Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.
Philippians 4:8 NIV
Have you seen the news today?
How did it make you feel?
How do you talk about your situation with other people?
How do people react to being with you? Do they want to be around you because you encourage them and lift them up? Or do they avoid you because you ‘harsh their mellow’?
How do you see your life right now? Are you optimistic about it? Or do you echo the words of Scottish miserablists Del Amitri, who once wrote:
And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we’ll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
What we think about our situation now has a massive bearing on our mental health and our resilience to not only cope, but thrive, in it.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul write with great joy to a church that had encouraged him enormously. But his letter also exposes the dark side. We see deep and emotional appeals for unity (Philippians 2:1-11) because this is a church that has been divided by strong personalities (Philippians 4:2).
Paul himself is facing an incredibly adverse situation. He is in jail, facing a potential death sentence (Philippians 1:12-26). Philippi is also the place where Paul and Silas were imprisoned, and responded to their deprivations with singing (Acts 16:16-40). So when he talks about facing hardship, we really ought to listen.
In Philippians 4:4-8, his closing remarks to this church, he gives us five elements that will change the way we view our situation.
The first of these is Joy.
And that seems completely out of place.
A death row prisoner writing to a persecuted church riven by personality issues and he tells them to rejoice?!?!
It seems absurd.
And yet it is the only logical reaction when as the old hymn puts it:
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
Because Paul, despite all that was happening to them, and him, tells them to rejoice in the Lord, to find the source of their sustenance and resilience in the Lord, to thrive in the midst of trouble in the Lord.
A very famous pastor recently confessed when he regarded as a sin, and it was very brave of him to do so. The American author Max Lucado confessed that when the demands of life got crazy, he would head to a store on the other side of town, buy a bottle of beer, and drink it until it took the edge of the pressure he was feeling.
Now, I’m sure a lot of people are reading these lines and protesting, ‘Hey! I do that! Where in the Bible does it say that it's a sin?’
Truth be told, it doesn’t. Provided he wasn’t intoxicated.
But Max decided it was sinful for him because it was hypocritical. While he was encouraging people to put their faith in God in times of stress and struggle, he was putting his faith in alcohol. And so he confessed his sin to his elders and repented.
Friends, what is the source of your joy? What gets you through the day?
Is it the dream of a holiday?
Is it longing for the weekend?
Is it caffeine?
Sport?
Alcohol?
Drugs?
Sex?
Have you ever tried to power a device with batteries that are depleted or empty? How does that work out?
If you try to find your joy, your resilience, your ability to thrive, in any of these things, then you will fail.
But if you find it in the Lord, you will succeed.
Why?
Because the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
The first element is joy, which at first seems pretty unusual. But the second element seems even more so: Gentleness.
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Philippians 4:5 NIV
https://philippians.bible/philippians-4-5
Perhaps these verses can explain it better:
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1 NIV
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
Proverbs 25:15 NIV
Gentleness is absolutely not analogous to weakness.
Gentleness is the ability to stay fair and righteous and even-handed even when others are being hot-headed, biased and irrational.
Gentleness reviews the facts, comes to a sound conclusion and provides a response that is accurate and impartial and does not seek to unintentionally offend.
It takes a huge amount of self-control to be gentle, especially in the face of the bitter vitriol we see online and occasionally in real life.
As Christians we are commanded to be gentle. Without mentioning it specifically by name, Romans 12 outlines the characteristics of someone who is gentle:
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:17-21 NIV
Gentleness is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) – its presence is a sure-fire sign that He is at work in our lives.
But why is it an element of how we should see our current situation?
The answer is as simple as it is profound.
If you’ve ever been locked in a dispute with someone, you’ll know how it feels. One person might win the argument, but in reality everyone loses. People around you can also be adversely affected. Constantly being involved and sucked into fractious arguments is never a positive thing for anyone, regardless of their forum.
Gentleness extinguishes the fires of argument and revenge.
Take the rather comical goings on in 2 Kings 6:8-23. Sick of Elisha passing information on to their enemy the King of Israel, the Arameans send a battalion of soldiers to capture then. But Elisha prays that they will be blinded and leads them right into the middle of the Israeli capital, Samaria. There he instructs the King of Israel to treat them hospitably and send them away, which he does.
What was the result?
So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.
2 Kings 6:23 NIV
Peace. An end to struggle. No more war. At least temporarily.
And this is what a gentleness does.
It’s a quality we rarely see in anyone these days. But when we do, it really makes a difference.
As well as joy and gentleness, we also see Prayer:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 NIV
Now, never was a verse more suited for our culture. Anxiety is at sky high levels these days. People rush to cure it with meditation or medication or counselling or therapy.
Yet Paul, who was in a situation where most of us would be full of anxiety presents his cure: prayer, with thanksgiving.
Now, we can be sure that he doesn’t mean that in a New Age, legs crossed in the lotus position, humming like a dissonant bee sense of the word. Neither does he present prayer itself as the answer. These prayers should be presented to God and no-one else.
Why?
Because of these verses:
Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
Psalms 55:22 NIV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV
Paul intends us to come before the Lord with our anxieties and cast them on to Him, before leaving them there, in the same way as David invited God to know his anxieties and lead him to the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).
But how to we do that?
Paul lists two types of prayers: religious prayers – likely, given the context, those of praise or thanksgiving – and prayers where we present our needs before the Lord.
But what if our need is so overwhelming that we can’t string the words together to pray?
What then?
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 8:26-27 NIV
So the Holy Spirit intercedes with us before the Throne of God in accordance with the will of God. And how does He do it?
He groans.
So why do we get so hung up on the words or the formula? Why do we feel that we have to pray a certain way or use a certain language? The Holy Spirit doesn’t. Why should we?
The only thing we need to know about prayer is that we should pray – always:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:18 NIV
https://ephesians.bible/ephesians-6-18
We should also pray for all people, without exception:
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 NIV
Show me a Christian who is anxious, agitated and on the edge of their nerves, and I’ll show you a Christian who hasn’t given their problem to God and left it there.
Prayer to God – with an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude – is what makes the difference.
The fourth element comes as a direct result of joy, gentleness and prayer, and that is Peace.
Peace that allows us to be calm and make good decisions. Peace that is the opposite of the crazily spiralling thoughts in our fevered imaginations. Peace that assures us of victory.
Peace that, according to these verses, ‘passes all understanding’.
In other words, miraculous peace. Peace that other people look on as we stride through the storm and ask ‘How are they doing that? Why aren’t they falling apart?’
This peace is the equivalent of the Hebrew shalom: a state of complete inner and outer well-being. It is so much more than the absence of conflict.
It is the peace talked about by Isaiah:
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3 NIV
It is the peace talked about by Jesus:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27 NIV
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV
But we need to see something very important.
This peace might be miraculous, but it is not at all a spiritual gift from God. It is not something we receive.
It is the result of our decisions: our decision to trust in God; our decision to not let our hearts be troubled; our decision to take heart.
If we have no peace, it isn’t God who is the problem, it’s us.
We choose joy. We choose gentleness. We choose prayer. We obtain peace.
It’s that simple.
The fifth element is much neglected and misunderstood, but it has an incredible difference on how we view our lives today, and that is Focus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.
Philippians 4:8 NIV
My wife is a keen amateur photographer, particularly when we’re on holiday. In fact, her desire to capture the moment sometimes becomes the moment (anyone with a photographer in the family will know what I mean).
She loves portrait pictures: where our family poses in front of a nice background, which is slightly blurred to bring us into sharp focus, but not so blurred that you can’t see where it is.
This illustrates our problem perfectly (and very sharply). Paul tells us here that we should think about beautiful, honourable things. But the reality of living in a fallen world is that we spend much of our time in the mire, dealing with the sludge of human existence. We are also bombarded from all sides by negative headlines and information.
So how can we think about good things when we are surrounded by bad?
The answer is our focus. It is the things that we dwell on.
Another illustration I often use when thinking about this verse is Buckingham Palace. It is a royal residence. The king lives there – at least sometimes. But there are guided tours. You and I, if we were so inclined, could pay a fee and tour the buildings.
But the tour guide won’t take us everywhere. Parts of the palace will – quite understandably – be off limits to the general public.
Our ‘mind palace’ must be like that. Negative thoughts will visit. They must. Such is life. But we must not them take up lodgings. Let God and His Word into your inner chamber instead.
I want you to imagine, for a second, that you are at home during heavy rain when you notice that your roof is leaking. What would you do?
There are many who would blame the weather, or the weather forecaster. There are others who would complain about the damage caused by the leak. Others would provide reasons as to why the rain was so hard.
These days, we can’t discount other people coming up with crazy conspiracy theories about why their roof had given way, or who was to blame for the downpour.
Did you know that it’s possible to fix the leak?
How about us? If we find ourselves having wrong, or exaggerated, reactions to crises that make things worse, or battling bouts of pessimism and depression over small things, what if, instead of causing problems, we sought to fix the leak?
Paul tells us how: through making sure our source of joy is God, through thinking and acting in obvious gentleness, through prayer with thanksgiving, which all result in peace, and by making sure we focus our thoughts on positive things.
We can control our thoughts. We can control how we see our situation. We can show the world that the message of the Gospel truly works.
We just have to put on the effort.
And God will work with us to make us stronger.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my pessimism and complaining and anxiety. I realise that these achieve nothing good in me or the people I see every day. Forgive me, I pray. Help me to fix my leaking mind and to see the world as You see it. Amen.
Questions
1. What gets you through the day?
2. Why should we listen to Paul when he teaches us these things? What does his life teach us?
3. What are the five elements that help us see our situation differently? How will you apply them to your situation?
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