Philippians 4:8-9

I have said before that we are all weird. Is anybody really normal? What is normal? Who decides? Anyway, I found out just recently that not only are we all weird but we are also all crazy. It’s true. I was watching a show the other night by sleep scientist Matthew Walker who said that every night when we dream, we go through a nightly insanity. When we dream we see things that aren’t there. We talk to people who aren’t there. We do things that are impossible. We even taste, smell and feel things that are not real. We literally go crazy for a few hours every night. When you relax your mind completely and allow it to go and do what it wants, it will do crazy things.

How many of you have ever woke up and thought, “I just had the craziest dream”? We all have done it and we do it every night. We just don’t always remember it. I had a great dream the other night and I remember it because in my dream I just knew I had this great idea. It was so good, I couldn’t believe nobody had thought of it before.  I was going to do some fund-raising (for what, I don’t know) by getting celebrities to get their hair cut with a weedeater. They would see who could get it done the fastest and we would raise money…for something. Great idea, right? What could go wrong? No. It’s crazy! But in my dream, it was brilliant. I woke up so confused and disappointed.

But knowing that we all go crazy every night helped me to understand the importance of controlling our minds and our thoughts. Just as you would not want to be driving down the highway and take your hands off the wheel and close your eyes, you also have to control your thoughts. If you were driving and did that, your car is never going to take you to a good place. If you are not in control of your car and you go speeding down the road, the car is not going to pull safely into the McDonalds drive thru. It might go through the front door but it won’t be good. It’s the same with our minds. Left uncontrolled, our minds will take us to some crazy dark places where there is no peace and no joy much less a lovely McRib sandwich.

The Apostle Paul knew how dangerous our minds can be and knew that every temptation always starts in the mind. We have been going through the joy book of the Bible, the book of Philippians and we have read over and over that we are to have joy. Last week he told us not to worry and gave us the recipe, the formula for not worrying. There is a method that we have to go through when we are tempted to worry and we have to go through that process because worry is a sin and sin puts a barrier between us and God. So, not only does worry steal our joy and peace but there is no lasting peace and joy apart from God. Paul told us last week to replace worry with worship. We should pray about everything and start our prayers, specifically the prayers about our concerns, with worship and praise and thanksgiving. And Paul said that God’s peace will guard our hearts.

That is a wonderful privilege we have to be able to take every concern to Almighty God and respectfully ask Him to take care of it in a way that is to our benefit and to His glory. But Paul doesn’t stop there. He gives us more help to be able to control our minds because every sin starts in our minds. Let’s turn to Philippians 4 and read verses 8-9. By the way Paul writes this letter you would surely think he was laying around a huge palace, sitting by the pool drinking sweet tea and listening to smooth jazz on the radio. He mentions joy or rejoicing sixteen times in four chapters so surely he is living high on the hog right now, right?

Actually, he is writing this from a jail cell in Rome, arrested for preaching the Good News of Jesus because he wanted everybody to have the joy and peace that Jesus brings to this life but also the security of knowing that they would spend eternity in Heaven when they die. And for that, he was imprisoned and would ultimately die. But he had joy and he knew how to think. Let’s read it in Philippians 4:8-9.

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. 9Whatever 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.

I don’t know much about how computers work but I understand that they will only put out what you put into them. If you fill your computer with junk, you will get junk out. It’s the same with our minds. Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) says, “For as a man thinks, so he is.” Jesus said in Mark 7 that all evil comes from within us. So, Paul tells us to think on these things. That word “think” means to evaluate, consider thoughtfully, or to calculate. It is talking about a habitual discipline of the mind. It is part of the working out of our salvation that Paul talked about in chapter 2. It is going to require work on our part. God provides everything we need to do the work. But we have to do the work.

I know you don’t want to worry anymore. I know you are tired of it. I know you hate missing out on the blessings God has for you, not to mention the sleep you are missing laying awake at night worrying. And I wish I had an easy, “Make a wish and blow out the candles” method to help you but it is going to require some effort. And we are commanded to make that effort! Paul is giving us a command that comes from God when he said not to worry.

But in this passage, Paul gives us a cheat sheet on how to keep from worrying. In fact, it helps with every other sin as well because all sin starts in the mind. So, we have to discipline our mind to think on things other than those triggers that cause us to sin. I’m calling it a cheat sheet and so I have this verse printed out for everybody so you can make notes on it. Use it as a cheat sheet when you feel tempted to worry or gossip or lie or rob a bank or whatever it is that tempts you.

*If you are reading this message in jail or somewhere else, I recommend writing verse 8 out on a separate piece of paper and then making notes on that paper. * Or cut this part out… 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. Philippians 4:8

He says to think on these things instead of those triggers and he starts with what is true. Think on what is true. Now, I have given you this verse printed out for a reason. We have done this before a few years ago and some of you still have yours in your Bible. I did that so that you can write down something that is true right now while you are thinking about it and thinking clearly. Because in the heat of the battle, when Satan is whispering to you to go do that thing you like to do or say this thing or go over there and look at that or be that way and you know you shouldn’t but you are tempted to, it’s hard to think of anything else, much less sit down and thoughtfully consider what is true and what is lovely, etc.

So, right now, write down something that is true. But how do we know what is true? Well, the Bible is our guide for all things truth and do you know what scripture says is true? Scripture. Psalm 31, Isaiah 65 and Ephesians 4 all call God the God of truth and the God of truth inspired scripture so all scripture is truth.

Jesus prayed to the Father, “Your word is truth” in John 17. David said in Psalm 19, “The judgements of the Lord are true.” Psalm 119 adds, “All your commandments are truth.” The Bible is true and thinking about it leads to reading it and memorizing it and that leads away from temptation just like Jesus told us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer. So, tell me something in scripture that is true. Now, write that or something else true in the blank there.

Next, Paul tells us to think on things that are noble or honorable. It has to do with heavenly things not things that are temporary or earthly. I love to think about Heaven and what we are going to do there, eat there, and see there. I love to think about the music, the people, the golden streets, all of it. What about Heaven are you looking forward to? Write that in the blank.

Paul tells us to think about whatever is right. The world says whatever you feel is right but we know that feelings can often lead us astray. The word Paul uses means “righteous” and in perfect harmony with God’s standards. What is something that is righteous or right? The 10 Commandments. Jesus dying for our sins on the cross. Write that down.

Next, we have “pure.” There are not many things in this world that are pure besides Jesus but I’ll tell you what the guys in jail talk about a lot when we talk about things that are pure. Do you have young kids or babies, grandbabies? When you are tempted to sin, think about your grandchild finding out about you doing what you are tempted to do. How tempting is it now? Write their name in the blank or the name of somebody else even the name of Jesus.

Think on what is lovely. What is lovely? It could be translated as sweet, gracious, generous or patient. What does the Bible say is lovely? Psalm 133:1 says, “How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!” Maybe you want to write Christ Fellowship in that blank and think about your sin being shown on the screen here at church. That’s a unity-killer right there.

What is something that is admirable or of good repute? It means to be highly regarded. Proverbs 31:10 says a good wife is worth more than rubies. Maybe think about how your wife or husband will feel if they found out about your sin. Write their name in there.

Paul concludes with, “if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” Think about your reputation if nothing else. Numbers 32:23 says to be sure your sins will find you out. How are you going to feel when that happens and everybody and their mother and your mother and your dog finds out what you did or said or where you went or what you thought or worried about?

The drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren't you!" "No, honey." "Well, if you weren't, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"

Paul gives us this cheat sheet so we don’t have to find out how that feels or worse. But I want to continue on to the next verse where Paul says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice.” That’s Paul’s way of saying the Nike slogan. Just do it! Turn your thoughts into right practice. When you take the whole book of Philippians together, it tells you how to live in such a way that you will not worry but have joy. You will live a full and abundant life as Jesus said we could have in John 10:10. But you have to do more than just think right thoughts. Again, Paul tells us to work out our salvation which we know does not mean that we have to work FOR our salvation. It means that we are provided everything we need to do what God has put us here to do.

God has provided our minds to be able to figure things out. He has provided the energy and the ability and the opportunity. Now, you have to do it. And when you don’t know what to do, Paul tells us to get closer to the Lord. We do that through prayer, Bible study and being with like-minded church family.

When we pray, we go to God in worship and praise to start and then tell Him our needs. We don’t have to worry about anything because He loves us and is in control. And when we do start to worry, we go through the process of taking everything to Him with thanksgiving and then we think on these other things that we have learned today. It all adds up to a full and abundant life but we have to do our part. We are responsible for doing our part and the biggest part of our part is just getting closer to God. When we do that, everything is better in this life and the next.

Paul knew what he was talking about but remember, he is writing to a church of Jesus followers. He was writing to true Christians and if you are a true believer like that church was, you too can have what Paul is talking about. But it doesn’t work at all if you are not a believer. Unless you have given your life to God and accepted the sacrifice of Jesus for your sins, you will always struggle with worry and a bunch of other sins because unbelievers are slaves to sin. That’s just what they do.

So, today, if you have never asked God for forgiveness, do that right now. Allow Him to come into your life and change you and make you more and more like Him until you die. Do that right now as we pray.