Philippians 4:6-9
Prescription for Godly Peace
How can we have peace in the circumstances of life? When everything seems to be falling down around us and life is beyond our control, is it possible to have peace?
When we have trouble in relationships … facing unemployment ….the doctor has devastating report on our health …death has come to one we love, or ….suffered setbacks ….the guilt of bad decisions in the past …..or we’re not where we wish we could be in life ……….. Is there the possibility of peace?
There was a man who once wanted to find the perfect picture of peace. Since he could not on his own find one that satisfied him, he decided to hold a contest to produce this perfect picture of peace he was searching for. -Many artists from all around were inspired and entered the contest.
Finally, the day came when the judges were uncovering each peaceful scene one by one. They arrived at the last two paintings to be uncovered.
As the judges pulled back the veil on the first, they saw a beautiful lake, smooth as a mirror with the reflections of gentle trees under a soft colored evening sky. This one certainly had to be the winner; certainly this has captured what peace looks like.
Then the very last picture was uncovered, and a murmur of surprise spread across the crowd. Could this be peace? The final canvas showed a violent waterfall cascading down a dangerous rocky cliff. Above in the sky there were stormy-grey clouds that seemed ready to burst with wind and rain and explode in lightning. The scene looked, noisy, chaotic and cold - and it caused confusion in the minds of those in the crowd. Could this be peace?
But, as one looked closer at the picture, in the midst of the loud and intimidating scene, a tiny tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the waterfall. One little branch reached out, and on that branch a little bird had built a nest. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs. With her eyes closed wings tucked, she manifested a peace that transcended all the turmoil going on around her.
Life is full of situations that we cannot control - uncertain, unmanageable, unchangeable situations. In this world we can find ourselves surrounded by a life as turbulent and despairing as the scene that little bird lived in.
But, can we have a confidence when we‘re in the middle of life’s chaos? Can we possess any kind of peace when we face problems? As Christians, do we have anything more than despair and discouragement in our times of difficulty? The Bible says yes.
In our passage this morning we find some of the most turned to verses for those in uncertain times in their life. Paul tells the Philippians how to have peace in their hearts. In the previous verses he emphasized peace within the community - now he is turning his focus to peace within the believer. Paul does this because when the peace of God reigns in the hearts of the individuals, the peace of God will reign in the community as a whole.
How do we respond to troubles in life? What does a Christian do when this life presents hardship or distress? When anxiety and worry set in, how do we respond? Let’s look together at Paul’s prescription for Godly peace.
DO NOT BE ANXIOUS
First, Paul says not to worry. Notice the first part of verse 6, “Do not be anxious about anything.” The word Paul uses is a word that means to pull in different directions, kind of like a tug of war. And when we are anxious and uptight and worrisome, we feel that way inside - we hope for the best but we’re so afraid of the worst and the hoping and the fearing pull us in different directions. Interestingly too, if you looked up the English word “worry” you would see the first definition is “to strangle.”
That’s what worry does. In one of Jesus’ parables he speaks about a man scattering seed - which represented the Word of God. Some of it fell on rocky places, some on shallow soil, some among thorns. The seed that fell among thorns is like a person who hears the word of God, but because of the worries of this world and the deception of wealth they are strangled, or choked. There is no growth, no flourishing in their spiritual walk, no maturing because of the misplaced fear from things in the world.
Not only are we to not to be anxious, but, we are not to be anxious about anything! There is nothing Paul says that we are to worry about. As a matter of fact this is an imperative in the Greek, which means that it is a command for us to follow. And it is in the present tense which means we are to always be without worry.
We hear that and probably think “What a hard teaching!” “How can He do that? Doesn’t God understand my problems? Does that mean He doesn’t see what I’m facing, or what I’m going through? Does God not understand?”
It doesn’t mean any of that, God does see, He does know, and He does understand. He sees where you are at perfectly. As a matter of fact, because God is eternal, He sees your situation from beginning to end. He also understands your heart. He’s not only eternal, He is omniscient - or, all-knowing - which means that he knows all things. Even those things within the deepest parts of your heart. He does know, and He does see.
But, God commands us not to fret, not to worry, not to be troubled because of who He is. The problem with our worry is not that He doesn’t know us, but, that we worry and become anxious because we don’t know Him. He is sovereign, He is all-knowing, He is all-powerful, He is all-good. When we pray to Him as such, we come to see that our God is in control when we are not. We can know that our Lord is able to bring good from any and all circumstances according to His glorious purposes.
And it’s not that He necessarily removes the problems of life. But that isn’t really our greatest need. Our need isn’t so much to remove our problem as it is to remove our doubt of God in the midst of our problem.
And that’s the point Jesus is making and Paul is stressing - that anxiety and worry don’t come from faith. They come from fear. Worry and anxiety come from faith-less thinking.
Turn with me if you will to Matthew 6. Jesus is giving the sermon on the mount, and he teaches the crowds not to worry. He commands them 3 times (v. 25, v. 31, v. 34) not to worry, and in verse 30 is the key statement regarding where worry comes from: he says “Why do you worry, O you of little faith?”
In the absence of faith, worry takes over. A little bit later in chapter 8 Jesus was with His disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when it says “a furious storm came up on” them. The disciples freak out and all the while Jesus is sound asleep. They wake Him up, and what does He say? Not “I’ll save the day.” Not, “I can’t help”. But, He rebukes them and says, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
You may notice that the calming of the storm comes after the calming of their hearts. The chaos, the trouble, the calamity, the hopeless circumstances of life crashing down around them are not taken away first. Instead, Jesus addresses their doubt first, then the problem. He rebuked them for not having faith in their bad circumstances. They were thinking without faith.
The Lord takes worry very seriously. The Bible says that whenever anything does not come from faith, it is not pleasing to God according to Heb 11:6. But that’s not all - not only is it not pleasing to God, but, Paul says in Romans 14:23 that anything that is not from faith is sin.
Wow. Have you ever thought of your worrying as sin? That’s serious. The Bibles says that murder, adultery, idolatry, arrogance and pride, lust, greed, stealing, coveting, sexual immorality, and unbelief and so on ….are sin. Worry is in the same class. You know why? Worry comes from unbelief ….faithless thinking.
So our first prescription is to stop worrying, and not be anxious for anything.
BE PRAYERFUL, BE THANKFUL
Paul then says we are to offer prayer requests to God with a thankful attitude. “Do not be anxious about anything, but, in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
I was reading this past week how early African converts to Christianity were very diligent in their private devotions. And it was reported that each of them had picked out a spot in the thick grass where they would go to pray and pour out their heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers neglected their time in prayer, it would be apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent believer and say, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”
Does the grass grow on your path? Have you neglected the place of prayer in your own life? Or, have you worn it out very well?
Paul says in all things we are not to worry, but, to pray. As we grow in our understanding of the Lord and we hand over more and more trust, we will begin to substitute worry with thankful supplications to God. The word for prayer describes our attitude of worship to God while supplications means the specific requests we ask God for. Instead of anxiety, ask. There is a promise to us for doing so.
By pursuing peaceful living with each other, by finding our joy in Christ, by standing firm in our Christian character, by abstaining from worry and offering prayers with an attitude of thankfulness to God, we come to have the peace of God. This is the peace that you want. There’s two qualities of this peace that comes from God: 1) it surpasses, and 2) it guards.
God’s peace surpasses understanding. What Paul is saying is that we may not know the answers, we may not comprehend, we may not understand why things happen, but, we can have a peace that overrides our troubled hearts. And furthermore, because God promises us peace and not necessarily understanding all the time, we need to see that peace is more important and more necessary to us than knowing ‘why’.
Secondly, this peace guards our hearts and minds. The word for guard means to protect, or, as in 1 Peter 1:5, to shield. God’s peace is a protective shield that defends us against a worrisome and anxious heart.
The peace of God is different than peace with God. Peace with God means God no longer holds us guilty for our sins and accepts us in Christ. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This comes by receiving Jesus Christ by faith. This is the one-time event where I place my trust in Christ for the forgiveness of my sins and God immediately takes all my sin and guilt away from me, accounts for it on the cross of Jesus Christ, gives me His Holy Spirit inside of me, makes me a brand new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and I am born into His family as one of His children, and am no longer an enemy of His in my sins.
The peace of God is my day-by-day, moment-by-moment trusting of God for my circumstances. It’s the tranquility he brings into my heart as I live in the new life He’s given me. His peace in my heart is the benefit available to me - now that He has made peace with me
Peace with God comes from receiving what God has done. But, the peace of God comes from relying on what God will do. Peace with God comes from washing my sins away by the blood of Jesus Christ - the peace of God comes from walking by faith with God.
And this comes by having a prayerful mind and bringing my requests to God with a thankful attitude.
RIGHT THINKING
So far we see Paul says we are not to be anxious, but, pray with a thankful heart. Now, Paul moves from the heart, to the mind. He gives a list of 6 virtuous qualities that should make up our thinking. This is critical to us as Christians because how we think, and especially how we think about God, will determine our response in difficult times. And so Paul says, “Finally brothers, 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.”
If we read this passage closely, we will see that Paul is really emphasizing the mind and how we are supposed to think. In verse 2 he pleads that the two women agree with each other, which literally means “have the same mind.” In verse 4 Paul says to “Rejoice”, which is a Spirit-enabled which is the willful spirit of joy based on our knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 6 Paul commands us not to be anxious, a frame of mind we are not to have. In verse 7 he says the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds.
And now verse 8 he gives us a list of virtues that should characterize our thinking. This list describes the quality of what our thoughts should be.
Let’s look over these virtues:
True is whatever is actual or real. Jesus said he is the way, the truth and the life. He said if a man holds to his teachings then he will know the truth and the truth will set him free.
Noble is anything worthy of respect …honorable
Right means those things which are conformed to God’s standards. The word righteous comes from it.
Pure is whatever is wholesome, unmixed with moral impurity
Lovely is used only here in the NT and it’s the quality of those things that promote peace and not conflict
Admirable means those things that are true to the highest standards, or,
These virtues Paul describes as excellent and praiseworthy, and they have their roots in the character of God. God’s attributes are reflected in the qualities Paul lists here and we come to know them from the Word of God. When Paul says think about such things, he wants their thought-life to be made up of the same qualities that are the qualities of God found in the Word of God. And so he says think on such things, dwell on such things, meditate on these things.
J. Dwight Pentecost comments on the necessity of meditating on these things:
God’s standard for His children is that we should sit in judgment upon every thought that flickers through our minds. If it cannot pass the test of ringing true, [being worthy of respect, righteous, pure, and lovely,] it is to be rejected and repudiated.
If you introduce one drop of contaminated water into a pitcher of cool water, the cool, refreshing, pure water will not purify that defilement, but the defilement will corrupt the pure; so these thoughts will contaminate your mind. Satan wants to turn your mind into a cesspool and have your mind occupied with that which ultimately must corrupt, defile, and spoil the whole body, distort the life, and produce sin.
The battle is not first in the field of action; it is in the field of thought. Transport yourself to the pasture, consider the cow chewing her cud, and learn that lesson from nature that the psalmist learned.
Your delight must be in the Word of God, and in His Word you must chew your cud day and night. If the battle is lost, it is lost because you do not meditate on “ these things.”
Stand in judgment on every thought. Let these virtues in verse 8 be the filter for every thought. The battle with anxiety, temptation, and so on is won or lost in the mind first, then in our actions. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that the battle is one of thinking, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Obedience to Christ. God wants our thoughts to be as true, as noble, as pure, as lovely, as admirable and as right as His. It’s interesting to note that this verse on our thoughts is sandwiched between the promise of God’s peace in verse 7 and the promise of the God of peace in verse 9. Paul was stressing that peace of mind starts with proper thinking - godly thinking. Think about such things as God and it will lead to the peace of God.
PRACTICE
So Paul is talking to the Philippians about peace. Peace in their hearts. Don’t be anxious about anything. Pray with thanksgiving to God and trust Him with your requests. Think about godly virtues. Now he gives the fourth component to his prescription for godly peace: right conduct. Look at verse 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.”
Paul’s entire life was a model for them. He is repeating a similar call he made in chapter 3 verse 17, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.”
I am really struck by the confidence Paul has in his lifestyle. I think we have here a challenge to each one of to ask ourselves, “Would I urge my fellow Christians to live my life? Are the things that others see in me, hear from me, learn from me, receive from me things I would want for others?” Only if your thoughts and your actions reflect the qualities listed in verse 8! Paul’s did. Paul knew the life he was living and the teachings he gave them and he had a clear conscience - and he had confidence that God would be pleased if others were following his pattern.
Here’s the point: Paul had taught them in word and deed how to walk with God. By walking with God, they would have the God of peace with them. The promise is that the Christian who abides in the Lord by walking in His ways has the Lord of peace with Him.
CONCLUSION
As Christians we have God’s peace available to us. Paul says that by doing these four things we can have the God of peace be with us, and we can have His peace within us. Don’t be anxious, Pray with Thanksgiving, Think with godly virtue, and practice godly virtue. Do these things and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Prescription for Godly Peace
How can we have peace in the circumstances of life? When everything seems to be falling down around us and life is beyond our control, is it possible to have peace?
When we have trouble in relationships … facing unemployment ….the doctor has devastating report on our health …death has come to one we love, or ….suffered setbacks ….the guilt of bad decisions in the past …..or we’re not where we wish we could be in life ……….. Is there the possibility of peace?
There was a man who once wanted to find the perfect picture of peace. Since he could not on his own find one that satisfied him, he decided to hold a contest to produce this perfect picture of peace he was searching for. -Many artists from all around were inspired and entered the contest.
Finally, the day came when the judges were uncovering each peaceful scene one by one. They arrived at the last two paintings to be uncovered.
As the judges pulled back the veil on the first, they saw a beautiful lake, smooth as a mirror with the reflections of gentle trees under a soft colored evening sky. This one certainly had to be the winner; certainly this has captured what peace looks like.
Then the very last picture was uncovered, and a murmur of surprise spread across the crowd. Could this be peace? The final canvas showed a violent waterfall cascading down a dangerous rocky cliff. Above in the sky there were stormy-grey clouds that seemed ready to burst with wind and rain and explode in lightning. The scene looked, noisy, chaotic and cold - and it caused confusion in the minds of those in the crowd. Could this be peace?
But, as one looked closer at the picture, in the midst of the loud and intimidating scene, a tiny tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the waterfall. One little branch reached out, and on that branch a little bird had built a nest. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs. With her eyes closed wings tucked, she manifested a peace that transcended all the turmoil going on around her.
Life is full of situations that we cannot control - uncertain, unmanageable, unchangeable situations. In this world we can find ourselves surrounded by a life as turbulent and despairing as the scene that little bird lived in.
But, can we have a confidence when we‘re in the middle of life’s chaos? Can we possess any kind of peace when we face problems? As Christians, do we have anything more than despair and discouragement in our times of difficulty? The Bible says yes.
In our passage this morning we find some of the most turned to verses for those in uncertain times in their life. Paul tells the Philippians how to have peace in their hearts. In the previous verses he emphasized peace within the community - now he is turning his focus to peace within the believer. Paul does this because when the peace of God reigns in the hearts of the individuals, the peace of God will reign in the community as a whole.
How do we respond to troubles in life? What does a Christian do when this life presents hardship or distress? When anxiety and worry set in, how do we respond? Let’s look together at Paul’s prescription for Godly peace.
DO NOT BE ANXIOUS
First, Paul says not to worry. Notice the first part of verse 6, “Do not be anxious about anything.” The word Paul uses is a word that means to pull in different directions, kind of like a tug of war. And when we are anxious and uptight and worrisome, we feel that way inside - we hope for the best but we’re so afraid of the worst and the hoping and the fearing pull us in different directions. Interestingly too, if you looked up the English word “worry” you would see the first definition is “to strangle.”
That’s what worry does. In one of Jesus’ parables he speaks about a man scattering seed - which represented the Word of God. Some of it fell on rocky places, some on shallow soil, some among thorns. The seed that fell among thorns is like a person who hears the word of God, but because of the worries of this world and the deception of wealth they are strangled, or choked. There is no growth, no flourishing in their spiritual walk, no maturing because of the misplaced fear from things in the world.
Not only are we to not to be anxious, but, we are not to be anxious about anything! There is nothing Paul says that we are to worry about. As a matter of fact this is an imperative in the Greek, which means that it is a command for us to follow. And it is in the present tense which means we are to always be without worry.
We hear that and probably think “What a hard teaching!” “How can He do that? Doesn’t God understand my problems? Does that mean He doesn’t see what I’m facing, or what I’m going through? Does God not understand?”
It doesn’t mean any of that, God does see, He does know, and He does understand. He sees where you are at perfectly. As a matter of fact, because God is eternal, He sees your situation from beginning to end. He also understands your heart. He’s not only eternal, He is omniscient - or, all-knowing - which means that he knows all things. Even those things within the deepest parts of your heart. He does know, and He does see.
But, God commands us not to fret, not to worry, not to be troubled because of who He is. The problem with our worry is not that He doesn’t know us, but, that we worry and become anxious because we don’t know Him. He is sovereign, He is all-knowing, He is all-powerful, He is all-good. When we pray to Him as such, we come to see that our God is in control when we are not. We can know that our Lord is able to bring good from any and all circumstances according to His glorious purposes.
And it’s not that He necessarily removes the problems of life. But that isn’t really our greatest need. Our need isn’t so much to remove our problem as it is to remove our doubt of God in the midst of our problem.
And that’s the point Jesus is making and Paul is stressing - that anxiety and worry don’t come from faith. They come from fear. Worry and anxiety come from faith-less thinking.
Turn with me if you will to Matthew 6. Jesus is giving the sermon on the mount, and he teaches the crowds not to worry. He commands them 3 times (v. 25, v. 31, v. 34) not to worry, and in verse 30 is the key statement regarding where worry comes from: he says “Why do you worry, O you of little faith?”
In the absence of faith, worry takes over. A little bit later in chapter 8 Jesus was with His disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when it says “a furious storm came up on” them. The disciples freak out and all the while Jesus is sound asleep. They wake Him up, and what does He say? Not “I’ll save the day.” Not, “I can’t help”. But, He rebukes them and says, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?”
You may notice that the calming of the storm comes after the calming of their hearts. The chaos, the trouble, the calamity, the hopeless circumstances of life crashing down around them are not taken away first. Instead, Jesus addresses their doubt first, then the problem. He rebuked them for not having faith in their bad circumstances. They were thinking without faith.
The Lord takes worry very seriously. The Bible says that whenever anything does not come from faith, it is not pleasing to God according to Heb 11:6. But that’s not all - not only is it not pleasing to God, but, Paul says in Romans 14:23 that anything that is not from faith is sin.
Wow. Have you ever thought of your worrying as sin? That’s serious. The Bibles says that murder, adultery, idolatry, arrogance and pride, lust, greed, stealing, coveting, sexual immorality, and unbelief and so on ….are sin. Worry is in the same class. You know why? Worry comes from unbelief ….faithless thinking.
So our first prescription is to stop worrying, and not be anxious for anything.
BE PRAYERFUL, BE THANKFUL
Paul then says we are to offer prayer requests to God with a thankful attitude. “Do not be anxious about anything, but, in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
I was reading this past week how early African converts to Christianity were very diligent in their private devotions. And it was reported that each of them had picked out a spot in the thick grass where they would go to pray and pour out their heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers neglected their time in prayer, it would be apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent believer and say, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”
Does the grass grow on your path? Have you neglected the place of prayer in your own life? Or, have you worn it out very well?
Paul says in all things we are not to worry, but, to pray. As we grow in our understanding of the Lord and we hand over more and more trust, we will begin to substitute worry with thankful supplications to God. The word for prayer describes our attitude of worship to God while supplications means the specific requests we ask God for. Instead of anxiety, ask. There is a promise to us for doing so.
By pursuing peaceful living with each other, by finding our joy in Christ, by standing firm in our Christian character, by abstaining from worry and offering prayers with an attitude of thankfulness to God, we come to have the peace of God. This is the peace that you want. There’s two qualities of this peace that comes from God: 1) it surpasses, and 2) it guards.
God’s peace surpasses understanding. What Paul is saying is that we may not know the answers, we may not comprehend, we may not understand why things happen, but, we can have a peace that overrides our troubled hearts. And furthermore, because God promises us peace and not necessarily understanding all the time, we need to see that peace is more important and more necessary to us than knowing ‘why’.
Secondly, this peace guards our hearts and minds. The word for guard means to protect, or, as in 1 Peter 1:5, to shield. God’s peace is a protective shield that defends us against a worrisome and anxious heart.
The peace of God is different than peace with God. Peace with God means God no longer holds us guilty for our sins and accepts us in Christ. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This comes by receiving Jesus Christ by faith. This is the one-time event where I place my trust in Christ for the forgiveness of my sins and God immediately takes all my sin and guilt away from me, accounts for it on the cross of Jesus Christ, gives me His Holy Spirit inside of me, makes me a brand new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and I am born into His family as one of His children, and am no longer an enemy of His in my sins.
The peace of God is my day-by-day, moment-by-moment trusting of God for my circumstances. It’s the tranquility he brings into my heart as I live in the new life He’s given me. His peace in my heart is the benefit available to me - now that He has made peace with me
Peace with God comes from receiving what God has done. But, the peace of God comes from relying on what God will do. Peace with God comes from washing my sins away by the blood of Jesus Christ - the peace of God comes from walking by faith with God.
And this comes by having a prayerful mind and bringing my requests to God with a thankful attitude.
RIGHT THINKING
So far we see Paul says we are not to be anxious, but, pray with a thankful heart. Now, Paul moves from the heart, to the mind. He gives a list of 6 virtuous qualities that should make up our thinking. This is critical to us as Christians because how we think, and especially how we think about God, will determine our response in difficult times. And so Paul says, “Finally brothers, 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.”
If we read this passage closely, we will see that Paul is really emphasizing the mind and how we are supposed to think. In verse 2 he pleads that the two women agree with each other, which literally means “have the same mind.” In verse 4 Paul says to “Rejoice”, which is a Spirit-enabled which is the willful spirit of joy based on our knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 6 Paul commands us not to be anxious, a frame of mind we are not to have. In verse 7 he says the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds.
And now verse 8 he gives us a list of virtues that should characterize our thinking. This list describes the quality of what our thoughts should be.
Let’s look over these virtues:
True is whatever is actual or real. Jesus said he is the way, the truth and the life. He said if a man holds to his teachings then he will know the truth and the truth will set him free.
Noble is anything worthy of respect …honorable
Right means those things which are conformed to God’s standards. The word righteous comes from it.
Pure is whatever is wholesome, unmixed with moral impurity
Lovely is used only here in the NT and it’s the quality of those things that promote peace and not conflict
Admirable means those things that are true to the highest standards, or,
These virtues Paul describes as excellent and praiseworthy, and they have their roots in the character of God. God’s attributes are reflected in the qualities Paul lists here and we come to know them from the Word of God. When Paul says think about such things, he wants their thought-life to be made up of the same qualities that are the qualities of God found in the Word of God. And so he says think on such things, dwell on such things, meditate on these things.
J. Dwight Pentecost comments on the necessity of meditating on these things:
God’s standard for His children is that we should sit in judgment upon every thought that flickers through our minds. If it cannot pass the test of ringing true, [being worthy of respect, righteous, pure, and lovely,] it is to be rejected and repudiated.
If you introduce one drop of contaminated water into a pitcher of cool water, the cool, refreshing, pure water will not purify that defilement, but the defilement will corrupt the pure; so these thoughts will contaminate your mind. Satan wants to turn your mind into a cesspool and have your mind occupied with that which ultimately must corrupt, defile, and spoil the whole body, distort the life, and produce sin.
The battle is not first in the field of action; it is in the field of thought. Transport yourself to the pasture, consider the cow chewing her cud, and learn that lesson from nature that the psalmist learned.
Your delight must be in the Word of God, and in His Word you must chew your cud day and night. If the battle is lost, it is lost because you do not meditate on “ these things.”
Stand in judgment on every thought. Let these virtues in verse 8 be the filter for every thought. The battle with anxiety, temptation, and so on is won or lost in the mind first, then in our actions. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that the battle is one of thinking, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Obedience to Christ. God wants our thoughts to be as true, as noble, as pure, as lovely, as admirable and as right as His. It’s interesting to note that this verse on our thoughts is sandwiched between the promise of God’s peace in verse 7 and the promise of the God of peace in verse 9. Paul was stressing that peace of mind starts with proper thinking - godly thinking. Think about such things as God and it will lead to the peace of God.
PRACTICE
So Paul is talking to the Philippians about peace. Peace in their hearts. Don’t be anxious about anything. Pray with thanksgiving to God and trust Him with your requests. Think about godly virtues. Now he gives the fourth component to his prescription for godly peace: right conduct. Look at verse 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.”
Paul’s entire life was a model for them. He is repeating a similar call he made in chapter 3 verse 17, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.”
I am really struck by the confidence Paul has in his lifestyle. I think we have here a challenge to each one of to ask ourselves, “Would I urge my fellow Christians to live my life? Are the things that others see in me, hear from me, learn from me, receive from me things I would want for others?” Only if your thoughts and your actions reflect the qualities listed in verse 8! Paul’s did. Paul knew the life he was living and the teachings he gave them and he had a clear conscience - and he had confidence that God would be pleased if others were following his pattern.
Here’s the point: Paul had taught them in word and deed how to walk with God. By walking with God, they would have the God of peace with them. The promise is that the Christian who abides in the Lord by walking in His ways has the Lord of peace with Him.
CONCLUSION
As Christians we have God’s peace available to us. Paul says that by doing these four things we can have the God of peace be with us, and we can have His peace within us. Don’t be anxious, Pray with Thanksgiving, Think with godly virtue, and practice godly virtue. Do these things and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
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