your thoughts, and more.
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The challenge is that it applies to so many different areas that it's hard to actually live out.
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This is a part of our sanctification, and it's necessary for not only new believers, but also for the heroes of the faith, the seasoned saints.
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So we come to the next, meditate on things that are noble.
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This is also translated as honorable. This refers to things that are noble in character or honorable.
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It's only used a couple of times in the New Testament. Sometimes it describes older men who ought to be dignified, or it describes deacons and their wives, both of whom ought to be worthy of respect.
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It refers to people or attitudes that are morally proper and are accordingly respectable.
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When it says to meditate on things that are noble, it's primarily referring to people who act in noble or honorable ways.
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Inanimate objects and abstract concepts are things, but they can't be noble in character. So Paul is commending the
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Philippians to think about people who are honorable and the specific honorable things that these people do, which make them honorable.
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When I first came across this distinction, I have to confess I was kind of surprised, but it seems that the definition of the word, the
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Greek word there, as well as the general thrust of the whole passage and the commentators also agreed that this noble primarily refers to the people who are noble in character.
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So several times in this book, Paul pointed out people who are honorable. The first was
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Epaphroditus. To explain who he was, I have to back up a little bit. Paul wrote the book when he was in prison in Rome.
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The Philippians had previously been supporting Paul, but they seemed to have lost contact with him for some time.
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When they found out that he was in Rome, they sent Epaphroditus, one of their own, to Rome to meet
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Paul with a gift. They sent a gift with him. So Epaphroditus was also supposed to serve Paul, ministering to him on behalf of the
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Philippian church. Apparently Epaphroditus got deathly ill when he was in Rome, and he was ill for some time.
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Once he regained his health, Paul sent this letter with him to the Philippians, thanking them for their gifts, among several other things.
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And in the letter, Paul praised Epaphroditus, saying that men like him should be held in high esteem because he considered the work of Christ more valuable than his own life.
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Along with Epaphroditus, Paul also mentioned once before and then again in verse 9 of our text that the
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Philippians should follow Paul's example as well. Remember the verse, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on.
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Paul followed that verse up with saying, Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and then later, brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
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The instruction here is that we should take note of people who are noble in character so that we can imitate their noble characteristics.
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To a certain extent, even immature Christians have evidence in them of the work of the Holy Spirit, and this nobility can be recognized and appreciated.
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How much more can we profit from observing the lives of faithful Christians who have consistently displayed
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God's grace in their lives? So we've seen meditate on things that are true and meditate on things that are noble.
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And now the third is meditate on things that are just, or meditate on things that are right.
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This refers to things that are just and right in a broad sense, both in relation to humans and according to divine justice.
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Again, this is referring primarily to people. To be just or righteous is a personal characteristic applied to godly men and women throughout the entire
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New Testament. From time to time, though, this word is used to describe the things that righteous people do, righteous judgments, or righteous actions.
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So when the text says to meditate on things that are just, this includes just or righteous people and their traits or behaviors that give them their righteousness.
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Does this mean that we should block our minds from ever thinking about things or people that are unjust? Does it prohibit us from hearing true and painful stories of abuse or genocide or any other unrighteousness?
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If that were Paul's intent, then he would tell us to go and become hermits. On the contrary, this verse commands meditating on the just and righteous attributes of specific people so that we can emulate them and make our own actions just and righteous.
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In the context of the disputing between the two Philippian women, focusing on righteous attributes or behavior in one another would certainly help to decrease the disputing and complaining.
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Imitating these attributes in Paul or in other mature Christians would decrease the amount of things that the other could complain about.
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Now we come to the fourth, meditate on things that are pure. This word means pure or holy, referring to things that are morally upright, innocent, free from faults or defects, and sinless.
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The word also has to do with purity in sexual matters, but it's not limited just to this. In understanding this word,
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I find it helpful to think of pure gold. I don't mean 14 carat or 24 carat, but only absolutely pure gold.
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What does pure mean in this context? It means being 100 % gold. There's no brass or cheap metal hidden inside the gold.
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It's not a mask or a covering. There are no faults or blemishes, no impurities.
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In the same way, someone who is pure has integrity. They don't have mischievous hidden intentions.
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They can truthfully explain all their actions without shame. This verse commands to meditate on things that are pure.
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It could be biblical characters. It could be saints of old that you read about in biographies. Or it could be
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Christians you know, perhaps in your church and in your family. Meditate on their pure attributes so that you can imitate their purity.
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Think about what it looks like, what it requires. And how you need to change in order to become more pure.
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So we've seen meditate on things that are true, noble, just, pure. And now meditate on things that are lovely.
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The student in me finds it interesting that this is the only time that this word is used in the New Testament. The meaning is pretty simple.
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It's something that is pleasing or agreeable. Something that makes a person inclined to love it. This word reminds me of 1
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Peter 3, 4. Where Peter is speaking to wives and he says that they should let your adornment be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
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Did you notice that last phrase? Which is very precious in the sight of God. God thinks that a woman like that is beautiful.
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That's lovely. This word refers to loveliness of the heart. The verse in 1
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Peter is specific to a woman. But the loveliness described here in our text today can be either feminine or masculine.
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So this too certainly applies to the context of the two women who were disputing. These women labored with Paul in the gospel and no doubt have some loveliness already.
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But if they understand and apply this verse, they would begin cultivating that loveliness more and more. And they would also focus on that loveliness that they observe in the other.
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Can you see the dispute dying out already? Now the sixth, meditate on things that are of good report.
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This word too isn't used anywhere else in the New Testament. It's also a concept that doesn't translate directly, which is why it's translated in so many different ways.
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Other translations read, instead of of good report, they'll say of good repute or commendable or admirable.
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This describes someone who is intrinsically kind and tends to win people. I would say that it's winsome, except that it's not a superficial personality trait.
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If you combine the concept of winsome with sincerity and depth, that's probably pretty close to what this word means.
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So those are the six thought groups. Each of them are adjectives describing things in a highly rhetorical sentence structure.
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The next two phrases are significantly different. Paul breaks the linear structure and he puts in two nouns.
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Remember, everything before was an adjective. So now he puts in two nouns, which basically mean moral excellence and praiseworthiness.
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These two are best understood as summing up and generalizing the preceding six. All of the six thought groups are morally excellent.
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All of them are praiseworthy. In fact, I'm sure you can think of many other things besides these six that are also morally excellent or praiseworthy, which should also be meditated on and imitated.
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The relationship between the first six and the last two is similar to the relationship of the
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Old Testament commandments and the greatest two commandments. Remember when someone asked
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Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? He gave the greatest two, and then he said, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
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All the other ones matter because they describe more specifically what is meant by the greatest two. The greatest two are wonderful in their generality, and they can be applied to every situation in life.
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And the rest are also helpful because they spell out explicitly what is implied in the greatest two.
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In the same way, these last two phrases, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, it sums up and encompasses the previous six.
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Now we've gone all the way through verse eight, but the thought isn't finished yet. Paul has told us to meditate on these things, but he tells us why to meditate on them in verse nine.
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We already understand that meditating isn't just thinking, it's meditating so that we can imitate.
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Now in verse nine, Paul explicitly states the imitate idea, and then he says, and the God of peace will be with you.
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What does Paul mean by that? Is he saying that our peace with God is conditional on us doing all these things?
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Of course not. Scripture clearly shows that peace with God is only obtained through the finished work of Christ on the cross.
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Not according to our own merit or anything that we can do. We cannot earn fellowship with the
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God of peace. It's helpful to understand that this word peace means first and foremost an absence of national war.
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From there, it's also applied to an interpersonal lack of conflict and strife, being at peace with another person.
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So here the word peace describes the condition of, the condition of being at peace is with God, with one's neighbors, and in a similar way with one's own conscience.
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The meaning of the phrase is that if you work at doing these things, your lives will continually and increasingly be characterized by the presence of the
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God of peace. I see two ways that this can happen. The first is, we've already seen how this verse profoundly impacts the way
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Christians interact with one another. As you apply this verse, your conflict and your disputing will gradually cease, resulting in a state of peace.
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And second, as you apply this verse, your faith will grow in maturity. You will be sanctified, and you'll become more
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Christ -like in your conduct. Not only will others see that the God of peace is with you, but you yourself will grow in assurance that you are, in fact, at peace with God, as you see the grace of Christ increasing in your life.
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This passage is the last of the instructional material in this book. While this verse doesn't quite summarize the book, it does actually touch on pretty much all of the major themes of the book.
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It fits perfectly with Paul's prayer for Philippians in chapter 1, his instruction for them through the rest of the book, as well as his one overarching theme, which we'll see in just a minute.
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In fact, it unites all of those things together. This verse is a brilliant and beautiful conclusion to this portion of the book.
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We've already seen the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche, and Paul's repeated instruction to be like -minded, or to have the same mind, in other words, to be united.
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We've seen how every detail of this verse applies to their situation. We've also seen
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Paul's trend of encouraging the Philippians to follow the example of some worthy role model. In chapter 2, we see that the
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Philippians ought to have the same mind as Christ in his humility. Later on, Paul says to hold men like Epaphroditus in high esteem.
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In chapter 3, Paul encourages the Philippians to follow his own example, saying that they will learn to have the same mind as they mature.
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Now, in our current text, Paul describes more generally what mind they are to have, and he commands them to do the things that they saw in Paul's example and in his instruction.
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In addition to these, Paul's prayer for the Philippians, from chapter 1, was that their love would abound still more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, that they may approve the things that are excellent.
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This describes growing in maturity as Christians, and involves becoming very familiar with things that are excellent, or distinguished and exceptional.
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In our text today, Paul is explaining what type of things are excellent, and the maturity of Christians is what he has in mind in this verse, as well as in his prayer and in the book as a whole.
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So, another theme of the book, this is the overarching theme. It's so close that you might miss it.
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One man said that the theme of the book is this, Christ is all. In fact, according to my count, out of 104 verses, 52 of them directly refer to Christ, either as Jesus, Christ, Lord, or Him.
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While our text today is not one of these 52 verses, it has Jesus' name all over it. What is truer than the way, the truth, and the life?
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What is more noble than the King of kings? What is more just than the one who justifies sinners?
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What could be more pure than the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world? What could be more lovely than the one who defines for mankind what
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God's love is? What could have more virtue, or be more worthy of praise, than the one whose name is
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Jesus? This is the highest and most important application.
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Meditate on Christ. Let Him fill your mind. Dwell on His attributes.
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May you be consumed with thoughts of Him. But don't forget the meaning of this verse.
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Don't just think. Think with the intent of imitating. As you meditate on Christ, consider how you can imitate
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His attributes. Meditate on Jesus, the true, and let that truth impact your life.
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Meditate on Jesus, the noble, and imitate His nobility. Meditate on Jesus, the just, and imitate
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His righteousness. Meditate on Jesus, the pure, and imitate His purity.
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Meditate on Jesus, the lovely, and imitate His loveliness. Meditate on Jesus, the admirable, and imitate
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His character. Meditate on Jesus in all of His excellent and praiseworthy attributes.
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And imitate Him in every way. And if you do these things, then the
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God of peace will be with you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank
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You for Your Word. I praise You that You gave it to us, even though You didn't have to. And Lord, I thank
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You that You constantly lift our eyes and lift our minds to think about higher things than we are inclined to on our own.
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Lord, I pray that today You would cause us to be filled with excellent and wonderful things.
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And most of all, I pray that You would help us to meditate on Christ, to see
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Christ in all of His attributes, to behold Him in His glory, and to seek to imitate Him, to be sanctified in our own lives, and to glorify