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Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
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   You Are Here: Bridge / Galley / Pastor's Pen / Pathways Through Paul
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Pathways Through Paul Daily Devotional
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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional

April 12
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Today's Pathway:


 Romans 12:1
  1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

His Majesty's Service

 Having concluded eleven chapters of doctrinal teaching, Paul now devotes most of the rest of his epistle to practical applications. He opens this section with an overall picture of what the believer's life ought to be. He starts verse 1 with the word "beseech". This word means to come alongside someone for the purpose of giving assistance. It is a form of the same Greek word that is translated "Comforter" in John 14:26 and refers there to the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit indwells Christians and encourages them to do what is right, Paul is also "coming alongside" his readers to encourage them to do what is right. The next word in this verse is "therefore". This term connects what has just been said to what is about to be said. Paul is saying that in light of everything that he has taught them concerning salvation there are some appropriate decisions that they should be making. He specifically speaks of "the mercies of God", which not only refers back to the mercy that God has shown in providing redemption to mankind, but also refers to the mercy that God shows us every day of our lives.

 So, because of God's mercy, the believer should be doing several things. First, he should be giving his body to the Lord as a living sacrifice. The idea here is that every aspect of a Christian's life is to be yielded to God. In the Old Testament a worshiper would present an unblemished animal sacrifice to God. Today, God doesn't want us to present dead sacrifices, rather but to present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices.The implication is that we are to be living out our sacrificial life. Back in Romans 6:11 we saw that believers are dead to sin but alive unto God. God did not intend for us to lock ourselves in closets or monasteries as sacrifices, but to live every day accomplishing what we know that God wants us to do. This sacrifice is to be both holy and acceptable to God. The word "holy" means "to be set apart". God said that the believer is to be "holy for I am holy," both in Leviticus 11:44 and I Peter 1:16. As God is separated from sin, so the Christian is to be separated from sin as well. In addition, the believer is to make sure that his life is "acceptable unto God". I need to ask myself, "Is what I am doing something that would be pleasing to the Lord?" Ephesians 5:8,10,11 say,

"...walk as children of light: Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness..."
The word "prove" there means, "to put to the test". I need to test my decisions and actions by the Word of God to see if what I am is acceptable to Him. It's nice to be accepted by other men, but that is not the standard by which we will be judged. What matters is if I am acceptable to the One Who saved me by His mercy and grace.

 Some may think that God is asking too much of His children here. But Paul responds that everything that God demands is "reasonable". We get our English word "logical" from the Greek word used here. It only makes sense that someone who has been saved by the tremendous sacrifice of Christ would be willing to give himself back to God. Keith Krell made this comment:

"If you weigh all that God has done in mercy in the light of who you were as a sinful, hopeless enemy of His righteousness, the only reasonable response is to lay your life on the altar for Him".

 Are the decisions you make, and the lifestyle that you lead, acceptable to God?

Pastor Mark J Montgomery

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His Majesty's Service
Home of Ambassador Baptist Church
1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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