SHARING BREAD
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.
Phil
2:17-18 (NIV)
Paul’s God given purpose in life brought him much
pleasure. It gave him continuous cause
for rejoicing even amongst his many trials and tribulations. This should be the case for every believer in
Christ Jesus. To be sure, the safest and
sweetest as well as the most rewarding and fulfilling place to be is smack dab in
the center of God’s good, pleasing and perfect will. Believers are to be mature – perfected in
Christ – assured of His way. To
paraphrase what Amy Carmichael once
wrote - we are not sure our way is right for everyone but we are sure it is right for us. Paul commends Epaphras’ earnest prayers for
the saints in Colosse regarding this:
12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ
Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may
stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and
for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Col 4:12-13 (NIV)
Paul urges all believers in the book of Romans to offer our
bodies as living sacrifices. This refers
to the totality of one’s life and activities to be given for the One Who gave
all for us. He also encourages us to continually
renew our minds through God’s Word so that we may be able to test and approve what
God’s will is for our lives:
1 Therefore,
I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
“We sometimes seem to forget that what God takes He takes in fire; and that the only way to the resurrection life and the ascension mount is the way of the garden, the cross, and the grave. Think not, O soul of man, that Abraham’s was a unique and solitary experience. It is simply a specimen and pattern of God’s dealings with all souls who are prepared to obey Him at whatever cost. After thou hast patiently endured, thou shalt receive the promise. The moment of supreme sacrifice shall be the moment of supreme and rapturous blessing. God’s river, which is full of water, shall burst its banks, and pour upon thee a tide of wealth and grace. There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.” F. B. Meyer
Paul
was so confident of God’s direction of his mission that he could state his
pleasure rather than his sorrow in being poured out like a drink offering from
his sacrifice and service on behalf of the Philippians’ faith. The wording he used “poured out” is from the Greek word “spendomai” meaning a drink offering given as a sacrifice to
God. The apostle used the same term in 2
Timothy when he wrote:
6 For
I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for
my departure. 7 I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that
day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Tim 4:6-8 (NIV)
“God
will be our compensation for every sacrifice we have made.” F. B.
Meyer
“We
must remember that God will never drag us along the path of true-hearted
discipleship. This would greatly lack the moral excellency which characterizes
all the ways of God. He does not drag, but draws us along the path which leads
to ineffable blessedness in Himself; and
if we do see that it is for our real advantage to break through all the
barriers of nature, in order to respond to Gods’ call, we forsake our own
mercies. But alas! our hearts little enter into this. We begin to calculate
about the sacrifices, the hindrances, and the difficulties, instead of bounding
along the path, in eagerness of soul, as knowing and loving the One whose call
has sounded in our ears”. C H Macintosh
“Nothing is really lost by a life of sacrifice; everything is lost by failure to obey God’s call.” Henry P. Liddon
Paul cared not what man thought about him nor did he dwell
much on himself, for him, it was simply all about Jesus. His focus was fixed and unwavering. He also believed Christ was to be the source
and focus of Christian unity – never flawed flesh. His accomplishments in preaching the Gospel was
not based on human wisdom rather power given from above. The apostle was well aware that brilliant and
persuasive arguments may win a man’s mind but not his heart. It was the Spirit of God which enabled his
words to be effective. I am reminded of
Paul’s piercing words to the Corinthians:
10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no
divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed
me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”;
another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I
follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you? Were
you baptized into the name of Paul? 14 I am
thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name.
16 (Yes,
I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I
baptized anyone else.) 17 For
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of
human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1 Cor
1:10-17 (NIV)
“If you know who you are in Christ, it won’t matter so much
to you what other people think.” Joyce Meyer
What I glean from this:
· God’s will
for my life is good, pleasing and perfect.
· God calls
me to be a “living sacrifice”. Beth
Moore says the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep getting off of
the altar – God never forces us or ties us down there.
· I lose nothing
by living a life of sacrifice but everything if I fail to be obedient to God’s
call.
