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.
JOB 1: 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in. their hearts." This was Job’s regular custom.
How to be consecrated – how Jacob respond to his call to consecration
He got his household together and got them:
1. Get rid of all foreign gods
2. Purify themselves and change their clothes.
3. Go to Bethel
• Getting rid of all foreign gods
GE 35:2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.
Like Jacob, there are many foreign gods we have in our camps that we need to get rid of. These gods are those things in our lives that have taken the place of the real God in our life. These could be our jobs, spouse, riches, possessions, children, schedule, etc. The showing of love and affection to these things more than we show to God that gave them to us make them to serve as our foreign gods or idols.
Got did not say that we must not have all these things; He gave them to us to beautify our lives and to help us serve Him better. He did not give them to us in order to replace His rightful place or position in our lives with them.
There are many believers who are going through hardship and difficulties in life and the simple solution to their problem, is just putting away the foreign gods in their lives.
• Purification and change of clothes.
It is not just enough to get rid of our foreign gods physically, every effect and influence they have in us the Lord wants us to remove them. These effects and influences are in our hearts and minds that need to be purified.
2CO 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Eph.4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
• Going to Bethel -Why Bethel.
Bethel is a place of first encounter with God. It is a place of forgiveness of sins. It is a place of cleansing and purification of the heart and mind. It is a place of consecration. It is a place of renewal of covenant with the true God.
Results of his Consecration
Now let’s see the result of Jacob’s obedience to God’s call to consecration
• Terror of God upon enemies – The terror of God came upon his potential enemies
GE 35: 5Then they set out and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
EX 23:27 "I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies
turn their backs and run.
• Divine protection – God protected him and his household and granted them safe passage to Bethel
GE 35:6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother
ISA 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they
will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
ISA 43:3 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in
your stead.
• Direct access to God - God came down to meet with him as a result of his obedience
GE 35:9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again --------
GEN 35: 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
MT 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
HEB 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
• Blessings/Honor of God – God pronounced blessings upon him and also honored him with His presence.
GE 35: 9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
LEV 26:3 " `If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its
season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit.
2TI 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes
and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy,
useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
• Names changed – God confirmed his change of name from supplanter to overcomer,
GEN 35: 10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. " So he named him Israel.
ISA 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till
her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. ISA 62:2 The
nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth
of the LORD will bestow.
• Promise of blessings to descendants – God promised to bless his descendants,
GE 35:11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you."
The blessings Jacob received from God as a result of his obedience to his call to consecration could also be ours when we obey God’s call to consecration.
Conclusion
God has called us to a life of consecration for our benefits
Do you need to overcome?
Do you want to be blessed?
Do you want your name changed?
Do you want to enjoy the presence of God?
Then you need to consecrate your life.
