We are up to the 3rd of 5 C’s in our
worship service. Call, confession, consecration.
Consecration is the hardest of
the 5 C’s to understand. We get call, confession, communion and commission. But
consecration? What is this?
The basic progression of a service is laid out in Leviticus 9 with three different kinds of
sacrifices: sin, whole (or burnt), and peace offerings.
Consecration is the whole sacrifice that is
completely burned up and goes up in smoke to God. The whole animal was burned
up on the altar. Leviticus 1 describes it. The focus is on the cutting and
arranging of the animal pieces on the altar. We should see the animal sacrifice
as fulfilled in Christ. He offered Himself completely to God.
And, if we are
united with Christ and follow Him, we need to see ourselves as this whole burnt
offering ascending to God. The knife that cuts us up is the word of God, as Heb
4:12 says, piercing to divide not only joints and marrow, but also soul and
spirit. That doesn’t mean soul and spirit are different, but that the Word of
God distinguishes our good thoughts and intentions from the bad.
That’s the
sacrificial and theological angle on consecration. We’ll look at more of the
practical stuff in future weeks.
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