As we grow in life and experience Christ, we will experience Him as the wine-producing vine and we will be filled with Him as the new wine. Christ is the new wine, and as we drink Him as the new wine we are filled with Him and saturated with Him, and we become one with Him as the drink offering.
Paul was glad to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith – he rejoiced and rejoiced with all the believers (see Phil. 2:17).
We enjoy Christ and experience Him as the wine so that we ourselves may become one with Him in this, and eventually we are one with Christ to such an extent that He becomes us and we become the same as He is in His sacrificing life (2 Tim. 4:6).
For the sake of the Body, for the rejoicing of the saints, and for the building up of the Body, God is seeking some who are willing to be one with Christ as the drink offering for God’s happiness and man’s rejoicing.
Paul was glad to be such a one, and many seeking believers throughout the ages have become such drink offerings.
Today we need to be those who experience Christ as the wine-producing vine and be filled with Him as the new wine so that we may even become a drink offering in Him and with Him to cheer God and man!
Becoming a Drink Offering to Cheer God and Man
In Leviticus we see that the drink offering was offered mainly with the burnt offering, the peace offering, and the meal offering (Exo. 29:40-41; Lev. 23:9-13, 15-18; Num. 15:1-10; 28:1-14; 29:12-38), and it was something not out of the herd or of the ground, but something from the offerer.
The drink offering typifies Christ pouring Himself out for God’s pleasure and satisfaction and for man’s joy. Christ’s entire life and living on earth was a joy to man and a rejoicing and satisfaction to God (Luke 2:10; Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11, 9:7; Luke 3:22; 2 Pet. 1:17). This Christ became Himself the new wine (Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37) and He comes to us as the invigorating and refreshing new wine to strengthen us and cheer us up.
By experiencing Christ as the wine-producing vine and by being filled with Him as the new wine, we also can become a drink offering in Him and with Him to cheer God and man.
God’s intention is that not only Christ would be the drink offering but that this Christ would saturate us as the new wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God’s satisfaction and man’s rejoicing! Whatever Christ is, we also become by enjoying Him, experiencing Him, and being filled with Him! It is good to pray to the Lord in this way,
Lord, saturate me with Yourself as the new wine. Fill me with Yourself, permeate me, and make me wine for the church! Lord, make me the same as You are in Your energizing life for the church. Give me the experiences I need that I may be a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith!
Being One with Christ to the Extent of Becoming the Same as He is in His Sacrificing Life
God doesn’t want “man’s sacrifice for God’s sake”, “man giving up his life for God and His glory”, etc – what God desires is just Christ! God wants Christ to be our everything and He wants us to be be filled with Christ and saturated with Christ so that we as God’s people may be one with Christ.
God put us in Christ at the time of regeneration, and He made Christ be everything to us: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
As we grow in Christ by enjoying Him and experiencing Him in various ways, we offer Christ to God as the reality of the burnt offering (our consecration to Him by being identified with Christ), the peace offering (being reconciled to God and having Christ as our peace), and the meal offering (eating Christ, enjoying Christ, and feasting on Christ in God’s presence).
All these experiences of Christ make us more one with Him, and eventually we become so one with Him that we become the same as He is in His sacrificing life to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice of the saints’ faith!
To God the faith of the saints – the result of their experience and enjoyment of Christ – is so excellent and beautiful that God considers it a sacrifice offered to Him. It is a privilege for us to be one with Christ to the extent that we pour out our God-constituted being as wine, a drink offering, upon the saints’ service and sacrifice of faith.
This kind of being poured out as a drink offering cheers God and man, and makes God and man happy – it is a mutual rejoicing.
May our life contribute to making God happy while we are on this earth, and may our Christian living be a drink offering upon the saints’ faith for their rejoicing! What a glorious way to remember our brother Paul – as a drink offering, ready to be poured out (2 Tim. 4:6)!
Don’t you want the Lord to greet you when you meet Him with, My son, your being and your life of service brought joy to my heart when you were on the earth, and now I want to welcome you in My joy in the kingdom. Let us rejoice together!
Lord Jesus, please give us the experiences that You consider are necessary fro us to become the same as You are in Your sacrificing life. Keep us drinking of You as the new wine, and fill us continually with the new and fresh invigorating life divine. Lord, in ourselves we have no hope – we are so natural, so fleshly, and so much away from You. But Lord, we want to contact You, experience You, be filled with You, and be constituted with You for the Body. Lord, for the sake of the Body and for the saints’ rejoicing, we want to be one with You and even become You in the aspect of the sacrificing life, the drink offering!
References and Further Reading
- This sharing is inspired from brother Ron Kangas’ sharing and portions in, Life-study of Philippians (msg. 14), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 8 entitled, Living a Sacrificing Life in the Body and Ministering Life to the Body for the Growth of the Body.
- Further reading:
# Life-study of Genesis, msg 69;
# Phil. 2:17 and footnote 1 in the Recovery Version; - Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, I’m so saturated with Your joy / That I am drunken, You as wine enjoy; / I’d pour out my being, as a drink offering / Upon You, God satisfying.
# Precious Lord, my flask of alabaster / Gladly now I break in love for Thee; / I anoint Thy head, Beloved Master; / Lord, behold, I’ve saved the best for Thee.
# It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be all in me; / Nothing outwardly possessing, / But His Christ eternally.
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