Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Introduction
David’s Drink Offering
It was a dark time in Israel. The Philistines had pushed deep into Israelite territory – as far east as Bethlehem. Bethlehem wasn’t really a very significant town, except for the fact that it was where David grew up. Where was the mighty David? He is in a cave 15 miles away at Adullam. And we pick up the story in 2 Samuel 23:14 when David gets thirsty.
2 Samuel 23:14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
Maybe he got to reminiscing about back when he was a kid, taking care of the sheep – all the times he would go to the well and get water. And now here he sits in a cave while his hometown is occupied by Israel’s enemies. So he gets to daydreaming out loud, “Sure could go for a nice, cold drink of water from that well in Bethlehem.” He didn’t intend for anyone to respond, he was just sort of wishing out loud. But there was a group of men there who were so loyal to David that his wish was literally their command. It was three of his mighty men of valor. They were his Seal Team 6 – an elite Special Forces group of 30 men who were incredibly loyal. So they hear David say this, and they start walking. Imagine walking from Golden to here, except through really rough terrain. They finally get to Bethlehem, and they’re scoping it out.
“Do we try to sneak in somehow, or just charge up there and try to break through?”
They choose the latter. They figure, “We will just attack, and if we die, we die.” So these three guys attack the guards, break through, then they fight their way to the well, which is the most heavily guarded spot. They take that.
“Here’s the plan –you draw some water and we’ll stand at your back and fight off whoever comes.”
So another major battle.
“All right, I’ve got the water. We can go.”
“Um, slight problem – we’re surrounded.”
So the one guy holds the water, the other two start swinging their swords, and it’s literally a life or death struggle to get out. They fight their way back to the gate, they make it out, and disappear into the mountains. Once they are clear, they stop to bind up some of their wounds, and I’m guessing at this point they are pretty thirsty. But they will die of thirst before they will touch this water they are carrying. So they go find some other water for them to drink. Finally they make it back. David is sitting there – “Where have you guys been?”
“Sir, we brought you something. You wanted water from Bethlehem – here you go. Enjoy.”
I remember when I was a kid I loved this whole story – except for the end. I never liked what happens next.
16 … he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it.
They do that and David just dumps it on the ground? What is he thinking?
To understand this, you need to know that when it says David poured it out, that word for pouring is a special word. It refers to particular form of worship prescribed in the Mosaic Law known as the drink offering. Normally a drink offering would be wine, because it had to be something of some value. But in this case, this water was of obviously of great value because these men risked their lives to get it. And so David used it to worship God by pouring it out to him as a drink offering.
The idea of a drink offering is that instead of enjoying the drink yourself, you give it to God. And the greater the value of the drink, the more of an act of worship it was. So David was doing these men a great honor. They wanted the honor of getting water for the king, what they got instead was a far greater honor – the water they got was used to glorify God in an act of worship.
“That’s great, Darrell, but what does all that have to do with the book of Philippians? I thought we were studying Philippians 2.”
We are. I just told you about all that so that you have some the background that will help you understand the meaning of what Paul says here in verse 17, when Paul talks about himself being poured out as a drink offering.
Review
For those who are new, we have been studying through Philippians, and we are in this section that is talking about how spiritual growth happens. There are three parties working on your salvation:
1) In verse 12, you work your salvation. You are putting forth effort and working to grow and change.
2) Then in verse 13 we find that God is working in you not only to act, but even at the level of your will. God works in you to cause you to desire the right things, and to choose the right things, and to do the right things.
3) People like Paul are running and laboring for your spiritual progress.
That’s what ministry is all about – running and laboring, working hard, to bring about spiritual growth, to make people pure and blameless, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which they shine like stars in the universe. So, three forces working on your salvation – you working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, God working in you to will and to act, and people in the church doing ministry for the purpose of getting you ready for judgment day. And at this point in the chapter, Paul shifts the attention away from what spiritual growth and progress looks like, over to the people who are working in ministry to make it happen. That will be the focus for the rest of chapter 2.
The whole rest of the chapter Paul is going to inspire us to be passionate in ministry by showing us his passion, and then the passion of Timothy and Ephaphroditus. So I’ve titled this section, “Passionate Servanthood.”
Not for Nothing
In verse 15 Paul brings up the startling possibility that all that running and laboring could potentially end up being for nothing if the Philippians become like the weedy soil or rocky soil in the parable and fail to hold firmly to the Word of life. And that possibility that it could all be for nothing brought up an insightful question in the Q&A last week – what about 1 Corinthians 15:58, which promises that our labor in the Lord is not in vain? I didn’t have a great answer last week, but it’s a very important question, so let me just address it quickly now. The point of 1 Corinthians 15:58 is to say that it is not a waste of time to give your life to serving Christ, because he rose from the dead. So whatever it costs you to serve him, it’s worth it. But does that mean we can become lackadaisical in serving Christ because, whether we work hard or don’t work hard, either way we get just as much result? No, that is exactly the opposite of what that verse says.
1 Corinthians 15:58 … Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
So it’s not, “All your labor in the Lord is not in vain, therefore it doesn’t matter how hard you work.” Rather, it’s, “All your labor in the Lord is not in vain, therefore give yourselves fully to the work.” Why? Because while the statement is generally true that it’s not a waste of time to serve Christ, it is possible for some efforts in your service to fail to have the desired result. When we put in the new tile in the men’s room, we’ll close that room for 24 hours, because if someone walks on it before the mortar cures, it will ruin the tile job, and we’ll have to tear it out and redo it. What if someone said, “No need to put up a sign or close off that room. We laid this tile to serve the Lord, and 1 Corinthians 15:58 promises that our labor in the Lord is not in vain, therefore God won’t let our work be ruined.” The fact is, God might let it be ruined, and so it’s wise to go ahead and put up a sign. And that is the kind of thing Paul is talking about here – he is putting forth every effort to make sure that his work in Philippi not be ruined. If you spend the whole day laying tile, you really don’t want it to get ruined because that’s a lot of work. But Paul spent not a whole day, but a whole lifetime with this Philippians project, and so nothing would be more devastating to him than to end up on Judgment Day and have nothing to show for all that work.
But, on the other hand, if the Philippians do persevere, then Paul is going to be full of joy and happiness, even if the whole ordeal ends up costing him his life. That is the point of verse 17.
Philippians 2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
The BIG Sacrifice
The Meaning of Sacrifice (Picture and Worship)
Paul refers to the faith of the Philippian church in two ways – as a sacrifice, and as a service. A sacrifice is a gift that a worshipper uses to express love for God. Typically, it was an animal. You take an unblemished animal, bring it to the Temple, hand it to the priest, he puts it on the altar. Why did God want the people to do that? There were two parts to it. First, it was a picture of the evil of sin. The appropriate punishment for sin is death, and so each time the people were forgiven, they had to kill an innocent animal so they could see, “This animal is dying in my place.”
That was one purpose of the sacrifices. The other purpose was worship. You take something that is very valuable, and you give it to the Lord as an expression of love. When you love someone, you give them gifts, and the number one command in the Bible is to love God. So one of the most fundamental ways to worship God is to give him gifts.
So it was an expression of love for God, and also of faith in God. You would never give something of value to God unless you really believed he is real, and that he is a rewarder of those who worship him. And you trust him to provide for you, even after you give up something of value.
So offering a sacrifice had two purposes 1) a reminder about sin, and 2) an expression of faith and love in worshiping God. Those two purposes: illustration and worship. So what happened when Jesus died on the cross? The illustration part went bye bye. No death of any animal ever paid for a single sin. It was all just a picture or an illustration. But Jesus’ death on the cross really did pay for sin, and once that was completed, there was no more need for the pictures and illustrations. So the illustration part is gone, but what about the worship part? Did that go away? Not at all. That part is just as valid as ever, and so we do continue to offer sacrifices to God. We don’t need the pictures and illustrations anymore, so we don’t kill an animal, but we most definitely continue to offer sacrifices in worship.
New Testament Sacrifices
But if they aren’t animals, then what are they? What does verse 17 say?
17 … the sacrifice and service coming from your faith
The sacrifices we offer, instead of an animal, are the actions that flow from living a life of faith. When you trust Jesus Christ more than you trust yourself, so that you follow his way instead of your own way, the actions that flow from that are the modern day sacrifices that we offer to God as worship. One illustration of that is later on in this same book. In chapter 4 Paul is talking about their financial gift to support his missionary work.
Philippians 4:18 the gifts you sent … are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
So instead of an animal, they gave financial support for the preaching of the gospel. That is an acceptable sacrifice. In fact, generosity in general is a sacrifice.
Hebrews 13:16 Don't neglect to do good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
In Hebrews 13:15, praise is called a sacrifice. And prayer in Revelation 5:8. And repentance and brokenness and contrition over sin in Psalm 51:17. Romans 12:1 says your ministry of your spiritual gifts is a sacrifice. And when you do ministry, the souls of the men and women you minister to are offered to God as a sacrifice in Romans 15:15-16. Ephesians 5:1-2 says love is a sacrifice. In Hebrews 13:15 good deeds are sacrifices. And it is all summed up right here in Philippians 2:17, which says everything that flows out of a life of faith is a sacrifice.
Priestly Service
He calls it two things – a sacrifice and also, a service. That word for service refers specifically to priestly service. Leitourgia - we get our word liturgy from it. The priests were the ones who worked full time in the temple ministering to the people. They were the ones who actually offered the sacrifices – as well as teaching and other things. That was their priestly “service.” So Paul compares the activity of the whole church as being like a sacrifice, and also as being like priestly service.
Customer or Priest?
Does that change the way you think about coming to church? Think of what that does to the consumer mentality that is so prevalent in our culture. We are so used to being served everywhere we go. Every business stays in business by good customer service, and so we just grow to expect that. Shop around, and find the place that has the best service. And then as soon as you are no longer a satisfied customer, take your business elsewhere. And we naturally bring that mentality into church. When you walked in here this morning, did you come in with a mentality of being a customer, or a priest? The priest isn’t looking for customer service; he is the one doing the serving. An Old Testament Levitical priest didn’t wake up in the morning and say, “I think I’ll do Temple worship at home today – I’m not going in.” The priests went to the place of worship to serve. Multiple times in the New Testament we are called a kingdom of priests – a royal priesthood. We are never called customers.
Now let me hasten to add – it is perfectly ok for you to come to church to get your spiritual needs met. You should absolutely do that. You should come to church to be fed, come to church to learn, come to church to be ministered to by all the spiritual gifts in the rest of the body. God invites you to come into his house and receive from him and his people. But my point here is that that should not be your only objective. The way that spiritual needs get met in the church is by the whole body functioning as priests, serving one another with their spiritual gifts. So your needs will be met only when everyone else has a priestly mentality instead of a customer mentality, which means their needs will only be met when you show up with a priestly mentality instead of a customer mentality.
And even more important than meeting each other’s needs is understanding why we are meeting each other’s needs. The reason we serve one another is not just so that we can be philanthropists. We do it to worship God – to offer him an acceptable, pleasing sacrifice.
One Sacrifice
Now here is the interesting thing: these words are singular. It is not sacrifices – it’s the sacrifice and service coming from your faith. He is writing to a whole church full of people and refers to one sacrifice. Take all the activities, all the expressions of worship, all the good deeds, all the gifts, all the faith, all the love of everyone in the whole church, put it all together, and you have Philippian sacrifice and service.
That makes me wonder – what does the Agape Bible Church sacrifice look like on a typical Sunday? What is it that rises up to heaven from the southwest corner of 88th and Huron? On an average Sunday, there are hundreds of expressions of faith and acts of righteousness and holiness – hundreds of expressions of love for God and love for one another for the sake of Christ. And all of that is mixed together with some unrepentant sins that contaminate the sacrifice. On any given Sunday, some of us are doing really well spiritually, and others aren’t. Some have a very deep and thorough understanding of the truth of God’s Word, and others are still at a low level of spiritual immaturity. You gather all that together in one big pile, and that is our sacrifice that we offer to God as a church. That is the sacrifice and service coming from our faith.
The Drink Offering
And the main purpose of this verse, beloved, is to show us the immense value of that sacrifice and service. It is more significant even than the ministry of the Apostle Paul. That is the significance of the word but at the beginning of verse 17. The train of thought in these verses isn’t crystal clear, so there are a lot of opinions in the commentaries about why the word but is there, but I’ll show you what I think the connection is.
But…
In verse 16, Paul mentions what a horrible thing it would be if the Philippians fail to hold firmly to the Word that gives life. If they end up like the weedy or rocky soil, all of Paul’s running and laboring in ministry to them would end up being for nothing. For Paul, that was a horrifying prospect, which is why he ran and labored so hard in ministry. But, on the other hand, if the Philippians do hold firmly to the Word, then Paul is going to be full of joy.
17 … I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
The word glad and the word rejoice come from the same Greek word – chairo. Repeating it just emphasizes it. Paul repeats that same word four times in one sentence - I am joyful and have joy with you and you should be joyful and have joy with me ? joy joy joy joy! Abounding, exuberant, mutual joy all around.
Icing on the Cake
And that is the case even if Paul’s role in the whole thing is to be poured out like a drink offering. And I believe there are two points of significance to that. First, a drink offering was typically added to an animal sacrifice that was already acceptable to God by itself. Here is a description of the daily sacrifice that God commanded in the law:
Exodus 29:38 This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. … 40 With the first lamb offer …a quarter of a hin (2 quarts) of wine as a drink offering. 41 Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning--a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire.
So the lamb was the primary sacrifice. In fact, many times a lamb would be offered without any drink offering. So the lamb was already pleasing to God. It seems that the drink offering was kind of an added touch that made it a little bit more pleasing. Kind of like icing on the cake of the main sacrifice.
That’s how Paul described the relationship of his ministry to the Philippian church’s ministry. The ministry of the Philippian church was the lamb, and Paul’s ministry was just an added touch. In the Agape 101 class when we talk about missions, we make the point from Philippians chapter 1 that when you give to missions, God sees you as a partner in that missions work. And we show you from the book of Philippians that God considers your giving ministry just as high and important and significant as the actual work done by the missionary. You can see that because Paul speaks in those terms about the Philippians’ financial support. But here is the amazing thing – in this passage, instead of Paul saying, “Your giving ministry is every bit as important as my ministry as an Apostle,” what he is saying here is that their ministry is actually the greater offering. The ministry of the Apostle Paul was a really, really big deal. But the ministry of a local church is an even bigger deal. There is nothing greater. There is no greater work. There is nothing you could do with your life more meaningful and more impactful than participating in the work of a local church.
Participating in the work of the local church is more significant than serving as President of the United States, more important than being a war hero or a doctor or philanthropist or a Nobel Prize winning scientist or a famous author, or a preacher or a missionary or even an apostle who writes 13 books of the Bible! What we are doing here is the lamb; what Paul did was the drink offering on top of it. That’s how Paul viewed the importance of the local church. There is no meeting going on anywhere in the world, in the White House, in Congress, in a corporate boardroom – nothing happening anywhere in the world more important than what is happening right here in this building right now. What kind of passion would we have in our various ministries if we really believe that?
So Paul is saying, “Yes, I want all my work to matter on Judgment Day. I don’t want to get there and find out it was all in vain. I wanted to be successful. But it’s not out of some kind of feeling of self-importance. The reason I want to get to Judgment Day and have my ministry be a big success isn’t because I need to be important. If the work is a success, and the Philippian sacrifice and service is pleasing to God, then I will be thrilled to pieces even if my role is just a small, secondary role. I don’t have to be important. Even if I’m just some icing on the Philippian cake, I’ll be absolutely thrilled and honored to play that role.” Playing any role at all in getting a congregation of people to hold firmly to the Word is the highest thing any human being could aspire to.
Pouring Out Life
So that’s one point of significance of Paul calling his work a drink offering – to show that the main sacrifice is the ministry of the church, and his work was icing on the cake. But there is something else we can learn from this drink offering imagery. I believe that Paul is using it here as a euphemism for death. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering… That introduces an aspect of uncertainty. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not, but even if I am, still, I rejoice. The only other time the word for drink offering is used in the New Testament is at the end of Paul’s life when he knew for sure he was about to die.
2 Timothy 4:6 I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.
He is referring to what he wrote back in Philippians, years earlier. Back then it was “even if I’m being poured out,” but now it’s “Ok, the time has come. I’m definitely being poured out as a drink offering this time. It’s time for me to die.” The drink offering was a good metaphor to describe dying, because when a drink offering was poured out, it was gone. There were no leftovers. When they offered a bull or a goat or a lamb, in many cases, after they gave the choice portions to the Lord on the altar, the rest of the meat would be eaten by the priests or in some cases by the worshiper himself. But not with a drink offering. When you pour out some wine on a burning sacrifice, it evaporates and it’s gone. A moment later there is no sign that it was ever even there. Paul is saying, “Even if I’m about to be gone – disappear from the scene, even if this current imprisonment is a process that ends with me getting my head chopped off, still, as long as your sacrifice and service remains pleasing to God, I’m as happy as I can be.”
The Philippians dearly loved Paul. And they hear he is in prison, and so they are all concerned. Imagine someone you deeply love is unjustly thrown in prison for being a Christian, and might be executed. And so they are really concerned. And so Paul writes and says, “Don’t worry about me – I’m as happy as I have ever been. I see your faith, and I get the privilege of even adding to it a little – that’s my boast! It’s all I care about! Don’t cry for me, my wildest dream is coming true! And that’s the case even if it turns out that I’m being poured out like a drink offering.”
Pouring Yourself Out in Ministry
So does that mean any time a Christian dies, it’s like a drink offering? No, not in the sense Paul is talking about here. The reason his death would be a drink offering was because he would have been dying as a result of his ministry. The idea is that he would continue to rejoice, even if his efforts to get the Philippians ready for Judgment Day cost him his life. That is the model God gives us for how to look at ministry. Ministry is not pitching in here and there to help out around the church. Ministry is pouring yourself out until you’re gone. Think back to the account of David pouring out that water in the cave. Picture that scene, and then think, “My life’s goal is to be like that water. If I could just pour out my existence in a way that brings honor to God and then I’m gone, I’ll be happy, happy, happy, happy.”
Your life is like that water in the hands of a thirsty king in a cave. Your life is like fine wine in the hands of an ancient Israelite. Your life is a big, tall glass of your favorite beverage. You can keep it for yourself or you can dump it out. If you make it a drink offering and dump your life out in ministry as a love offering to God in serving his people, that will bring you far greater joy than keeping it for yourself will ever bring you. This week I have found that imagery so helpful. Every time I got tired or was tempted to get lazy in ministry I would think, “Come on, Darrell – dump out your drink. If you want the kind of joy Paul had – dump out your drink. Dump it all out now, because they are free refills in heaven.”
The Rejoicing
Joy in Service
Are you pouring yourself out? The question for some people is, “Are you even doing ministry at all?” But assuming you are – are you pouring yourself out in that ministry? And one way to tell if the answer is yes or no is by how you respond to hardship in ministry. Do you complain or rejoice? When you try to serve in some way in the church, and you run into opposition, trouble, difficulty, problems – do you grumble or do you rejoice? Do you have quadruple joy because you delight to pour out your life as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of the faith of this church? Paul endured incredible suffering – terrible, unfair treatment – incessantly, constantly, without a break, and yet you never hear him say, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I always the one who gets beat up? I quit!” No, the only thing you hear from him is thanksgiving and gladness and joy, because the whole purpose of his existence was to pour himself out in ministry as a drink offering. So suffering wasn’t an intrusion, but a high privilege.
Joy in Sacrifice
One last point. Paul says not only will he rejoice, but he will rejoice along with the Philippians, and they should also rejoice with Paul. Paul uses a lot of words to describe the mutuality of the rejoicing. And that makes sense, because if Paul can be that happy about making a small contribution to the main sacrifice of the Philippian church, just think how much they should rejoice in being the main sacrifice! And just think how much we can rejoice, because we are just like them – we are a church! The people who are like Paul, who pour themselves out as a drink offering to make our sacrifice a little better, people who serve in ministry – those people can rejoice and rejoice together with us and we can rejoice and rejoice together with them. Oh, how much joy is present in a church with a priesthood mentality!
And what doubles this joy yet again is the fact that all of us are on both sides of that joy. As an individual serving in ministry, you have Paul’s joy of being the drink offering that enhances the sacrifice of the whole church, and as a part of the church you have the Philippians’ joy of being the main sacrifice that is the greatest, most important thing in the entire world. We rejoice with those we serve, and we rejoice with those serving us, because each one of us is both a priest and a brick in the temple.
But the more this whole thing turns into a routine, and the passion cools off, and we become lackadaisical in our ministries, the whole joy level in the church just drops lower and lower. And the lower the joy, the lower the passion, and the whole thing becomes a downward spiral. But it works the other way too. Increase your passion, that increases joy, and that increases passion even more, and it is an upward spiral.
And the result is that you have the kind of joy that runs so deep that you can be beaten and imprisoned and tortured and mocked and mistreated and still be filled with joy. What else in life can give you joy that runs that deep? Nothing. Every other joy in this world disappears as soon as things get really painful. But if you pour yourself out in passionate servanthood to serve Christ’s church, he will give you this kind of joy. And so there is really no such thing as a sacrifice. Like Hudson Taylor and David Livingstone both said: “I never made a sacrifice.” Both men gave up every comfort and suffered tremendously in serving the Lord, but neither one felt like they made a sacrifice, because of the joy Christ gave them in return. Or to adjust Jim Elliot’s words just a bit – It’s not a sacrifice to give up what you cannot keep in order to gain what you cannot lose.
Benediction: Hebrews 6:10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Application Questions (James 1:25)
1) Have you ever known someone who really pours himself/herself out in ministry to the church? Describe that person.
2) Has there been a time in your life when you received joy after pouring yourself out in ministry? Describe that.
3) What is your greatest passion in ministry?
4) In what areas is it easy for you to have a priestly attitude, and in what areas do you find yourself slipping into a customer attitude?
