Philippians 4: Practical Rules for Your Thoughts

Introduction

“Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). Peter Masters, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, continues with this text a study on the mind. His subject: practical rules for the thought life.

In the previous study, he had gone through passages of the Old and New Testaments on the mind and thinking. He insisted on doing so, because on this subject we tend to fall back on common sense or on whatever happens to cross our minds. Yet the Lord has given in his Word precise instructions on how to think. “We are not left to ourselves to decide what is sensible.”

Before reaching verse 8, the preacher goes back to verse 4, because the whole passage speaks of the same thing: the mind, thinking, and our reactions to events. He ends with a warning against a false idea of communion with God: mysticism.

Outline of the message

1. Rejoice always in the Lord

• “Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). Literally: be happy in the Lord, always. The apostle repeats it immediately, so central is it.
• Can we be commanded to be happy? It is not only a command: the passage recalls the reasons a Christian has to rejoice. Even in the midst of deeply upsetting and legitimately painful things, there always remains a measure of Christian joy.
• A practical tip: as these reasons come to you, write them down on a sheet at the back of your Bible, learn them, and remind yourself of them.
• Be glad to have his love, the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19), set on you before the foundation of the world, in your darkest hours, until your death and beyond.
• Be glad to be accepted by God in Christ, thanks to his righteousness and his atoning death, which paid the price of all our sins. You are adopted, a son or daughter in the divine family.
• Be glad that his hand is at work in you. Despite your weaknesses, your failures, and your follies, you can look within and see the work of God moving forward since the day of your new birth.
• Be glad to always have help: there is nothing you cannot cry out to him about, at any time. Not to some important person on earth, but to the God of heaven, through Christ your Savior.
• Be glad to have received a new understanding. You see through the world, you understand its corruptions and its limits, you know God’s plan. As the psalmist says, you can be more instructed than all your teachers (Psalm 119:99).
• Be glad of his power that keeps you: he will never let you fall for good. Even if you stray, he will bring you back, by severe discipline if need be, as gently as he can.
• Be glad to be in his plan. What is going to happen to me? What if I am laid off or set aside? He knows every step and knows how he will reweave the threads of your life for your eternal good.
• Be glad that there is an eternal hereafter, called a reward when we never earned it. “We are so forgetful.” To rejoice, here, is simply to review the blessings of salvation.

2. Let your moderation be known to all

• “Let your gentleness be known to all men” (Philippians 4:5). The Greek word is hard to render: magnanimity, consideration, patience, gentleness, reasonableness. The King James Version chose “moderation.”
• Do not be a person of extremes in your emotional reactions. If your temperament pulls you downward, pray to God and do not let yourself plunge so low every time something terrible happens. If you tend to climb too high, hold yourself back as well.
• He tells a story he read years ago. In a church, a teenage son, a member of the church, had lost his faith and wanted to resign. He was told he could not resign, only be excommunicated, and he was publicly expelled. A few years later, he sought the Lord, and the church held an enormous celebration, far more than for any other member. An example of how, even as Christians, we can fall into excess.
• This is not about being dull: rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). But do not let yourself be carried away by excess of emotion, whether in the face of persecution, insult, or offense, or at the chance to buy something very expensive.

3. The Lord is at hand

• The end of verse 5 can be read in two ways: in time (the Lord is coming soon) or in space (the Lord is very near).
• “I cannot tell you for sure,” the pastor admits, but he leans toward nearness, which seems to him to fit the passage better. He admits he may be wrong.
• Many see in the Lord’s coming soon the great antidote to anxiety. He suggests an even greater comfort: the Lord is here. He is in us by his Spirit, but he is also here, so to speak.
• You only have to ask him for help to master your mind, your emotions, and your thoughts. And he is there to see what you are doing: “The Lord is watching me, I do not want to disappoint him.”

4. Bring everything to the Lord in prayer

• “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). In everything: bring everything to the Lord.
• In Spurgeon’s time, a man who lived right behind the Tabernacle could not take it anymore: the neighbor’s dog barked all night and he could no longer sleep. Spurgeon asked him: “Have you prayed?” No, one does not pray about a dog. But the rule is “in everything.” He began to pray, and the dog fell silent: the neighbors had found a cheaper house elsewhere and had moved away.
• Spurgeon also speaks of a man annoyed by a fly that kept landing on his nose. You might think one does not pray about that. Yes, one does: we pray about everything.
• Do not forget thanksgiving. When you pray with urgency, give thanks at the same time, not necessarily for the answer to come, but for all the times the Lord has already helped you. It encourages faith enormously.
• Thank him also for being ready to hear the prayers of a small creature and to care for the small things in our lives.

5. The peace of God is not a mystical experience

• “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
• It is not mysticism, nor a sensation of God himself or of Christ himself. It is the peace that comes from God.
• It is a settled calm: “It is in the Lord’s hands. He is mine. I can trust him completely. He is almighty, he is goodness and love itself.” This conviction and assurance take hold of you in a particular way, through Christ and his work.

6. Choose what your thoughts dwell on

• What is true: what is real, neither fanciful, nor absurd, nor fictional. The pastor has known people who thought only about trivial and unreal things, unrelated to real life. Do not waste your time in daydreams.
• Our Christian ancestors refused to read novels because they are unreal. He is not so sure: some carry a message that makes you think. But for most novels, they were probably right. Why waste your mind on unrealistic and trivial things?
• What is honorable: dignified, not commonplace or empty of meaning. Humor has its place, even in the absurd, but it becomes sterile when it never stops and makes someone a frivolous person.
• What is just and fair. What is pure, here in the sense of sexual purity. If the devil stirs up your desires and you run from one person to another in your head, you have lost your thought life: you are gripped by lust. You must pray earnestly, discipline your thoughts, and seek help.
• What is lovely: perhaps better, what communicates and fosters love. The lovely things you do for your wife or husband should occupy your mind.
• What is worthy of approval: what everyone recognizes as good, beyond dispute. And whatever has value and deserves praise.
• Every thought that comes up can be sorted into a category: sin and death, or life, blessing, and truth. You choose. Sometimes you have to think about evil to identify it and avoid it, but if you endlessly chew over “blame, blame, criticize, criticize, complain, complain,” choose to think about healthier things.
• He also recalls the other principles seen in the previous study: guarding your mind from thoughts thrown in by Satan, from lust, and from selfishness; thinking often about the Lord; offering your mind to God each day (Romans 12:1-2); having a sound and sober mind, as he reads 2 Timothy 1:7, which requires discipline and vigilance.

7. Communion with God comes through his Word

• Christian mysticism is the idea that we can and should seek a kind of direct contact with the divine. For the preacher, this view is knocking today at believers’ doors through the internet and the charismatic movement.
• More than thirty years ago, a woman in the church criticized everyone: no one was spiritual, no one had communion with Christ. She, she said, felt it through contemplation and by emptying herself. “By emptying herself, she became very full of herself.” These are traditional techniques that come from Eastern religions.
• It is claimed that this direct contact transforms and sanctifies, while others plod along painfully by the means of grace: the Word, worship, obedience to Christ. For him, it is one of the most dangerous aspects of the charismatic movement.
• Historically, Christian mystics have mostly been Catholic or Orthodox. Mysticism entered Protestantism in the 19th century through Germany, then through the holiness movement and the “higher life.”
• People point to Moses before the burning bush (Exodus 3) or Isaiah’s vision in the temple (Isaiah 6). But these experiences were not sought out, they overwhelmed those who had them, and they were revelations given to prophets. They cannot be made a model for the ordinary believer.
• We can have no direct contact with God, neither by sight nor by our sensations. But through the Word and in prayer, our mind can be so blessed that we are happy and moved. We can receive a strong assurance, the certainty that he hears us, a joy and a peace beyond measure.
• God perhaps does not grant it all the time: otherwise, we would want that instead of faith and we would lean on our feelings rather than exercise faith.
• Psalm 119 shows this. “My soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to your word” (verse 25). The psalmist is downcast, and it is the Word that lifts him up (verses 28, 50, 92-93, 156, 159).
• “Do you want God to revive you? Do not neglect reading the Word, for it is probably through it that he will do so.” It is not a mere intellectual satisfaction: the whole being is lifted up. “Those who love your law have great peace” (verse 165).

Key takeaways

• God has given in his Word precise instructions on how to think: you are not left to your common sense alone.
• To rejoice in the Lord is to review the blessings of salvation: his love, his acceptance, his work in you, his help, his plan, eternity.
• Moderation keeps your emotions from extremes, and the nearness of the Lord helps you master your thoughts.
• Every thought falls on the side of sin and death, or of life and truth. You can choose.
• No direct contact with God through mystical techniques: it is through his Word and prayer that he strengthens your assurance and your joy.

Personal application

1. What reasons to rejoice in the Lord could you write down today on a sheet at the back of your Bible?
2. In what situations do your emotions pull you toward excess, downward or upward?
3. Is there a small thing in your life that you have never thought of bringing to the Lord in prayer?
4. What do you devote your free thinking time to: what is true, honorable, and pure, or daydreams and rumination?
5. What place does reading the Word hold in your pursuit of communion with God?

Verses cited

• Philippians 4:4-8
• Ephesians 3:19
• Romans 12:1-2
• Romans 12:15
• 2 Timothy 1:7
• Exodus 3
• Isaiah 6
• Psalm 119 (verses 25, 28, 47, 50, 72, 76-77, 92-94, 99, 140-144, 156, 159, 165)

Frequently asked questions

What does Philippians 4:8 ask of our thoughts?

Paul asks that whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and worthy of approval be the object of our thoughts. For Peter Masters, this means choosing your thoughts: setting aside unreal daydreams and trivial things, and turning to what is real, worthy, and full of love.

What does “The Lord is at hand” mean in Philippians 4:5?

The phrase can speak of time (the Lord is coming soon) or of nearness (he is very close). Peter Masters leans toward the second reading, without stating it categorically: the Lord is there, ready to help you master your thoughts, and he sees what you are doing.

Can we have direct contact with God through mystical experiences?

No, according to Peter Masters. Mysticism seeks direct contact with the divine, but that is not found in the Bible. God can lift our feelings, our assurance, and our understanding to great heights, but he does so through his Word and through prayer, as Psalm 119 shows.