Search
Scripture Reading: Phil. 4:8
Paul’s teaching in the book of Philippians is concerning our living of Christ. After much teaching concerning the main aspect of his subject, in 4:8 he says, “Finally, brothers, what things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of these things.” The word finally indicates that, although Paul has already written nearly four chapters, he still has more to say. He is still burdened to speak something further, but he does not have the time or the convenient way to finish his speaking, so he says, “Finally.” The other items he mentions in verse 8 are simply the outline of his further word. He does not give very many details, but he gives an outline comprising eight points. These points include: what things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of, any virtue, and any praise.
First, you must be a true person involved with true things. Then, you must be a person who deals with dignified things, not touching anything undignified. You also must be a person who is right in every way with God and with man. You also must be a person who is pure, touching only pure things. With the people of God, purity means much more than it does to the unbelievers. To the unbelievers, whether something is pure or not is of little concern. But God’s people must be pure in every way. As a child of God, you also must be lovely. This does not mean that you must be beautiful in outward appearance. Rather, it means that all the things you touch should be lovely. As a person, you may be lovely, but the things you touch daily may not be so lovely. In the world there are many lovely persons, but the clothing they wear and the places they go are absolutely not lovely.
As Christians we also must be well spoken of. In Ephesians 1:3 the word blessed means to be well spoken of. God speaks well of us having blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. But the devil, Satan, would never speak well of us. So we must realize that to be well spoken of is not easy. In Matthew 5:11 the Lord Jesus said that the persecutors would say every evil thing against the believers, lying. These evil things that are spoken about the believers are fabricated things. These fabricated things always have a little bit of truth in them. Although we may not have a good name because we are evil spoken of by our opposers and persecutors, we must try our best to touch only the things which can be well spoken of.
At the end of Philippians 4:8 Paul concludes with two items that sum up the points mentioned in the earlier part of the verse. These two items are virtue and praise. The phrase if there is any virtue and if any praise is difficult to understand. The word praise here does not refer to our praise of God. Rather, it refers to others’ praise toward us concerning the things we do that are worthy of praise. The word virtue in English usage denotes the inner energy to do good things. In Luke 8:44-46 the King James Version says that when the woman touched the border of the Lord’s garment, virtue went out from Him to heal her. This virtue was the power or strength to do good. But in Philippians 4:8 the meaning of virtue is different. Virtue here means “excellence.” You may have good conduct, but unless it is the best, it cannot be considered virtue. Virtue is conduct on the highest level. If you have this kind of excellent conduct, whatever you do will be praised by others. First, there is excellent conduct or virtue, then there is praise by others.
If you are a person with all of these eight items, you are a person with good character, a person with excellent characteristics. Each of the items mentioned here is a characteristic, and these characteristics are your very expression. Your expression to people is your character. Character is your disposition expressed in an outward form. Inwardly, you have your disposition, and outwardly, you have your character.
Many elements of our character are often expressed unconsciously by our nature and habit. Character is constituted with thirty percent nature by birth and seventy percent habit formed by the daily life. Our character is expressed in many characteristics. These characteristics are built up with thirty percent of our nature and seventy percent of our habit. You may have been born a slow person. If you were under strict parents and teachers who would not allow you to be slow but compelled you to be quick, it would change, to some extent, the slowness you received by birth. If, on the other hand, you were born slow and lived with parents who were also slow, then a habit of being slow would have been built up within you. The slowness you received by birth would be joined to a habit of slowness to form a character with this terrible characteristic.
The New Testament tells us that to follow the Lord we must learn to deny ourselves. Yet we must ask, what is the self? The self within is our disposition, and the self expressed is our character. We often say that young boys are very stubborn and that young girls are not. A father may be very strict in dealing with his son when he does something wrong. But often his son will not do what he tells him to do, even after the son agrees with his father to do it. This exposes the young boy’s stubborn character. If he is very stubborn with his father, he may be even more stubborn as a brother in the church life or when he has his own family.
Males usually have a particular characteristic of being stubborn in an apparent way, yet females do not seem to be stubborn at all. Actually, both males and females are stubborn because they both are descendants of Adam. Even though males and females are the same in some aspects of character, there are some differences. Females or sisters, being the weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7), have a number of small weak points. One of the most apparent weak points is the matter of shedding tears. Females may be weak by nature, but they must exercise not to form a habit of shedding tears. Once such a habit is developed, it becomes a strong element in their character. This character is just the self. The Lord said in Matthew 16:24 that anyone who wants to come after Him must deny himself. The self that must be denied in the case of the sisters is the dropping of tears.
Brothers, however, have the opposite problem of not shedding tears. In Acts 20 Paul testified that he served the Lord and admonished the saints with tears (vv. 19, 31). Many times after reading this, I have rebuked myself for not shedding tears. I have gotten into the habit that when tears come, I call them back so that they fall only inside of me and not outside. But sometimes, to follow the Lord, we must be able to shed tears. Brothers must learn to be against themselves to shed tears, and sisters must learn to be against themselves not to shed tears.
As Christians, we are people on the highest level. Whether we are rich or poor, highly educated or uneducated, we are people of a high standard. We may have a low position in society, but whatever we do, even if it is to sweep the street, it should be done according to a high standard. Our character must be very high. For example, we may prefer quickness to slowness. But often our quickness is too wild without any standard. Even quickness must be the proper quickness according to a high standard. The way we take care of our hair should also be of a high standard, even with dignity.
The eight items mentioned in Philippians 4:8 are items that we must pick up to build up our character. We must be people with a character that is true in every way, dignified in everything, righteous, pure in every aspect, lovely, and well spoken of. Although we cannot avoid being belittled, smeared, and damaged by our persecutors, we do have a certain kind of character. This character is something that has been built up and constituted within our being over many years. As human beings, we all have certain characteristics, which are points of our character. Therefore, if we hear an accusation against someone we have known for a number of years, we do not receive it. The reason for this is that we know the character of that person. This person’s character has certain characteristics that do not correspond to the accusation.
Young people should try their best to pick up good habits. One such habit is making your bed in the morning. If I want to find out about a young man’s character, the first thing I would look at is his bed. This is a small thing, but what we are is more easily expressed in small things than in big things. In big things we can perform or act as actors, but in small things we are really genuine, expressing what we really are. I recommend the book Character to you so that it may be a help in developing your character. The first three points of character presented in this book are genuineness, exactness, and strictness. To be genuine is to be what you are without any pretension. To be exact is to be accurate, without understatement or exaggeration. In married life many separations and divorces are due to carelessness and inaccuracies. In the church life inaccuracies can cause a lot of trouble. We must practice to build up our character by learning to be genuine, exact, and strict.
By practicing, we build up a habit. For example, some dust only the middle of a piece of furniture, neglecting the edges. But others dust the entire piece of furniture thoroughly. This is by habit. We must build up a habit of doing things thoroughly. We should also practice to be accurate. A person who does not practice to be accurate cannot rightly understand the Bible. If you practice to be accurate, when you read the Bible, you will read it accurately, because this is your habit. For example, 1 Corinthians 14:23, a verse that is very familiar to us, says, “If therefore the whole church comes together in one place.” The first two words are neglected by most readers. The word therefore simply indicates a continuation of the foregoing verse. But the word if indicates a great deal more. If the church comes together regularly, there is no need to say, “If the church comes together.” If indicates that the whole church does not come together regularly. Our practice corresponds to this verse. The New Testament way of practicing the church meetings was to mainly meet in the homes. Sometimes the whole church came together, so if is used. This is an example of accuracy and strictness. If by practice you have been built up as a strict and accurate person, you will pay attention to each word of the Bible.
Question: Should we use our natural effort to build up our character?
Answer: No, we should not. As Christians seeking after the Lord, we do not need to do anything by our own effort. We should always do things first by prayer. This is the reason that the Bible charges us to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). We should praise the Lord and tell Him that we are weak and unable to do what we should do. Then after some prayer, we should exercise to trust in the Lord and look unto Him daily. If we are concerned about our character, we should pray, trust in the Lord, and look unto Him. We look unto Him to help us build up our character and to rescue us from our old habit. This is what is meant by endeavoring. In Colossians 1:29 Paul says that he struggled. It seems that it is we who are struggling, but actually, we trust the Lord to do things. When we say that we must endeavor to do things, this does not mean that we do things with our own effort, like Olympic athletes. Rather, we endeavor, struggle, and even fight, not by ourselves but through prayer, trusting in the Lord.
Question: Can outward rules and regulations like those in this training help us to develop character? These all seem to be outward. But to pray, trusting the Lord, and looking to Him seem to be more inward. Are both useful?
Answer: It is difficult to say that looking to the Lord is only inward. To look unto the Lord or to trust in the Lord is both inward and outward. We do have an attitude and we also hold such a spirit that we are looking unto Him, trusting Him to do things for us. Even this is a kind of character, a good Christian character. This is something every seeking Christian should have. All day long we should have an attitude that we are looking to the Lord, trusting in Him, and praying to Him. When we are such persons, our colleagues or co-workers who are with us daily and weekly will notice that we are people who trust in the Lord. This is our cooperation with the Lord. We are linked to Him, joined to Him, as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). So we must live such a life, doing everything by trusting in Him through prayer.
