Philippians 4:8 "Whatever"

1. Whatever - Part 1

Pastor David Spann

Have you ever been in a discussion or a debate with someone and at some point, they turn to you and conclude the discussion with this one word, “Whatever.”

The discussion is over. 

• You are dismissed and that person has not only dismissed you but everything you have said and anything further you might say on the subject. 
• A wall has gone up. Communication has ceased.

Wikipedia notes that, [Whatever] has become a passive-aggressive conversational blocking tool, leaving us with nowhere to go in a conversation. [Wikipedia]

People tend to use the “Whatever” weapon in two particular situations.

1. Someone has been caught having done something wrong and have gotten to the point in the conversation that they realize they cannot convince another of their innocence nor justify their actions. So, they say, “Whatever”. 

• In doing so they neither have to admit their wrong or listen to you any further.

1. In the other situation a conversation has gone on for a while with neither party making progress in convincing the other and the discussion has now become pointless. 

• Or one person feels that they simply aren’t being heard. 
• “Whatever” concludes the discussion and dismisses the other person and everything they have said. 
• Effectively saying, “You are not listening to me so I am not listening to you.”

“Whatever” has become terribly negative and perhaps the ultimate statement of frustration and hopelessness.

I have a bad case of the “Whatever's” when it comes to the News.

• The News seems to be dominated by harsh criticism, hate speech, cynicism, half-truths or outright lies.

• Sadly it doesn’t seem to matter much if it is the left or right, Democrat or Republican.

• When it comes to the News I have gotten in a permanent state of “Whatever” and have stopped listening and dismiss it all.

• And it's not just the News it is much of social media.

• Which has really become the anti-social media.

• As a general rule I decline to discuss politics with friends or family because we seem to have lost the ability to have civil discourse.

• I do not need all that negativity in my life.

• It hurts my soul and drags me out of my place of peace in Christ.

• So, for the most part I have turned it off and shut it out.

We seem to be living in a world that focuses almost exclusively on whatever is negative.

• I cannot remember a time when the doom and gloom negativity was so pervasive.

• Even during the Vietnam War, I don’t remember this level of negativity.

• Coming on the heels of the civil rights movement there was a growing sense of hope and even anticipation that things would change for the better.

But that is not the case today.

• There seems to be a prevailing darkness.

• And when it comes to winning the world, I am afraid that Satan is in the lead in the United States and many other parts of the world. 

• While ultimately the battle is God’s - how many souls will be lost to the darkness.

• In such pervasive darkness it may be that we are predominantly influenced by the world rather than the Gospel in our day to day life.

• We become too readily influenced by the negative instead of focusing on the positive.

• We become too consumed with our winning against their losing instead of the work of reconciliation.

In the midst of darkness we must remember there is a different set of whatever's that we need to give our full attention to.

[Philippians 4:8 NKJV] "8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] [right/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."

Tonight, we will look at the first few of these whatever's.

Whatever things are true.

How do we know what is true?

• When I was younger, I was an avid cyclist.

• I would periodically take my bicycle completely apart and grease, oil and clean it. 

• And I would replace any broken or worn parts.

• One of the key steps of this process was truing the wheels of the bicycle. 

• Basically the goal is to make sure the wheel is as perfectly round and straight as possible. 

• When riding the bike, if the wheel isn’t true, then  it may begin to rattle and shake making it dangerous to ride and unstable leading to an accident.

• Some people would try to eyeball it but this is highly unreliable.

• To do it correctly you need a truing stand.

• You would mount the wheel on the truing stand and spin it. 

• If it were out of true, the edge of the wheel would rub against the truing pin and squeak.

• Then you knew where to adjust the spokes to bring the wheel back into true.

The point being that unless you have some objective unchanging standard of truth by which to check you can never know what is true.

• Many, many people today suggest that there are multiple truths. 

• That what is true for you is not necessarily true for them.

• They would say that we are each entitled to our own truth.

• If everything is true, then there is no truth at all, and we all walk in darkness.

This is the truth, not a truth, but the truth [1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT] "6 But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for Him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life."

• Everything in Scripture stands upon this truth.

• It is upon this Truth and the truth of the Scripture that we measure everything else so that we may know what is true and what is not.

• Whatever things are true, are in agreement with Scripture.

Whatever things are noble.

Noble is certainly not a word we hear spoken very much anymore.

• Its companion words are honorable, admirable and worthy.

• Heroes are noble in this sense.

• True nobility is seeing the good that needs to be done, the need that needs to be met, and doing it even at great cost to ourselves.

• Genuine nobility almost always requires that we be courageous.

In the Our Daily Bread devotional, Patricia Raybon wrote an article called a Time to Speak. In this article she says, “Silence in the face of … injustice … enables harm and hurt.” She tells the story of Rev. Martin Niemoller. [Raybon]

Initially he was a supporter of Adolf Hitler and a self-confessed antisemite. Faced with the injustice of what he saw and convicted of his own injustice he began to oppose the Nazi’s and in 1938, was imprisoned in a concentration camp where he narrowly escaped execution. 

After his release from prison in 1945 he wrote the following poem:

First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

    Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—

    Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

    Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. [Wikipedia - Martin]

We can substitute the name of almost any group and this poem becomes just as relevant for us today.

[Philippians 2:4 NKJV] "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

[1 Corinthians 10:24 NKJV] "24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other's [well-being]."

[James 2:8 NKJV] "8 If you really fulfill [the] royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;"

Each of these Scriptures implore us to be noble.

• Nobility then is best characterized by our self-sacrifice for the sake of others. 

• And for the Christian it is self-sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.

• For when we sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others and for the truth of the Gospel we walk in the very footsteps of Christ.

Whatever things are right

So, what is right?

• We hear the word “right” and we think of words like “good, fair, just or correct.”

• Used to be what is right and wrong was pretty well understood and accepted.

• In this day and age of moral relativity right and wrong has become one large gray area of uncertainty.

• And anyone that tries to uphold a standard of right and wrong is decried as a bigot of one type or another.

The word “right'' is a term that has been used in building and construction since the time of the pyramids and before.

• The term right is also upright.

• It refers to a column or post that is positioned exactly 90⁰ to the base that it sits on.

• This is called a right angle.

• It is the strongest and most stable position of a post or column.
• 
  

When constructing a large structure, they needed a means of assuring everything was positioned at right angles to each other and so the cornerstone was developed.

• The cornerstone was cut and shaped in such a way that all of the surfaces of the stone sat at perfect right angles to all adjacent surfaces of the stone.

• The cornerstone was carefully cut to ensure its squareness or rightness and it is very large and very heavy thus assuring that it is immovable - thus constant, unchanging and faithful.

• The cornerstone was the first stone placed and every other stone is set in reference to the cornerstone and consistently checked to be sure it remained aligned with it.

• Thus the cornerstone established the position, strength and soundness of the entire building.

Our cornerstone is the Word of God.

• It is unmovable, unchangeable, ever constant, ever faithful just as our God is.

• To be right then is to be upright, or in align with God and all that is Godly.

• And so, for us as Christian, we must soak ourselves in the Scriptures.

• Scripture must be ready in our minds so that as we walk in this corrupt and fallen world, we recognize what is right from what is not, what is of God from what is not and thereby we are able to give ourselves over to what is right and not be deceived.

It is the only way we can walk with certainty on the path that God has laid before us.

Whatever things are pure

When we think of the word pure, we think of something that is clean, pristine, perfect, true, unstained, unblemished and so on.

• But to be pure can also mean to be single or solitary, focused, not divided or mixed.

• When we are looking at things that are pure, we see them in their essence.

Our understanding of pure underlies what we think of as holy.

“a place, object, or person who has been blessed can be described as holy, meaning ‘associated with God.’” 

There is a relationship between holy and wholly. 

Becoming holy involves being wholly pure spiritually. [Holy]

To be wholly made of one thing is to be pure.

• To be purely of God is to be holy.

• To become purely of God requires that we enter into the journey of sanctification.

• Sanctification requires that we become single minded, and so wholly focused to attain holy purity.

In our single mindedness we strive for purity of thought.

• Not just purity of thought in the sense that we do not entertain unwholesome thoughts, but that ever increasingly we see every person, place, thing, event, activity through the eyes of Christ.

Notice this word, unwholesome.

• To focus on anything unwholesome makes us unwholly, impure and unholy.

• We are in effect holey.

• We have these gaps in our purity which become filled with corruption.

• And if left unchecked the rot will spread.

[1 John 2:15-16 NKJV] "15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that [is] in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world."

To the extent that we allow the corruption of the world to inhabit our thoughts either through the news or social media, TV, radio music, entertainment, activities, etc. we are not holy to God nor are we wholly of God.

• When I talk about things of world inhabiting thoughts I am not talking about those momentary instances when some passing thought comes to us.

• No, I am talking about when we dwell on some unwholesome thought to the point that we worry about it, fret over it, are continually distracted or disturbed by it or our peace is disrupted by it.

[Colossians 3:1-2 NKJV] "1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."

To meditate on what is pure requires that we sort out of our lives those that are not of God from those things that are of God.

• This is a remarkably difficult thing to do because we are present in this world, and we can achieve this only to the extent that we allow the HS to be present in us.

• Attaining purity is a lifelong undertaking done in the power and presence of the HS.

In 2nd Peter we read, "2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that [pertain] to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you MAY BE partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption [that is] in the world ...."[2 Peter 1:2-4 NKJV]

When we focus on things that are godly pure, we can’t look at such things without being affected.

• We must be determined in our pursuit of all things pure.

• As we become more wholly of God our new nature emerges and we become the new creation that Paul spoke about so often.

• As a new creation, with new nature and as we allow this new nature to take hold in our lives we develop the single minded purity of God and become holy to God.

• Such a single-minded focus upon the whatevers of God will help to insulate us from the corruption of this world and make us ever more true, noble, right with God and pure.

As we leave here today let us be mindful of what Brother Lebron Fairbanks said to us last week, “Whatever gets our thoughts will eventually get us.”

Let us commit to ourselves to meditate on what is true, noble, right and pure.

When I speak next time, we will examine the remaining “whatevers” of Philippians 4:8.

Let Us Pray

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Works Cited

“Martin Niemöller.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Oct. 2021,      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niemöller.

“Whatever (Slang).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_(slang).

“Holy - Dictionary Definition.” Vocabulary.com, www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/holy.

Raybon, Patricia, “A Time to Speak.” Our Daily Bread, October 18, Our Daily Bread Ministries, 2021

Whatever - Part 2

When last I talked with you, I talked about the word “Whatever”.

• “Whatever” has become a weapon in conversations to shut down discussion whenever someone is done with the conversation.

• I also suggested that there might be certain things that need to be dumped on the rubbish heap of whatever.

• I told you that I have a bad case of the “Whatever's” when it comes to the News because it is dominated by harsh criticism, hate speech, cynicism, half truths or outright lies.

• When it comes to the News I have gotten in a permanent state of “Whatever” and have stopped listening and dismiss it all.

• And the same is true for much of social media.

• Which has really become the anti-social media.

• So, for the most part I have turned it off and shut it out.

It is not enough to just shed ourselves of the negativity published in the secular world, we must fill that space with the whatever's of God.

Last time we look at the first four of the Whatever's of [Philippians 4:8 NKJV] "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] [right/just], whatever things [are] pure,” 

Tonight, we will look at the last of God’s whatever's: “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."

Whatever Things are Lovely: Pleasing, splendid, beautiful

You would think that we could draw our understanding of what things are lovely from our understanding of love. 

• Unfortunately, in our society the word love is applied so broadly to so many things that its meaning has been substantially diminished. 

• We say things like:

• I love my new car.
• I love fishing.
• I love my new dress.
• I love my new iPhone.
• I love stainless steel trash can.

It is because our understanding of love has become so muddled that we are so often disappointed by love and may be confused about what things are lovely.

• Many loving relationships are conditional. 

• They depend on or require one person to respond lovingly towards another in order for the relationship to be sustained. 

• If a loving response is not forthcoming the chances are the relationship will end.

To understand things that are lovely in a Scriptural sense it would be worthwhile to understand how Scripture expresses love, since to be lovely, something must encompass attributes of love.

• The Greek word translated to the word love throughout the NT is almost exclusively agape, which is more accurately translated as unconditional love.

Turning to [1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV] "4[unconditional] Love is patient, [unconditional] love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 [unconditional] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  8 [unconditional] Love never fails. 

• Notice how many of the words or ideas of Philippians 4:8 are included in Paul’s description of unconditional love.

• Unconditional love stands alone. 

• It does not require a loving response on the part of the other person for us to continue to unconditionally love the other person. 

• If we are expressing unconditional love towards someone we will continue to show that love to them even if they respond hatefully towards us. 

That is why in 1 Cor. 13 it says, “5b[Unconditional love]  is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs … 7 it … always perseveres.  8 [Unconditional] love never fails.” 

That is why Jesus told us to love our enemies unconditionally.

• Unconditional love is not an emotion-based love – it is a God based love.

As 1 John 4:19 tells us, we can only unconditionally love others because God first loved us unconditionally.

In the same way something that is truly and genuinely lovely are the things that are of or from God.

• God is lovely.
• God’s statutes are lovely.
• God’s Word is lovely.
• Jesus and the HS are lovely and 
• Each of us as a child of God is lovely.

We should give our attention to each of these. 

• And it is through focusing on the first four we become lovely in the sight of each other, becoming ever more Christlike.

• To all things of God, we should give special care and loving attention.

Whatever Things are of Good Report: Admirable or Commendable

The term, “good report” is translated from the Greek word, euphēmos, [yoo'-fay-mos].

It is only found in one other verse in Scripture.

• It is essentially a unique term which can make understanding its Biblical significance challenging.

• Part of the way we understand Scripture is by reading it in context of other verses and comparing one word or verse to how the same word or verse is used elsewhere in the Scripture.

• Because the word is used so rarely, we must look to other appropriate contexts.

• In this case the operative word is “good”.

• So, we can understand what is of good report by understanding what the Biblical foundation of the word good is.

For me the definitive verse on the word good is Matthew 19. In verses 16-17 NKJV there is a story told of Jesus’ encounter with a young man and in the course of the story Jesus raises the very question about what is good - "16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" 17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one [is] good but One, [that is], God. 

Only things of God are good.

• Paul answers Jesus’ question about what is good in this way - whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, or praiseworthy then those things will be of good report and of God.

• To the extent that we see people and institutions lift up these things and support these things then they are of good report. 

• And when I say that they lift up and support these things I don’t just mean that they pay lip service to them but that they live and act out these things in their lives and in most everything that they do.

To discern what is of good report we must measure everything against Scripture.

• This is part of the reason I have shut out the news and social media. 

• I have found that there is very little of good report to be discovered there.

If There Is Any Virtue

You don’t hear much about virtue anymore.

• In our relativistic society what is virtuous and what is not has become little more than a matter of opinion that shifts on an almost daily basis.

• As with anything secular things having to do with the quality of life we are offered no helpful guidance.

• In the secular world there is no firm ground to stand on.

• The secular world has offered hundreds of thousands of self-help books.

• Most have hit the dustbin, but those that withstood the test of time set out well established ideas derived from Scripture even if the authors know it or not.

The Church universal is more helpful, having identified the Seven Heavenly Virtues: love, faith, hope, prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude.

I want to briefly turn our attention to the lesser known of these seven.

• First of these is Prudence also called Wisdom.

• Wisdom is not the same as knowledge or intelligence - it is quite different. 

• Many of the most knowledgeable and intelligent people are also the most ignorant in that their knowledge and intelligence has led them to deny God.

For the Christian [Proverbs 9:10 NKJV] tells us that "The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One [is] understanding."

• Furthermore Biblical Wisdom is more about using knowledge and intelligence to benefit not only yourself, but those around you.
• 
  

[Philippians 2:4 NKJV] says "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." “A society grows great …”

• At least three books in Scripture [Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes] are dedicated almost exclusively to providing insight to gaining wisdom.

• Second is Justice - we are not talking about legal justice. 

• Legal justice is usually legal but rarely just. 

• Justice is about how we treat each other. 

• It is about being even handed, unbiased, without prejudice, not showing favoritism towards one person at the expense of someone else.

• Hundreds of verses in Scripture encourage us to act justly and to do justice to those around us.

For example [Proverbs 21:15 NKJV] says " [It is] a joy for the just to do justice, but destruction [will come] to the workers of iniquity."

• Next is Temperance - is also called self-control.

• Temperance or self-control is really much more than simple restraint. 

• This type of self-control is more about moderation and balance.

• At the same time, it requires self-knowledge about those things that can exercise a controlling influence over us and require that we abstain or exercise extreme caution when we must engage with them.

• Alcoholics, Type 1 diabetics, workaholics, sports addicts, gamblers, holidays, etc.

• Temperance is one of the fruits of the HS as Galatians 5:22.
• 
  
• Lastly is Fortitude which encompasses elements such as courage, integrity, reliability, steadfastness, perseverance and decisiveness. 

• All of these things are spoken of throughout Scripture.

• It is this virtue that when we make a promise or a commitment that compels us to follow through until we have fulfilled the obligation.

Our best understanding of these virtues comes from the writing of Thomas Aquinas and is generally accepted across all denominations. 

• He wrote that virtues are habitual dispositions — patterns of mind and heart that bring about good actions, especially by preventing our impulsive desires from taking us to sin’s opposite extremes. 

• He went on to say that, Christians are disposed to act in virtuous ways because of the regenerating power and sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. 

• But new dispositions also require habituation — intentional cultivation through a life of obedient dependence on Christ. 

• He also said that of the seven virtues that love was the greatest of these virtues and that the other six virtues could only be achieved under the governing effect of love. (Griffith and Contributor)

The point that Thomas Aquinas is making is that any given virtue requires the love of God, the empowerment of the HS and our own willingness to nurture it in our lives cultivated not only in ourselves but also in others.

If there is anything praiseworthy?

We have become very liberal about our offering of praise. 

• We offer praise to people because of their intelligence, skill, beauty, cleverness, achievements, hard work, good efforts and the like. 

• And many people readily accept this praise and seek out praise having little humility or modesty as they receive it. 

• The praise of  people is often little more than flattery. 

• We offer praise sometimes insincerely just to have something nice to say.

Deuter says: 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, … 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when … your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, ... 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, …. [Deuter 8:11-14, 17-18 NIV]

All praise is due to God, but rarely do we publicly praise God.

• Let me just say though that God does not need our praise and glorification of Him.

• We do not praise God and give God the glory for His sake but for our sake and the sake of those around us.

• Praising God and giving thanks to God is one of the ways we point people to God.

• When we give God glory for what He has done, we put God into context for the people around us. 

• We show people how God is working in our lives and their lives. 

• Giving God the glory makes God’s glory visible to people. 

It makes God visible to people in a tangible way.

I also want to make one other distinction. 

• Offering encouragement is different from praising someone. 

• Praising someone is an end in itself. 

• Encouragement is always done with an eye towards helping a person to do more, accomplish more, to reach beyond their own self-defined limits. 

• Godly encouragement is always intended to help someone become more of the person that God intended.

• To fulfill more of the purposes that God has set out for them.

We are in fact told to encourage each other numerous times in Scripture. For example [1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV] "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…."

We also have the example of Joses, who was commended by the Apostles for his encouraging ways, so much so that they gave him the name or title Barnabas which means “Son of Encouragement” [Acts 4:36].

Finally Paul tells us, Meditate On These Things

So, Paul concludes this thought with the encouragement to meditate on what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous or praiseworthy.

• Dr. Larry Richards tells us that the Greek word for [meditate] implies concentrated, focused effort. “[Philippians 4:8] reminds us that we are to keep on stressing those things which share the qualities Paul listed.” (Richards 809)

• Not only should we work the presence of these attributes into our own lives, we should be ready to give encouragement to anyone we see around us who exhibits any of these attributes and offer thanks to God for the example He has given to us in the other person.

• Likewise let us be deliberate to shut out the news and social media that is full of harsh, unfair criticism, hate speech, cynicism, half-truths and outright lies.

• Furthermore, let us not tolerate, in those around us, conduct that is contrary to the things of Philippians 4:8 especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

• We do not need to be harsh with them but we do need to encourage them to be the better self that God would have them to be.

As we look at the things of God, we must be sure that we are seeing them clearly.

• We must guard ourselves against false prophets.

• The distortion of God’s word.

• Emphasizing some parts of the truth and ignoring other parts.

• In all these things we must be quite deliberate.

• How else shall we stem the tide of darkness, division and hatred if we do not shine the light of God’s glory through emphasizing the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous or praiseworthy.

• We must meditate on these things to make them an ever-larger part of who we are and an ever-larger part of the world we influence.

There is no better time of the year for such an undertaking than Christmas for it is at Christmas that all these things came to live among us in our Lord Jesus Christ who brings the light into this dark world.

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Works Cited

Griffith, Ryan, and Guest Contributor. “The Seven Heavenly Virtues: An Ancient Framework for Spiritual Formation.” Desiring God, Desiring God, 1 November 2021, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-seven-heavenly-virtues. Accessed 7 December 2021.

Richards, Lawrence O. The Bible Reader's Companion: Your Guide To Every Chapter Of The Bible. Chariot Victor Publishing, 1991.

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