Philippians 2:17-18 (NIV)
But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Paul had already gone through nearly four years of imprisonment by the time he wrote this letter, and he had no assurance that he would not be condemned by the capricious emperor, Nero. He had appealed to Caesar, not because he believed he would receive an absolutely just verdict from him , but to escape an imminent assassination plot that had been laid against him by the Sanhedrin (Acts 25:1-3, 9-12).
But Paul was not complaining about his situation. He fully realized that God had led him to where he was at that moment and that He would be with him to the end.
Paul’s reference to being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from the faith of the Philippians shows that he was a willing participant in what was happening to him. A drink offering was wine that was poured onto an already burning sacrifice, an additional offering, small in comparison to the animal that had been given to God through sacrifice. Paul saw his imprisonment as merely an additional sacrifice to God, a sacrifice that was added, not to his own service, but to the sacrifice and service of those working in Philippi, thus confirming their partnership in the work of God’s Kingdom.
As such, Paul did not bemoan his imprisonment, but instead saw it as an opportunity to rejoice in God’s sovereignty and in the grace that was being worked in and through him. This grace not only enabled the people who were around Paul every day to hear the good news and be saved, but also strengthened the resolve of those not imprisoned to be strong, and to be encouraged to keep on working where they were. So, Paul encouraged the Philippians to be glad and rejoice with him.
Father, many times people who say in the midst of their troubles or those of others, “Oh, well. Bad things sometimes happen to good people,” say it not as Paul would, but as a kind of resignation to the circumstances. Bad things happen, so we might as well accept it. But that is not Paul’s message. Paul saw Your hand at work in his every situation, even in his imprisonment, and spent his time, not in calm acceptance of his circumstances, but in looking for how he could be used by You where he was. And the result was that many people around him heard the good news and turned to Jesus (Philippians 1:12-13), and the church in Rome and in many other places was encouraged and strengthened by reports coming from those around him, as well as by letters from his own hand (Philippians 1:14). Lord, help me to not just accept the things that happen to me, the situations I find myself in with stoic compliance, but help me instead to look closely for Your hand in every circumstance, so that I can see how I can be used by You to advance Your Kingdom agenda. Amen.