So many people today regard born-again Christians as being unemotional, flat, fun-suckers who don't know how to have a good time and will be uber judgemental about you trying to do so. In my opinion, this perception is not far from reality, partially because I took up that role for many years of my life until recently. I falsely understood that the Christian faith was about doing the do's and not doing the don'ts. I served God with some sort of stoicness because I felt like I was just fulfilling my obligations as a Christian to be holier-than-thou (Afterall, that's what Christians do, right?). I couldn't have been further from the Truth.
I'm gonna let Paul take the wheel on this one: "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 should also be glad and rejoice with me." (Philippians 2:17-18). What in the world did he just say? First of all, he is alluding to the fact that his life had been full of sacrifices. The latter part of his life was spent being rejected, persecuted, arrested, and imprisoned, all on multiple occasions because he started to tell people about the whole Jesus-being-Lord-and-Savior-of-the-universe thing. Many of his friends were even killed. It's obvious that their message regarding Christ was not well-received by some of those they spoke to, much like the world today. We can see this in his mention of being "poured out as a drink offering". Taking a step back in history, a drink offering was in-effect the finishing touches during an animal or grain sacrifice to God. The sacrifice would be burned, then wine would be poured onto the offering to symbolize their giving "every last drop" to God, the "pouring out" of their life and possessions. So far it seems like Paul would have lived a better life had he not devoted it to God and just lived for himself, but he has the audacity to go on and say that he sacrificed it all with joy (and that we should be joyful in our sacrifices to God, as well)!! At first glance, it looks like Paul needs to lay off the wine a little, but there is more to this story...
What would possess Paul to sacrifice so much so joyfully? Simple: the Holy Spirit. Paul writes again in Romans 14:17, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." You see, the Holy Spirit is God's way of conveying His joy to the believer. The indwelled presence of the Holy Spirit in the life, body, and soul of the believer results in true, unblemished joy because God Himself resides in them. God rejoices in His creation, in the salvation of sinners, and in the righteous actions of His children. Because believers are the children of God (Romans 8:14), we are to be in tune with the heart and character of God and should be characterized as joyful, too. What father enjoys having a child who has no personality and doesn't ever have a smile on his face, even after sacrificing everything he had for the child? God is not any different. God expects us to take joy in our salvation, even under the most dire of situations (Psalm 51:12). After all, He gave us Christ!
Oh man, you probably think I'm preaching to you now after that last part. No, what I just did was drop the most underappreciated truth in all of history. Christ, the Messiah of the human race, the most super of super heroes, sacrificed what we never could: spotless blood (Hebrews 9:22). He joyfully lived a perfect life, sacrificing possessions, dignity, and ultimately Himself, all so that we might have a chance at the same joy as Him.
[Sidenote: One thing that is really cool about Christ is that He only died once. (Duh, Brandon, that's pretty obvious...) Well, back in the Old Testament temple, priests would constantly give sacrifices to God because of their ever constant sins (Romans 3:23). Because of this constant need for sacrificial blood to have remission of sins, the temple did not have a chair. This signified that their work was never done. With that being said, check out Hebrews 10:11-14: "And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." Christ sat down after a single sacrifice, a single death, because His blood was so much more than that of animals. Pretty freaking awesome.]
Lastly, Romans 8:29 mentions how Christians are supposed to be conformed to the image of Christ, sacrifices, joy, and all. Don't just settle for a faith that sacrifices some of the worldly pleasures that your sinful nature wants so bad to do. Be joyful. Know that you serve a God who takes immense joy in you. Serve the Lord with gladness. Remember, you have the opportunity to serve a Lord who sat down! :)
With love.
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