Now, Lord, we believe that
Thou dost not leave Thy work unfinished and if there is something
yet to be added by Thee, we ask Thee that it may be in just as
much light as at any time during these days. We pray that
whatever the length of the message may be, it may all be to our
real spiritual good and help. This may not be in a spiritual
sense a tailing off and a fading out, a dropping away... though
many have gone, we do ask Thee to keep the level high and the
river of God full of water, and we, the trees of God, full of
sap. So help us in our need this evening for Thy Name’s
sake. Amen.
Well then, we come to the last
of this present course of meditations on the Cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ as in some of the letters of the apostle
Paul. And this evening, of course, in the sequence, we reach
the letter to the Philippians and the particular place, meaning
and application of the Cross as we have it in this letter. And to
give it a name or a title or a heading, in this letter, we have
what I believe is quite true: The Cross and the Dynamic of
Victory.
Once more, the phrase "the
Cross" may not be found here, but reference to it is quite
definite. Perhaps the key to the letter might be the words
to these Philippians: “To you it has been given in the
behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but to suffer for
His sake.” That is an undoubted reference to the place
of the Cross. Or later, the very familiar words, Paul’s
cry: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to
His death.” These and one or two other places imply
very clearly, in a very short letter comparatively, that the
Cross has a very real place in this letter. If you want the
references without our turning and reading them, they are chapter
1, verse 29; chapter 2, verses 5 through 8; chapter 3, verses 3
to 10 and verse 18.
Now no one who knows this little
letter – this little big letter or this big little letter
– will have any doubt that this is a letter of
triumph. It is undoubtedly and unmistakably a triumphant
letter, right from beginning to end. The apostle refers to
the beginning of things in his relationship with these
Philippians, and he refers to the suffering at the
beginning. And you remember the story of his coming at
length into Europe, Philippi and what he met almost immediately
upon arrival: that demon-possessed woman, temple
woman. I have often stopped with that – I stop with it
just for a moment along the way and ask you a question: Why
should the devil preach the gospel? This demon-possessed,
temple woman cried out before all the people: “These
men are the servants of the Most High God who show unto us the
way of salvation!” You couldn’t have the gospel
preached better than that, could you? Why should demons do
that? Oh, the depths of satan! And why should the
apostle quench it outright by casting the devil out of
her? Well, I leave the question for you to answer. As
you know, sometimes satan sponsors the things of God in order to
discredit them. And there’s a lot in that; well, that
by the way.
The result of that incident, as
you know, was Paul and Silas thrashed and thrown into the inner
prison, their feet made fast in the stock, bleeding,
bruised, but not disconcerted. Triumphant, singing at
midnight – and singing to considerable consequence! I
like to think that Paul had a voice – that he could
sing. Amongst all the other things that he had, he could
sing. I covet that! There was a time when I could
sing. As a boy, I was taken from place to place to sing,
before my voice gave out (and, this is just a little personal
reminiscence by the way, and it has a lesson in it I think) then
my voice broke and I wanted very much that when my voice came
back, my man’s voice, it would be a bass voice, a good bass
voice. And when it came back, it was a tenor! I made
on the masculine loss and I (foolishly... the tenors will forgive
me) in those days I thought, "Tenor voice... well, it's
feminine! That’s more like a woman’s voice." Bass
voice... and here I had a tenor. What did I do? Tried
to make it into a bass and spoiled the whole thing;
couldn’t sing bass or tenor. Well, you can draw a
lesson from that if you like. We very often interfere with
the sovereignty of God and spoil everything.
Well, Paul could sing! And
sing to some effect, and sing at midnight. Now our point is
that this is triumph - triumph right at the beginning of the
history of the Church in Philippi and out from that first
adversity and suffering and affliction and victory, came that
Church. And that Church was very quickly precipitated into
the same kind of antagonism and suffering. And that
persisted through the years until, in this last imprisonment, the
apostle said to them, in the present tense: “It is
given to you now, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
Him, but to suffer, for His sake.” And there’s
more on that in the letter about his suffering because he speaks
of now, his present imprisonment, saying that in Rome imprisoned
(and the last imprisonment probably) the word has gone through
all the Roman guard, the Roman Praetorium, and in
Caesar’s household guard. Evidently the slaves in the
household of Caesar, the servants, were getting converted while
this man was suffering in his final imprisonment.
Well, for him and for them, it
is a letter of triumph, isn’t it? Wonderful
triumph! And we want to find out what is the secret of this
victory.
The
Dynamic of Victory
It is finally declared as to the
Lord Jesus you know, and moves into what is in our mechanical
arrangement chapter 2. The Lord Jesus has gone down to the
depths, “Obedient unto death, yea the death of the Cross,
wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, given Him the name which
is above every name.” It’s victory! Victory,
Paul! Victory, Philippians! Victory, Christ! That
is what is here. But what we are concerned with in this
brief space of time is the way of victory. And it’s a
very unnatural way of victory.
I don’t know what you would
even remotely mentally figure or conjure up, as a picture of
victory, and the way to victory. Of course, victory itself
implies warfare and conflict. Yes, but in this letter,
it’s something more than that. This victory is not just
objective, whether it be the Philippian jail or the Roman prison
or the persecutions from without. The victory is here
subjective, inward... and it’s a strange way of victory - quite
unnatural. And it is in the main supremely and pre-eminently
presented in the case of the Lord Jesus (chapter 2 from verse 5
onward). The cycle... Equal with God... equal with God - by
His own right, in His own right - equal with God, in
glory. It was said through John, “Father, glorify Thou
Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world
was.” All that! All the content of that... emptied
Himself, found in fashion as a man, the form of a bondslave,
“obedient unto death, yea the death of the Cross”. From
the highest heights to the lowest depths. From the greatest
fullness to the most utter emptiness.
The Cycle
of Victory
The cycle of victory, the way of
victory. The great “wherefore” comes in at that
deep point – the death of the Cross. An unnatural way,
isn’t it? Now you notice that this is taken by the
apostle, to be the history of Philippian believers and,
of course, in our own case. In principle the apostle takes that
up from Christ and passes it over to believers and says,
“Let this same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus.” By the same process, by the same experience in
principle, with certain differences between Christ and ourselves
(always having to guard that) but in principle: the same cycle,
the same history, the same experience for believers, “Let
this same mind...” The same mindedness - that is, have
the same disposition.
In Scotland we have a way of
speaking, we ask somebody if they’re going to do
something or want to do something, and say: “Are you
minded to do so?” Are you minded? A
mindedness... a disposition... an attitude. Let this same disposition
be in you as was in Christ Jesus. And the result will be
the same in both ways: down, down, down you go, until you touch
bottom. And at the bottom the terminus is met and things
come round and up, and up. But there’s no up until
there’s been the down. And this is not something in our
history which is done once and for all. It was in the case
of the Lord Jesus, and that is one of the differences.
Very often when I want to get in
touch with a man, if I’m going into a store and I go up in
the elevator, I say to him “Well, your life is made up of
ups and downs, isn’t it?” And of course he catches
on, and I say to him, “Be sure that you finish up and not
down!” That is the Lord’s mind. It may be through
the way down but through the way down, it’s the way up.
Now, I want to make this very
brief and get to the real point of this - taking this mind, this
disposition of Christ which was put into action, into effect, so
fully and utterly – what did it amount to? Exactly what
happened? Well, the Lord Jesus, and this mind that was in
Christ Jesus, was that of a wonderful capacity that you and I
have got to have inculcated in us as the only way to victory: the
capacity for letting go... the ability to let go.
We know, and you’ve heard
it probably many times before, this fragment in chapter 2 of this
letter about His being equal with God, His great emptying, His
self-emptying and coming down to the uttermost depths, is an
offset to something. It is the offset to all the work
that ever satan did! And the motive, or the mindedness
- the disposition of satan out of which all this age-long
mischief and ruin has come - was acquisitiveness,
possessiveness, drawing to self, having and holding for
one’s self. The Scriptures show us that satan was the
cherubim that covereth, evidently in a very high place, possibly
if not exactly, next to the Son, very near to the Son, but envious
of the Son. This is why, you see, covetousness is idolatry
– it’s satanic. Covetous, envious, possessive,
acquisitive – to have what God had not intended him
to have - that which was reserved for the Son. Well, he made
his bid for equality; equality with God in the place of the
Son. And the history... the awful history.
You know, dear friends, our
spiritual history looked at from one standpoint in the Scripture,
our spiritual history is the undoing of the work of the
devil! Did you know that? Unbelief was the
downfall of Adam, therefore faith is the undoing of the
work of the devil there. That’s why it’s so
important! And all things like that, they’re here to
undo that possessiveness, that acquisitiveness, that unlawful
ambition – to undo it in principle. There had to
be Somebody who voluntarily emptied Himself of His own rights and
of all that those rights were and contained... to undo this awful
thing, not in Himself, for that was never true of Jesus, but to undo
it in mankind! And by His Cross He destroyed the works
of the devil! The Son of God was manifested to destroy the
works of the devil! And the first and most awful work of the
devil was this aspiration to have, possess, to acquire... You
know, Cain, it is said by the Scriptures, to be of that evil one.
He, because, says the writer, he was of that evil one... the
name Cain means acquisitive - acquisitive. Of the evil one.
This is where all our ambition
to be something, to have, to possess, to hold, to keep, power,
supremacy, domination – this is where it all comes from:
from the evil one. And the undoing of it all as a principle
and with all its consequences, is firstly in Christ - the mind
that was in Christ Jesus, and then that transferred to the
Philippians. And I think the Philippians were a beautiful
example of this, you know. Although there was a necessity
for saying it to them, which necessity we need not dwell upon
because it’s here in the letter. Nevertheless, they
were a beautiful example of this letting
go, giving, releasing! One would think of what the
apostle said about their generosity, their thought for him, their
care for him. They were the first to think of this
man’s situation. He might be going without food, he might be
short of clothing, he might be living in penury without the
necessities or even some luxuries in his prison. They
are thinking of him, doing all they can to minister to
him. How grateful he is in this letter for that. Read
it again! The outgoing, the letting go, without thinking of
what it cost them... The mind that was in Christ
Jesus.
Now, whatever the method,
however it was done, the principle; this is the thing we
want to get and go away with. Dear friends, the Cross here
is the symbol of victory. Don’t forget it or have any
doubt about it – it is the symbol of victory. But, but,
the principle of the Cross in this letter is the power, the
ability, to let go! To let go to God, to relax your
grip - your hold. To let it go. Right through Biblical
history you will see that victory, marvelous victory, came when
that was the issue. Even sometimes when it was something God-given,
God asked for it back. It wasn’t always something bad
that you’ve got to give up, something questionable you let
go. No. Something God-given: Isaac. Was ever anything
more God-given than Isaac? A miracle of God, was
Isaac! What a gift... a supernatural gift. Impossible,
perhaps I think we can say certainly impossible of repetition:
“Take thou thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, and
offer him...” Given by God miraculously,
supernaturally, in answer to long prayer - many, many heart
groans, the despair of the situation, the hopelessness - then
been given, and God said, “Hand it up, hand him
up. Offer him.”
Well, what about it? Was
that Cross victory? “In thy seed, in Isaac, shall thy
seed be called. In thy seed shall all nations of the earth
be blessed.” This is the mighty, mighty victory of
being able to let go. Of course, I could dwell upon this and
apply it in many, many ways. Some of us, you know, to whom God
we feel undoubtedly gave ministry, called us to the ministry and
gave us a ministry, we have been brought to the place where
we’ve had to hand back our ministry to the Lord. Hand
it back and say, “Lord, all right. If you don’t
want us to go on, here it is. You gave and you
take.” And for the time being feel the desolation of
that loss. I think I can say, I think I can say it
hasn’t been lost. There’s been something more
afterward. Something more. There’s a lot of
history in what I’m saying. God gave, and Job...
I’m only quoting Job, aren’t I? “The Lord
gave and the Lord hath taken away...” and triumph:
“Blessed be the name of the Lord!” I don’t
know that we’ve all got there. But I have got there
absolutely when some of these things happen and I spontaneously
say “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” Now
there’s agony and anguish (at least for the time being) but
there is spiritual enlargement and spiritual gain. God is
no man’s debtor.
Well, that’s the principle
here in Philippians, and you notice how the apostle takes it up
in his own case. He doesn’t say it in as many words
that this mind that was in Christ Jesus is in me and I followed
it out, but in what he says he exemplifies it. He tells us
of all the things that were gain to him: all the advantages of
birth, inheritance, upbringing, education, success, climbing to
the top of the tree in his profession as a rabbi and all that
that meant of influence and opportunity and power and possession.
What a fulness this man had naturally before his
conversion! And then he says in this letter, “The
things which were gain to me, these have I counted as loss for
Christ.” All gone! Will you tell me that
Paul’s letting go has been loss to him? To God? To
the Church? Oh, what we should have lost through all these
centuries if Paul had held on to all those advantages. The
things that he said were gain, were gain... and they
were, if he’d held on... No, he let go. But
now do you notice what he says, after all that he says, “I
count them loss, as refuse, refuse, refuse. That’s the
value of them as I see it now. You’ll see in a moment
why – I see it now. Just refuse!”
But he said, “Brethren, I
count not myself to have attained, neither am I already at this
time, at the end of my life, full of life, all the age... all the
age.” Of course, that belonged to twenty centuries ago
and Paul was a young man according to standards today, I am a
long way ahead of Paul’s years. But, for him, a long
full life – the end of it all? “I count not myself to
have attained, neither am I already complete, but this one thing
I do, forgetting the things which lie behind I press toward the
mark of the on high calling of God in Christ. Now, that I
may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings.”
Do you notice the
course? Resurrection! Fellowship of His
sufferings! Being made conformable unto His death. The
climax of the risen life is the Cross. You’ve got
that? The climax of the risen life is the
Cross. Because all our knowing of the power of His
resurrection will only lead us further and further into the
meaning of the Cross. Unto what? Being made conformable unto His
death... to attain unto the out-resurrection from among the dead,
something far greater than that initial experience of union with
Christ in resurrection. But, it’s done, you see.
The way of victory is ever and
always the growing capacity to let go to the Lord. While we
hold on, stand our ground, claim our rights, keep things in our
hands - we’re in defeat. There are a thousand ways in
which this can be applied. But dear friends, in many, many
ways, the Lord waits for this principle to be applied, or to work
out. A wife is jealous of her husband... and she prays and prays
and prays, and the Lord never answers. Never
answers. She wants to hold him, keep him to herself, just
have him in her possession. And her prayers are not
answered and nothing happens until one day, the Lord says:
“Let him go. Let go. If you will let go, I’ll take
hold.” And it's when we learn like that – it may
be the other way around – I only take that, not because all
women are jealous that way, but men can be just the same you
know, jealous of their wives... or their children. They keep such
a tight hold; not going to let go. Or something...
anything... I’ve mentioned ministries, no matter what it is,
if you and I hold this to ourselves, even though it may be
something not wrong – not evil in itself, not sin in itself
- but we’ve got hold of this and we’ve got hold of our
own position and our own rights and we’re not going to let
go.
Now, you know that was the
reason for the defeat of the Corinthian Church. The awful
defeat of Corinth spiritually was: they would not let go. Their
love for power... their love for worldly wisdom... their love for
emotional gratification... drawing all these things, even
spiritual things, to themselves. And it was not until they were
broken on that and you have the brokenness of the Second Letter
to the Corinthians where they are indeed broken, that their
victory came.
Victory
Well, have you got this? You
want victory? It may be, you see, that there is some kind of
controversy over letting go to the Lord... taking your hands
off. Oh, it’s a great lesson that we have to learn in
the Christian life – to keep our hands off... off the ark...
off people. Oh, it's trying things with our own hands
– to direct people’s lives; cause them to take the
course that we think they ought to take; impose our minds of
judgment and wills upon people. You know so many years ago
the Lord said, “Take your hands off, and I’ll do it.
Take your hands off.” Oh, how we love, don’t we,
to put our hands on people’s lives and on
people? It’s this love of power – inborn, inbred
– love of power... to have. And the way of the Cross
is the way of letting go even good things to the Lord,
if He requires.
Now you see here at Philippi in
virtue of something that evidently was there, “I
beseech Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same
mind.” One with another - two dear women. I
remember Captain Wallace in quoting that, misquoted it. He
said, “I beseech Odious and So-touchy to be of the same
mind.” Odious and So-Touchy... well, it may
be. Whatever it may be, there was something there between
these two and they were standing for their own rights. One
was not giving way to the other, not saying “I’m at
fault.” Pride, pride... making them hold their ground,
their own ground. Perhaps one was in the right, but that one
was not going to let go her right. And that was why the
apostle said, “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ
Jesus.” He had rights! Unquestionably, His were
rights in His own right. Yours may not be your rights after
all. But whether they be or not, the point is: you let
go. Let go. You surrender. You put this in the
Lord’s hands and take your hands off. You be willing to
suffer the loss of all things for His sake. And while that
is the Cross, it's victory, “Wherefore God hath highly
exalted Him...”
Well, now I close, but mark it,
calling your attention then to this. How was it that the
apostle Paul was able to do this - suffer the loss of all
things, count all the things which were gain as mere
refuse? How could he do it? It is just the captivation
of being a servant. And that’s a great motive, isn’t
it? “For me to live is Christ. I have no other object
or motive in living but Christ. Christ.” Look at
the large place Christ has in this letter again. “For me to
live is Christ.” And “I can do all things through
Him, Christ, who strengtheneth me.” He was captivated
by Christ. And that captivation by Christ, the Christ that
he had seen, come to know, was so infinitely, infinitely
greater beyond all these things which he at one time had
counted gain. Position in the world, possessions in the
world, and everything – these are nothing when you’ve
seen the Lord Jesus! And there’s no other way of
victory but seeing the Lord Jesus. But it’s only crucified
people who truly see the Lord Jesus. Do you know that?
Well, that’s
enough. Is that closing the conference on a depressing
note? I didn’t mean that. I meant victory! See the
way of victory? Yes – the Cross is not just losing
everything and having a miserable life stripped of all. The
Cross is victory! It’s gain out of loss! It’s life
out of death! It’s much out of little! That’s
the Cross.
Shall we pray?
Now Lord, do write into our
hearts all that has been Thy desire for us to really know in
these days and cover it there, protect it there and give us grace
to respond in obedience to every challenge, every call, and do
make us people so self-emptied of pride and personal interest and
all that – so empty... and so taken up with Thyself, Lord
Jesus. So enamoured of Thee, so captivated by Thee that nothing
is too much to let go for Thee. May this be the dynamic,
this captivation of the Lord Jesus at every cost. And now
unto Him, Who is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that
we ask or think, unto Him be the glory, in the Church, by Christ
Jesus, unto all ages, forever and ever. Amen.