Saturday, April 5

Consecrating the Common

Saturday, April 5

I Timothy 4: 4, 5

Moses was walking in a spartan wilderness place, hardly could it be called a “pasture,” so Scripture calls it a “desert.” In the eyes and mind of Moses, it was a necessary, not a desirable place to try to feed sheep and goats, but it would have to do. Apparently, God chose to make the place “holy.” As God abided in a bush, burning with flames yet not consumed, His presence made the place holy.

I recall my first call to Braddock, Pennsylvania an old steel town SE of Pittsburgh. It was rough, poor, and had once been a thriving part of greater Pittsburgh, but was now frequented mostly by people passing through, simply getting to some other place. At my installation, a district official thought he should encourage me by saying that “it was not necessarily a call for life.”

But people were there, and the Word of God was there, so it was “holy.” In the installation, the congregation formally called and installed me as their pastor.  Prayers were said, promises were made, all before God and in the presence of God. That’s why the work we do together is called “the holy ministry.” It is a divine office (established by God, Jn. 21, Eph. 4), extended by a proper and holy call from a congregation.  And God is in charge of the work, giving guidelines, inspiring souls to be made holy by His Word and sacraments.

God makes things holy and acceptable, by His Word and His presence, received by faith.

Timothy was a young pastor of mixed heritage; he may have struggled with the blended identity of having a Jewish mother and a Gentile father. But he was made holy by God, adopted and called to do Godly work… no matter what his background.

In his first “pastoral epistle” to Timothy, Paul wrote: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” (I Tim. 4:4-5)

This joyful passage falls in a section where Paul is prophesying the spread of legalism in the Church: prohibiting marriage and eating certain foods. Of course, this has sadly been fulfilled. But I believe the passage is more expansive and can be applied to almost all circumstances. God can make the most unholy environments and people holy. Every person touched by Christ has had this transformation happen.  We consecrate (“make holy”) the situations we are in by applying God’s Word and prayer.

Jesus’ prayer life was fervent for this very reason. When we “hallow God’s Name” and pray for “daily bread,” we are setting apart what we do as a sacred task. It’s all sacred, made holy by Christ’s sacrifice – believed and lived out. Consecrate that bad boss, that disease, that chaos… and make it holy.