this book belongs to
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Introduction Kaleo is a Greek word used frequently in the New Testament, and it means to call or summon. As the title of this book, it refers to calling out Christians to a consecrated life of holiness. To be consecrated means to be set apart. As Christians, we are set apart by God to be holy — to serve Him, to do His will, and to live our lives in a way that points others to Him. Although we are consecrated for God and set apart for His service, we still make mistakes along the way. The Bible is full of characters who were consecrated yet made their share of mistakes. The fact that God still used them — and how He can and will use you if you will consecrate yourself to Him — is the focus of this book. Becoming consecrated is a lifelong journey, one that takes constant study, evaluation, and personal reflection. This book is written to be personal — to lead you to evaluate your progress on this journey toward holiness. As you read each chapter, apply the concepts and teachings personally to your life. Respond to the questions and activities in writing and then use your responses to reflect upon your spiritual journey. Kaleo . . . God is calling for your consecration.
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Statements of Faith When studying the Bible, broad themes or essential truths become obvious. These themes become the foundation for understanding who God is and how He has revealed Himself. LifeBibleStudy curriculum is designed to highlight eight truths that are essential in understanding the character and work of God.
creation. Yet every person has willfully disobeyed God — an act known as sin — thus inheriting both physical and spiritual death and the need for salvation. All human beings are born with a sin nature and into an environment inclined toward sin. Only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ can they experience salvation.
Jesus Is God and Savior God Is Only one true and living God exists. He is the Creator of the universe, eternally existing in three Persons — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — each equally deserving of humanity’s worship and obedience. He is infinite and perfect in all His attributes.
The Bible Is God’s Word The Bible is God’s written revelation to people, divinely given through human authors who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is entirely true. The Bible is totally sufficient and completely authoritative for matters of life and faith. The goal of God’s Word is the restoration of humanity into His image.
People Are God’s Treasure God created people in His image for His glory. They are the crowning work of His
Jesus is both fully God and fully human. He is Christ, the Son of God. Born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life and performed many miracles. He died on the cross to provide people forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation. Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return in power and glory.
The Holy Spirit Is God and Empowerer The Holy Spirit is supernatural and sovereign, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ. He lives within all Christians beginning at the moment of salvation and then empowers them for bold witness and effective service as they yield to Him. The Holy Spirit convicts individuals of sin, uses God’s Word to mature believers into Christlikeness, and secures them until Christ returns.
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Salvation Is by Faith Alone All human beings are born with a sin nature, separated from God, and in need of a Savior. That salvation comes only through a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, the Savior, as a person repents of sin and receives Christ’s forgiveness and eternal life. Salvation is instantaneous and accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. This salvation is wholly of God by grace on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and not on the basis of human works. All the redeemed are secure in Christ forever.
The Church Is God’s Plan The Holy Spirit immediately places all people who put their faith in Jesus Christ into one united spiritual body, the Church, of which Christ is the head. The primary expression of the Church on earth is in autonomous
local congregations of baptized believers. The purpose of the Church is to glorify God by taking the gospel to the entire world and by building its members up in Christlikeness through the instruction of God’s Word, fellowship, service, worship, and prayer.
The Future Is in God’s Hands God will bring the world to its appropriate end in His own time and in His own way. At that time, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth. Both the saved and unsaved will be resurrected physically to be judged by Christ. Those who have trusted Christ will receive their reward and dwell forever in heaven with the Lord. Those who have refused Christ will spend eternity in hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The certain return of Christ motivates believers to be faithful in their daily lives.
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1—What Is Consecration? Biblical Passage: Hebrews 11:8-19
Consecration. Being different. Being set apart by God and to God. Being wholly devoted to God. We throw those words out like this status is easy to achieve. But it’s not. Because being set apart requires knowing God intimately, being totally devoted to Him, and being obedient to what He calls us to do. The process is not easy. Yet, the life of Abraham demonstrated that it can be done. That we as God’s people can choose to be totally devoted to Him.
The Life of Abraham Abraham was the first Hebrew patriarch (male head or father figure of a line of people) and became known as one of the prime examples of faithfulness in the Bible. His growing-up years were spent in Ur of the
Chaldees, a prominent city located near the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq. He was originally known as Abram (“father is exalted”), but God later changed his name to Abraham (“father of a multitude”). Terah, Abraham’s father, moved to Haran with the family and after some years died there. God later called Abraham to migrate to Canaan, assuring him that he would be the father of a vast nation. Abraham trusted God and obeyed. But even though he was faithful to God, that didn’t mean his life was without adventures on the way to becoming known for being devoted. Abram angered the Pharaoh by pretending Sarai was his sister rather than his wife while they were in Egypt during a famine. He also tried to take a shortcut to producing an heir by taking Sarai’s handmaid
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Hagar as a concubine. Though the union produced a son, Ishmael, he was not destined to become Abram’s promised heir and only trouble resulted. Even after God gave further assurance of the covenant by the rite of circumcision, Abram and Sarai still questioned God’s promise of an heir. When Sarai, whose name was changed to Sarah (“princess”), finally gave birth to their long-promised son Isaac, Abraham was one hundred years old. Then, Abraham’s faith and obedience were really tested as God later commanded him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham followed through and was at the point of killing his own son when God provided an alternative sacrifice and spared Isaac’s life. As a reward for Abraham’s faithfulness, God renewed the covenant promises of great blessing and the growth of a mighty nation to him and his descendants. For Paul, Abraham was the great example of faith. In Hebrews, Abraham provided the model for tithing and was given a prominent position in the roll call of faith. And James used Abraham to show that justification by faith is proved in works. There is hope for us in the fact that Abraham wasn’t always perfect, but he was faithful. Maybe that’s why dedication to God scares us; we think we have to be perfect. But God knows that we can’t be. In fact, He sent Jesus for that very reason! And while we cannot be perfect, we can be consecrated — faithful and dedicated to 1—What Is Consecration?
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Him. You may think: “Well, that’s a great story, but things were different in Abraham’s time. He didn’t have to worry about the things we do. The sacrifices he had to make wouldn’t be equal with ours.” It’s easy to give that argument, but it just isn’t true. In fact, it should make no difference to us whether Abraham was totally devoted in the wilderness hundreds of years before Christ or in the present day. Commitment is commitment and devotion is devotion . . . whenever and wherever it takes place. Close your eyes and imagine God speaking to you in a very clear way about completely following Him. How do you think you would respond? Would your thoughts go immediately to try to find an excuse, or would you consider it a great honor to show God your devotion?
Where Does Our Devotion Lie? God wants every Christian to be totally devoted to Him. (Please reread that sentence.) He longs for people who are faithful to Him. Isn’t it interesting that we as 11
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Christians can be totally, unequivically — even blindly — devoted to a person, a cause, or a job, and yet allow our devotion to God to be practically nonexistent? What does that say about the place we really give God in our lives? In fact, while we’re discussing it, take just a moment to describe your commitment to Him right now. If there were such a thing as a devotionometer, where would it register your devotion to God at this point in your life? ! Total devotion/sold out completely to God ! Pretty much devoted ! Devoted when it isn’t an inconvenience ! Totally devoted between 11:00 a.m. and noon on Sundays ! Not very devoted at all ! What’s devotion? If you rated yourself low in the area of devotion, it’s easy to look at this and related Christian characteristics and rationalize: “Well, I’m just not at the point in my life where I am able to make a commitment to God like some people do. Everyone’s different, you know, and that’s where I am.” That may be your argument, but it’s not a very good one. There is only one reason we are not devoted and that reason is because we do not want to be. You see, we have as much of God as we want. If we don’t have more, it’s 12
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because we don’t want more. Those are hard words, but they are the truth! So, the bottom line is that we are either devoted or we are not. There is no such thing as “riding the fence” when it comes to being a dedicated follower of Christ. If that is where you say you are as a believer, you might as well bail off and land on the side of being undevoted because that is where you actually are. Just as partial obedience is disobedience, partial devotion is undevotion. To prove this point, consider how you would feel (if you are married) and your spouse were to tell you, “Honey, I’m going be fairly devoted to you,” or, “I’m going to be devoted to you when it’s convenient for me.” If this is the case, there are some issues in your marriage relationship. Well, the same thing goes for your relationship with God. If you’re not really devoted to Him, there are some issues in your relationship with Him. Yet those are the kinds of statements we make to God.
Are We Really Atheists? With this in mind, if you think about it . . . if you get totally honest with yourself and think about it . . . you will probably agree with me that a lot of Christians are practical atheists when it comes to being devoted to God. What do I mean by being a “practical atheist”? First of all, in simple terms, an atheist is a person who denies the existence of God. A practical atheist, then, Kaleo—Called to Be Holy
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would be an individual who may not claim to be an atheist, but in all practicality lives like it. For us, this means that no matter what we say, by how we live we reveal that we don’t put much importance in allowing God to be a part of our lives, our thoughts, our time, or our decisions. As a result, our devotion is nonexistent at worst and sporadic at best. Sadly, many (dare I say most?) of us today fall into the category of practical atheism for that reason. But, you may say, I put God first in my life. It’s God first, then my family, then my job, as far as my list of priorities. But there is a problem with looking at life from this perspective. If we really do put “God first” — and it is obviously a big stretch to say that we do — then it’s easy to leave Him in that little area and leave Him out of everything else in our lives. For example, there is no doubt that many who give lip service to the “God is first in my life” mantra because they attend church leave Him there as soon as they walk out of the building. It’s as if He only exists in the church facility. There is no doubt that after many Christians pray, they totally forget about God until the next meal. It’s almost as if He is an invited meal guest, but isn’t welcome at any other time. Practical atheism means that after we give God His due by saying that He is first in our life, we are free then to do whatever we want with the rest of it. Thus, we live like atheists in all practicality. That, of course, is not what 1—What Is Consecration?
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God desires in a relationship with us. He wants to be first in our family, first in our job, and first in every area of our life. Think of the people who surround you. Who do you consider to be “devoted” Christians?
What is it about them that makes them seem devoted?
The Bottom Line Devotion to God is a scary thing. No doubt many give half-hearted commitment because they know they will fail if they try
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to live for God. What He desires, however, is simple faithfulness. Day-by-day, hourby-hour, minute-by-minute faithfulness. Be consecrated to Him this minute, then the
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next, and then the next. If you continue in this way, your commitment will grow to the point where you are eventually living for God with wholehearted devotion.
Kaleo—Called to Be Holy
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