What to think about - Chambers, Oswald
Philippians 4:8
Never run away with the idea that it does not matter much what we believe or think; it does. What we think and believe, we are; not what we say we think and believe, but what we really do think and believe, we are; there is no divorce at all. To believe, in the sense our lord used the word, is never an intellectual act but a moral act. The following quotation from dr. Arnold21 of rugby explains the way fanatics are made, and also points out the incongruity of those christians who are sanctified and yet show an unconscionable bigotry and narrow-mindedness in their mental outlook:
I am quite sure that it is a most solemn duty to cul-
tivate our understandings to the uttermost, for I
have seen the evil moral consequences of fanaticism
to a greater degree than I ever expected to see them
realised; and I am satisfied that a neglected intellect
is far oftener the cause of mischief to a man than a
perverted or over-valued one. Men retain their nat-
ural quickness and cleverness while their reason and
judgement are allowed to go to ruin, and thus they do
work their minds and gain influence, and are pleased
at gaining it; but it is the undisciplined mind which
they are exercising, instead of one wisely disciplined.
The freedom of christian thinking
Whatsoever things are true, . . . Think on these things.
It is more painful to think about these things than to think about what we know, about what is old in our experience, because immediately we begin to think gods thoughts after him we have to bring concentration to bear, and that takes time and discipline. When once the mind begins to think, the horizon is continually broadening and widening, there is a general unsettlement, and the danger is to go back to the old confined way and become fanatical and obstinate. This explains why some people who really are gods children have such an inveterate dislike of study. They do not quite call it the devil, but they come pretty near it. To give time to soak in gods truth, time to find out how to think along gods line, appears to them a snare and delusion. All the insubordination and difficulties and upsets come from the people who will not think. Glean your thinking, says paul, and we must do it by will. What are we doing with our brains now that we have entered into the sanctified life? The holy spirit energises the will to a complete mastery of the brain; then dont be a wool-gatherer mentally. If we are saved and sanctified by gods grace, it is unadulterated mental laziness on our part not to rouse ourselves up to think. It is not a question of the opportunities of learning, but of the determination to be continually renewed in the spirit of our mind.
(a) the topic of the things of truth
The things of truth are things which are in keeping with the person of truth, the lord jesus christ: i am . . . The truth. Truth therefore means not only accuracy, but accuracy about something that corresponds with god. We must distinguish between an accurate fact and a truthful fact. The devil, sin, dis- ease, spiritualism, are all accurate facts, but they are not truthful facts. Christian science makes the blunder of saying that because sin is not of the nature of truth, therefore it is not a fact. But sin is a fact. The accuracy of facts and the accuracy of the facts of truth are two different things. Never say that things that are not of the truth are non-existent. There are many facts that are not of the truth, that is, they do not cor- respond with god, Paul says, limit your thinking to the things that are true
Have you begun to discipline your mind in that way? If you have, people may pour bucket-loads of the devils garbage over your head but it will have no more effect on you than dirt has on a crystal. Our minds are apt to be all abroad, like an octopus with its tentacles out to catch everything that comes along newspaper garbage, spiritualistic garbage, advertisement garbage, we let them all come and make a dumping ground of our heads, and then sigh and mourn and say we cannot think right thoughts. Beware of saying you cannot help your thoughts; you can; you have all the almighty power of god to help you. We have to learn to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ, and it takes time. We want to reach it in a moment like a rocket, but it can only be done by a gradual moral discipline, and we do not like discipline, we want to do it all at once.
(b) the topic of the things of honesty
Honesthonourable (rv ), reverend (rv mg). The word honest has come down in the world, it means something noble and massive, awe-inspiring and grand, that awakens our reverence and inspires sublime thoughts, as a cathedral does. The things of honesty make a mans character sublime, and Paul counsels us to think on these things. See that there is a correspondence between a sublime piece of architecture and your character. Anything that awakens the sense of the sublime is an honourable thing. In the natural realm a sunset, a sunrise, mountain scenery, music, or poetry will awaken a sense of the sublime. In the moral world, truthfulness in action will awaken it. Truthfulness in action is different from truthfulness in speech. Truth-speaking people are an annoyance, they spank children for having imagination; they are stick- lers for exact accuracy of speech and would have every- one say the same thing, like gramophone records; they drag down the meaning of truth out of its sphere. So we mean truthfulness in action, a true act all through. Another thing that awakens the sense of the sub- lime is suffering that arises from the misunderstanding of those whom one esteems highest. Jesus christ brought this suffering to the white heat of perfection; he let those he esteemed misunderstand him foully and never once vindicated himself, but was meek towards all his fathers dispensations for him. That is moral sublimity. In the spiritual world, the sense of the sublime is awakened by such a life as that of Abraham, or of the apostle paul, or of anyone going through the trial of their faith. Though he slay me, yet will i trust in him. That is the most sublime utterance of faith in the old testament. We are accustomed to think of honourable things in connection with the spiritual world, but there are honourable things in the natural world and in the moral world as well. We have the idea that god has only to do with the spiritual, and if the devil can suc- ceed in keeping us with that idea, he will have a great deal of his own way; but paul pushes the battle-line into every domain whatsoever things are honest, . . . Think on these things, because behind them all is god.
(c) the topic of the things of justice
Justice means rightness with god; nothing is just until it is adjusted to god. The justice of a law court is superficial exactitude between man and man. That is why we often rebel against the verdict of a law court, although its justice can be proved to the hilt. Paul is not referring to justice between man and man, but to the very essence of justice, and he knows no justice where god is ignored. The great exhibition of justice is jesus christ; there was no superficial exactitude in his life because he was perfectly at one with god. The standard all through the sermon on the mount is that of conduct arising from a right relationship to god. We sayoh well, i certainly would show a forgiving spirit to them if they would be right with me. Jesus said, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Take any of the teaching of the sermon on the mount and you will find it is never put on the ground that because a man is right with me, therefore i will be the same to him, but always on the ground of a right relationship to jesus christ first, and then the showing of that same relationship to others. To look for justice from other people is a sign of deflection from devotion to jesus christ. Never look for justice, but never cease to give it. We think of jus- tice in the most absurd connectionsbecause people tread on our little notions, our sense of what is right, we call that injustice. When once we realise how we have behaved towards god all the days of our life until we became adjusted to him through the atonement, our attitude to our fellow men will be that of absolute humility (cf. Ephesians 4:32).
(d) the topic of the things of purity
Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity means stainlessness, an unblemishedness that has stood the test. Purity is learned in private, never in public. Jesus christ demands purity of mind and imagination, chastity of bodily and mental habits. The only men and women it is safe to trust are those who have been tried and have stood the test; purity is the outcome of conflict, not of necessity. You cannot trust innocence or natural goodness; you cannot trust possibilities. This explains jesus christs attitude. Our lord trusted no man (see john 2:2425), yet he was never suspicious, never bitter; his confidence in what gods grace could do for any man was so perfect that he never despaired of anyone. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end in despairing of every one
But when we limit our thinking to the things of purity we shall think only of what gods grace has done in others, and put our confidence in that and in nothing else. Look back over your life and see how many times you have been pierced through with wounds, and all you can say when god deals with you is, well, it serves me right; over and over again god taught me not to trust in myself, not to put confidence in men, and yet i have persisted in doing it. God holds us responsible for being ignorant in these matters, and the cure for ignorance is to think along the lines paul indicates here. It will mean that we shall never stand up for our own honour, or for the honour of others; we shall stand only for the honour and the dignity of the lord jesus christ. Our temperamental outlook is altered by thinking; and when god alters the disposition, temperament begins to take its tone from the new disposition. These things are not done suddenly, they are only done gradually, by the stern discipline of the life under the teaching of the spirit of god.
(e) the topic of the things of loveliness
That is, the things that are morally agreeable and pleasant. The word lovely has the meaning of juicy and delicious. That is the definition given by calvin, and he is supposed to be a moloch22 of severity! We have the idea that our duty must always be disagree- able, and we make any number of duties out of dis- eased sensibilities. If our duty is disagreeable, it is a sign that we are in a disjointed relationship to god. If god gave some people a fully sweet cup, they would go carefully into a churchyard and turn the cup upside down and empty it, and say, no, that could never be meant for me. The idea has become incorporated into their make-up that their lot must always be miserable. Once we become rightly related to god, duty will never be a disagreeable thing of which we have to say with a sigh, oh, well, i must do my duty. Duty is the daughter of god. Never take your estimate of duty after a sleepless night, or after a dose of indigestion; take your sense of duty from the spirit of god and the word of jesus. There are people whose lives are diseased and twisted by a sense of duty which god never inspired; but once let them begin to think about the things of loveliness, and the healing forces that will come into their lives will be amazing. The very essence of godliness is in the things of loveliness; think about these things, says Paul.
(f ) the topic of the things of good report
Literally, the things that have a fine face, a winning and attractive tone about them. What should we be like after a year of thinking on these things? We might not be fatter, but i am certain we should look pleasanter! When we do think about the things of good report we shall be astonished to realise where they are to be found; they are found where we only expected to find the opposite. When our eyes are fixed on jesus christ we begin to see qualities blossoming in the lives of others that we never saw there before. We see people whom we have tabooed and put on the other side exhibiting qualities we have never exhibited, although we call ourselves saved and sanctified. Never look for other people to be holy; it is a cruel thing to do, it distorts your view of yourself and of others. Could anyone have had a sterner view of sin than jesus had, and yet had anyone a more loving, tender patience with the worst of men than he had? The difference in the attitude is that jesus christ never expected men to be holy; he knew they could not be: he came to make men holy. All he asks of men is that they acknowledge they are not right, then he will do all the restblessed are the poor in spirit. It comes back to the central message of jesus christ, i, if i be lifted up . . . If we preach any- thing other than jesus christ, and him crucified, we make our doctrines god and ourselves the judge of others. Think of the times we have hindered the spirit of god by trying to help others when only god could help them, because we have forgotten to discipline our own minds. It is the familiar truth that we have to be stern in proclaiming gods word, let it come out in all its rugged bluntness, unwatered down and unrefined; but when we deal with others we have to remember that we are sinners saved by grace. The tendency to-day is to do exactly the opposite, we make all kinds of excuses for gods word oh god does not expect us to be perfect, and when we deal with people personally we are amazingly hard. All these things lead us back to jesus christhe is the truth; he is the honourable one; he is the just one; he is the pure one; he is the altogether lovely one: he is the only one of good report. No matter where we start from, we will always come back to jesus christ.
The frontiers of christian thinking
. . . If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Paul seems to come to the conclusion that he has not made the area of thinking wide enough yet, so he says, if there is any morally excellent thing, any- thing whatever to praise, anything recommendable, take account of it. We are apt to discard the virtues of those who do not know jesus christ and call them Pagan virtues. Paul counsels, if there is any virtue anywhere in the world, think about it, because the natural virtues are remnants of gods handiwork and will always lead to the one central source, jesus christ. We have to form the habit of keeping our mental life on the line of the great and beautiful things paul mentions. It is not a prescribed ground. It is we who make limitations and then blame god for them. Many of us behave like ostriches, we put our heads in the sand and forget altogether about the world outside i have had this and that experience and i am not going to think of anything else. After a while we have aches and pains in the greater part of ourselves, which is outside our heads, and then we find that god sanctifies every bit of us, spirit, soul and body. God grant we may get out into the larger horizons of gods book. Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The spirit of god is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is not of god is the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppression and depression. The spirit of god convicts vividly and tensely, but he is always the spirit of liberty. God who made the birds never made bird-cages; it is men who make bird-cages, and after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg. When we get out into gods great free life, we discover that that is the way god means us to live the glorious liberty of the children of God.