Text: Philippians 4:8-9
INTRODUCTION:
There is a lot of stuff out here to cause bad thinking. The economy, the conflict in the Middle East, the crimes we hear about on the news every day, then the ordinary day to day stresses of life.
Paul gives us what we need to begin thinking right, because he knows how the enemy works through our minds.
Proverbs 23:7A
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…
Quote: “You are not what you think you are, but what you think you are.”
Fact: Paul speaks of how proper thinking and proper action lead to a promised peace if we follow this truth in God’s Word.
Note: We must remember how Satan is a liar and not believe his lies.
John 8:44
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Satan is after our minds, and he comes at us with lies.
Story: Ruby Hamilton
RUBY’S PRAYER
Ruby Hamilton, a businesswoman in her fifties, was stunned at the loss of her husband of 32 years in a car accident. Her anger and disappointment went deeper than a more typical expression of grief though. She had become a follower of Christ in her late twenties, but her husband didn’t share her newfound interest in spiritual things. Nonetheless, she had set about praying for him feverishly and unceasingly that he would come to know the Lord. And one day when she was praying, she felt a wave of peace wash over her, and that still small voice assuring her that her husband would be okay. She eagerly awaited the day when her husband surrender his life to Jesus. And now this.
What do you do when faith doesn’t make sense? When God doesn’t seem to be answering or opening doors or being found? Ruby Hamilton stopped living for God.
Roger Simmons was hitchhiking his way home. He would never forget the date – May 7th. His heavy suitcase was making him tired and he was anxious to take off that army uniform once and for all. Flashing the thumb to the oncoming car, he lost hope when he saw it was a black, sleek new Cadillac. To his surprise the car stopped.
The passenger door swung open. He ran toward the car, tossed his suitcase in the back and thanked the handsome, well-dressed man as he slid into the front seat. “Going home for keeps?”
“Sure am.”
“Well, you’re in luck if you’re going to Chicago.”
“Not quite that far – do you live in Chicago?”
“I have a business there, the driver said. My name is Hamilton.”
They chatted for a while, and then Roger, a Christian, felt a compulsion to share his faith with this fiftyish, apparently successful business man. But he kept putting it off, till he realized that he was now just 30 minutes from his home. It was now or never.
“Mr. Hamilton, I would like to talk to you about something very important.” Then he simply told Mr. Hamilton about the plan of salvation and ultimately asked him if he would like to receive Jesus as his savior and Lord.
The Cadillac pulled over to the side of the road. Roger expected that he was about to get thrown out of the car. Instead, the businessman bowed his head and received Christ, then thanked Roger “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Five years went by. Roger married, had a couple of kids and a business of his own. Packing his suitcase for a trip to Chicago he found a small white business card that had been given to him by Hamilton five years previous. In Chicago, he looked up Hamilton enterprises. The receptionist told him that it was impossible to see Mr. Hamilton, but he could see Mrs. Hamilton. A little confused, he was ushered into a beautiful office where he found himself facing a keen-eyed woman in her fifties.
She extended her hand “You knew my husband?”
Roger told her about how Hamilton had picked him up while he was hitchhiking home after the war. “Can you tell me what day that was?”
“Sure it was May 7th, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the army.”
“Anything special about that day,” she asked.
He hesitated, not knowing if he should mention how he shared the message of Jesus with her husband. “Mrs. Hamilton, I explained the gospel to your husband that day. He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel. He gave his life to Christ that day.”
Explosive sobs shook her body. Finally getting a grip on herself, she sobbed, “I had prayed for my husband’s salvation for years. I believed God would save him.”
“Where is your husband, Ruby?”
“He’s dead. He was in a car crash after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see, I thought God had not kept his promise. I stopped living for God five years ago because I thought God had not kept his word!”
(Considerable influence for this message came from John Piper’s “The Spring of Persistent Public Love”, DesiringGod.org.)
2 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The Holy Spirit wants to control our minds.
1 John 5:6B
6 …And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
Paul is clear. There is a battle for our minds and he gives us the weapons (artillery) we need to win.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
I. THE SOLDIER’S CONCENTRATION: (V. 8A)
* “Finally” = the rest, remaining. He is still dealing with the context of the problem between these two women. The reason the problem existed was due to bad thinking.
* “what so ever things” = these things will WIN over bad thinking.
A. INWARD ARMOR
1. Be Real:
* “true” = as opposite of untrue, not plastic, genuine. Be true to God, others and yourself.
* Embrace truth: Truth is our friend; don’t be afraid to tell the truth or obey the truth, because truth will set us free.
* Truth is part of the Christian’s armor.
Ephesians 6:14
14 Stand therefore, having your loins (waiste)girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
* We must recognize the truth about ourselves, our relationships with others.
* Think about what is genuine, real, authentic, and not what is fake.
Remember: When we think about things that are not true, it isn’t long until our lives reflect the untruth.
2. Be Respectful:
* Honest” = means noble or honorable; things that cultivate respect.
Note: Idea to live with dignity & integrity. It is a fact that we enjoy being around honorable people. We like being in their presence and we really hope it will rub off on us.
Story: “1994 Golfer”
In 1994 golfer Davis Love III called a one-stroke penalty on himself during the second round of the Western Open. He had moved his marker on a green to get it out of another player’s putting line. One or two holes later, he couldn’t remember if he had moved his ball back to its original spot. Unsure, Love gave himself an extra stroke.
As it turned out, that one stroke caused him to miss the cut and get knocked out of the tournament. If he had made the cut and then finished dead last, he would have earned $2000 for the week. When the year was over, Love was $590 short of automatically qualifying for the following year’s Masters. Love began 1995 needing to win a tournament to get into the event.
When someone asked him how much it would bother him if he missed the Masters for calling a penalty on himself, Love’s answer was simple: “How would I feel if I won the Masters and wondered for the rest of my life if I cheated to get in?”
The story has a happy ending. The week before the 1995 Masters, Love qualified by winning a tournament in New Orleans. Then in the Masters he finished second, earning $237,600.
That’s a good example of what it means to be honorable.
It is the good that God wants us to embrace.
3. Be Righteous:
* “Just” = right; suggest fair dealings with others. We are to think right, act right, be right and know right.
Fact: The Bible is our source to know the right and to know the wrong. God wants us to think and embrace the right and reject the wrong.
B. OUTWARD ARMOR
1. Be Pure:
* “Pure” = set apart from sin: The culture is Paul’s time was as bad or worse than ours for sexual promiscuity and Paul deals with what is sin and what is not.
* Illustration: On the news: Fraternity House signs: Dad drop off your little girl here, we will take over now. Drop off Mom too.
* We had better understand what the Bible says about sexual purity. So many couples live together, hook up, and on it goes.
* God’s design is for our good not harm. He wants us to embrace what is pure.
The Bible gives us motivation to be pure.
1 John 3:3
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
* Jesus could come at any time:
*Paul exhorts Timothy:
1 Timothy 5:22
22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
Peter exhorts them to think right as well.
1 Peter 1:13
13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
2. Be Pleasing:
* “Lovely” = pleasing, orderly, attractive, winsome, and beautiful:
Idea: It deals with things & people. We need to have around us, things and people that build us up, not drag us down. Spend our time and energy on these things.
3. Be Positive:
* “good report” = things worth talking about; things that are appealing:
Idea: stay away from conversations that lead to gossip, tearing down, bad language, etc.
Story: Alan Redpath
Alan Redpath once formed a “mutual encouragement” fellowship at a time of stress in one of his pastorates. The members subscribed to a simple formula applied before speaking of any person or subject that was perhaps controversial.
· T – Is it true?
· H – Is it helpful?
· I – Is it inspiring?
· N – Is it necessary?
· K – Is it kind?
If what we are about to say does not pass these tests, we should keep our mouth shut.
II. THE SOLDIER’S CONSIDERATION: (V. 8B)
* “think” = to consider, to give proper value & attention to; it is in the present tense which means we continuously consider these things.
A. Things that Motivate:
* “virtue” = moral excellence; things that draw us closer to God, they motivate us to have a better & stronger relationship with God.
* Our minds are a resource from God, use them, exercise them to make us better for God.
B. Things that Commend:
* “praise” = things that are worth commending to others.
* If it isn’t worth commending to others it isn’t worth our thinking about.
Story: Hummingbird and Vulture:
Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over the desert. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colourful blossoms of desert plants.
The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. And they fill themselves with freshness and life.
Point is – Each bird finds what it is looking for. And so do we all!
III. THE SOLDIER’S COMMITMENT: (V. 9)
* “do” = to practice, constantly demonstrate: proper thinking leads to proper actions.
A. CAREFUL EXHORTATION
* “learned” = facts in the mind; the head. What you have discovered through being taught or shown by listening reading or observing.
* “received” = personal experience; what you learned and have now lived it out and declared it to others.
Note: The truth is not simply something to be understood, discovered, admired, preached; it is something to be done.
B. CONCRETE EXAMPLE (V. 9b)
* “heard” = I taught you:
* “seen” = I have been your example.
J. Dwight Pentecost: “Maturity in the Christian is not measured by what a man knows but by what a man does.”
Quote: “He preached so well in the pulpit that it was a tragedy for him to ever go out of it, but he lived so poorly that it was unfortunate that he ever entered it.”
Illustration: Hypocrisy: website exposed those who were cheating on their spouses. Jesus said you will commit your sin in privacy but I will announce it from the house top.
C. CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT (V. 9C)
Note: Right living produces the peace of God. When we have the peace of God, we sense His Power, His Presence, His Purpose.
* Just as there is the “Peace of God” in our lives, there is also “war” in the lives of those who don’t have God’s peace.
James 4:1, 3, 8, 4
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
CONCLUSION: The “peace of God” is always associated with these four dynamics!
1. Resurrection:
Hebrews 13:20
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
2. Sanctification:
1 Thessalonians 5:23
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Destruction:
Romans 16:20
20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
4. Relationship:
Philippians 4:9
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Resources used: Reality Living, Jeff Adams, Philippians and Hebrews by John MacArthur, Stress Reduction by Paul Decker, Philippians by Warren Wiersbe, Philippians by Johnny Hunt, Philippians by Guy McGraw, Philippians by Dana Chau, John R. Rice study Bible, Sermon Central Illustrations, Illustration Exchange
Pastor Doug Ripley's Blog 