Week 9 – Saturday – Drink Offering

Go read Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6.

<> What is the context in which Paul refers to himself being poured out as a drink offering in 2 Timothy?

Drink Offerings
Drink offerings are a traditional Old Testament offering that would be made to God by taking some amount of fine wine or perfectly pure drink and pouring it on an altar. In much the same way that a burnt offering or a meal offering offered the first and the best food as a gift to God and communicated our love for God is bigger than our love for food – our need for You God is bigger than our need for our best food; the drink offering also communicated this same idea of preference – God, You are more satisfying than our favorite refreshing beverage.

Go read 2 Samuel 23:15-17.

<> What do the mighty men in order to get the drink for David?
<> What does David communicate by offering it as a drink offering instead of drinking it?
<> Does anything in your life communicate that you prefer God to your own pleasure?
I think in terms of pure modern practical application fasting is a relatively untaught but extremely beneficial spiritual discipline. In a fast, as God’s people we abstain from something good that God has blessed our lives with to proclaim that Jesus is more satisfying that His gifts. We protect our hearts from falling to the idolatry of worshipping creature over creator. There are many ways to fast but the goal is that by removing a normal, regular and appreciated part of our lives, our physical hunger/thirst/desire will help us understand our spiritual hunger, thirst and desire for God.

Check out Matthew 6:16-18 for more instruction on fasting.

Symbolic Significance
The significance of a drink offering can be thought of in terms of the way that the entire liquid is consumed. A drink offering is the same picture that is referenced in Phil. 2:7 when it says that Christ “emptied himself”. The picture is that we are pouring out the entirety of our love and our life at the throne of our King in humble servitude. In Philippians 2:17 and moreso in 2 Timothy 4:6, Paul references the end of his life and his ministry. He’s making the point that if his entire life is poured our for sake of Christ, then so be it – that is the goal of his life.

In the story with King David sending the mighty men for the water from the well in Bethlehem, there is a certain notion of waste. You have to imagine that the mighty men might have been a little bit curious to say the least when they risk their lives to get their king a drink of water and he pours it on the ground instead of drinking it.

<> What would you have thought if you risked your life for the water and David poured it out?
<> What other purposes could the water have been used for?

I think there is a major point here: No matter what seems pragmatically best, our lives being poured out in worshipful service and praise of Jesus is the BEST and ONLY GOOD use of our lives. Paul echoes that idea in Philippians 2:17, “If I am being poured out like a drink offering […] I am glad and rejoice.”

<> How is your life being poured out in worship of the one and only God?