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For us, the saved persons, to consecrate ourselves is a positive reaction to the Lord’s salvation. Since we have enjoyed the Lord’s great and free salvation, we spontaneously desire to repay the Lord. When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we allow the Lord to gain us as our repayment to Him.
1)“You are not your own…For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
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 who believe in the Lord and who are redeemed and bought by the Lord are the purchased slaves of the Lord; we are not our own, but the Lord’s. It is the Lord, not we, who has the right over us.
2)“For whether we live, we live to the Lord, or if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8).
Since we who are redeemed and bought by the Lord belong to Him, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. This is the basis on which we consecrate ourselves to Him for His use.
1)“For the love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that One died on behalf of all; therefore all died; and He died on behalf of all, that those who live may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).
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. His buying us with His precious blood to make us His purchased slaves is the basis on which we consecrate ourselves to Him. He died for us because of His love, and this love is the motive for us to consecrate ourselves to Him.
1)“I beg you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice…which is your most reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
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.
2)“Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savor unto me…two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering” (Num. 28:2-3).
In the Old Testament, God required that His people offer the burnt offering to Him daily for His food that He could be satisfied. This typifies that, in the New Testament, we who belong to God should offer ourselves as a burnt offering daily to God for His satisfaction. The difference is that the Old Testament people offered dead sacrifices, whereas we offer living sacrifices. Although the nature of the two are different, their significance is the same, that is, to be God’s food for His satisfaction. To offer ourselves to the Lord is to be a sacrifice for His satisfaction. What matters is not what we do for the Lord, but that we satisfy Him. This is the real significance of our consecration to the Lord.
1)“…no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Cor. 5:15).
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)“Present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1).
When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, as mentioned previously, we present ourselves to the Lord as a living sacrifice to satisfy His heart’s desire. This is a significant purpose of our consecration to the Lord.
3)“Present your bodies…which is your most reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
To present ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord is a most reasonable service. Such service does not depend on our working for the Lord but on our satisfying God. This also should be a purpose of our consecration to the Lord.
4)“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
We believers, who have been chosen and redeemed by God, are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He has prepared for us to walk in. This requires our consent, which results in our offering ourselves to Him that He might work on us to complete His good works. This should be another purpose for which we consecrate ourselves to the Lord.
5)“For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20).
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)“Christ’s slave…bought with a price” (1 Cor. 7:22-23).
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.
2)“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10).
We are God’s workmanship under His molding, just as the clay vessel is molded in the hands of the potter (cf. Isa. 64:8). Another result of our consecration to the Lord is that the Lord has our consent to freely mold us.
3)“Present yourselves to God…and your members as weapons of righteousness to God. For sin shall not lord it over you” (Rom. 6:13-14); “Present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification” (6:19).
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.
4)“The priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah” (Lev. 1:9).
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.
