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. ~ Philippians 2:17-18
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. We often confuse joy with happiness. A common mistake is to think that getting something will make us happy. We tell ourselves, “If only I had ...” But, as is illustrated in our text, joy comes from giving and serving, not from getting. To grow in joy, we must resist being self-centered and self-absorbed. For joy to flourish in our lives, we must willingly bow our wills to the Lord Jesus and grow in an intimate relationship with Him.
Joy is closely related to gratitude. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, gratitude prepares our souls for joy which is the power that frees us from ourselves and being short-sighted. Joy enables us to lose sight of self. It keeps us from being cowards, and it reveals to us that comfort, the most popular god in America, is its greatest enemy.
In v.17, we read, "But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith..." Paul’s joy is the result of being poured out on the offering of the faith of the Philippians. The Apostle Paul is in prison in Rome for the sake of the Gospel. This picture of being poured out ends in death to self. Paul uses the exact phrase again in 2 Timothy 4:6, where he says, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”
At the end of v.17 we read, “, I am glad and rejoice with alI am glad and rejoice with all of you.” The Apostle is rejoicing with the believers in Philippi. They are rejoicing in the advancement of the “faith” in their lives. When joy is given away, it grows because it is doubled.
Joy and faith are inseparable. When we have saving faith, we have tasted the joy that belongs to faith. This is the joy of faith. Many Scriptures show a cause-effect relationship between faith and joy. Faith is the cause and joy is the result. This discovery transforms us, because our faith in the providence of God enables us to rest in the joy that God has our backs. When we stand on our tiptoes and look beyond the distracting nature of our trials and fix our eyes on the hope found in our salvation, we can have joy in all circumstances.
We read in v.18, “So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” Joy is the product of being poured out for the sake of the faith. The risk of dying produces the joy of faith. And now Paul says, rejoice with me as I die for your joy of faith.
To be "poured out like a drink offering" means that the Apostle is suffering for the faith. In Genesis 35:14, Jacob set up a pillar for worship at Bethel, he consecrated it by “pouring out a drink offering on it.” There was a similar ritual commanded in Exodus 29, it says the priests were to offer a “drink offering” of a hin or a gallon of wine along with the lamb of the burnt offering. They poured the wine out as part of the sacrifice that was offered. Paul is saying, "Suffering is an offering to God, which is the cause for celebration of joy."
In Hebrews 12:2 we read, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." The joy that was set before the Lord Jesus culminated in our once ruined lives being redeemed though His death and resurrection. Anticipating the outcome, He endured the pain and torture of the cross. He poured out his blood as a drink offering so that we might experience His presence and influence in our daily lives.
When we suffer together, we have deeper intimacy and stronger connections. Our suffering with other believers creates the strongest connection possible, because that connection is eternal. Many today are hungry for community. Enduring community is the product of joining others who have His heart for that which is most important. In this case, it is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.
Finally, Nate Saint was the missionary pilot who flew Jim Eliot and three others on a mission trip to a remote tribe of natives in Ecuador, where all five of the missionaries ended up being killed by the tribe after they landed. Nate Saint was not as well-known as Jim Eliot, but had a great heart for the Lord and His work as well. Before his death, he wrote these words:
“People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives … and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.”
We can pour out our lives like Paul did, in service to God, or we can waste them on things that won’t matter in eternity. Oh to have the ability to transcend to such a perspective. This is the purpose of joy, it enables us to transcend.
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