"Philippians in a Nutshell"--Philippians 4:8-9

Labor Day weekend has long represented two things in our country—the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Many schools get started a week or two before Labor Day, but many colleges in particular don’t really get going until after the holiday. So right now, college students all over the country are heading off to school, and some of them are stepping onto a college campus for the first time—which means that they are quickly becoming familiar with the three C’s of college: credit cards, coffee, and CliffsNotes.

If you’re not familiar with CliffsNotes, they’re booklets that summarize that contents, characters, and themes of major literary works like “Romeo and Juliet” or “War and Peace.” Many students turn to CliffsNotes rather than the actual books in order to survive freshman English. That way, they don’t have to read the whole book in order to get an idea of what it says—they can just read these summaries and have all the information they need to write their papers.

In our study of Philippians today, I believe we’re going to encounter the CliffsNotes version of the book. Now, like all of those English teachers out there who despise CliffsNotes, I obviously think that we should study the entire book of Philippians. But in 4:8–9, I believe we find the book of Philippians in a nutshell—a summary of the basic ideas that Paul has been trying to communicate in this letter. What is that summary? I believe its essence is this:

The keys to living in peace are having the right mindset and following the right example.

Turn with me to Philippians 4:8–9. In these two verses, Paul makes a final statement about two of his major themes and how they relate to his overall theme of living in unity under the God of peace. Let’s read these verses [READ Phil. 4:8–9].

Let’s look at Paul’s final statement on these two themes…

I. Have the right mindset (v. 8)

It may have escaped your notice as we’ve gone through this book, but one of Paul’s points of emphasis has been having the right mindset—about ourselves, about others, and about our relationship with Christ. This theme started all the way back in 1:9–10 when Paul prayed for the Philippians to have a love that would “abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent.” And what does Paul tell us to dwell on in 4:8? Anything of excellence.

Then in chapter 2, Paul asks the Philippians to be of the same mind (v. 2), to have humility of mind (v. 3), and to let the mind or the attitude of Christ dwell in them (v. 5). Then in chapter 3, he spent several verses talking about the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord (vv. 7–11).

So now as Paul writes, “Finally, brethren,” and brings the main teaching portion of his letter to an end, he wants to emphasize the proper mindset one final time. He lists a series of characteristics here to help us discern what kind of things to focus our minds on—let’s take a look at them. First, he says “whatever is true.” We know what this idea means—it refers to those things which are accurate, those claims or thoughts that line up with the way things really are.

Second, he says “whatever is honorable.” In our country, we refer to judges as “The Honorable Judge So-and-So,” and the idea is that a judge is dignified and worthy of respect. That’s the idea here in this statement as well.

Third, Paul writes, “whatever is right.” This refers to things which meet the standard of what is acceptable according to the proper standard of right and wrong. Fourth, he writes, “whatever is pure.” This idea refers to things that are not tainted by contaminants. They are clean, and without blemish.

Fifth, Paul says, “whatever is lovely.” We know what we mean when we call a woman lovely—we mean that her appearance is pleasant to look at and attractive. That’s what Paul is talking about here—those things which have a moral beauty about them which make them pleasant and enjoyable to think about.

Sixth, Paul writes, “whatever is of good repute” or good reputation. People with a good reputation are spoken well of by others, and that’s Paul’s thought. He’s referring to things that deserve to be praised. Finally, Paul summarizes these traits by saying “if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Now this verse is often discussed as a helpful guideline for making good entertainment choices. It is described as a filter to help us make wise decisions regarding TV shows, movies, and music choices. I do think that is a good application of this verse; if we would keep these standards in mind when we make choices about entertainment, we would do well. But we must realize that this was not Paul’s primary point. He wasn’t teaching the Philippians how to make good TV choices because they didn’t have TV!

In fact, Paul really hasn’t been talking about how to interact with the culture in this letter. What he has been talking about is the kind of mindset that makes for peace within the body of Christ, so I think he is once again focusing on that idea. If we as individuals would follow this standard, particularly in the way that we think about each other, can you imagine the way that our relationships with each other would be enhanced? What if we chose to focus on what we know to be true about other people? What if we chose not to simply believe everything we hear through gossip, or if we chose not to exaggerate someone’s faults in our minds? How about if we chose to think about the things in other people that are honorable and praiseworthy? We might find some admirable things, even in people that we disagree with. What if we chose to focus on the areas of their life that are right and pure, those areas where we can see that they’re living according to God’s standards? How about if we looked for what is lovely and attractive in other people? At the very least we can see the image of God in others, because all people are made in His image.

What a difference it would make in our outlook if we chose to use those guidelines to think about others rather than camp out on their faults! This is the attitude of Jesus, who chose to take on the form of a servant and regard others as more important than Himself. This is the way for us to think about each other if we want to remain a strong, united congregation. When we choose to think according to a different standard, we will sow the seeds of division in our church. But this mindset will hold us together through thick and thin.

So to live in peace we must first have the right mindset, and second we must…

II. Follow the right example (v. 9)

Throughout this letter Paul has been holding different people up as models or examples of the lessons that he was trying to teach. In chapter two, he holds up Jesus as the prime example of what it looks like to humbly put the interests of other people ahead of your own. Through His willingness to take on a human nature and come into this world as a servant and ultimately to die on the cross for our sins, Jesus demonstrates the kind of willingness that we should have to give ourselves for others.

Then, in the last part of chapter two, Paul held up Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples of men who were also more concerned about others than themselves. Timothy was a trustworthy partner for Paul because of his genuine concern for others, and Epaphroditus risked his life to see that the needs of others were met.

Then in chapter three, Paul called the Philippians to imitate his example of considering everything to be of no value when compared to the all-surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ. Paul described his continual and ongoing pursuit of a more intimate knowledge of Christ, and he asked the Philippians to adopt the same pursuit.

And now, once again, Paul calls the Philippians to follow his example. Perhaps that sounds a little arrogant to you, that Paul would again say, “follow me,” but keep a couple of things in mind here. First, imitating someone else’s example is almost always the easiest way to learn how to do something. If you like to try do-it-yourself repairs around your house, you know what I mean. It’s not often easy to read about how to do something and then do it; it’s almost always easier if you have someone who can say, “Here—let me show you how it’s done.” So Paul wasn’t being arrogant, he was simply tapping into this reality of learning.

Second, remember that literacy back then was not what it is today. Not everyone learned how to read, and even for those who did, there weren’t personal copies of the Bible available for them to take home and study. So people had to rely on another way of learning the Scriptures and of learning how to live as a Christian, and as I just said, imitating someone else’s example is a powerful way to learn.

Now Paul specifically told the Philippians to take the things they had learned and received and heard and seen in him and to put them into practice. This is the perfect follow-up to what he just said in v. 8, because it does us no good to have the right mindset if we don’t live out that mindset with the right actions.

In James 1:21–25, James calls us to be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. We delude ourselves by thinking that we will be blessed by God for simply hearing the Word, but James says that those who hear it and live it out are the ones who will be blessed. I believe that one of the greatest dangers facing conservative churches today is that we would find ourselves simply being hearers of the Word, and not doers of the Word. We love to hear the Word, don’t we? We could probably fill up every night of the week with Bible studies because we love to learn God’s Word. But if we only learn the Word and we don’t take the next step to live out the Word, we are deceiving ourselves if we think that God is pleased with that. In 1 Corinthians 8:1, Paul writes that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. In others words, knowledge builds up my ego, but love builds up other people.

Do you know who the serious Bible students were in Jesus’ time? The Pharisees, and they were a wonderful bunch of people, right? Always so kind and compassionate toward other people, and humble too! No, what did Jesus say about them? These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Matt. 15:8). They looked so godly on the outside—they went to church every Sunday, they wore Christian t-shirts, they had fish symbols on their cars. Wait, that’s us, isn’t it? But what good does that fish symbol do if I fight with my wife while I drive that car? What good does that Christian t-shirt do if I’m not kind toward others while I’m wearing it?

God does not want mere formality from us. He doesn’t want us to simply have all the right knowledge—He wants us to live it out! We have to have the right mindset AND follow the right example by being doers of the Word and not hearers only. The Philippians had heard—Paul himself had taught them—and now he called them to put the things they had learned into practice. And Paul told them that if they would do this, the God of peace would be with them. Paul referred to God as the God of peace when we wrote to several congregations who had some internal strife among them. To the Romans, the Corinthians, and here to the Philippians, Paul reminds them that God is not a God of strife and conflict but of peace, and they could know His peace in their midst if they would do the things he had told them.

And the same is true for us. I feel that we have a spirit of peace in our church, and for that I’m very thankful. But we could lose that peace if we don’t have the right mindset and if we don’t follow the right example. If we choose to think about each other in negative, critical, or unloving ways, all it would take would be one spark to set off a wildfire of anger in our church. Our if we follow the example of those who view church as a place to be served rather than serve others, we would find the weeds of disunity springing up very quickly. But living together in God’s peace is possible, so let’s pursue it and maintain it by having the right mindset and following the right example.