Consecration for holiness!
Here at 614 Vancouver, we just fished an all night of prayer, where we stayed up all night praying and praising the name of Almighty God. I thought it was interesting that between the days of Passover and Good Friday we spent the night praying (like the disciples and Jesus in Gethsemane?).
So every hour had a different theme, and for the 4-5 AM hour, I was asked to give a short preach. The theme was consecration and mission. It was a really good opportunity, because God really taught me more of what consecration was and even more just helped me "get it". Here's what I said about consecration.
Consecration has a lot of different definitions. The first that came to my mind was "Set apart", which was kind of strange because sanctification also means "set apart". It also has the connotations of to gather, fill one's hand, dedicate, destroy, and perfect. All this was kind of confusing, so I asked the LORD for some guidance. This is how He helped me put it all together-
When we consecrate ourselves (set ourselves apart) we "gather" together all of who we are, all our time, talents, wants, desires, even our sins and shortcomings, and we "fill our hands" with the offering of us. Then we lift that to God, dedicating all of who we are to Him. Now here is where consecration and sanctification meet. When we fully give ourselves over to God, He takes the offering, "destroys" the bad, and "perfects" us. Consecration is our act of "setting apart", and sanctification is God's act of "setting apart." Really, consecration and sanctification are two sides to the same coin, and that coin is holiness.
One more thing- Our consecration needs to be full. If you withhold part of yourself from God, God can't (won't) sanctify you fully. If we desire holiness, we NEED to give ALL. Anything less is only a hindrance to sanctification and holiness.
Make sense? Am I way off? Agree? Disagree? Tell me about it!
So every hour had a different theme, and for the 4-5 AM hour, I was asked to give a short preach. The theme was consecration and mission. It was a really good opportunity, because God really taught me more of what consecration was and even more just helped me "get it". Here's what I said about consecration.
Consecration has a lot of different definitions. The first that came to my mind was "Set apart", which was kind of strange because sanctification also means "set apart". It also has the connotations of to gather, fill one's hand, dedicate, destroy, and perfect. All this was kind of confusing, so I asked the LORD for some guidance. This is how He helped me put it all together-
When we consecrate ourselves (set ourselves apart) we "gather" together all of who we are, all our time, talents, wants, desires, even our sins and shortcomings, and we "fill our hands" with the offering of us. Then we lift that to God, dedicating all of who we are to Him. Now here is where consecration and sanctification meet. When we fully give ourselves over to God, He takes the offering, "destroys" the bad, and "perfects" us. Consecration is our act of "setting apart", and sanctification is God's act of "setting apart." Really, consecration and sanctification are two sides to the same coin, and that coin is holiness.
One more thing- Our consecration needs to be full. If you withhold part of yourself from God, God can't (won't) sanctify you fully. If we desire holiness, we NEED to give ALL. Anything less is only a hindrance to sanctification and holiness.
Make sense? Am I way off? Agree? Disagree? Tell me about it!
posted by I Believe We Shall Win at 3:55 PM
7 Comments:
During the Good Friday service...that the Holy Spirit was totally all over!...I was totally talking to God about Holiness. And it was so cool! See you on Sunday or Monday...
Joel, thats an amazing post. It hits me that so much is done for our lifes by God and how some people are just ungreatful for it.
God sets us apart for many things in life.
Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day." Exodus 32:29
See you next sunday
I agree totally :)
Blessings Joel! See you on Sunday
I really like reading your thoughts from God Joel! What scripture versus are you referring to and in your last paragraph, I guess I don't understand how God can only do something half-way (sanctification). I have been studying Colossians and have been impressed upon is 2:10 that you are complete in Christ because he has circumcised us, buried us, raised us and cancelled out ALL of our debt. Perhaps I need a better definition of sanctification!
Look at the root of what happens when a person belives Jesus is God and declares him Lord of their life: God completely changes our identity, obedience follows and though we don't always act like we are changed people there is grace and we can overcome the flesh by being fixed on God and remembering his eternal perspective of things (Colossians 3:1). The Bible says our salvation is a done deal, but we do need to continue to work out our salvation (phil 2) because we are becoming conformed to His image (Romans 8:28-30). Yet we can't do it by ourselves, it can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit in us and as we conform we become more aware that Jesus wants it all, not just a piece.
So I don't totally disagree with you, I just wanted to clarify the santification part.
Good thoughts, Joel!
Our job is to consecrate ourselves to God (like Moses told the Israelites to do in Exodus 32)...and God promises to sanctify us (make us holy)
Exodus 29:33 puts sanctification and consecration together when it's talking about the sacrifices that the levites would eat....the levites were allowed to eat the sacrifices, because they as a people were wet apart for YaHWeH, but the ordinary people couldn't. The sacrifice would be consecrated to God by the people, and it would become holy (sanctified) because it was set apart for God.
Good stuff!
Interesting! You joined the many, many churches, Bible Colleges and Seminaries around the world and kept the Maundy Thursday Vigil. It is a long standing tradition in Church history - often celebrated with a Tenebrae service at midnight.
I'm kinda with Hannah - I don't quite follow your line on Consecration and Sanctification... I've always seen it as our response to God's call. God is always there with open arms (no Can't or Won't about it), but it is rather our inability to get over our own egos that prevents us from living into all that we can be!
P.S... aren't you glad you asked for comments! (hehehe...)
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