Think on These Things-Part 2
(Phil. 4:8)
Pastor Vicky MootsKingman, Kansas
The second thing that Paul listed in Phil. 4:8 which we are to think upon is “whatsoever things are honest.” The Greek word for “honest” means “honorable.” According to Webster, “honorable” means “worthy of honor; having a sense of right and wrong; upright.”
Paul writes in Heb. 2:7, concerning Jesus, “…thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.” Oh, what a wonderful thought to meditate upon! The One who humbled Himself to become a man and to die upon the cross for our sins is crowned no longer with thorns, but with glory and honor!
In Rev. 5:13 we read that Christ will be universally exalted when He takes His throne in heaven: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Oh, what a day that will be! But let us not wait until that heavenly scene to exalt Him and give Him honor. Let us lift our voices to Him now. Now is the time to fix our minds upon Him, and to take them off of all the things and people in this world that are bringing dishonor to His name. Let us also walk in the Spirit and walk uprightly and live our lives in such a manner that we will bring honor to Him. The more that we meditate upon Him and His Word, the more that we will become like Him.
The third item that Paul lists for us to do is to think upon “whatsoever things are just.” “Just” means “that which is right, righteous.” Jesus certainly meets that criteria, and we can too. As a new creation in Christ, we are given His righteousness and are justified by faith.
Even the centurion at the cross recognized the righteousness of Jesus. This account is recorded in Luke 23:47: “Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was a righteous man.” Oh, that we would yield to the Holy Spirit and walk so close to the Lord that others would be able to look upon us and see the righteousness of Christ in us and glorify God, as did the centurion.
In Jer. 23:5 Jesus was prophesied to be “a righteous Branch,” and will one day reign as a righteous King. On a more personal level, He is now our righteous Advocate, according to I John 2:1 “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Our righteous Advocate is just and will intercede for us when we repent of our sins.
Psalm 51 is Davids’ psalm of repentance after his great sin with Bathsheba. In v. 10 he cries out to God for cleansing and says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” God heard him and answered his prayer. He hears our prayers of repentance, too, and cleanses us, as we are promised in I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The fourth thing that Paul encourages us to meditate upon is “whatsoever things are pure.” Pure means “innocent, clean, chaste, undefiled, uncontaminated.” God’s Word is pure and undefiled because it is not mixed with man’s wisdom; it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The pureness of God’s Word is proclaimed in Proverbs 30:5: “Every Word of God is pure…” and in Ps. 12:6: “the words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” We find this also in Ps. 119:140: “Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.” The pure Word of God is what purifies us as we read it and apply it to our lives. It is what cleanses us and prepares us to be in the bride of Christ, as Paul declares in Eph. 5:25-27: “…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it might be holy and without blemish.”
Paul’s desire was that we might yield to that cleansing and be washed of anything that defiles us so that we might be a part of the bride, as he exclaims to us in II Cor.11:2: “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” In Song of Solomon 6:9 the Bridegroom describes His bride as “my dove, my undefiled.” If our desire is to accept Paul’s espousal of us to Christ and become a part of that bridal company, then we, too, must be undefiled by the world and cleansed by the pure Word of God. Nothing that we are able to do in our own strength is able to purify us, for it is not by our own works, but by the Word working in us.
Next, we come to the fifth item that Paul mentions for us to meditate upon: “Whatsoever things are lovely.” The Greek word translated “lovely” means “acceptable.” How can we become acceptable to a holy God? It is all by His grace, as we read in Eph. 1:6: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” We are accepted by God because we are “in Christ,” the beloved Son of God.
According to Webster, the word “lovely” also means “having those qualities that inspire love, affection or admiration; specifically, beautiful, exquisite, morally or spiritually attractive.” “Lovely” is how the bride in Song of Sol. chapter 5 describes her Beloved. In v. 9, she was asked this question: “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women…” She answers that question in vs. 10-16, but summarizes it in v. 16 by saying, “…yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend…”
What a wonderful thing that is to meditate upon; to fix our eyes upon our Bridegroom, and to spend time alone with Him and His Word, so that we may discover for ourselves how lovely He is!
(To be continued)
