One of the main themes in the Gospel of John is the full consecration of Jesus to do His Father’s will. Jesus was fully devoted to say and do only what pleased His Father. What brought glory to the Father, what the Father wanted Him to experience, what the Father wanted Him to accomplish or not accomplish—this was the wholehearted desire of Jesus.

Consecration to God, giving ourselves to God as living sacrifices, is what Christian living is all about. It is knowing God’s will and doing it. It is willingly giving each aspect of our lives to God in grateful devotion for the great salvation that He has given to us through Jesus (Rom 12:1-2). Previously, we wrote about this need for consecration, and specifically about the need to consecrate our health, security, and safety to God.

As we pursue greater dedication to God, we find encouragement through the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be like Jesus is our goal for daily life. Let’s consider together how the apostle John shows us Christ’s example of consecration in his Gospel.[1][2]

Jesus voluntarily accepted the Father’s will.

The Father’s will for God the Son was to experience shame and suffering for the sins of the world in ways far beyond our comprehension. The Son knew this, knew all of what He would suffer before He came to the earth. And yet, He completely accepted the Father’s will. He voluntarily did His Father’s will, trusting His goodness, sovereignty, and plan in everything.

3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

3:34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God.

8:42 Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

12:27-28 Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

Just as Jesus was sent to do the will of the Father, so are we. Jesus was completely committed to doing the Father’s will, and our ambition must be to do the same. This includes when His will means hardship and suffering. We must place our trust in the Father and purpose to do His will, even if He requires us to experience trials that we previously feared would ever take place. Job said, “For the thing which I fear is comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me” (Job 3:25).

Jesus did the Father’s will in all of life’s circumstances.

4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.”

5:19, 30 So Jesus said to them…the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. … I can do nothing on my own…I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

6:9-10 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

7:16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.”

8:28-29 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

12:49-50 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment–what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

14:10, 24 The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. … And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

17:4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

In all times and circumstances of life and ministry, Jesus kept His focus on doing His Father’s will. Jesus did not place conditions on doing His Father’s will, which we are tempted to do. We are tempted to think, and even say, “If my circumstances were different, then I would do God’s will.” Or we confess, “If I had a better husband or more supportive wife, then,” or, “If only I had good health or more money, then…” We must be like Jesus: this means obedience to the Father without conditions.

Jesus kept His gaze upon the glory to come.

Jesus frequently spoke of how He was going to return to the Father, to heaven, to His former glory:

12:23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

13:1, 3, 31 Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father …Jesus, knowing that he had come from God and was going back to God …Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

14:3, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father.

16:28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

17:13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

We, too, will be glorified, because of Jesus. The day of true and final rest with God in heaven is coming. The day when we will experience complete freedom from sin and its consequences, the day when we will know full joy with God forever is our promised inheritance in Jesus. This life really is but a moment of time which quickly vanishes away.

∞∞∞

Jesus shows us by His example what is means to be a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1-2), what it means to be consecrated to God. To be consecrated/devoted to God is to be like Jesus. Consecration includes all of life’s present and potential circumstances. It includes a fixed heart upon our eternal hope and not just the present.

Consecration to God

Jesus calls us to follow Him in growing consecration to the Father.

It is in the context of this continual emphasis on His consecration to the Father that Jesus calls us to be His disciples:

12:24-26 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit…If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

To increasingly become like Jesus, to be His follower or disciple, we must increasingly die to self/selfishness and live for God instead. The Christian life is following in the steps of Jesus. This means for us the continual pursuit of greater dedication to the will of the Father.

Are we learning to die to self and live for God? Have we ever come to the point when we “get it” that life is not about us, but about God? Have we ever really given ourselves to God?

In the next article, we consider how all of us at times resist consecration to God: Putting Suffering in Its Place in Consecration to God.

Photo in title by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash

Photo within article by Ben White on Unsplash

[1] All Scripture quotations are from the ESV (English Standard Version) unless otherwise noted.

[2] All verses quoted are from the Gospel of John unless otherwise indicated.