4-25-2020 THINK ON THESE THINGS
Philippians
4:4-9
Paul wrote
to the church at Philippi encouraging words:
Rejoice in the Lord always and again
I say rejoice
Let your moderation be known to all
men. The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report,
or if there is any virtue or if
there is any praise, think on these things.
Those things which you have both learned and received and
heard and seen in me, do and the God of peace shall be in you.
1
Corinthians 10:23-24
All things are lawful for me but not all things are
expedient. All things are lawful for me but all things don’t edify.
Ephesians
4:21-32
If so that you have heard Him (Jesus), and have been taught
by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.
That you put off concerning former conversation of the old
man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts
And be renewed in the Spirit of
your mind,
That you put on the new man, which after God, is created in
righteousness and true holiness.
Therefore putting away lying, let every man speak truth with
his neighbor, for we are members, one of another.
Be angry and sin not, don’t let the
sun go down on your wrath.
Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole, steal no more, rather let him labor,
working with his hands the thing which is good that he may give to him that
needs.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the
hearers.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed
unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be
put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you.
Let’s
talk a little about what should be driving our actions, what we say, what we
think.
Rejoice
Be cheerful, well-off, joy, God speed (Strong’s 5463). I might add “be happy in our heart. Let the Lord know you appreciate all that He
is and has done!”
Let our moderation
be seen before men
Appropriate, gentle, patient (Strong’s 1933). Let’s be patient in all situations, with all
people. The Lord is always near and
ready to help us. He is our strength
(Phil. 4:13)
Be careful
for nothing.
Don’t be anxious rather think it through (Strong’s
3309). Don’t worry about things rather
pray about them and thank God for what He is going to or has already done.
Let God’s peace
reign in our hearts because of our Lord, Jesus Christ
Quietness or rest (Strong’s 1515). Let God’s peace (like a river) rest in our
soul (Isa. 48:18). Remember Jesus says
He is always with us and will never forsake us (Heb. 13:5). Who can fight against God and win (Acts 5:39)? God is in us!
Quit worrying about things! It’ll
only give you an ulcer. But do take
appropriate action!
True
Not concealed (hidden) (Strong’s 227). Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t blow any smokescreens hiding your true
intents. Be ‘open’, ‘transparent’.
Honest
Grave (serious)(Strong’s 4586). Let’s be straightforward and not deceiving. If you can’t say something good or true about
someone, keep the lip zipped. We can
always say good things yet, don’t flatter just to get people to agree with you
or do what you want. Don’t lie, even the
inner person can be beautiful!
Just
Innocent, holy, proper (Strong’s 1342). ‘Nuff said?
Do that which is the right thing to do or say. Don’t condemn, but, as led by the Spirit,
correct and direct. Helping a brother
walk closer with the Lord is better than a ‘slam dunk’. (hah, I’m right!)
Pure
Modest, chaste, perfect, clean (Strong’s 53). When we live in God’s love, we find ourselves
being as the definition describes. Or at
least, we are working in that direction.
Following Jesus’ example for living and confessing our sins
(immediately) goes a long way in maintaining spiritual purity.
Lovely
Friendly (Strong’s 4375).
That is we should always take a non-violent, congenial approach to
everything. I’m not saying wishy
washy. Assertive is being strong yet not
aggressive. Stand your ground (when
right) but, to get your point across, don’t snarl and punch him in the nose! Love, be pleasant, you may gain (or regain) a
friend.
Good
report
Well-spoken, reputable (Strong’s 2163). Paul encourages us to always do that which
edifies (1 Thess. 5:9-11). That means we
don’t gossip about or tear down others.
Rather we do or say that which helps another person draw closer to
Christ. As we draw closer to Him in our own
lives, it makes it difficult for others to, in truth, speak ill of us. God blessed Joseph right into 2nd
only to Pharaoh in Egypt because he was of ‘good report’ (Gen. chptrs 37-47).
Virtue
Excellence, praise (Strong’s 703). We have Jesus in our heart, we do our best to
live right, do right and be right. We
live by God’s standards. It ain’t easy, but we do our best (thank You, Holy
Spirit). Live our lives so that people
can only say good things about our example.
Let them see the love of Christ alive and well in our own lives.
Praise
Laud (Strong’s 1868).
I may expand this to include lift up, glorify, magnify, even exalt
(we’re talking about our relationship with our Father). How many good things can we think of who He
is and our gratitude for what He has done for us? When we can no longer think of anything to
say, we can always ask the Spirit to help us out. We can also speak good things of others but
let the praise be true. Also consider,
our actions can speak louder than our words.
We go bonkers over entertainers, does God deserve less?
Grieve
Be sad or sorry, make heavy [as burdened] (Strong’s
3076). We grieve the Holy Ghost when we
do things contrary to God’s word and will.
The Spirit is grieved when we credit to anything else with what Father
has done. If you will, His heart cries
at our disobedience. Jesus didn’t just
cry for Lazarus, but as he entered in, He cried for all Jerusalem (John 11:35).
Think how we might feel if we saw a car strike and kill a puppy. Sadness fills our heart. Jesus knew that Jerusalem yet was rejecting
His free love!
Malice
Evil, wickedness, (Strong’s 2549) When I first read this I
said that doesn’t make any sense because I read ‘with’ to mean as to
‘how’. Then the Holy Ghost had me read
it a little differently –‘’malice’ along with these other things’. Then it made sense!
Now, go back
and reread our passages. Do you see them
any differently?
As we live
our life in Christ Jesus, we grow into living more and more in God’s love. Living in love IS keeping His law for His law (briefly [Exod. 20:1-17]) describes how to love Him and our
neighbor for God is love. As we grow
in that love we discover the things that we do are lawful because they fall
into alignment with God’s love (will).
That is we make the decision to move away from those things that don’t
please our heavenly Father and gravitate, more and more, towards those things
that do. Ergo, the things that we do ARE
lawful because we do that which is IN God’s will.
Jesus is the
truth so we put away the old, sinful man, and put on the new man living in God’s
love. As we move into alignment with
God’s love, we find our mind (our thoughts and mindset) is being led by the
Holy Spirit so we are putting off those lustful and selfish thoughts that used
to motivate us and putting on God’s love.
truly caring for others – agape love.
Our ‘new
man’ seeks after true holiness and righteousness therefore we quit lying to our
neighbor and especially our Christian brother.
Remember, those in Christ are one body.
Would we lie to ourselves? (hope not)
Being angry
at what someone has done to us is natural and we don’t have to like a word or
an action directed at us. But we need to
remember what motivates that action. Our
fight is always against the forces of darkness, Satan and those angels who fell
with him (Eph. 6:12). We take action
against the root of what has been done against us then forgive the person by
which that offense came (they don’t really understand) – before the day
ends. Harboring anger only hurts us
because it tears at our spirit and draws us away from God as we are consumed by
that anger. In rebuking and resisting whatever
the attack was (from our enemy) and by forgiving the one by whom the offense
came, we are eliminating places in which the devil can operate in our life.
Stealing
comes in many forms so let us do the works worthy of our love for Jesus. Remember, He shed His precious blood for us
while our works were yet far from Him, bringing us the promise of eternal
fellowship with our heavenly Father.
Malachi asks
will a man rob God (Mal. 3:8-9) by not giving Him our tithes and
offerings. We do, when we don’t support
what God is doing through His people (church).
Understand, the tithe is 10% of our increase,
what we’ve earned since the last time we gave.
Not only is God due our tithe but He commands it (Mal. 3:10-12). We can also rob God by not using the talents
and/or gifting, which He has given us, for His glory. I’m not saying we can’t benefit from our
talents or gifts, but who gave us that ability to sing, organize, play music,
dance, etc.? We just need to always
remember where that gift came from, thanking Him for His goodness. Not acknowledging what Father has freely
given us is just like not tithing. It is
stealing. We rob Father of His glory as
He works through us. We just ‘take’ and
give nothing back. Giving Him the glory
is ‘giving back’! Amen? Oh, and by the way, we can rob people of
blessings when we don’t share the talents God has given us. Think about it.
Don’t tear
down, demean nor destroy others with our words.
Rather let us consider what can help that other person to be a better
person and walk closer with our Lord. The
list in Philippians is a good place to start by putting it into practice. The power of life and death are in our
tongue. We build up, not tear down. We can destroy or build by how we act or in
what we say (Prov. 18:21).
Let us put
an end (in our lives) to bitterness, evil speaking and the like by applying
diligence and sincerity into what we say and do. When we retain evil in our heart and deny the
power of the Holy Ghost, we grieve Him.
As long as we are on this earth, we should never grieve the Holy
Ghost. It is put this way, for when we
are with the Lord in eternity, I don’t believe it will even be possible to
grieve the Holy Ghost. Then we should all
be walking and talking in God’s will. We
will all know the role of the Holy Ghost in the Godhead. After all, then, we will be with Him,
(present and accounted for) – Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
God’s love
is expressed through our kindness towards others, being caring for their
situations and helping them to draw closer to God. We should always be forgiving towards all men
– even if they don’t repent or ask our forgiveness. As he was being stoned to death, Stephen
asked God to forgive those stoning him (Acts 6:9 - 7:60). (sound familiar? Luke 23:34)
We all have
an eternal judge. Jesus makes the final
call who comes into eternal peace and who goes into eternal damnation (John
5:22). And remember, even when we denied
and rejected God, Father came into this world in the form of Jesus Christ and
shed His blood on the cross, cleansing us from all unrighteousness, iniquities,
our sin and bringing all who repent, back into His fold (eternal life).
Make no
mistake. All this takes effort – great
effort – on our part. It doesn’t ‘just’
happen. We choose to do that which is
right, then pursue it!
So, what
things should we think on? Being
thankful and glad for God’s love towards us, as we do our best to give our love
back to Him. Jesus says that we show our
love for Him by helping those around us.
As we help others, we find that God fills us with Joy. Especially helping those ‘in God’s kingdom’
for Jesus says that as we do unto the least in His kingdom, we do unto Him
(Matt. 25:40). God gives us joy when we
give Him the glory for what He does in us and through us.
We should
focus on those things that edify others, not stroke their egos, but say and do
things that
will help them become better people and closer to God.
Do we seek
the peace of God in our heart? As we
give Father His due and respect others, we discover that we can rejoice, be
glad and enter His gates with thanksgiving in our heart.
These things
we think upon – then do.
Amen
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