Last week Irene spoke about the past and the future and Paul’s statement in Phil 3:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” This set off some thoughts in my head about what is in the past, the present and the future. In particular I want to talk today about the cross as a present reality.
Let’s begin by reading the extended passage from Philippians 3:7-14.
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ– the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
I will consider briefly the past and the future as Paul sees it in this passage. Firstly, that which Paul has left behind is his past life as a zealous Pharisee. He had good breeding and a position of honour etc. But he says in verse 7, “whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ”. All of the things which were important before he knew Christ are now irrelevant. These are in the past and he can forget them. Such things have no bearing on the future.
Now to look at the future. Verses 11 and 12 show what the future will be. “11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” In the future will be the resurrection of the dead and our perfection. We know that this is in the future because Paul says that he has not yet obtained it and he must press on toward it.
The past and the future may be the subject of other messages but today I want to consider what is in the present. Paul is forgetting what is past and pressing towards what is future. But he does not forget the cross. Paul is obsessed with the cross. In Corinthians 2:2 he says, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” What this must mean is that the cross is a present reality rather than an event in the past. When I say that I don’t mean that Jesus is continually crucified, because he died once for all people.
What I do mean is that the cross is a present reality for the church. It is not simply an event in the past but something which affects us every day. The cross is not forgotten by Jesus either. In Revelation ch5 Jesus is described as “a lamb looking as if it had been slain.” He is “worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because he was slain, and with his blood he purchased man for God.” The lamb is given praise and glory.
There are four points which come from my statement that the cross is a present reality:
1) the cross explains suffering
2) the cross eradicates the past
3) the cross means victory over sin in the present
4) the cross means nothing can be against us
The first statement is that the cross as a present reality explains suffering. Paul says in verse 10, “So that I may know and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Why must Paul suffer, why must we suffer, in order to attain the resurrection? Surely we are saved by grace and not because we suffer. Yes we are saved by grace, but we are living out the cross and that is why we suffer. If we do not share in Jesus’ cross how can we share in his resurrection? We share in the cross because we are in Christ and so we share in him. The cross is the place of redemption. The place of suffering and weakness is the place in which God is present in power.
Suffering is not a work but Paul understands the cross as a present reality in the Christian life. Suffering is a participation in the cross. To be elsewhere than the cross is to miss out on what God is doing in the present. The cross is the present revelation of God to the world. We must join Jesus there because without suffering, weakness and death there is no basis for the resurrection. God does not resurrect those who are alive. I mean this metaphorically as well as physically. I quote Alister McGrath: “The full force of Paul’s insights is missed if we interpret him as teaching that we can have life despite death and strength despite weakness: for Paul the remarkable meaning of the enigma of the cross is that life comes through death and strength through weakness.”
Suffering with Jesus is a privilege and we should “count it all joy”. The other good news is that the resurrection of Jesus is also a present reality. We are not resurrected yet; our resurrection is part of the future. But Jesus’ is risen now so we can draw on the power of the resurrection in order to endure the cross in the present.
The second implication of the cross being a present reality is that the cross eradicates the past. Whatever was in the past is nailed to the cross with Christ and is irrelevant. Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The cross stands between you and me and the world. We are dead to the world. Paul said that he was forgetting what was behind. What is behind is the world and its accomplishments and its false glory. I have been crucified to the world but this dying must be a present reality otherwise I will fall back to embracing the false glories of the world.
It makes no difference whether I accomplished great things in my past life or I failed abysmally in my past. It makes no difference who hurt me in the past or who I hurt in the past. The cross does away with all of this. We must ever remember that the cross is a present reality so we are not suckered in by the notion that the past has power over us. The past has no power while I remain nailed to the cross.
The third implication of the cross as a present reality is that we have victory over sin in the present. Romans 6:6 “For we know that our old self was sunestaurw,qh (co-crucified) crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—“ Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” Because the cross is a present reality we are not slaves to sin. It is not possible to stop sinning without dying and we are continually being put to death.
The final implication which I will discuss today is that the cross as a present reality means nothing can be against us. Col 2:13-15 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (NKJ).
Before Christ, you and I were dead in sin but that sin has been nailed to the cross and we are forgiven. The handwriting of requirements was against us because it declared that we are sinners under the judgment of God who are condemned to eternal death for that sin. Those requirements are no longer against us because we have been declared righteous and made alive towards God. I am freed from sin by the cross and no longer called a sinner. God calls us agioi – saints – not sinners. Whatever God requires of me he gives me power to do through the power of Jesus’ resurrection. The very thing which condemned us has been nailed to the cross and it remains there so that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
The other thing which was against us as now has no power because of the cross is the evil angelic hosts. Verse 15 says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Demons are disarmed by the cross and can no longer be against us. The devil is brash and he might bluster that he has power over us but it is not so. The cross has demolished his power. All that is left now is bluff. As long as we remember the truth of the cross as a present reality the devil cannot defeat us.
Satan may only accuse us and those accusations cannot stand. Rev 12:10-11 “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.” (NAS). The martyrs understood the cross as a present reality. The blood of Christ is shed and as long as we are willing to suffer for Jesus the accusations of Satan cannot overpower us.
So to sum up: the cross is an ever present reality for the church. This means several things. There will be suffering but that suffering will take place in Christ and in the power of his resurrection. The past is no longer the determiner of who we are. We have victory over sin in the present. And, lastly, there is nothing which can stand against us.