_CONSECRATION._
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."--Romans
xii. 1, 2.
In bringing this passage before you, I have to dwell specifically on
the motives to self-consecration to God, and to what is involved
therein; and I do so with the twofold object of reconsidering the
sources of our Christian hope and strength, and the incentives to our
growth in the Divine life.
The apostle commences his appeal with the word "therefore." This is a
logical term, leading to a conclusion from premises which have been
previously stated. It does not stand alone, but in an argument resumes
in itself all that has been advanced. Take careful note of the simple
words of Scripture. There is point in them all. If, for example, the
use of the word "therefore" in this text be overlooked, we shall be
unable properly to feel the force of the apostle's appeal. What is it,
then, that the apostle has said in this epistle, and of which he
intends, by this word "therefore," to remind his readers? He has been
giving to them a large, full, grand exposition of the great truths of
redemption. He has prepared the way for this by a graphic picture of
the sinfulness and helplessness of human nature. He has shown that the
heathen world is grossly depraved--in a state of alienation from God,
which is to a certain extent wilful (chap. i. 29-32). He has proceeded
to demonstrate that, with all their advantages, the Jews are no better
_at heart_ than the heathen, and as truly sinful, condemned, and
hopeless as they (ii. 17-24). The conclusion supplied by these facts
is, that none are righteous--that all, Jews and Gentiles alike, have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that all stand on the
same ground of spiritual danger. This brings out the fact that
redemption is the pressing need of the whole world. The way is now
clear for the presentation of the gospel. _The basis of redemption is
Christ's work of atonement._ The foundation of the plan of salvation
is God's free grace--His boundless, sovereign love. Christ came forth
from the Father as the expression of this. He suffered, bled, died
for us, to meet the claims of the Divine law on our behalf, and to
procure our justification and peace. "Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood" (iii. 24,
25). "Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offences" (iv. 25). "For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God
commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us" (v. 6-8). Salvation, then, is founded upon the
atonement of Christ--a proper work of propitiation, providing for
pardon and justification. _The condition of this salvation on our part
is simply the acceptance of it by faith._ Faith is primarily the
repose of the soul in Christ's redeeming work--a yielding to God's
method of saving us. It operates to this end independently--yea, even
to the exclusion--of all works of self-righteousness. "By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh living be justified." It is inconsistent with
all boasting. "Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law?
Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." This simple
condition of salvation is the only one which can be adapted to our
need. Sinners as we are, our condition is hopeless unless redemption
be offered to us as a free gift. _This redemption is secured to all
who believe by God's unalterable purpose and promise._ It is not
vitally affected by recurring doubts and fears, nor even by our often
insufficient struggles against sin (viii. 28-39). _The result is
inconceivably glorious_; freedom from condemnation, adoption into
God's family, joy, peace, full favour with God here, and heaven with
its perfect glory, consummated in the resurrection, hereafter.
Now, it is at the close of all this that the apostle's "therefore"
comes; and these are the facts and principles which give to it its
point and force. It links all the disclosures of Divine love with the
obligations of redeemed souls. Since God has done so much as this for
you, what then? By the remembrance of the sin which left you without
hope; by the greatness of the love of God who, to save you, gave His
well-beloved Son to an atoning death on your behalf; by the greatness
of the love of Christ who, to save you, consecrated Himself to this
perfect sacrifice; by His birth and death, by His cross and passion,
by His resurrection and ascension; by the freeness and the simplicity
of the condition on which Christ's salvation becomes yours; by your
present peace; by your hope which blooms with immortality and with
eternal life; by _these_, _the mercies of God_, I beseech you, yield
yourselves to God. That surrender must be the first, the natural, the
inevitable result of any vivid and practical realisation of the Divine
goodness. "Yield your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."
The Apostle Paul was pre-eminently the teacher of what are called the
doctrines of grace. In the system of Divine truth which he gives us,
he leaves no room for the indulgence on man's part of the least
sentiment of pride. The gospel, in his view, is the Divine expedient
for what must otherwise have been a desperate and hopeless case; an
expedient, therefore, which--since, from first to last, it is the
expression of God's free and sovereign love--cannot allow of any
self-glorying to man as unregenerate, or of any self-satisfaction to
man as Christian. Hence the uniformity and consistency of his teaching
with respect to "works." In the believer and the unbeliever alike,
these "works," judged by "the law"--the standard of moral
perfection--are all defective, and therefore unavailing. The same
truth applies to them all at every stage of the Christian's progress
towards heaven. In no sense does salvation come by "works," "lest any
man should boast."
On this point, however, the apostle has always been misunderstood by
persons who have pushed his teaching to an illegitimate conclusion. If
all be of "grace," why insist upon "works"? The objection was made in
his day, and he met it. It is made in our day, and has still to be
met. It is sufficiently met by Paul's own method. Paul's doctrine of
grace could never, in his mind, lead to "licentiousness," and it is
one of the most remarkable phenomena of religious thought that it
should have ever been suspected of doing so. The Christian man, in
Paul's view, is the regenerate man; and the regenerate man is the holy
man. Without the spirit and life of holiness Paul would have deemed it
absurd to consider a man a Christian at all. The passage before us,
even if there were no others of the same kind, is sufficient to prove
how indissolubly connected are privilege and obligation in the
Christian life. As we have seen, the apostle draws the exhortations
which commence with this chapter, and which are exhaustively presented
in all their variety and comprehensiveness--exhortations to a complete
consecration to God in all the practical forms which it can
assume--from the great gospel system, the system of salvation by grace
and by grace alone; evidently taking it for granted that, by the
contemplation of the grace for man which is in Christ Jesus, the minds
of his readers would be softened, and prepared to acknowledge the
claim.
What, then, is the nature of the consecration to which we are thus
urged? "That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Every word in
this description tells: and if we gather together the elements of the
service commended, we shall find that nothing is wanting, and that
under the various particulars we may range all the duties and beauties
of a consecrated Christian life.
The only point on which a question might be raised is as to the
meaning of the terms: "That ye present your _bodies_ a _living_
sacrifice." Some have supposed a contrast here between the dead
bodies of the animals offered in the old sacrifices and the living
self-consecration of the Christian. If the supposition be just, the
idea is both beautiful and suggestive. I think, however, that the
ultimate meaning of the apostle is that the believer in Christ should
devote _himself_ wholly to God, and that the term "your bodies" is
only another term for "yourselves." We cannot imagine an acceptable
bodily, or external sacrifice, without the participation in it of the
conscience, the judgment, the heart, the whole man. The apostle puts
his thought somewhat more fully in the kindred passage: "Ye are bought
with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit
which are God's." Observe, then, the elements of this consecration.
1. _Individuality._ It is to be a personal thing. "Present
yourselves." We cannot fulfil our Christian mission by transferring it
to other hands. There are no proxies in religion. Organisations,
committees, associations, the giving of money--all have their
propriety, but none of them can take the place of personal
"presentation." For convenience' sake, organisations of various kinds
may be resorted to with a view to the maintenance and spread of the
gospel in the world, and undoubtedly may be usefully employed in
spheres beyond the reach of personal endeavour; but the individual
Christian must _himself_ be engaged in the service of God. Every
believer in the Saviour has his own sphere of service, in which no
fellow creature can be substituted for Him. The Christian law is:
personal service always in so far as it is possible; vicarious service
only in so far as personal service cannot be rendered.
2. _Activity._ "A living sacrifice." No man fulfils his Christian
commission in mere retirement and contemplation. It is true that he is
not to be "of the world;" but in the nature of the case he must be
"in" it. Retirement and contemplation are, indeed, needed for the rest
and growth of the soul; but action is at least equally indispensable.
Our practical life is the chief part of our testimony for God, and the
chief weapon of our aggressive warfare upon the unbelief and
irreligion around us; and in order that it may be effective, it is
required, in its fulness and in its energy, to be pervaded,
invigorated, impelled, and directed by the Christian spirit. Every
scene, every experience, every development of life is to be hallowed.
If we "present ourselves a living sacrifice," we relinquish all
self-claim, and give ourselves up to God to be used by Him for the
purposes of His glory. As Christ's sacrifice began with the moment
when He left His Father's throne, so ours must begin with the first
consciousness of our salvation--"a living sacrifice," the consecration
of the whole life with all its powers.
3. _Holiness._ "Holy," because _to God_, with the full intention and
devotion of the soul. This scarcely needs to be insisted on. There may
be an apparent religious devotedness which is not real, because it
takes the form of ostensibly religious acts--acts, however, which have
not their origin and their impelling force in grateful love to God for
His saving mercy, but in some kind of selfishness, and which are
therefore unholy in themselves, and unacceptable to God. The
consecrated life is the life which is in sympathy with the whole
character and will of Him by whom the supreme blessing of redemption
has been bestowed.
4. _Reasonableness._ The true consecration is not the result of any
mere positive or arbitrary enactment, the ground and propriety of
which cannot be discerned. The true Christian does not spend his life
upon a certain principle, and consequently in a certain way, merely
because he is _told_ to do so. The service which he renders to God
rises out of his felt _relations_ to God. If it were not commanded at
all--if it were not even formally hinted at as an obligation--it would
still be natural, "reasonable," and therefore right. The realised
"mercies of God" would be instinctively understood to claim
it--instinctively felt to prompt it. "Your reasonable service." The
words are significant. "Service" is properly _homage_. "Reasonable" is
that which pertains to the _mind_. So that the apostle's phrase stands
opposed to all mere religious externalism. It is the homage of the
life to God with the full consent of the mind, in the consciousness of
the sacred obligation arising out of the enjoyment of the Divine mercy
in the salvation of the soul.
Such service is declared to be "acceptable to God." It is so for the
sake of Christ whose grace has infused into the soul the life out of
which it springs; it is so because the motives which determine it are
right and good; and it is so because it is the loving gift of His own
children.
But the apostle expands his thought, so as to set forth this
consecration under other aspects--as, for example, that of
_nonconformity to the world_. "Be not conformed to this world." A word
of explanation is required on the meaning of the term, "this world."
It is obvious that this term has no reference to the external frame of
things, considered in itself. In a loose way we apply the term "world"
to many things, and Nature is one of them. But full compliance with
the apostle's admonition in the text is compatible with even an
enthusiastic admiration of Nature. Nature is a mirror in which we may
see the wisdom and the goodness of God. It is full of the beautiful to
be loved--full of the sublime to be admired. Its phenomena, forms, and
laws, are worthy of the most reverential and pleasurable
investigation, not only for what they are in themselves, but because
the most spiritual Christian can say, "My Father made them all: they
are His." The term "world," again, sometimes means the aggregate of
human beings; but nonconformity to the world is at the furthest remove
from misanthropy. Human beings are proper objects of a Christian's
love, and his love for them is shown in the best efforts he can make
for their welfare. Every man is, to his mind, invested with a sacred
importance. He endeavours to estimate men as fully as possible in the
same way as God does, of whom it is said that "His mercies are over
all His works," and that "He so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." At the lowest, man is God's
image--mournfully defaced, it is true--but retaining in his nature
traces enough of his original dignity to compel our recognition of him
as God's handiwork; whilst also, even at the lowest, he may be brought
under the influences of a gospel which despairs of none. Neither is
there anything in the apostle's injunction to condemn the social
relationships which prevail amongst us or to weaken our appreciation
of them. The true Christian, indeed, will ever be the best husband,
the best wife, the best parent, the best child, the best friend. All
these natural relationships are capable of being ennobled by the holy,
sanctifying influences of true religion. God Himself often appeals to
them as types of the relations in which He stands to us, and as
explanations of the tenderness of the love He cherishes for us. How
prominent is the position they take in the epistles. The inspired
writers thought none of them beneath their notice. God has given to us
His will in connection with such humble things as domestic service,
slavery, and the like. Neither does the apostle here call upon us to
separate ourselves from the common business of secular life.
Scripture again and again enforces the honest doing of the work of
every day, on which the bread of every day depends. Nor is there here
any prohibition of the enjoyment of the utmost happiness which the
sinless pleasures of our outward life can afford. The Christian is
peculiarly fitted for such enjoyment, because he can receive it with a
devoutly thankful heart, and in a spirit which will keep it from being
harmful.
This term, "the world," means _the age_, or the temporal conditions
now existing, considered from a moral and spiritual point of view.
"The world," therefore, to which we are not to be "conformed" is the
order and course of life followed by those to whom the present is all
and eternity nothing. The Christian is to regard life from another, a
higher--namely, a spiritual and eternal--point of view, and to live
accordingly. It is the _wrong spirit_ of life that the apostle calls
us away from--the life which is governed by "worldly" impulses and
motives. His injunction is like unto that of another apostle: "Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will
of God abideth for ever." "The lust of the flesh"--carnality--the
lowest of all the forms of self-gratification--that which makes the
drunkard, the profligate, the debauchee. "The lust of the eyes"--the
disposition to attach ourselves to what is external, showy, dazzling.
"The pride of life"--the tendency to glory in anything which ministers
to our self-importance in our worldly position--wealth, rank, station.
All these things are passing away, and are therefore unworthy of the
supreme place in our hearts. Enjoyments springing out of them, hopes
founded upon them, must perish. Only he that "doeth the will of
God"--living above the love of the world, by living to God and in the
supreme love of Him--"abideth for ever" in the higher and happier
order of being.
There is a proper "use" of the world, which is easily distinguished
from its "abuse." The worldly spirit of an unchristian man says, "Let
us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The ascetic spirit in a
Christian man says, "All contact with the world is dangerous: we must
have nothing to do with it. Touch not, taste not, handle not." The
true spirit of Christianity says, "Use the world, but do not abuse
it." The Christian's inheritance is inclusive of "all things." All may
be made to minister to his spiritual growth, and to become the means
of blessing on his part to others. Avail yourself of all, then, but
within the limits proper to each; never allowing any, by over
indulgence, to check the development of the inner life. Use the world,
but do not let the world use you. "I pray not that Thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest _keep them from the
evil_."
In looking, then, at the idea of nonconformity to the world, it was in
the apostle's mind, we are impressed by one or two reflections.
1. The apostle takes a wide, free, and exalted view of his subject. He
is in marked dissent from the spirit of Pharisaism, whether among the
Jews, or in the Christian Church. His plan is different from the
ordinary rules and restraints which men put upon themselves, and which
attach (sometimes arbitrarily enough) merely to certain habits and
forms of life which are of no moment. Paul's "world" does not mean
certain conditions of society, certain amusements, or certain
occupations, conventionally marked off from all the rest as being
specially wrong. It is not a mere cleaning of the outside of the
platter. He goes deeply into the heart of things. What he teaches is
this: "Ye are God's redeemed, disciples of Christ, heirs of glory."
Live under the inspiration of all this--all will then follow that
ought to follow. You are no longer under law, which says, "Touch not,
taste not, handle not--stand entirely aloof;" but under grace, with
love to God as your motive, and the Spirit of Christ as your guide. He
could say, "I am not of the world;" and yet He was no prophet of the
wilderness, but a Brother and Sympathiser everywhere. The first great
social act of His public ministry was to associate Himself with the
joy of life. With its sorrow also He was equally at home. He lived His
Divine life in every scene--in His childhood under the roof of His
parents, in the toil for bread, in public, in private, in the temple,
in the family at Bethany. There is no allowable scene in which we
move, and with which we mingle, from which His sanctifying presence is
withheld. We have no need to be afraid to go where He has been before
us, if only we go in His spirit. "They are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world."
2. This law lays no hard bondage on life. Not on its duties; for
Christianity raises them all into consecration;--not on its
affections; for Christianity purifies them all;--nor on its lawful
enjoyments; for Christianity forbids nothing but sin. Worldliness is
determined by the _spirit_ of our life, not by the objects with which
we have to do. It is only "the _lust_ of the flesh, the _lust_ of the
eye, and the _pride_ of life" that are prohibited. It is not a worldly
object that makes us worldly, but the worldly spirit with which we
regard it.
3. It is easy to see that this principle of nonconformity to the world
is in constant requisition. There is abundant scope for it. The
opinions of men and the known will of God are often in competition; it
ought never to be a matter of doubt as to which we prefer. We are
often exposed to allurement into scenes which are notoriously
unfavourable to the development of the spiritual life; there ought not
to be even a momentary uncertainty as to our willingness to resist the
allurement--not merely for our own sake, but for the sake of Him whose
"mercies" we enjoy, whose we are, and whom we profess to serve. There
should never be any room for the question as to whether we are on the
side of right or wrong, holiness or sin, spirituality or carnality,
conscience or convenience, charity or harshness, faith or unbelief.
Thus we see that, whilst in one aspect of it Christianity is broad, in
another it is narrow. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that
leadeth unto life." These are the words of the Divine Author of our
faith. This is the chief ground of dislike which men of the world have
to the practical claims of the gospel. Say with Paul that everything
we do must be done to the glory of God; say with Christ that sin is in
our secret thoughts as well as in our acts, and then the complaint of
"strictness" is instantly heard. Yet is it not evident that an inward
holiness is the only thing that can be taught, and that without inward
holiness there is no real holiness at all? The truth is that men
secretly want concessions to be made in favour of their favourite
sins--one for his ambition, another for his unlawful or questionable
attachments, another for his covetousness, another for his liberty to
be dishonest in trade or insincere in society, another--where shall we
stop? Concessions? Men may make concessions in these directions in the
name of Christianity; but Christianity itself disowns them. "What
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with
Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of
the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in
them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
"Be not conformed to this world." So obviously true are the remarks
which have been made, that one reflection might well excite a
momentary surprise. It might be said, "Is not unworldliness of the
very essence of the new life? And if it be, why recommend that which
must follow in the due course of things?" It is true that
unworldliness _is_ of the essence of the new life; but we have to
remember that we receive that life, not perfectly developed, but in
its germ; and that the process of its growth is impeded by what
remains of the old life which it is destined gradually, and by-and-by
completely, to replace. This is the phenomenon which Paul describes
when he speaks of the conflict between the "old" man and the "new."
Our will is called upon at every point to decide between the impulses
of our new condition and the habits of the old.
In conclusion, how is this nonconformity to the world, in the spirit
of a grateful consecration to God, to be attained? "Be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God." This is the great
desideratum--the great necessity. The primary change must take place
in the mind--not in its nature, but in the kind and order of its
_life_. It must be "renewed" in its bias, in its inclinations, in its
aspirations, so that it may be able to understand and appreciate the
Divine will, and to address itself to the order of service which the
Father of mercies shall accept.
It may be said, "What do we know of the spiritual world? And how can
we be conformed to a world of which we know nothing?" The answer is,
that our very Christianity supposes the change which sets this
objection aside. Our love to this present world can only be subdued by
its being superseded _by_ another, or subordinated _to_ another. Our
love to Christ is the great secret of our attachment to heaven and to
heavenly things. Given a soul under the influence of love to God, and
loyalty to God must follow.
In order to this, however, there must be self-knowledge. We must see
our "differences." There must be the study of the character of Christ.
There must also be earnest prayer for, and trust in, the help of the
Holy Spirit. The work before us is more than an occasional outburst of
religious sentiment; more than spasmodic, self-denying charity under
the influence of suddenly awakened emotion; more than scrupulosity
about small matters of pleasure or pursuit. _It is a life_; and as
such it has spontaneity, freedom, and blessedness. In many an instance
it attains wonderful maturity on earth; it is perfected in heaven.
Is this life ours? Oh, accept the one and only Saviour--exclusive in
His claims, yet offering His mercy to all. You are conscious of sin,
and this makes you feel (if you reflect) your need of salvation. Take
it from Him. All He asks is that you should turn from the sin that
made Him bleed, and trust the love which for you was stronger than
death. Strait as is the gate through which you must enter into "life,"
that life is in itself one of holy freedom and holy joy. The "gate"
opens into broad fields of exhaustless treasure. Whoever may
represent the Christian life as monotonous and poor, we say it is not
so. It is quietness of heart, loftiness of feeling, sweet submission,
trust, loyalty to the highest, aspiration after the best, the
abnegation of self in blessing others and in glorifying the God and
Father of all; such is the life to which the Christian is called. We
challenge the world to produce a single case of a Christian regretting
his consecration, or confessing that he made a sorry exchange, when he
left the world's delusive hopes for pardon, peace, the Father's smile,
the way of holiness, and the assurance of heaven. The wholly
consecrated Christian is the wholly happy one.
Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use, for heaven's employ,
Adorn'd with prayer and love and joy:
So shall your sovereign enter in,
And new and nobler life begin.
Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
Let me Thine inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal;
Thy Holy Spirit guide me on,
Until the glorious crown be won!