Philippians 4:2-9 ‘Mind matters!’

As you may know, my mother struggled with her mental health last autumn.  She had never had such problems before and then she became so ill that she had to be admitted to hospital.  Thank God, she is doing great now.

I recently asked her what she felt caused her breakdown.  She said that at her stage in life she had started looking back and thinking about what she could have done better.  She says that now she won’t allow herself think like this.  ‘God has forgiven all these things and doesn’t want me to dwell on them.’  An attitude of thanksgiving has been a great help to her.  She spends time thinking of things to thank God for.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians has a lot to say about how we think.  He calls them to be like-minded, having the same love and being one in spirit and of one mind (2:2).  We are to agree on the gospel of grace.  He tells us to have the mindset of Christ (2:5), who humbled himself to the extent on dying on a Roman cross, for us.  All this is compared to a mindset of grumbling and arguing.  Thinking about the gospel is to cause us to rejoice!

Be of one mind so that you get on with each other (2-3)

I plead with Euodia and Synthyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.  These women aren’t getting on with each other, and Paul appeals to their minds rather than their hearts.  The problem in so many of our disputes is that we are forgetting the gospel.  When we insist on getting our way, we are forgetting that Christ took the nature of a servant, for us.  When we recognise that we are amongst the chief of sinners forgiven by a God who does not treat us as our sins deserve but according to his loving kindness, how can we hold grudges?  When we remember that Christ died for us while we were his enemies, how can we make a big deal of the fact that some people get on our nerves?

In some ways this is a horrible way for Euodia and Synthyche to be remembered on the pages of Scripture.  He is not concerned to save their blushes.  Yet Paul actually deals with them gently.  He asks for an unnamed third party to step in and help sort out their dispute.  He doesn’t take sides.  And he recognises that these two have contended at his side for the sake of the gospel.  I remember talking to a pastor, John Samuel, about a situation where there was dispute.  I was worried about one person in particular.  He gave me a great piece of advice, ‘let them have no reason doubt that you love them.’  So many of our disputes would dissipate if we would only take Paul’s command seriously: ‘Let your gentleness be evident to all.’

Let your thinking make you glad (4-5)

The famous Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, was doing a series on Philippians and he came to these verses.  ‘Rejoice in the Lord.’  So, he preached a sermon on rejoicing in the Lord.  The next week his text was, ‘I will say it again: rejoice!’  So he preached the same sermon again.  He explained to the congregation: ‘if God said it twice, you must hear it twice!’

Joy is not an easy topic to preach on.  James says, ‘consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds.’  There again is the command for our thinking.  We are to consider it pure joy because God loves us, is in control and is working out his good purposes.  But I remember having that as my text and looking down at a friend who had just lost her father.  How could that trial feel like joy?

But Biblical joy is different from superficial happiness.  The Psalms are full of lament.  Jesus was a man of sorrows familiar with grief.  The apostle Paul can speak of being sorrowful yet always rejoicing.  As one friend who is a Biblical scholar points out: ‘I guess joy is not simply an emotion.  And so, someone with depression can still (though it would be harder) rejoice – have confidence in the Lord’ (Peter Orr).

In our sorrows we can know joy.  In our pain we know that God is our loving Father.  I asked a couple of people in this church how they cope with their depression.  One replied, ‘prayer, the support of friends and family, and knowing that the tears won’t last forever.  The thought that that heaven’s gates are already open for me is so comforting.  The thought of being immensely loved by God.  I also try to remember that I was in a bad place before and eventually got out of it.’  Another explained, ‘sometimes it’s to walk down the [canal] bank and watch all the wildlife.  The thing that really gets me through is to know that “this too will pass”, even though it does not feel like that.  Also, God is taking me through this to teach me something, i.e. to have more compassion and empathy for the people I come across who are hurting.  I can turn all my experiences into good.’  That’s joy!

Guard your thoughts as you hand your worries to God (6-7)

‘Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’  Our loving Father gently reassures us, ‘I have all the resources of the universe at my disposal, and I love you with the same love as my son Jesus.  I know your need.  Don’t worry.’  Keep bringing your worries to him until your heart knows peace.  He won’t tire of listening to you.  And notice that the peace that he brings goes beyond understanding.  He won’t necessarily sort things out in the way we expect.   

The evangelist, Rico Tice, knew a young Christian who nearly died when she had her second child.  He noticed that she emerged from her ordeal more committed to her faith.  He asked her why this was.  She replied, ‘Rico, in the midst of fearing that I would die, and not be able to be a mother to my first son, and not be a wife to my husband, and love my family.  In the midst of worrying that my health was disintegrating and that the baby I had just had was going to die too.  In the midst of that, though I am a very young Christian, the thing that worked was prayer.’  In the midst of her troubles she knew that peace—the peace that transcends understanding!   She said, ‘It was extra-ordinary!’

Feed the mind well and be affected by good thoughts (8-9)

Apparently, the verb in verse 8 the verb translated ‘think’ means to think about in such a way that it will change our actions.  ‘Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praise-worthy we are to think about such things.’  We are to think about things that will affect our attitudes and actions in a positive way and, by implication, not feed our minds with trash.

That is a real challenge for you parents as the summer holidays approach.  The children get board and demand more and more screen time.  What are they watching?  How does it affect their mood?  Is there any way in which it builds up a gospel perspective on the world?  The same goes for us.  Why do we watch what we watch, read what we read, talk about what say?  As you think, you will be.

Conclusion

I want to finish on a positive note.  I began by mentioning my mother and how she has changed her thinking for pondering guilt to thanksgiving.  God does not want you to remind him of your past failings, for he has chosen to forgive them.  God doesn’t want you to tell him you are not up to the task, for he is the one who strengthens us.  We are told to present our requests to him with thanksgiving.

I read an article in Psychology Today that points out that research has shown thanksgiving to be good for your mental health.  It gives a feeling of well-being and increases positivity.  It helps counteract negative thoughts like envy, resentment and bitterness.  It even helps us become more loving and empathetic.  The Bible is a thankful book.  In the book of Psalms, we are told to thank God because he is good ‘and his love endures forever’ (Psalm 106:1).    We see Jesus giving thanks for the provision of food.  The apostle Paul regularly told the early Christians how thankful to God he was for them.  When our prayers lack thanksgiving we cut ourselves off from a source of God-given joy.  Indeed, the gospel gives us plenty to be thankful for.

So if you are a Euodia or Synthyche who is struggling to love someone who annoys you, thank God for the good news that God gave his Son to die for you while you were still his enemy.  If you are finding it hard to serve one another, thank God that his Son took the place of a slave and was humbled to death on a cross.  If you are struggling with worry, thank God that heaven’s gates are open to you and that this too will pass.  Thank God so that you can rejoice and until you know his peace.