Philippians 4:8 “Think on these Things”, Part 1 – Pr. Will Weedon, 3/18/26 (0773)

0:00Thy strong word, we praise you and acknowledge you up through endless ranks of angels. Hi, this is Pastor Will Whedon, inviting you to join us for our hymn sing at the 2026 Issues, etc., making the case conference this year's theme, singing the ancient faith in our own days. Making the case is Friday, June 12th, and Saturday, June 13th at Concordia University, Chicago. Find out more in register at issuesetc.org. Find yours when shall I see.

1:04The Concordia seminary chorus with Jerusalem my happy home. Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians that our citizenship is in heaven, that we are in essence a colony from the future world, from the world to come in Jesus Christ. So what does our life, what does our mind, our heart, and our walk as he puts it? Look like as we live as colonists in this world. Welcome back to Issues, etc., coming to you live from the studios of Lutheran Public Radio in Collinsville, Illinois. I'm Todd Wilkin, thanks for tuning us in. Pastor Will Whedon joins us to talk about Philippians for eight, think on these things. He's assistant pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamill, Illinois, formerly served as director of worship for the Lutheran Church Missouri Senate. He's author of the books, Celebrating the Saints, Thank Praise, Serve and Obey. See my Savior's hands, and I remember a life of Mary. He hosts the daily 15 minute verse by verse, Bible study produced by Lutheran Public Radio, called The Word of the Lord Endures Forever. Well, welcome back. Hey, thank you, Todd. What gave you the idea of

2:10doing a deep dive into just a single verse like this? Well, I think what put it in my head was praying the daily office. I love to pray the daily office from, you know, the little Lindemann book. I don't know if you remember that from years ago. I picked one up when I was at Concordia Bronx Phil, and it's just sort of my daily companion. So during the week of Oakley, the third week in Lent, there are two prayers that are offered. One of them reads like this, whatsoever things are pure and lovely, whatsoever things are gentle and generous, whatsoever things are noble and self-forgetful, honorable, and of good report. These things, O Lord, grant that we may with one accord pursue through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. I was in the morning office, and then in the evening office, this prayer was offered. Oh, Heavenly Father, we humbly beseech thee to give unto this household and unto each member of it in particular,

3:14a desire and taste for the things that are high and spiritual, the love of holiness, and the longing for the life of heaven. Grant that whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. If there be anything which is unselfish and generous, if there be anything which thou wilt accept and reward, we may think on these things. And by the help of thy Holy Spirit may order our lives and form our characters according to them through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. So in the prayers this past week, this verse was very much sort of shoved in my face, and the more I thought about it, I thought we don't talk enough about all of the things St. Paul is enumerating there. So let's zoom out if you would for some context on the Philippian Christians. Where would you go?

4:15Yeah, we are so blessed that we have Luke's account of how the gospel came to Philippi. So this is all given to us in Acts 16, and remember Paul was proposing to go to different areas, and the Holy Spirit kept, you know, closing doors in his face and trying to redirect him, till he has this vision of a man of Macedonia calling for Paul to come over and bring the gospel there. It's remarkable for a number of things. It's at this point in the narrative in Acts 16 that Luke joins the crew. You notice it goes from they or he, it becomes we, we went. So we answer this call. Luke goes with Paul into Europe to bring the gospel for the first time onto European soil. And when they go there, they gradually make their way to Philippi, which was like the capital of the province of Macedonia, named after Philip of Macedon, right? The father of

5:19Alexander the Great. So it's a very Greek place, if you will, and yet listen to what happens. They go there, they find some women at the Riverside. Obviously, there's not so many Jews at the place that they could have a synagogue. That would be Paul's normal place to go. He goes to the Riverside where he assumes there'll be a place of prayer. He finds some women there, including Lydia. And as she listens to the gospel, the Lord opens her heart and she rejoices, and she's like, please come and stay with me. Stay at my house if I've found favor with you. And they just kept going back to that place to meet. And while they were doing that, there was a demoniac that really annoyed Paul, just kept on mocking him, saying, oh, these guys, they're proclaiming to you the way of God. You all need to listen to them. And Paul got so fed up after days of dealing with this, that he drove this spirit out of the woman who had experienced this possession. And then her owners were really, really mad because they made

6:25their money by her fortune telling. And Paul had just ruined that. But I'm going into detail to get to this verse, verse 20 of chapter 16. Well, we can go back to 19. When our owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they have brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews. And they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice, to get all of that. You need to sort of step back and realize, oh, Rome was really clever. By the way, they spread their empire. They would pick out a place like Philippi and say, guess what? You guys are so lucky. You live here in this city. We're

7:25going to make you be a Roman colony. You're going to have all the rights and privileges of being a Roman, even though you're right here in the middle of Greece. And you can tell how much this actually tickled their fancy. They loved it. They loved it. Thought that we are Roman citizens. Of course, they have no clue. It will come out by the end of the chapter that Paul is himself a Roman citizen. They don't realize that. They just did Jewish troublemaker. But the idea of Philippi as a colony is what I think leads Paul in writing to the Philippians to speak of their heavenly homeland. And to use this image, you guys are colonists of the future. You're colonists of the kingdom right now. And so the values, the virtues of the kingdom, this is what will need to characterize your whole life. And I think that's what he's getting at

8:27when he's sort of beginning to wrap up. Philippians, like most of us, he starts wrapping up and he just adds a few more things along the way. But verse eight of Philippians four, he's going to delineate the markers, if you will, of being colonists from God's future, colonists of God's kingdom here in this age. So he's really being quite, I don't want to use the word clever, but he's really drawing upon what he knows of their context and who they are as citizens in this world too. Yeah. And I love at the end of Acts 16, where he suffers, oh, I mean, he lets them beat him and throw him in prison, lock him up. And while he's there, of course, he goes about his apostolic duty. He preaches the gospel, he's singing and worshiping. And as a result, the Philippian jailer, his whole family is converted baptized. But when daylight

9:27dawns, they're like, hey, get those troublemakers out of here. They can go. And Paul then he lays down his trump card. He's like, oh, really? You think you can just beat a Roman citizen and throw him into jail and then have him walk out. What he's doing is he's securing some sort of peace for Lydia and the Christians there. It's like, hey, you guys don't forget that you did this to me. And so they're like, oh, man, we're sorry. We're sorry, please, just leave, just leave. And he's like, yeah, watch. He goes to Lydia's house again. He meets with the church one more time, very clearly saying, these guys are under my protection. And don't you forget it. So it's a, I think of it as a beautiful form of spiritual blackmail. He's pulling off there. But he's really borrowing this idea of the citizenship from Rome to depict the citizenship of Christians in the kingdom. It's just before we get to chapter four that he makes this explicit. Listen to these words. He says,

10:33brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. He's going to return to that again in chapter four for many of whom I have often told you and now I'll tell you, even with tears, walk that it live as enemies of the cross of Christ, their end is destruction, their God is their belly. And they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But now listen to these words. Think about a colony. But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. So he's calling them citizens of the kingdom of heaven and reminding them, okay, you've got rights and privileges belonging to the children of God that are yours now in this world. And it shows up when the life

11:40of heaven begins to infiltrate the way you live here on earth. He's inviting them already to live toward the future that's coming. So we're going to walk through kind of this quartet, if you will, of whatever's. And I think that's what before we get into the particulars of true, honorable, just pure, let's deal with that whatever is because this passage is sometimes just applied in a way which is think good thoughts or strive to think on the best things in life or have a positive attitude. That's not what he's saying here. Because sometimes something that's true is not a pleasant thing. Right, right. So that's why you know, he's got the big, the big whatever is designed to capture everything that's true. I mean, that's really what this means. Whatever is true, everything that's true, everything that's honorable, everything that's just, everything that's pure. That's what he's

12:46trying to gather all into one here, putting them this way. And if we work our way through each one of these terms, I think our eyes are going to be open to how actually big that everything or that whatsoever is in Paul's mind. And as usual, with the list of virtues like this, they bleed over into each other. Right. Each one, I mean, in a sense, what's being held up here is in every instance, Jesus looked at from a different perspective. And Jesus reflected into his creation from different perspectives. But it all finds its unity in that this is the life of heaven, which he is inviting us here to focus on now. Do you remember that horrible saying, oh, so and so, so heavenly minded there, of no earthly good? Remember that? It seemed Paul would be like, that is the stupidest saying ever, because it's when you are heavenly minded, like he's inviting

13:49you to be here, that you begin to be oddsome earthly good to your neighbor, to your family, to the people all around you. Pastor Will Whedon is our guest. We're talking about Philippians for eight think on these things. Is it significant that Paul begins with truth? There are two ways of doing theology that claim the name of Martin Luther. One is rooted in scripture and the Lutheran confessions. The other is rooted in Luther himself. I've written a column for the latest issues, et cetera, journal titled Lutheranism versus Lutherism. We'll send it to you for free. Just click the red journal subscription button at issuesetc.org and enter your email address. You can also read about Nathan Greeley's journey to confessional Lutheranism from evangelicalism, skepticism, modern theology and Anglicanism. The issues, et cetera, journal.

14:54Where is God's mission? God's mission is everywhere. Yes, it's far away, but it's also very near. It's as near as your congregation in school, your neighborhood, your family and friends, even as near as your home. Wherever you are, God's mission is in that place. Through his mission, Christ is bringing forgiveness, life and salvation to people everywhere. Even here, right where you are. God's mission here, learn more at lcms.org slash national mission. The light of God's word in a world of darkness, you're listening to issues, et cetera. Augustana Lutheran Church in Moscow, Idaho invites you to receive the gifts of Christ with us. We preach Christ crucified for the forgiveness of your sins. Christ risen from the dead for your justification in life. Confessional, sacramental, liturgical. We're a mission congregation on the Poulouse. We meet Sundays at 2 p.m. near the University of Idaho at 217 East 6th Street.

15:57Find us on Facebook or visit MoscowLutheran.org. Learning Latin can help your student think more clearly, understand English grammar and prepare to study science and theology. And teaching Latin doesn't have to be intimidating. Memoria Press publishes Latin curriculum that is easy to use. Even if you don't know Latin yourself, learn more at memoriapress.com. Say $5 when you enter the coupon code LPR26MP. Memoria Press, saving Western civilization one student at a time. Welcome back. I'm Todd Wilkin. We're talking about Philippians 4.8. Think all these things. The word of the Lord adores forever is our guest. Is it significant that the Apostle Paul begins with truth?

16:57So I'm going to reverse this eight and nine together because they really do fit well. 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 about these things. What you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice and practice these things and the God of Peace will be with you. God of Peace kind of brackets if we'd read the verse before that the verse, remember, that's the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So peace brackets, the entire thing. But as he begins to go through it, he does start with truth. And honestly, it always has to start with what is true. Now, when he says, think about whatever is true.

18:01Todd, do you like fiction? Yeah. What kind of fictional books? Do you have a particular kind you like to work through? Well, you know, I'll tell you, I didn't use to like fiction, but I do now more and more. But I like thrillers and spy novels and things like that. Oh, yeah, me too. I always get sad when I find a new authoring, you know, you read them through and they don't write them as fast as we can consume them. But it is one of the challenges, I think that we have is to recognize that when we say whatever is true, we're not saying you need to read nothing but nonfiction or focus on nothing but nonfiction. That's not the same thing at all. To try to get at it, I want to get at this really backwards way, pardon me. Do you know the poet Mary and more? Just one of my favorites, yes, this poem, it's a poem called poetry. It goes like this and I'm reciting it for the last line, but I too dislike it.

19:02There are things that are important beyond all this fiddle reading it. However, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers that there is in and after all a place for the genuine hands that can grasp eyes that can dilate hair that can rise if it must. These things are important, not because a high sounding interpretation can be put upon them, but because they are useful when they become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the same thing maybe said for all of us, that we do not admire what we cannot understand. The bat holding on upside down are a quest of something to eat, elephants pushing a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under a tree, the immovable critic twinkling in his skin like a horse that feels a flea. The baseball fan, the statistician case after case could be cited, did one wish. Nor is it valid to discriminate against business documents and schoolbooks. All these phenomenon are important. One must make a distinction, however, when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, not till the

20:08autocrats among us be literalists of the imagination above insulincent, triviality and can present for inspection imaginary gardens with real toads in them. Shall we have it? In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand in defiance of their opinion, the raw material of poetry and all its rawness, and that which is on the other hand genuine, then you are interested in poetry. Okay, it's a stunning poem, but what's really striking is she has this line imaginary gardens with real toads in them. And she is describing not just poetry here honestly, but fiction itself and the way that you can then sort of move into an imaginary world, and yet in that imaginary world you encounter that which is genuine and true. And that's the great gift of fiction. But do I have to say it? Not all fiction works like that.

21:14And sometimes what you encounter in stories are things that are actually not true and not aligned with God, but quite the opposite, something that's trying to be salacious, something that's trying to lead you into sin. So we need to be careful that we don't dump on fiction or movies or anything like that entertainment. I put it that way, but we also need to recognize that not all entertainment and not all books are created equal. I have a set that I just constantly work through. I don't know if you do the same thing Todd, I every year I try to read through the Lord of the Rings. Every year I try to read through Narnia and this year I'm actually working through the space trilogy again by Lewis. These are all fictional works, but in them in these imaginary gardens you get to meet real toads. There's truth in them. Lewis wrote to incarnate biblical truth in

22:16what he said. It was the perspective out of which he viewed the world and he invites us to get in that perspective with him and see truth. I think that's when Paul says meditate on or reckon on these things. Literally the word there is like to reckon to count up these things. What is true? He is inviting us then in our literature, in our art, in everything that we do in life to look for that which is true, which conforms to the truth, which we've come to know in Jesus Christ, the truth of who we are as the children of God, the truth of who he is as the unique Son of God come into the flesh to bring us to what is our true home. Another question about truth is I've often contended that Christians are not just lovers of revealed truth. That is the truth revealed in scripture. But we are lovers of all truth wherever it is found.

23:19Right. Remember the way St. Thomas Aquinas would speak about two books. The Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture, both the Book of Revelation, and we are to be lovers of both. It's not an accident that all of the great work of science began by mostly it was monks who were doing this stuff. They were devoted to actually studying the book of the world to discern the truth in the world around them to understand true relationships of one thing to another. That's how the entire scientific endeavor took off and it's just such a shame that it ends up being these days in opposition to the Book of Revelation when originally those two books of God were regarded by the churches both hers and both of which we are to discern the truth of God in the scriptures and in the world around us, in the world of nature itself. It speaks of God. I mean, the Bible teaches us this, right? Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God.

24:22The world itself speaks to us about God if we have the ears to hear it. I mean, Todd, when they break down, what is it called again? The crystalline structure, the dodecahedrin or something. It is just incredible the way that this is built into our world and it testifies to the great mind of the maker behind everything around us. This is the truth that St. Paul is inviting us to actually meditate on and to see that in all of this, our Lord Jesus Christ is displaying His glory. Alexander of Soldier Nixon, his motto of his entire writing career is live not by lies. Man. And he saw it first hand with the lies of communism and how living by lies destroys people's lives. So the temptation for the Christian today, you were talking about fiction, is to look at the world and believe tempting fictions because they tell us what we want to hear.

25:24And that is the most tempting thing about a lie is when it tells you what you want to hear, rather than what is. Right. And it is such a danger in our world. I mean, like, can we say it? This way, Satan is a storyteller too. He's got a story to tell. And he wants you to believe his story. And his story is told in opposition to God. I mean, this is what you see happening in the garden. God gave them their story, if you will. He told them who they were. And then Satan comes along and it's like, actually, I don't think that's the real story. I think the real story is he's holding out on you. And then he injects that lie into our first parents and from that, the the entirety of the fall. So when we think about the constant danger of the world's lies and filtrating us, like I can be whoever I want to be, the truth written in my body isn't true. It's a lie. No, you are who God made you to be. That's the truth. And it is written in your DNA.

26:26It's right there. So helping people to be able to recognize when the false stories are insinuating themselves requires a lot of vigilance in our part. That's why Saint Paul starts out with whatever is true. Don't let your mind be occupied with things that are initiating the truth that you've learned in Jesus. Why would you do that? Okay, I'll probably irritate people with this, but I'll say, you know, back in that, I think it was the late 80s. My family, we just made the decision. We are we are unhooking the direct connection to Hollywood's sewer. And we stopped watching. I mean, people have mentioned different things, you know, series on I haven't seen so much of it. TV hasn't been like a real part of my life since the 1980s. As I recognize me on this, this stuff that it wants to fill my mind with isn't good. I need to have something that's true or to hold to. That's the great joy of the Scriptures, certainly, yes,

27:30but also of Christian works of art, Christian literature that actually inculcates that. I mean, let me give you just one example that's sort of like not one that people usually think of. Dorothy Sayers hung around with the Inklings. And if you read Dorothy Sayers' novels, you're going to see a very Christian worldview depicted there in what she, she doesn't, she doesn't skimp on sin. She gives you a real picture of a real world with real sinners who have been redeemed by a savior. And my favorite of her books is called The Nine Tailors. I'm not going to say anything except to say it is the greatest murder mystery that has ever been written any time anywhere. And the glory of it is she shoves your nose into the solution the entire time and you still can't figure it out until the end. And when she reveals it, you're like, how could I have been so dumb? It's great. It's exactly what a murder mystery is supposed to do,

28:33but the whole thing is set in an English country parish with a kind of eccentric thicker. It is a delightful tour de force also about bells. It is about the Campanology, the British art of changing and all. So I bring it up because I think we just need to expand our idea of what's true, but we do need to be aware of letting false stories inhabit us. Because when they do, they always bring trouble with them. Your link to issues, et cetera. I'm Todd Wilkin. We're discussing Philippians 4.8. Think on these things with Pastor Will Whedon. He's author of the book, Celebrating the Saints, Thank Praise, Servant, Obey. See my Savior's Hands, and I remember a life of Mary. You can purchase these books on the talk on demand archives page at issuesetc.org, or by calling Concordia Publishing House 1-800-325-3040. On the other side, we get to the second of the court head. That's whatever is honorable.

29:51Living according to a Christian sexual ethic today feels like an uphill battle, but this battle isn't new. Love, marriage and family, learning from the early Christians, is the issues et cetera a book of the month for March. This book is published by Concordia Publishing House, their phone number 1-800-325-3040, or learn more about love, marriage, and family at issuesetc.org. Find out how Christian sexual ethics still means light in the darkness with love, marriage, and family learning from the early Christians. This week on The Word of the Lord endures forever, we move further along in Proverbs, chapter 14, and then 15, with tranquil heart, soft answer, severe discipline, path of life, and humility before honor. Join me, Pastor Will Whedon, for the Word of the Lord endures forever,

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32:56Jesus Christ to teach the faithful, reach the lost, and care for all. Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana. Welcome back, pastor. Will Whedon is our guest. He's walking us through Philippians 4-8. Think on these things. I'm Todd Wilkin. Will the second of the quartet here is whatever is honorable. That one is harder. The King James actually rendered it with honest, and then they weren't sure that was quite right, so they put in the margin the word venerable. It's sometimes rendered in, I think, in the New King James version. They tried to get at it with with no bull. The idea is it's not in which there is no shame. And focus on that. In other words, if everybody sees you doing x, you are perfectly at peace doing x. Even if everybody saw you doing it,

33:57okay? That's what's honorable. What stands the light of day. Obviously, you see it shades over into truth, but it is distinct from that. In the Vimarasha people of Yark, the great study Bible prepared under the auspices of Johann Gerhardt, they add this little comment. Whatever is honorable, in gestures, in clothing, and in the whole of life. So just stop and think about that. They're saying, this is something that you shouldn't have to be ashamed of in any gesture that you make, in any clothing that you wear. You know, you wouldn't be embarrassed by it. And in your whole life, that if you're alive at this point, we're in an open book, people looking at it would say, oh, that's guy. This is what Paul did to them, right? He says, I gave you my heart. I showed you how I showed you how to live by living this way among you. This is how we are to live in Christ.

34:59So that's the force of that second term, honest, venerable, honorable, noble August, reverend even. Life lived in such a way that it can withstand scrutiny. And actually, Todd, since all of our lives are going to be scrutinized by God in, you know, in the day of judgment, it's just recognizing we need to be cognizant of that scrutiny of God upon our lives always. And then we will be doing that, which is honest and honorable, not in accord with the lie, but in accord with God's revealed truth and the truth of the truth that's also in nature as well. It puts me in mind of what Paul says in Corinthians when he says, love does not rejoice in the wrong bit in the right. Right. Love rejoices in what is true and what is good and what is right, not in wrongdoing. And usually when we are rejoicing in wrongdoing, we're trying to cover up

36:04what we're doing. We don't want other people to see us rejoicing in wrongdoing, right? I mean, there's this sense of shame about it. That's precisely what this word is fighting against. That what you do is able to stand the open scrutiny of of your neighbors and of God, they can see the whole thing and you want to just live your life in a way that you are not being ashamed. Now, you're not doing that, which is shameful. So he's inviting you to think about whatever fits in that open, manifest, honest way of life. The next item is really huge. You know, right now I'm doing the study of Proverbs and the word of the Lord enters forever. And you just can't get away from how important justice is to God. Doing the right thing matters so enormously to him, particularly in economic

37:06areas. I mean, you have all these Proverbs about the scales where the weight and the bags. You know, God wants you to be above board in the way you deal with your neighbor that you treat your neighbor justly and not rip him off. This is a constant theme in the whole of Proverbs. And I think that's probably where Paul was mostly thinking here that you as a Christian are not here to take advantage of your neighbor. You're here to serve and bless them. And so they're not an object for you to squeeze money out of to exploit. They are there for you to bless them, to serve them. And when you have that kind of an attitude, then you have the attitude that conforms with the idea of what is just, what is actually fitting. You and I are old enough to remember when we had to do this. You remember when you had to work on getting the columns lined up? What did they

38:09call that? To justify? To justify the columns, right? You know, I mean, do you remember what a pain it was to try to do in the days before computers doing it all and taking all the thought out of it for you? But lining everything up is the idea of something that is DeKyle. It's lined up. It's just it's straight. It's correct. That's the way Paul invites us to look for. He said, whatever lines up with what is true and honorable, whatever lines up with God himself, with the life of the kingdom to which we are headed, we're colonists to that future. Let our lives reflect that. It does kind of have a sense of whatever is as it should be. There's a moral force here. I guess you could say that truth has a moral force as does honorability. But this one is the way things ought to be. And when we see it in the world around us, we encourage it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

39:13nobody wants injustice, right? Especially using the Lord Jesus Word, do unto others as you would have them do into you. Nobody wants to be unjustly treated. If you've worked for somebody for an agreed payment, Mount, you're not going to be content or happy if they rip you off and only give you part of what they promise. That would be unjust. And that kind of a concern for justice for our neighbor is a great motivating factor in the whole history of Christianity, where we just look about the needs of the people around us and say, what is it that accords with God's order for these people? If I can be a blessing to them, if I can be a servant to them, how can I do this here? It opens up her eyes to sort of recognize God's order in the social sphere. If you are a husband, what is justice to your wife? It is going to be loving her and taking care

40:13of her and seeking to be a servant to her and providing for her. It's living your life and conformity with the way God wants our lives to be lived. That ultimately is justice. That's the justice he's after in us. We should point out that the term justice now has been hijacked in our culture and Western culture to a degree that Christians may be tempted to surrender the word and the idea. What are your thoughts there? I've always been a big believer in not surrendering words. I think that's the path towards destruction. Words, especially biblical words like this, are worth fighting for. If people are interpreting justice as how would you even define the way some people think of justice today? I think of Zasus's line. This says, what's yours is mine. That's justice. That's how people think. He says, this is opposed to the picture you get in acts where what's mine is yours.

41:19There's a difference in the thing. One becomes a gift. The other is stolen. How crazy that you can basically put the idea of stealing from others under the name of justice so that we make things all be equitable, right? It's a wicked thing. The Lord actually put a seventh commandment there and a ninth tenth commandment to warn you against coveting what he hasn't given you and what he has given your neighbor. I think we need to have a revitalized sense of justice being that which is due to one. And what's due to you is never what God has given to your neighbor. That's mine. No, that's not how it works. That's a real reading as our guest. We're talking about Philippians 4-8. Think on these things a few more thoughts on justice after this.

42:24Be strong and courageous. Those are the words that the Lord spoke to Joshua as he was sending him across the Jordan to take possession of the Promised Land. Pastor Brian Wolfmiller talking about his presentation at the 2026 issues etc. making the case conference. Where does that courage come from? From Joshua's strength? From the number of soldiers? No, from the promise. I will not leave you or forsake you. The Christian is courageous to face all of the troubles of this world not because we're strong, not because we can resist the world and the flesh and the devil on our own but because the Lord is with us. The Lord fights for us. The Lord keeps us through all the troubles of life into the joy and hope of the life to come. You can meet and hear Pastor Brian Wolfmiller making the case for Christian courage at this year is making the case conference June 12th and 13th at Concordia University, Chicago. Learn more at issueztc.org. Sanctifying your commute with the word of

43:27God. You're listening to issues etc. If you're looking for a good Lutheran church in Scarsdale, New York, one that has sound teaching based on the word of God and takes pride in the confessions, look no further than Trinity Lutheran church in Scarsdale, New York where every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. we have Bible study and Sunday school followed by the service at 10. Again, good liturgical confessional worship by the grace of God. Find us at trinityscarsdale.org. For nearly 140 years, the Lutheran witness has taught the faith, defended it against error, and shown forth the great treasures of the Lutheran church and biblical doctrine. We're continuing this legacy by publishing issues and articles that help you see the world from a Lutheran perspective and that teach biblical doctrine and show forth the treasures of God's word. Visit our website to learn more and how to subscribe witness.lcms.org. The Lutheran witness helping

44:28you interpret the world from a Lutheran perspective. Welcome back, I'm Todd Wilkin. We're talking about Philippians 4-8. Thank you on these things. Pastor Wil Widen is our guest, host of the Word of the Lord, endures forever. Pastor Wil Widen will be leading the hymns sing at the 2020 sex issues, etc., making the case conference. The premier conference for Christian Laity is Friday June 12th and Saturday June 13th. At Concordia University, Chicago, the early bird registration fee is $145 and includes meals on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and evening. You can avoid Chicago traffic by staying in an affordable on-campus dorm room, find out more and register at issuesetc.org or by calling 618-223-8385, making the case June 12th and 13th at River Forest, Illinois. Well, we were talking before the break about whatever is just justice today also has taken on an

45:33exclusively retributive tone. It's about writing wrongs. Instead of being about basic fairness, right? I mean, like that old idea of fairness used to permeate the whole idea of justice, and that's pretty much been wiped out by the idea of, well, we need to fix all of the wrongs of the past, which of course are not actually addressable in the present. You can't fix the wrong, take the wrong of slavery that was practiced in this country. You can't fix that wrong by, I mean, those people that were subjected to slavery, your pain, what do they call it again? Reparations. Reparations. Your reparation today does not help that person at all, right? And so only God is the one who can finally bring justice to the ones who did not experience it in this life. But that is the idea of fairness in your dealing, honesty in your dealing,

46:37justice in your dealing that you are not trying to rip your neighbor off. This is the idea that runs behind real justice in this world. Whatever is pure. So in the Luther version, this is Kush. Whatever is we would say chaste. And I do think that's right at the heart of what Paul is trying to get out here. Chastity has been removed from our consciousnesses. It was removed from our catechism, right? You know that what we lead a sexually pure and decent life. That's already sexualizing. I think chastity is actually a positive in its own self, a contentment inside of the person and content to be who God made you to be and to live honorably in your body. That's the goal of chastity, to live honorably in your own flesh and blood by the power of the Holy Spirit and taking Christ as the model of this yourself. You want to be at peace with your body that way,

47:46not fighting it. Does that make some sense Todd? I mean, I think that the term is a real positive term that we've all but made just be purely sexual. It includes the whole area of sexuality, but I do think it's actually bigger than that. And it also, this quartet of Paul's could be very philosophical. But this is, remember he's talking about how they ought to live their daily lives, even calls it a walk. And you walk with legs. You work with hands. You speak with the mouth. It's a very incarnational way of thinking about the Christian life to end with how one regards and uses the body. Yeah. And as you use your body, you want to let the Lord Jesus constantly be be the model that you don't think of other people as objects for you to exploit, but that they are again gifts of God for you to serve in your particular callings. To be chased then has the comment in that

48:47of a Bimada Shabibu Verk that refers to both within and outside of the married state, which invites us to the contemplation of the way the catechism deals with our married state in commandment number six, that we seek to honor and love and serve our spouse. And we recognize our spouse here as a gift of God. What God has joined together, let not man, but as under. And so we recognize that our bodies belong to us. But I remember how Paul will just flat out say in first Corinthians that husband doesn't have charge of his body, the wife does. And the wife doesn't have charge of her body, the husband does, which, you know, to the world, they're like, what? Who do you mean that my spouse has a charge of my body inside the body of Christ, though it makes all the sense in the world? He's given his body your body to you so that you can actually be a servant to your spouse. And through the blessing of your union, if that is God's will, for the procreation of children, as they grow up, then learning what it means to live inside of a

49:52family that's welded together with the commitment to chastity at the top. It's a beautiful pattern. And it's one that our world has all but lost sight of the beauty of it. I mean, when you have a husband and a wife who love each other and honor one another, you have the very foundation of society itself right there. And it's at this point where church and home, they meet, right? The church becomes the place where the people of God lives. And the home is the place where the church lives in the family, where the word of God is doing its sanctifying work among the inhabitants, especially the mom and dad and from them on down to the kids. So chastity is a way of saying, what I do with my body really does matter. And I want to treat my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. And I want to honor the will of God in my body. By the way, I treat my spouse, my children.

50:52So let's come back to what Paul says after this verse that it's not the only time he says this. He essentially says, look at me. What you've seen and heard and observed in me practice these things. Yeah, he's bios away from saying, do what I say, not what I do. He actually says to people, no, you can take me as a sort of model of how to do all of this. And if you think about the list, you're saying Paul love to express the truth that is in Christ. It was nothing that floated his boat as much as proclaiming Jesus. And certainly he was insistent. He knew that his actions would stand up to the scrutiny, right? He did what was honorable in the sight of all men. He was not ashamed of what he had done. He was very clear on that you contain. He's like, God is my witness. He calls over and again that he has lived an upright life that way. And then whatever is just,

51:53he really does try to meet out what is appropriate in every instance. And of course, the great justice of God is when he grants us his healing. It calls very much into always thinking, what's the word I can speak to this person that will help them grow in their faith that will bring them to healing? Is it a yes to speak the word of law to to crush pride? He'll do that. But you see him being so tender in the way that he speaks the word. All this is just he's thinking, what's the what is the way that I can apply that the the word of God best to this person's salvation? And of course, he himself wanted all people to be like he was. He was not married. He stressed in first Corinthians that he and Barnabas of course had the right to have spouses and bring them along just like Peter took his wife along with him. But he's like, I'm content though. And I kind of wish everybody had the same sort of gift because then you don't have to worry about food and drink and housing and all the stuff that you need to provide for your family because, well, if I have something to eat and clothing to wear, I've got everything I need in this life. I'm on my way home. That's where the

52:57real home is. Not here. Not here. And so he lived a chased wonderful life. He was never eaten up by by passions. And I should add, when we deal with with chastity in our lives. And he says, think on these things. Boy, Todd, we should just briefly mention the danger that pornography has posed to people's minds, right? It is way too easy to obsess over pixels for however long. And you know it's unchaste. You absolutely know it's you know when you see a picture or a movie or anything, you can tell if it's unchaste. If it's trying to provoke a sexual response in you, you know, that's not where I need to go. That's not the kind of thing I need to think about. That's the opposite of what I need to think about. So again, just being very careful guardians of what we let our minds dwell on. Where are you going to let your mind hang out? What are you going to let

53:59inhabit your mind? Finally, you say at the beginning of our conversation that this court head of things, virtues, if you will, they are a picture of Christ himself. Yeah, 100%. Right? Go down. I mean, he himself is the truth. I am the way the truth and the life honorable. There was nothing in him that he was ever ashamed of that he ever had to be ashamed of. Everything in his life was an open book. He is the just one and he will speak a just verdict on the last day. There will be no prevaricating, you know, fooling him. He actually pronounces what is in accord with true justice. And he is the model for us, for all time, of sexual purity, of chastity, of this contentment with his body. He never looked at another human being as an object to manipulate or to use for his own pleasure. That is not how he ever operated. And in that, we're just looking at the

55:02chase tart of Jesus. And there is nothing wrong with praying it like that. Oh, Lord, give me a share in your truth. Give me a share in your honorable heart. Give me a share in your just heart and give me a share in your pure heart and your chase tart. Let me share your chastity, Lord Jesus. Pastor Will Whedon is assistant pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hemel, Illinois. He formally served as director of worship for the Lutheran Church, Missouri Senate. He hosts the daily 50-minute verse by verse Bible study, produced by Lutheran public radio, called the word of the Lord endures forever. He is author of the books, Celebrating the Saints, Thank Praise, Servant Obey. See my Savior's hands, and I remember a life of Mary. Will, thank you very much. Hey, thank you, Todd. Thursday on issues set around, we'll talk to Robert Spencer about recent statements made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on radical Islam. We'll discuss the role of pastors in laity in the church with Dr. Aaron Moldenhauer, and we'll look forward to the fifth Sunday in Lent, according to the three-year electionary with pastor Peter Bender.

56:03So we have this picture of Christ painted for us by the Apostle, true, chaste, just, and honorable. This is the life he lived, a life of perfect virtue, and he lived it all for you. I'm Todd Wilkin. I'll talk with you tomorrow. Thanks for listening to Issues It Set Error. Listen weekday afternoons to pastor Todd Wilkin and guests on Issues It Set Error. Issues It Set Error is a listener-supported program. Your financial support is vital for the continuation and expansion of this worldwide outreach. Our mailing address, Issues It Set Error, PO Box 83 Collinsville, Illinois, 62234, Box 83 Collinsville, Illinois, 62234. You can also donate at our website, IssuesETC.org, Issues It Set Error is a production of LPR Lutheran Public Radio.

57:11Do you want a church with a rock-and-band and a sermon series to help you live a better life? It's not here. Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fairview Heights offers authentic historic Christianity to a world awash in fads and entertainment, and offers forgiveness of sins to people overwhelmed with guilt and shame. Join us Sundays at 930 on Old Collinsville Road and Fairview Heights, Illinois, to receive the life-giving gifts of God with us. Find out more online at Bethanylcms.org. Listen to Chapel Services Live, weekday mornings from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Morning Chapel from Pramer Chapel, live weekday mornings at 9 central, 10 Eastern, 8 Mountain, and 7 Pacific at IssuesETC.org.