Remember These Things Philippians 4:8-9 Tease: We all have been in locations where Occupational Safety Signs remind us how to be safe. Or perhaps the sign reads 367 days accident free. That sign is a reminder to all employees to remain safe in their job. The Apostle Paul provides his own reminders for the follower of Jesus to keep us focused on Jesus. Join us this Sunday as Pastor Rich explores these reminders from Philippians 4:8-9. Sunday School 9am and Worship 10am. Remember These Things Philippians 4:8-9 We have all seen signs like these in shops and businesses around time. When I was the Technical Support Commander at the Sheriff s Office Osha required every 6 months I had to put up new signs in the computer maintenance room and in the weapons and ammo storage armory. We had to put up posters all over every station to remind personnel of their employee rights and to remind them to be safe. We put on the walls of roll call 1 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
rooms reminds for the Patrol Deputies to always watch hands and eyes. To always have their dominant (gun hand) free. We all see reminders all over the place. Art Fry the inventor of the post it note recognized the value of being able to place a reminder anywhere. Incidentally Mr. Fry s original idea was to be able to place notes and reminders in his hymn book for the choir. Reminders are necessary for us to keep us focused on the things we are to be focused on. My goal for writing the daily readings was to be a reminder of the text and our relationship with God. We see exactly the same thing in our text this morning. In the two verses, yes that s rights, just two verses, Paul provides for us a reminder of what we are to fill our minds with and what we are to do with it. So, let s dig into the text and see what God has for us in the text this morning. Philippians 4:8 (ESV) 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. Paul addresses this statement to Brothers, fellow followers of Jesus, adopted children of the creator sustainer of the universe. Paul tells these followers of Jesus, I think that includes us, on what we are to think about. But the words here think about are bigger than just thinking about these things. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament states In Phil. 4:8 Paul is not 2 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
asking for mere reflection but for the practical consideration that leads to action 1. We are not just to ponder these things we are to think about them and then be moved to action. When we get to verse 9 we will see that these things are actually qualities that the Apostle Paul possessed and demonstrated to the Philippians. Paul was telling the Philippian church that they, as followers of Jesus, they were to have their minds filled and their actions modified by these qualities. So, what are these qualities? 1. Whatever is True 2. Whatever is Honorable 3. Whatever is Just 4. Whatever is Pure 5. Whatever is Lovely 6. Whatever is Commendable 7. Any Excellence 8. Anything Worthy of Praise If I were to just put this list on the screen like this we should all see something important about this list: 1 Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 537. 3 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
True Honorable Just Pure Lovely Commendable Excellent Worthy of Praise Looking at this list by itself I see that these are attributes of God. God is true, God is honorable, God is just, God is pure, God is lovely, God is Commendable, God is excellent, God is worthy of praise. Paul is telling his brothers, followers of Jesus, that they are to think with a goal of action about the attributes of God that all of us can emulate. There are attributes of God of course that we cannot emulate but these we can. I would like to take a little bit of time to go through these attributes or qualities so that we can make sure we understand what Paul is telling us to do. 1. Whatever is True Whatever corresponds to fact and reality, something that is genuine, not imaginary. But it is more than that, it also means divine reality. That is an important thing for a church in the 4 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
Hellenistic world. In the world of advanced Greek thought there was real question about the existence of anything that did not have physical presence. And the God of Israel and the church is spirit so the Greek thought was Jehovah God did not exist. But Paul says think about whatever has divine reality. God is real and is present and we need to think about Him as true and present with us. We need to emulate His character of being true. 2. Whatever is Honorable This is a reference to anything that is worthy of respect. As a follower of Jesus people should recognize you as being worth of respect. They should be able to respect you because you do the right thing and have a good character. Paul demonstrated his own good character towards the people of the churches he started and pastored. 3. Whatever is Just The word translated just here means whatever conforms to the character of God, whatever is upright and righteous. As followers of Jesus we should conform to the character of God. Sin is a violation of the character of God so Paul is telling us that we need to think about the things that conform to God s character and apply them to our lives just like he had done. 5 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
4. Whatever is Pure Remember what we see all through the Old Testament, the separation between clean and unclean, holy and unholy. We are to think about those things that are pure, holy, blameless. We are to focus on becoming that, we are to demonstrate a pure and holy life. 5. Whatever is Lovely This word Lovely has a root of the Philo meaning love from where the name Philadelphia comes from. This word means agreeable, amiable, pleasing, beloved or causing pleasure or delight. Eric Liddell of chariots of fire fame said when he ran he felt God s pleasure. That was his motivation for running, to please God. We are to be just the same way. We are to be focused on things that provide God pleasure and we can feel God s pleasure in. 6. Whatever is Commendable Commendable or worthy of praise or approval. Paul is saying here that we need to focus our minds on things that are commendable and worthy of praise. This is a tricky thing for followers of Jesus. Everything we do in our power is worthless and not worthy of praise so Paul here is telling us that we need to be focused on serving God in the power of Holy Spirit which makes it worthy of praise. Not praise of you but praise of God and for what He has done through you. 6 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
7. Any Excellence This word speaks both of virtue and quality. It is really a statement speaking of morality. As followers of jesus we have been called by God to share with Him in moral excellence, in a virtue that everyone around us can recognize. People need to see you and know you just do the right thing and do not cut corners, do not fudge on your taxes, go over the speed limit or the list could go on and on. We should have as our goal moral excellence that emulates Paul and God. 8. Anything Worthy of Praise The question in this word or phrase is praise from whom. I think to be theologically consistent we should be viewing this as praise from God. We should never be seeking praise from men, but from God. We should be living our life so that at the appropriate time we hear from God well done good and faithful servant. That is praise from God and is the reason that I serve Him. I want to hear those words. Now take a look at what Paul says in verse 9. Philippians 4:9 (ESV) 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. This verse in Greek begins with καὶ which is a conjunction which adds the following words to the previous words, much 7 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
like and. We are to think about, focus on, apply to our lives those 8 character traits of God demonstrated by Paul and then practice those things. If someone told you being a Christian, a follower of Jesus, was easy, you either misunderstood them or they lied. It is not easy. You have to be true, pure, lovely, honorable, most of us have already failed and not been those things and we did not even get through the list. Aren t you glad that your salvation does not depend on perfectly emulating that character? Your salvation depends on the blood of Jesus sacrificed on the cross and not your obedience. But once you have been saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit there should be a motivation to living the way God through the apostle Paul instructed us to live. There should be a change of heart and a change or life because we now have the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Take the example of Paul. There was a huge change in him from before the road to Damascus experience and after it. His entire life changed. Your transformation may not be so dramatic but it should be noticeable. Paul reminds us that the things we learned and received we should practice. How do we learn and receive theological truth? We study God s Word and look for the principles in the text that reflect the nature and character of God. We are studying the names, titles and descriptions of God in scripture to see just how 8 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
God describes Himself to get a better reflection of God s character so we can better emulate it. Paul says we are to practice those things. Begin to do them and continue to do them. Our life should reflect our knowledge of God s character. And if we do not yet know that much about God s character we can see it in Paul and in the godly people around us. What is the result of knowing and emulating the character of God? God will be with us. Look how Paul describes God here. As the God of Peace. You want to have peace with God, know and emulate God s character. That is how you have peace. Sure there will still be problems in your life but when you emulate the character of God you are properly equipped to deal with those problems, by seeking His will and not what makes you feel happy or good. What pleases Him. When we seek to feel God s pleasure we are doing it right. Let s Pray. 9 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
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