Auspicious

 "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable..." (Philippians 4:8) 

I am coming to the close of Philippians 4:8 and looking back I'm beginning to think (1) I'm either completely out of touch with the meaning of certain words, (2) I am a kindred spirit with Paul's audience who were scratching their heads trying to apply this as well, (3) or Paul deliberately chose words that force you to think and ask questions. Perhaps all three are true. 

I have a fairly wide vocabulary. I can write without using the same words over and over and over and over. I discovered that great Thesaurus button on my computer a long time ago (actually paperback before the "machine" came into existence). "What is another word for...?" Brilliant resource for anyone stuck on the word, "COMMENDABLE." Like me...

You dummy, Dan, it means, "Auspicious." Everyone knows that. 

Let's make it really simple. "commendable" means something that I can commend (note:  not "recommend" although that might be true; and...a "no no"...you can't use a form of the word to define it). Stink. 

Well, okay, it can mean "admirable." Is anyone else trying not to say the title of the highest ranking naval officer. I'm laughing at myself right now as I still can't seem to get the correct word out my mouth. 

So something "commendable" means, something or someone that I admire, or I ausp...auspic...auspici (with a long "i" sound at the end)...okay, I'm just making up words now. I'm not sure any of this helped. 

I admire people who are disciplined. I admire people who are successful at work and at home, at sports, who have an ability to create beautiful artwork. Boy, this sounds a lot like sinful envy. I'm pretty sure that this isn't where Paul wanted me to go with my thoughts. 

I'm using another word but I still don't know what it means. Does it mean, "highly respect"? It could. Does it mean, "desire to be like or to do?" Perhaps. Perhaps we are getting closer. 

To "commend" something is to "present something as suitable or acceptable or with warm approval." 

A myriad of things are crossing my mind right now from restaurants, clothing, songs, and plumbers. But I found a couple of verses that have challenged me on this: First Peter 2:19 and 20b. 

"For it is...commendable..." wait for it...you won't be expecting it..."if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God." 

Down to verse 20b, "But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is...commendable before God."

I'm starting to think that "commendable" is like a gift, something that you present to someone that is, in this world, unexpected, but will change your life...and theirs.  

To suffer unjustly because I am aware of a greater good, a greater God in my life, is like giving God a present, a gift - one He warmly approves. It pleases Him. And it is a gift to others - a gift that gives them a picture of what is important to God. 

And now I'm starting to formulate a different list in my mind. 

Suffering for what is right before God when it may cost me dearly. 

Standing up against what is wrong in God's eyes. 

Living for the benefit of others for God's pleasure. 

Avoiding sinful pleasures and worldly entanglements. 

Dying to myself so that Jesus can live through me.

These are things that my flesh fights against. Things that I wouldn't normally run to as desirable  nor as an advertisement for drawing people to Christianity. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Christianity is about bidding a man to come and die." Not a popular slogan on church letterhead. Perhaps it should be. 

I guess what I'm saying...to be very clear...I want my actions before God and others to be warmly approved. I want them to "auspici" me. (with a long "i" at the end). 

Think on these things. 

Wouldn't it be loverly?

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely..." (Philippians 4:8)

One of my favorite musicals is My Fair Lady. The lovely, Audrey Hepburn in the lead, and Sir Rex Harrison as her talking counterpart. Note: I think this was the first musical I watched where one of the major leads did not actually sing. He rhythmically talked. I'm not sure what the proper term is for this. Help! I got it. He was a rapper before there was a category. 

I've been thinking about the words of Eliza Doolittle lately: 

"All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

Lots of chocolate for me to eat
Lots of coal making lots of heat
Warm hands, warm face, warm feet
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

You're singing with a really bad British accent right now, aren't you?

And on this cold barely above zero day all God's people said, "Amen!" 

Language wise, "loverly" is a complimentary adverb connected to a verb of being describing the emotion felt in association with the subject "it" above. Whew! Hey...you may be asked to parse an English sentence coming out of brain surgery someday. You'll thank me later. Paul, however, was asking us to think adjectively (describing the noun itself) but its a good place to start. 

What is "lovely"? (You're still pronouncing it "lov-e-ly" aren't you?). I know that my mind runs immediately to the physical - a lovely person, a lovely personality. We might think of a piece of art or a musical score. I think of my yard after a fresh cut...a swept and tidy garage...my car after a good wash and hand wax...an edible arrangement of chocolate covered...(it doesn't matter). Loverly. A sunrise, a sunset, the stars on a clear night, a double rainbow... My wife, my girls, and their families around our dining room table...

When I think about "lovely" I am associating it with things that please my eyes, that bring a sense of joy, satisfaction, or appreciation. I wonder if this is what I'm supposed to be thinking of?

I wonder how a blind person would answer this?

I read a book on art from a Christian perspective. I'll never forget what the author said. "Art, true art, is that which is created to please and bring glory to God." Is this what Paul is suggesting I do?

Perhaps this is the key. It's not about being pretty by societies' standards but finding what is lovely in things and people that bring glory to God. Prostitutes and tax collectors and other sinners...the deformed, the degenerate, the disgusting...made by God, made in the image of God, made for the pleasure of God. 

After all, didn't God do this when He created the sunrise, the sunsets, the stars, the flowers...you... and me? All for His glory. All for His pleasure. 

Think on these things...

Wouldn't it be loverly?

Cool Whip

 "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure..." (Philippians 4:8)

I recently found out that I have a food intolerance to apples. It didn't bother me at first since I'm not a big apple fan in the first place. Waldorf salad excluded. But then again that's essentially Cool Whip with something crunchy in it. Being intolerant to apples is like telling a kid. "Hey, I think you have a food sensitivity to spinach, goat cheese, and sauerkraut." Yeah!!!!! 

But then I began looking at all of things that contain apple juice. Is there anything that doesn't contain apple juice. My multivitamin gummies contain...yes, you guessed it: apple juice. Candy, cereal, breakfast bars...basically anything that needs a natural sugar. My cranberry juice was more apple than cranberry. I began looking at even things like my toothpaste. Whew! No apples, only small microbits of plastic as abrasives. But, hey, no apple products. 

Added to this difficulty, I'm apparently intolerant of eggs. Do you know how many foods contain egg in them? I'm guessing a billion. I bet eggs have apple juice in them. 

All I know is that you have to look carefully at things that say, "Contains pure..." It might contain pure something, but it most likely has "and natural flavoring." That means apples and eggs. 

In this tainted, mixed up world, I thought to myself, "What am I going to focus on that is pure?" 

In a few chapters back, the Apostle Paul tells his readers to be "blameless and pure, children of God in a warped and crooked generation." He told young Timothy to "not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure." And, "the outflow of love comes out of a pure heart." 

I'm thinking that Paul wants me to think about things that are not tainted or mixed up with worldly influence or passion. Jesus' brother, James, said it was to think on things not polluted by the world. Not an easy task. Seriously. What things in this world have not been in some way tainted? Everything has apples or eggs. Distilled water? (That comes in a toxic plastic container). 

Once again I find that the Bible tells me that "it" is pure. And that actions stemming from it are pure like taking care of widows and orphans and aliens/strangers. Jesus, of course, was pure in heart, in speech, in life. I'll focus on Him. The Bible also tells me that I am heading to a place where the city is made of pure gold, pure as translucent glass, where the streets are gold, the purest gold. 

The Bible. Jesus. The future New Jerusalem. "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure...think on these things." 

Everything else needs a little Cool-Whip. 

Right Turn Only

 "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right..." (Philippians 4:8)

I had professor of social science tell me, "If you want to understand the behavior of a culture, look at their laws." True. 

Morality, per the secularists, comes from social agreement. In other words, "we think this would be a good, or positive, or productive decision for the community in which we live." Let's not have a speed limit of 80 miles per hour in front of a school zone. Let's not have people yell, "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater when there is none. Let's make a law, a moral community agreement that we will abide by and where we will agree to the punishment if violated. All good things. 

But there is an underlying moral code, and I would argue, a divine moral code, that supports those laws. Both communicate that we put a high value on life not on individual freedom that would pose a threat to life. It is why abortion may be legal but it is not right. It is why telling a six year old that they can choose what gender they want to be is legal but it is not right. I could go on ad nauseum. 

Every culture has a moral code. Every culture believes that it is wrong to premeditatively murder a person. You just can't have people going around killing other people. That's not nice. Unless the person is an enemy of your particular community. Then it is okay. Or...an unwanted or unproductive member of society. Per Communism, Socialism, Fascism, and Nazism, that's okay. That is community preservation. That is the "Survival of the Fittest." That is "Just War Theory." That is "abortion on demand." That is the "Government is God" theory. Immoral or amoral people deciding what is moral for the rest of the populace. 

The problem with "community think" is that it is based on the prevailing group at the moment. That's why we can all look back and say, "Wow. Times have changed" - for the good and for the bad. Anyone remember the years when we had "Blue Laws"? Thank God for pagans. I like going out to eat after church on Sunday every once in a while. 

Why have things changed? The secularist's morality, while an internal gift from God, has been seared and replaced with man's blinded wisdom and hedonism (self-pleasure). Instead of things being done because they have their source in God who is morally right, we now have laws on the books that are based on "if they are right for you or the majority." We have lost our divine mooring. We are tied to nothing except the prevailing winds. 

The prophet Isaiah said, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." 

"Oh, Pastor Dan your such a prude. Get with it, man. Those were the old days. That's not how God works today. God is a god of love. He accepts things now that He didn't then. Besides, those rules were for the Jews and not for us Gentiles." 

Wrong. 

"I, the LORD, do not change." (Malachi 3:6)

I'm not writing this to condemn unbelievers or even supposed "Christians." Their condemnation will be from the Lord. I want to please God and keep my focus where it divinely needs to be. And so when I read Philippians 4:8, when I am asked to "think on these things," then my presupposition is that there are "right" things to think upon.

In the Book of Deuteronomy, the Lord told the people to obey all that He had commanded so that it would go well with them and their children, because you will be doing what is good and right before the eyes of the Lord. (Deut. 121:28) Jesus took those laws and extrapolated on them in his classic Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). 

What is right?

It is right to love and not be angry with other believers. 

It is right to reconcile as quickly as possible with a person who opposes you. 

It is right to look at a woman and appreciate her beauty but without objectifying her. 

It is right to keep my covenant vows with my wife. 

It is right to be a man of my word. Keep your promises. 

It is right to absorb the abuse of another and show grace. 

It is right to love your enemy. 

It is right to give, to fast, to pray, to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and not in this world. 

It is right...not to worry. God loves you. He knows your needs. He knows your fears. He knows your desires. 

"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right...think on these things." 

Now, where are we going for lunch after church this Sunday?