Spiritual Stability through Holiness

Spiritually Stability Through Holiness

Philippians 4:8-9

We are going to visit a couple of verses in this fourth chapter this morning that will help us cultivate a closer walk with the Lord.

We sometimes sing, “Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be dear Lord, let it be.” This is a great prayer that God promises to answer. The Bible says that if we seek the Lord with all our heart we will find him. If we draw near to God he will draw near to us. God promises to walk close to us, but the promise is a conditional promise.

If you are going to have a closer walk with the Lord, it will be determined by how you live your life. How you live your life will be determined by how you think about life.

Many Christians miss out on the blessings of God and his presence because they don’t cultivate a closer walk with the Lord. They don’t have a closer walk with the Lord because they don’t pursue obedience and holiness.

When we fail to pursue a closer walk with the Lord we become unstable. Spiritual stability is developed and achieved through pursuing obedience, pursuing a life that pleases the Lord. When we pursue a closer walk with the Lord we will be stable in our Christian experience. Let me share two things that must take place if we are going to enjoy a closer walk with the Lord. First, you must think biblically.

Think Biblically

We read in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

The lists of virtues that Paul gives in this verse are by no means distinctively Christian.

Many of these virtues were spoken of by the Greek philosophers of Paul’s day.

There are six virtues that are introduced by the word “whatever.”

First, Paul says, “Whatever is true.” Truth is the opposite of lies and false witness. Truth is that which corresponds to God’s character. It was Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me.”

Second, Paul says, “Whatever is honorable” The word for “honorable” speaks of something that is worthy of worship or worthy of worshipful reverence.

Third, we see, “Whatever is Just.” This pertains to things that are in accordance with what God requires. Thus, it is just because the Divine Judge declares them right.

Fourth, “Whatever is pure.” This pertains to things that are without sin or error, things that have no moral defect.

Fifth, “Whatever is lovely.” This pertains to things ethically beautiful and attractive.

Sixth, “Whatever is of commendable.” This pertains to things worthy of approval. It speaks of things that are wholesome and constructive.

Paul then summarizes these virtues with two if clauses, “if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,”

What we have here is not six individual virtues, but really three pairs of virtues. The pairs are closely connected. Notice how they fit together.

Whatever is true is honorable and worthy of worship.

Whatever is just is pure.

Whatever is lovely commendable.

Do you see how they break into pairs?

Now, What do we do with these excellent and praiseworthy virtues?

Paul tells us what we do with them in the form of a command, “think about these things.” Some of your translations have “meditate on these things.”

The Greek word means to ponder on something, to think about something in a detailed manner.

It means to reason or consider.

This command is a present active verb, which means that as Christians we are to dwell on these virtues on an on going basis everyday.

The command is at the end of the sentence because Paul wanted to emphasize the object or virtues that we are to ponder on as believers.

There are some errors that arise when people try to apply these verses.

There are those who see these verses and say how beautiful and it go no further.

Then there are those who see these virtues and say that we need to think on things, doesn’t matter what, just as long as they fit these virtues.

I would disagree because Paul, though not using distinctively Christian virtues, intends them to be distinctively Christian. I will elaborate on this in a moment.

Then there is a semi-Christian approach that says, that you can’t think about sin at all. We are to take these virtues and just think about them, doing all we can to keep those sinful thoughts out of our mind. This is somewhat Christian, but it is not fully Christian.

Now, bare with me as I flesh out what I believe it means to think Christian as Paul would have us think.

Paul is in no way encouraging us to think about virtuous ideas, this would be distinctively Greek thinking.

When Paul speaks of these virtues, he speaks of virtues that are grounded in truth.

Therefore, I would suggest that Paul has in mind here thinking that is centered on Christ and his cross, thinking that is centered on the good news of Jesus Christ.

Let me support this without leaving the book of Philippians.

In chapter one Paul talked about living for Christ.

In chapter two he spoke of having the same attitude of Christ.

In chapter three he mentioned counting all things loss for Christ, the surpassing value of knowing and gaining Christ, laying hold of Christ, and waiting for the appearing of Christ.

Can’t we conclude that Paul would want our thinking to be Christ-centered or gospel-centered? I thank so! So our thoughts need to be focused on a person, not a principle or philosophy.

Let’s go back to the semi-Christian approach to this verse, and I will tell you what is wrong with it.

As I said earlier, the semi-Christian approach says keep out the bad, keep in the good. This approach often says don’t think about sin. Don’t think about the negative, only the positive. I see a lot of this type of teaching from popular preachers today.

There are a few very popular so-called preachers today, who are nothing more than motivational speakers. They tell you not to think negative things, think positive, and what you think will come to pass. This is not Biblical thinking.

I don’t believe that we are to avoid sinful thoughts, but instead we are to take them on with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me give you a few illustrations of this type of Christ-centered thinking.

First, let discuss unworthy thoughts that we may have about ourselves.

I think many of us can relate to these type of thoughts.

The semi-Christian approach says, “Don’t think unworthy about yourself. You are a Christian.” This is true, but it is not gospel-centered thinking. Let say that you are having thoughts of being a failure, or maybe you are insecure about your looks or you feel like your no good.

Here is how gospel thinking approaches these thoughts. “I am unworthy, a total failure. But Christ loved me and gave his life for me. And because of what Christ did, I am worthy.” You take the sinful thoughts, acknowledge them, and then take them on with the truth of the gospel.

Another struggle we may have in our thinking is that of fear.

The semi-Christian approach tells you to put in your mind things that are beautiful, you do, and you have a sense of relief, but its not biblical thinking.

Biblical thinking does not tell you to think beautiful thoughts and forget the others. No, Biblical thinking takes on the sinful thoughts and confront them with the gospel. Biblical thinking taking on fear might sound something like this, “You call yourself a Christian and you have these fearful thoughts?” Didn’t Christ die for you on the cross so that should not go on thinking like this?”

You see, holy contemplation says face yourself, acknowledge your imperfections, acknowledge your sinful thoughts, and then look into the beautiful face of the Savior, look upon the cross where he died and cry out for mercy and grace. That is truly holy contemplation.

Paul embodied this type of holy contemplation. In 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen, the apostle said that he was the least of the apostles, not deserving to be one, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am.” In 1 Timothy Paul says that he is the chief of sinners, but he found mercy in Christ. That is holy contemplation. That is Biblical thinking. That is Christ-centered thinking.

Paul tells us here, that if we are going to be spiritually stable in an unstable world, we need to learn to think Biblically. We need to cultivate a holy contemplation.

The only way that we can cultivate this type of holy contemplation is through meditating on God’s word, the truth. We must take the truth of God’s word and ponder it in our minds, reason out the implications it will have on our life, consider every detail about it, and then face the sinful thoughts that consume our minds, and take them head on with the truth of the gospel and of God’s word.

It is so important that we cultivate a holy contemplation. Solomon said, “As one thinks in his heart, so is he.” The second thing that needs to take place if you are going to achieve spiritual stability through holiness is you must cultivate a holy conduct.

Act Biblical

If verse eight tells us to ponder the gospel, then verse nine tells us to practice the gospel. You could say that verse eight tells us to think, and verse nine tells us to do. Listen to Paul’s second command in Philippians 4:9 “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

True religion is not just something you think about, it is something you do, it is something that you practice. And the truth of the gospel dominating our thought life is also true of our conduct. The gospel must dominate what we think and what we do.

The command we are given is “practice these things.” Again we have a command that is present active, which means that we are to habitually practice the things that Paul speaks of in this verse. This idea of practicing what we believe is seen throughout the Old Testament.

Jesus himself, said in Luke chapter six, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

James said, “Faith without works is dead.” We have to be more than hearers of the word; me must be doers of the word. And that is exactly what Paul is referring to.

Paul says “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things” Now, how do you and I practice the things that Paul is referring to since we never met him in person?

We read the book. We ponder on the word of God, and then we put it into practice. Our Christian practice always begins with the textbook. As we ponder and meditate on the word, on the gospel, as we cultivate holy contemplation, then we are to take what we have contemplated and put it into practice.

When these two things take place, a cultivation of a holy contemplation and conduct, then a wonder result takes place; God fulfills a promise. When these two things happen in your life you will cultivate a holy companionship.

Experience a Closer Walk with Jesus

Nestled at the end of verse nine is yet another promise of God that is conditional, “And the God of peace with be with you.” What a great promise. If you cultivate holy thoughts and live out a holy conduct, God promises to be with you.

Compare this conditional promise to the one we notices in Philippians 4:7 “7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

In this promise God promises that his peace will guard our hearts and minds if we pray in faith. In verse nine we are promised that the God of peace will be with us. This can only speak of God’s presence in our lives.

We need to remember that Paul is speaking to believers. Therefore, this has nothing to do with salvation. Our salvation is our by the grace of God alone. But if we truly want to enjoy our relationship with God on a daily basis, then we must pursue holiness in thought and action.

What Paul means here in verses nine is God will manifest his presence.

With God’s presence in our lives will come his blessings and favor. He will be with us as we face life situations. Yes, his peace will guard our hearts if we pray, and his presence will protect our way if we pursue holiness. And as we pursue holiness and the God of peace manifest himself in our lives, we will truly be blessed and happy.

What Paul is trying to say is summed up very well in an old hymn that we often sing, “Trust and Obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

There are some here this morning who are truly missing out on God’s blessings because you are not pursuing holiness in your lives.

Others are here this morning who have never experienced peace with the God of peace. You can have peace with God if you will trust in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Will you do that this morning?