Poured Out as an Offering

So we are in Philippians chapter 2, and last week we looked at verses 14 through 16 of chapter 2, and today we're going to be looking at verse 17 and 18. So as I was studying and doing a little review, I always like to kind of back up and reread our context and as I'm studying, anyhow. And looking back over chapter 2, I think I came across something I hadn't really noticed before. I don't know if it was mentioned in any of the other lessons, but I don't always catch all of them.

But in chapter 2, beginning with verse 6 and continuing to the end of verse 11, I believe that there's actually a parenthetical comment by Paul, uh, about Jesus Christ. And, um, I've got on the screen there, uh, verses three through five. Um, and, and of course we're familiar with this now, Paul in those verses has been exhorting the Philippians to have a particular character in themselves. And we noticed at the end of verse five, um, that there's a, uh, a name, a word, a couple of words that trigger this parenthetical statement and it's highlighted there, Jesus Christ. I mean, we'll notice Paul does this more than once. He'll come to the name of Jesus Christ, or the Son, and so forth, and he'll launch into a little talk about just who Jesus Christ is. And one example would be found in Colossians chapter 1. one or two versus 14 through 20. But anyway, you see it other places.

And so Paul's kind of going along instructing the Philippians about this this selfless attitude that they should have as Christians. And then he stops and says, in effect, You do know that this attitude is sourced in Jesus, don't you? And with that name, Jesus Christ, Paul launches into this six verses talking about the magnificence of Jesus' selflessness and how his character was so perfectly displayed on the cross. And so I've got that highlighted there between verses six to the end of 11.

So you can kind of see then, and you'll see there how after Jesus Christ, and he says who, although, and so it introduces this bit about Jesus, but in verse 12, with the words there, so then my beloved, he returns to addressing the Philippians about this attitude that's to be in them. And he makes it very clear that the only way that they're going to ever have the same attitude in themselves which was also in Christ Jesus, is that God is at work in them. So there's a lot of content there between verse five and verse 12, and we kind of lose the connection if we don't, you know, sort of pull out that parenthetical for a minute and just see that this is really connected to what came before it. Of course, it's important what's in there, and we have to read it all together, but it's important to be able to draw the connection back. in this case from verse 13 back to verse 5 there and so forth. So we could say that God's good pleasure is to reproduce this attitude in us which results in Christ Jesus. So that's what God's good pleasure is, to reproduce the life of Christ.

Yeah, and Miles, you know that word attitude is a word for mind. Yeah, that's right. Somehow that seems more If the Lord is going to give me an attitude, I have a negative opinion of that. He'll give me the mind. I want to have Christ's mind. His attitude doesn't somehow sound the same. I agree.

I know, and I always just put the NASB because that's what I read in. But sometimes after we've studied through a portion of scripture, I'd like to come up with our own translation that we can just put there. Well, that's why it's good to mark up your Bible, right? You mark it up with what helps you. Attitude kind of sounds like something we have to work up.

Yeah, you're right. I think, yeah, mind is probably better. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, absolutely. It definitely is a mind, a mind word there. How this mind in yourself. Yeah, we talked about that. So good. That's good to point out. So hopefully kind of seeing that parenthetical section there helps see how these, the verses that we're in now are really connected back to that earlier theme.

So in fact, when we see the words there, do all things without grumbling or disputing in verse 14, we should recognize them as mirroring the words all the way back in verse three, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. So there we have the do nothing and here we have do all things. I mean he's kind of just flipped it. He sort of reversed it. So there's a connection there.

So we should be clear that the root of this selfless character is Christ. In review of last week's verses, we want to think about the significance of the absence of grumbling and disputing amongst believers. Paul says that it indicates something to those around us of our blameless innocence as children of God. He says that it's related to our appearing as lights in the cosmos. He says that it is his reason to glory in the day of Christ.

And he implies that if there's grumbling and disputing amongst the Philippians, then he had run or toiled in vain. That seems like a lot of stuff to hang on that little instruction there, do all things grumbling or disputing. Because me, grumbling and disputing seems kind of insignificant, you know. So why do we think the absence of these things amongst believers is so significant to Paul?

Um, and I think, yeah. Sorry, go ahead. I thought that was Jimmy, it looked like. Yeah, I don't know if that was a response or not. I thought he was responding to the question. I thought I was on mute. I was answering your question to myself because I thought I was on mute. Well, we sure like to hear the answer.

He would be bummed about it because if there's grumbling, disputing, it shows a lack of growth in Christ and the sanctification process that should be going on with him. Yeah, yeah. No, that's good, that's great, that's exactly it. And I think what's important to remember is that Paul is giving them this exhortation in the midst of a suffering situation. Right at the end of chapter one, Paul reminded the Philippians that, to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.

So if you think about that, when difficulty hits, Isn't grumbling and disputing kind of the norm? I was thinking about it, like, isn't that exactly what is on the 6 o'clock news every night? You know, we're going to grumble about the way things are, and then we're going to bring on a panel of experts to dispute whose fault it is, you know? But that's just the way we respond to difficulty, right? So we could say that grumbling and disputing is the normal fleshly response to suffering. That's the normal of the world system or the cosmos, which is exactly what Paul has contrasted here. And it's rooted in the self-centered nature of Adam's race, right? Things go wrong, we want to blame someone. And it's not me. It couldn't be me. It couldn't be my fault.

But anyway, if the church is seen responding in a way completely contrary to this, that's going to show up like a brilliant light against a black backdrop, which is the way Paul's described it here. So any other thoughts on that? as our review. Okay, so last time we said that when we get talking about a visible manifestation of the life of Christ, we can sometimes get into the idea that a quote-unquote real Christian must have good works that are noticeable.

But it's really important to realize that Paul never questions someone's justification because of a lack of good works. When Paul talks about running in vain and toiling in vain in verse 16, he's not saying that the Philippians would be proving that they weren't Christians if they grumbled. He's referring to the fact that it's possible for some believers to fail to reach God's intended aim for them in this life. And, um, we says that the word for work out from verse 12 has the idea, uh, to carry out to the goal, to carry out to its ultimate conclusion.

Um, and I, in my mind, I keep relating this back to, uh, fruit, fruit production in the, in the natural world. Um, you know, we don't plant a tomato plant, um, without hoping to get tomatoes. So there is a, um, there's a goal or a purpose in the life of Christ being in you as a believer. And we could say that the Lord's desire for all believers is that the life of Christ be reproduced in them. And Paul shared that, the Lord's desire in that. And Paul is saying that his work would not be vain or fruitless if the life of Christ was being manifest, reproduced through them. So Miles and Bob here, This is an incredibly profound area of scripture.

You know, because we have new lives in Christ, our view of the world system around us is really resulting in grumbling and disputing, is it not? I mean, so the question is, you know, if you try to work harder on not grumbling or disputing, you know, where's that coming from? I mean, I think your point is so good.

It's working out gradually to carry out to its ultimate conclusion. We're all going to grumble and dispute at times. I mean, but every act of the flesh, think of vanity and pride and those things and how crucifying those natures are of the old flesh, right? I mean, it's so, this is a hard one because if you put law to this, It just doesn't win, does it?

I'm sorry, but I just thought I'd bring that up. Yeah, that's absolutely right. There's no way you're going to mimic the life of Christ through effort. You may, you know, pull off, you know, a certain degree of outward kind of mimicry, but you cannot, we cannot produce Christ's life through our effort. That's the impossibility.

And, you know, I've been reminded here, I've been studying the end of Romans chapter 8, right where you guys are all out in the main service there, and And that, of course, is dealing with these trials, these difficulties, these persecutions, tribulation, and distress.

And our natural response to that is to be really upset about those things, to think that these are terrible, awful things that are going on. And what Paul says everywhere, and especially there in Romans 8, is that, no, these things are the very things that the Lord intends to use to draw out, through you, by faith, Christ's character. And so I think that's important to keep in mind here. Looking at looking at these passages as well, you know, we can our natural response to things to difficulties is is going to be Characterized by this this, you know grumbling complaining disputing and so forth but not but not what God has in mind ultimately through these things so Okay.

Well, let's look at today's verses here Philippians 2 17 through 18 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me." So the first part there, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith.

So that expression, I don't know about you guys, but when I come to that, that seems a bit cryptic. You know, what does it mean to be poured out? And what does it mean to be poured out upon this sacrifice and service? What's that talking about? Let's start by focusing in on the expression as the NASB has it, but even if I am being poured out. So what does the English word, but, do in our thinking? When you hear someone speaking English and they say, but, what does that introduce?

Uses a contrast. Yeah, a contrast of some sort, for sure. And usually kind of negating what you've just said, right? So the Greek word translated, but, is the word Allah, not to be confused with anything from Islam. And but would be a correct translation in most cases. But context is going to be really important here. So just to be upfront, I think that there's a better translation. But I want to first explore why that is before we talk about what it is. Now, if you have the King James or the New King James, you've got a head start on everybody here. But I didn't, so I had to do the hard work.

Now, what we'll do, let's read the end part of verse 16 together with 17 so we see what's being contrasted by this word Allah. And he says, so that in the day of Christ, I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith. So first let's look at the, the logic of the passage, the contextual logic of this overall passage.

So in verse 16, Paul is saying that his running and toiling are not in vain. So we could say that his running and toiling were worthwhile or unwasted. And if we have the word but at the beginning of verse 17, then that would make Paul's pouring out a vain thing or a waste. But even if I am being poured out, in other words, but even if my labor is in vain. So let's play out that interpretation. And being an NIV reader and then an NASB reader, this is kind of the way I always interpreted what was being said here.

So let's keep in mind that the basis that Paul gives for knowing that his toil is not in vain goes back to verse 14, okay? So in verse 14, Paul gives an imperative command there, do all things without grumbling and disputing. And in verse 15, he gives the intended result, so that, so that you will be blameless and innocent. Now the word be there in the, be blameless and innocent is in a subjunctive mood. So there's some degree of uncertainty as to which way the Philippians go, but Paul is expecting a positive response.

So if they respond by faith, then there's going to be this display of the life of Christ, and you will appear as lights in the cosmos, holding forth the word of life. So it is on that basis in verse 16 that Paul would know that his labor was not in vain.

So, assuming that then, that poured out in verse 17 means Paul's labor was in vain, well, what would be implied by that? It would have to imply that the Philippians never do respond by faith and there's no manifestation of the life of Christ, no holding forth of the word of life. And because there wasn't, then Paul's labor was useless.

It didn't achieve its desired results. Now, that, might all make sense to take that, oh, well, maybe I'm just being poured out in vain here. That might make sense except for what Paul says about his response to being poured out at the end of verse 17.

He says, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. So would Paul really rejoice that his labor was wasted? Would he rejoice that the Philippians were grumbling and disputing and not displaying the life of Christ in a crooked generation? Would he rejoice that they were not holding forth the word of life? So that sort of makes nonsense out of the whole interpretation, right?

Not to mention the fact that Paul here says that his pouring out is on the sacrifice and service of their faith. So Paul is assuming that the Philippians are exercising faith. And in his labor on their behalf, or if his labor on their behalf has taken him to the extent that his life is poured out as a drink offering, then he sees that as If he sees that that has borne the desired fruit, then he rejoices in that.

So that's kind of just looking at the logic of the context. But we can also look grammatically here at that word, Allah. The first words there, Allah-e-Kai. And like we said, Allah is the word but. It's a conjunction. And so it shows a relationship between the previous words and what's said here. So we have to ask the question, in what way are these clauses related? And I took this slide here out of the Thayer's lexicon, which is what's on Blue Letter Bible. And it said this, that Allah is related to the preceding words in such a way that it serves to introduce, and then they give more than five different options.

I only listed up to five just for the sake of what we need to see here. And the first four are opposition, objection, exception, restriction. And all of those would be kind of along the lines of the way we just attempted to interpret it, you know, that this is contrary.

But when you get to number five, it says that an ascensive transition or gradation. And then a couple of examples of that, nay rather or yay moreover. And in brackets, I had to look up what ascensive meant because I had no idea. Having the propensity to move in an upward direction.

Brian? Yeah, yes. Weiss translates it, in fact. Yes, yep, we are. I think that's maybe on the next, I don't know if I got to that slide, but you're, that's exactly right. Yeah. So, so that's, so that's kind of what I was, what we're showing here dramatically is that, um, it, it doesn't necessarily have, uh, only the idea of being a, um, contrary, uh, or something, um, reverse, uh, contrast here. Um, And you'll notice there in that definition, it says, especially with Kai added. So we see that when Allah is put together with Kai, it carries more the idea of introducing an upward transition. So we might say that Paul is using the word Allah to up the ante here. So it's still contrastive, but not in a contrary way.

It's as if Paul is saying, not only is my running and toil not in vain, but Allah, even my pouring out is not in vain. OK, so I think this is exactly the opposite of how I took it for years. It's not it's not. But if you don't respond, Philippians, then I'm being poured out in vain. Rather, he's saying, if you do respond, Philippians, and I'm pretty sure that you will, then I have not run or toiled in vain. In fact, even if I die, for this cause, it's not in vain.

So did we lose the class there? Yeah, we did. We did. Okay. Are we back? I think we're back. Just a second here. Okay. We caught the gist of that last bit. You can keep going. You're fine. Okay. All right. So we put that up there. Not only is my running and toil not in vain, but even my pouring out is not in vain. And then there's a few translations. So like I said, if you had the King James or New King James, you already knew that. And yes, the weast there, if in fact also, or the other translation there, yes. even if I'm being poured out. So yeah, so that's, I think, resolves that issue both logically and grammatically. Paul's not introducing and saying, oh, this might all be in vain. I might be poured out in vain. No, he's actually saying this is worth it, even if it extends all the way to being poured out.

So that raises a question, what exactly does Paul mean by being poured out as a drink offering? And we probably have a pretty good idea if we're familiar with Paul and the way he talks as to what it means. In 2 Timothy 4, 6, he says, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. So it's pretty clear there that being poured out is an expression used to refer to his physical death.

So we should keep in mind at this point that Paul is writing to the Philippians from prison. He actually doesn't know if he's going to be let out of prison alive or whether he's going to die there. We saw that back in 1, verse 20 and 21, right? So this is on Paul's mind. I might be poured out here shortly. So I think Paul's considering that.

And Paul knows that it was the ministry of the gospel of Christ that landed him in prison in the first place, and it may very well lead to his execution, right? And what Paul is saying is that if this labor and toil on behalf of Christians all throughout the Roman Empire results in his being poured out, then it was not in vain. Now, any thoughts on why Paul is able to say to Timothy that he is already being poured out?

I put up on the screen there, the life of the flesh is in the blood from Leviticus 17, 11. So to pour out, and Paul was beheaded, as we hear from history. So he was poured out, quite literally. But this is an interesting use of the expression there to Timothy is able to say he's already being poured out.

And I think it's interesting that the Bible, as we read from cover to cover, seems to really tie closely the life of a person and their expended energies. A person can pour out their life by pouring their time and labor into something. and they can ultimately expend themselves to the point of physical death. So in a sense, Paul was expending his life on behalf of the Philippians and that went all the way up to and included physical execution. So it's kind of interesting, sort of a figure of speech.

I think it can be used of his labors being poured out But it also ultimately refers to physical execution. Miles, could he still be referring to and relating to the Old Testament, the sin offerings, the burn offering, grain and drink offerings, and bringing that all in to how he's expressing himself to the local people there?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that's what we're going to talk about next year. Just what is this being poured out word referred to? And that's exactly that's exactly right. And so we have the question, what does it mean to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith? So. So, yeah, to understand the metaphor that Paul's chosen to use here, we have to see what these words mean.

And And the word translated in the NSB here, that long I am being poured out as a drink offering, is only one word in the Greek, spendumai, from the root word spendo. And if you think of our English word spent, you kind of get the idea. You've been spent, you've been poured out. So Wiest says the word spendo was used in the pagan Greek religions of the drink offering poured upon the sacrifice itself, the latter being the major part of the offering to the gods and the former, the minor part. Now these words are also used in the translation of the Old Testament for those sacrifices as well, but he just points out that these were words that were already in existence in pagan Greek.

So Paul is referring to his toil and eventual physical death as simply the minor part, the spendo, the drink offering poured out on top of the major part, the theusia and liturgia, the sacrifice and priestly service. of the Philippians. So Paul is clearly painting a picture of a sacrificial offering. His life poured out as a drink offering, the minor part, on what he considers the major part, this sacrifice and service of faith. So with that visual in mind, I think we just want to think about what is sacrifice all about? What is it intended to do for God?

And we can think about what we see in the Old Testament with reference to blood sacrifice. From the very first blood sacrifice recorded in scripture, we see that God was pleased by it. That was Abel's sacrifice. And then the next time that sacrifice shows up in Genesis 8 with Noah, we see the Lord smelled the soothing aroma. So God's pleasure or satisfaction is always what is in view with sacrifice.

So what is it in us? Now, this is a trick question, but what is it in us that is pleasing or satisfying to God? And of course that's a trick question because there's nothing in us, right? We know that God the Father is satisfied with Christ. Now, however, we are only satisfying to the Father because we are in Christ. Because of our identification with Him, we have become sharers in that nature, and we are satisfying to the Father, but only in Christ.

Now, on this point here, now let's look back to the end of verse 13, And notice that it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Okay, so the aim of God's work in you is His own good pleasure. And hopefully we can see there that this sacrifice and service, sacrifice is something always intended to please or satisfy God, is referring back to God's work in you for His good pleasure. And this should also remind us of Romans 12, 1, where Paul says, therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable or well-pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

This is actually a very common theme in Paul, the sacrifice, the living sacrifice. Well, it's not a sacrifice that we can make apart from Christ. It's only something that can be a reality in Christ Jesus. And we have to keep in mind, of course, that Romans 12, 1 follows Romans 6, right? That's the only way that we can present a living sacrifice is because we've been united to Christ Jesus.

So we can say that God is at work in believers to produce something pleasing or acceptable to himself, and it becomes a pleasing sacrifice to the Lord. So that is what Paul, I think, is referring to with the Philippians' sacrifice and service of faith is really the life of Christ in them being manifest. And it's acceptable and pleasing to the Father. And Paul is just thrilled that his life would be poured out upon that sacrifice.

It's spent for that purpose, really for God's glory. So we're running down on time here. We've got five minutes left. So I think we can do a quick job of this question of your faith. Now, this little expression here, sacrifice in service of your faith, faith and you, they are in the genitive case, and they're preceded by the definite article, so that could be translated something along the lines of, of the faith of you, which would be a little bit awkward in English, but it would be pretty literal, so you could take it that way. Now, the genitive, and I'm not really an expert on it, I find genitives a little bit, confusing sometimes. They're kind of a broad, a bit of a broad range, what the genitive means. But I think if we understand it as sort of, um, along the lines of, um, uh, source or kind, um, that's, that's helpful. Um, and that's why we get the little word of put in there because this is, is the genitive.

So it's of, um, your faith. So, um, and, uh, And of course, we know from Scripture that without faith, it's impossible to please God, right? And so faith is the necessary component on our part. We can say that's our only responsibility, is faith. And out of that flows the life of Christ. So it's source to not. But what is...

What does it mean to have the definite article in front of faith? So what's the difference between the faith, we could say, and just your faith? And when faith is on its own, and I was listening back to some of Hal's messages on faith and doing a little homework on that, because When faith is on its own, we tend to think of it as just belief, trust, and so forth, which is accurate. But when we have the definite article before faith, it's something a little bit different. It's related to personal faith, but it's not the same thing.

And Paul uses the phrase, the faith, actually four times in the book of Philippians. in this verse, as well as in 1, 25 and 27, and then in chapter 3, verse 9. So back in chapter 1, verse 25, he says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for the progress and joy, for your progress and joy in the faith.

And that is also in the genitive case there as well. So it should be of the faith, perhaps, and not necessarily in the faith. King James has of faith. So we could say that this progress and joy is seen as being a fruit of the faith. Now we could look at verse 27. only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." So here we see that the faith is of the gospel, another genitive. And so the faith is seen as being the result or the fruit of the gospel message. So we could say, perhaps, that personal faith is personal faith in response to the gospel results in the faith in which we stand as believers.

And maybe the best way I could come up with to say it here is that the faith often seems to be a reference to the objective reality of our position in Christ. I think it's not too far off to say that the faith describes our position as believers, and as believers we're standing firm in the faith. So let's look as well at chapter 3, verse 9.

He says, and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from law, but that which is through faith in Christ, that their faith doesn't have the definite article. So this is, we can say personal faith, through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of the faith. Chester McAuley points out that the righteousness in this verse is on the basis of two things, our position in Christ as well as our personal faith in Christ. And he said, righteousness that gives us a standing with God is provided on the basis of two things.

First, it is based on our position that may be found in him from the beginning of the verse there. And second, it is based on our faith. Now, he didn't mention this in his commentary, but I think the faith at the end of the verse links back to our standing in him from the beginning of the verse. So, if I'm not too far off in this understanding, then it helps us see what the sacrifice and service of the faith is referring to in 2.17. So, by personal faith, we rest in the faith. So, by personal faith, we rest in our position in Christ. And as we do that, of course, Christ himself lives out his life as an acceptable sacrifice to the Father.

So any thoughts on that? No, that's good. That's, that's, that's excellent. Okay. It's good. It's good to be careful about when you see the word faith and when the definite article shows up, it's really, you know, that he intends something else rather than just our personal faith. That's for sure. Yeah. Hopefully that's, that's good. I mean, obviously, like we said, they're, they're late.

I mean, um, we, we exercise our personal faith in the fact of our position in Christ. But even then, this righteous life isn't sourced in our faith. Our faith is the means by which the Lord produces the life of Christ, which is the faith, or related to the faith.

It's a little bit hard to define. I read in one Greek text that an understanding of the definite article in Greek Shows it shows a very advanced knowledge of Greek. So I'm not there. Okay, that's good. Yeah, would it be right to say that deep faith is a subject or a noun as opposed to our faith, which would be a verb? That might, yeah, that, I mean, faith, even personal faith is used as a noun, but a noun or a verb, depending on the context. But it is definitely that kind of idea is, I think, sort of helpful. The faith, it's a, like I said, it's the object, the object of our personal faith, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, let's see if we can just quickly touch on verses 17 or the last verse 18. And the last part of verse 17, uh, he says, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. Uh, you too, I urge you rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me. So we already covered this phrase a little bit when we talked about Paul's being poured out. Um, and, uh, and this, this rejoicing, uh, this is thanks to Roger here. This is the apodosis. or the result of a conditional clause. Okay, so this is referring back to the if in verse 17.

Paul's saying that on the basis of the fact that I'm being poured out as a drink offering, I rejoice. Okay, so and this is a first class condition, so it's assuming it to be true, assuming that I am being poured out as a drink offering, I rejoice. And so, I have to be reminded over and over that suffering is always the cause for rejoicing for the believer. And I really don't think we understand God's intention for us as the body of Christ until we have learned to rejoice in every circumstance.

And I haven't. But Paul not only rejoices here, but he's insistent on the fact that the Philippians rejoice as well. So Paul makes this interesting reversal of the language between 16b and sorry, 17B and, do I have that right? No, this is 16B and 17. I put the wrong numbers there on the screen, sorry. And, okay, there we go. We got that.

So then he says, I rejoice and rejoice together with you all in the same way You rejoice and rejoice together with me. So there's a sharing of joy that goes on in the body of Christ, and we're to share in one another's joy in the midst of trials. And of course, we're to encourage one another in our difficulties. And I think that perhaps the greatest way we can encourage one another in difficulty is to be reminded of the amazing opportunity that it provides for the life of Christ to be put on display for others to see. And that goes back to verse 15. So that in Christ, and I added that because of our contextual study, but so that in Christ you will be blameless and innocent, children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world." And I think that is a tremendous encouragement in a way that, maybe not in exactly those words, but we can encourage one another in the midst of our own sufferings and difficulties.

I ran a little bit past, I apologize, but we managed to get through the material. A lot of material for two short verses. I know. 17 is a neat verse, it really is. It is. It's a tough verse, but it's really good. Yeah, yeah. That's great. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your work in us, to produce something through us as vessels, just as clay, earthen vessels containing the life of Christ, to put on display your perfectly righteous life and character so that you would be glorified. That has nothing to do with what we can get, but everything to do with your glory and your namesake. Thank you for that and just pray that we would be encouraged by that in this coming week and going forward. And the fact that you intend to glorify yourself through us as we simply rest by faith. And we thank you for these things in Jesus name. Amen.