For Heavenly Father and Eternal God, we rejoice, O God, for this time we can come to the Word of God. And Father, we pray, O God, this day as we seek to behold Thy Word, we pray, O God, Thy Word will be written even upon our heart. We pray, O God, that we will know more of the Saviour and His love for us, even how, O God, we can even serve Him. We thank Thee even for Thy Word. the instruction that thou dost give in it. And Father, we thank thee, O God, that thou dost show us how we may even glorify our God. We pray, Lord, if there be any who are backslidden, Lord, restore them. We pray if there be any who are not saved, may this be the day when they will come and give their life to Jesus Christ in full salvation. And O God, we pray if there are any believers who have still not surrendered their life, O God, we pray, May they hear the word this day, follow me. Undertake for us now, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Philippians chapter 2, and we'll read first. 17-18 Philippians chapter 2 if you are using the Bible from the church it will be in page 223 if that does help you Philippians 2, verse 17, the Apostle Paul says, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. Amen. We know the Lord will bless the reading of his word. In Philippians chapter 2 verses 17 through 29, the Apostle Paul gives the elders, the deacons, and the saints at Philippi three examples of what it means to serve God sacrificially, having the mind of Jesus Christ. Paul first uses himself and then Timothy and Epaphroditus because their lives were known to the church at Philippi as examples of serving God with humility, love and care for the flock of God. and their lives patterned after that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that Paul says about himself and the other two men, which we will look at in the next number of weeks, find their highest meaning and their greatest example in the Lord Jesus Christ, who served with humility, love, and care. He is the supreme elder and the supreme deacon. and Christ has left us an example that we should follow his steps. And as I said regarding these men we will look at Timothy and we will look at Epaphroditus in another message and there's wonderful lessons there to our very heart. But today we come back to Paul's example of himself. We looked at this last time, Paul's offering, and we want to come back at the next part even of this message. Paul speaks that both his life of faith and the life of the saints at Philippi were one offering. one sacrifice on to God. In the verses that we've just read this morning, Paul is using tabernacle language, Old Testament language that referred to the offerings that were offered up. You will find those offerings in great detail in the book of Leviticus, chapter one through chapter 14, where the Lord spoke of the many different offerings that he gave to offer on to him that typified the Lord Jesus Christ, they were to be offered in faith unto him. These offerings were presented to God to honour him and to please him as they were offered by faith. And in taking those six main offerings that are presented in Leviticus chapter 1 through chapter 14, and remember, we went through the tabernacle, and we thought about the brazen altar. These sacrifices would have been brought to that brazen altar, and they would have been offered on that brazen altar. So here we have, if we've been looking at the tabernacle, we've been looking at the pattern of the tabernacle, and we thought about the brazen altar. And then we have in Leviticus chapter 1 through 14, the very offerings that would be offered on that brazen altar. And out of those six offerings, what we have here in verses 17 and 18 are two of the six offerings. The burnt offering, which was the main offering, and then the drink offering, which was offered with the burnt offering, and other offerings. The burnt offering meant that the chosen animal, that animal that was examined, it was completely offered on to God as a substitute and its blood was shed. The whole animal was upon the altar. and then the drink offering that was offered up with the burnt offering the wine that was chosen by the lord was not to be drunk by the priests but it was fully poured out either upon the burnt offering or beside the burnt offering and for that reason paul uses the word offering to show that his life of service and his life of sacrifice was that of being poured out. And he refers to his service and his labor among the church at Philippi as a drink offering. His life is poured out upon their life. His life is poured out upon them. In connection, Paul takes this and he brings the two together to summarise that the church at Philippi, your life of service and their life of sacrifice was symbolised by the burnt offering fully devoted to God, where Paul's life His service was like the drink offering. He offered himself upon theirs, beside theirs. He poured his life into theirs to help them and to help their spiritual growth. And that's why Paul says and calls their service, the sacrifice and service. Paul said, you're serving the Lord is ministering on to me and my ministry is to help you grow in grace, grow in the faith. And I pour my life into yours by teaching you the gospel and by praying for you day and night. And that's why Paul said that his life was poured out upon the sacrifice and service of their faith. Their faith rested in Christ alone and they served Christ by faith. And so Paul poured out his life into their life to strengthen them and to help them continue in the faith. And since, as we said, Paul's language is tabernacle, and you will read many of Paul's letters, you read basically near enough of them all, and they're all tabernacle language. They all refer back to the Old Testament tabernacle. Paul's language that he uses, the word sacrifice, as we said, referred to the brazen altar. The animal was offered up fully. And therefore he makes the comparison. Your life is God's people. Your life is the people of God. Your life is like that burnt offering. you're giving your all to the lord devoted to the lord devoted to the cause of christ because the philippians they served with paul they desired to see the work of god go forward and so paul describes their service their sacrifice like that burnt offering that was completely devoted onto god offered onto god paul saying fully on to God. Your life is surrendered on to God. You serve him with your all. And then he referred to the word service. which is referred again to the ministry of the Old Testament priests. And that is remarkable, that Paul would say, not only are they serving their role, but also they're serving like the priests. They serve God in that priestly ministry, offering sacrifice to the Lord, offering themselves to the Lord. And so these words find their highest fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. because he is pictured by all the offerings. But as we've mentioned here, the burnt offering and the drink offering. The Lord Jesus Christ, he fully offered his life to God as a sacrifice. And he poured out his life by the shedding of his precious blood to honor God and to give sinners access to God. All six offerings were fulfilled by the finished work of Christ because his one offering for sin put an end to all those offerings. He is both the offer and the offering. And so Paul is saying as he serves God with the mind of Christ. What we do in my offering and your offering, we do so with the mind of Christ, just as the burnt offering was offered. and the peace offering was offered alongside the burnt offering. The two offerings made one offering. They made one sacrifice unto God. They were for one purpose, one cause. And so Paul says, whenever you serve the Lord and give your life fully to the Lord and to his cause, That's one sacrifice. And then when I come and I pour my life into your sacrifice to help you, to guide you, to instruct you, to pray for you, both are sacrifices, both are offerings. They make one sacrifice onto God because it's for one cause. We're all serving the Lord. We're all worshipping the Lord together. And that's what Paul is getting at in this chapter. See, the Christian life is one of sacrifice and service, because that summarizes the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. His life was one of service, and his life was one of sacrifice. And therefore, child of God at Southgrove, your service and your sacrifice to God is as the burnt offering, as you serve the Lord with full devotion, as you surrender your all for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, my offering is like the drink offering, in that I pour my life into you to teach you the gospel, to pray for you. But together we make one offering, because we come together on this day to serve the Lord together. to worship the Lord by faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And that was the whole point of the offerings. They were all offered together at different ones, but they made one offering on to God. And so as we think of this today, we've thought of Paul's presentation. But notice the pleasure of Paul's offering, because Paul said, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy. and rejoice with you all for the same cause. Also ye joy and rejoice with me. And that's interesting to notice that within the space of these two verses, Paul uses the word joy twice and the word rejoice twice, that is four times in total. The word joy certainly means to be cheerful, a state of happiness, well-being. And the word rejoice in this verse, because it's translated differently throughout the book of Philippians, but in this particular verse, means to rejoice together, to share in another's joy. And so Paul's joy and rejoicing centers upon the thought that the sacrifices offered unto God in service have the mind of Christ. Paul rejoices that as the church at Philippi offer their lives in full devotion for God, they do it with joy and rejoicing. And it causes Paul joy and rejoicing. You see, Christ again is the perfect and ultimate example of serving with rejoicing and joy. When Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to God, it was for the joy that was set down before him. When Christ came to minister, he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to serve, and to give his life a ransom for the many. Christ came into this world with a delight, a devotion to do the will of God. Christ was fully devoted to his redemptive mission. And therefore his offering never needs to be repeated again. It was a once for all offering. And as he offered himself, he did so for the spiritual benefit of others, for the cause of joy and rejoicing in sinners that he redeems. And so as Christ offered himself, it was for the joy to honor God and for the joy of seeing souls saved. It was for the rejoicing that he finished the work that God gave him to do. And he could say, Father, I have glorified Thee. And so Paul, he learned from his master, because Paul's joy is because of Christ. Paul's rejoicing is because he's poured out his life as an offering for the spiritual benefit as others, just as Christ poured out his life for the spiritual benefit of others, namely sinners he came to save. But Paul also joys and rejoices that the life of the saints at Philippi are offered on to God with the mind of Christ to please God. You see, without Christ, no man can please God. Without Christ, our offerings, our sacrifice, our service to God is vainglory and boasting in self. Always remember, while the offerings themselves did not please God, yet the lesson God was teaching, as the offerings were presented, they were offered by faith looking towards Christ. And it's Christ who pleases God. The offerings, as they were offered, focused upon redemption, focused upon the Redeemer, to teach the one true offering and the one true sacrifice is the promised Savior. He alone is the one who God is well pleased. His blood alone is the one. that cleanses from all sin. That's why Leviticus chapter 23 verse 18 in connecting some of these offerings said, Ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish in the first year and one young bullock and two rams and they shall be for a burnt offering on to the Lord. With their meat offerings there you have the meat offering and there you have the drink offering Are they burnt offering on the meat offering and then after and their drink offerings? even an offering made by fire of sweet savor on to the Lord now as I said when you read through Leviticus or you read through different parts of the Bible, and you come to these offerings, the burnt offering, the meat offering, the drink offering, they have spiritual significance. They're not there just for the sake of it. God was teaching redemptive truth. And we've looked at that already in the last lesson, the burnt offering was the main offering. to teach full surrender, full devotion. The animal offered, was offered fully on to God as a full sacrifice. Nothing held back, its blood was shed. to point to symbolize the Lord Jesus Christ as the offering given fully on to God. He gave His all. He shed His precious blood. He is the perfect sacrifice. Then to teach believers that our life is to be given fully over to God. And then you came to the meat offering, which is really the meal offering, because there was no blood offered in that. There was no meat. It was simply bread without leaven to teach that Christ's life, the offering to be offered, would be offered without sin, a sinless offering. And so there you have Christ being offered. would be offered as a full sacrifice without sin. And then you have the drink offering was offered with the burnt offering and the meal offering to show then that there was this full pouring out to teach the one who offered his blood, offered himself, was sinless, and he offered, he poured out his blood, he shed his blood. For the forgiveness of sin, but the key phrase in leviticus 23 verse 18 an offering made by fire Of sweet savor on to the lord now You may have read that no doubt many many times in your bible and no doubt probably Passed through like many of us did many of the first times that we have read it, but that there has a particular meaning again tabernacle language the word sweet comes from a word that means rest and therefore has the idea of something finished or an end in few it's used that way in genesis chapter 8 verse 4 after the flood it says the ark rested that's the word the ark rested upon the mountains of ararat The word savour means a fragrance or an odour. And so the phrase can be read, a sweet fragrance or a fragrance of rest. In fact, the same words are used in Genesis chapter 8. After Noah built the ark and came out of the ark, Noah offered up a sacrifice upon the altar. He offered a burnt offering. And we read in Genesis chapter 8 verse 21, the Lord smelled a sweet savor. Now if you have a Hebrew reference Bible or the margin in your Bible, the Hebrew word of sweet savour means a savour of rest, a fragrance of rest, an odour of rest. Now again you may be saying, what does all this mean? Well scripture interprets scripture. And in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 2, Paul tells you exactly what it means, because Paul again uses tabernacle language. And he says about Christ's offering, Christ gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God, notice, for a sweet smelling savor. a saver of rest and so paul says christ's offering is a saver of rest those offerings that were offered in the burnt in the old testament and the tabernacle before god they were viewed as a saver of rest but now in the new testament Paul says Christ's offering before God is viewed as a savour of rest, as this aroma, as this fragrance. Now it's not that the smell of burnt animals pleased the Lord, but it was the symbolically teach that God was pleased with the atoning death of Jesus Christ as he offered himself upon Mount Calvary. That is what was pictured by the Old Testament offerings. As they were offered in faith, as they were offered with Christ in view, it pleased God. Christ's blood brings infinite value and delight, full satisfaction to the Father. The wrath of God was satisfied, that is, His wrath was turned away from sinners and flamed upon His Son. The sword of God's eternal and infinite justice fell fully upon Christ, the sacrificial offering. Christ was placed on the altar of sacrifice, and the fire of God came upon him, the wrath of God descended upon him, and his offering was as a sweet savour unto God. His sacrifice was well-pleasing and acceptable to God. Why? Because it was a sinless sacrifice. It was a sacrifice to honour God, to obey God, to do what man failed to do. And that is why Christ's sacrifice is accepted in the sinner's place. You see, in the Old Testament, in the offerings, on the altar, the fire consumed the sacrifice. But when we come to Calvary, where God's wrath burned in all its fury. The sacrifice consumed the fire. Jesus Christ satisfied the wrath of God. And the whole point is this, Christ was pleased to offer himself to God on our behalf and for our sins, that anything we do for God is now acceptable and well-pleasing through Christ, by Christ, and because of Christ. As our burnt offering, Christ delighted to give Himself to the Father's will in full obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, to purchase our redemption. And as our drink offering upon the cross of Calvary, Christ poured out His life. Christ gave His life. Christ shed His blood. to justify many. Therefore, believer, serving Christ is sacrificial service and joy and rejoicing because God is glorified through your life of sacrifice and your life of service unto God and by serving others. Why? Because we offer our lives in sacrifice and service to God through Christ, our mediator. And because of Christ's mediation, that's what makes our offering, our service, our sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God. Peter put it this way, in 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 5, Ye are built a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, now notice, acceptable to God by or through Jesus Christ. And so Peter was teaching God's people, when you serve God, when you sacrifice onto God, you do so by, through Jesus Christ, upon the merit of Jesus Christ. You see, without Christ, our spiritual sacrifices and service is imperfect. It's insulting to God. Why? Because our service is marked by impurity and our service on its own could never be accepted. Our prayers are filled with imperfection. We stumble, we have an infirmity that we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But since our sacrifices, our service, our prayer, our praise, our preaching is offered unto God by faith in Jesus Christ and on the merit of Jesus Christ, it is Christ who takes our faults, our failures, our imperfections, and makes them perfectly acceptable to God as pleasing. as Revelation chapter 8 verse 3 and 4 teaches, because our acceptance with God is through Christ. The same truth is taught in Romans chapter 15 verse 16, that our offering is accepted by God as it's offered by and sanctified by the Holy Ghost. You see, the first man in the Bible to make an offering of sacrifice onto God was Abel. And we learn in Genesis chapter four, verse four, that whenever Abel offered up that offering, he offered up that lamb, the typify a sacrifice, the shedding of precious blood. Notice, the Lord had respect onto Abel and his offering. Why? Abel's offering, and Abel was accepted by God, because he offered his sacrifice on by faith upon the promised Savior, upon the ground of the shedding of precious blood. And so Paul can say, your service is fully on to God as a burnt offering. My service to you is as a drink offering. I pour my life into you, but together We make one sacrifice to God because when we serve the Lord together, we do it by faith and on the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, God is glorified in our lives as Christ glorified him. So the pleasure of Paul's offering. Notice finally and briefly, the partnership in Paul's offering. The key words in verses 17 and 18 are the words with, with you all, with me. They refer to partnership, to a union. And Paul's point is this. As believers served God at Philippi by supporting Paul. Remember, they sent Epaphroditus, as we will look at in the next number of weeks. They ministered to Paul. They prayed for him. They gave him gifts. And as Paul served God in Rome by writing to the Philippians for their furtherance in the gospel, for their joy of faith, by their union in Christ as the family of God, by ministering to one another, they served together. And their service together made one sacrifice unto God. And there was joy and rejoicing. because both entered in to each other's ministry. Both encouraged one another. Paul prayed for the Philippians and the Philippians prayed for Paul. Paul rejoiced over the church at Philippi and the church at Philippi rejoiced over Paul. They shared in gospel ministry. They both had the cause of Christ in view. They entered into Paul's labors. They shared in the same conflict. They had the mind of Christ. And so they served as co-laborers in the gospel. And there was joy and rejoicing with one another's labors. And therefore, believer, we enter into Christ's labor. There is joy and rejoicing. for the work of his hands. Christ has died to purchase his church. And so what we do is we minister for the furtherance of Christ's church, the extension of his kingdom, and to build up those within his kingdom. We sacrifice and we serve with one another with joy and rejoicing to share in the blessings of the gospel. Let me say this. When believers see their fellow believers making sacrifices to serve God within the local assembly, it brings joy, it brings cheer, it brings rejoicing, striving together to follow the same example because then others want to get involved in the work of God. When people sacrifice to serve and get involved, even in this ministry here at Southgrove, it causes joy and rejoicing to see others coming in, others getting involved. It stirs other people to get involved as well. Parents, continue to pour your life of faith into your children, that they may know the scriptures and the way of salvation. Office bearers, children's workers, pour out your life into others for the furtherance of the gospel. Men and women, pour your prayers into God's work in this place, that he will even raise up future elders, deacons, spiritual men that will pour their lives of sacrifice and service into others with joy and rejoicing, because the Christian life is a life of sacrifice and a life of service. It is a life of surrender. It's daily turning from sin, daily dying to self-interest, self-ambitions to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. In closing, the commentator and devotional writer F.B. Meyer, who was born in London, England, and died in 1929. At the age of 82, he was still going strong in gospel ministry, teaching, preaching, and encouraging God's people. And he was asked to sum up his life. And he said these words, I have only one ambition, to be God's errand boy. Lord, send me. Oh, send me forth, I pray. The need is great. Thy call I will obey. Thy love compels me. I must go. I'm longing, ready, willing to go. My I have only one ambition, to be God's errand boy. Where he may lead me, I will follow. C.T. Studd said this, of my joys are this, when God had given me a work to do, I have not refused it. God's given you work to do, but also God has given you work to do in this place. May we learn from godly examples, not to refuse it, but to do what we can for the Master's honour and the Master's glory. Because when others get involved, even take the toddler ministry. When people are putting up the chairs after, people are getting involved. It causes joy. It causes rejoicing. People want to lift a chair as well. People want to bring something in as well. Why? Because others are getting involved as well in the work of God. The Christian life, the Christian ministry is a life of service and sacrifice. Why? for the spiritual benefit of others because Christ's ministry was a ministry of sacrifice and service for the spiritual benefit of his church. And what we're simply doing is following in his example. Are you here today saved? I trust you will surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, whenever the disciples were saved, after we read after, the Lord then came after and said to them, follow me. And maybe you were saved years ago, but your life has not been surrendered on the altar. Would the Lord come to you today and say, follow me, get involved in my work. You're not saved to come and go. You're saved to serve, to glorify me. On Save 1 today, we've looked at all these burnt offerings. And as we said, they're not there just for the sake of being there. They're there to teach the gospel that the only way God would accept anyone, any sinner, was through faith in the blood of his beloved son. That sinless sacrifice that he accepts, there was no other way. only by faith in Christ alone. Will you come this day to the Lord Jesus Christ for full salvation because his life of service and his life of sacrifice was accepted to God to save all who will come unto him by faith. May the Lord write his word upon our heart for his name's sake.