"The Christian's Inner Life, Part Two"
Philippians 4:8
April 29, 2007
by C.W. Powell
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“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.” (Php 4:8 AV)
Jesus said that it profits us nothing, if we gain the whole world and lose our souls. Proverbs ays we are to "keep" our hearts with all dilligence. The word "keep" means to guard, or to preserve. To set a watch, to look all around, to be circumspect. Do not take it for granted.
This guard is to be done with diligence; this is the most important work of the life, for success or failure in the kingdom of God depends upon keeping the heart. Your success in human relationship; in your life's work; your success or failure in the work of Christ is going to be determined by the way your keep your heart.
The issues of life: or what comes out of life, is determined by what comes out of the heart. That is why the keeping of the heart is so important. We must keep our hearts if we are not to lose our souls, for the heart is the religious core of the soul.
Theme of Philippians: Let this mind be in you. This is a commandment. There is a power working in you. We are called to cooperate with the power that works in you. You are freed (justified) from the law of sin and death; so you have been married to Jesus Christ. He is your life and your salvation. He is to dwell in your hearts by faith; his image is to be formed in you, for that is God's eternal purpose for you: that you be conformed to the image of His Son.
This means that Philippians is a very "Inward" book, and regards true Christian spirituality. The true work of Christ is done in the inner man, in the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is important to understand the nature of this work. God’s work is always prior to mine and makes my work possible. I could not work out my salvation if God did not work it in. God’s work in me is not caused by my work, nor am I saved by anything I do, but this does not make the command unimportant or safe to ignore. If we love Christ, we are to keep His commandments; if we do not love Him, we have no part with him, for the work of the Holy Spirit is always to united us to Christ.
Because God is a Spirit, His word is addressed primarily to this inward man, to the soul of man. The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. 4:12)
The true Christian is one who is a Christian first of all in his heart, in his mind, in his inner dialogue. As a man thinks in his heart so he is. It is absolutely imperative for us to "keep our hearts with all diligence," in the words of the Old Testament; in the words of the New: The peace of God will keep our hearts and minds.
This brings us to man's basic problem. His problem is godlessness. God is not at all in his thoughts. This condition is described in Romans 1. It is not that man is absolutely ignorant of God, for in Him we live and move and have our being. Instead, Man refused to acknowledge God and worship Him as the creator and sustainer of the universe. He is the opposite of what is urged on the believer in Philippians 4, as we saw last week in verses 2-7:
A. He does not rejoice in the Lord. His rejoicings are in other things. Jeremiah 9:23, 24. “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jer 9:23-24 AV) It's me, me, me, me, me. He has a form of knowledge and form of the truth of the Law (Rom. 2:20).; He has a form of godliness 2Tim. 3:5; but these things are just in the outward man, and do not touch the heart.
B. He does not live moderately: "graciousness" "fair-mindedness, the attitude of a man who is charitable towards men's faults and merciful in his judgment of their failings because he takes their whole situation into his reckoning. He scoffs at the gentleness of the godly man. Because his citizenship is not in heaven, but on the earth; so he contends about trifles, and wars for nothing. His life is full of strife and bitterness, because he has spurned the true riches.
C. He is full of care. He frets and worries, and wars and fights to get his own way, because he is not a man of prayer. He does not roll his anxieties off on the Lord. He is not thankful, because he does not know the power of prayer in his own life.
D. He has no peace, and does not value peace. He despises peace, and makes fun of it, although he will use the concept of peace to his own advantage, if necessary. He cries peace, peace, but there is no peace. Having no peace in his own heart, he sows strife and unrest all around him; he slanders the godly, and cynicism is the spirit of his life.
Let us consider several things today:
I. If you are united to Christ by God’s Spirit, a spirit of godliness has already begun to work in your life: Phil. 1:6. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: It is God's predestined purpose for you to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The seed of faith has been planted in your heart by the Holy Spirit, and the work of conversion has begun in you. In believing the Gospel, you have been made partaker of the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:10). “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” In coming to Christ, you have come to God, and the basic ungodliness of your life has been overthrown. You are being changed.
II. This does not mean that there is not much in you that is contrary to Christ. You are capable of wrath, strife, sedition, heresy, slander, backbiting, hatred, and all the other things of the flesh, or there would not be so many warnings in the Bible for you to put off these things, and to put on Christ. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Christianity is a way, and citizenship, a conversation. Christ has worked in you, is working in you, and will work in you.
III. In order to bring you to the image of Christ, it is also God's will to make you a partaker of the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. He reproves and disciplines you, so that you will be conformed to the image of His Son. See Heb. 12:5-14
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5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
He is making you a true son, a partaker of His holiness. Do no despise this chastening, but rather kiss the rod, and learn the easy way, and not the hard way.
To be a Christian then, has two sides to it: Newness of life, knowing the power of Christ's resurrection; and chastening, to partake of His sufferings; he suffered for sins, you will also suffer for sins; not as a slave or a felon, but as a son, that you might grow up to Christ in all things. Eph. 4:15 and II Pet. 3:18 (Ephesians speaks of inward things)
See. Col. 3:8-15 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; etc.
A. True: Is it true? (unconcealed, manifest; actual.) You should discipline your mind to ask this question of any proposition: is it true? About a person; about a doctrine; about a fact. Illust. Nyasha and predestination. [Do you have to believe in Predestination?] Did that person actually do that? Are they really that kind of person. Are you making decisions based on truth???
B. Honest: Gravitas this is an older meaning of this word: august, venerable, grave. Is it some novelty; some new invention; Is it honorable; is it worthy of respect? Would you be embarrassed? Only other place used is I Tim. 3:8, 11; and Titus 2:2. Church officers and their wives are to be honest: Our English comes from the word "honor," worthy of respect and dignity.
C. Just: Righteous. The thought perfectly agrees with the reality. According to the divine order; right with the law and the truth. Not living in a dream world. Not evaluating things incorrectly, but justly. Do not judge according to appearance, Jesus said, but judge righteously. You ought not to even misrepresent the devil. "Right-wise"
D. Pure: Not contaminated: not mixed with something else. Don't read your own agenda into it. Not prejudiced. Saturate yourself in the word of God: Don't mix your own thoughts into it. It is complete and perfect. Chaste, above reproach.
E. Lovely: beautiful. It is considered realistic and up to day to think of the sordid, the filthy, and the foul. Can you think of Christ telling an off-color joke? Can you think of the Apostle Paul? Philippians 1:10: approving the things that are excellent. It may be necessary to pull the pig from the mud, but we expect to take a bath afterwards;
Evaluate this command of Paul, in terms of your TV and Movie watching. F. Good Report: "Speaking well of" Active, not passive. Doesn't mean to go by public opinion--that is not the meaning here. We get the word “euphemism” from this Greek word. A euphemism is a better sounding word that does not offend the sensibilities. The word means "putting the best face on the thing" Don't be quick to think the worst. Learn to think the best of people; certainly the best of Christian people, and without exception to think the best of God and His work. (Lightfoot)
G. Virtue: moral goodness: goodness begins in the heart; in the thought life; in your inner dialogue. This is not a word that Paul uses--only in this place: this was the heathen philosophy's word for uprightness. Peter uses it, and says that faith is its foundation and it is the completion of faith, for we are to add virtue to our faith. Common decency, which even nature teaches you. Faith would lead us to true manliness and true womanliness.
H. Praise: from God. Is God pleased with your thoughts. Live in the presence of God: here is the cure for godlessness; seek godliness, and it begins in bringing the thought life into obedience. “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” (Php 1:11 AV) Let God’s praises be in our hearts and on our minds because our thoughts are approved of God.
Think on these things: Things of Meditation. These things ought to occupy your minds. Not fretting over others, not brooding over failures and sins. Not thoughts of rebellion, thoughts of discouragement, thoughts of failure and defeat. You cannot do right it you do not think right. Hope, faith, and love should occupy the inner man, because of the promises of God.
This is where true spiritual warfare happens. The greatest conflict will take place in your own mind and thought. There the battles will be fought, and either lost, or won, for the glory of God.
May God bless you.
Amen and Amen