Lead:

What is the best self-help book ever? (Hint: it’s not the Bible, but we’ll address that, too).

Intro:

If you were to ask me which self-help book to read, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that if you only were going to read one, it should be Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And what you may or may not know about me is that I read a looooooot of those kinds of books before I surrendered to the lordship of Jesus. Self-help, philosophy, politics, some utter garbage from feel-good wannabe religious people. All because I saw the world was screwed up and looking for an answer. And through it all, Seven Habits boiled down the stuff you needed to do grow from dependence to independence and finally interdependence like nothing else. In way, it sounded easy. It’s was clear there were things to do.

Ironically, it’s the passages in the Bible that say, “do this” that give people heartburn. And to be sure, some of that Old Testament stuff no longer applies, and to be sure, there have been countless incidents of broken humans abusing authority and damaging other people.

Today there’s one passage where Paul tells the Philippians — and by extension us — to do something that I can’t help but think you’ll find refreshing. But there’s a twist — it’s going to challenge you, too. And we’ll talk about it in today’s All Our Minds segment.

Yesterday we began, and today we’ll wrap up, Paul’s appeal to unity and humility, all in the context of his big theme of joy in Christ that happens not because of, but despite, our circumstances.

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Bible:

Passage: Philippians 3-4
Translation: LEB (Lexham English Bible)
Verses: 44
Words: ~907

All Our Minds:

There’s so much to talk about here, but I want to draw our attention to Paul’s exhortation to think on various things — what’s true, honorable, good, etc. And please remember that what I’m doing here is connecting some dots — I’m not doing full-on exegesis or exposition of the text like you would for sermon. But I want to draw out an idea for you on Paul talking about thinking and that self-help stuff I commented on up front. This was a big deal for me, so I’m hoping there’s an insight here for you, too.

To get there, remember what Paul wrote to the Romans in a famous couple verses at the beginning of chapter 12:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Ro 12:1-2, CSB)

What are a few conclusions we can draw from this? He’s encouraging us to give the entirety of ourselves to God, and we know God made us in His image, material and immaterial. The basis of his appeal is God’s mercy, and he’s saying this is true worship (which, by the way, in theological terms, isn’t something we do on our own — it’s empowered in us by the Holy Spirit). And he’s drawing a contrast between the way the world thinks about stuff and how transformation happens, and all this with an outcome —so we can discern “the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” In other words, only through spiritual renewal can we do the will of God.

Now let’s catch what he wrote to the Philippians (and as I always like to say, it wasn’t written to us, but it is preserved for us):

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (Php 4:8-9, CSB)

So I did some poking on that word “think" and what I found was that it means to reason about, to keep a mental record, to hold a view or have an opinion, or to charge to account as in keeping a record of debits and credits (or put another way, to evaluate, judge, or discern between positive and negative). And I’ll probably butcher this because I’m no Greek scholar, but the word is logizomai, which has the same root as the word logic. And a total side note, also the same root as John calling Jesus the Logos, which is a killer reminder that Jesus is the ultimate sense of making sense.

So what’s Paul getting at, and what can we do with all these exhortations to do something? A few observations in no particular order:

He’s exhorting us to use our minds actively, not passively. It’s not emptying ourselves so we can “get in touch with the divine.”
Somehow this connects to worshipping in spirit and truth.
It’s something we do in a way the Holy Spirit can partner with to bring about transformation.
Truth — and I’m going to rely on the broader context of the passage in Philippians 4 for this — truth isn’t merely a set of propositions (a what), it’s a who. It’s the One who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
The objective of that transformation is to be more Jesus-like according to the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
And, consistent with the Good News, the Gospel, it is not self-help.

The bottom line

Did you catch that? It’s resting in His nearness, not worrying about anything, communing with Him through prayer and petition, and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Php 4:7, CSB) on the journey.

Here’s what I know. Can the Creator of the Cosmos directly implant an idea in my brain? I think He has before. But in the context of today’s meandering, Paul appears to place quite a premium on our part in actively pursuing Jesus, and unless you’ve got something I don’t have, the one and only place we trust authoritatively is… is… where?

Wisdom:

Passage: Psalms 130-131
Translation: LEB (Lexham English Bible)
Verses: 11
Words: ~180

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

Thank you for supporting this ministry should you choose to use the Amazon affiliate links below.

Not used today, but stuff I like:

D. A. Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word., vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998).

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993). <—this, and it’s OT companion, are great commentaries if you like something more than a study Bible and less than a set of 66 books — they add a lot of interesting details. Keener’s a killer apologist, too.

The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl — Love this book. A killer intro to the Christian worldview that is philosophically and theologically sound while being accessible to all readers.

#946: Philippians 3-4 | Self-help | Psalms 130-131