Think On These Things

We are told in Romans 12:2 to not be conformed to the world, and we are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to take every thought captive to obey Christ, but how do we do this? Paul gives us the answer (at least an important part of it) in his letter to the Philippians where he writes:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

If we want to renew our minds and bring our thought life into obedience to the Word of God, if we want to have the mind of Christ, we cannot keep feeding our minds on the stuff of the world. In this list Paul tells us what the Christian mind should be occupied with; we cannot feed our thoughts lusts and passions of the world and expect to ever have a renewed mind. And as long as we do not renew our minds we will always be conformed to the world.

So what do these words imply? John MacArthur explains this this way:

True. What is true is found in God (2 Tim. 2:25), in Christ (Eph. 4:20, 21), in the Holy Spirit (John 16:13), and in God’s Word (John 17:17). noble.[Nobel - ESV] The Greek term means “worthy of respect.” Believers are to meditate on whatever is worthy of awe and adoration, i.e., the sacred as opposed to the profane. just. This refers to what is right. The believer is to think in harmony with God’s divine standard of holiness. pure. That which is morally clean and undefiled. lovely. The Greek term means “pleasing” or “amiable.” By implication, believers are to focus on whatever is kind or gracious. of good report. [commendable - ESV] That which is highly regarded or thought well of. It refers to what is generally considered reputable in the world, such as kindness, courtesy, and respect for others.

John MacArthur - The MacArthur Study Bible

These are the things we are told to focus our minds on. The Bible teaches that the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 5:5-6). Our very salvation involves the renewing, or transforming, of our minds. This is the key to living a Godly life.

For this reason I have picked this verse, Philippians 4:8, as our memory verse for this week.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

And don't forget to keep working on our previous verses as well:

Psalm 119:11
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Hebrews 1:1-2
Joshua 24:14-15
Philippians 2:5-11

Conformed To The Image Of Christ

I have been spending a lot of time here lately in the book of Romans. It seems that whatever I am studying over the past few months always seems to lead me back to Romans, so I thought this week for our memory verses I would pick something from this great epistle. As Christians we all seem to know Romans 8:28 (although we tend to misquote it), but we usually ignore the verses immediately following this verse. Romans 8:28 says:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

We normally hear this quoted like this: "All things work together for good" but this completely misses the context of this verse and the great promise that we are given here.

In this verse we have a promise from God that everything that happens to His children (and note that the promise is only given to His children) is being orchestrated by Him for our ultimate good.

Does this mean that everything we experience will be pleasant? No, but it will be for our good.

Does it mean that we will enjoy everything that we go through? No, but it will be for our good.

Does it mean that we will never experience pain, or loss, or grief? No, but when we do we can rest in the fact that our heavenly Father has seen fit to allow that situation to come into our lives, and He promises that it will work for our good.

And what is the good that it is working toward? We can see that in the next few verses. In God's economy it is not necessarily His will that I have a big house, that I drive an expensive car, or that I have a lot of money in my 401k. It is, however, His will that I be conformed to the image of His Son. And that is what we see in the subsequent verses.

In verse 29 we read that those whom He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, and then in verse 30 we see that that is exactly what will happen to "those who love God and are called according to His purpose." In this verse we read: those He predestined He also called; those He called He also justified, and those He justified He also glorified (He conformed them to the image of Christ).

So what we have here is a promise that our sovereign God is in control of every situation that we will ever encounter, and He has promised that everything we encounter in our lives is leading us toward that final outcome - becoming like His Son.

There is a lot a deep theology in these three verses (and we will get into that at a later time), but for now just rejoice in the fact that no matter what we are going through, have gone through, or will go through in the future, is being used by our Father to mold us into the likeness of Christ.

Our memory verses for this week then are:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:28-30

The Exalted Name Of Jesus

Here is an excerpt from the 1890 book, In Green Pastures by J.R. Miller. I thought this quote was appropriate as we continue memorizing this week in Philippians chapter 2. We began last week to commit to memory Philippians 2:5-8 where we learn that our attitude is to be like the attitude of Christ, and then we see what that attitude looks like. In this excerpt we see that if we are to become like Jesus we must focus our attention on Him; it is only as we gaze upon the beauty of Jesus that we will begin to see His character and attitude begin to become a part of us - we will begin to be like Him. And the more we gaze upon Him the more we will become like Him. It is in this way that we begin to think like Jesus and that we actually, as the KJV & ESV says here, let His mind be in us. Here is what J.R. Miller had to say:

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

Hebrews 12:2

Keeping the heart upon Christ--transfigures the life. The old monks intently gazed upon the crucifix, thinking that the print of the nails would come in their hands and feet, and the thorn-scars in their brow--as they gazed.

It was but an utter fiction--yet in the fiction there is a spiritual truth. Gazing by faith upon Christ--the lines of His beauty indeed imprint themselves on our hearts! That is the meaning of Paul's words--"We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord--are transformed into the same image!"

The gospel is the mirror. There we see the image of Christ. If we earnestly, continuously, and lovingly behold it--the effect will be the changing of our own lives into His likeness. The transformation is wrought by the Holy Spirit, and we are only to behold, to continue beholding, the blessed beauty! As we sit before Christ--His image is imprinted on our soul.

So take some time today - and every day - to sit before Christ and just behold Him. And here then are our memory verses for this week:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

The Attitude Of Christ

In Philippians 2:5 we are told that we are to have the attitude of Christ; the NASB says, Have this attitude in yourselves that was also in Christ Jesus. The next several verses then go on to describe what this attitude looks like, it says (still from the NASB):

who, although He existed in the in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

(verses 6-8)

So the attitude of Christ is to be a humble servant, to put the greater need of others before your own needs, and to obey God to the point of death if necessary, but how do we develop this attitude in ourselves?

The answer is given in the following verses; look specifically at verse 13, which says, "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." And back in chapter 1 we read, "... He who began a good work in you will perfect it (ESV, bring it to completion) until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6). So the way we get this attitude is through obedience submission, and surrender to God.

I encourage you to take some time today to get alone with God and spend some time in prayer asking Him to reveal any area in your life where you have not surrendered or where you are not obeying and submit to His authority. As you do He will complete the work that He has begun in you and you will find that day by day you are becoming more and more like Jesus.

And let's take this passage as our memory verses for this week:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

Philippians 2:5-8 (NASB)

Next week will will tackle the rest of this passage

Scripture Memory - Week 4

It's time again for another memory verse and this week I chose a verse from a sermon I heard that really convicted me. The sermon was about how when we sin the underlying issue is not the sin we think we are committing; the issue is idolatry. Let me explain: let's imagine that you have an issue with worrying about money and as a result you loose sleep, or you become a work-a-holic, or you steal, or... you get the picture. In each of these cases the issue is not the sin of worry, or working too much, or stealing (yes those things are sins), the underlying issue in all of these is idolatry. You have taken God off of His rightful throne and made money your god. This is just one example (and probably a bad one at that) but this same scenario could be played out with lust, or greed, or anger, or anything that you might struggle with. The issue is not that sin, that sin is just the result. The real issue, at its very core, is idolatry.

So what we must do then is to make a choice; are we going to worship God, or are we going to worship the god that we have put in His place? That is what this week's memory verses are all about. As Joshua addressed the children of Israel right before his death he told them that they were going to have to make a choice as to what they were going to worship: either the gods of their fathers, the gods of the land where they were now living, or the one true God. This is a choice that each of us will have to make as well.

Here is this week's verse:

Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:14-15

And don't forget the verses we have already memorized:

Psalm 119:11
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Hebrews 1:1-2

Vacation Is Over

Well, it has been 2 weeks since I have posted anything, but vacation is over now and it is time to get back to work. I just spent 10 wonderful days in the Caribbean with my wife, and I can't think of anyplace I would rather have been. There is just nothing like sitting in the sun with a nice breeze blowing in off the ocean, a good book in your hand, and your sweetie by your side. I was able to get caught up on a lot of stuff that I have been meaning to read, and I expect that some of that will show up in some posts in the near future. But the reason for this post today is just to give you the next verse for our Scripture memorization challenge. Last week one of the things I was able to do was to slowly read, re-read, and meditate on the book of Hebrews (which just may be my favorite book in the whole Bible). There is just so much Theology in that book, and as a result there are a lot of good verses for memorization. So for this weeks verse let's start at the beginning; our new verse for this week is Hebrews 1:1-2

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Hebrews 1:1-2

Why Memorize Scripture?

As I said yesterday I haven't had the time to do much writing lately, but I do still have a lot of stuff to post here (and the stack keep getting bigger). Here is an article by John Piper, who is one of my favorite authors and preachers, talking about why we should memorize Scripture. As I read this I thought that if Scripture memorization is that important then we should do it together, so at the end of this article I will add a verse or two for us to memorize and then will add a new verse or passage each week going forward. If we are disciplined and take the time to do this each week in just one year we will have memorized at least 52 passages of Scripture.

Why Memorize Scripture?

First, a few testimonies: I have it third hand, that Dr. Howard Hendricks (of Dallas Seminary) once made the statement (and I paraphrase) that if it were his decision, every student graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary would be required to learn one thousand verses word perfect before they graduated.

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote, "Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That's where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization" ("Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person" in Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7).

Chuck Swindoll wrote, "I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture... No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified" (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).
One of the reasons Martin Luther came to his great discovery in the Bible of justification by faith alone was that in his early years in the Augustinian monastery he was influenced to love Scripture by Johann Staupitz. Luther devoured the Bible in a day when people earned doctorates in theology without even reading the Bible. Luther said that his fellow professor, Andreas Karlstadt, did not even own a Bible when he earned his doctor of theology degree, nor did he until many years later (www.orlutheran.com/html/luthbibl.html). Luther knew so much of the Bible from memory that when the Lord opened his eyes to see the truth of justification in Romans 1:17, he said, "Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory," in order to confirm what he had found.

So here are a few reasons why so many have viewed Scripture memorization as so essential to the Christian life.

1. Conformity to Christ
Paul wrote that "we all... beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." If we would be changed into Christ likeness we must steadily see him. This happens in the word. "The LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD" (1 Samuel 3:21). Bible memorization has the effect of making our gaze on Jesus to be steadier and clearer.

2. Daily Triumph over Sin
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word... I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:9, 11). Paul said that we must "by the Spirit... put to death the [sinful] deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). The one piece of armor used to kill is the "sword of the Spirit," which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). As sin lures the body into sinful action, we call to mind a Christ-revealing word of Scripture and slay the temptation with the superior worth and beauty of Christ over what sin offers.

3. Daily Triumph over Satan
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness he recited Scripture from memory and put Satan to flight (Matthew 4:1-11).

4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love
The times when people need you to give them comfort and counsel do not always coincide with the times you have your Bible handy. Not only that, the very word of God spoken spontaneously from your heart has unusual power. Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." That is a beautiful way of saying, When the heart full of God's love can draw on the mind full of God's word, timely blessings flow from the mouth.

5. Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers
Opportunities to share the gospel come when we do not have the Bible in hand. Actual verses of the Bible have their own penetrating power. And when they come from our heart, as well as from the Book, the witness is given that they are precious enough to learn. We should all be able to sum up the gospel under four main headings (1) God's holiness/law/glory; 2) man's sin/rebellion/disobedience; 3) Christ's death for sinners; 4) the free gift of life by faith. Learn a verse or two relating to each of these, and be ready in season and out of season to share them.

6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways
The way we commune with (that is, fellowship with) God is by meditating on his attributes and expressing to him our thanks and admiration and love, and seeking his help in living a life that reflects the value of these attributes. Therefore, storing texts in our minds about God helps us relate to him as he really is. For example, imagine being able to call this to mind through the day:
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:8-14)

I used the word "enjoyment" intentionally when I said, "communion with God in the enjoyment of his person and ways." Most of us are emotionally crippled -- all of us really. We do not experience God in the fullness of our emotional potential. How will that change? One way is to memorize the emotional expressions of the Bible and speak them to the Lord and to each other until they become part of who we are. For example, in Psalm 103:1, we say, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!" That is not a natural expression for many people. But if we memorize this and other emotional expressions from the Bible, and say them often, asking the Lord to make the emotion real in our hearts, we can actually grow into that emotion and expression. It will become part of who we are. We will be less crippled emotionally and more able to render proper praise and thanks to God.

There are other reasons for memorizing Scripture. I hope you find them in the actual practice.

John Piper

Any one of these is a good enough reason to memorize God's word, and I can't think of a single good reason not to. So let's memorize as our first verse here one that tells us why memorization is important. Ready? let's get started:

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:11

And since I will be away next week here is that verse for then too:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

I'll see you it two weeks with another verse.