Think About These

Well, we turn this morning to, in the book of Philippians, the

Apostle Paul's final instruction to the church. Now, we have more preaching material to go as we finish this letter in subsequent weeks, but in chapter 4, verses 8 and 9 is the final, if you will, command to the church as Paul is wrapping up what he would have us actually to do.

And this morning will be chapter 4, verse 8, when we come back to this book, we will handle verse 9, and then we'll move on to the rest of it.

So let me read this one verse to you that will have our attention this morning. It will be in chapter 4 and verse 8.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, think about these things.

Now, before this, in the book of Philippians, as we've been going through it, we came to other commands, things we were to do, such as chapter 1, verse 9, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

In chapter 1, verse 27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel. Chapter 2, verse 13, for it is

God's work to you to work the will and to work for his good pleasure, which immediately is followed by chapter 2, verse 14.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of crooked and twisted generations.

So now, at last, this might be the moment you've been waiting for. I hope it's the moment you've been waiting for as we come to the verse and the thing you're waiting to hear.

The thing that should have you in trembling anticipation is this big question that should be on all your minds and should have been throughout this preaching.

How? How? How does love abound more and more in me?

How do I live worthy of this gospel? Do I just let go and let God? What am

I to do? Pastor, you've been preaching through this book since the middle of January. So when are you going to tell me what it is

I'm supposed to do? We all want to do something.

We all want to take an active part in things. We all want to have something which we've accomplished so we can measure our progress towards a goal.

What do I do? You've been in this book for six months. Tell me now.

I've been waiting for all this time. Today, if you've been asking that, today I will tell you what to do.

And not me, but God willing you will see it's from Scripture, what we are to do. And if you've not been anticipating this, if you've not been trembling anxiously to know what you're supposed to do to accomplish these things, that the book of Philippians, the

Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, would have you to do if you've not been thinking that way, this morning you can repent of that right now.

Because I'm going to tell you what you should have been anxiously awaiting. What am I supposed to do?

Today, as best I can, I will explain that to you from Scripture. As best I am able,

I will tell you what the Apostle Paul insists are the character and the behavior of the Christian, and how we are molded into the image of Christ, how we obey these commands that we've had, how we walk in our lives worthy of the gospel, how we do all things without grumbling and disputing, and all the rest of it.

This is the how. The how, the what you're to do, and here it is brethren.

Think about these things as something more than the power of positive thinking.

It's greater than that because these words come to us from the Holy Spirit of God, they are living and active and powerful words.

Think about these things, and this morning I want to explain to you what these things are you are to think.

I want you to understand where this verse comes from, the background of it, and the structure of it in the original language, which will not turn into a lecture, but the structure of it is important.

I want you to think about these things. In chapter 12, verse 2 of the book of Romans, the

Apostle, the same Apostle Paul writes, and he says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Be transformed by the renewing of your thinking this morning. What are we to think about?

What do I do? It will come to you, Lord willing, this day.

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, think about these things.

Before we delve into this verse, and I give you the structure of the verse and the background of it, it's just a short bit of background on this one verse,

I want to tell you that one of my goals today is to drive you a little bit crazy with this verse, to make you a little bit nuts.

I want to give you what the Germans call an Erwurm, I've used this term before, an earworm.

You know that tune you can't get out of your head? It happens to me a lot. I'm going to bed, I'm trying to sleep, and a tune comes into my head from nowhere, and I can't get it to stop,

I can't get it to finish. No matter how many times I sing it to the end of the song, it won't stop.

It's an Erwurm, an earworm. And this morning I have one for you, because I want you to think about these things day and night.

I want you to wake up in the morning thinking about these things. I want you to go through your life thinking about these things, when you go to work and you're taking care of the children, when you're just taking a drive, playing tennis, whatever you're doing.

I want you thinking about these things, I want to give you an Erwurm. I want you to have this so locked in your mind, and so going through your ear constantly, you might even resent me for it.

I want you to memorize these things, whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable.

I'm going to say them several times in their entirety through this message, because I want it in your mind.

I want you thinking about these things, because the Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, would have you thinking about these things.

I have a little mnemonic for you, I have a little mnemonic, just a little memory trick. Here's the way

I think, when I'm driving on the road, I look at license plates, and when I see the letters, I make up words that use those letters in order, not in sequence, but in order.

It's just something I do. And I think that led me to what I'm going to give you this morning. I don't care if you like it or not,

I'm going to say it so many times, it's going to get into your ear, and Lord willing, into your spirit. The Japanese police.

The Japanese police. I saw some eyes perk up on that, it's like, what on earth is he talking about? It's now an

R -verb. I don't want you to forget it. The, T -H, true, honorable,

Japanese, the J, just, police, P -L -C, pure, lovely, commendable, the

Japanese police, T -H -J -P -L -C, now that's just what locked it in for me.

So at any given moment, I can go through life, and I can remember that I'm to be thinking about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable.

If you have a mnemonic, if you have a trick, that's fine, but I want you to remember these things. This morning, you're going to hear this over and over and over, because we want to lock it in, because the

Apostle Paul says, think about these things, and all those previous commands, all that ethical behavior, all that business of God working in you to work and do for his good pleasure.

What he's doing, the working in you, is the spirit of God, it's your faith in Christ that makes anything you do worth anything.

It is God, by his spirit, and the repentance he gave you, the faith he gave you to believe, that makes you even want to be like Christ, that makes you even want to do for his good pleasure.

So he gets all the glory. And our doing does not impress God, only

Jesus Christ impresses God. Our doing does not gain us anything before God, only Jesus Christ gains us anything before God, and yet there is doing, and after six months of preaching through this book, we've come to the doing.

When people are active, when people are goal -oriented, you're going to like this, because I'm going to tell you what to do this morning.

This has really helped me quite a lot to think about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable.

It's been a good exercise for me, and if your spiritual batteries need some recharging, as I didn't even know mine did as I studied for this one message,

Lord willing, this will help you this day. So I've given you my memory trick, the Japanese police, the

T -H -J -P -L -C, over and over I've given you that R -verb, it's going to work, you're going to get this.

What's the basic structure of this verse? Well, the verse comes actually from kind of a Stoic background, with a capital

S. Stoicism in Rome at the time that the letter was written was very popular, and Romans, who believed in strong, ethical, civic behavior, who believed in being self -controlled, not showing outward emotions, were very amenable to Stoicism.

It was popular. And the way the Apostle Paul gives this one verse to them in Philippi was sort of a

Stoic methodology, just to give a list of virtues that they're to follow, and then to think about these things.

Logizomai is to think, to reason, to think carefully, to consider something from many, if not all, angles.

That's where it comes from. He's really using a teaching method that was popular in the day, that they would have understood right away, and yet it is

Scripture, it comes from the Holy Spirit of God, but Paul using something common and known in that day to bring this to bear upon them.

Each of the six qualities, true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, is preceded by a whatever is.

So whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, and then those six qualities after each one of them.

And one thing I want you to notice about this is that there's a positive tone to these. These are positive things that you're to look for, to think about.

True, honorable, just. I told you I'd say it many times this morning. I want you to memorize it before you leave.

True, honorable, just. Pure, lovely, commendable. These are positive things.

These are good things. These are enriching sort of things. One of the advantages we have, one of the true qualities of Reformed theology is that we have a high view of sin.

We know sin for what it is as Scripture says it, as Scripture gives it to us. We know that the

Christian life is a life of acknowledging our sin, repenting of our sin. That Jesus Christ went to the cross because of sin.

And that there he suffered for my sin. We focus on sin. And the broad evangelical church seems embarrassed of the whole concept of sin.

Oh, you didn't drink, you just gave in to your disease of alcoholism. It's not a sin. It was just a stumble.

It was just a momentary lapse of reason. Those sorts of things. No, it's sin. It's sin. And in Reformed theology we know sin for what it is.

Not as well as God does, obviously. But better than most, I would say. And I don't say that boastfully or proudly.

But Reformed theology does have that advantage. The disadvantage. The disadvantage of that is sometimes we

Reformed people start thinking negatively about anything. And everything. And we look out in the world and we don't see anything that's true or honorable or just or pure or lovely or commendable.

We just see sins. We know that green leaf should be greener if not sin.

If not for sin. And we know that my words would be purer if not for sin. We see sin in everything.

So nothing is really true. All men are liars. I said my haste since the psalm was made in 16. We need to understand that the

Apostle Paul here says to think on these positive things. Not to ignore sin. I would make the case that as we think on these positive things, we are going to magnify within ourselves our recognition of our sin.

Because of the difference, the contrast between what these things the Apostles would have us look upon and think upon and then in our own soul how different we are from them.

But these are positive things. These are, in the world, good things to look at.

And they are there. Whatever is. Six times. Assuming that they are there.

And if they're not, then this is just a cruel exercise that the Apostle gave us. Something impossible. Thinking leads to action.

There's more than the power of positive thinking. It's what the Scripture says. The 23rd Psalm, verse 7. And the

New King James says, As man thinks in his heart, so he is. And again, Romans 12 too, as I said a moment ago.

Transformed by the renewing of your mind. Transformed by the way you think. Transformed and molded more and more to the image of Christ by thinking differently than you do.

By thinking upon these things. And these things are positive things to think about. The end of the verse.

And this is the last part of the structure. And then we will look at the six things that we need to think about. The end of the verse is really the controlling part of it.

If there's any excellence. If there's anything worthy of praise. Think about these things. Did you notice that think is the only verb in that whole verse?

That whole sentence only has that one verb at the end. Think. Ponder. Think logically. Reason it out.

Look at it from all the angles. This is work. You've been asking what to do? I know many of you have.

Work hard at this. It's that one verb. Think about these things. If there's any excellence.

If there's anything worthy of praise. These are the controllers. If you will. So as we look upon things that are true and say

I have to think about everything that's true or just and so forth. Well if it's of excellence. If it's worthy of praise.

Then the answer is yes. We'll talk about that in a few moments. But I want you to understand that those verses control everything.

It's something like if I was going to have a car painted or have my house painted. I want it painted blue.

And I said to the painter whatever is azure. Whatever is turquoise. Whatever is sapphire. Whatever is cobalt.

Whatever is cerulean. Whatever is that blue kind of color. If there's anything blue. Paint it like that.

Now that would not leave out midnight blue or royal blue. Any more than our list would leave out self -control or gentleness or the rest.

It's a symbolic not a comprehensive list. So with that background.

Let's look at these six qualities that we're to have. We're to set our mind. We're to recharge ourselves.

Remember the Japanese police? THJ. The Japanese PLC police.

THJ. True honorable just. PLC. PLC. Pure lovely connective.

These are the things we're to think about. True. Whatever is true. The word is truthful.

Honest. As we would expect. Now as an adjective in the scriptures used surprisingly little.

It's only 26 times in all of the New Testament. Most of them by the Apostle John. And the majority of that in his gospel with some in his letters.

There's many things in the world that are true. Many things are true. My example for you this morning is the

Pythagorean theorem. Discovered some few centuries before Jesus Christ was born into the world.

The Pythagorean theorem. We're not going to go into a lot of detail so don't worry. We're not going to make a math lecture out of this.

But the Pythagorean theorem says if you have a right triangle. A triangle with a 90 degree angle.

That line opposite that right angle. Is called the hypotenuse. Now if we label the other two lines

A and B. And the hypotenuse is labeled C. Then the Pythagorean theorem says.

A squared plus B squared is equal to C squared. That's true. It will never let you down.

I've used it to line up a deck against the house. And make sure the deck was square to the house. And the right lengths and all that stuff.

The Pythagorean theorem has stood the test of time. It is true. Is that the kind of truth that you are to set your mind upon?

To legitimize? To reason out? To look at from all angles? Well you can if you like.

But that's not what the Apostle Paul has in mind. He's speaking in the ethical dimension. He's speaking in our moral lives.

The Pythagorean theorem we could rejoice in it. Because all truth is ultimately from God.

But again that's not quite what the Apostle Paul has in mind. Things have been true in the ethical, in the moral realm.

As in chapter 4 of John's Gospel. When Jesus as is so well known is speaking to the

Samaritan woman. And he says go and get your husband. He says I have no husband. If Jesus says you are right or true.

The same word we have here. You are right in saying I have no husband. You see it was a fact. It was black and white.

Sort of like the Pythagorean theorem. Where A squared plus B squared equals C squared is true. But Jesus was using the word the way

Paul does here. In the moral dimension. He was using the word to bring moral and ethical conviction to her.

He stated the truth in a way that would convict her of her failures. True is more than just correct words.

True is more than just black and white. This is reality and this other thing is not.

It is more than that. It is speaking in a way that brings out moral and ethical excellence.

If there is anything excellent. If there is anything worthy of praise. Jesus obviously did that with the

Samaritan woman. Because as we know as the Gospel proceeds. She repented of her sin.

And brought many to hear the Savior. Too often in our circles.

Something like Ephesians 4 .15. Is a favorite kind of truth serum for us.

Isn't it? Truth serum. It says rather speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head.

Into Christ. Too often this becomes just an excuse. For saying that whatever comes to our mind.

I get to say as long as I am in love. Speaking in love to this person. As long as it is factually correct.

I can say whatever I want. Because I am just speaking the truth in love. Right? And often times that becomes an excuse for those hurtful statements.

That have no ethical or moral dimension to them at all. It is a total violation of what the

Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4 .8. The way Jesus used it in John chapter 4 with the Samaritan woman. Too often accurate precise words.

Provable words proceed from our lips. And they have no thought to whether they are good for the person to hear.

Whether they are going to convict the person of any sin. Or of any dimension of moral or ethical behavior that they need to improve.

We are just saying what is on our mind. We don't think too much of what else is going to be implied by that.

Where this is going to lead the person. Here is an easy test for you.

To know if you are speaking to a person using the truth in love. As the Apostle Paul says. Obeying Philippians 4 .8.

After you have spoken to that person. And you see the hurt. You see the bewilderment in their eyes.

You see them looking to you. Because I thought you were my brother. I thought you were my sister. And in order then to justify you have to say something like.

Well I am just saying. Have you ever said that? Have you ever had to look at somebody after you have hurt them.

And then to justify it. Say I am just saying. If you have to say

I am just saying. You shouldn't have been saying. If you have to say

I am just saying. You shouldn't have said anything. How do we avoid that? Think about these things.

Think about the truth. Think about what truth really means. Think about the moral and ethical dimension of truth.

Think about Jesus Christ. Who is the truth of God himself. What does the

T stand for? Well. It is the first letter of the. Where we get the

Japanese police. I mean nothing against the Japanese or against the police. It is just the words that came to me.

You are going to hear it over and over again. What does the Japanese police stand for? True, honorable, just.

Pure, lovely, commendable. True. They speak the truth in love.

The prophet Zechariah says. Every man will speak the truth to his neighbor. Not just any old truth.

Concern. Read 1 Corinthians 13. About what love acts like with each other. Truth that is love.

Truth that helps. Truth that has that moral and ethical dimension. And it rises or raises someone up.

Builds them up. For necessary edification. No corrupted word.

Come out of your mouth. That is Ephesians 4 .29. But only such as is good for building up. As fits the occasion.

That it may give grace to those who hear. And when we follow this. We follow Philippians 4 .8.

Speaking that kind of truth. You never have to look at someone. And with some chagrin on your part say.

I am just saying. No. No corrupted word.

Good for building up. Fitting the occasion. As Jesus Christ did in John chapter 4. With the

Samaritan woman. As we can do with each other by the power of the Spirit. By following his command.

By pondering. By thinking. By reasoning out. Biblical truth. And having that infuse our behavior towards each other.

Things that are excellent. And praiseworthy. Whatever things are honorable.

Honorable. The word means worthy of reverence. August. Dignified. Honorable conduct is something that turns away from things that are crass.

Things that are vulgar. Insulting. Demeaning of human dignity. It is a focus on things that are lofty.

Things that are awe inspiring. And majestic. Think of a word like that.

The way I have defined it. You think only God is going to fill that. Ultimately only God will. But remember. The Apostle Paul is speaking in the here and now.

He is speaking of our behavior. In this life. On this earth. And these things are to be found here.

God ultimately being the schematic. The example. The giver of anything that is honorable.

And yet we are to find it at this horizontal level. Awe inspiring.

Majestic. It is only used a few times in the New Testament. Here in Philippians 4. Chapter 1.

Of 1 Timothy. Or excuse me. 1 Timothy 3. Deacons and pastors are to be dignified.

Honorable. Verse 11 of that same chapter. Deacons and pastors wives are to comport themselves with that dignity.

With that same kind of honor. Titus 2. Older men are to be dignified.

Honorable. We are to follow each other's examples.

The next verse. which we'll handle in a couple of weeks, chapter four, verse nine of Philippians, says to follow each other's example.

We went through that in chapter three, verse 17, some time ago, about the importance of each other's example, and we're gonna cover it again when we get to the next verse in a couple of weeks.

But for now, what does honorable mean? When we think about things that are honorable, we set our mind upon that.

I have to say, first of all, men, it is to us to demonstrate dignity, to demonstrate what it means to live and walk and speak and act honorably.

It's our job to live and do that in a way that's worthy of respect, to treat women in the church with respect and deference, to show our young men how they must treat women, and our young women how they must be treated.

And I choose these two because this is so lost in our world today, the world around us, which treats elderly people with so much baggage, and their experiences and the wisdom borne from hard experience is set aside and not thought of very highly.

I think of the way men treat women in their daily discourse with them, in interactions with them in the church, that there's a deference, there's an honor that needs to be shown, because an example, those who look, a man would say,

I wanna treat my wife with honor this way because this man is honorable, and a young man would look up and say, well, this is the way

I'm supposed to treat when I go to that age, when I enter into marriage. And you young women, you young girls, who someday will

Lord willing be married, you're to look at men who treat their wives honorably, and men in general who treat women in general with that high dignity, and then realize and then insist upon, this is the way

I'm to be treated with that kind of honor, with that sort of dignity. Think of things that are honorable. Think upon these, consider them.

This is more important than we usually think. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 32 says, you shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your

God, I am the Lord. As I place this emphasis on the elderly,

I do have to admit that in this church, I am the elder statesman. Not only by a few days, but yet I am not just an elder of the church, but I am the elder in this church.

I'm not trying to gain any special treatment, this is the word of God. And he punctuates this with, you shall fear your

God, I am the Lord, fear God, I am the Lord. This special emphasis, which raises the importance of this treating people with honor and making it an example to each other.

You may recall when Miriam rebelled against Moses, you can read about this in the book of Numbers.

What did God say? If she had spit in her father's face, and he's speaking of himself, he took her rebellion, her lack of honor to Moses, her lack of maintaining

Moses' dignity as the man commissioned by God to lead them and to give them his word.

It's as if she's spitting in his face. What does it mean to act honorably?

In order to find these things in the world around us. And I have an example for you, and I don't remember a lot of the details of this, so I apologize, but I know this happened,

I saw it on TV. I don't think I was a believer at the time. When Michael Jordan was in the midst of his first contract with the

Chicago Bulls, about the time that everybody was realizing he was the best in the league at that time, if not one of the best ever.

Other players were vacating their contracts and insisting on much more money.

I'm not gonna give you all the names, take a look at this out. But they're saying, I care more, I'm playing better than you thought

I would, we need to throw out this contract, and I need a lot more money now. And they were getting it. I saw a sportscaster interviewing

Michael Jordan and said, well, you're the best. There's no doubt that you're the best, and you're worth more than anybody. Why haven't you done like the rest?

His answer was, this is an honorable answer. This is the kind of example we're gonna be looking for.

It's in the world, Reverend, not just in the church. It's out there. He said, because I signed the contract.

I put my name to it. I'll fill this contract. I'll do my best, and every time

I'm on the court, I will earn every penny on that contract. He said, well, excuse me, when that contract is over with, you're gonna pay, but it's gonna be a new contract, because I'm going to keep this one.

I thought, that is honorable. I want my son, and he was watching at the time, he was just a kid, I want my son to behave like Michael Jordan.

Now I don't believe him. I want myself to behave like Michael Jordan. Psalm 15, four, that the righteous man keeps his word, even to his own hurt, as Michael Jordan did.

Well, he made it up later, but he filled his contract. That's the kind of honor we're to think about. That's the kind of honor we're to find in the world.

Think about honorable things. Think about the image of God in all mankind that speaks of a certain honor, dignity.

If men don't want to recognize that, if to them, that kind of honor is so old -fashioned, it's like a dinosaur from a long past age.

If the world despises the God from whom all honor comes and to whom all honor is due, we still stand against that tide, thinking of whatever is honorable and acting accordingly.

Whatever is just. Whatever is just. The word is often translated as righteous.

It means to uphold the customs and the norms of behavior. It's the master in the parable who hired the workers at different times, and each one he promised to give them what is right, what is just.

It is masters commanded by Paul to give their slaves what is just, what is right. They're upholding the norms and the obligations of their positions.

It's to treat men justly and righteously. It's not to fraud them. Whatever is just.

What does that mean? It means to uphold the duties of your position, to uphold the norms of what you are in the

Lord. And for us in the church, in the Lord is what's most important. Are you a husband?

Love your wife as Christ loves the church. That's to be just. Are you a wife?

Submit to your husband as to the Lord. That's to be just. Are you a child?

Obey your parents and the Lord. This is right, says the apostle. Using the same word, it is right, it is just, it is righteous.

Are you a pastor? Feed the sheep with the word of God. That is to be just.

Are you a sheep being fed the word of God? Hear and digest that word. That is to be just and to be righteous.

Whatever is just. God is just. God fulfills the duties of his position, does he not?

Now who gave him those duties? He gave them to himself. Nobody impinged that upon him. Nobody said,

God, here's what you must do. God said, here's what I will do. But God fulfills what he says he will do.

My go -to verse is so often 1 John 1 .9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, righteous.

It's that same word we're working with. To forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unjustness, all unrighteousness.

God is dikaios, he is just. To cleanse us from all our non -dikaios, our non -justness.

He promises forgiveness for all who believe in his son, Jesus, and he is just, he is righteous. To keep that word for all who confess their sin and put their trust in his son,

Jesus Christ, and what he did on the cross. Now this could well, these days, lead us to thinking on social justice, to be just.

And that's not an inappropriate use of this word, though it's a little far from exactly what the apostle means, because for the apostle it's more personal.

But as we think upon justice and just and righteousness positively, it could have us thinking about social justice these days.

It's so much in the news. Now I'm not thinking here in terms of political or activist involvement of any kind.

Those who are open to Christians and feel so inclined and are thinking of whatever is true, honorable, just, and pure, and lovely, and commendable.

And meditating and thinking about and reasoning on things that are just may well lead you there. Think of it this way.

Is it a fact? Is it a fact? Is it true that people of color are singled out because they are of color?

If that is true, is that according to God's truth? The truth that all men are descended equally from Adam, equally imbued with the image of God, equally in need to go to Christ Jesus for forgiveness of their sins?

Would it be honorable? Would it uphold the dignity of God imbued in every man for anyone to be treated like that?

I think the answers are obvious. Am I suggesting you become an activist? No, I don't say that.

I, by nature, am very suspicious of movements. They don't last long. I don't usually like what's behind them.

That's just me. I'm not trying to assess anything that's going on today. That's just me.

But as the things that are coming out today and people are so excited about today, as far as they are true, especially racism, that's against God's will.

That's a blight on this earth. That does not uphold the truth. That does not uphold the honor or the dignity of the man.

That is not just. Treat people as you would have them treat you.

That's what Jesus says in Matthew 7, 12. We call that the golden rule. Think about things that are just.

It's a positive thing. So you're not to look and say it's unjust and become, what's the word

I'm looking for, rabid? Become only focused on the negative things? But again,

I suggest that you think biblically upon what is just. It will lead you to be even more aware and concerned for things that are unjust.

But looking at it from the positive viewpoint that the Apostle Paul gives us. Whatever is pure, whatever is pure, moral purity, sincerity, blamelessness, is usually used in the cultic sense.

And that doesn't mean a cult, C -U -L -T. Cultic meaning the processes within the temple of God.

Things have to be pure. As we asked at the beginning of the service, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place?

And it goes on to speak about him who has clean hands, him who has pure conduct, if you will. For purity, again, that moral, that ethical dimension.

Paul wishes to present the church as a pure virgin to Christ. Timothy is told to keep himself pure.

That's his ethical, his moral conduct. In Titus 2, 5, he urges the younger woman to be self -controlled and pure.

What does purity mean to us? Well, the old question is a good one. When your mind wanders, where does it go?

Does it go to things that are pure? To things that are sincere and blameless? What do you enjoy for your reveries?

For your relaxation? And I have to admit to you that when I just need to let my mind go,

I still like the Three Stooges. I like slapstick comedy. I don't like to have to think about the joke.

I don't like murder mysteries or suspense thrillers because I can never follow the plot. I like the poke in the eye, that doop -doop -doop thing that they do.

My wife will tell you I laugh hysterically like a fool, still to this day. Do they exemplify these qualities?

True, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable?

Well, no, and it wouldn't be funny if they did. But when I watch them, where does my mind go?

Well, it's that slap, slap, slap, that doop -doop -doop, the poke in the eye, all the bonking that goes on.

My mind doesn't go anywhere where I'd have to be ashamed. It's not having to hide what's on the screen if somebody walks in the door.

And yet, we're to put our mind on things that are pure. And as we think about things that are pure, as we purify ourselves in this way, as the

Apostle John says, we purify ourselves in our ethical behavior in thinking about these things, right?

That's 1 John, and I forgot the actual reference to it. Thinking about things that are pure, sincere, and blameless.

This is a positive way of behaving. This brings us to thinking about this way.

And as we think, so we become. Whatever is lovely, whatever is lovely. This is one part for as rough and tumble men as it not.

Set your mind on things lovely, that cause pleasure, that cause delight, something pleasing, something agreeable. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder, so there's some variance here.

But the two qualifiers help, is it excellent? Is it worthy of praise? The only other place this word is used is in the

Greek translation of the Old Testament of Esther and how pleasing her appearance was to the king. Pleasing in a good and right manner.

The scourge of the devil is to take what God means for our good and twist it into ugly parodies. The beauty of a man and a woman together is one of them, and you know where that goes.

We don't have to name all the ugliness by which the devil -led world uglifies femininity and the relation of men and women.

Then think of things that cause pleasure and delight in a scripture way. What would bring pleasure and delight to God if we were thinking about that?

You know, something recently that gave me great pleasure and delight, and it really relates more to the ethical things that we've been talking about, really kind of relates to justice, but I'm gonna throw this out to you anyway.

And I don't remember the names, but that incident where the man who was watching birds in Central Park was, as it were, accosted by the lady with the dog.

He told her to put the dog on the leash, and it ends up in this terrible thing where she called the police and told them that this African -American man was assaulting her.

She ends up losing her job, and you know all the controversies like that. But here's the point. I saw him having been interviewed on Good Morning America, something like that.

And he was being asked why he won't help the district attorney prosecute her for this terrible hate crime.

You know what he said? I love this, I can't quote him anymore. You can find this. He said, she apologized, and I accepted that.

He didn't go into a long diatribe about forgiveness and all these other things. He just said, she apologized, I accepted that.

If the DA thinks it's appropriate to prosecute her for this other crime, he can. I have no objections.

But I'm not going to help, because I'm done. She said she's sorry. I don't know if she was a racist before that.

She might have just had that one moment of insanity. She said she's sorry, and I'm done. And I thought, that's lovely.

I think that word came to my mind because I was studying this message, but that is a lovely thing, and that's something to put your mind upon.

Oh, and how hard we make forgiveness in our service, do we not? Because we think negatively about things, perhaps because our focus is always on sin, and only on sin, and we cannot forget sin, and we don't want to minimize it, we're not embarrassed of it, it doesn't chagrin us at all, and yet, this man stood as an example.

The Apostle Paul, when he says, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, and at the end of the verse, when he says, if there is any, the assumption there in the original structure of the language is, there is excellence, there is praiseworthiness, and I think that was one of them.

To this day, with Me Too still raging, and some men rightly paying the criminal price for their deeds, women are still displayed in ways meant to incite all kinds of thoughts that go against our entire list.

What do we do about that? We, all of us, put our minds together on,

I'm gonna say it, the Japanese police. THJ, PLC, true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable.

The last word is commendable, and with this we'll finish. This is the only use of this word in the entire

Bible, and it means commendable, it means praiseworthy. The new King James has it as commendable, as a good report.

In English, the definition is to praise something as worthy of confidence, to cite or name someone with approval or special praise.

That's really all it means, commendable. To look for things that you can pass along, and perhaps that gentleman from Central Park who said, she's apologized and accepted it, he probably fit better here.

That is commendable, that's something I can pass along to people. Here's a man who, I don't know where he stands with Jesus Christ, he didn't say a word about him, so let's say he's a non -Christian, did this commendable thing.

He said, she apologized, I accepted it, it's over, and oh, how we would benefit, would we not, if when someone says

I repent, we did not come back with a list of more deeds that we demand to satisfy me that you actually have repented.

Well, this is our part. After six months, roughly, of going through this book, everybody with their thought bubbles, what do

I do, what do I do? Think about these things. Think about them when you get up in the morning, think about them as you go to bed at night, think about them as you work at your jobs, whether you're at home taking care of the house and the kids, or whether you're in your dens now, we're not in offices anymore, are we?

But we are working. Think about things that are true, honorable, just. Pure, lovely, commendable.

Think upon these things, remembering, such as 1 Corinthians 6, where the apostle Paul lists that long list of sins, those things, these types will not enter the kingdom of heaven,

I'm not gonna read them out for you. And then he says, and I want you to think about these daily.

I want you never to forget. I want you pondering these poor, no.

He says, as such for some of you, and would rather have us think upon these others. And he says positively, think upon these things, telling us that they are there, seeing that they are, there are things excellent, there are things worthy of praise.

Think upon things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable.

And as we all come by this exercise, by this hard discipline, closer to the industry of Christ, may

Jesus Christ himself receive praise and glory for it. Amen? And Jesus, Father, we do thank you again for bringing us together, for giving us a day, this beautiful weather facility, equipment that we need in order to hear and gather around your word.

And I pray, Father, that you would continue with us, even as we continue with you this day. That you,

Father, would continue working with us, that which is good, that which will please you most. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.