|
|
|
Consecrated to Christ
The Israelites confessed their sins, made an oath before God to separate themselves from unbelievers, and promised to carefully obey all His commands. They said Nehemiah 9:38 "We are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it." They re-consecrated their lives to God and vowed to be faithful. It is always profitable to consider the steps of consecration to determine if our life is still committed to God, and if our trust is still on the atonement of Christ. Consecration means giving our life to God as His possession (for Him to do with as He pleases). The object is that we might receive from God all that the blood of Christ paid for. Consecrated to Christ means we can claim the righteousness, peace, health, healing, and protection He purchased on the cross. The Holy Spirit was sent to take up residence in our heart and possession of our life, so we could learn from God. Every blessing God has for us—including His kingdom—depends on consecrating our life to Him without compromise. We must see and believe and live this truth. Psalm 119:18 ”Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.” In speaking before the governor Acts 24:15, the apostle Paul said he truly believed “that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people, and being consecrated to Christ is the only way to be ready. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 ”May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Being consecrated to God is being willing to follow His program. If we had to visit a town on the other side of the river, we would have to consecrate ourselves to go by way of the ferry service. It is like giving up our way of getting to Heaven, and accepting God’s way of salvation (by a trusting faith in the atonement work of His Son). A tailor could not make us a suit unless we give him the cloth, a contractor could not build us a house unless he had the materials, and a chef could not prepare a dinner until he had the food in his possession. There are many professing Christians who expect God to take them to Heaven, but have never allowed Him to have their life. That is why Jesus said Matt 20:16 "many are called, but few chosen." And Matt 7:14 "Narrow is the gate and rough is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Consecrated to Christ means being willing to learn what God wants to teach. When our life is given to Him, God begins to cleanse our heart of unrighteous acts, unbelief, and distrust. Ezekiel 36:25 ”I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.” God wants to take the rebellious sin nature out of our heart, and install a trusting divine nature in its place, but He cannot do that until He gets possession of it. The Potter must have the clay for the work to begin. Jeremiah 18:3 ”I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.” The vessel was marred but the master potter was able to take the pieces and form a vessel. 18:6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the Lord. "Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” At the moment we place our life in God’s hands, He begins to mold and change our attitudes. Only God can do that work, so keeping our life from Him only hinders the process. Ephesians 2:10 ”For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We can be His workmanship only if we will consecrate our life to Him. Many verses speak of consecration. Romans 12:1 ”I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” We consecrate our life to God so He can do with it as He sees fit. There can be no thought of going back on that commitment. We are to give up our former way of doing things and the answers we gave difficult people, for the new responses of the Lord. A consecrated life may seem difficult, but God supplies both the desire and the ability to conduct our life according to His Word—we just make the choice. God placed instructions in the New Testament, but He does not expect us to follow them in our own strength. Every Word of Scripture has divine power in back of it. Like opening a steam valve and letting the pressure do work for us, when we decide to obey a passage of Scripture, divine power is released to help us follow through. The result of giving our life to God as a living sacrifice is being acceptable to Him. God takes possession of our life, when we give it to Him. Romans 12:2 ”Do not conform any longer to the pattern [customs, behavior] of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind [changing the way you think]. Then you will be able to test and approve [learn by experience] what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” We begin life with attitudes and ideas that are opposite to God’s, so this has to be changed to His ways and plans. It is a complete makeover. The Potter takes the clay and forms it into something pleasing to Him. 1 Corinthians 15:47 ”The first man was of the earth, made of dust.” As God took nothing and made a human being, He can take our life and make us into a new person—if we are willing to be nothing and to let Him have the material. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ”Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Galatians 6:15 The only thing that “counts is a new creation.” Satan makes God’s ways and plans seem difficult, unreasonable, and unworkable. The reason so few consecrate their life to Christ, is because the devil has them think it is the hardest place. To actually be in the will of God is opposite to the way Satan pictures it because God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect—not hard, difficult, and unpleasant. The only good position is in the will of God—Who gave His Son for us so we could enter His kingdom. The moment we consecrate our life to God, He begins the molding process on our attitudes. Everything that touches our life—every cross look, every difficulty, loss, insult, or spiteful act, will be a chisel in the hands of God to conform our attitude to be like the Lord’s. Philippians 2:5 ”Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Every situation and every person met in a scriptural way will change our attitude to be what God wants it to be. We should not worry about what people say or do to us, or how others treat or talk about us, because when anything reaches our life, it has passed through God first. He allowed it, so He can use it—to mold our disposition to be that of Christ. We only make the choice, because Philippians 2:13 ”It is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.” The apostle Paul endured many difficult things, but he learned from them and he kept trusting the Lord to bring him through. 1 Peter 4:11 ”If any one renders a service to others, let it be in the strength which God supplies; so that in everything glory may be given to God in the name of Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the might to the Ages of the Ages.” The apostle had learned many lessons, and he told us to Philippians 2:14-16 ”Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” Any difficulty that is met according to the will and Word of God becomes a chariot of blessing to take us to new heights of learning, and to a greater knowledge of spiritual truth. 1 Corinthians 3:9 ”For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building,” if we will let Him have the materials. Job 36:22 "God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?” Consecrating our life to Christ makes Him our personal tutor 24/7. God is at our side and wanting to teach us every moment of the day, so we can learn spiritual truths of His gospel plan. Our prayer is—“Lord, I give my life to You without reservation and am going to believe that You will do the spiritual work that needs to be done in my life. Everything that touches me will work together for good, because You can use every circumstance as a chisel and mallet to conform my way to be Your way. I am no longer going to blame others, and I am not going to complain about what happens to me, but will praise You for the spiritual blessing I will receive from meeting things in Your way. As I meet every circumstance in life as Your Word says, the result will be the richest of spiritual blessings from Your great heart of divine love. Amen.” †††
|
||
|
|
First
Century Gospel Church © 2010 |
|
