Chapter 10, John 10, I'm gonna be reading from verse 11 through 15. These are the words of our Savior. I am the Lord, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I laid down my life for the sheep. And now to our sermon text, which is found in Philippians chapter two. We're reading verse 17 through 30. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also. I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill near death, but God had mercy on him and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy and honor such men for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete or complete what was lacking in your service to me. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, it is our Desire this morning for you to make us more and more like you. Would you captivate our hearts? Would you set us ablaze in the power of the Holy Spirit? Would you cause us to respond to your word this morning in presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to you? Would you do this in the magnificent name of our savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. God has created every single one of us for relationship, for community, for fellowship, for authentic connection. This is very much implicitly seen in the opening chapter of the Bible in Genesis chapter one as God commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth. So by design, we are relational beings. We were created in the love of God to be loved and to love. In this sense, it's no wonder that every single one of us has a desire for love, but also to love others. It's who we are. It's how we've been made. And this has led to each and every one of us experiencing some of the sweetest memories and the most meaningful relationships in our lives. But it's also led to some of the most painful. And for many, this has even been true of you within the church. Many today within broader evangelicalism speak of a great fondness of the church. But they are also so many who are disillusioned, hurt, offended, and unsure of what the path forward might in fact look like. So having started, begun with zeal and much fervor, disappointment has kicked in, sin and deep offense has actually mired the way. And for any of us to experience the beauty of love, it requires that you and I become vulnerable, which can be hard, particularly when one's trust has been broken, when one is hurt, or when one's heart has become hardened or captivated to sin, to bitterness, to unforgiveness. True and genuine love does not thrive in an atmosphere of mistrust or suspicion or of abuse. So at times we can be tempted to actually cut ourselves off, to isolate ourselves rather than to open ourselves to the riches of love or to open ourselves to find grace forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration. You see, this reality surrounding the nature of love within a fallen world is what C.S. Lewis quite adroitly addresses in The Four Loves when he says, there is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. But if you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and with little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements. Lock it up in the casket or the coffin of one's own selfishness. But in that casket's safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, C.S. Lewis says, or at least the risk of tragedy is damnation. The only place outside of heaven where we can be perfectly safe from all dangers and perturbations of love is hell. Friends, none of us were meant to be an island unto ourselves, a kind of me, myself, and I against the elements. And additionally, what we find in the scriptures is that our relationship with Christ cannot exhaustively or comprehensively be summarized as a kind of me, myself, and Jesus. You see, to be in Christ, which is what it means to be a Christian, is to be a member of the body of Christ, His church, His household, His temple. And it's in the context of other people, whether in the local church and congregation or broader society, that we are to work out our own salvation in the fear of the Lord. For that power, that same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is at work in us, enabling us to find grace for others, enabling us to find strength for ourselves as God tests us to mature us, to bring us to holiness or our holiness to completion. that you and I may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. This is exactly where we find ourselves in Paul's letter to the church in Philippians this morning. This church in Philippi is what we could call a model church, a church that is exemplary for all the saints, akin to the church in Thessalonica. However, this church simultaneously is not without its niggles. It's without its bumps or its bruises. There appears to be a little bit of discord between brothers and sisters in Christ. They're just not getting along with one another in the way that they ought to. There's also a little bit of grumbling and disputing. And so Paul says, don't be like the Israelites who acted in such a manner within the wilderness and yet did not enter into the promised land because of their sin and unbelief, their hardness of heart. But for the most part, what we find is that this is actually really a remarkable church. A church that Paul loves. A church that he calls his crown and his joy. God has knit Paul's heart to them in a partnership, a partnership in the gospel from the very first day in which this church was planted through the ministry of Paul at the riverside in Philippi, when Lydia and her household came to saving faith, all the way up until this very moment in which Paul is likely sitting under house arrest in Rome. with the Philippian believers, many of them facing the same trial, the same difficulty, the same conflict that Paul himself faces as a result of the gospel. What we find is in our text, which we're gonna focus on verse 17 for the most part this morning, is that this verse is framed with the idiom of sacrifice and service. Verse 17 is, even though I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering or service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Now there's some language in there that we just not kind of coffee table banters and that we don't talk in our natural kind of colloquial speech of drink offerings. And so for us to understand this text and know what it is that Paul is saying and how he is related to this church, I need to bring a few pots and pans out, a kind of few theological pots and pans out, which I don't like to do in sermons, but it will be helpful. And so consider today's sermon akin to like a breakfast skillet. You know, when you go and they, what they, the breakfast skillet, they cook it and then they bring the pan, the skillet to the table. There's going to be a little bit of a skillet action here today as we consider what a drink offering is. Because it will help us understand that it will, if we understand what a drink offering is and thus understand this verse, we will find in verse 17, a concentrated summary of the kinds of ministers that we need within the church today, as well as the kind of partnership that we need in terms of the partnership of the gospel that brings glory to Christ. We're considering predominantly one verse. It is rich. It's got a little bit of theological pots and pans. But in the end, I think we will be the richer for it. Here's the summary. Take this, you got it all. The kinds of ministers that we need are those whose ministry is as a drink offering upon the sacrificial service of the saints. I'll repeat that. The kinds of ministers we need in the church today are those whose ministry is as a drink offering upon the sacrificial service And so my first point, what is a drink offering? A drink offering was typically an offering that accompanied the daily sacrifice in the temple. It was an appendage to the main offering itself, a libation of wine that was poured out upon on top of or sometimes to the side of the animal sacrifice that was burned in the temple, whether that burnt offering was a lamb or a bull or a ram. And so the drink offering was not seen to be the main offering. It accompanied the meat offering and was called a pleasing aroma, a pleasing aroma unto the Lord. And so what's important for us to understand is that when Paul talks about himself as being a drink offering that is poured out upon the sacrificial service of the Philippians' faith, he is not being confused, he is not getting confused with Christ's unique work of redemption upon the cross. He is not undermining the once for all death and resurrection of Christ as the Lamb of God who uniquely takes away the sons of his people. What we actually find is in the death and resurrection of Christ is that the Old Testament sacrificial system is done away with because that to which that sacrificial system pointed to the Lamb of God who would be the mediator and take away the sins of God's people had now come. And so what we find is The former sacrifices in the Old Testament, they functioned as kind of signposts, as types. They were kind of picture of what was to come. And the signpost pointed ahead to the true reality, the perfect and true sacrifice to come, the Lamb of God being Christ himself, slain for us. And so now in this new covenant period in which the promised Messiah has come, Paul is not referring to the death sacrifices. He's not referring to that. He's actually speaking about believers who are now in Christ as being living sacrifices. Living sacrifices unto God. He is referring to us laying down our lives in worship unto God and thanksgiving and service to others as sacrifice of praise unto God most high. Paul writes to the church in Rome in Romans chapter 12, and he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, in the light of God's mercies, or the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual or your reasonable act of worship. See, our lives are to be lived in surrender to God, laid down in service and in worship unto God as fragrant aromas before him as we will and we work for his good pleasure. And remember that nobody who is outside of Christ has the ability to please God. Not one person outside of Christ can please God with anything that they do. No good that you can do will earn the favor of God or cause God to smile upon you if you are not in Christ. But if you are in Christ, if you do rest upon him and receive him as your savior, you are made righteous because Christ is your substitute. See, what's amazing is that if when we are in Christ, Not only will you know the smile of God, His favor and His blessing as He lifts up His countenance upon you and He gives you His peace, but now you can work out your salvation for His good pleasure in your self-surrender as a freewill offering unto God, holy and acceptable to Him. Prior to being in Christ, you could not please Him under His wrath, alienated from Him. Now that you are in Christ because of the perfect obedience of Christ, you can please Him as you work out your salvation to will and to work for His good pleasure. The pleasure and the smile and the favor of our Heavenly Father. And so Paul's appeal to present your bodies as a living sacrifice is in the light of God's mercies. It's in the light of what God has done in Christ. In other words, laying down your life and surrender to him, yielding your life as living sacrifices, not unto salvation, but is only in response to God's work of salvation in you. And so what we're talking about here is not about justification, it's not about adoption, it's not about being accepted in Christ, it's not about being adopted in Christ, drawn near, being called sons and daughters of God with the name of God being placed upon you. No, that's not what this is about. This is about sanctification. is about offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God because they are offered through Christ, not despite Him. And so before you and I look now at Paul's drink offering, let's first consider the sacrificial offering or service of the Philippians, our second point. Remember in verse 17, we said that the relation of Paul's ministry to the Philippian church is that of a drink offering that is poured out upon the sacrificial service of the Philippians faith. And so there is a sweet aroma unto God, but it does not take center stage. And that's something important to realize. Paul's ministry, as profound and wonderful as it is, is as a drink offering that is an appendage to what is in center focus here, the sacrificial service of the local church unto God. See, Paul's offering is like the finishing touches. It's an offering that completes or perfects their sacrifice, their sacrificial service unto God. And part of what's actually included in their sacrificial service or their offering was something that was costly and tangibly costly. There were costly intangible gifts that they gave to Paul. And they did this through the ministry of Epaphroditus, their messenger and their minister. And they gave them to Epaphroditus when Epaphroditus went to minister to the needs of Paul as he was under house arrest in Rome. And so Paul was in need and they cared for him. What's interesting is a couple of chapters later on in Philippians 4 where Paul says the following. It gives us kind of added insight in terms of understanding this text. Paul says, I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. Here it is, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. There's the fragrant aroma unto God. When we have a look at these sacrifices, these New Testament sacrifices of believers in praise and thanksgiving and honor unto God, what's important for us to grasp is there's a kind of two-fold direction of the sacrifice. In practical terms, it's very much a tangible financial sacrifice. Quite possibly, clothes and food and finances and other supplies were sent by the church to Paul under house arrest. But these gifts that were given to Paul were costly. They were costly to the Philippian church. And they were, though they were unto him in love, they were ultimately unto God in worship. An offering unto God. We would find that the sending of Epaphroditus, one of their own, would have been a sacrificial offering unto God. Of sending a minister to care for another minister's needs. Their prayer and intercession for Paul would have been included in part of that sacrificial laying down of one's life of honoring God in such a way. Now, when we're here, we're going to bring out a little bit of the pots and pans again, and that is the New American Standard Bible and the New King James translations are quite helpful when they consider two Greek nouns in verse 17, and they speak of them as the sacrifice and service of your faith. In the ESV, it talks about the sacrificial offering. What's helpful for us to realize is what actually is the sacrifice? What was their sacrifice? Well, if we go back to Romans chapter 12, we realize that the sacrifice was them. It was themselves. They laid themselves down as a sacrifice unto God in worship, holy and acceptable to him. And their service unto Paul and unto God was brought an aroma of praise. Friends, when we talk about this language of sacrifice and service here, the drink offering and the sacrifice and service of their faith, what we're really getting at actually is what it means to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. How do we work out our own salvation? Well, on a daily basis, you lay down your life. You lay your life down as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, preferring others, worshiping our God. And so, it's a dying daily. We die to our own preferences and needs in service of the King. Jesus says, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What we see is that This sacrifice in service of the Philippian church is actually a reflection of the great commandment. As we read earlier in the service and in Matthew chapter 22, 37 through 40, to love the Lord your God with your all and to love your neighbor as yourself. Obedience and service go hand in hand, and in some senses are one and the same. Now, what's interesting is that the prophet Samuel, back in the Old Testament, as he comes to King Saul, Saul the king of Israel, and he says that to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. To obey is better than sacrifice. Why? Because Saul was not obedient to God. Rather, he tried to placate God with offerings, even though he disobeyed God. And so Samuel says that ought not to be. Here in Philippians chapter two, we see that Christ's obedience unto death was sacrificial. It was a sacrifice for our salvation. And then we read that for these Philippians, these Philippian believers, to obey Christ, to work out your own salvation in the fear of the Lord, is exactly what it means to be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing unto God. That is the beauty of what Paul is doing and showing us this morning as he ties the entire section of chapter 2 and even prior in Philippians 1 within his broader theology as we see in Romans. And so let's conclude with our third point then and we turn to Paul's service as a drink offering. What does this mean? It's our final point. So what we find in our text is that summarized in just a handful of words is what we could be called a kind of prototype of how Christian ministers are to serve the church, and how such a picture is needed in our day. One of the primary needs in in our day is for faithful ministers of the gospel who know what it means to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial service of the saints to whom God has called us. In verse 16, if we go back just one verse prior to our text, in verse 16 of Philippians 2, Paul speaks about his apostolic ministry to the church as running like an athlete to finish a race. He talks about to run and he talks about to labor or to work or to exert great toil for their good that this church would stand. And so you've got running, you've got laboring or toiling. And then there's a progression. The picture moves on still further to Paul being willing to lay down his life as a sacrifice in martyrdom for their faith. What's helpful for us is that there's one other place in the New Testament that speaks about a drink offering. And it's found in 2 Timothy chapter 4 where Paul writes to Timothy and he says, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And the time has come for my departure. I have fought the fights. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Paul writes to Timothy, it's right at the end of his life, whereas the section in Philippians, Paul doesn't know where he is yet, in relation to his last days. In fact, Paul says a little later on, he says, I hope to come to you. So I'm going to send Timothy, I'm going to send Epaphroditus ahead, but I hope to come to you. In 2 Timothy 4, we see that his race is run. I've kept the faith. What Paul says is, the desire is to make their offering, the Philippian church's offering, perfect, complete in pouring out his life, even unto death, to the very glory of God the Father. And so very quickly now, what kinds of ministers does the church need in our day? How is this reflective Paul's ministry as a faithful minister of the gospel? How can ministers learn from Paul and churches recognize such? Well, number one is that they need to be called of God and not to be self-appointed. Christ needs to call them. They need to minister with no selfish ambition or vain conceit, as we saw earlier in chapter two. They also need to have the character of Christ. The number one thing that ministers, elders, deacons, need to have is character, character, and again, character. Simply look at Titus chapter one, the qualifications for elders and deacons. First Timothy chapter three, the qualifications for elders and deacons, character, character, character. Thirdly, these ministers of the gospel need to have the concerns of Christ as their concerns. They are shepherds as under shepherds of the chief shepherd who is to lay their life down for the sheep, running the race, toiling with all the energy of God that so powerfully is at work in them. that they are not self-seeking, they are not building their own empires, but they are being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and the service of the saints and their faith to whom they are being called. So fourthly, in all that they do, ministers of the gospel need to point people to Christ, never to themselves. but to him and in all they do to make much of Christ, to preach Christ and him crucified. And then lastly, my fifth point is that in all that they do, ministers need to do all things in love as unto Christ for his glory and the good of his people, loving not their lives even unto death. And so in conclusion, where does that leave us? Where does that leave us today? What we see in our text is a most remarkable partnership in the gospel. There is such a deep affection between Paul and this congregation and this congregation and Paul as they are together for the gospel. That's one of the driving themes that courses its way throughout this letter. And his ministry to them is as a drink offering upon the service and the sacrifice of their faith, which in turn, their sacrifice strengthens him. You see this preferring of one another, Paul preferring them and them ministering unto his knees is a sweet aroma unto God. What's important for us to see is that their love for one another, as we cycle back to the introduction, their love for one another cannot be divorced from their love for God. Let it be true of each and every one of us as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling, doing so as we present our bodies daily, every moment of our lives as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. to God. We cannot divorce our love for God from our love for one another. You cannot divorce loving God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength from loving your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said the second is like it. And so as you offer your lives as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. As you do this, God's grace will be with you to strengthen you as you desire to live for the glory of God and the good of others. Let's pray. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, May our lives be a sweet aroma, pleasing to you as we work out this great salvation that you have worked within us. Do this in the magnificent name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.