‘POURED OUT’ FOR ONE ANOTHER
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 26, 2025 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: February 26, 2025 from Philippians 2:17-18
Theme: To ‘pour out’ our lives for the advancement of the faith of one another is a very worthy investment.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
In the Old Testament system of offerings that God ordained for the Jewish people, there was something called ‘the drink offering’. It was an addition that God had ordained to be supplied to His commanded offerings—almost like a personal ‘finishing touch’ that was to be given on the part of the one making the offering. We’re told about it in Numbers 15:1-10;
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving to you, and you make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or in your appointed feasts, to make a sweet aroma to the Lord, from the herd or the flock, then he who presents his offering to the Lord shall bring a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil; and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you shall prepare with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil; and as a drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine as a sweet aroma to the Lord. And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering to the Lord, then shall be offered with the young bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; and you shall bring as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord (Numbers 15:1-10).
After the sacrifice had been made—whether of a bull or a ram or a lamb—whether as a burnt offering of devotion, or a free-will offering of commitment, or an offering to affirm a vow—after the pieces of the sacrificial animal had been cut and arranged and burnt on the altar, the offering was not complete until it had included a portion of fine flower and oil. And then, at the end of it all, a specified portion of wine was poured around the offering and into the fire. Once the wine was poured out, it would steam away in the fire and—as it were—vanish from sight. And because wine was typically associated with joy and happiness in life on earth, this final drink offering was a symbolic act that would—in effect—say, “God, I voluntarily surrender everything that I might normally cling to in the pursuit of self. In the making of this offering, I truly give my all to you so that I may have all my joy and happiness in Your will alone.” The Bible tells us that at a key point in the life of Jacob—after God had changed his name to Israel and reaffirmed the promise of the land to him—the patriarch set up a pillar of stone where God had met him and “poured a drink offering on it” in recognition that God’s will for him would be his will for himself (Genesis 35:14)
The drink offering, then, was a very sacred offering that spoke of a whole-hearted, joyful ‘pouring out’ and emptying of self unto the will of God. And it seems that the apostle Paul was thinking of this very offering when he wrote the words that we find in Philippians 2:17-18: telling his Philippian brothers and sisters in Christ;
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me (Philippians 2:17-18).
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The context in which these words are found is important to consider. The Philippian believers had been suffering under a time of persecution for their faith. Paul himself was also suffering persecution; to the degree, in fact, that he was sitting in a jail cell, uncertain of whether or not he would be set free or be executed for his devotion to the cause of the gospel.
And so, he wanted to exhort the Philippian believers to be faithful to live for the Lord Jesus while under the circumstances of their trial. He told them in 1:27-30;
Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me (1:27-30).
He urged them to diligently “work out” their own salvation in their current situation; knowing that it was God who was working in them to will and do for his good pleasure. In fact, they were to be very careful to be good witnesses to the watching world in their time of trial, so that he would not be disappointed that his efforts for them would go to waste. He told them;
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain (2:14-16).
Paul had labored hard to establish them in the faith, and to help them to live in that faith in a way that truly pleased their Lord. He recognized that, even then, he was serving as an example of faithful suffering for the cause of Jesus’ gospel. And it was in that context that he said that even if he was poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of their faith, he was glad to do so.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; how often do we think about how our lives and examples in times of suffering can be used by God to strengthen the faith of one another? How obligated do we feel toward one another’s growth in Christ, and for each others’ encouragement in Him, and for our own readiness to live—or to be ‘inconvenienced’—or even die—so that His purpose may be advanced in the lives of one another? In this passage, the apostle Paul sets a tremendous example before us. He was willing to be “poured out” and completely expended upon the sacrifice of the faith of his brothers and sisters in Christ. His words in this passage show us that to ‘pour out’ our lives for the advancement of the faith of one another is a very worthy investment.
Notice first in this passage …
1. WHAT PAUL WAS PREPARED TO BE (v. 17a).
He wrote, “Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering …” The New King James version begins with “Yes” (or, in the King James Version, “Yea”) as a way of indicating how his words had a vital connection to the things that he had just urged them to do in order to remain faithful to their commitment to Christ. Other translations do not use the word “Yes”. But it’s clear from the greater context of his letter that Paul was calling for his brothers and sisters to remain faithful to the Lord against the backdrop of the example of his own sacrificial commitment to their faith in the gospel.
In 1:20-26, while sitting in a prison cell, he had written of his confidence that Christ …
will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again (1:20-26).
To live would mean service to Christ; and to die would simply mean more of Christ. But he was willing for matters to go either way … so long as it would be for the advancement of the faith of his brothers and sisters in Christ. He didn’t say that he was willing to merely pour out a drink offering, but rather that he was willing to actually become a drink offering—allowing himself to lose all that might naturally lead to his own joy and security of life on this earth in order to advance the cause of Jesus His Lord in them.
In saying this, Paul was behaving like His Lord. After all, no one had a greater right to enjoy the happiness and pleasures of life than the Son of God as He walked upon this earth. But as Paul wrote of Him in 2:6-8; our Lord was one
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (2:6-8).
So; that’s what Paul was also willing to be—that is, to be a libation poured out—a drink offering upon the altar. But second, notice …
2. WHY HE WAS WILLING TO BE THIS (v. 17b).
He told the Philippian believers that he was willing to be poured out—and be completely expended of self—“on the sacrifice and service of your faith …”
Paul used two words to describe his actions toward their faith. First, he called it a “sacrifice”—actually likening their faith in Jesus as an offering unto the Lord for himself to be ‘poured out’ and expended on. Second, he called it a “service,” and the word that he used referred to a sacred service of worship. In putting it in this way, Paul was making it clear that his willingness to be poured out as a drink offering for the cause of their faith in Jesus was—first and foremost—an act of devoted ministry to the Lord who loved them and died to save them. He saw this as the ministry of grace that had been given to him by the Lord;
that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16).
So; he made it clear that—as a service to the Lord Himself—he was prepared to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the faith of those that Jesus died to redeem to Himself.
And third, notice …
3. WHAT HIS ATTITUDE WAS IN DOING SO (v. 17c).
Paul said that, if indeed his entire life was ‘poured out’ on the sacrifice and service of the faith of his beloved brothers and sisters, “I am glad and rejoice with you all.” Paul used two words to describe his attitude. First, in the word translated “glad”, he used the basic word for ‘rejoice’; and this would indicate his sense of joy within himself over the prospect. But the second word he used is made of the same word for rejoice, but with a suffix added that indicated that he rejoice ‘with’ them; which would indicate a joy that was shared between himself and his brothers and sisters. In other words, his reaction to the prospect of being poured out for the cause of his fellow believers’ faith was to ‘rejoice’ in his own heart and to ‘rejoice with’ all of them.
To give ourselves to the cause of advancing the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ—even if it may cost us all we have in terms of life on this earth—truly is a reason for great rejoicing before the Lord; because the end product of the advancement of such faith is eternal joy and glory before the Lord Himself on the day of His return. The Lord Jesus Himself looked ahead to the joy of that prospect; and willingly gave His all for it. In Hebrews 12:2, we’re told that Jesus is
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
That “joy that was set before Him” was the prospect of us—as His redeemed ones—brought to full glory before Him and enabled us to enjoy the eternal richness of His inheritance forever with Him. And that glorious prospect was also what drove Paul to be willing to give his all for the cause of the faith of his beloved Philippian brethren. As he told the Thessalonian believers;
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).
Think of it! When we all stand together before the Lord in glory, our joy will not only be in Him, but also in what He accomplished for one another. There will be no jealousy or envy over one another’s glory in Christ, but simply pure love and pure joy over how Jesus is exalted in one another. If we were to make it our ambition to advance the faith of one another so that one another would glorify the Lord more throughout eternity, then we’d truly be ‘glad’ and would ‘rejoice with’ one another’s growth and stability in the faith—even if it were at the cost of being ‘poured out’ as a drink offering in the process. It will be infinitely worth the cost!
And that leads us to consider one more thing that Paul stressed. And that was …
4. WHAT HE WANTED HIS FRIENDS TO DO ABOUT IT (v. 18).
He knew that they had been concerned over the things he was suffering for them. At the beginning of his letter, he sought to assure them that the things he was suffering were falling out for the advancement of the gospel. And so, he wanted them to rejoice, too. He told them in verse 18, “For the same reason”—that is, for the fact that he may be called upon to be ‘poured out’ as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of their faith in Jesus—“you also be glad and rejoice with me.”
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As this passage shows us, we must not measure the things we may suffer in terms of life on this earth only. And this is because everything that we’re called upon to endure is purposeful under the controlling hand of our mighty heavenly Father. He even uses the suffering of one brother or sister to help advance the faith of another. He allows us to be the kind of encouraging example of steadfastness and commitment that Paul was to his brothers and sisters in Philippi; so that they too will stand strong in the faith and receive a full reward—and that we may thus all rejoice eternally together!
May God help us, then, to be willing to be ‘poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service’ of one another’s faith in Jesus. For to ‘pour out’ our lives for the advancement of the faith of one another is truly the greatest and most eternal investment in the ultimate joy that any of us can make.
AE
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