LESSON TEN
CONSECRATION

1 Cor. 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

1 Cor. 6:20 For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.

2 Cor. 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

15 And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.

THE BASIS OF CONSECRATION

The basis of our consecration to the Lord is that, since He bought us with His blood as a price (Rev. 5:9), we have become His purchased slaves. We are not our own, but the Lord’s. It is the Lord, not we, who has the right over us. (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

THE MOTIVE OF CONSECRATION

We consecrate ourselves to the Lord because His love confines and constrains us. His love compels us so that we cannot help but consecrate ourselves to Him. Since He died on our behalf, we all died; therefore, there is no need for us to die. Furthermore, He died that we may have His life to live to Him. Such love constrains us and compels us to love Him and consecrate ourselves to Him. This consecration is our gratitude for and repayment of His great love. He died for us because of His love, and this love is the motive for us to consecrate ourselves to Him. (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CONSECRATION

When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice, unlike the people in the Old Testament who offered dead sacrifices to the Lord. As a living sacrifice that has been presented, we are holy, that is, we have separated ourselves unto the Lord for His use, and we are well-pleasing to God, satisfying His heart’s desire. (Rom. 12:1)

THE PURPOSE OF CONSECRATION

The purpose of our consecration to the Lord is to live to Him. Living to Him is higher than living for Him. When we live for Him, we and He may still be two, but when we live to Him, we and He must become one. When we live to Him, we take Him not only as our life but also as our person. In all our living and actions, we should cooperate with Him and allow Him to live Himself through us. (2 Cor. 5:15, Rom. 12:1, 1 Cor. 6:20)

THE RESULT OF CONSECRATION

The first result of our consecration to the Lord is that practically we become slaves bought by the Lord, submitting to His authority in all things. (1 Cor. 7:22-23)

Another result of our consecration to the Lord is that the Lord has our consent to freely mold us (Eph. 2:10), just as the clay vessel is molded in the hands of the potter (cf. Isa. 64:8).

When we present ourselves and our members to the Lord, there is still another result; that is, our members become weapons of and slaves to righteousness that we may be freed from sin, no longer being lorded over by sin, unto sanctification. (Rom. 6:13-14, 19)

The result of offering a burnt sacrifice in the Old Testament was that the burnt offering became ashes before men and a sweet savor to God. If we present ourselves as a living burnt offering to the Lord, and if we are truly faithful to Him, we will be like ashes before men and a delightful savor to God. (Lev. 1:9)

The consummate purpose of our consecration to the Lord is to glorify God, that is, to allow God to be lived out from us and expressed through us as a manifestation of His glory. (1 Cor. 6:20) (Life Lessons, lsn. 18)

THE FIRE ON THE ALTAR SHALL BE KEPT BURNING

It is not possible to hit the climax of any experience of life by experiencing it just once. We need to pursue continuously, so that our experience will increase gradually and become fuller, until it reaches the stage of maturity.

When we first consecrate ourselves, our experience is similar to an embryo in the mother’s womb—one cannot distinguish the ear, the eye, the mouth, and the nose. As we grow in life, however, these five points related to the experience of consecration gradually become formed in us. Then we really have a feeling that we have been bought by God and that all our rights are in His hand. We become a prisoner of His love because His love has pierced our hearts. We become a sacrifice indeed, laid on the altar for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction. We will be those who have been thoroughly worked over by God and are then able to work for Him. Our future will truly be as a handful of ashes. All our ways of escape outside of God’s will shall have been cut off; God only will be our future and our way. At that time the experience of our consecration will indeed have become matured. May we all, by the grace of the Lord, pursue and go on together. (The Experience of Life, ch. 3)

References: Life Lessons, lsn. 18; The Experience of Life, ch. 3.