Sacrifice? Huh? Philippians 2.14-18

What kind of sacrifice does God require?  Philippians 2.14-18 

There was brilliance in the simplicity of Jesus’ parables, as he used familiar pastoral terms to make his teaching come alive for his first century listeners.  And when Paul compared the active life of Christian faith to athletic training, we can easily visualize the disciplined life of an athlete, and even relate to it.  However, when Paul refers to himself ‘being poured out as a drink offering,’ few, if any of us, have any context for that.  So, do we skip over it or seek to understand it? 

Take a look: 

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. 
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 2:14-18, New King James Version (NKJV)

Whatever could he mean by the term ‘drink offering’?   First, let me remind us that he was writing a letter to the Philippian church whom he loved.  First and foremost, he wrote so that they could understand—I mean, let’s get serious—Paul did not know as he was writing, that 2,000 years later a very modern, industrialized, global readership of varied languages and cultures would be reading and gleaning from this letter!  (However, God knew—and remember, ‘all Scripture was inspired by God’1; it was God-breathed into the heart and mind of the writer of Scripture)  So, the Philippians to whom Paul was writing knew what he meant by ‘being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith’…for us, some historical contextual digging is then in order.

One of the most common kinds of sacrifice in Greek and Roman religion was a libation, which was a cup of wine poured out as an offering to the gods.2   For instance, for non-Christians, every meal began and ended with such a libation, as a kind of grace before and after food.  Ah …. so, back to Paul’s writing—he is saying that he looks  at the faith and service of the Philippians as a sacrifice to God. 

In addition, (remember that Paul writes from prison, awaiting trial, aware that he may be executed by the Romans) . . . he says he is ready and willing to be a sacrifice to God himself. 

With that in mind, in essence, Paul is saying to his beloved Philippians brothers, ‘your Christian fidelity and loyalty are already a sacrifice to God; and if death for Christ should come to me, then I am willing and glad that my life should be poured out like a libation on the altar of which your sacrifice is being made.’  And look back at the text … if that should happen--“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”—indeed, if I am martyred, my friends, rejoice with me.  Wow, that is incredible.

What are you and I called to sacrifice for Jesus Christ?  It will not be the libation of wine that Paul’s first-century readers would have understood … for some of you reading this, though—in China, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Eritrea, where Christianity is punishable by law—like Paul, your life may be required of you. 

But for readers in the West, I challenge you to consider what this passage means to you—what sort of sacrifice might God require of you? 

For starters, “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”3   And too, perhaps we are to look at the area of sanctification—where God works his transforming power in our lives—and ask him to look at areas where compromise has sneaked in…  Have you and I become too permissive with ourselves, exercising ‘Christian liberty’ just a little too liberally?  Here, I will go first … yes, I have.

Grace to you ... grace to me,

Christine

PastorWoman.com