A Wasted Life for God

Now before you get mad at my strange-sounding title, and yell that nothing done for God is wasted, hear me out, because this post is really about drink offerings.  Confused?  Let me explain.

Admittedly, at first glance, you wouldn't think the Old Testament practice of pouring out two quarts of wine on the altar at the Temple would have a whole lot of relevance to our lives today.  However, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of a drink offering, and it actually has everything to do with every bit of our lives today!

Paul mentions the concept of a drink offering in Philippians 2:17.  The ESV says, "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."

I had never studied anything about a drink offering until recently, when a friend mentioned it and the concept is a really cool one!  In the Old Testament, a lot of the sacrifices would be used by the priests as well.  For example, there were certain portions of the meat offerings that were set apart for the priests to eat.  The drink offering, however, is different.  They would pour two whole quarts of wine out on the altar.  I can imagine that to an outside observer that would look like a huge waste.  Why are you just dumping out all this wine?!  And this is what Paul compares his life to in 2 Timothy 4:16.

One story in the Bible that always confused me comes from 2 Samuel 23, when David and his mighty men are fighting the Philistines, and are holed up somewhere else, while the Philistines have a hold on David's hometown of Bethlehem.  At some point, probably right after an exhausting battle, a parched David says something to the effect of, "If only I could have a drink from the well at Bethlehem!"  Three of his mighty men overhear this and actually fight through the entire garrison of the Philistines, risking their lives, get him a cup of water, and fight back through without spilling it!  That is an amazing feat!  The loyalty of these guys to their commander is astounding and inspiring!  

The crazy thing about this story, though, is that when David gets it, he won't drink it, and pours it all out on the ground!  If I was there, I would have been like, "Whaaaaaat?!  Don't waste that!!  We just risked our lives to get that for you!  Where's the gratitude!  Here, I'll drink it!"  This is David's reason though: "He poured it out unto the LORD.  And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it."  He poured it out as a drink offering before the Lord, because that kind of loyalty was only due to One.  I bring this story up to demonstrate a drink offering that seemed like a total waste.

So what does this have to do with us?

Well, we know that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1).  The part that jumps out at me is that Paul refers to himself as a drink offering, which could seem like a waste to someone on the outside.  The implication is that even if people think that pouring out our entire lives for the Lord in the way described in Philippians 2, of being humble, meek, waving our rights, preferring others before ourselves in love, the way that Jesus did, who was poured out all the day long for us--even if everyone else thinks that's a waste, we're willing to do that as a drink offering unto the Lord.  

There are examples in history of people who have done this very thing that inspire me to no end.  Telemachus is one who's life seemed like a waste...but accomplished great good.  (You can read his story on an earlier blog post: Counter Culture) As a relatively recent example, Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian and Ed McCully were 5 missionaries who gave up everything to reach the savage Auca tribe in Ecuador who killed everyone who attempted to come in.  They established contact by flying over them in a plane dropping gifts and shouting friendly phrases.  Finally, they landed on a beach in Auca territory, hoping to establish contact.  They met an older woman, a teenage girl, and a young man, and thought everything was going well.  But several days later, their bodies were found floating in the river, shot through with spears, then plane stripped.  Five men, all with wives and young children, and missionary work to do—all dead.  What a seeming waste.  But the doors opened to reach the tribe with this gospel.  Nate Saint’s sister went to live and work with them for many years.  The families forgave the people and won many to Christ.  Jim Elliot is famous for saying, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

Steve Saint was 5 years old when his father was murdered by the Aucas (or Waorani), and he made this statement, which I love: "Most think that it's OK to go with God's program as long as it fits their program, but I finally decided that I wanted God to write the story, because I know that it will come out best in the end that way."

If we have this mentality, it doesn’t matter what God asks us to do, or if other people think it’s a waste.  This is our reasonable service, to be poured out as a drink offering before Him!

Its a change of mentality that causes me to stop thinking about my own plans and what others think, and makes me want to pour out everything to God.

The perfect example of this, of course, is the lady with the alabaster box who poured the expensive spikenard on Jesus' feet.  The disciples thought it was a waste, but Jesus rebuked them and said, "Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." (Matthew 26:13). Why was this story to be shared with the entire world, as opposed to other stories like Noah's Ark, David and Goliath, or even Jesus walking on water or feeding the 5,000?  Why was what this woman did so important that it is to be shared wherever the essentials of the gospel are preached?  I believe it's because this is the essence of our response to the gospel.  We have to be willing to pour out our entire lives for Jesus, even if others think it's a waste.  That shows true love, and that's what He loves.