1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Romans 12:1-3
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world..
Romans 6:11-13
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:14
For the love of God constrains us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
I’m trying not to get carried away but believe me the list goes on.. we can form our thought for the moment from these.
Consecration is one of those forgotten doctrines that we desperately need to sink our teeth into again.
I believe the Bible teaches that Christians are to be consecrated.
What does that mean?
Consecration is to set yourself apart entirely for the Lords use.
“Danmike, this ‘set apart’ language sounds an a lot like holiness..”
That is because Holy people have consecrated themselves. Holiness is fruit of being wholly Gods.
Consecration is built on two biblical truths.
1. Constrained by love.. 2 Cor 5:14
2. You are not your own.. 1 Cor 6:19
1. Love for God is the beginning of Consecration.
One that does not love God can set himself apart for God, but the heart by which he does this so called ‘consecration’ would be lead by the flesh and its desires. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8) If your consecration is not based on true love for God [like..weak in the knees, staggering, fully entranced, humbled, in awe, love..] then you are probably more like trying to do God a favor.
The consecrated ones are dedicated HIM.
The consecrated ones are the ones who are bowing low to the ground with hands wide open saying “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee”
The consecrated ones take no provisions for the flesh, and have put away selfish ambition.
The consecrated ones consider their calling to be priests and humbly take up the yoke of a Levite.
The consecrated ones are constrained by love for there Master.
When you have the Love of God motivating you it is fruit from the Spirit that is leading you. Notice how when we read Romans 12 it said that offering up your body as a living sacrifice is your spiritual act of worship. Now wait a minute how can you offer up your body which is physical, and it be worship that is spiritual?
Because if you try to offer up your body (consecration) with fleshly motivation it is not a spiritual act of worship. Physical manifestations of service must come from a spirit of love for God. Thus if your spirit is in LOVE with God, entranced by God, determined toward God then laying down your body is simply working out that which is in you already, and so making a spiritual act.
Because of what Jesus has done we are constrained to Him by love, and that causes us to draw near to Him with open hands that respond to Him with devotion and dedication.
2. You are not your own.
Offering up your body is also an acknowledgment of ownership.
We hang in the balance of, as I said, two truths: 1) In love for God we want to dedicate ourselves to Him and His purposes. 2) We were bought by Christ and we do not own ourselves anymore.
In order for Biblical Consecration we must secondly base it on divine prerogative. This is where 1 Corinthians comes in. They would have understood being bought because in their culture people were more commonly sold. Nonetheless this is still true WE WERE BOUGHT, we are no longer our own, we belong to Jesus, and Jesus demands we glorify God in our bodies. By right we are His.
SO on one hand we love Him and chose to serve Him, and on the other we so we must follow Him. According to the right of redemption we are His, and according to love that comes from redemption we give ourselves to Him… You see how these go hand in hand. We become like a purchased slave who being brought to our Masters house we don’t just serve out of obligation, but rather we bow at our Masters feet and say “I am yours by right for you bought me… but Sir you bought me, an orphan, and an enemy and have redeemed me so I bow and say I love you and will do anything for you.”
This is the basis for Biblical Consecration but is not Consecration.
That is the foundation that we build the consecrated house upon. We are set apart because of our Love for God, and because we were purchased thus making us His by right, by divine prerogative.
Consecration is an action.
In fact I would say it is a continual action.
Consecration is the continual action of the chosen ones of God who separate themselves from the system of the world to be wholly devoted, & entirely available, for service to God.
Give yourself to Him.. Not with any expectation; just simply offer yourself because He deserves you.
I once read that the original meaning of the word “service” is to wait upon. To serve God would mean to wait upon the Lord. I say that because I think one of our biggest misunderstandings in ministry, or kingdom life even, is to consecrate ourselves to do a better job at a preconceived leadership task, and not primarily to wait upon the Lord or to just serve the Lord of Hosts.
Don’t make the mistake of setting yourself apart for preaching or teaching or worship. Set yourself apart for the LORD.
He sets you apart for preaching, teaching, worshiping, but you have the job of continually setting yourself apart for the KING and let Him decide what for.
By doing this our focus shifts from ‘what I can do’ to ‘what God wants done with me.’
So Consecration ought to be our purpose daily. If you constantly consecrate you will become holy, and you will be completely focused and aimed on the one by whom and for whom and through whom all things exist, the one who we will be with forever.
1 Peter 2 say’s “you are a chosen people… a people set apart for His own possession.” I say amen what a privilege, and now exhort all of those ‘chosen’ ones to walk in separation from the world,
so that we may ‘see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly’
be consecrated,
D. Thompson
