St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

Contact our Web Master

Philippians:  Think about These Things

Philippians 4:4b-9

October 9, 2005

1. This is it, folks! This is the last in the series of sermons on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. He has written himself into a great finish! These verses are among the most familiar of Paul’s writings. He knows the benefits of staying focused on the best possible goal. William Barclay writes, "The human mind will always set itself on something. If [people] think about something often enough, and long enough, [they] will come to the stage when ‘they’ cannot stop thinking about it." Have you ever noticed how true that is? Whether your thoughts or high and noble, or low and ignoble, what you accustom yourself to thinking paves the way for future thoughts. I don’t know what you think about in your idle moments, but my mind usually works on my sermon. All week, every week, when my mind has any idle time, it immediately zeroes in on how to best illustrate the scripture passage for the coming Sunday.

2. Since Monday is my Day of Rest, that leaves some blank space in my mind from Sunday afternoon until about 10:00 Tuesday morning. During the most recent of those blank spaces, I pruned roses. There are (or were) two giant Florabunda bushes in front of the house, and I decided to dig them out (or, more accurately, get Richard to dig them out), and replace them with some maintenance-free bushes. It took me a couple of hours to get those prickly rose bushes to the point where he could work with them without shredding his arms on their thorny branches. So my hands were busy doing mindless work. It was several hours after worship, and still one full day before I would begin work on today’s worship It was that time frame between sermons when I had nothing to think about. I think about my sermon so much during the week, that I can’t stop thinking about it – or, at least trying to think about it. And because there was no sermon to think about, my mind had to set itself on something. So I dredged up old conversations, most of them unhappy conversations – things I wished I’d said, instead of what I actually said; or things someone said to me, that I’d wished they hadn’t said. Do you do that? Probably so! Some of us seem to have trouble keeping our collective minds on all those "higher" thoughts that Paul recommended to the Philippians. "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things."

3. "Think on these things." You may recognize these words as the title from a nationally syndicated newspaper column written by Joyce Hifler. Day after day, she writes about the virtues she believes to be true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable and worthy of praise. But she’s not the only one to have found inspiration from Paul’s words in Philippians. Another one is Benjamin Franklin. I discovered his autobiography in a used book market in North Carolina. Reading autobiographies of notable people is certainly one of those higher activities! I learned things about him I never would have know otherwise. I knew he was a Presbyterian, but I learned that he didn’t like it! Generally speaking, he had little use for preachers, although he financially supported the only Presbyterian minister in Philadelphia! But Ben thought him dry and unedifying because his sermons were all based on Presbyterian doctrine. Apparently his only purpose was to make them good Presbyterians rather than good citizens. Ben wanted help being a good citizen. There was a five-week period when he went to worship every Sunday. On the fifth Sunday, the preacher took for his text this very fourth chapter of Philippians. Finally a sermon having something to do with morality! The excitement that filled Ben slowly drained out, as the preacher turned it once again into a sermon on doctrine. Benjamin Franklin despaired of ever hearing moral preaching from that Presbyterian minister, and "attended his preaching no more."

4. I marked that page of his book. What he wrote was worth remembering, and equally worth passing on to you. He wanted to fill his thoughts with those higher virtues that Paul recommends. But Paul only recommended them, he did not name them. So Ben Franklin named and defined those virtues which he believed made a person a good citizen (and I believe it will also make them good Presbyterians!). Here is his list of virtues: Temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, humility. Then, because he knew each of these virtues had several different definitions, he proceeded to define them:

Temperance. Eat and drink in moderation.

Silence. Speak only what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your life have its time.

Resolution. Resolve to do what you ought to do; perform without fail what you resolve.

Frugality. Waste nothing. Let all expenses be for what is good for others or yourself.

Industry. Lose no time; always do what is useful; cut of all unnecessary actions.

Sincerity. Think innocently and justly; use no hurtful deceit; speak as you think.

Justice. Do no wrong, and remember to do right.

Moderation. Avoid extremes

Cleanliness. Keep your body, your clothes, and your home clean.

Tranquility. Keep from being upset by trifles or common, unavoidable accidents.

Chastity. [For some reason, Ben declined to define chastity.] The current Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "chaste" as celibate, modest, austere, spotless. Take your pick!

Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

5. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? (or a lifeful!). Ben knew, according to Paul in Philippians 4, that he should always think on these things, so they would become habit for him, and he knew from Pythagoras that he should examine his life each day . (Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher who lived 500 years before Jesus was born. In his Golden Verses, he instructs all who read them to never let sleep keep them from examining all of their actions that day, and ask themselves "What did I do today?" "What did I do wrong?" "What did I not do that I should have done?" And he advised them to sternly reprimand themselves if they discovered that they did something wrong; and gladly rejoice if they discovered that they did something good.) Ben knew he couldn’t perfect all these virtues at once. So he devised a plan whereby he would focus on one virtue each week, and not worry about the rest of them. He made a little book, and allotted a page for each of these virtues. He marked seven vertical columns with red ink, one for each day of the week, and marked each column with a letter for that day. Then he marked thirteen horizontal rows, and wrote the first letter of each one of the virtues. His plan was to mark with black ink what he called "the faults of the day." If, by carefully concentrating on one of those virtues, he could have that particular virtue untarnished by a black ink blot, then he would consider that virtue somewhat strengthened. Over time, as he kept his thoughts on these virtues, he would become virtuous. His goal was a clean page.

6. Worthy goal, don’t you think? He thought so, too, until he tried to achieve it. The virtue of order gave him the most problem. Trying to rid his life of disorder cause him so much pain and aggravation that he decided to let it go. His reasoning was that, if he were to become perfect in his character, his friends might abandon him altogether. He decided that a good man would allow himself a few faults. I just admit I have not yet sought to follow his example, at least not as diligently as he has. But I’ve done a similar kind of exercise at the end of each day. It’s a good practice. One of my favorite people told me "There’s no point in growing older if you’re not going to learn something along the way!" (Lew Sullivan)

7. There is a prayer to help us in our attempt to grow and learn. You’ve probably heard the Prayer for Those Growing Older before, but it bears repeating, since all of us are growing older, and all of us want to follow the advice of Paul and Benjamin Franklin (I hope!) Lord, keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details---give me wings to get to the point. I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others' pains. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains---they are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to become a saint--some of them are so hard to live with--but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so. Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all--but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.

To navigate through the web site, click on the buttons at the top or on the side of the pages or on any links within the page.  Use your browser's Back button to return to the previous page if that page does not appear in the buttons available.  External hyperlinks should open in a new window - close it to return to this page.