Who can compare with Your love?
And Lord, as we would come to You now, we ask, Lord, that You would make this word alive to us. Dear precious Spirit of God, would You just really speak to our hearts and reveal to us Jesus in a deeper way? And may we fall more in love with Him today.
We trust You for this. We thank You for this opportunity, in the precious name of Jesus.
I would just like to quote something from a writing of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She says:
Earth is crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes.
You know, Paul says that the heart has eyes. He says, “May the eyes of your heart be enlightened.” Similarly, figuratively, if my heart had feet, I would want to walk through this life barefoot.
Because all around and about us is the glory of God, if we could only see it. All around and about us are opportunities to bow our hearts in thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus, because He is such a wonderful Lord to serve.
In Him is found the fullness of life and joy in Christ. If we walked around barefoot, captured by the enormity of His love and the uniqueness of His love, we would be worshiping all the time.
I want to share something about consecration. We know the definition of consecration. If you were to look it up in the dictionary, it says: to be devoted to, to be set aside as holy, to be dedicated.
There are a number of ways we can look at this. We could look through the Scriptures and ask what was consecrated. We know that the utensils used in temple service and worship were consecrated to the Lord—set apart to the Lord as holy, to be used solely for the Lord. We can also look through the Scriptures and see those whose lives had been consecrated to the Lord.
But I would like to look at consecration from the aspect of its effect.
I think, to understand consecration, we need to know something about death. Now, that might seem somewhat incongruous, but to really appreciate consecration, we need to know something about death.
If you would turn to Genesis, chapter 2, we are going to read verses 8-9 and verses 16-17.
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.
The tree of life also was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:
For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
You might have in the margin of your Bible a translation of that last part, where it says, “Thou shalt surely die.” I think this is quite unique, and perhaps speaks even more clearly than simply, “You shall die.” It is a literal translation: “And dying, you shall die.”
And dying, you shall die.
For a long time, I would say to people—and I mentioned it to my children over the years, when death would come into the family and someone would be taken—that death is just a part of life.
But I am coming to realize more and more that death is what we live in. We live in death.
If you will turn to Romans, chapter 5, this is a passage with which we are very familiar.
Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin;
And so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned.
For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one—
So then, as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation—
That, as sin reigned in death—
You know, when something reigns over you, it means it has governance over you. It means that you really cannot be free, because it is governing your life. It says that death reigned, and we live under the governance of death.
There was no escape from it. You did not have a free will in one sense, because you did not know anything else but what was presented in this life of death. You lived in death.
In Romans, chapter 1, verse 28, it says:
And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful:
Who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practise such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practise them.
Now, we could look at this and say, “Oh, that is just terrible—those people who live like this.” But this is what is really written about us. It is written about us. This is who we are outside of Christ.
We have embraced the life of death, and darkness has become light to us. Again, we could look at this and just sort of pass over it, but when we really examine it—when we really want to look at our own lives—some of these things are hard to talk about.
It is like we really do not want to look in the mirror, especially if somehow something has happened and you do not want to look in the mirror anymore because of the scars. You avoid looking in the mirror. Sometimes that is what we do. We do not want to look at these things for how they apply to us.
Now that we have come to know the Lord Jesus, sometimes we do not want to look at what this is really saying to us. Oh, if we would just look at some of these things.
It says, “Being filled with all unrighteousness.” Sometimes we are unrighteous in the way we fill out our taxes. Sometimes we are unrighteous in the way we deal with people—so curtly, so abruptly. Sometimes we are unrighteous in that we let things slip because we think we can get away with them.
When we do work, we do it with the attitude, “Well, this is good enough,” not realizing that whatever we do in word or deed, we are to do to the glory of God. We just do not do it the right way. And so there is this unrighteousness in our lives.
We do not have to talk much about sexual immorality, but we are pervaded by it. Every place we look and everywhere we turn, sometimes we even make excuses for it in the license of our own lives. Sometimes young people, wanting desperately to get married—looking for a wife or looking for a husband—allow that desire to lead them into license.
Covetousness: always wanting more. Sometimes saying in our own hearts, “Why do they have that? They do not deserve that. How is it that they get all the good things? I do not have that. Why do they have that house, that car? I cannot afford that. I cannot have that.”
That covetousness in the heart—we might not say it to their face, but sometimes we think, “How come everything is always going good their way? And look at me. My child is this way. My home is falling apart. I have bills. Forget about it. Look how easy they have it.”
Coveting.
Strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers and backbiters. Sometimes there is so much whispering that goes on, especially in the church—such whisperings behind each other’s backs.
We may not say it to their face, but there is something in our hearts that is holding something against brothers and sisters. There is this whispering, this complaining.
Sometimes we do whisper about one another behind each other’s backs. We talk poorly of one another when we do not realize that these are the saints of the living God. These are the ones for whom Christ died and gave His life. These are precious and holy in His sight, and we discard them as less than that, speaking behind each other’s backs.
Proud and boastful.
As bad as that is, it comes to this part where it says that those who know the righteous judgment of God, and know that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
Sometimes we do that in the world and in the church. “Come on, let’s go out.” A bunch of guys are going to go out and have a party, and they encourage one another to party until they cannot stand up anymore.
Or you are in business and sales, and you are encouraging a new salesman: “This is the technique we use to sell more of this or more of that.” It is sly and deceitful, and we are actually promoting it and teaching it.
This is the way we are. This is what we are caught up in. This is the life of death, and we do not know any better. The world does it.
There is a Scripture that says there comes a time when evil will be considered good, and good will be considered evil. We see that all around us—where homosexual marriages are permitted, where the death of unborn children is legislated, and all sorts of perverse things are called good when they are evil.
Those things that are good are described as evil. “Oh, you are intolerant. You are bigots. You are hypocrites,” because you make a stand for what the Word of God says and what the Lord Jesus has taught.
This is the realm of darkness. This is the life of darkness, and we live within it. Maybe that is your life.
If you turn to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 6, verses 22-23, I think this somewhat describes what I want to convey: we live, and darkness is our light.
The lamp of the body is the eye:
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!
Let me describe it this way. If you were born blind, had never seen light, and lived in this house from the time you were born, after a while you would be able to walk into a room and negotiate that room without even bumping into a piece of furniture.
You would become so used to the lay of the room that you could maneuver around all the furniture to get wherever you wanted, never bumping into anything. You live in darkness, but you do not know anything else. To you, darkness is your light.
You are able to negotiate in this darkness without any problem. That is what has happened to us, my dear brothers and sisters. We have learned how to negotiate in darkness without any problem. We have embraced darkness. Darkness for us is our light.
That is the deepest darkness of all. What a tragedy. What a terrible tragedy.
The best that this world has to offer—its humanitarian societies, its art, its education, the university—they are all in corruption.
Apart from the presence of God and the life of God in a man, it is all in corruption, and the wrath of God rests upon it. Now, that is the truth. The wrath of God rests upon it.
What do you put your hope in? Where does your interest lie? Is it in the furtherance of your education? Not that education is bad, but if that is where your hope lies—if you think, “If I only get a really good education, if I go to the best universities, then I will be successful; then everything will be well”—does your hope lie there?
Well, it is in corruption, and the wrath of God is upon it. Unless we find our hope in Christ, judgment is upon that thing. And that judgment comes out of the very heart of God and the love of God for us.
If you think it is in the arts—if you can become sophisticated enough and have enough money to run in the right circles, that you will be happy and full and complete—the wrath of God is upon that mentality, because it is part of the darkness.
Everything is in a state of corruption from the moment of our conception. We are conceived in iniquity, born into corruption, and the end result is death. There was no escape.
Not only were we born in corruption, but everything is under the righteous judgment of God.
Now, that all sounds pretty bleak, and it is bleak.
When I want to bring up this issue of consecration, I have to tell you: I am not here to convince anyone to consecrate themselves to the Lord, because I do not think it can be done. It really is a matter of the heart. It is a transaction of the heart between you and your Lord.
No one can really convince you to consecrate your life unto the Lord. This is an issue between you and Him. The Lord is looking for those who would respond to His love.
That is why, when we look at this matter of consecration, we see that consecration is really initiated and begins with the Lord. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?
I think it is a wonderful thing that, as we examine this life in Christ, we see that it is all the Lord from beginning to end. This issue of consecration begins with Him.
If you read Romans 5:8:
But God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
This is the hope. While we were yet in darkness, while we were those who embraced darkness and death, Christ died for us. How wonderful. How glorious that is.
He is the One who sought after us. While we were yet sinners, Christ came at the right time and died for us. He is the initiator of it. It was the initiating power of the love of God.
Romans 2:4 says that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. He, with His love, stimulated our hearts and brought us to repentance. The great love of God—it is He who initiates this.
1 John 4:19 says, “We love, because He first loved us.” In John 15, He says, “Ye did not choose me, but I chose you.” It is the initiating love of God that brings us to this point.
He has rescued us by His great love. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. He rescued us.
This morning I was thinking, “Oh, how He has rescued me.” Not only did He initially rescue me from this darkness, but He has been my rescuer throughout my life with Him. Has He not rescued you?
When you went off on your own, even after knowing the Lord, and chose to go a different way, there in all our depravity of mind, He came and rescued us from decisions that were foreign to Him—decisions made willfully.
Yet He comes: this hound of heaven, this One who foolishly loves us, if we could put it that way—casting Himself always upon us, always wanting to woo us back. He rescues us from pits we have dug ourselves.
He reaches down, takes us by the hand, and draws us up to Himself once again. He is the One who initiates this love affair, and He is wanting ones who respond to this love.
Do we understand the darkness? That is why I think it is so important to understand the darkness that we chose to be our life. We lived the life of death: “Dying, thou shalt surely die.” It was a process of dying that we were involved in—never free, never filled with life, lifeless, without hope.
And He comes and rescues us. What a salvation. What rescuing. What power to change the heart of a man. There is no greater miracle than that.
That should stir our hearts to devotion and love.
Not only did He take us from this kingdom of darkness, where we were slaves to sin and unable to help ourselves, and bring us into the kingdom of His beloved Son—He did not take us as slaves of darkness and set us in His kingdom as paupers.
He has made us kings and priests unto God. We are heirs to the throne with Christ. All that is Christ’s is ours. What rescuing.
Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, we need to see this tremendous contrast between darkness and light, between slavery to sin and freedom in Christ. How else can we appreciate so great a love unless we are able to see the depravity and darkness from which we have come?
In Colossians 1:21-22, it says:
And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,
Yet now hath He reconciled
In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before Him.
What salvation. This is the work of God: to present us holy, blameless, and above reproach as we stand before God. We who were really in the gutter, in darkness, are now sons of light.
What salvation. So much to be thankful for. Oh, that it would stir our hearts to devotedness.
So, what moves us to consecration?
We turn to Isaiah, chapter 6, beginning in verse 1.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple.
Above Him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
What did he see? He saw the glory of God.
He saw the resplendent love of God, if we could put it that way, because we know that our God is a God of love. Not only is He a God of love, but it speaks of Him as being love. God is love. It is His essence.
I believe that Isaiah saw the resplendent glory of God displayed as love as he looked upon the King of glory. Why do I say that?
Here is Isaiah. For the first five chapters, he is a man of God. He is speaking for God. He is a prophet of the Most High God and has been speaking the Word of God.
Yet, when he saw the King, when he saw the glory of the King, he said, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” As good as I am, as much as I have tried even to be obedient to You, as he looked upon God, he saw that he was a man of unclean lips.
“Woe is me. Oh Lord, that You should love one such as me.” That was his response. He saw that this holy God loved him. “How could You love me, Lord? You are so holy and so pure.” He was undone.
Where before he thought he could serve God, and was serving God, now he could serve God no longer. “How could I ever speak again? I am a man of unclean lips, and I live amongst a people of unclean lips.”
It says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” As he looked at the people he was serving in the name of God, he saw that he served among a people whose hearts were far from God.
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he touched my mouth with it, and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I; send me.”
I find it so miraculous. The normal reaction would have been, “Lord, You cannot send me. Woe is me. I have seen; I am just so unclean.”
But when the Lord touched his lips, he discarded himself, you might say. He no longer looked at himself. His lips had been cleansed by God, and he was not going to look back at the past. He was going to go on with the Lord now.
When the Lord spoke, “Whom shall We send?” Isaiah said, “I know that I am unworthy, but because of Your life, because of what You have done, Lord, send me.”
He saw himself more clearly than he had ever seen himself before. But because of the saving grace of God, in all of his weakness, he could depend on the strength of God to go ahead. He had been cleansed by God.
Some of us, when we fail and the Lord comes along and lifts us up and we experience His forgiveness, just become morbid. “What could I ever do again for Him? Oh, pick somebody else. I am just—oh, woe is me.”
But it is false humility. It is not trusting in the life of God. There has to come a place in your life and my life where we say and confess, “I do not trust myself. I am weak and I am unable.”
But because of the work of God, because I am in Christ and Christ is in me, I will choose today, right now, to live out of His life rather than my own. Because of that, I can live in the victory of Christ and in the good of all that He has gained for me.
That is the victorious life. That is the life of the overcomer. That is what Isaiah was doing here.
When we come to a place, my dear brothers and sisters, where we can say, “I am undone,” that is a wonderful place. We come, as they say, to the end of ourselves, and we are able to see ourselves in relationship to the glorious God whom we serve.
That is the starting place. Have you come to that place where we appreciate the all-encompassing love of God and are willing to give up the right to our lives?
Are we willing to give up the right to our lives? That is the point of consecration.
In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 5, we have another example of this. Beginning with verse 4 through verse 11, we know this story.
Jesus is on the seashore preaching to a crowd, and they are pressing upon Him. He gets into one of the two small boats that are there. When He is finished preaching, He says to Peter, “Put out into the deep.”
Peter had been following the Lord. He had been called and had been following Jesus around. He had witnessed the power in the life of Christ. He had heard Him speak. Jesus had healed Peter’s mother-in-law when she had a fever.
It appears to us that Peter recognized Christ, wanted to follow Him, and began to go about with Him. Yet he was still fishing.
Now, at this point, Jesus says, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets.”
Peter says to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night, and caught nothing; but at Thy word I will let down the net.”
What Peter was really saying was this: “Lord, I have been fishing all my life. I know these waters like the back of my hand. I have been fishing out here all night, and we have not caught a thing.”
“But I will tell You what: because I want to show You that I am a nice guy, and I appreciate You, and I appreciate what I have seen You do, and I think You are really wonderful, I will put out into the deep.”
Peter is saying to himself, “We are not going to get anything, but I will put out into the deep.” He goes out, and they lower the nets.
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking;
And they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them.
And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
He saw the Lord in His glory as he had never seen Him before, and he saw himself. When he said, “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man,” the cry of his heart was really this: “Lord, depart from me—I am a sinful man—but Lord, do not leave me.”
“Where would I be without You, Lord? I have seen Your glory, dear Lord. I have never had an experience like this in my life before. I have never met anyone like You before. You have changed my heart. How could I live without You anymore?”
He made that same kind of proclamation later in the Gospels, after Jesus had spoken of being the bread of life and many of His disciples left Him. Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
It was not that Peter was made perfect right then, but I believe there was a transaction in Peter’s heart: he was going to stay with Jesus.
It is very interesting. When Jesus first called Peter, He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” But here, in this particular account, He says, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.”
Something took place there at that moment, while Peter was on his knees before Jesus. There was a seeing of Christ as he had never seen Him before, and a seeing of himself more clearly than he had ever seen himself before.
It was not over, but there was a significant transaction in the heart there.
Again, are we willing to give up the right to our lives? That is what consecration is about.
So what does consecration look like? Or, better yet, who can we look at to see what consecration is all about? Of course, the answer is always the same: we need to look at Jesus. We need to look at the Lord Jesus—His life.
Jesus consecrated Himself out of love and obedience to the Father. When we look at the life of Christ, it is a life of consecration. It is a life that is set apart.
He was like every man, yet He was different from any man who ever was. He was set apart. He was unique.
In Philippians, chapter 2—there was so much going on in the meeting today that I said, “This is what I am sharing about.” I heard about corruption in the beginning of the meeting, and we have talked about that: in the beginning, we were in corruption.
Philippians 2 was read by our brother today as well. I thought, “Look at this. I have nothing to say today. The Lord has been saying it all along.” Now, bless the Lord.
Philippians 2:5-8 says:
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
The Lord chose to give up His life, to lay down His life, to become a servant of all. He said, “I came to serve.” He demonstrated that not just on the cross, but throughout His life.
The life of the Lord Jesus, from eternity past, was ordered by the principle of the cross. We read in Revelation that before the foundation of the world Christ was crucified. When He came, He subjected Himself to His own creation.
It was His choice. He laid down His life continuously, every day. His life was spent on those whom He served. This is the life of Christ. This is the life of consecration.
It was constrained by the love of His Father. The evidence of this consecration was that He was a bondservant of all.
So what are the evidences of a life consecrated to the Lord? If someone comes and says, “Oh, I have consecrated my life to the Lord,” what does that mean?
At one time in my life, I thought that if I was going to consecrate my life to the Lord, the first thing I would have to do was go out and buy a hair shirt. Then, with that hair shirt, I would probably limit my diet to bread and water and try to find a nice cave to rent.
I thought that this would be dedicating my life to the Lord—giving up everything, developing a look on my face that was really pious.
For me, that would have been it. “Ah, yes, I have consecrated. I do not have too much time for you, because I have consecrated my life to the Lord.”
If the children are knocking on the study door: “Do not bother me. I am studying the Word of God. Go watch television or play some video games. I am consecrating my life to the Lord.”
Sometimes that is almost the way it appears in some people’s lives: far and above all the rest.
But if you come to me and say that you have consecrated your life to the Lord, but your life is not consecrated to the brothers and sisters, and your life is not consecrated to those who do not know Him—to those who are still out in the streets, still doing drugs, still getting drunk every night—then I do not think you have a consecrated life to the Lord.
When you look at the Lord’s life, His life was laid down not only for those who loved Him. His life was laid down for those who crucified Him.
It is the consecrated life. It is a life that is given up. When you do not have a life of your own, that is evidence of a consecrated life.
If you turn to Philippians, chapter 1, verse 8, I find this so dear. Paul says:
For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.
I just hear the heart of Paul there: “How I long for you with the affection of Jesus Christ.” That speaks volumes to me of Paul’s heart.
His life was given up. He was so interested in and taken up with the brothers and sisters. He hurt for them. He rejoiced with them. He cried for them. It speaks volumes to me of a life consecrated.
Verse 21 says:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
For Paul, it would have been his pleasure, as it were, to die and be with the Lord. That is what he says. But then he says, “Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful on your behalf.”
Again, that speaks volumes to me about his heart—a heart consecrated to the Lord.
“Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.”
Now, this issue of consecration is very practical. It has to be lived out. It is not enough to hear the words. If we cannot translate these words into our lives and live them out, it can become so frustrating.
Sometimes we hear so much, and we see so little evidence in our lives. The Lord wants to translate this so that it can be lived out, so it can become practical. It is not difficult; it is quite practical.
So how do we live this out in a practical way? Philippians 2:1-4 says:
If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions,
Make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
Doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself;
Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
We could enumerate numerous practical things that can be done, but we are not going to do that. What I would say is this: if you want to experience real fellowship, if you want to have the comfort of the love of God through the love of the brethren, if you want to experience affection and mercy, there are some things that must be evident in our lives.
This is where it starts to speak: let nothing be done through selfish ambition or empty conceit. Sometimes we think we can do it better than everybody else.
“Look at them. Look what they are doing. How could they be doing it that way when I know it should be done this way? This is better. I can do it better. Let me have it. Let me do it.”
There is something in us that really thinks we can do it better. But you know what the truth of the matter is? Someone else may be able to do it better, but that is not the important thing.
Have you given preference to the brethren? Have you esteemed them greater than yourself? Have you given them the opportunity to do something that may not be done as well as you could do it?
Perhaps for the first time they are stepping out and wanting to try something, and we come in with our elbows: “Let me get in there. I can do it.” We squelch what God may have wanted to do in the life of the brothers and sisters because we have a better way.
Esteeming the brethren greater than ourselves.
“Let each of you look out not only for his own interests.” Oh, yes, that is hard. You know what it is saying? Your interests have to be more important than my interests. I have to consider what you think is important more than what I think is important.
Now, the part still working out of that really takes the cross. It takes the cross to work that out.
Oftentimes we say things like, “I am just too busy. They do not know how busy I am. Why is not so-and-so doing that? I am so busy.” That is something of the attitude that we have.
Now, I do not think we need to go around busying ourselves. No. But our hearts should be such that we are attentive to the Spirit of God, so that when the Lord says, “Lay it down. No, you cannot go away for this weekend. I do not want you to go.”
“What I want you to do is invite them over to the house for a barbecue,” or, “I want you to do this.” Are we able to hear the Spirit of God, who wants to build relationships and have us grow in love for one another?
Are we able to lay down the things that interest us for the interests of others?
This will touch every area of our lives, my dear brothers and sisters. It is not easy in one sense. But if we are able to rest in the life of Christ that dwells within us, choosing to live out of His life, then it is possible. Then it is possible.
It is being more interested in the brethren than you are in yourself. That is something the work of God—the principle of the cross—needs to work into your life and mine. But that is the evidence of a consecrated life.
That is the evidence of a consecrated life. Look at the life of the Lord Jesus.
In Philippians 2:17, again we see Paul’s heart. You just need to hear this. When you see and hear this verse, what you can see is Jesus.
Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
Now, is that not Christ? It is the life of Christ embodied in Paul. It is Christ expressing Himself through Paul. It is Christ that we see in Paul’s life.
Poured out. He poured out his life. He did not just go like this. I mean, that is the way it is sometimes: just a little bit. “I do not want to give too much. I have got to have some for myself.”
But he poured it out. That is the life of Christ. That is the consecrated life.
In 2 Corinthians 5:13-15, it says:
For whether we are beside ourselves, it is unto God; or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you.
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that One died for all, therefore all died;
And He died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again.
No longer living for themselves. That is what He is saying to us today: no longer living for yourselves, but living for Him who died for us and rose again for us.
How do we live that out practically? I need to see Christ in you. I need to live for Him in you. I need to give up my life for you.
That is the evidence of consecration. Have you consecrated your life to Christ? He is looking for those who would respond to His love. That is all.
If we would see what we were delivered from by the power of His love, that should move us to say to Him, “Lord, I give up my life for You. I devote my life to You, Lord. I set my life aside for You, Lord.”
Then He is going to say, “Love the brethren.”
Finally, in 2 Corinthians 6:11-12, Paul says, “O Corinthians.” Let me give just a little bit before that.
In that sixth chapter, Paul gives a litany of the things he has gone through: stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleepless nights, fastings; purity, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, the Holy Spirit, sincere love, the word of truth, the power of God, the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.
He speaks of honor and dishonor, evil report and good report; as deceivers, yet true; as unknown, yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.
Then he says:
Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.
Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own affections.
When we look at what Paul had gone through, sometimes we can look at our lives—the difficulties and troubles and so on that we encounter. But what the Lord is wanting to say is that these things should not restrict you from being close with Him, from being intimate with Him, from knowing Him deeply.
No trouble, no imprisonments, no beatings, no discouragements, no sickness should keep you from Him.
There is one thing that keeps you from Him: your own affections—affections that are outside of Him. You have affections outside of Him. That is what keeps you from having a relationship with the Lord Jesus that is intimate, loving, and surrendered.
There are other affections in our lives that take us from Christ. Nothing else should be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. The only thing that does is affections outside of Christ.
And so, my dear brothers and sisters, I would pray. Let us pray.
Precious Spirit of God, I do pray that somehow today, in the midst of all of these words, a seed would be planted in a heart.
And that seed would be caused to grow, and that one would consecrate their life—spirit, soul, and body—out of love for the Savior, to Him.
We just trust You for this, in the precious name of Jesus.