Christ is the Covenant. Christ is the Light. As the Covenant Lives in us, let us shine Him out to our generation.
I Need to Be Shining the Lord to My Own Generation
Philippians 2:14-18
Please turn to Philippians 2:14-18. As you are turning there, I am going to share some exciting things about our Lord Jesus. In a moment I am going to show some prophecies that were given 700 years before Christ came to earth. The prophecies come from Isaiah. They explain many beautiful details about our Messiah. Before we look at Isaiah, one important thing that we know is that Jesus came to establish His New Covenant. It is a beautiful covenant. It means your salvation. Something else we know is that when Jesus preached, He made some amazing statements about His New Covenant that He came to establish. But the problem for a lot of Israelites was that they did not receive those statements very well. It was like Jesus was speaking another language. The statements seemed bizarre to natural ears. They seemed odd to Old Covenant Israelites whose hearts had not been opened by God. Before we go to Isaiah the prophet, I want us to listen to some things Jesus said. They are so important for what I am preaching. Get the picture first: Israelites are gathered from all over, along with Jesus' students. Jesus just arrives in Capernaum after sailing over the sea of Galilee. They are listening, wondering--contemplating. Some are still trying to figure out Who Jesus is. Jesus begins preaching. Then Jesus says this about Himself,
"51 'I am the living bread that (came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.' 52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, 'How can this man give us His flesh to eat?' 53 So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.'" John 6:51-58
Now think about this a moment. If you were a curios Israelite standing there listening to a man say these kinds of things, and God had not opened your heart to understand, wouldn't you think these were some weird statements?
Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
This sounds like cannibalism. To natural ears, this really does seem bizarre. And it did seem bizarre to some of those who were there that day. The Scriptures tell us that many people left Jesus at that point. A lot of things that God says seem like bizarre things when we do not understand. When we do understand, it all makes sense. Jesus was not being bizarre. Jesus was explaining in spiritual terms, what He is. This is important because we need to know what Jesus is. He is also explaining how those who are elect partake in what He is in salvation. Later, Jesus goes on to explain what He means. It's the last passover. He is with His students. He explains how the Old Covenant was to be replaced with Him,
"19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, 'This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My blood.'" Luke 22:19-20
It all starts to make sense. The New Covenant involves Christ's body, and is identified with Christ's blood. In other words, the covenant is in Him as God incarnate as man. The Covenant is Him. It's all about the New Covenant. (Paul repeats the same words in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25). Jesus said other things that were like this about Himself. They were strange terms that described what He is, and Who He is. Jesus said,
"I am the Light of the world" in John 8:12 and 9:5.
He is the New Covenant. He is the Light of the world. How many of you realize that these two statements point us back to Isaiah the prophet of 700 years before? It is where Isaiah points us forward to Jesus who finally fulfilled the prophecies. We see both of these descriptions of the promised Messiah,
"6 ... I will also make You a Light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. ... 8 I will keep You and give You for a Covenant of the people, ..." Isaiah 49:6-8
The prophecy is concerning Christ the New Covenant, Who is Christ the Light. Both are in Isaiah 42:6. God says,
"6 I am Yahweh, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a Covenant to the people, as a Light to the nations," Isaiah 42:6
Both of these designations of Christ Jesus are very important. Again, Christ is sent as a:
1) covenant to the people,
and
2) light to the nations.
Christ is both. Christ came as both. There are some details about this revelation that have to do with God's eternal plan for you. The story continues. Putting our minds back there in ancient limestone Israel, the time is when Jesus was just a newborn baby. Shortly after his circumcision (which was performed on the eighth day according to the Old Covenant Law), Joseph and Mary brought baby Jesus up to the City of David--Jerusalem. While there for His dedication to Yahweh to be presented to Him at the temple, they ran into a devout follower of God. His name was Simeon. Simeon had been promised by God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. So, when Simeon sees baby Jesus, Simeon sees his Messiah. At the moment that Simeon saw the Son of God, Simeon prophesies and he blesses God. What is important to us at this particular point is that in the prophecy, Simeon quotes that previous prophecy made by Isaiah 700 years before. Simeon says,
"30 my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all nations, [and here comes the quote] 32 A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES," Luke 2:31-32
Simeon quotes Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6-8 concerning Jesus as the Light. When Jesus said that He is the Light of the world in John, He meant that this is what He is, and what He came to be. Jesus says,
"46 I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness." John 12:46
This is Jesus. The Jesus. Your Jesus. My Jesus. And we see Him for what He is (the Light) because we are saved out of the darkness. But now I want us to think about something else. I want us to think about something God created after Jesus was crucified, and resurrected. God created the body of Christ Spiritually in Christ Jesus. That's where you are--in Christ. That's what you are. You are the body of Christ. Jesus reigns, in a certain manner, in all of us whom He saves because He reigns in us in the Spirit. The church is the body of Christ, Colossians 1:24. God's New Covenant church, as the body of Christ, is a wonderful metaphor, but it is also your spiritual reality. You and me and all Christians are the body. This means so many things. Because Christ is the first born heir, we are also inheritors from our heavenly Father, because we are in the first born heir, which is Christ. You are born again in Him, in the New Covenant, in the Light. That means that Living Light is in you. The Light is in all of His church; but further, because the Holy Spirit is in us, where Christ is in us, the hope of glory, Colossians 1:27, you and I are also lights who are illuminated by Him. What this means is that Christ is your life, and Christ is your light, power, and witness. It's not about you. It's all about Him in you. Each of us are lights that shine forth the glory of our Lord as He shines out of us (not just today, but) every moment. Isn't this beautiful? God does this.
Let's continue to put our minds back there in the ancient Roman empire. The time is several decades after the resurrection of Christ. Let's trace the steps of the apostle Paul and Barnabas. They traveled to the Roman retirement city of Pisidian, in Antioch. Paul's first recorded sermon was preached there. It is where Paul made his profound pronouncement about the Old Covenant Law, and Christ,
"38 ... I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses." Acts 13:38-39
This jaw dropping proclamation undergirds the New Covenant that you and I are in. A week later, the next Sabbath day rolls around. Paul and Barnabas are there, and they preach one more time. This time they quote our prophet we are talking about. They quote Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6 once again, but this time they quote Isaiah in respect to themselves being the body of Christ, representing the body of Christ, shining Christ Who is the Light out of the body of Christ. It is a really astonishing revelation. It is just as astonishing as the fact that Christ is the Covenant, and Christ is the Light. Hang on to every word because this is the amazing revelation that shows that Isaiah's prophecy also applies to you as the body,
46... behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us,
[Where has the Lord commanded them?--here comes our Isaiah prophecy]
'I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.' 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." Acts 13:46-48
Paul and Barnabas have both the revelation of Christ, and of the body of Christ, His church. They are recognizing what you and I must also recognize; that they are Light bearers who were created in the miracle of salvation by God, in Christ, for good works which He prepared beforehand that they should walk in them, Ephesians 2:10. It is God who is at work in you to will and work for His good pleasure, Philippians 2:12 (our passage for last week). Paul and Barnabas have been commanded according to the prophecy of what Christ is. He is the Light--right? But drink this truth into yourself, because this is so important to who you are spiritually. As the body of Christ, Paul and Barnabas take the Light to the nations fully recognizing that they are fulfilling the prophecies of Messiah as Ambassadors of Messiah, as the body of Messiah, as Light bearers. Folks, this is your beautiful relationship to God that Paul holds forth in virtually every one of his epistles. You are a Light bearer in your dark generation. You shine His grace because He saved you from sin. You shine His grace because He still loves you when you sin. You shine Him when you are obedient and don't sin. You shine Him because you know the precepts of the faith of the gospel. You shine His light when you share it with others. Remember, it is not about you primarily. Primarily it is about Him, who is your Light. I want all of us to keep this in mind as I read our Philippians passage this morning. As I read, be thinking about Christ the New Covenant Light. Be thinking about how you and I are the body of Christ, where His holy Spirit is in us and we manifest Him as living Lights. Think about yourself. Let's read our passage. Paul says,
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." Philippians 2:14-18
Keeping the introduction to the sermon in mind, the theme that I am ministering to us from God's word is a simple urging:
I Need to Be Shining the Lord to My Own Generation
[prayer]
As we dig into this passage, the first seven words jump out at us with a very personal, and clear teaching for life application from God to you and me,
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; ..."
You know that God's Spirit is talking directly to you here. So, don't be thinking about others doing this. Think about yourself.
God is telling me that I need to do all things without grumbling or disputing.
This is a body of Christ teaching. I know a lot of Christians who are guilty of relating to the other members of the body in grumbling (they are grumblers). There are also a lot of contentious, disputing Christians that I know. They are marked as disputers. And like I said, don't look around. Look at yourself. This passage points us back to 2:1-5, where Paul has been pushing the Philippians along in the right direction. They, (like all of us), need to be encouragers. You and I must be encouraging one another with open arms of love.
Why?
Is it because of some book of virtues that tells us to do this?
No.
Is it because we want to win friends and influence people?
No.
It is for one reason only:
It is because this is what the Great Light does.
Paul said we are to be manifesting the consolation of love. It is the love of Christ, but we are the ones who need to shine it out consistently. He said to manifest the fellowship of the Spirit. He did not say to manifest the disfellowship of the flesh. He said to manifest the affection and compassion that comes from Christ. Quit tearing down others with your snide remarks, and your critical analyzations. It's not the Light. Quit getting angry with other Christians, and separating yourself from them because you don't like them. Quit acting like it applies to some other situation than your life, my life, and the life of those God has among you providentially. This is what God means. The Philippians, you, and me should all be maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one singular grand purpose. If you are a gossip, are critical, divisive (where you are unforgiving, judgmental, and condemning), then you are dark. You are not manifesting the love of Christ. You are not united in the bigger picture. You are a fracturer. You are being carnal--unspiritual. Do nothing, (Paul says) from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind you need to--you must--regard one another as more important than yourself. Do you know what Paul has been doing?:
Paul has been pointing out how to sparkle.
All this is, is how to shine the light of Christ out of your life to disperse the darkness. And God gets detailed with us; Don't merely be looking out for your own personal self interests, but also for the interests of others. This is light. This is the amazing attitude of Christ that leaves all of us examining ourselves in raw introspection. It leaves us recognizing that there is always room to shine more than what we are shining now. Have this mind in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus when He emptied Himself and took on the form of a humble self sacrificing slave Who demonstrated true, authentic love. It's love that you can point to. It's love that is light because you can see it. People know when you are loving them. You know what it means to shine Christ's love. It's no mystery. You can see it in your talk about other Christians. You can see it in your actions. These are all the things that Paul points back to that we need to do without the lampshade. The lampshade is grumbling and disputing. And then there's the shekinah glory that comes directly into our passage under study. As you have always obeyed, cultivate your salvation with awe and reverence. Why? Because it is Living Light Who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. There are two workers:
Christ is the light, and so it is all Him, and yet I am the one who must shine His light.
So, there is this light bearing mindset that the body needs to have that Paul is pressing us to understand and walk in with consistency. The consistency even has to do with our attitudes in it all. What I mean is that when we manifest all those Light things that Paul is talking about, and we do it consistently, we should be doing it with the joy of the Lord. We should be praising and encouraging other Light bearers. We don't want to grumble and dispute with other vessels of Light if we know that it dims God's glory. We don't want to dim the light right in the midst of shining it do we? So Paul says,
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; ..."
What Paul is saying is, quit being a critical minded complainer. We may try to cloak it and call it discernment. We might try to call it concern, but it is complaining, grumbling, and disputing. It is dark, because bickering and arguing, and complaining is a black hole that sucks the light away. There's no grace. There's no forgiveness. There's no manifestation of love. It gets sucked away. The Philippians were familiar with this damaging problem. We all know how this blocks the sweet glow of Christ in our unity in the gospel; It is our own bad attitudes that do this. Humbleness is how to get rid of the problem. God is telling us. Humbleness, is self diminishment that has two doors. You see, when you are being a humble loving brother and sister to the body, you are reaching out and closing one door, which is the one that covers the spotlight on yourself, and you are reaching out with your other hand and opening another door, which is the one that is all Jesus. Do you remember when the Gentiles were in Jerusalem for the Feast Days? Jesus was there. They had heard about how amazing He was. They knew about Him. But they wanted to see Him. They came to Philip,
"... and began to ask him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.'" John 12:21
When people see us, they should see Jesus, because people see Jesus in all these love things of His Light. Paul says that the humbleness that expresses Jesus, is when you consider yourself as a nobody and everyone else you know is the somebody. This is what we want, because, then people see Jesus. But if we are grumbling and disputing, our attitude is not humble. We are dimming the light of Christ, closing it off, and hiding it. Pridefulness makes you look like the rest of the dark world. If you want the world to see Jesus when they see you, then sometimes it's going to take dying to your opinion. Sometimes it is going to take listening to people when you wish they would just shut up. But, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. And so you love em, and you listen anyway. Sometimes it is going to take being with people you want out of your life. Taking the Light of Christ to the Gentiles, is more than sharing four spiritual laws. Anytime the wicked perverted world sees the church as segmented and divided, where we are arguing, bickering, and fussing, and critical of others with our little comments that tear down someone, and they see that we are not in fellowship, they don't see the light of the glory of God. The world sees itself, and this is a huge dark shame. So, we must make it our ambition to do all things without grumbling or disputing. We can do it, because the Light Who is in us, has enabled us to do it. You really can live in an attitude of appreciation of who you really are in Christ, and what God is doing in you to will and to work for His own good pleasure. God has empowered us to do much more, as Paul says. So, let's do it. Paul gives the outcome based reason. It is,
"15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world," Philippians 2:15
Have you ever noticed how easy it is for the world to prove that it is darkness when checked against God's word? The world doesn't need to do anything but be itself. You and I are the ones who need to prove who we are to the world. To demonstrate that you are blameless and innocent and above reproach, you need to demonstrate what you are. So the question is,
What are you?
A lot of Christians just don't get it. I'll tell you what we are. Make a note of it somewhere.
We are the righteousness of God in Christ (Philippiains 3:9)
that Paul talks about in the next chapter. When we act like this, then we appear as lights in the world. All of us are the living representatives of Christ as the only body of Christ that exists right here and right now. This is what we are as the true children of God. The unsaved Jews will claim that they are the children of God, but they are not. They are the unrighteousness of Adam. That first Israelite generation that God had begun the work of establishing His New Covenant in His Son, was filled with crookedness and perversion of the truth. They were definitely united, but they were united in untruth. The apostate Jews had demonstrated that they were really pagans when they turned their back on the promised Messiah. And the pagan Romans didn't worship God either. There were all kinds of dark sections of people who claimed to be people of God, but they were not. They were children of darkness. They were all unrighteous, sinful, and hell bound. In our day, we see the same thing. But we are the true lights in the midst of the darkness. So people are saying to us,
Sir, ma'am--we wish to see Jesus!
As you and I prove ourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, then we are doing our part to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy, and people do see Jesus. We are appearing as the only light bearers that God creates to shine the glory of Christ into the darkness of the world.
Do you have the reverence for this fact?
You are God's man that He has chosen to be light because you are the one he has chosen to bear His light. You are God's woman. This leads us to ask another question;
Am I Shining the Lord to My Own Generation?
Bickering, disunity, grumbling and divisive relentless contention, gives non-Christians reasons to ridicule us because they can laugh and mock Gods' church and say,
Yeah, look at the Christians. All I see is dinginess, and darkness.
I see the same black pit that is everywhere else.
Where is the Light?
Where is the proof?
They can say that because there is no glory. This is why I am always harping on the state of the church in Western civilization today. The church in our nation is not proving itself. We (the contemporary church) are not above blame in our own sinful, crooked, and perverse generation. We are not different. Be different. This is the word of the Lord. You have the Light, so shine Jesus. Everyone in the lost dying world is blamed for the sickness that sin reaps. But, we are called to live out the salvation God has worked in us to such an extent that we are so much like Christ that there is nothing to blame us for. Let me ask you:
If I say that I love people as a Christian, and yet, I don't really act like I love people, then what have I really said?
What I have said is that I am acting like I'm not a Christian. Where is the proof?
"Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
This is what people care about. Those who God is drawing by His Spirit, don't care about how much you claim that God made you rich. They don't care about how austere you are. They want to see the Jesus that went to the prostitutes, and ate with them, and sat with the despised tax collectors, teaching them, and lovingly telling the lost sheep of the House of Israel to turn to Him out of darkness. Why?; because of real love, and real concern. They want to see the Light that saves sinners as a rescue mission. God will reveal the Light of the message of the good news, but God wants you to be the good news too. So, when the wicked and perverse blame-filled generation looks at us, they better not be seeing themselves. They should see something profoundly different. Paul says it this way in Ephesians,
"... you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light." Ephesians 5:8-13
Do you want people to see Jesus shining out of you?
Do you want to expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness?
You do this, Paul says, with fruit filled light. What does fruit filled light consist of?
"... goodness, righteousness, and truth. ..."
This is what it means to be walking by the Spirit. The world walks according to the dark spirit of the prince of the power of the air. It's fruit is Hollywood, divorce, terrorism, corrupt government; Workaholism, where materialism is master; Lust, and longing for the snare of riches that draws people away from the faith; sexual licentiousness, and every kind of lie and deceit imaginable. People lie to clients. People lie to their spouses. They grumble, and are contentious. When the world gazes at us who claim to be the the Light bearers, and they see blamelessness, goodness, righteousness, and truth (which are all God's good works), then they will glorify God, and this is what God wants; and what is so beautiful about this, is that Christ has not left you to do it alone in the arm of your flesh. Christ has empowered you to do it. It is not something that is out of your reach. God has empowered you to be just like Paul and Barnabas. So, when you are out in the world, you don't have to be eclipsed by the darkness. God has called you, and He has made sure that He has given you all that you need to face the Gentiles each and every day,
46 ... the Lord has commanded us, 'I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.'" Acts 13:47
This is what Paul means in Philippians. Let's prove ourselves to be children of God. God is working in us. The Holy Spirit is convicting us. The word is directing us. Why? Because we are on mission. Your mission is to take the Light to the End of the earth, to your office, to your home, even to your internet world, everywhere where everyone sees your salvation and there is no mistake that you have Jesus. Paul flows on,
"16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain."
The "word of life" is the good news of the salvation of the promised Messiah Who in humbleness, was crucified for our sins, and then was resurrected in His glory. This word of life is what brings eternal life to all who believe. When God commissioned Paul, the word of life is what God told Paul to preach to
"... open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light ...." Acts 26:18
What this means is that you are a missionary even though you may not call yourself one. What is that I hear you say?:
Yeah, but Kerry, pastors, and other missionaries--you know, people officially titled, "ministers"--those are the ones who are supposed to do that.
No, that's not true. You are the one who holds fast the word of life in this world. You are officially titled a minister of the Lord by your Lord. The real problem is that whenever your light is dim, the word of life is not seen manifested, and so your witness is diminished. What happens is that we can be like missionaries out on the mission field who don't know what we are. That's the real problem. We act like we are really on a vacation. So the problem is NOT that ministry is supposed to be someone else's job. When you are white hot with the power, zeal, and love of Christ, then the word of life is part of you as your life changing testimony, and you are an effective missionary. So think about this because it is so beautiful: All of us who are light bearers, are reflections of God where each of us were changed by the word of life through the work of the Spirit. So, when others are saved when we bear the word of life, God creates them to be living light bearers too. This is an ongoing process. God has done this for over 2000 years where God places us before the nations, that Christ in us may bring salvation to the end of the earth. So, Paul says that the Philippians are to be,
"16 holding fast the word of life,
and then Paul says,
so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
The saints were awaiting the soon promised return of Christ in their generation. Paul is waiting. He is hoping that his own light bearing has produced the glory He preaches. He wants to see a mature group of Christians established and united and are burning forth the radiance of their King when He returns in an act of sovereignty to annihilate any vestiges of the crooked and perverse generation that falsely claimed to be the children of God. Christians need to be ready for it. They need to be prepared in unity as a gospel living body. This is so important for us to do in our day as we await our own meeting with the Lord. Whether you die, or He comes back again, you are still going to meet Him. When Paul wrote this epistle, Paul expected to be alive in the day of Christ, and he expected the Philippians to be alive. And Paul's crown of victory will be all the people that he impacted with the gospel. It is the same way with us when we shine our lights in such a way that God uses us to express Christ to the lost. Paul talks about running the race. He calls these Philippian believers his "joy and crown" in 4:1. In 1 Thessalonians, he says the same thing.
"19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy." 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
Paul is running for the Lord by loving the body. Part of what the light does in us is show us that people are more than merely results of duty. Don't ever think of Christians in terms of numbers. We are real people, and we are all real miracles of the Father. I think that one really huge take home point for all of us here this morning is that life is short. We only have a little bit of time in this quick race to shine. So, in the immediacy of the fleeting days, the pressing question that you and I need to ask ourselves is,
Am I running like a torch bearer who is shining the Lord to My Own Generation knowing my days are few?
Run, because the race is quick, and then its over. This week, the Chinese ran with the olympic torch. Protesters and opposition would come and try to stop them. But they didn't give up. They kept on running. They kept on carrying the torch light, until they made it to the finish. Looking back now, what seemed so difficult, arduous and long, was really a short blip in history. All that matters now is that they carried the torch, ran the course, and finished in glory. Finally Paul talks about the difficulty that He experienced personally as a Light bearer,
17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering [a libation] upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
The Philippians had sacrificed a lot for the work of shining the Light of Christ. Their financial support in giving (which Paul mentions in chapter 4) is a huge aspect of their own personal sacrifice. Paul is joyful about it. No matter how difficult it is to be a light bearer in this hurting dark world, we should all rejoice that God uses us. When we look at Paul's attitude, in light of His service, we once again hear the heartbeat of being the body as opposed to being disconnected fictional light bearers who are loners for the Lord. Show me a so-called loner for the Lord--a maverick for Messiah, and I'll show you someone who is really a grumbler and disputer--selah. Paul, knows he is working with God's people--yes with. He calls himself a libation offering. What Paul means is that he is like an offering of wine that is poured out onto the sacrifice like the priests would do in the Old Covenant offerings. The sacrifice that Paul is talking about pouring himself over, is the Philippians gift of money. Paul looked at himself as a lamp in God's hands, and he also looked at the Philippians as fellow lamps in God's hands, but all are operating together as a a single light bearing body for God's glory. Their ministry of light to Paul was in prayer, and in giving money to support Him. You and I should see ourselves as part of the ministry of the whole church too. Think of yourself as a full cup. Now, make it your ambition to pour yourself out for Christ. Right before being executed, Paul said,
"I am already being poured out as a drink offering [a libation], and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith [which is the doctrine and precepts of Christianity];" 2 Timothy 4:6-7
Daily, I have to check my selfish attitude to see if I am pouring myself out. Generally I am selfish. Oftentimes I have to fight to open up the door and let the light shine out in my actions.
Are you like me?
Are you selfish too?
Our whole lives should be dedicated to selfless ministry as we operate as true members of the united body of Christ, but we can be so selfish. We don't want the pain and discomfort of being a libation. We would rather drink the sweet ease of being content with going to heaven when we die. But God is in us, and God wants to come out and be shown. It doesn't matter how hard it gets, God rejoices when you are poured out as a drink offering for Christ. God knows we get tired and worn out. But runners must run when they are both refreshed, and when they are tired. God enables us to go on. So He wants you to run. But to do this, you are going to have to pour yourself out as a drink offering recognizing the bigger picture. It is bigger than anything that the world has to offer us. But we must believe it is bigger and so much more worthy of our affections. The bigger picture is that I am saved for God. I am not saved for myself. So, what this means each day is that I run for Him--not myself. When you submit to the bigger picture, then you will sacrifice your schedule. You will make your agenda take the back seat to telling your neighbor that you are a Christian; and so they will know the real reason why you do certain things, and they will know the real reason why you don't do certain things. Each day, when you begin thinking;
I need to shine Christ out of my life today,
then you should be thinking that you have just committed to die to your comfort zones for God's schedule, agenda, and zone of ministry and purpose in this world. This is why Paul finishes,
"18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me."
Paul is talking about the joy of the Light, and the satisfaction that comes in being light bearers. God placed His Light in all of us who are saved. So, let's rejoice that we are His, and let's rejoice that He keeps us, and uses us as His light bearers.
The word from the Lord today is don't be an outsider. Don't look like one. Don't let your light be eclipsed by the darkness. You are the light bearer in your generation. Lets' be joyful about this great calling. So, what are we going to do about it? God has been talking to you. He is working in you. Now he expects action. Pray that God will use you. Look for opportunities to shine His Light. If you are hiding the Light, then quit it. Think of yourself as a part of the body, like a glowing hand, and God is using you to be his shining palm and his fingers of light in this wicked generation. Don't give up asking yourself the important questions:
Are you content with being someone who does not look like the body at all?
Do you blend in with the dark dim dinginess of the world?
You know the answer. We all know what it is to shine God's glory, and what it isn't. Shine the light of Christ to your generation. Be different. Be humble. Be focused. Be ready as you bear Christ with joy.
