The Final Word
Philippians 2:5-12
We are in the third week of the season of Lent. Lent is a journey toward Easter. It is a season of preparation as we intentionally reflect upon our lives in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His call upon our lives. This journey is headed toward the good news of Easter and the miracle of the resurrection, but in order to get there, we have to journey to the cross. We’ve been looking at the cross and the life that it calls us to. Today, we’re going to look at the attitude, frame of mind, perspective or worldview we’re called to in the cross.
The fall of Communism in the late 80’s and early 90’s sparked the discussion of what or who caused it. Some people believe it was Ronald Reagan. But many point to an event that took place in June 1979. Pope John Paul II had decided to visit his homeland of Poland. Poland was under communist rule, and it had outlawed all forms of religion. So John Paul’s decision put the communist leaders in an awkward position. If they let the Pope come to Poland, he could say all sorts of wild things, and incite the people. However, if they didn’t let the Pope come, they would be implying they saw him as a threat. This put them in a pretty sticky situation. They decided to let the Pope come, figuring he would probably say some of his nonsense and then leave. The people would lose their fascination with him, and that would be it. But when he arrived, tens of thousands of people came out to welcome the Pope. The crowds were electric. The people were so excited that as the Pope drove through the crowded streets, the people shouted, “We want God! We want God!” This, of course, shocked the Communist leaders. The excitement of the Pope’s visit reached its climax on June 10. The pope decided to give a public mass in Blonie Field just outside of Krakow, one of the major cities in Poland. The Communist leaders had figured the excitement about the Pope would wear off by then and only a few people would show up. They were wrong again. An estimated crowd between 2 and 3 million people showed up. That day, the Pope gave a sermon and confronted communism head on by calling out its attempt to kill the religious heritage of Poland, a country that had believed in Christ for a 1000 years. Toward the end of his sermon, he said: “You must be strong with love, which is stronger than death. When we are strong with the Spirit of God, we are also strong with the faith of man. There is therefore no need to fear. So I beg you: Never lose your trust, do not be defeated; do not be discouraged. Always seek spiritual power from Him in whom countless generations of our fathers and mothers have found it.”
In other words, communism doesn’t have the final say. God does! When you start telling 2-3 million people that, then communism is in trouble. It is because of Jesus, and in particularly his work on the cross, we are reminded that no matter what we find ourselves up against, God is the one who ultimately has the final say.
Our Scripture today is one of the first Christian hymns ever written. We aren’t sure if Paul wrote it or if he is just quoting it but it contains some of the most profound truths in the entire Bible about Jesus and the events surrounding Easter. In verses 8-9, Paul says Jesus humbled himself and was obedient all the way to death, even death on a cross. The Latin word for cross “Crux” was the ultimate symbol of shame, defeat and humiliation. It was a form of capitol punishment that stripped the person of every ounce of dignity on their way to death. The cross or the crux was so awful that people didn’t even want to think about it, let alone say it. In Jesus’ time, the cross, or the crux was the most awful thing imaginable.
In the first century, everyone under Roman rule knew Caesar had the last word and final say. If Caesar had a problem with someone, he would just crucify them. And once you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s the last word on someone crucified. In Caesar’s world, he had the final say, and the cross was the period at the end of his sentence, or so he thought until Jesus. These early Christians, like Paul, didn’t see it that way. What Paul is saying here in Philippians 2 is Caesar may have thought he had the final say by putting Jesus on the cross, but he was wrong. Jesus may have died, but he didn’t stay that way. He turned that period at the end of the sentence, the cross, into a comma. Our God, the God of the universe, is the kind of God that can turn crux, the ultimate symbol of shame, defeat and suffering and transform it into an enduring symbol of love, forgiveness and restoration. Make no mistake, the cross didn’t happen to Jesus, Jesus happened to the cross and now it serves as a powerful reminder that God has the final say.
Some of us are in the middle of a really difficult time. Life is a mess. You could be facing the consequences of something you have done; maybe you’ve made the mess, or maybe something awful has happened to you, an unexpected tragedy has happened, or maybe someone has let you down, betrayed you or life just seems like it’s falling apart. Whatever it is, it hurts and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In the midst of your circumstances, hear this: God has the final say. For others of us, life is pretty good right now. Nothing really bad is happening, but you know what? You still need to hear this because life is not a question of ‘if’ bad things happen but ‘when.’ Loved ones die. Relationships fall apart. People let us down. We fail. We sin. There are seasons when things are great and there are seasons when life is really hard. The truth is all of us will experience our share of suffering, conflict and failure. We aren’t really given a whole lot of explanation as to why some of these bad things happen. In fact, when it comes to pain and suffering, the Bible isn’t as interested in the question, “why?” as it is with, “what now?” The majority of our pain and conflict tends to come from our own dumb decisions, but at the same time, a lot of the pain we experience is the result of living in a broken and sin-filled world. God doesn’t intentionally bring catastrophe into our lives. The truth is when it comes to suffering, conflict, pain, there is a lot that we don’t know, but there is something that we do know. God has the last word.
Second, God exalts the fallen. After Paul mentions the cross, he follows it up by saying, “Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” For someone in the first century, this would have been really shocking, and totally unexpected. How could you go from being humiliated on the cross to being exalted? How did shame, suffering, and torture get turned into exaltation? How could something so bad get turned into something so good? What kind of God is this? The cross is our reminder that there is nothing that God cannot redeem. There is no amount of suffering or failure God cannot use for his glory and for our good. The divorce doesn’t have the final say. The addiction doesn’t have the final say. The abortion that no one else knows about doesn’t have the final say. Unemployment doesn’t have the final say because God has the final say! These things, our struggles and our failure don’t define us. They don’t tell us who we are. They don’t make us who we are. And they don’t have the final say. If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. God did it with the cross and he can do it with you. If God can redefine the cross, then God can redefine anything and anyone. There is nothing God cannot redeem. There is no one God cannot reclaim. There is nothing that God cannot use for His glory and for our good. Can I get an “Amen?” God can always bring you back, redeem you and lift you to His higher purposes.
Third, God can use our pain, suffering and sin for His purposes. Roman 8:28 reminds us: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” In the hands of God, our greatest times of pain can become our greatest seasons of change. Our greatest weakness can become our greatest strength. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 12:10, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Our greatest sins can become God’s greatest triumph. Paul knows all about this. Before Jesus got a hold of him, he hunted down Jesus’ followers and murdered them. But then he had an encounter with God’s grace that changed everything. He went on to plant churches all over the known world and became the greatest evangelist of his time. Listen to what Paul says about the redeeming power of God’s grace in 1Timothy 1:14-16, “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” In other words, if God can save Paul, then God can save anyone! If God can redeem the cross, then God can redeem anything. The cross is proof there is no amount of suffering, pain or failure God cannot or will not use for His glory and for our good.
It’s about your worldview, a cross view. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It’s not only about recognizing God and what he did through Jesus Christ on the cross, it’s about seeing what’s happening in your life through the cross and what God can do through it. A Greek word that Paul uses over and over again in the book of Philippians is “phronesis” which means, “Attitude, frame of mind or perspective.” It’s your world view. It’s the way you look at the world and interpret what’s happening. The world says that when you fail, sin or hurt those close to you, you are worthless. But in the cross, God shows us that we can be redeemed and are His children. When we view the world and our life through the cross, whenever we face pain, suffering or failure we ask: “How can God use this for His glory and for our good?” When we do, we begin to as Paul says in Romans 5 to, “Rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character and character produces hope.” It is then that everything is changed.
That’s why when 2-3 million people who were living under oppressive communist rule were taught about the power of Christ and reminded that God has the final say, and the world as they knew it started to change and communism began to fall apart. There is nothing, absolutely NOTHING, no amount of pain, suffering, loss or failure that God cannot or will not use for His glory and redeem for your good. You can be redeemed and God can use all of the bad in your life and bring good out of it. The cross is the ultimate demonstration of the redemptive power of God and it is our reminder that it is God who has the final say and we always have hope. Amen.
