Calendar

ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (XI)
MONDAY, MARCH 16
Nehemiah 10:28-39

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

 

“…come out from among them,

and be ye separate.”

 

ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (XI)
 
Commitment and consecration take many forms in the believer’s life, eg. marriage vows, baptismal vows, reaffirmation of faith or confirmations, etc. Though they may involve some questions and answers, they require more than just the words or answers given. They require concrete steps and actions that follow the answers or vows made. This is what we see in the second part of Nehemiah 10.
 
The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves (Neh 10:28). The section begins by giving the involvement of the rest of the people in the renewal of the covenant. They were identified as “all they that had separated themselves” (Neh 10:28) which signified consecration. This separation formed the basis of their consecration by its two-fold effect. Their act of separation was firstly a separation “from the people of the lands” which was necessary for worship according to the law of Moses (Neh 9:2), and necessary for the work of the building of the wall, just as Nehemiah had told Sanballat when he excluded them saying “ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem” (Neh 2:20). Their act of separation was also part of their consecration, as they were separated “unto the law of God” (Neh 10:28). The husbands/fathers as heads in God’s order probably ordered and taught their families (wives, sons and daughters), and led them to share and participate with knowledge and understanding in the same oath. Their act of separation was secondly a step towards fellowship. In separation, they “clave to their brethren” (Neh 10:29). As they were separated from the peoples of the lands, they walked in the light with those who had come to the same light, who had “entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law” (Neh 10:29). Since they had the same oath to keep, the same law to follow, the same God to serve and the same LORD to obey, they could cleave to their brethren.
 
THOUGHT: (Read 1 John 1:7.)
PRAYER: Father, give me wisdom to prepare my children spiritually for life.

Search