Garbage In, Garbage Out

"Garbage In, Garbage Out"
Philippians 4:8-9


There has been a lot of computer lingo that has developed since personal computers have become so popular.  One of my favorite bits of computer lingo is “garbage in, garbage out.”  I like it because I don’t understand a lot about computer terms; but “garbage in, garbage out,” even I can understand.  It describes the truth about computers that you can only get out of computers what you put into them.

I suppose that’s not quite as true as it was a few years ago, before the internet was born.  Now there’s all kinds of garbage coming out of computers that somebody else put in there for you to look at.  Like, cyber bullying and pornographic trash.  Pop up ads, and spam.  Yet the term still holds true: if there’s garbage in there, garbage can come out.

Paul was way ahead of this computer term when he wrote to the Philippians:  what comes out of us--out of our hearts and minds--is determined to a large extent by what we allow in.  We allow certain “data”--images, language, experiences, things we’ve seen that maybe we wish we hadn’t have, things we’ve heard, things we’ve read.  All that gets programmed into our memory bank.  It becomes a part of us.  How we behave and how we speak and the kinds of lives we lead, that which comes out of us, is certainly conditioned by what we have allowed in.

If nothing but the useless, ridiculous, trashy, even unGodly, is our main source of input, our lives will reflect that.  The output will be of the same ilk.  How could it be otherwise?  Of course, the opposite is true:  if what we allow into our hearts and souls is of the highest quality, then that is what will show up on our faces, coming out of our mouths when we speak, and shown in our living.

When I was up in Olathe a week ago, I went to a jazz concert with Ryan and his fiance, Amanda.  The concert was The Miles Davis Experience.  Miles Davis is one of the greatest jazz trumpeters/musicians, ever.  A speaker before the concert said that Miles Davis was a collaborator with other jazz greats--especially those who played instruments other than the trumpet.  The more Miles Davis understood those instruments, the more he would understand how his own fit in.  But he didn't want to find out about other instruments from just anyone.  Miles Davis was always pushing himself, musically.  So he didn't want to surround himself with mediocre musicians, but the best.  He felt like he wouldn't be pushed to be better unless he was surrounded by excellence.

I ponder my own "collaborations."  Pondering this, in relation to Paul’s words to the Philippians, I wondered about influences in my life that are leading to either mediocrity or excellence.  With whom do I collaborate as I strive for excellence in being human?  In being a more faithful Christian?  In being a pastor?  Who are the others whom I surround myself with, that either keep me at a level of mediocre living or the level of excellence that I wish to attain?  This calls for hard choices.  There are people who, by their mediocrity, would woo me to stay at that level.  Then everyone is satisfied in their mediocrity.  Our relationships have a lot to do with what kind of input we allow in, and what we don’t.  But what happens when, in our circle of relationships, we want more: excellence, for example?  Then hard choices must be made in terms of relationships.

These hard choices are what Paul is writing about in this letter.  Whatever type of influence we allow into our lives will yield a similar output from us.  Paul has given the Christians at Philippi a list of excellent and positive qualities they needed to let in to their interior life, so that it would affect their exterior living towards a more excellent life.  I would like to develop some thoughts around this list of healthy input.

The first quality that Paul says Christians are to input is whatever is true.  The word, true, in the Greek that Paul wrote, has many layers of meanings.

One layer is that to be true means to be genuine.  To be real and not fake.  It means not being like a used car salesman who pretends to be your newest best friend, but then turns around and takes advantage of you.  Genuineness has to do with bringing together what is on the outside of us with what is inside.  There has to be a sense of integrity and wholeness that rings true, rather than fake or shallow.

Another layer of being true means being upright and credible.  People want to know that they can count on you because you are an honorable person.  This means that you are a person of standards and values.  You have proper boundaries that you keep no matter what.  Holding to those high values and strong boundaries is what makes you credible.

And another layer of being true obviously carries the meaning that you can be trusted to tell the truth.  Amazingly, this is the part of being true for most people.  I’ve asked different adult Bible Study groups throughout the years, if it is possible to tell the truth all the time.  I like that one commercial that shows Abraham Lincoln, “honest Abe,” when his wife asks, “Does this dress make my backside look too big?”  He stands there, hems and haws, and finally holds up a tiny gap between his fingers muttering, “Maybe just a bit.”  And she storms out.  Telling the truth all the time, like Honest Abe, can be problematic.

Or there was a grandmother who was telling her 9 year old granddaughter the story of “The Beautiful Princess And The Frog.”  The grandmother started reading:
Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who had a beautiful golden ball.  One day the golden ball fell into the well.  An ugly frog came along and retrieved it for her.  The beautiful princess was so grateful to the frog that she took it with her to her room in the palace.  During the night, the ugly frog turned into a handsome prince.

At that point in the story, the little girl said, “Hold it, just a minute, grandma!”
“What’s wrong,” the grandmother asked.  “Don’t you believe the story?”
“No!” the little girl replied.  “I don’t believe it, and I don’t think the Princess’ father believed it either!”

Sometimes even the truth is too incredible.  But the point is, it is our responsibility to fill our hearts and minds with as much of what is true as we can.  Think about what happens when we do the opposite, filling our minds with lies.  When we lie, we have two choices:  we either have to confess it; or, cover it up with another lie.  More lies are needed to support those lies.  Think of the effort it takes to keep a single lie alive.

Actor James Garner from the old TV series “Maverick” and “The Rockford Files” was asked what his greatest strength was.  He replied, without hesitation, “My honesty.”  But when he was asked about his greatest weakness, a big smile came over his face and he replied, “Lying about my honesty.”

How much more free we would be if part of our input would be things that are true, so that our output would be truth telling.

The second input that Paul lists is that of being noble or honorable.  The word “noble” was usually used in ancient times to describe the interior of temples and places of worship.  It was a word that described anything that had a state of dignity and holiness about it.

Paul wanted the believers to be the kinds of people who moved about in the world as if they were filled with the dignity and holiness like the inside of a sanctuary.  Paul wanted Christians to know they were, in actuality temples of the Holy Spirit, and when people came into contact with them, those people would go away with a sense of holy nobleness.

The third word on Paul’s list of positive inputs is justness or that which is reputable.  They are both words that describe the kind of person who has a high ethical standard and live by that standard.  They are highly moral people.

With high standards for morality comes a good reputation.  To be a person who has gained a good reputation means that you have probably had to make some hard decisions in the past.  There are many easy ways out of situations.  There are many ways that just go along with the crowd, pleasurable, comfortable, unreflective, and unthinking ways.  But in the long run, the many moral sacrifices and compromises made along the way will eventually pull you down.  Remember the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.  To fill your life with that which is just and give you a good reputation may mean going against the prevailing immoral winds of the world.  But by doing so, you will soar above it all.

Whatever is lovely is the fourth characteristic with which Paul suggests we fill our lives.  Paul is using this term in a unique way.  Normally we think of something lovely as that which draws us towards them:  a beautiful flower, leaves turning in the Fall, a work of art, a piece of music, an attractive person.

But the word that Paul is using means feeling love for that which may not necessarily be lovely.  It is the quality of loving, no matter what the objects of our loving feelings are.  It is that in us that is able to love--not the quality of something outside of us that is lovely in and of itself.

In the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, there is a conversation between two stuffed animals: the Skin Horse and Rabbit, that goes like this:

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse.  “It’s a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you; then you become real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked Rabbit.
“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.  “When you are real, you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” Rabbit asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse.  “You become.  It takes a long time.  That’s why it doesn’t often happen to toys who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out, and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

So it is with the quality of loving that Paul is speaking to.  It doesn’t have anything to do with being attractive or even lovable.  It is the ability to show love even to the unlovely. It is the ability to pull or attract love and loveliness out of a person, and in that process make them lovable.

The next quality Paul suggests we fill our hearts with is graciousness.  This word has its origin in Jewish worship.  When the unblemished lamb was taken into the altar to be sacrificed for the sins of the people, everyone would wait outside in the sanctuary in a hushed state of prayer.

Paul is saying, then, that the kind of graciousness we need to input is like the hushed prayers of the people.  If you were to put the word into an awkward kind of definition, it would be “a gracious, hushed, prayerful kind of talking.”  It’s the quality of speaking, in which we say those kinds of things that are fit for God to hear, that don’t embarrass us or demean ourselves when we open our mouths.

The last quality mentioned by Paul is that which is worthy of praise and affirmation.  If our world is lacking in anything today, it is in this category.  There is an ongoing need for a ministry of affirmation and praise.  Of encouragement and support.  In our daily living, people find themselves more often being rejected and ridiculed in so many ways.  Why is it easier for us to tell others what’s wrong with them, rather than what’s right or good or admirable?

Jesus’ whole ministry was an example of affirmation and support.  He knew the power of an encouraging word, and how it went way further than a discouraging word in healing and acceptance.  When you look at the gospel accounts of Jesus’ conversations with people, the only ones he had a hard time with were the fault finders and the finger pointers.

So it is in our day.  It is so vital that people find the kind of affirmation that is in Christ.  The only ones who can give that kind of praise and encouragement is through you and I who say we are Jesus’ followers.  We are the ones who carry on Christ’s ministry of encouraging love.  In order to do that, says Paul, it is important to fill ourselves with a sense of praise, so that it will spill out on those around us.


Our minds and hearts will be filled with something, even by default if we aren’t careful.  Paul’s intention is that we choose the right kinds of qualities to be filled with.  When our thoughts are full of these positive characteristics, they are expanded and made richer by Christ.  The more we enrich our minds with these attitudes, the more Christ guides us to fully walk in his ways.  Let us be people full of truth, honor, good repute, lovableness, graciousness and affirmation, so that these qualities will flow out of us, and give praise to our Father in heaven.