Putting it into Practice

Pray

Introduction

Are you aware that the Presbyterian Church In Ireland has a CODE. And every minister, when they are ordained, gets a code-breaker in order to help them decipher the code…I wish. If you were to read the code you’d understand why we need a decipher ring or code-breaker in order to understand it.

However, the code is kinda like our guidebook in PCI - it lays down how things are to be done correctly in the church - things that the Bible doesn’t mention.

It drills down into the nitty-gritty of how church works.

So for example, it tells us the procedure for electing elders or committee members. It describes how ministers are ordained and so on and so on.

This is a extract from section III paragraph 11...

In exercising this God-given right of private judgment, individual Christians are not to set their reason above the Word of God, or to refuse light from any quarter. Guided by the Holy Spirit, they are to use their reason to ascertain the divine will, as revealed in Scripture, and are to refuse to subject conscience to any authority except that of the Word of God.

So, in essence this is saying that Christians are to take their authority and rule of living from the Word of God - the Bible alone. However, there may be good and acceptable things outside of the bible which are ok for a Christian to consider provided it doesn’t contradict the word of God or provided that we don’t put whatever that is over and above the word of God.

Let me give you an example of HOW I UNDERSTAND IT.

Take counselling, for example - People can go to counselling for bereavement or psychological counselling, and that’s a secular thing, outside of the word of God, so to speak, but it’s a good thing. It’s good practice and can really help people get through depression and bereavement.

So that’s good. It’s not a substitute for the word of God - it’s NO substitute for prayer and trusting in Jesus, but it can also help people reprogram their thinking to help them overcome their depression or whatever. I would consider that as ‘light from any quarter’. A good thing that is outside of the bible.

Does that make sense?

Pause

Science, for example, can help us to understand the world. It explains things that the bible doesn’t explain. Now we get into difficulty when Science tries to remove God, but there are good parts of science, there are pure parts, there are commendable parts in science. And so it’s good to study science. It doesn’t contradict the bible. Some theories do, so we ignore those and focus on the stuff that is good.

Pause

Or the Apocrypha - those are the books that were written giving a history of Israel and other things, that are not considered inspired by God, but are good to at least consult because they help us understand some of the events that happened between the Old and New Testaments for example.

Pause

I think you get the point. But why am I telling you all this?

Well, we need to understand the context into which Paul was writing to understand our passage today.

Paul was writing to Greek-speaking Jews in Philippi…and the Greeks were big into philosophy. I mean, they were ahead of their time when it came to philosophy.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Aristotle, Socrates (not the Brazilian footballer from the 80s), Plato…these were big hard hitters in the world of philosophy.

And these guys and their work were influencing the Greek-speaking community.

Now, if you’re a Jew, and you’ve been taught the Hebrew scriptures, you’re now coming against some interesting ways of looking at the world from these Greek philosophers. A bit like the way science comes up against theology at times.

Here are some quotes from the Greek philosophers of the time...

Aristotle said, “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

Socrates said, “False words are not only evil themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”

Plato said, “Man: a being in search of meaning.”

But there was another guy called Thales who said, “The happy man is the one who has a healthy body, a wealthy soul and a well-educated nature.”

So if we take this last one we can see that Thales has deviated from what the Bible says. Think of the beatitudes...

Jesus says, happy is the poor in spirit. Happy is the meek. Don’t forget the word used for ‘blessed’ is the same word for happy in the beatitudes.

So Thales is saying “The happy man is the one who has a healthy body, a wealthy soul and a well-educated nature,” but Jesus is saying, happy are the sad, the broken, the poor in spirit.

So you’ve got the scriptures and the tradition passed on through the generations and you’ve got philosophers who are bringing in some questionable stuff into the mix - stuff that goes against the bible.

But at the same time, we have some GOOD philosophies - Plato’s quote that man is in search of meaning is true - we are in search of meaning, but we find that meaning in Jesus.

So, not all of the Greek philosophies were bad. There were many that were good, that were commendable, even - that would point people to God, that would prove to be excellent, praise-worthy, even.

And Paul says, think about these things. That’s what he was referring to when he says, ‘think about these things.’

Philippians 4:8 NIV

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

You see, I never knew this, but the language Paul is using here is taken from the Greek philosophies - it’s language that is used vastly outside of the bible, and Paul probably stayed away from this language in other writings so as not to confuse people. But here, by USING this kind of language, his point is that there are good, noble, right, pure excellent things in these philosophies.

Don’t write it all off…take the good bits, take the pure bits, take the excellent bits and think about them. Let those thoughts and philosophies shape your understanding of God and his word.

Like Plato’s quote - let that search for meaning, that everybody has...let that lead you to the Lord.

So think about these things. Ponder over them…reflect on them...

But there’s something better than that. And it’s in verse 9...

Philippians 4:9 NIV

9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Because, while there are great things in philosophy or science or other things - while there are good things, lovely thing, things that you can praise God for in these arenas…there is a much better thing, Paul is saying...

There is the amazing, sweet, enriching experience of what you have learned from me, there is the tradition that I have passed on to you, there is all the stuff that people have talked about me and the way I conduct myself and there is the witness of the way I act that you have seen. These things are things you shouldn’t just THINK about - these are things you should practice.

Pause

Paul has passed on the church tradition to the Philippians - the scriptures and practices of the church. He has taught them so many things. His conduct, the way he acts and deals with people has been talked about and people in the church are hearing about it. They’ve seen him in person and the way he conducts himself…and Paul is saying, practice these things.

So while there are great things outside of the faith that you can ponder over and philosophise over - there is the stuff that I’m teaching you and that I’ve passed on to you…and instead of thinking about these things, DO them. Practice them.

Pause

Let’s think about practice for a second.

Practicing is something that people do to become better at something.

I went to piano lessons when I was a child. I also played the viola…but I hated practicing. I never practiced and I never was any good - which is why you never see me playing the piano or viola in church.

One thing I loved though, was magic. I loved doing magic tricks and slight of hand, but that takes time too…but I loved it and I was determined to get it right, because I loved the ‘wow’ factor when I did a trick well.

And so for hours I would sit in front of a mirror and practice and practice and practice until I was able to pull off the trick - to be able to perform the slight of hand so well it looked natural.

But it took practice.

But practice makes perfect.

Pause

Practice is something we do so that whatever it is becomes natural to us.

And Paul is saying, think about those philosophies - ponder them, take the good out of them - sure…but practice what I have taught you - the things in my letters and the example I have given you that you’ve seen and heard - practice that, practice, practice, practice - until living a life for Christ is the most natural thing to you.

And Paul’s example - what they have seen him do is one of the best ways of teaching. By following someone’s example, we can see how it’s done or how it’s supposed to be done.

When I was practicing magic all I had was a book. And there are pages and pages of drawings of hands, and it’s very hard to see what you’re supposed to do in a drawing.

Today we have Youtube, which is an amazing resource, where we can SEE how tricks are done and copy them.

When I was doing my PhD, to get extra money you could demonstrate in the lab to the university students. And there wasn’t much about chemistry that I knew, but the students didn’t know that, so I demonstrated in the lab. And I showed the students how to perform the experiments, how to set up their apparatus, how to mix, stir, heat whatever it was they were doing. I was the one who showed them and walked around the lab directing them on how to perform the experiments.

That’s how people learn - at least, as a scientist, that’s how I learn. I find it very difficult to learn from books. Studying theology was tough for me because it’s all reading. Studying chemistry wasn’t AS hard for me (at least not in school) because it’s very much hands-on…and THAT’S how I learn best.

And maybe some of you are like me - sitting, listening to a sermon might be hard, or at least not a great way for you to learn. What might work better is doing....is to follow someone’s example.

And that’s what Paul and I are trying to do, and it’s what our elders should be doing too…we teach the principles from the word of God, but we also SHOULD be practicing them - You should be looking at US as models of what a Christian is SUPPOSED to be like, so that when you leave here and live your life, you can apply these principles, you can follow what WE do.

And so it’s helpful to have someone to show you what to do - and that’s what we’re here for.

Pause

Paul told his readers to practice what HE has taught them and what they have seen HIM do. Why didn’t he say, ‘follow the example of Christ. Do what Christ did’?

He even said, in 1 Corinthians 11:1...

1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Why?

Because if Paul just said, ‘imitate Christ’ then that’s a really high standard to follow. Instead, Paul said, imitate me, practice what I do - make yourself good at that, because what I do is what Jesus did…and if I can do it, so can you…because I’m not God.

It might be too intimidating to imitate Jesus, but we can imitate Paul.

Pause

Let me talk to the elders for a minute here…elders, Paul, myself too - we are the shepherds of the church. We are the leaders of the church, and so people should be imitating US. Which is why Paul says that an elder needs to be beyond reproach - the elder, minister, assistant minister, all need to be people with whom there is no fault in the way they conduct their lives. In fact, we are to be examples of what it means to be a Christian.

We should be teaching how to live a life for Christ by the way we live our lives.

Pause

OK, back to everyone else here...

Ponder over and reflect upon the good, the commendable, the lovely, the excellence that exists in other things, but practice - practice, practice - what is being taught from the Bible and the example given to you by Paul and the elders of this church.

And the God of peace will be with you.

You’ll not be on your own in this.

Pause

How does that apply to us today - well, let’s be slightly controversial…Let’s take Islam as an example.

Islam is not Christian. Muslims don’t believe in the God we believe in and Islam is NOT a religion to follow if we are Christians. However, think of how devout Muslims are are.

They get up every morning and pray. They pray during the day. They stop, face east and pray. They fast over Ramadan, the observe the Quo-ran and they respect the name of Allah.

Here’s something we can think about…Let’s ponder over this for a second…Let’s reflect on it - like Paul says in verse 9. Is there anything excellent in this? Is there anything good about this? Is there anything praiseworthy…What they believe in isn’t good, but their devotion IS.

How devout are we? How well do we keep the Sabbath or how well do we fast? How well do we tithe our money? Do we give anywhere near 10% of our monthly salary or pension to God?

Well, let’s think about this a little further…let’s ponder it some more and reflect on it some more…

...and if we ponder a little further we can see that all this devotion, praying, fasting, and so on - all of this is a means by which these people can appease their god - it’s a way for them to get into heaven.

Not so for Christians…

For Christians, praying, fasting, keeping the sabbath are all great things to do and GOOD things to do, but they are not things we do to appease God. They do not earn salvation for us - Jesus’ death on the cross did that for us.

But we can learn a lot from how devout Muslims are. Their devotion is to be praised, and it’s the kind of devotion that God desires of us - not to appease him or to save us, but out of an attitude of grace and gratitude for what he did for us.

So by thinking about the devotion of a Muslim it can help influence how we PRACTICE what the bible says…Let that influence how you keep God’s commands about tithing, about praying, about worshiping God.

Think about that… and let it influence how you practice living for Jesus.

And as we do this, we will become examples for Christians that come after us - so they can follow our footsteps. If Paul can do it, so can we…and if we can do it, so can they.

And the God of peace will be with you - you’re not on your own in this.

Let’s pray.