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‘And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.’
Joh_17:19
I. ‘I consecrate Myself.’—Who is it that thus unfolds the secret and motive of His life? ‘I’ and ‘myself’ are terms in which each one of us speaks of that mysterious force which he calls his personality. I am I, I am conscious of myself, I have a certain control over myself, with care I can improve myself, by neglect I can spoil myself. Moreover, I can awaken a response to myself in the world outside myself. I can put myself into outside things and shape them, as the artist puts himself into his handiwork and the musician puts himself into his music. More than this, most wonderful of all, I can put myself, to some extent, into other persons, as the master puts himself into his scholars, as the officer puts himself into his men, as the statesman puts himself into his party. My personality can modify the personality of another.
II. It is, then, a Personality that speaks to us here and says ‘I’ and ‘Myself’; a conscious centre of vital force revealing to us His most sacred secret, telling us of His own discipline of Himself and of the effect which He looks to produce on the happiness of other men. ‘I consecrate Myself, that they also may be consecrated.’ Personality is the inalienable possession of every human being as such; it is a gift which each one of us has received from God, Who is the Supreme Personality, in Whose image we have been made. But there is a vast difference between the force of one personality and the force of another. Personalities vary in respect of physical and mental capacity, in respect of opportunity of development, and, above all, in the use which they make of their opportunity, whatever it may be. Those persons who are favoured by natural conditions and by external circumstances, and who use their opportunity of self-development in a high degree, we are accustomed to speak of as personalities par excellence. We make a clear distinction between a personage and a personality. Outward circumstances make a personage; inward force, disciplined and developed, alone can make what we honour by the name of a personality.
III. It is not only a Personality, but the most personal of all personalities, Who speaks in the text and tells us the secret of His effective personality. ‘I consecrate Myself.’ The words imply at least this—‘I am conscious of Myself, I can dispose of Myself; what I do with Myself will influence the selves of others, and therefore when I do the one thing with Myself which leads to the highest self-realisation and self-development, and which leads at the same time to the widest and deepest and most permanent influence on the selves of others, I take Myself, and by an act of self-determination I give Myself, I consecrate Myself, to the Supreme Personality of the universe—the Personal God. I say to Him in every conscious moment of My existence, “Father, not My will but Thine be done; and since Thy Will is the consecration of all personalities, the union of all wills with Thine, oh, therefore, Father, for their sakes I consecrate Myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.” ’
IV. The more forcible the personality that is consecrated, and the more complete the consecration, the greater and truer the saint.—Let us take a parallel. The commanding personalities of the world, devoted to great ends and favoured by congenial circumstances, are its heroes. The commanding personalities of the Christian Church, consecrated to God, and called to great service or great suffering, are the saints. You cannot all be heroes, and yet you have a certain capacity for heroic resolve and even heroic action, and so the heroes help you. The study of great men’s lives is one of your best aids to the development of your personality. The sight of their memorials has stimulated many a young man to the effort to realise his own personality and to leave his permanent record in the world, and just in like manner you cannot all be saints, heroes of the spiritual life; and yet you have your personality, which is wholly your own, and the power of consecrating it according to your opportunity. Therefore the study of the saints may help you, and the commemoration of saintliness need not depress you. You, in your place, in your measure, you can consecrate what you are to God; you can yield your lesser personalities, as they yielded their greater personalities, to the Supreme Personality. So by the mercy of God, Who judges not according to what a man hath not, but according to what he hath, even you may come at last to be numbered and rewarded with His saints.
Dean J. Armitage Robinson.
Illustration‘Parents, for your children; masters, for your pupils; friends, for your friends, consecrate yourselves that they may be consecrated also. This is how Christianity is spread from the very beginning, for it follows the general law which governs the spread of ideas and the deepening of convictions. It is propagated by personality far more than by argument. Convictions produce convictions, consecration leads to consecration, personality reaches personality. You are passing, or you have passed, into years when habits are fixed and character is already almost unchangeable. For yourselves you have little hope that life can be much modified now, or that it can be rescued from its failure or comparative failure, but you do want those whom you love more than yourself to be better men and women than you have been. You want the “might have been” of your life to find a sure realisation in theirs. Then you must go down on your knees and bring what is left of your neglected and impaired and dwindling personality into the Presence of God. But young and eager soul, you are not to be depressed by the thought of the peculiar greatness of the hero or of the saint, for your lives are before you to do with them as you will. Each one of you has this most mysterious gift of personality—of saying “I am I,” of being a conscious centre of living force, a person capable of a purpose, able to act upon outside things, able to act upon other persons, capable of developing your own personality, of acquiring mental strength and moral character. To you God comes to-day, and this is what He says: “Recognise this capacity, take pains, be all that you can be, not selfishly, but for the noblest ends.” Consecrate your personality to Him, watch over it, and develop it for Him.’
SECRETS OF SANCTITY
The root idea of Christian holiness is possibly best seen on its human side by studying the word, Sanctification. In both Testaments the words, Holy, Hallow, Holiness, exactly correspond with Saint, Sanctify, Sanctification. The ruling thought of each is separation. Sanctification involves separation always and under all circumstances, whether in the Old Testament or the New.
I. Sanctification is separation from sin.—Here is one of those fundamental truths writ large for us in Scripture. The man who is truly separated may expect the Holy Spirit to reveal from time to time whatever may be sinful or inconsistent; and until that thing is renounced or forsaken no further advance is possible. Israel, separated from Egypt, was thirty-eight years in the wilderness before it learned this lesson. May God write it speedily in our hearts! We may talk and pray and go softly all our days, but until we obey the intimations of the Spirit and the plain teaching of Scripture, we come to a standstill.
II. Sanctification is separation unto God.—It was so in Israel’s days; it is so still. The minute observances of the Mosaic law appear at first sight arbitrary, formal, and unspiritual. Wherein lay the power of the Old Testament ritual to sanctify the heart, to produce, in other words, holiness of life? The answer is clear. It was not these ceremonials which in themselves separated Israel from the nations, for ritual observances are the natural effort of the heart to please God.
III. Sanctification to-day is separation in Jesus Christ.—It has been strikingly observed that from the moment our Saviour uttered the high-priestly words, ‘Sanctify them in Thy truth: Thy word is truth,’ ‘For their sakes I sanctify Myself,’ the meaning of the word sanctification in the Bible deepens and widens. It no longer merely means separation from evil, but likeness to ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The Old Testament provides for the one, the New Testament provides for the other, and the transitional words are those of our great High Priest on His way to Gethsemane.
God has a definite ideal for my life: it is likeness to His own life. Let me ponder this well. It is very wonderful; but never let me forget that the first great condition of all holiness is separation. Separation from sin; separation unto God; separation in Christ Jesus; and all this through the power of God the Holy Spirit.
—
Rev. Canon Barnes-Lawrence.
Illustration‘A well-known Christian man had publicly accused another of some serious fault or sin. As events proved he was mistaken, and this was pointed out to him. His duty was clear; reparation was due, and a public retractation needed. It was not difficult, the opportunity came, but there was no apology then or afterwards. That public utterance was never taken back publicly, and from that time the speaker’s spiritual influence waned. Doubtless he “brought his gift to the altar,” and with tears; but to his brother, who had something against him, he was never reconciled, and God could not accept his gift.’