Consecrate Yourselves

By Pastor John Schmidt

Con·se·crate \'kän(t)-se-'krat\ (transitive verb): to dedicate something or somebody to a specific purpose.

We are beginning this year with a three-week sermon series that introduces our theme verse for the year:

Joshua told the people,
"Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you"
(Joshua 3:5 NIV).

We will be thinking together about what it means to consecrate ourselves as we look to God to do amazing things among us-a church of Christ-followers in Towson, Maryland.

We are at an important point in the life of this congregation. In a careful response to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we have declared our intention to become a missional church. A missional church understands that the mission field begins at the door. We recognize that our culture is far from Christ, and requires a conscious, deliberate effort to present Christ to them in an understandable way. A missional church then decides to make the changes, to sacrifice the comfort of the easy way of "doing church" and to get their hands dirty in order to join God in reaching others. In other words, it means becoming a church without walls: moving people toward Christ where we live, work, and play.

This involves a commitment to grow in the scope of our ministry; to be willing to grow larger and deeper. It means becoming more sensitive to the needs of the overseas mission field, it means noticing the opportunities that surround us here in Towson, and it means we need to learn even more about effectively reaching out to others here, by paying close attention to their areas of felt and unfelt need. But most of all, it means becoming more available to God.

That is what our theme verse for 2007 is all about. Yes, we need skills, we need good leadership, we need volunteers, we need money, and we need space. But far more important than all of that, we need to be people who are especially focused on God. We need to learn how to consecrate ourselves to God. Ultimately, everything about church that is worth doing is God's work. He is the vine and we are the branches, and so we need to abide in him. God intends to do amazing things among us. I believe that. And so now, let's consecrate ourselves to him, and watch what only a mighty, living God can do!