When we prayerfully consider the matter of the vine and the drink offering produced from the vine, we realize that, like Paul, we can become a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the faith of the saints by our being filled with Christ as the new wine and pouring ourselves out on the church. Amen!
The good land is a land of vines; the vine typifies the sacrificing Christ, the Christ who sacrificed everything of Himself and out of His sacrifice He produced wine to cheer God and man.
This is our Christ, and He now lives in us. Christ lives in us and we are organically joined to Him.
Even as He lived, so we live today.
Even as He lived a life of sacrifice when He was on earth, so now we today can live a life of sacrifice by being one with Him and by being filled and saturated with Him.
If we daily contact the Christ typified by the vine and experience His sacrificing life, He energizes us to live a life of sacrifice, a life that produces wine to make others happy and to make God happy.
Even in the midst of all the situations sovereignly arranged by God, we can contact the Lord, and He will enable us to live a life of sacrifice.
In ourselves, we can’t live a life of sacrifice, for we have a selfish life, and even when we love someone, we love them because they love us.
Our love runs out, and our ability to sacrifice is very small. Only Christ’s life in us is a life of sacrifice.
Only when we contact Christ and live Him as our life of sacrifice can we sacrifice ourselves for God to be happy and for others to be cheered.
Today we can experience Christ as the wine-producing vine, and we can be filled with Him as the new wine so that we may become a drink offering in Him and with Him.
Only Christ can be pressed and squeezed and produce wine; if we are pressed and squeezed, we may not produce wine unless we are filled with Christ.
This is why our personal time with the Lord is very important.
We need to contact the Lord and spend time with Him to enjoy Him, be filled with Him, and be saturated with Him as the new wine.
As He saturates and fills us with Himself as the new wine, we can be one with Him to be a drink offering in Him and with Him.
The reality of the drink offering is Christ as the One who poured Himself out as the real wine before God for His satisfaction.
Christ lived a life for God’s satisfaction and He poured Himself out for God’s satisfaction, and we can drink Him as the new wine to be filled with Him and even saturated with Him so that we may be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith – even as Paul did.
Like Paul, we can Become a Drink Offering Poured out upon the Sacrifice and Service of the Saints’ Faith
In Phil. 2:17 we see that the apostle Paul became a drink offering that was poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith.
Then, in 2 Tim. 4:6 he said that he was already being poured out.
The drink offering mentioned in the Old Testament can be experienced by us in the New Testament.
If we put together the verses from the Old and the New Testament related to the drink offering, we will see that they all fit together and make sense.
Paul enjoyed Christ and experienced Him to the uttermost, being filled with the new wine, and he became a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith. P
aul became a drink offering for the church; this indicates that the drink offering is not only for the worship of God but especially for God’s building.
The drink offering is not only for God’s satisfaction, for Him to be made happy; the drink offering, from Gen. 35 to 2 Tim. 4, is for God’s building.
When some are filled with Christ as the new wine and become a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith, this is a drink offering poured out upon the church, and God is satisfied.
Jacob poured out a drink offering upon the pillar he set up in Bethel, and this was the house of God; from the very beginning, the drink offering was poured out upon God’s house, His building.
If we read about the drink offering in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, but without reading Gen. 35:14, we will not realize that the drink offering is for the building of God.
But from the first mention to the last mention of the drink offering, we need to be assured that the drink offering is not just something personal before God but even more, it is for God’s building, and this makes God happy.
Apparently, the drink offering is for the worship of God; actually, it is for the house of God, for the building of God.
Paul considered himself as a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith.
He enjoyed Christ, experienced Christ, and was filled with Christ as the new wine to the extent that he became a drink offering for the church and upon the church.
Christ as the heavenly wine filled his being to such a degree that he was ready to be poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith.
The sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith means that the faith of the believers is a sacrifice offered to God and also becomes their service to God.
Our faith is not only our act of believing; our faith includes all that we as believers have received and enjoyed.
Ultimately, it includes all that we are; our faith is all-inclusive, and it includes our sacrifice and service.
The ministry of the apostles results in the believers’ faith, which is all-inclusive; this faith is a sacrifice to God, upon which we can offer ourselves as a drink offering to God. Wow!
This is based on the principle in the Old Testament that the drink offering requires a basic offering to be offered to God; the drink offering was not offered by itself but it was offered together with the other basic offerings.
The saints have faith, and there’s sacrifice and service with that faith; upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith, we can pour ourselves out as a drink offering for God’s satisfaction.
Being constituted as a drink offering takes time; it takes time for us to enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and be filled with Christ as the new wine.
Like Paul, we can also become a drink offering being poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith; this is for God’s satisfaction, and our offering is for God’s building and upon it.
May we aspire to this.
May we pray that the Lord would give us the experiences we need for us to not only enjoy Him and experience Him but even more, be filled with Him as the new wine until our very being becomes a drink offering being poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith.
May this be constituted into us today for God’s satisfaction and for the rejoicing of all the saints.
Lord Jesus, we come to You to drink of You as new wine. Fill us with Yourself. Amen, Lord, fill us and saturate us with the heavenly wine! We want to enjoy and experience You day by day until we’re filled with You as the new wine and we can be poured out as a drink offering. Amen, Lord, may You gain us and many others as those who are a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith. May we experience Christ in such a way that we bring cheer, even happiness, to God and man! Oh Lord Jesus, gain this in us and among us. Grant us the experiences we need for us not only to partake of Your riches but even more, be filled with the new wine so that our very being would become a drink offering! Amen, Lord, we aspire to be a drink offering being poured out upon the saints’ sacrifice and service of the faith!
We Rejoice and the Saints Rejoice when we’re being Poured out as a Drink Offering on God’s Building!
![So faith [comes] out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Rom. 10:17 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. Rom. 8:9 That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Rom. 15:16](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/So-faith-comes-out-of-hearing-and-hearing-through-the-word-of-Christ-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "So faith [comes] out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Rom. 10:17 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. Rom. 8:9 That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Rom. 15:16")
Humanly speaking, sacrificing ourselves involves loss, suffering, and pain, and it is not something we look forward to; living a life of sacrifice is impossible for us as human beings without the Lord.
But in Phil. 2:17 we see this person, Paul, who not only was suffering by being in prison for the Lord and His testimony, but even more, considered his sacrifice and eventual martyrdom as a joy and rejoicing. Wow!
The matter of sacrificing ourselves in the Lord and with the Lord is a joyful matter, for He is our supply, even the One in us energizing us to sacrifice ourselves.
In the Old Testament, the offerer had to be joyful and rejoicing in order to offer the drink offering together with his other basic offerings.
He experienced and enjoyed God in a rich way in order to be able to offer the drink offering.
Similarly today, when we are filled with Christ as the new wine and live a life of sacrifice, we rejoice and are full of rejoicing, for we pour ourselves out as a drink offering on God’s building!
We rejoice and the saints rejoice, and this joy is of the Lord and in the Lord, for there’s much wine to cheer God and man.
What a joyful matter it is for us to offer ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice for God’s building!
In the case of Paul, God in heaven must have been very happy with that situation.
He must have been pleased to see the faith of the believers as the basic offering, and Paul’s being as a drink offering being offered on top of their offering.
On the side of the apostle, there was the drink offering; on the side of the believers, there was the faith.
The faith of the believers grows and develops little by little, day by day, and it is a constitution of the believers’ enjoyment of Christ and spiritual experience.
Similarly, the drink offering is something gradual, as we enjoy and experience Christ to be filled with Him as the new wine.
In order for us to become a drink offering, we need to be filled with the Lord and saturated with Him.
In this way, we have a spiritual constitution which makes us a drink offering.
When we’re filled with the Lord Jesus as the new wine, when we’re saturated with Him in the very fibres of our being, we will rejoice to pour ourselves out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith.
What a tremendous matter that we, sinners, can be constituted into heavenly wine for God’s satisfaction! On one hand, the believers’ faith is the sacrifice.
It is the believers’ faith, not the believers themselves, that is a sacrifice. Faith, the Word, and the Spirit are one (Rom. 10:17; 8:9).
![What a marvelous scene! No wonder Paul could say that he rejoiced with them all! Paul rejoiced to have his blood [of martyrdom] shed as a drink offering upon the sacrifice of the believers’ faith. He not only rejoiced, but he rejoiced together with all the saints. To rejoice together with others is to share joy with them. The apostle shared his joy with the Philippians in his martyrdom over their faith. This implies that he was congratulating them. I believe that the Triune God was also rejoicing with Paul at such a happy, joyful scene. In order to become a drink offering, we need to be filled with the Lord and saturated with Him. Only in this way can we have the spiritual constitution that makes us a drink offering. What a tremendous matter that sinners such as we can be constituted into heavenly wine for God’s satisfaction! Life-study of Philippians, second edition, pp. 114-116, by Witness Lee](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/What-a-marvelous-scene-No-wonder-Paul-could-say-that-he-rejoiced-with-them-all-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "What a marvelous scene! No wonder Paul could say that he rejoiced with them all! Paul rejoiced to have his blood [of martyrdom] shed as a drink offering upon the sacrifice of the believers’ faith. He not only rejoiced, but he rejoiced together with all the saints. To rejoice together with others is to share joy with them. The apostle shared his joy with the Philippians in his martyrdom over their faith. This implies that he was congratulating them. I believe that the Triune God was also rejoicing with Paul at such a happy, joyful scene. In order to become a drink offering, we need to be filled with the Lord and saturated with Him. Only in this way can we have the spiritual constitution that makes us a drink offering. What a tremendous matter that sinners such as we can be constituted into heavenly wine for God’s satisfaction! Life-study of Philippians, second edition, pp. 114-116, by Witness Lee")
The faith in Phil. 2:17 is the sum total of our experience, enjoyment, and gain of Christ. Our experience, enjoyment, and gaining of Christ become a sweet sacrifice offered to God.
As we enjoy Christ and experience Him, as we gain and possess Christ, our being is constituted with Christ.
In this way, our faith becomes a sacrifice, which can be offered to God and upon which the drink offering can be poured.
May the Lord gain a good number of saints who enjoy and are saturated with Christ as the new wine, who are ready to be poured out upon God’s building.
This is genuine martyrdom. Martyrdom is the pouring out of a drink offering full of the experience and enjoyment of Christ upon the sacrifice and service of the saints.
May we spend time with the Lord and take time to drink Him, be filled with Him, and be saturated with Him so that our very being will become wine to be poured out as a drink offering before God and upon the sacrifice and service of the faith.
Then, in our meetings, we will be full of rejoicing, for the saints will rejoice to see our drink offering and they will also be filled with the new wine!
May the Lord gain this among us! May we be so full of the enjoyment of Christ and so saturated with Him that we’re willing to pour out all that we have and we are for His interests in the church life.
Lord Jesus, fill us with Yourself as the new wine today. Saturate our being with the heavenly wine so that we may have the spiritual constitution that makes us a drink offering! Wow, what a tremendous matter that sinners such as we can be constituted into heavenly wine for God’s satisfaction! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You today for the filling. We rejoice to enjoy You, be filled with You, and be saturated with You, and we rejoice to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith! Amen, Lord, as we prepare for Your coming, gain this among us! Cause us to be those who are so full of the enjoyment of Christ that we are saturated with Christ and we’re willing to pour out all that we are and all that we have for God’s interests in the church life! Oh, what a joy it is to pour ourselves out as a drink offering for God’s satisfaction and upon God’s building!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msg. 50 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 5, entitled, A Land of Vines.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Three Foundational Truths and Why They Matter, via, Shepherding Words.
– The House of God (4), via New Jerusalem blog.
– A drink offfering poured out upon the sacrifice of the believers’ faith, a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 14.
– 3 Vital Practices to Uplift Your Prayer Life, via, holding to Truth in Love.
– Crucial Aspects of God’s Economy Portrayed in Exodus (4), via, AgeTurners.
– Poured out as a drink offering, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
– A Story of Consecration: Loving Jesus with Our Best, via, Bibles for Americal Blog.
– Experiencing Christ and caring for the saints, a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 15. - Hymns on this topic:
– We are tasting of the living wine, / In spirit tasting life divine, / And whoso tasteth, every time / Shall have the joy of God. / What, have the joy of God? Yes, have the joy of God! / What, have the joy of God? Yes, have the joy of God! / And whoso tasteth, every time / Shall have the joy of God. (Hymns #1150 stanza 4)
– Not by gain our life is measured, / But by what we’ve lost ’tis scored; / ’Tis not how much wine is drunken, / But how much has been outpoured. / For the strength of love e’er standeth / In the sacrifice we bear; / He who has the greatest suff’ring / Ever has the most to share. / He who treats himself severely / Is the best for God to gain; / He who hurts himself most dearly / Most can comfort those in pain. / He who suffering never beareth / Is but empty “sounding brass”; / He who self-life never spareth / Has the joys which all surpass. (Hymns #635 stanzas 15-16)
– In our ministry and service, / From the Body, our supply; / If detached and isolated, / Out of function we will die. / ’Tis by serving in the Body / Riches of the Head we share; / ’Tis by functioning as members / Christ’s full measure we will bear. (Hymns #913 stanzas 5-6)
About aGodMan
Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1141-1143, by Witness Lee
Dear brother, the faith of the believers is a sacrifice upon which a drink offering can be poured out.
May we enjoy and experience Christ as the new wine until we’re filled with Him to pour ourselves out upon the sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith.
What a joyous matter this is!
Yes Lord! Aaaaameeen!
https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/1010
Phil. 2:17 …Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all.
2 Tim. 4:6 For I am already being poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand.
Praise the Lord! 🙌🙋🏽😃
Ameeen!!!!
Based on the principle in the Old Testament the drink offering required a basic offering upon which the drink offering can poured out upon.
Through the enjoyment of Christ, we experience Christ, gain Christ, and possess Christ, and our being is constituted of Christ; in this way, our faith becomes a sacrifice, which can be offered to God and upon which the drink offering can be poured.
What a beautiful and marvelous scene is this!
On the side of the believers, there is the all-inclusive faith. On the side of the apostle Paul, there is the drink offering.
It’s clear from Gen 35 that the DO is mainly for the building of the church, not mainly for worship.
Like Paul, we should regard ourselves as a DO poured out upon the sacrifice & service of the believers’ faith.
The result of Paul’s ministry was the faith of the believers.
With the believers, there was faith; with the apostle, there was the DO. How marvelous! To become a DO, we need to be filled & saturated with Christ.
Amen, the drink offering required a basic offering, the faith of the believers. Lord, may we enjoy you today!
when man meets God, consecration takes place spontaneously in his life. If you catch sight of God just once and touch God just once, you are no longer your own. God is Someone who cannot be touched lightly…..
A turning point in our spiritual life does not come through our decision to do something for God; it does not come as a result of our resolving to do this or that for God. It comes when we see Him. When we meet God, a radical change takes place in our life. We can no longer do what we did in the past. When we meet God Himself, we have the power to deny ourselves. The matter of denying one’s self ceases to be optional when we have met God. His appearance makes a person unable to go on by himself; it forces him to not live by himself anymore.
What a tremendous process that started from the vine tree and ended as wine for drink.
Without the tree no branch,
Without the branch no fruit,
Without fruit no drink,
Without drink no enjoyment.
In other words:
Without His all-inclusive sacrifices no life.
What surprised me here is that all these things are to make us His body or bride so that we can be like Him in life and nature, but not the God head.
Praise the Lord for His Mercy upon us!
Amen. What a joyous matter indeed. Thank You Father!
Amen dear brother.
Through the enjoyment of Christ, we experience Christ, gain Christ, and possess Christ, and our being is constituted of Christ; in this way, our faith becomes a sacrifice, which can be offered to God and upon which the drink offering can be poured. Hallelujah.
04/27/24 A Land of Vines (Week 5, Day 6)
With the typology in the Old Testament as a basis, Paul came to regard himself as a drink offering poured out upon the sacrifice and priestly service of the believers’ faith. For many years, Paul had always been drinking of Christ and enjoying Him to such an extent that he was filled with Christ and saturated with Him.
Eventually, Christ as the heavenly wine caused Paul to become a constitution of wine in his very being. This was the reason Paul could consider himself wine poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice he offered to God as a priest.
We may satisfy God by offering ourselves to Him, but we also need to please God by pouring ourselves out. The apostle Paul said that he was poured out as a drink offering to God (Phil 2:17; 2Tim 4:6). Paul poured out his entire being for God’s pleasure. The part of Paul’s life that was a pleasure to God was his martyrdom.
In Philippians 2:17, Paul says, “But if even I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and priestly service of your faith, I rejoice and rejoice together with you all.” In 2 Timothy 4:6, Paul also refers to himself as a drink offering: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand” Also in Second Corinthians 12:15, Paul says, “But I, I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent on behalf of your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved less?”
Since everything Paul covers in the book of Philippians is related to the experience of Christ, this must also be true of the drink offering referred to in 2:17. If our experience of Christ has not come to the point where we have been constituted as a drink offering, we have not yet experienced Christ to the uttermost. When we experience Christ to an exceedingly high degree, we shall become a drink offering.
The sacrifice of the believers’ faith in Philippians 2:17 means that the faith of the Philippian believers was considered by Paul a sacrifice offered to God by him as a priest (Rom 15:16), and his offering ministry was considered a priestly service. The issue, the result, of Paul’s ministry was the faith of the believers.
Faith in Philippians 2:17 is all-inclusive. It refers to much more than the act of believing. Faith here includes all that the believers have received and enjoyed. Ultimately it includes what the believers themselves are. This faith was the result of Paul’s ministry. Paul’s ministry resulted in the all-inclusive faith of the believers, the faith which Paul offered to God as a sacrifice.
To be sure, the sacrifice of the believers’ faith was full of Christ. It included Christ as the basic offerings. When we experience Christ in these different aspects and enjoy Him as these basic offerings, this experience and enjoyment become our faith. Experientially, the enjoyment of Christ as the basic offerings eventually becomes our faith. Hence, this faith is constituted of the Christ we experience and enjoy.
Faith is a constitution of our experience of Christ. As such, it could be viewed by Paul as a sacrifice to be offered to God. The faith which can be offered to God as a sacrifice is a constitution of our enjoyment of Christ. The amount of faith constituted in us is in proportion to our enjoyment of Christ. The more we enjoy Him, the more we have the faith which is constituted of the enjoyment of Christ.
The saints have been enjoying the Christ ministered to them. They have experienced Christ and enjoyed Him in many different aspects. As a result, within the saints there is a constitution, and this constitution is called faith.
There is no better word to signify the enjoyment and experience of Christ in its various aspects than the word faith. This was the word used by Paul in 2:17, and we cannot improve on it. Paul uses the word faith to denote the totality of our enjoyment of Christ and experience of Him. Therefore, faith is the total expression of our experience and enjoyment of Christ.
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