Call And Blessing Of Consecration

Consecration is the act of setting apart, or dedicating oneself to God.

- It is the total dedication of all you are and all you have and all you will become to God without holding anything back.

God has always been calling man to Consecration,

He called Jacob in our text

Jesus called his disciples,

Paul called the believers,

He is still calling us today to a life of consecration.

In our text this morning, we see God called Jacob to consecration,

GE 35:1 Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau."

Why did God call for his consecration?

1. Jacob had a problem - he was troubled and afraid of the immediate future because of what his sons did to the men of Shechem,

GE 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."

Jacob two sons Simeon and Levi had deceived and put to death all the men of Shechem and looted the town and plunder all of Shechem, because one of the latter defiled their sister.

GE 34:25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.

2. Jacob has been defiled - the action of his sons had brought sin to his Camp, they have violated the command of God. They shed innocent blood and had brought in foreign gods as part of their plunder of Shechem.

Jer.7: 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.

3. Jacob needed help - to overcome his fear and trouble and to get rid of the sin in his camp.

Jacob had been in a similar situation in the past when he was going to meet his brother Esau whose birth right he took deceitfully. That time he remembered to pray for God’s mercy and intervention.

GE 32:7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape." GE 32:9 Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, `Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.-----------

We were not told whether he prayed or not but we see here God instructing him to go to Bethel. As believers, there are times in our lives that we are overwhelmed with problems that we forget to call on His name, and yet God do extend His mercy and love to us and tell us what we needed to do. Let us be sensitive and alert to His call.

4. God requires and therefore requested for his consecration

LEV 20:7 " `Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. 26 You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

Like Jacob, there are times in our lives when members of our household bring sins to our camp. Until we deal with these sins we may not be able to move forward. We need to be like Job who regularly makes sacrifices to the Lord on behalf of his children for their sins which he (Job) might not be aware of.