We have just said that love is not the basis of consecration. But love is its motive power. There are slaves who realize that the authority over their lives is in the hand of their masters, and they clench their teeth in bitterness of soul to serve them. They have no love for those who own them. But you may remember that we are told in Exodus 21 of a slave who at the end of six years’ service could have become a free man, but he declared, “I love my master...I will not go out free” (v. 5). Thereupon his master led him to the doorpost and bored his ear with an awl. By submitting to this, the slave said in effect, “For love of my master I want to be his slave forever.” He could have entered into liberty, but for love’s sake he repudiated his freedom. This is true consecration.
Consecration has a basis; consecration has also a motive power. The basis is God’s redemption; the motive power is God’s love. There is a verse which says, “I beg you...through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God” (Rom. 12:1). And another which says, “The love of Christ constrains us” (2 Cor. 5:14a). But why should we yield to the constraint of love? Because “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. 5:14b-15). Everyone who has had a true experience of consecration has at least once, but possibly many times, known the touch of the love of God. Without that touch of His love upon us, consecration is a bitter thing; in fact, it is hardly a possibility. The security of our consecration depends upon its basis; but the vitality and sweetness of our consecration depends on its motive power, i.e., the love of God. Consecration is the effect of the Lord’s touch upon a life. You do not need to plead with a person who has known the Lord’s love to surrender to Him. Surrender is spontaneous.
Some brothers and sisters, from their conversion right up to the present day, have never really known the love of God. So the question of their consecration has never been settled. Throughout the two thousand years of church history, all those in and through whom He has specially wrought are those who, at least once in their lifetime, have felt the impact of His love. When His love touched them, they had no alternative but to fall before Him and offer their all to Him. Their reaction was similar to that expressed in the hymn:
“When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”
When we really meet the love of God, we feel that our all must be offered up to Him; yet at the same time we feel that our richest offering is as refuse in the light of His love. Let but the love of God touch us and consecration will become spontaneous.
We know that God’s love and the Lord Jesus are inseparable. Our Lord is the embodiment of the love of God; so it happens that everyone who really meets the love of God becomes aware of the beauty of the Lord Jesus. One who had such an experience wrote:
“What has stripped the seeming beauty
From the idols of the earth?
Not a sense of right or duty,
But the sight of peerless worth.”
All who have had a true experience of consecration have at least tasted something of the Lord’s love, for this love is its motive power. When you recognize what the precious blood has purchased, you will have to plant your two feet firmly on the ground of that purchase and say, “Lord, I belong to You. There is no solid ground in the universe for me to stand on but the ground of Your redemption. I am Your redeemed bondslave.” This is the basis of consecration, and it is a secure basis. But because of the constraint of love we can add, “I am not only Yours by right, I am willingly Yours. I love my Master; I will not go out free.” Even if the Lord were willing to release me today, I should say, “I love my Master because of His love for me, and I do not want my freedom. I wish to be His bondslave forever.”
When you meet some brothers and sisters, there is always a freshness about them because they are always under the constraint of the Lord’s love. In Madame Guyon’s biography you read that she was always renewing her marriage vows—i.e., her love-relationship with the Lord was always fresh. Hers was a living consecration, because the motive power of consecration was never lacking. The basis of consecration is a question of security; the motive power of consecration is a question of vitality. The first is a question of purchase; the second is a question of love’s constraint.
But what, after all, is the significance of consecration? The Bible offers a clear answer: “Present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). Our consecration does not mean that we become preachers; it means that we become a sacrifice. The sacrifice to which the Apostle here refers is the burnt offering which was offered as a sweet savor to God. It was His food.
What is food? Man’s food is that which satisfies man; God’s food is that which satisfies God. But what was this burnt offering? The Old Testament explains clearly. It might have been an ox that normally plowed a field or pulled a cart; but one day this ox was transferred from its original environment into a totally different realm. It was killed, it was flayed, it was cut in pieces, it was washed, it was placed on the altar; and if it was acceptable to God, fire consumed it to ashes. Ashes—that is the last point to which anything can be reduced; it is the end of everything. But please note, it was when the ox was completely reduced to ashes on the altar that it ascended to God as a sweet savor and provided His heart satisfaction.
I trust you will remember that your consecration to God does not mean that you become preachers or workers, or that you engage in any sort of Christian activity; it means that you become a sacrifice to God. Anything offered to God in Old Testament times experienced a change of sphere and a change of use. Whatever place you may have occupied before your consecration is different after your consecration because your place is on the altar. Whatever your particular use in the world before your consecration, it is now different, because your use now is to provide food for God, to provide Him with heart satisfaction.
Examine the history of the church and see how many there have been who, before they met the impact of God’s love, were like powerful oxen out in the world plowing great fields or pulling huge carts; but when the love of God laid hold of them, they were at once on the altar, while their friends and relatives bemoaned the tragic waste. Many people with great gifts and bright prospects have wrecked themselves on the altar. And why? To provide food for God, to bring satisfaction to His heart. What God wants above all else is man. He wants you, and when you are reduced to ashes on the altar, that will be the time when a sweet savor will ascend to Him, and He will be satisfied in you. Brothers and sisters, that is the significance of consecration.