For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.
Recently, a fellow worker of mine went to be with the Lord after a prolonged period of sickness. As I thought of my brother, these verses came to me.
How could I describe the life of this dear brother? The word seemed to come to me: “I am already being poured out.” Our brother lived a poured-out life.
I believe, brothers and sisters, that this is the kind of life our Lord Jesus expects every one of His redeemed ones to live. This was the kind of life the Apostle Paul lived.
This reminds me of our Lord Jesus. In Philippians 2, we are told that He subsisted in the form of God. The word form here does not refer to outward appearance; it refers to inward character. He was equal with God, and this was not something to be grasped at.
The Bible tells us that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him. Yet our Lord Jesus emptied Himself. Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity, because that is what He is forever. Even when He was on this earth, He was still God. Yet He emptied Himself of all the glory and honor that accompanied deity.
Why did He do that? He did it because He loved His Father. He knew what His Father desired, and He was willing to give Himself to the Father to accomplish the Father’s will.
The Bible tells us that He took the form of a bondservant. Outwardly, He took the fashion of a man; inwardly, He took the form of a bondservant.
Now, brothers and sisters, we have to understand what is meant by a bondservant. The Bible tells us that a Hebrew slave served his master for six years. If he was poor, he might sell himself to another, but after six years he was to be set free.
Yet if that slave loved his master and loved his master’s house, he might not want to go free. He wanted to be a slave of love—a slave forever. He would be led to the door of the house, and his ear would be pierced to the door.
He became a slave for life, but he was a slave of love, not of obligation.
So when our Lord Jesus came into this world, inwardly He had the mind of a bondservant. He gave up all the rights of His sonship and served His Father, not out of duty, but out of love.
The Bible also tells us that He was obedient to the Father, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. In other words, His whole life was a poured-out life.
By this poured-out life, we have all been enriched.
Now, brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we receive His life into us. Usually, we think of eternal life as something that will bring us into heaven. But do we really consider what kind of life we have received?
Do we know what kind of life the life of Christ in us is? If we say that we have the life of Jesus in us, then how should we live upon this earth?
If His life is a poured-out life, then that should be the way we live upon this earth.
I believe, brothers and sisters, that you all know the story of Mary, the sister of Martha. The Bible tells us that when our Lord visited her house, she sat at the feet of our Lord Jesus.
Then, before the death of our Lord Jesus, He came to Bethany. A feast was prepared for Him. Martha, as usual, was serving, and Lazarus, whom our Lord had raised from the dead, was sitting there.
Mary came carrying an alabaster flask. She broke the flask and poured a pound of pure nard upon the head and feet of our Lord Jesus.
When she did this, the disciples murmured. They thought it was a waste. This pound of pure nard could be sold for three hundred denarii. We know that a denarius at that time was one day’s wage for a laborer.
Judas said, “With this kind of money, many poor people could be helped. Why this waste?”
But our Lord Jesus said:
Let her alone; for she hath wrought a good work upon Me.
For she hath done it to prepare Me for burial.
And wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
Mary knew the worth of our Lord Jesus. To her, our Lord Jesus was worth more than anything, and she was willing to pour out everything upon Him.
Even the disciples could not understand this—not only the world, but even the disciples. The mindset of the world is to gain, not to lose.
But here you find a life that is entirely different. She poured out upon the Lord. She would not reserve anything for herself.
We are told that in olden days, a young woman would prepare for her marriage. This pound of pure nard may have been kept for her marriage day. But here she poured it out upon the Lord.
In a spiritual sense, she was married, as it were, to our Lord Jesus.
The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:2 that he had espoused the believers to one husband, that they might be presented as a pure virgin to Christ. We are all engaged to one Man, who is Christ.
As a virgin, her whole mindset is to prepare herself for her future husband. Even before her marriage, she lives for her husband.
That is the way we should live. We should prepare ourselves for our Lord Jesus. As He was, so shall we be.
We should live a poured-out life, that God may be glorified. Even though to the world it is a waste, to our Lord Jesus it is a good thing.
Whenever the gospel is preached, this story will be mentioned because it is in the very character of the gospel.
What is the gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel of Jesus Christ is a life poured out so that we may be enriched.
If we receive the gospel, then the effect of the gospel should be manifested in our life too. If our life today on earth is the opposite of the gospel we have received, then we are living against the truth of the gospel.
That is the reason why, whenever the gospel is preached, the story of Mary has to be told.
This reminds me of our dear brother Watchman Nee. He was saved when he was seventeen. After he was saved, he really had a heart for the Lord, and he gave himself completely to the Lord.
He was a most brilliant person. Probably you know the story of how he came to the Lord. As a young man in school, he had his whole life planned.
When he heard the gospel, he knew that it was true. He knew that he should believe in the Lord Jesus, but he could not do it. He knew that if he believed in the Lord Jesus, he would have to give himself to the Lord.
He could not merely receive Jesus as Savior without receiving Jesus as Lord. But that would mean that all his plans would be smashed.
So he struggled for days, until one day he prayed. He told us himself, “I saw the blackness of my sins and the redness of the blood of the Lord Jesus.” The love of Christ melted him down, and he capitulated completely to the Lord.
After he graduated from Trinity College, he stepped out to serve the Lord. He served the Lord in such a way that, from the world’s standpoint, he lived a very poor life. He almost broke his body.
While he was in that state, he went back one time to his home. On the street, he met his former professor. The professor looked at him, shook his head, and said, “We expected you to become somebody, and now look at yourself.”
When our brother heard this, he was hurt. But at that moment, the thought came to him: The Lord is worth it. That immediately delivered him from disappointment.
Our dear brother had a life motto. He borrowed the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, who gave up everything, and made them his own:
Not to drink wine, but to pour it out;
not to keep bread, but to break it.
Our brother lived a poured-out life. Thank God, because of that, so many in this world have been enriched. He followed the footsteps of the Lamb. Wherever the Lamb went, he went.
This is the kind of life that our Lord Jesus expects every one of us to follow.
Before Saul knew the Lord Jesus, he was a Pharisee. He was a most unusual young man. Generally, young men, especially brilliant ones, are sick for the world—sick for fame, position, power, and wealth.
But Saul was different. He did not seek earthly things; he sought spiritual things, because he knew that earthly things are temporal, but spiritual things are everlasting. He sought to know God.
As a young man, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel at that time was the greatest rabbi in Israel, and Saul sat under his feet to learn everything about the law. He became a Pharisee.
Today, when we think of Pharisees, we often have a poor impression of them because, in the Gospels, our Lord Jesus called them hypocrites. But this young man Saul was a real Pharisee.
In Philippians 3, he tells us that, according to the righteousness which is in the law, he was found blameless. He kept every letter of the law. According to the righteousness of the law, he was perfect.
Can you find a young man like that today? He learned everything about Judaism. He was zealous for the traditions of the fathers, and he thought he was serving God.
When he persecuted the followers of Jesus, he thought he was serving God. According to the tradition of the fathers, they considered our Lord Jesus an impostor. Saul wanted to wipe out the name of Jesus in order to preserve what he believed to be the purity of Judaism.
But he was darkened by the tradition of men. He did not have a revelation from God. Yet God loved his heart.
While he was on the road to Damascus, having letters from the chief priests, he intended to go even into Gentile cities to persecute the believers of Jesus Christ. When Stephen was stoned, Saul stood there and agreed with it. Now he was going to Damascus to seize those who followed the Lord Jesus and bring them to Jerusalem to be condemned.
But God had mercy on him. As he was nearing Damascus at noonday, suddenly a light brighter than the noonday sun shone upon him. He was smitten by that light, fell to the ground, and heard a voice:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
It was not an angry voice. It was a voice full of love. The Lord was saying, in effect, “Why do you persecute Me? You are doing something impossible. You are hurting yourself. You are not hurting Me; you are hurting yourself.”
You are like a stubborn ox under a yoke, supposed to do the work of the master, but wanting your own way. When a stubborn ox refuses to follow the master’s command, the master lightly touches the ox’s foot with a goad. The master does not want to hurt the ox, but only to remind it that it has a master.
If the ox remains stubborn, it kicks against the goad, and it hurts itself. After many such experiences, it learns the lesson.
Our Lord Jesus said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goad.” It is time for you to learn the lesson. You are not the master of your own life. You are here to do My work, and if you are built to do My work, you need to be obedient.
This man Saul was humbled, and he capitulated to the Lord. His life began to change.
Formerly, he was Saul; now he was Paul. Saul means one who is asked for by everybody. Paul means little. Formerly, he was a person sought after by everybody; now he was little—nothing, nobody.
Throughout his life, he poured out himself. If you want to describe the ministry of Paul, it was a poured-out ministry.
When he wrote 2 Timothy 4, it was just before he was martyred. He said, “I am already being poured out.” He had been pouring out, pouring out, pouring out. Then he said, “The time of my departure is come.”
Brothers and sisters, what have we poured out in our life? Are we still pouring out ourselves—pouring out our natural life? Or what comes out of us? Are we still seeking for ourselves, looking for gain and not for loss?
Why is it so? Is the life of Christ insufficient? What is the problem? Where is the secret of a poured-out life?
We all have the potential, because Christ is in us, the hope of glory. The potential is there. But why is it that, instead, what comes out is still ourselves?
I think this is something that we really need to consider before the Lord. As I meditated before the Lord, I knew that Christ is in us. His life is a poured-out life. He never thinks of Himself. He is willing to pour Himself out completely for the Father’s will.
But why does it not come out through us?
Even after we are saved, even after we have received Christ as our life, there is no doubt that the life of Christ is in us. But that life is like a baby. It is not mature yet. In the beginning, it is weak.
The life of Christ is not yet fully grown in us. To put it another way, we are not yet fully transformed and conformed to His image.
In a believer, there are two lives. In our spirit, Christ’s life lives. In our soul, the Adamic life—the self-life—still lives.
Because Christ’s life is still very young while the Adamic life has grown up, we find that what comes out of us is more of Adam than of Christ.
This needs to be corrected.
If we want to live a poured-out life like Christ, we need to know Christ more and more, so that the life of Christ in us may be strengthened to overcome that natural life, in order to pour out Christ.
I think the first thing, if we really want to live a poured-out life like Christ, is that we need to know Christ.
Look at Paul. In Philippians 3, he tells us how, in former days, he treasured his past achievements: how he became a Pharisee of Pharisees, how he was zealous above his contemporaries, and how he was perfect in keeping the letter of the law.
But when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus, the Lord began to change his mindset. Paul said, “I count all things but loss.” Why? Because now he had the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
For the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, he was willing to let go. He would not allow anything to stand in the way of knowing Christ.
Thank God, he knew righteousness by faith instead of by his own works. But that is only the beginning. Many believers today remain on that level.
They thank God for righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. They know that they are justified, saved, and that heaven is guaranteed. But they remain babes in Christ.
The life of a baby is the easiest life in the world. Everything is taken care of, and everybody has to cater to the baby. If the baby is happy, everybody is happy. If the baby cries at midnight, everybody has to wake up. There is no responsibility whatsoever.
Many Christians today remain forever as babes in Christ. They have no sense of responsibility and may become the most self-centered people in the world. The whole world revolves around them.
They do not seek to know Him.
Paul said, in effect, “I have known the righteousness that is by faith in Jesus Christ, but my passion is to know Him. I want to know Him. I want to win Him.”
Brothers and sisters, this knowing Christ, this winning Christ, is not a mental thing. There are two kinds of knowledge.
One kind of knowledge puffs you up. You think you know, and therefore you are proud of yourself. But there is another kind of knowledge—full knowledge—which humbles you.
It is experiential knowledge. It is not mental knowledge; it is personal, experiential knowledge. To know Christ is not a matter of mental knowledge. It is personal, experiential knowledge.
If you want to have that experiential knowledge of Christ, there is a cost to be paid. Mental knowledge does not require cost, but experiential knowledge of Christ requires a cost.
You have to come into fellowship with His sufferings.
Our problem is that we want to know Christ without paying any cost, without giving up anything. We want the good of two worlds—no loss, all gain—but that is impossible.
If we really want to know Christ, we have to have fellowship with His sufferings—not in the sense of His suffering for atonement. To atone for our sins, He paid a great price, and that He alone could do.
But there are other aspects of His suffering that are for the glory of God. He was willing to suffer and lay down Himself for righteousness’ sake and for the sake of God’s will.
If we are really willing to pay a cost to follow the Lord, then our knowledge of Christ will increase. In other words, the stature of Christ within us will increase.
With this kind of growth, there will be the opportunity of pouring out.
The first thing is to know Christ. We need to seek to know Christ in this experiential way. As His life becomes formed in us, pouring out becomes more natural.
Then comes the second thing. The Apostle Paul tells us: to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death.
After we learn to have fellowship with His sufferings, so that Christ’s life in us may be full, then for the life of Christ to be poured out, we need to be conformed to His death.
His death is like a mold, and we need to be poured into that mold so that what comes out will have the same form as the mold.
What is death? He died to sin; we must die to sin. He died to self; we must die to self. We are poured into that mold, and out of that mold will come the same image.
Brothers and sisters, that is a deeper work of the cross. The cross must break us, so that, like Mary, when she broke the alabaster flask, the oil might be poured out.
The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4 that we have a treasure in earthen vessels.
We are all earthen vessels because we are made of clay. But often we think of ourselves as alabaster flasks. If you think you are an alabaster flask, you will not want to break.
Unless you see that you are not an alabaster flask but an earthen vessel, you will want to preserve yourself. But when you see the glory of the treasure within, that glory enables you to see yourself as an earthen vessel containing a treasure.
The radiance of the treasure must shine forth.
Brothers and sisters, are we willing to see Christ? By that I mean: do we want to know Him, really know Him, in our personal experience, even if we need to pay a price for it?
If Christ is really known, are we ready to pour out, or do we merely want to keep everything to ourselves?
I believe it is the will of God that He wants every one of us to follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus. May our life be characterized by being poured out.
What is the result? First, God will accomplish His will. When Mary poured out that ointment upon our Lord, the Lord said that she had done a good work. A poured-out life will fulfill the will of God.
Second, a poured-out life will build up the church.
Paul says in Philippians 2:17:
Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
Paul was like a libation, like a drink offering poured upon the sacrifice of the Philippians’ faith. In the old days, when they offered a sacrifice, such as a lamb, they would pour wine upon it.
The wine offering is a symbol of joy. It means that you sacrifice joyfully, because God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul, as it were, was poured out like a drink offering upon the sacrifice of the Philippians. He enabled the Philippians to sacrifice joyfully to the Lord. That is building up the church.
Finally, Paul could say, “I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. I have fought the good fight. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”
Brothers and sisters, may our life be poured out. Life is measured not by gain, but by loss.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee, because Thou didst pour Thyself out. We ask Thee to lead us to walk the same way, that the church may be built up and that we may finish our course.
Amen.