Scripture Reading: Phil. 2:17-18; 1:25; 3:9; Eph. 1:13; 2:8; 3:17; Gal. 2:20; 5:6; Col. 1:3-4; 2:12
In 2:17 Paul says, “But if even I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith, I rejoice and rejoice together with you all.” In this verse Paul speaks of “the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith,” a phrase which is difficult for students of the Bible to understand. Here two matters are related to the believers’ faith: the sacrifice and the priestly service. Paul regards the believers’ faith as a sacrifice offered to God. The priestly service refers to the offering of sacrifices by a priest. In this verse Paul seems to be saying, “Philippians, I consider your faith as a sacrifice offered to God, and my offering of this sacrifice to Him is a priestly service.” In this message we shall consider the sacrifice of our faith. We shall not cover the matter of priestly service.
In the book of Philippians Paul uses certain extraordinary expressions such as “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (1:19), “holding forth the word of life” (2:16), and “the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith.” If we would know the secret of experiencing Christ as revealed in this book, we need to understand these expressions.
What is the faith that can constitute a sacrifice offered to God? As believers, we all have some amount of faith. If we did not have faith, we could not be believers in Christ. Although we have faith, the question remains whether or not this faith can be regarded as a sacrifice offered to God in a joyful way by the apostles. Paul was a New Testament priest. He says in Romans 15:16, “That I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that the offering of the nations might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.” As a gospel priest, Paul offered his converts to God as a sacrifice. In Philippians 2:17 it is not the believers themselves which are the sacrifice; it is the faith of the believers which is considered a sacrifice. The thought in 2:17 is deeper than that in Romans 15:16. Do you think of your faith as a sacrifice which such a ministering one can offer to God?
According to verse 17, Paul was willing to be poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and priestly service of the believers’ faith. Paul realized that one day he would be martyred. As a martyr, he would be a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice of their faith. In the Old Testament a drink offering was poured out on one of the basic offerings. Without a basic offering, there could not have been the drink offering. Paul regarded his death as a martyr as a drink offering. The basic offering upon which this drink offering was to be poured was the faith of the believers in Philippi. It is very important for us to understand what kind of faith can become the sacrifice on which the drink offering is poured. Thus, in this message we shall seek to understand the faith to which Paul refers in 2:17.
The faith in this verse is somewhat different from that mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. Ephesians 1:13 says, “In whom you also, hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise.” As a result of hearing the word of the truth and of believing in Christ, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. In this verse we have the word, faith, and the Spirit. By hearing the word and believing it, we receive the Spirit. The word, faith, and the Spirit are one.
The Word is the expression of God (John 1:1). God is the source of the Word. When we have the Word, we have God, for the Word is God’s expression.
According to the Gospel of John, the Word is both God and the Spirit. Furthermore, Christ is also God, the Spirit, and the Word. Christ is the Word, and the Word is God. Thus, there is a marvelous interrelationship between God, Christ, the Spirit, and the Word. The Word is God and also the Spirit. At the same time Christ is both God and the Spirit. On the one hand, Christ is the Word; on the other hand, the Word is Christ. Likewise, God is the Spirit and the Spirit is God. Here we see the Triune God embodied in the Word.
The Triune God is embodied in the Word, and the Word has come to us. The very Word which was with God and which is God became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:1, 14). According to John 20, this Word who became flesh was worshipped as God. Thomas said concerning Him, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). The Word is not only our God, but also the coming of our God to us. Our God comes to us embodied in the Word. Furthermore, according to Ephesians 6:17, the Spirit is the Word. The wonderful Triune God is embodied in the Word, and the Word has come to us. When the Word comes, God, Christ, and the Spirit come. The Three of the Triune God come with the Word.
The first function of the Word is to infuse us with faith. I do not believe it is possible for someone to repeat a Bible verse ten times without being infused with faith. Suppose an atheist reads John 3:16 and repeats this verse again and again. Even this atheist would be infused with faith through the Word.
The faith infused into us through the Word is the function of the Spirit. Faith is both the issue of the Word and the function of the Spirit. When the Word comes to us and is contacted by us, we receive the Spirit. This means that when the Word reaches us and we touch it, the Word becomes the Spirit in our experience. Thus, the Word first comes to us and then it becomes the Spirit in us.
The Word becoming the Spirit in our experience can be illustrated by the lighting of a match. The head of a match is a ball made of phosphorus. When we strike a match in a proper way, the phosphorus bursts into flame. Is the flame different from the phosphorus? No, it is simply the explosion of the phosphorus. In like manner, the Spirit is the “explosion” of the Word. When we experience this explosion, we are “burned” by the “fire.” This burning is faith.
As a young Christian, I earnestly desired to have faith. I read a number of books about faith. However, none of these books told me what faith is in actuality. Only in recent years have I discovered through my experience what faith is. Faith comes out of the word that infuses us with the divine element. Hence, faith is the issue of the word and of the Spirit’s function. When we have the word with the Spirit, we spontaneously have faith. As we have pointed out, faith, the word, and the Spirit are one.
If you consider this definition of faith in the presence of the Lord, you will worship Him. You will see that whenever there is genuine faith in you, the word is implied and the Spirit is realized. Apart from the word and the Spirit, it is impossible for us to have faith.
Ephesians 3:16-19 says that when the Father grants us according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into our inner man, Christ will make His home in our hearts by faith. Then, being rooted and grounded in love, we shall be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height, and depth, and know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God. If we take time to pray-read these verses and to muse upon them, our faith will be strengthened. Something within us will be strengthened to realize that Christ is making His home in our hearts, that we are being rooted and grounded in love, that we are apprehending the dimensions of Christ, and that we are even being filled unto all the fullness of God. A certain element has been infused into us to strengthen us, and this element is faith.
Before we pray-read these verses, we may feel weak. But after we pray-read them, we shall be empowered. We shall be like an automobile tire that has been filled with air. In our experience we shall realize that faith, the word, and the Spirit are truly one as our portion. Furthermore, we shall have the enjoyment of Christ in faith. We shall enjoy being strengthened with power, having Christ make His home in our hearts, being rooted and grounded in love, experiencing the dimensions of Christ, and being filled unto all the fullness of God.
If we take a portion from Paul’s Epistles and dwell on it for a period of time, we shall sense something rising up in us with power. This is the mingling of the word and the Spirit with our faith. This mingling always results in the enjoyment of Christ. What we enjoy in particular will depend on what specifically the Word conveys to us. For example, should a sinner dwell on 1 Timothy 1:15, a verse which says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, he will be infused with an appreciation of Christ as his Savior. He will know that Christ is able to save him. This appreciation of Christ in this aspect is faith. As we have pointed out elsewhere, faith is the appreciation of Christ and the reflection of what He is and does for us. Whenever a sinner has such an appreciation of Christ, he has the faith to be saved. He truly enjoys Christ as his Savior.
We can also enjoy Christ by pray-reading Ephesians 3:17. In particular, we shall enjoy Christ making His home in our hearts through faith, for this is what this verse conveys to us. What we enjoy in faith always depends on what is conveyed to us by the Word. For this reason, among Christians the enjoyment of Christ is of different degrees.
With genuine faith there is both the joy, or enjoyment, of faith and the sacrifice of faith. We have seen that Ephesians 1:13 speaks of faith. Faith is the issue of the Word and the function of the Spirit.
At least two verses in the book of Ephesians indicate that faith brings us the enjoyment of Christ. Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith.” Because we have been saved through faith, it is by faith that we enjoy Christ as our Savior. Thus, faith brings us the enjoyment of the Savior with His salvation. Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ makes His home in our hearts through faith. This indicates that faith brings us the enjoyment of Christ making His home in us. Although all Christians can say amen to 2:8, not many can say amen to 3:17. I doubt that very many believers enjoy Christ making His home in them. If we would enjoy Christ making His home in our hearts, we need to read Ephesians 3:15-19 and dwell on these verses. Furthermore, we should pray-read this portion of the Word and even sing it.
Galatians 2:20 also indicates that faith is related to the enjoyment of Christ: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” According to this verse, Christ lives in us, and the life which we now live we live in faith. Therefore, according to this verse, faith brings the enjoyment of Christ living in us. What a marvelous enjoyment this is!
In Galatians 5:6 Paul goes on to say, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith operating through love.” The Christ revealed in Galatians can be enjoyed only through faith. It is faith which brings us the enjoyment of Christ.
The book of Colossians also relates faith to the enjoyment of Christ. After referring to the believers’ “faith in Christ Jesus” (1:4), Paul says that the Colossians were “buried together with Him in baptism” and in Him “were raised together through the faith of the operation of God” (2:12). Faith brings us the enjoyment of God’s operation. Once we were dead, but now we can enjoy being raised up from the dead. Faith brings us the enjoyment of the operating God who raises us from the dead.
All these verses illustrate the fact that with genuine faith there is joy or enjoyment. The particular enjoyment we have depends on what portion of the Word we are receiving by faith. In other words, the enjoyment of faith depends on what a certain verse conveys to us.
In Colossians 1:25 Paul speaks of completing the Word of God. If it were not for Paul’s ministry, especially as contained in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, the Word of God would not be complete. This means that if we do not get into Paul’s words in these four books, our enjoyment of Christ through faith will not be adequate. It will not match the riches contained in these books.
Many Christians have a certain kind of enjoyment of Christ through faith. But they do not enjoy the all-inclusive Christ for the church, in the church, and with the church. I can testify that, as a young Christian, I did enjoy Christ to a certain degree. However, I did not enjoy Him in a rich way with the church until I came into the Lord’s recovery. Through my years in the recovery, the four books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians have all become faith to me. Today my faith is not simply the issue of verses such as John 3:16 and 5:24; it is the issue of these four books written by Paul.
I by no means belittle any book of the Bible. Nevertheless, I am sure that by reading the book of Ecclesiastes, you will not have much enjoyment of Christ. You may realize that all things are vanity, and you may earnestly desire that in your living nothing will be vanity. However, this book does not bring you into the rich enjoyment of Christ. The full enjoyment of Christ is found in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians.
Before you came into the Lord’s recovery, did you enjoy the all-inclusive Christ? Did you enjoy this Christ in the church, for the church, and with the church? You probably enjoyed something of Christ as revealed in Luke 15, but not the all-inclusive Christ revealed in Paul’s Epistles. We did not enjoy the all-inclusive Christ before coming into the Lord’s recovery because we did not get into the four books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. During the years I was with the Brethren, I attended many conferences which covered the subjects of the tribulation and Bible prophecy. I heard messages on the man of sin, the last trumpet, the rapture, the image in Daniel 2, the seventy weeks in Daniel 9, and the beasts in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. There is no doubt that every chapter of the Bible is God’s breath, even His breathing. Nevertheless, it is a fact that in Daniel 7 we do not enjoy as much of Christ as we do in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Even though Acts speaks a great deal about the church, we cannot enjoy as much of Christ in this book as through the four books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
To have the enjoyment of Christ is to have the joy of faith. Paul speaks of the joy of faith in Philippians 1:25: “And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of the faith.” Paul was constrained by two things: the desire to depart and be with Christ and the need to remain in the flesh for the sake of the saints (vv. 23-24). Eventually he concluded that he would remain and continue with the believers for their progress and enjoyment of faith. Paul’s expectation was that he would minister more of Christ to the saints so that they would have more experience of Him. Through Paul’s ministry they would receive more infusion and as a result would have more faith. This faith would then bring them a greater enjoyment of Christ. In this way they would have the progress and joy of the faith.
Today we have the completed word of God. I encourage you to study the whole Bible, but especially to study the four books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, books which complete God’s word. If you would have the faith which brings you into the full enjoyment of Christ with the church, you need to become thoroughly familiar with these four books.
The enjoyment of faith constitutes us into a sacrifice. This sacrifice is the very Christ experienced and enjoyed by us. Through the enjoyment of Christ, we experience Christ, gain Christ, and possess Christ. Our being is even constituted of Christ. In this way our faith becomes a sacrifice which can be offered to God.
I look forward to seeing the sacrifice of faith among the saints. I do not want to spend many years ministering Christ and the church to the believers only to find that they do not have much experience of Christ or enjoyment of Him. If we do not gain Christ, there can be no sacrifice. We shall not have the enjoyment of Christ, and the ministering one will not have the sacrifice of faith to offer to God. In order to have the sacrifice of faith, we need to touch the word of life in such a way that it becomes in our experience the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Then we shall have faith, faith which is the result of the Word and the Spirit mingled with our appreciation. This is the sacrifice which can be offered to God.
As used in 2:17, faith stands for the enjoyment of Christ, the experience of Christ, and the gaining of Christ. Our enjoyment, experience, and gaining of Christ become a sweet sacrifice offered to God. Then the ministering one will be happy to offer this sacrifice to God and at the same time pour out himself upon it as a drink offering.
I encourage all the saints to spend more time in the books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, musing upon them, pray-reading them, and even singing them. We need to “strike the match” and experience the “burning” that we may gain Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, and possess Christ. Then we shall have the faith as a sacrifice offered to God. We all need to have a faith which is mingled with the Word of God and the bountiful supply of the Spirit that we may have the sacrifice for God’s enjoyment.
Philippians 2:16 and 17 should be taken together. According to grammar, these verses are joined by the conjunction “but.” This indicates that the faith in verse 17 is related to the holding forth of the word of life in verse 16. In other words, the holding forth of the word of life is related experientially to the sacrifice of faith. Paul’s concept in these verses is that if the saints hold forth the word of life, he will have something of which to boast in the day of Christ. The present age is the day of man (1 Cor. 4:3), and the coming age will be the day of Christ. The one whose day it is, is the one to exercise authority. Because now is the day of man, man has authority on earth. But in the day of Christ, He will have authority. If in the day of man the believers hold forth the word of life, Paul will be able to boast concerning them in the day of Christ that he had not run in vain or labored in vain.
After speaking of the believers’ holding forth the word of life and of his being able to boast in the day of Christ, Paul goes on to say in verse 17, “But if even I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith, I rejoice and rejoice together with you all.” Even now, in the day of man, Paul could be poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice produced by the believers’ holding forth of the word of life. This means that when the believers hold forth the word of life, Paul has a basic sacrifice on which to pour out himself as a drink offering.
As we consider these verses carefully, we see that whatever we experience of Christ issues out of our faith. Our faith is the sum total of our experience of Christ. The holding forth of the word in verse 16 is the very faith mentioned in verse 17. The conjunction “but” joining these verses indicates this fact. On the day of Christ, Paul desired to boast that the believers held forth the word of life. However, even at present, in the day of man, Paul could have the sacrifice of faith as a basic sacrifice upon which to be poured out. This sacrifice of faith is identical to the saints’ holding forth of the word of life.
In verse 16 Paul speaks of boasting, and in verse 17, of rejoicing. In these verses the words boast and rejoice may be regarded as synonyms. Paul could boast in the believers’ holding forth of the word of life and rejoice in the sacrifice of their faith. In verse 16 we have the boasting related to the holding forth of the word, and in verse 17 we have the rejoicing related to the sacrifice of the believers’ faith. The rejoicing in verse 17 is synonymous with the boasting in verse 16, just as the sacrifice of faith is identical to the holding forth of the word of life. Once again we see that faith here is the sum total of our experience, enjoyment, and gain of Christ.
