PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9 A LONG TERM STRATEGY TO PUT JESUS FIRST2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Philippians 4:1-9 A Long Term Strategy To Put Jesus First

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019.

Philippians chapter 4 is where we're going to be tonight, continuing our journey through the book of Philippians and continuing to look at the foundations for Christian living and some of those basic foundational things that our lives can be and should be built upon. And over the past couple weeks, we've been talking about the choice that we need to make to put Jesus first.

♪

in order to put Jesus first. And it's the way and the manner in which we put Jesus first by the choices that we make. Well, now as we move on into chapter four, Paul's going to kind of keep the same vein of thought, but give us a little bit more instruction as we go forward. And so we're going to look at verses one through nine together this evening here in Philippians chapter four. Let's read through that and then we'll dive into the message that God has for us.

Philippians chapter 4 verse 1 says,

Verse 6. Verse 7.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you.

Here as we begin to wrap up the book of Philippians, Paul the Apostle goes on to give some kind of concluding thoughts regarding the things that he's been talking about. Now in verse 10, we'll pick it up next week and we'll change subjects a little bit as he'll talk about, begin to address his gratitude for the gift that they provided for him and there's some great things that God has in store for us there.

But here we're continuing to look at this idea of putting Jesus first. And I've titled the message this evening, A Long-Term Strategy to Put Jesus First. As we've been talking about the choice to put Jesus first over the past couple of weeks, we can see those things and the value of that choice and the choices that we make and how that contributes to the priority of Jesus in our life. But as we're all familiar with, we often make great choices first.

But they don't last, right? We make New Year's resolutions and they don't last. We make choices to change our life and to, you know, move forward in certain directions and we can be fickle and wishy-washy and, you know, not move forward and not stay in those choices that we have made. But

But here is Paul kind of wraps up those series of choices that we talked about in chapter three. He says in verse one, therefore, my beloved and long for brethren, my joy and my crown. So stand fast in the Lord. And this idea of standing fast is that long-term perspective, right?

That you've made the choice. You know what it takes to put Jesus first. Now stay there. You're making that choice. Now stay there in that place of having Jesus as your priority first and foremost in your life. And so we want to do that. We need to do that. We need to have a long-term strategy to be able to stand fast. We're not going to stand fast on accident.

We're not going to stay in place. And this idea of standing fast, it's a military term. It's a battle term. And you don't stand fast. You don't hold your ground on accident. No, there's intention that is involved. There's strategy that's involved. And we are in this life, well, for the long term, right? We're going to live a while longer, hopefully, right? So we need to have the marathon mindset, right?

And all the choices that we make, all the great things that we want to do and choosing to put Jesus first, those are great. But we also need to do it with a strategy in mind that would help us to maintain those choices and to stay in that place of having Jesus first in our lives. How can we keep Jesus in that place of priority?

Now, as we work our way through these verses here in chapter 4, I know some of these verses are beloved verses. It's beloved passages, you know, things that we're familiar with and we know. And I want to encourage you this evening to kind of think beyond some of the automatic things that you associate with these verses and even think beyond the particular moments of these verses and consider a bigger picture and the pattern of our life.

A lot of times we take these principles as well as other portions of scripture, but we try to apply them to a moment, right? Be anxious for nothing. And so then when we're anxious, then we try to apply that verse. And I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't try to apply that verse when you're anxious, but I'm suggesting that the picture that Paul is describing here is bigger than just that moment of anxiety. The picture is just, is bigger than just that moment. It's

It's, well, it's about the pattern of your life. This is not just, you know, break this glass and use this instrument in case of emergency.

This is, here's instruction for how to build your life, how to live your life and design your life in a way that you'll be able to handle those emergency situations. And so a long-term strategy to put Jesus first. There's four points to this strategy that we'll look at this evening. Verses one through three give us point number one, and that is resolve personal conflicts. Listen, if you want to have Jesus first in your life for a long time,

you are going to have to learn how to resolve personal conflicts. You're going to have to learn how to address and reconcile and make amends with those who you have offended and with those who have offended you. And if you don't, it's a guarantee you're going to

to move from the place of having Jesus first in your life. If you don't learn how to resolve personal conflicts, it's going to sabotage you in your priority of Jesus. Verse 1 again, Paul says,

Here, it's kind of an amazing thing to think about, right? I mean, how would you like to be one of these ladies having your name penned in the scriptures for the rest of eternity, right? But we don't know the situation. We don't know the context, but here are two ladies in the midst of some kind of conflict. It's the first time ever that two ladies have ever had any kind of conflict. No, it's not. It's the last time two ladies have ever had any. No, it's not the last time either.

Now, it's not just the ladies, okay? Now, this is the particular context, but don't try to twist this and talk about, yeah, it's always the girls, you know? Think about Paul and Barnabas, right? There was some conflict that they experienced. There's some examples to consider there. So we're not just talking about one gender or another. We're talking about this issue of conflict between two individuals, two people. And these conflicts are going to happen. We're in close quarters with each other. We're working together. We're, you know,

living together perhaps, we're serving together, we're driving on the same roads, there's going to be conflict and issues and difficulties and we're going to offend and others are going to offend us and we're going to sin and others are going to sin against us. And there's going to be these conflicts. But Paul says to these two ladies, he says, look, ladies, you need to resolve this. You can't just let this go. You can't just stay, you know, in your separate corners and

But you need to come together and be of the same mind. But what's also interesting about this, as you go on into verse 3, is Paul calls the onlookers to get engaged in the reconciliation. He says, Paul addresses someone he calls true companion.

We don't know who this true companion is. Some suggest that true companion, it's actually like a proper name, but translated means true companion. But it also could just be some unnamed person. And I think that it's an unnamed person because at the time, Paul didn't know your name. I think that's an important way to think about this. I urge you also, true companion, to

Rick or Zelda or Janine or Roger, that you would involve yourself whenever there is this discord, this issues within the body of Christ that there might need, there might be a need for some help for resolving these things, that issues between people and personal conflict affects the individuals, of course, but it also affects the body of Christ. And so the body of Christ has the need and the opportunity to get involved and to help

Bring reconciliation and help resolve these conflicts that take place. They're going to happen. They're bound to happen. For sure, we're going to face this. You're going to face it personally. We're going to face it as a church. These are things that need to be addressed. And if we're not able to address personal conflicts and resolve them, it's a huge chink in our armor for that long-term strategy of putting Jesus first.

Because what's going to happen is those conflicts are going to build and grow and become an obstruction. So now Jesus isn't first because all we can see is the conflict that we face. Now here in these verses, I want to pull out a couple helpful reminders for resolving conflict. I think Paul gives us some good clues and things to remember as we

address situations, whether the conflict is something that we're personally involved in or whether perhaps God would have us to engage and help others to reconcile. There's some important things to keep in mind. And so the first thing, the first reminder that we should consider is that Jesus is coming soon for both people. That when members in the body of Christ are in conflict and

Seems like they shouldn't be, right? In an ideal world, like we wouldn't have conflict. But no, no, here's two ladies in the body of Christ. They have conflict. And something we need to keep in mind is the reality of eternity for both. And Jesus is coming back soon for both. When I'm fighting with someone and I have, you know, animosity towards someone that I need to stop and remember and be reminded, Jesus is coming back soon for them.

Just like he's coming back soon for me. In verse 1, Paul uses the word, therefore. Therefore.

And you know what that signals, right? It always means you got to back up a little bit and find out like, what thought is Paul connecting here? Find out what it's there for. And so we can back up a couple of verses into Philippians chapter three and verse 20. Paul says,

that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. As Paul is transitioning from one thought to another, it's not a clean break. And okay, now I'm changing subjects. As we move on into verse 10 next week, we'll see a more of a break and it's a different subject. But here he's connecting thoughts. He's saying, look, our citizenship is in heaven and we are eagerly waiting for Jesus to

We're eagerly waiting for Jesus. And that is something to be mindful of as we deal with conflict, as we deal with battles, as we deal with hurt feelings, as we deal with offenses and failures. In Matthew chapter 24, as Jesus is giving some warnings through different parables, he gives the example of an evil servant that says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and

And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards. He gives the example of an evil servant. And the evil servant begins to behave in these wicked ways because of what he says in his heart. My master is delaying his coming. And you know, there are some wicked ways that can really rise up and reveal themselves in our lives when we forget that Jesus is coming soon.

When Jesus is coming soon for me and I have that recognition, that awareness, it helps me to live in preparation for that. But when I have Jesus coming soon, you know, on my heart and in my mind, it also helps me to treat others in a way that is not wicked, in a way that is not evil. It changes the way I relate to others, right?

Because Jesus is coming soon for you. Just as I have that hope, you have that hope. And as we are reminded on both sides of the conflict that Jesus is coming soon, that we both have this hope, well, it's a good start to helping resolve the conflict. Notice Paul doesn't try to like, okay, let's get both sides of the story. You know, he's not doing that kind of conflict resolution, not that there's no place for that, but instead he calls us, like, let's go back and remember and pay attention to

the reality of who we're serving and that Jesus is coming back soon. Well, another helpful reminder for resolving conflict. Well, we need to remember that both people are beloved. Notice how Paul addresses them in verse one. Therefore, my beloved and long for brethren, my joy in crown. So stand fast in the Lord, beloved. Paul says, look, I want you guys to know you are beloved.

Paul says, I want you to know that I love you. Now, when he says beloved and long for brethren, I would suggest Paul is communicating his love to them, but he's also communicating and reminding that they are beloved of the Lord, that there is this common, this shared love that we have from God. But as we receive that love from God, we share that amongst one another. And Paul says, you guys are my joy and my crown.

I want you to be mindful of it and remember, and I love you both. And both of you bring joy to me. And both of you are my crown, that there's reward in eternity that will be there because of you. And oh man, you're so important and valuable. Conflict sometimes can rage on and on and on when we forget both sides are beloved. Both sides are God's precious children. Both sides are

God loves and desires to work, to bless, to restore, to heal. Again, even when there's sin or failure, offense being given or received, both people are beloved. Well, another thing to remember as we address conflict, whether it's our own or others around us, we need to remember that the gospel is our common mission. As Paul calls them to be of the same mind, he calls them to reconcile and

Again, he involves the true companion, you. He says, help these women, notice, who labored with me in the gospel. These are not just some, you know, strange ladies that kind of bumped into each other and just got off on the wrong foot. Like, these are ladies that have worked together with the Apostle Paul. And these ladies, as they've worked together, they've accomplished great things for the gospel. But they've kind of forgotten about their common mission.

They've kind of forgotten about what they've accomplished together in the Lord. But it wasn't just them. He also pulls in this other guy, Clement. Now, we don't know who Clement is, but so he's reminding everybody, like, listen, like, remember, like, ladies, remember, you were involved. Remember, Clement was there, and we were engaged in the work of the gospel. We were engaged in the kingdom of God. And there was the rest of my fellow workers. Like, Paul is, like, pulling all this collective group. Like, here we are. We're all working together for the gospel, right?

And we've accomplished great things for the Lord with the gospel. And so remember our common mission. Remember that we're laboring together. Remember how we came together and what the Lord has done. The gospel is our common ground. It's our common mission. Well, then the fourth thing, the final thing to remember as we address personal conflicts is our names are in the book of life. Paul continually points our eyes towards eternity.

It says whose names are in the book of life. Like whatever you're fighting about, whatever the hurt is, whatever the damage that has been done, whatever the conflict is over, it's not as important as your name being in the book of life. Remember when the disciples came back after Jesus sent them out and they were just like,

super excited that, oh my goodness, it's so amazing. This miracle happened and that miracle happened and demons were, you know, being cast out in your name and it was just incredible. And Jesus said, you know, hey, that's great. You can rejoice in that, but rejoice more in the fact that your names are written in the book of life. That's the most valuable thing. That's the most important thing. Fix your eyes on eternity. Our names are in the book of life. And sometimes the conflict is

It blows things out of proportion. And it seems so important, you know, this thing that is causing this animosity, this difficulty, this battle between. But we can step back and remember eternity. Our names are written in the book of life. But on both sides, Iodia, hey, you need to remember Syntyche's name is in the book of life. You're going to be with her for eternity.

Maybe it doesn't sound pleasant for you right now, but those things are going to be resolved. You can't continue on that way. And Syntyche, you need to remember, Yodia, her name is in the book of life too, just like yours. And so you're going to be together for eternity. Step back and remember the big picture. Remember eternity. We need to resolve personal conflicts. Again, if we don't, if we don't deal with and address conflict,

If we let them blow up and grow bigger than they need to be or should be, they're going to sabotage the priority of Jesus in our life. Pastor David Guzik says, whatever the dispute was about, Yodi and Syntyche had forgotten that they have a greater common ground in Jesus Christ. They forgot that everything else was less important than that common ground. And when we have battles between us as believers, personal conflicts that take place, it becomes

It comes back to this. We've forgotten the common ground that we have. Now again, we can often look at these things and try to apply them to a moment. Again, I would encourage you this evening to expand the picture a little bit. This isn't about in the middle of a battle, in the middle of a fight where you're shouting at each other. Okay, let me get those four helpful reminders out. Okay, now, it can help a little, but bigger picture,

Remembering that Jesus is coming soon, doing that daily, doing that regularly, applying that consistently helps you then to resolve the conflicts later. Because you've been trained, you've trained yourself for years to remember that Christ is coming back for those people that offend you. And so because you've trained yourself for years by consistently remembering that and remembering that

People are beloved and children of God and precious to him. And remembering the gospels are common mission that as we make this a part of our life, again, not just addressing an emergency crisis situation, but we make it a part of our life, then it helps us in the emergency crisis situation. They're still gonna pop up, but we can't forget about the coming of the Lord and then try to remember it just in the moment of crisis. That's not gonna be helpful. It's gonna be helpful to us

When we've taught ourselves to remember the Lord and to remember that people are beloved and to remember the gospel is our common mission and to remember our names are written in the book of life. And as that becomes a part of our life and our lifestyle and our approach to life, then when we do have those moments of crisis, we're prepared, we're trained to be able to remember these things and they have a meaningful impact and a helpful impact for the conflict that's at hand.

Well, moving on to verse four and five, we get the second point for this evening. A long-term strategy to put Jesus first. Here's point number two, be joyful and gentle. Paul says in verse four, Paul says, Rejoice always.

Now again, that's what we're talking about. The always. We're talking about making these things a part of your life. It's a long-term strategy. If you want to have Jesus first, you can make the choices that we've been talking about, but you're going to waver in those choices. You're going to choose differently later on unless you have a long-term strategy in place. And here's part of that long-term strategy. You need to rejoice. Rejoice.

When Paul says rejoice in the Lord always here, he's talking about all the time. He's also issuing a command. He's not saying feel joyful. He's saying be joyful. You may not feel joyful, but you can choose to rejoice. You can choose, you can make the decision to rejoice in the Lord. And circumstances aren't always something that will cause you to rejoice. But the Lord says,

is faithful and never changing. And we can always rejoice in the Lord. So Paul says, again, I will say rejoice. Now, again, this is on the heels of, hey, ladies, you need to resolve your conflict, you know, help others. You guys get involved. Like there's this battle going on and it's not disconnected thoughts here. Paul is saying, look, you've forgotten this instruction. You need to take a moment and instruct yourself and make the choice to rejoice in the Lord.

to come back and remember what you have in the Lord and what he has provided for you. Now, Paul, I think, set a good example for the Philippians in this back when he first visited the Philippians in Acts chapter 16. That was when he was in Philippi. Remember, he's put in prison. And there, as he's in prison, him and Silas there are praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. They're in the stocks. They're having their, you know, they're fastened to the wall.

Not good circumstances. They've been beaten. They're hurting. They're in pain, but they're choosing to pray and to sing hymns to God. That's praise. That's worship. They're choosing to rejoice in the Lord. It's something that we can do. It's something that we need to do. Now, again, not just, okay, it's in the moment of crisis. I feel blue. So rejoice in the Lord.

And yes, at that time, yeah, you can choose to rejoice in the Lord, but it's going to be more difficult to you to learn how and to choose to rejoice in the Lord if that's the only time you're choosing to rejoice in the Lord, if that's the only time you're trying to apply this instruction. No, no, it's a bigger scheme. It's a bigger understanding that it's a long-term strategy, consistently, ongoing, daily. Choose to rejoice in the Lord.

And then you'll hit those blue moments and you will hit those devastating things and you'll have those conflicts and those battles and you'll be better equipped to rejoice in the Lord because you've been practicing it even on the days that weren't so hard. Well, he also says in verse five, let your gentleness be known to all men. Let your gentleness be known to all men. Now, it's kind of an interesting thing. How do you let your gentleness be known? Let me tell you how.

You go to everybody, you get in their face, and you tell them, listen, I am gentle. No, how do you make sure that they understand? Get them to agree. Say it. Say it, I'm gentle, right? No, no, like that's not how you make your gentleness known to all men. How do you make your gentleness known to all men? You be gentle. You be gentle.

That gentleness is such a part of your nature, your character. This word gentleness, it's that idea of softness, but it also is from the word patience. It's a long-suffering word. Man, I always do things to this person and like I would get angry and flip out and yell at them, but they never yell at me. Your gentleness being known to all men comes from being in a consistent state of gentleness.

Having a consistent, gentle heart. And again, he says to all men, that all people, the people you're in contact with regularly, the people you're in contact with seldomly, your gentleness is to be a chief characteristic, that it's something that you're known for. Are you known for your gentleness? Paul says, let your gentleness be known to all men. But then notice what he says. The Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand. The Lord's right there. So let your gentleness be known.

be known to all. Pastor David Guzik says this word, gentleness, it describes the heart of a person who will let the Lord fight his battles. It describes a person who is really free to let go of his anxieties and all the things that cause him stress because he knows that the Lord will take up his cause. It describes someone, we were singing about earlier, I will trust in you, right? We sing that, right? And then we go out and then we like freak out on people and we're not gentle because we don't actually trust in the Lord.

But here's the thing. We need to, again, not just in the moment of crisis, but as a consistent ongoing thing to make the choice to be gentle. God, I'm going to trust you. And I want to respond this way. And I want to react to this situation. And I want to deal with that. And I want to, you know, and I need to make the choice. No, God, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to let you fight my battles. I'm going to let you handle those situations. I'm going to let you. And that gentleness, right?

practiced, then becomes helpful for the moments that we needed in the crisis. Be joyful and gentle. It's part of a long-term strategy to put Jesus first. These are things that should characterize us as believers. It's great encouragement, but also a little bit of a challenge to examine our hearts and our lives. That

rejoicing in the Lord always and being gentle to all men. It's very inclusive, right? It's like these are chief characteristics that should be manifested in our lives because Jesus is first. And so I have joy and I am gentle. Moving on to verse six and seven gives us the third part of this long-term strategy to put Jesus first. And that is to pray instead of worrying. If you're gonna last long,

For a long time with Jesus as the priority of your life, you need to learn to pray in place of worry. Paul says, verse 6, Be anxious for nothing, but in contrast, right, in place of it, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Be anxious for nothing.

Now again, a lot of times we like this verse, we know this verse, you probably have it memorized, right? And one of the potential dangers of this verse is we pull it out only in the moment of anxiety. I'm feeling anxious, so let me read this verse. It tells me to be anxious for nothing, and that's good. But if that's the only time that we're pulling out this verse and being reminded and making the choice to not be anxious, then in that moment of anxiety, we're not going to have much

strength to make the choice to pray instead of worrying. Paul says like you can combat anxiety and worry with prayer, but he's not saying it's just like a one-time thing. He's talking about making a consistent life. Notice he says be anxious for nothing, but in everything, he's talking about your whole life needs to be filled with prayer. So don't be anxious, but instead fill your life with

Pastor David Guzik says, be anxious for nothing. He says, this is a command, not an option. Undue care is an intrusion into an area that belongs to God alone. It makes us the father of the household instead of being a child. It goes back to trusting in the Lord. When I'm anxious, when I'm worrying, I'm not trusting in the Lord. Now, I would separate this and make a distinction. There are also some issues that are beyond understanding.

The basic idea and understanding of worry, you know, there are emotional issues, anxiety attacks, and I'm not saying that God can't help with those things, but I'm also not saying that Paul's addressing that specifically. He's talking about, again, our general pattern of life that we need to have in our lives an ongoing and consistent choice to not worry about things. That as I begin to worry, as I begin to build in anxiety, that I replace that and take it to prayer.

Jesus taught about this in Matthew chapter 6, right? God knows you need all the things that you need, the necessities of life. Seek first the kingdom of God, like put him first. Here Paul says, pray, and he gives three kinds of prayer. Prayer, which is general prayer. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, pray. Be talking to God continually, all the time, with supplication.

And supplication is important because the word supplication speaks of specific requests, just as we shared tonight some praise reports and some prayer requests, right? We shared some specific requests. Here's some specific things that I need. This is the word supplication. God wants you to, Paul is saying, here's a part of dealing with anxiety and worry in your life that

And that is, bring those requests to God and make them known. He says, let your requests be made known to God. Verbalize them to God. Express them to God. God, here's what I'm feeling. Here's what I'm dealing with. Here's what I need. Paul says, bring those specific things. Bring them to God. God knows what you need, but it's also important and good for you to ask for those specific things. And you know, sometimes God withholds what he would provide, what he could provide, and

Until we ask. James tells us, right? You have not because you ask not. There's a lot of cases where you just, you have not made the specific request. And not in a way where God's just trying to like, he's out to punish you. But in a way where you've not presented that to the Lord. You haven't trusted him with that area of your life. You haven't submitted that aspect of your life to him. And so it wouldn't be beneficial if God answered you that prayer or gave you that thing or resolved that before you asked for it.

It wouldn't help you. It wouldn't grow you. It wouldn't benefit you. It would hurt you. But when you come to the place where that area is submitted and that request is given, and then God is able to answer and respond in a way that does help you and is beneficial. But then he also says with thanksgiving. And thanksgiving is important because as God is going to be working, as you're praying and making requests, you need to stop and appreciate. You know, sometimes we're anxious and worrying because we've already forgotten about what God has already done.

And it's really good for us to go back and to give thanks, to go back and to appreciate what God has done for us. Paul says, the result will be the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. When you pray and supplicate and give thanks, the peace of God will guard your heart and your mind. It's a great promise. But again, I would suggest, don't just apply it to that moment of anxiety.

And then you pray and you make a list of all your requests and then you thank God for things. If that's the only time you're praying and asking God for things and thanking God for things, then it's going to be weak. I'm not saying God can't help, but I'm saying if you will make it a pattern of your life to pray in everything, Paul says, and to make requests and to thank God for his work, you make that a pattern of your life. Those moments of anxiety, those moments where there's that worry, there's that crisis, that

You're better prepared to receive the peace of God because you've trained yourself to pray, to request, and to give thanks. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Everything. Notice the contrast. Anxious for nothing, pray for everything. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, we are prone to pray about the big things in life and forget to pray about the so-called little things.

Until they grow and become big things. But talking to God about everything that concerns us and Him is the first step toward victory over worry. And sometimes we make this mistake. We don't pray about it because, well, it's not a big deal yet. We're not making requests because it's not a big deal yet. And then later on it becomes a big deal. And then we're praying. But we can begin to pray for everything that concerns us. I liken it to

What Jesus said in Luke 16, verse 10, he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. Faithful in what is least, that is praying, lifting up the request, the little things. And you're better equipped then, you're better prepared to pray for the big things and experience the peace of God. And the peace of God is not just for that moment of crisis, but it's a manner of your life because you're faithful in the little things to come before the Lord and present your request to God. Pray instead of worrying.

Well, then finally, verse eight and nine, the fourth point for the long-term strategy to put Jesus first is to choose what you think about and do. Choose what you fill your life with. Choose what you fill your mind with. He says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

Meditate on these things. Paul says, fill your mind with things that are good. Fill your mind with the things that are good. This is not just an instruction for a moment of crisis. You have bad thoughts and so you try to like think on the good things, right? No, that's a good thing to do. But what Paul is saying here is make this your manner of life. And it is very easy for us in this world to fill our mind with things that are not good.

There's a situation for me personally at work. My coworkers like to listen to music that fills my mind with things that are not pure and not lovely and not good. Things that I don't really have to deal with and face in other arenas in the rest of my life. But in that arena, oh man, there's something about music for me that like the words get stuck in my head and then it just like bings around, bings around, bings around. And so I have to be intentional about

and set my mind on things that are true and noble and just and pure and lovely and of good rapport, things that are virtuous and praiseworthy. It's not just for that moment of crisis or weakness, but for my whole life. I need to fill my mind and meditate and make the choice. You get to choose what you think about. Now, for us, you know, in Christian circles, okay, there's this idea of taking every thought captive, right? We're all familiar with that concept, right?

comes from 2 Corinthians 10. I would encourage you, I would maybe challenge you a little bit if you use that expression, to go back and read through that passage. Because it doesn't really mean, Paul's not really talking about what we mean when we say to take every thought captive. It's not that it's not possible, it's not what God wants us to do, but at the same time, I would suggest it's not something that we only pull out in a time of crisis and okay, now I need to take that thought captive, right? It's not that we only pull out in a time of crisis

You know what? What Paul is encouraging us here is to fill our lives with, fill our minds with, continually meditate and choose repeatedly to fill your mind, to focus your mind, to think about things that are true and things that are noble and things that are just. And as you begin to think about things, you can begin to evaluate, is this, does it fit that criteria? Should I

Give this my attention. Should I sit down and watch this, you know, program and let it fill my mind with things that are not true and not noble and not just and not pure and not lovely? Like, should I continue? And Paul is saying, no, no, fill your mind. Meditate. Make the choice. It's not about, you know, finding that crisis and then taking that thought captive in that moment of crisis, but it's about the rest of your life. Fill your mind with the things that are good and the things that are of the Lord.

And then verse 9, the things that you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you. Paul talks about their behavior. Paul says, choose carefully what you do. Your actions, your behavior. Why are you doing what you're doing? Did you learn it from me? Did you receive it from me? Did you hear it from me? Did you see that behavior in my example? Paul says, look, if that doesn't fit, if those don't match up, then don't do it. You get the choice. You get to choose what you do and what you think about.

So choose carefully. Last week we talked about having those good examples, finding those good examples, letting them be good examples for us, letting them inspire us and encourage us. And then we can use those good examples to help evaluate so that we don't do things that we shouldn't be doing. Did I learn this from the Lord? Did I learn this from the examples God has given me? Have I received it from the Lord? Why am I doing this? Why am I engaged in this activity?

Did I hear it from the Lord? Did I see it in the Lord or in the examples that he's given? Now, those things that I have seen, those things that I have heard, those things that I have been taught, these I need to make sure to do and choose to do them. And he says, the God of peace will be with you. You want to have peace? You want to have peace from God, peace that passes understanding? Choose what you think about and what you do. And so here Paul gives us some great things to implement in

a long-term strategy to put Jesus first. It has to be long-term. We have to think about the bigger picture. We've got a lot of life ahead of us, a lot of battles that we will face, a lot of victories yet to accomplish. And so we can't grow lax and lazy in our relationship with God. We need to keep Jesus in that place of priority. And so to be proactive, we need to resolve personal conflicts. Are there battles between you? Resolve them. Learn how to reconcile. Be of the same mind.

Be joyful and gentle. Make that choice to rejoice and be gentle to all. Pray instead of worrying. There's a lot of things that we worry about. There's a lot of things that we could be concerned about, but we need to bring those before the Lord continually. And then we need to choose what we think about and what we do. Being careful, being selective, being strategic.

so that our mind is filled with the things of the Lord and our lives are filled with behavior that honors him. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and these great encouragements and reminders. Lord, you set us up for success by reminding us how to put you first and how to keep you there. And so, Lord, would you magnify yourself in our hearts and minds. Lord, that you would have that place of priority. And Lord, that we would be obedient to you.

Filling our minds and our hearts and our lives with more of you in response to your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.