1. Philippians 4:8
July 1, 2012
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi USA

2. THINKING ON
GODLY VIRTUES

3. Wiersbe's Expository
Outlines on the New
Testament. Copyright ©
1992 by Chariot Victor
Publishing, an imprint of
Cook Communication Min.

4. The MacArthur New
Testament Commentary,
Copyright © Moody Press
and John MacArthur,
Jr., 1983-2007.

5. Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brethren,
whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is right,

6. whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence and
if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.”(4:8)

7. The word “finally” indicates
that Paul has arrived at the
climax of his teaching on
spiritual stability.

8. The principle of:
“dwell on these things”
is both the summation of all
the others and the key to
implementing them.

9. The phrase -
“dwell on these things”
-introduces an important
truth:
spiritual stability is a result
of how a person thinks.

10. Romans 12:2
2“And do not be conformed
to this world, but be
transformed by the
renewing of your mind, so
that you may prove what

11. the will of God is, that which
is good and acceptable and
perfect.”
Romans 12:2

13. The imperative form of
logizomai(log-id'-zom-ahee)
“dwell on” makes it a
command;
proper thinking is not
optional in the Christian life.

14. Logízomai (the root of the
English term “logical") –
to take into account;
to come to a "bottom-line”;
to reason to a logical
conclusion (decision).

15. “dwell on” means more than
just entertaining thoughts,
it means:
"to seriously evaluate”,
"to thoroughly calculate” or
"to strongly consider”.

16. We as believers are
“to consider” the qualities
Paul lists in this verse and
meditate on their
implications.

18. The verb form of “dwell on”
calls for habitual discipline
of the mind to set all
thoughts on these spiritual
virtues continually.

19. The Bible leaves no doubt
that people's lives are the
product of their thoughts.
*Proverbs 23:7 declares:
"For as a man thinks within
himself, so he is."

21. The modern counterpart to
that proverb is the
computer acronym GIGO:
Garbage In, Garbage Out

22. Just as a computer's output
is dependent on the
information that is input, so
people's actions are the
result of their thinking.

24. Jesus expressed that truth in
Mark 7:20-23: "That which
proceeds out of the man,
that is what defiles the man.
For from within, out of the
heart of men, proceed the

25. (garbage out) evil thoughts,
fornications, thefts,
murders, adulteries, deeds
of coveting and wickedness,
as well as deceit, sensuality,
envy, slander, pride and

26. foolishness. All these evil
things proceed from within
and defile the man.”
Mark 7:20-23

28. “What is down in the well
comes up in the bucket.”

29. Paul's call for Biblical
thinking is especially
relevant in our culture.
*The wrong focus today is
on emotion and
pragmatism, and the

30. importance of
serious thinking about
Biblical truth is downplayed.

31. People no longer ask:
"Is it true?" but
1"Does it work?" and
2"How will it make me feel?"

32. Those latter two questions
serve as a working definition
of truth in our society that
rejects the concept of
absolute divine truth (the
Bible).

35. John 6:63
63 “It is the Spirit Who gives
life; the flesh profits
nothing; the words that I
have spoken to you are
spirit and are life.”

37. Truth is wrongly thought of
as whatever works and
produces positive emotions.
*Sadly, such pragmatism
and emotionalism has crept
even into the Church.

39. Some churches are often
more concerned about
whether something will be
politically correct than
whether it is Biblically true.

40. Such a perspective is far
different from the noble
Bereans, who searched the
Scriptures daily to see if
what Paul said was true, not
whether it fit in.

42. Acts 17:11
“the Bereans received the
Word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures
daily to see whether these
things were so.”

44. Too many people go to
church not to think or
reason about the truths of
Scripture, but to get their
weekly spiritual high; to feel
good about themselves.

45. Such people are spiritually
unstable because they base
their lives on feeling rather
than on thinking.

46. Bill Hull writes,
“What scares me is the anti-
intellectual, anti-critical-
thinking philosophy that has
spilled over into the Church.

47. This philosophy tends to
romanticize the faith,
making the local church into
an experience center. . . .
Their concept of "church" is
that they are spiritual

48. consumers and that the
church's job is to meet their
felt needs.”
(Right Thinking [Colorado
Springs, Colo:NavPress,
1985], 66).

50. Philippians 4:19
19“And my God will
supply all your needs
according to His riches in
glory in Christ Jesus.”

52. John Stott also warned of
the danger of Christians
living by their feelings:
"Indeed, sin has more
dangerous effects on our
feeling than on our thinking,

53. because our opinions are
more easily checked and
regulated by revealed truth
than our experiences" (Your
Mind Matters[Downers
Grove, Ill: InterVarsity,1972].

56. God commands people to
think.
*He said to rebellious Israel,
"Come now, and let us
reason together" (Isa 1:18).

57. Jesus chided the unbelieving
Pharisees and Sadducees
for demanding a miraculous
sign from Him.
*Instead, He challenged
them to think and draw

58. inferences from the
evidence they had, just as
they did to predict the
weather (Matt 16:1-3):
“Red sky at morning”…
Discern the signs of the time

60. Hebrews 11:1 KJV
1 “Now faith is the
substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things
not seen.”

61. God gave us His revelation
in the Bible and expects us
to use our minds to
understand His truths.
*Careful thinking is the
mark of the Christian faith.

62. Paul called for believers to
"set their minds on the
things above, not on the
things that are on earth"
(Col 3:2).

63. More than a dozen times in
his epistles Paul asked his
readers,
"Do you not know?"
*The apostle expected
believers to think and

64. evaluate.
*Believers must discipline
their spiritually sensitive
minds to think about right
spiritual realities.

66. In this brief list, Paul
catalogues eight godly
virtues to concentrate on:
truth, honor, righteousness,
purity, lovely things, things
of good repute, excellence,

67. and things worthy of praise.

68. The Word of God is the
repository of what is true.
*In His High Priestly Prayer
Jesus said to the Father,
"Your word is truth" Jn 17:17.

70. In Psalm 19:9 David wrote,
"The judgments of the Lord
are true,"
*while Psalm 119:151 adds,
"All Your commandments
are truth."

71. The Bible is true because
the "God of truth" (Ps 31:5;
Isa 65:16; Eph 4:21) inspired
it.
*Thinking on whatever is
true means reading,

72. analyzing, and meditating
on the Word of God.
*The remaining seven
virtuous categories of
thought are all based on the
truth of God's Word.

73. All seven of them are ways
to view the truths of
Scripture.
*When a dentist takes out a
tooth, he wants to get it all
out but leave the bone alone.

74. So at the dental school we
tell the students during an
extraction:
“What we want is the tooth,
the whole tooth, and
nothing but the tooth.”

76. Second, believers are to
think on whatever is
honorable, whatever is
noble, dignified, and worthy
of respect.

77. Semnos (honorable) comes
from a word meaning
"to revere," or "to worship."
*In its other New Testament
uses, it describes the
dignified lifestyle required

78. of deacons (1 Tim 3:8),
deaconesses (1 Tim 3:11),
and older men (Titus 2:2).
*Believers must not think
on what is trivial, temporal,
mundane, common, and

79. earthly, but rather on what
is heavenly, and so worthy
of awe, adoration, and
praise.
All that is true in God's Word
is honorable.

81. Third, believers are to think
on whatever is right.
*Dikaios (right) is an
adjective, and should be
translated "righteous."

82. It describes whatever is in
perfect harmony with God's
eternal, unchanging
standards, again as revealed
in Scripture.

83. Believers are to think on
matters that are consistent
with the law of God.
just – right towards others.

84. Psalm 19:8a
8 “The precepts of the
LORD are right, rejoicing
the heart;”

85. 9 “The fear of the LORD is
clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD
are true;
They are righteous
altogether.” Psalm 19:9

86. Dwell on things that are:
1 true
2 honorable
3 righteousness
4 pure

87. Fourth, believers are to
think on whatever is pure.
*Hagnos (pure) describes
what God in Scripture
defines as holy, morally
clean, and undefiled.

88. In 1 Tim 5:22 it says:
”Keep yourself free from sin
(pure).”
*Believers are to purify
themselves because Jesus
Christ is pure (1 John 3:3).

89. pure -- "chaste," in relation
to ourselves.

90. Psalm 19:8b
“The commandment of the
LORD is pure, enlightening
the eyes.”

91. Fifth, believers are to think
on whatever is lovely.
*Prosphiles (lovely) appears
only here in the New
Testament.

92. It could be translated
"sweet," "gracious,"
"generous," or "patient."
*Believers must focus their
thoughts on what the Bible
says is pleasing, attractive,

93. and amiable before God.
lovely -- lovable

95. Sixth, believers are to think
on whatever is of good
report.
*Euphemos appears only
here in the New Testament.

96. It describes what is highly
regarded or well thought of.
*Believers' thoughts are
elevated by Scripture to fix
on the loftiest themes.

97. As "lovely" refers to what is
lovable face to face,
of good report is referring
to the absent (Php 1:27).

98. Philippians 1:27
27 “Only conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of
the Gospel of Christ, so that
whether I come and see you
or remain absent, I will hear

99. of you that you are standing
firm in one spirit, with
one mind striving together
for the faith of the Gospel;”
Philippians 1:27

100. The seventh virtue: praise --
whatever is praiseworthy;
not that Christians should
make man's praise their aim
but they should live so as to
deserve men's praise.

103. The eighth virtue is to
dwell on -- have a continual
regard to, so as to "do"
these things(Philippians 4:9)
whenever the occasion
arises.

104. In summary, Paul exhorts, if
there is any excellence and if
anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.
*The key to godly living is
godly thinking.