THE JOYFUL CONTENT OF FOCUSED CONSIDERATION

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 14, 2025 under AM Bible Study |

Wednesday AM Bible Study; May 14, 2025 from Philippians 4:8

Theme: When we bring our concerns to God by prayer through Jesus, He guards our hearts and minds with Jesus’ own peace.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Over the past several weeks, we’ve been studying the apostle Paul’s instructions in Philippians on joy. Specifically, we’ve been looking at a section in which Paul shows us how true joy in Jesus Christ is to be expressed both externally and inwardly. And this morning, we come to a single verse in that section. It’s a beloved verse for many Christians.

In Philippians 4:8, the apostle Paul wrote,

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, 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 anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things (v. 8).

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It’s very unfortunate that people in our culture misunderstand the word that’s found in the command at the end of this passage: “meditate”. It has grown to be associated with Eastern philosophies and religious practices, particular body postures and breathing exercises, and the emptying of one’s self of stress and anxiety through turning the mind away from the realities of one’s surroundings. But that’s not at all what the Bible means by ‘meditating’. Correctly understood, the word “meditate”—as it’s being used in our passage—would be the opposite of ‘going inward’ and of ‘not thinking’ about things.

The word that the apostle Paul used in the original language of this verse is logizomai. You may recognize the relationship that word would have to our modern word “logic”. It means “to regard” something or to “reason” intentionally about it—to think about it deeply and ponder it carefully. Other Bible translations help to bring this out. The English Standard Version, for example, translates the basic command of this verse, “think about these things.” The New American Standard has translated it, “dwell on these things”. These translations express the basic idea of musing deeply and intentionally about something that has actual content. It suggests a deliberate choice we make to consciously “consider” the realities of our lives in certain ways, and to linger over those considerations long enough for them to sink into our being. One Bible commentator used the phrase “focused consideration” in order to capture the idea.

To ‘meditate’ in this way is an important discipline to have as a follower of Jesus. When God the Father redeemed us through faith in Jesus, His Son, one of the most important things about us that He calls us to sanctify unto Him is our minds. Romans 12:1-2 for example, says,

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1).

Paul wrote essentially the same thing in Ephesians 4. He described our condition before the time of our salvation when he wrote in verses 17-19,

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness (Ephesians 4:17-19).

That used also to be true of us apart from Christ. We didn’t have the ability to do anything but walk in darkness and in falsehood. But Paul went on to write in verses 20-24,

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (vv. 20-24).

So, what Paul was setting before his readers in our passage this morning is the call to behave as people who have been renewed in the spirit of their minds. When God caused us to be born-again in Christ, he set us free from our former darkness and has renewed everything about us—most especially our thinking. We can now see things as they really are and live accordingly.

But it’s important to understand that we must make a willful choice to do so. It’s our own responsibility before God to—in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit—faithfully ‘meditate’ on the right things and give ‘focused consideration’ to them. Paul put this in the present tense of the verb, indicating that it’s to be the regular habit of our life to keep our minds on the right things.

This relates very significantly to the theme of Paul’s letter. A failure to obey what this verse tells us to do robs us of the joy that God wants us to experience in everyday life. But as this verse teaches us, joy is the by-product of keeping our minds focused on higher things in Christ.

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There’s a sense in which our mind is to our inner being what our stomach is to our outer being. If we continually and habitually put bad things into our stomachs, it will harm our bodies and lead to physical weakness and illness. And likewise, if we continually and habitually put bad things into our thinking, it will harm our spirits and lead to sinful attitudes and a loss of joy. We must ‘meditate’ on the right things.

So; what are the right things to give ‘focused consideration’ to? Paul lists several specific things in this passage. First, Paul urged his readers to give focused consideration—that is, to meditate—on …

1. ‘WHATEVER THINGS ARE TRUE’.

We’re to reject what is untrue; and only give our focused consideration to that which accords with the truth. We might be tempted to ask, “How can I know what is true?” One sure, reliable, objective way to answer that question is by remembering the prayer of our Lord before He went to the cross for us. In John 17:17, He prayed to His Father for His followers just before He died for them and said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” The written word of God, protected for us by the Holy Spirit and preserved for us in the Bible, provides us with the unchanging rule by which we can know truth.

We live today in a period of time when—in many areas of life—the truth of God’s word is being set aside, and when many people are being openly told to believe as ‘truth’ things that they know to be lies. And as God’s people, we must keep ourselves from believing and focusing on lies. Instead, when we’re called upon to interact with various ideas and philosophies in this world, we’re to examine them on the basis of the truth as God has declared it in His word. We’re to be like good “Bereans” who, as Acts 17:11 tells us, “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

We should meditate on the word of truth regularly. We should learn to know the Bible well. We should memorize it and hide it in our hearts. We should measure all that we see or hear in this world against the sure rule of God’s word and ask, “According to God’s word, is this true?” We should give our focused consideration to “whatever things are true.”

Then, Paul urged his readers to meditate regularly on …

2. ‘WHATEVER THINGS ARE NOBLE’.

The word that Paul uses for ‘noble’ or ‘honorable’ is the same word that he uses elsewhere to describe the quality that was to characterize leaders in the church (1 Timothy 3:8, 11; Titus 2:2); that is, that they are to be “reverent” or “worthy of respect”. They are to behave in an honorable, respectful, dignified manner.

We live in a time when people make ‘heroes’ and ‘role models’ out of celebrities whose lives are manifestly ignoble and dishonorable. They think about such folks, read about them, hold them up as examples, and even imitate their ungodly habits and patterns of life. But as Jesus’ followers, we’re to be careful to look to those whose lives are characterized by a godly reverence and a sanctified nobility of character. Look at what Paul says in verse 9; “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” How could he have said such a thing? It could only be because of what he also said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” And we should remember what it says in Hebrews 13:7, “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.”

We must be careful to imitate and honor ‘heroes’ whose lives demonstrate the noble qualities perfectly exhibited in Jesus Himself, and beware of glorifying ‘bad behavior’ in our thinking. We must meditate on “whatever things are noble”.

Next, Paul said that the follower of Jesus must meditate on …

3. ‘WHATEVER THINGS ARE JUST’.

Some translations have it that we are to meditate on whatever is “right”. The Greek word itself is related to the normal New Testament Greek word for ‘righteousness’ or ‘justness’, and the idea is that we’re to give focused consideration to what is good and equitable and fair and upright and innocent in our relationships with other people.

Have you ever laid in bed at night and thought about someone with whom you were really angry?—someone who has done some kind of injustice to you? Have you ever caught yourself fantasizing about different ways to get even with them?—ways to make fools out of them?—ways to really put them in their place?—even ways that you could perhaps ruin them or hurt them in some way? Those are the sorts of things that the people of this world often meditate on. But they aren’t the things we are to give our focused attention to. Instead we’re to meditate on how we might have failed to see things from their perspective—or on how we can treat them fairly—or on how we could do good to them—or on how we can ensure that they are treated kindly. We’re to meditate on how we can obey Jesus’ command to us in the Sermon on The Mount:

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:44-45).

When we allow ourselves to meditate on “revenge” and “envy” and “self-seeking”, we tend to act accordingly. But when we think “whatever things are just”, we tend to behave in ways that are truly just.

Next, Paul urged his readers to mediate and give ‘focused consideration’ to …

4. ‘WHATEVER THINGS ARE PURE’.

The word that Paul uses here is related to the word for ‘sanctified’; and it refers to the idea of being ‘separate from common things’; that is, what is ‘pure’ and ‘holy’ and ‘set apart’ unto God. And when it comes to this area of our thinking, the surrounding culture presents a tremendous challenge to the faithful follower of Jesus. We’re inundated with that which is impure and unholy. We easily get caught up in allowing ourselves to be passively entertained by things that we would never think of actually doing; and thus all-too-often to “meditate” on things that are impure in the sight of our holy God. Allowing ourselves to place our thoughts on the wrong things—even when they’re presented as ‘humor’ or ‘forms of entertainment’ can only end up weakening our defenses when the temptation comes to actually do them.

But more; we should even strive to meditate on ‘purity’ as a direct countermeasure to times when we are tempted with impurity. We can’t always avoid the temptation to imagine sin. But whenever we find ourselves ‘fantasizing’ about being tempted by some sin, we should never imagine what it would be like to surrender to that temptation. Instead, we should immediately turn it around and meditate on what it would look like to obey God and resist that temptation in the power of Christ. We should meditate on ourselves being the godly, pure, sanctified people of integrity that God wants us to be in the moment of any kind of temptation. We will have a greater chance of being a pure people in the moment of actual temptation if we’ve made an intentional habit of only meditating on “whatever things are pure”.

Paul went on to say that the follower of Jesus should meditate on …

5. ‘WHATEVER THINGS ARE LOVELY’.

Paul isn’t saying that we should only meditate on things that are beautiful and attractive. Rather, the word that Paul used speaks of that which is “toward friendliness”, or “toward what is loving”. The idea here is that we focus on what constitutes behavior that is amiable, friendly, courteous, and gracious toward others.

This would mean giving focused attention—in real-life social and relational situations—to the kind of behavior Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 when he said,

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Meditating on “whatever things are lovely” would simply mean giving focused consideration to what constitutes good and gracious manners and acts of goodwill toward others.

Then, Paul spoke of meditating on …

6. ‘WHATEVER THINGS ARE OF GOOD REPORT’.

The word that Paul uses here is one that’s constructed out of two words put together—the word for “well” or “good”, and the word for “to say” or “affirm”. Thus, the idea is that of meditating on those things that speak well of other people, or that speak commendably about the things they say or do. The New International Version translates it as “admirable”. The New American Standard version translates it as “of good repute”.

We have a sad tendency to believe the worst about other people—often putting the most negative spin on their motives or intentions. We tend to highlight the things they do wrong and shine the spotlight on their failures. But Paul tells us here that we are to do our best to concentrate on what is commendable and laudable about other people. Sometimes this isn’t easy. Sometimes, people truly do wrong. And this doesn’t mean that we ignore actual wrongdoing. But as much as it’s possible, we are to put the motives of people in the best light that we can—and make that ‘best light’ the focus of our consideration about them.

Now; there may be some things that didn’t fall into any of the other six categories of focused consideration that Paul mentioned. So, Paul closed by adding …

7. ‘IF THERE IS ANY VIRTUE AND IF THERE IS ANYTHING PRAISEWORTHY’.

It’s as if he were calling us as believers to look out upon this dark and broken world of sin and sorrow, seek out anything that we might find that even fallen human beings ordinarily consider to be “virtuous” or of “good quality”, and “praise worthy” or the grounds of good commendation; and to give our focused consideration to even these things. We are to look for the things that people view as heroic and honorable and good—to concentrate on the stories of courage and sacrifice and genuine human compassion—and celebrate these things in our thinking.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that we should walk through an evil world with blinders over our eyes so that we cannot ever see any of the things that are untrue, or ignoble, or unjust, or impure, or unlovely, or of ill repute, or lacking in virtue and worthy of condemnation. We couldn’t possibly be the representatives of our Lord in this world that He wants us to be if we didn’t see and confront these things in His name. But what Paul is calling us to do is to make sure that those fallen aspects of this world are not the things that we give intentional, deliberate, ‘focused attention’ to. We are instead—because of the renewing of our mind—to ‘meditate’ on whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; and any virtue and anything praiseworthy. To do so is to meditate on the very character of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

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Now; lest anyone should misunderstand what this verse is telling us, and end up thinking that it’s all simply a matter of ‘positive thinking’ in the power of the flesh, notice what the apostle Paul said at the very beginning of this verse. He used the phrase, “Finally, brethren …” Paul’s instructions in this verse are not for just anyone who may find these qualities admirable and who may wish to meditate on them. They are only for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, have been “born-again”—whose would truly be Paul’s redeemed “brothers and sisters” by faith, who can say what Paul said in Philippians 3:7-11;

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7-11).

Then—and only then—can someone truly “meditate on these things” in a way that will lead to true, lasting joy in Christ.

AE