2. Christ’s Proprietorship
2. Christ’s Proprietorship
Whose I am, and Whom I serve.—Acts 27:23
In the “Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s,” there is a beautiful gradation of expression, which significantly illustrates the successive steps in the experience of the soul. Thrice does the bride speak of the Bridegroom in similar terms; but in each case there is a slight alteration in the phraseology, which speaks volumes of her deepening character, and truer attitude towards Him.
“My beloved is mine, and I am His.” (Song of Sg. 2:16)”I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine.” (Song of Sg. 6:3) “I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” (Song of Sg. 7:10)
At first she lays the chief stress on the thought that all her Beloved was hers, and that she had a right to employ concerning Him the appropriating pronoun My; it was only a secondary consideration that she was also His.
But as her thought ran on, she changed the relative place of the two clauses of the sentence, and laid her primal emphasis not on her appropriation of Him, but on his proprietorship of her: “I am His.”
And, lastly, this conception so filled her mind that she had no thought of her side of the matter, and was altogether absorbed in the happy consciousness that she belonged utterly, and for ever, to the object of her supreme and adoring love.
This is also the history of each scholar in the school of grace. We begin by calculating how much there is in Christ for us. We appropriate His fulness, and count ourselves millionaires in His wealth.
And there is no wrong or harm in this. But, as the days pass on, we realize that there is a yet profounder truth on which this rests; and to have that is to have in addition all that Christ can be and do for the soul which clings to Him—as the limpet to the rock on which the long line of waves breaks, with boom of thunder and clouds of spray, without detaching it from its hold. We begin by saying, Christ is Mine: we go on to say, I am His. We pass from the appropriation of Christ by us to the proprietorship of us by Christ. And this is surely a happier and better standing-ground: because the hand, which appropriates only, may become numbed and tired; but that which is locked in the hand of Christ, in the tight grasp of ownership, can never be withdrawn.
Did you, my Christian reader, ever realize the conception that you are absolutely Christ’s? You may not own it: you may not live beneath its power: nay, you may seek to cast the thought aside as Onesimus, who, when he fled from Ephesus to hide himself, truant that he was, in the slums of Rome, tried to forget the claims which Philemon, his master, had over him, by right of purchase. All this you may do: and yet, in spite of all, you are as much Christ’s property as any slave would be the chattel of the man who had paid down his price in the market, or who had received him as part of the family estate by right of inheritance.
And not only are you the property of Christ; but all you are and have is His also. The master owns not only the slave, but all the proceeds of his toils; and all the personal or other property which he may acquire. The hapless serf can point to nothing as his; all is his master’s. He is but a steward, bound to account for the way in which every coin is expended; at the best permitted to deduct from the general proceeds of the estate only a bare sufficiency for his personal maintenance; but expected to forward all the rest to his master, or expend it on such interests as he may direct. This is our rightful position with respect to Christ. Paul was proud to call himself the bond-slave of Jesus Christ. He chose as his motto the immortal words (badge of a slavery which does not degrade, but ennobles all who bend beneath its yoke), “Whose I am, and whom I serve.”
I. Christ’s Proprietorship rests on many Grounds.
We are His by Creation: His image and superscription have been stamped upon every lineament of our face, though almost obliterated as the effigy of the sovereign from a well-worn coin. “It is He that hath made us, and His we are.”
We are His by Purchase: for never was slave more certainly acquired by silver and gold than we have been bought by His precious blood. “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are His.”
We are His by Deed of Gift: for the Father has given to Him all who shall come to Him; and it is impossible to believe that donation could be of anything less than our whole being. When God gave us, He gave all of us.
We are His by Conquest: for the Man-soul of our inner nature has opened to Him her gates, unable longer to resist; and, even though He be not as yet recognized in all her environs, there is no doubt that He is her rightful Lord and King.
Ah! it is impossible to escape the fact, that in the thought of God, and according to the rights of the case, we are the absolute property of Jesus Christ, our Lord: and that He thinks much of that fact, is evident in the frequent references of His High-priestly prayer (John 17.), though we, alas! are too forgetful of His claims.
II. The Act of Consecration consists in the Recognition of Christ’s absolute Proprietorship.
Men often ask and wonder what that consecration is to which they are urged. They suppose that it is something altogether over and beyond what is expected from ordinary Christians. But this is a profound mistake. Consecration is simply giving Christ His own, and restoring stolen property to its rightful owner. Consecration is to give to Christ by choice that which is His by indefeasible right; but which He will not snatch from any one.
The men of Israel were David’s by God’s appointment; but they could not rest content until they had swum the Jordan at its flood, and had fallen at the feet of their rightful king, crying, “ Thine are we, David; and on thy side, thou son of Jesse.” (1 Chronicles 12:1-18) Should we be content without saying as much to our Saviour, Jesus?
Of course we all in a general way recognize Christ’s ownership. “We are His people, and the sheep of his pasture.” But we must do it in a particular and personal sense. We must crown Him King of our hearts and lives by our own glad choice. We must bring the whole of our nature and life under His direct control. We must be willing that His will should be as supreme, and as universally honored, in us, as it is in His own bright home. We must come to the point of saying something like this: “Lord Jesus, I am Thine by right; forgive me for having lived so long as if I were my own. I now gladly recognize that Thou hast a rightful claim on all I have and am; I want to live as Thine from henceforth; and I do solemnly at this hour give myself to Thee, by my own glad choice: Thine entirely: Thine in life and death: Thine forever.”
III. There are a few Cautions and Directions Necessary in this Act of Consecration.
(1) The act of consecration is the taking up of an attitude, which must never be renounced; or if it is lost for a moment, it must instantly be resumed, with prayer for forgiveness and for cleansing. But this is only possible through the gracious aid of the Eternal Spirit, through whom the Lord Jesus offered Himself without spot to God; and through where alone, we shall be able to take up and maintain this sacred attitude.
(2) As the light grows we shall become increasingly aware of new departments of our heart and life, that were not consciously included in our first glad act of surrender. But as they come to view, we must hand them also into the governorship of the King. We must send them on, as we might send on the loose sheets of a book to a friend, who had already taken away the bulk.
(3) There is no reason, in the nature of the case, why the children of God should not become consecrated from the very moment of conversion. It should be the normal state of Christians And with many it is so. Redeemed from eternal death, they instantly give themselves to their Deliverer, as those alive from the dead. But with most this is not the case. And so it is necessary, at some future period of their lives, when the claims of Christ suddenly break on them, that they should come to the definite point of self-surrender.
(4) It matters little when, and how, we do it; whether by speech, or in writing; whether alone, or in company. But we must not be content with a vague desire. There should be a definite act, at a given moment of time, when we shall gladly sign, and seal, and confess, that we are His. (Isa 44:5)
(5) Sometimes we may feel unable to give all; but we are willing that He should take all. This is equally acceptable to Him. And is it not a better and more scriptural way of putting the truth? For we might be troubled by grievous questionings, as to whether we had really given all, or whether there were not some fatal flaw in our act. But if the question is simply one of His taking—or of our being willing for Him to take—entire possession; so that every imagination is cast down, every thought brought into captivity, and our wills moulded into harmony with His: then rough places are made smooth, and crooked ones straight. This is the charm of Miss Havergal’s Consecration Hymn; its key-word is—take!
(6) The Act of Consecration is cancelled by one reserve. To give ninety-nine parts and to withhold the hundredth undoes the whole transaction; because in that one piece of reserve the whole of the self-life entrenches itself, defying Him. It may seem impossible to renounce that one thing; but in clinging to it, you forego for ever all right to His blessed fulness. The electrician cannot charge your body with electricity, while a single thread connects you with the ground, and breaks the completeness of your insulation. The physician cannot undertake your case whilst you conceal one symptom, or yourself seek to effect a cure in one particular. The Lord Jesus cannot fully save you whilst there is one point of controversy between you and Him. Let Him have that one last thing, the last barrier and film to a life of blessedness; and glory will come, filling your soul.
(7) What we give, Christ takes; and at the moment of our giving it. There may, perhaps, be no rush of emotion. We may have no inward evidence of the momentous change in our position. The reckoning may have for many days to be one, not of feeling, but of faith. We can only say, “I am His; because I gave, and He took.” But sooner or later we become aware that the flames of the heavenly fire have fallen on our sacrifice; feeding on it; appropriating it; cleansing it; and preparing it for blessed, holy service.
It is very important to realize this point. In consecration we make the same mistake, as is so prevalent in conversion; of trying to feel in ourselves that Christ has taken us. We must believes He takes that which we commit to Him; though no angel comes to assure us that we are henceforth His own.
What we give, God takes; and He takes it in fire. We do not always realize all that is involved. But it is sublime to tread the glowing embers of that fire, with the Son of God at our side, knowing that the restraining bonds are shrivelling at every step, and that not a hair of our head can perish.
This is consecration. And from this glad hour the surrendered one dares to begin appropriating Christ: a blessed habit, which by the grace of the Holy Spirit becomes the practice of the life. Reader, be persuaded to take this step. Seek some lonely spot, some still hour, and give yourself to Him who gave Himself for you on the Cross; and who waits to give Himself continually to you in response to the claims of your appropriating faith.