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
Message Five
A Land of Vines
Scripture Reading: Phil. 2:17; Gen. 35:14; 2 Tim. 4:6
I. The vine typifies the sacrificing Christ, the Christ who sacrificed everything of Himself, and out of His sacrifice He produced new wine to cheer God and man—Deut. 8:8; Judg. 9:13; Psa. 104:15a:
A. Christ is the wine producer, sacrificing Himself to produce wine to cheer God and others.
B. As the vine, Christ produces happiness for God and happiness for others.
II. If we contact the Christ typified by the vine and experience His sacrificing life, He will energize us to live a life of sacrifice, producing wine to make others and God happy—Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:2; 2 Cor. 1:24:
A. Under the Lord's sovereignty, we may be put into situations where we need to sacrifice ourselves to make others happy—Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:2:
1. If in the midst of such a situation we contact the Lord, we will experience Him as the wine-producing vine, as the One who gives cheer to God and to others—Phil. 3:1a.
2. The issue of experiencing Christ as the vine is that in Him, by Him, with Him, and through Him we become a vine that produces something to cheer God and man.
B. If we experience Christ in this aspect of His all-inclusiveness, we will have much wine to drink, and we will be "drunken" and "mad" with Christ, filled with joy in the Lord— John 15:11; Acts 5:41; 13:52; Phil. 3:1a; 4:4.
C. In ourselves we are not able to live a life of sacrifice, for our life is a natural life, a selfish life— Job 2:4; Matt. 16:25:
1. Only the life of Christ is a life of sacrifice.
2. Christ as the sacrificing Lamb lives in us, energizing us to sacrifice ourselves for others to bring them cheer and to make them happy—2 Cor. 4:12; Eph. 5:2.
3. If we contact the Lord and experience His sacrificing life, He will energize and strengthen us to sacrifice for God and for others— John 1:29; 20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; Phil. 4:13; Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:2:
a. The more we experience Christ as the vine with His sacrificing life, the more we will be energized to sacrifice ourselves to make God and others happy.
b. We will be "drunken" with happiness, realizing that the happiest person is the one who is the most unselfish.
c. We will bring happiness to those who contact us, and we will bring cheer to God—2 Cor. 1:24; 5:13a.
III. By experiencing Christ as the wine-producing vine and by being filled with Him as the new wine, we may become a drink offering in Him and with Him—Gen. 35:14; Exo. 29:40-41; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6:
A. The drink offering typifies Christ as the One poured out as the real wine before God for His satisfaction—Exo. 29:40-41:
1. The drink offering was in addition to the basic offerings, and it was poured out on one of the basic offerings—Num. 15:1-10; 28:7-10.
2. The wine of the drink offering was poured out for God's satisfaction; it was poured out for God to drink—Exo. 29:40-41:
a. Christ poured out His being unto God—Isa. 53:12.
b. Christ is the heavenly, spiritual wine poured out to God for His pleasure; He poured Himself out as wine to make God happy.
B. The drink offering typifies not only Christ Himself but also the Christ who saturates us with Himself as heavenly wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God's enjoyment and satisfaction and for God's building—Matt. 9:17; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6:
1. The drink offering is a type of Christ as the heavenly wine who is enjoyed by the offerer, filling him and causing him to become wine to God—Phil. 2:17:
a. By experiencing Christ as the offerings, we become persons who are filled and saturated with Christ—Eph. 3:17; Gal. 4:19.
b. The Christ whom we experience subjectively as the offerings becomes wine in us, causing us to be ecstatically happy and joyful—Matt. 9:17; 2 Cor. 5:13a.
c. Eventually, we are saturated with Christ as the heavenly wine and are one with the wine and even become wine; in this way we are qualified to be a drink offering—Matt. 9:17; 2 Cor. 5:13a; Eph. 5:2; Phil. 2:17.
2. Jacob poured out a drink offering on the pillar at Bethel, indicating that the drink offering is for God's building—Gen. 35:14:
a. The wine poured out at Bethel is not the direct wine from the winepress; it is the indirect wine from those who enjoy Christ as wine and who are saturated with Christ as wine.
b. In Bethel, in God's house, the church as the Body of Christ, we eventually need to be poured out as a drink offering—2 Cor. 12:15a.
IV. The apostle Paul became a drink offering that was poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints' faith—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6:
A. The wine of the drink offering in Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6 is the Christ (wine) of Matthew 9:17 who had saturated Paul and had made him wine.
B. Paul 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.
C. Based upon the principle that the drink offering required a basic offering, Paul regarded the sacrifice and service of the believers' faith as the basic offering upon which he could pour out himself as a drink offering—Phil. 2:17:
1. Faith here includes all that the believers have experienced and enjoyed of Christ; ultimately, it includes what the believers themselves are.
2. The basic offering upon which Paul could pour himself out as a drink offering was the faith of the believers in Philippi:
a. It is the believers' faith, not the believers themselves, that is a sacrifice.
b. Faith, the word, and the Spirit are one—Rom. 10:17; 8:9.
3. Faith in Philippians 2:17 is the sum total of our experience, enjoyment, and gain of Christ:
a. Our experience, enjoyment, and gain of Christ become a sweet sacrifice offered to God.
b. 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.