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Pastor Lud Golz
Pastor Lud Golz

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  Home | Transcript Archive | August | August 14, 2020

Friday, August 14, 2020

In view of God’s mercy.  (Romans 12:1)

In our last visit we began to look at the final section of the book of Romans.  Romans 12, verses 1-2 are foundational for beginning the practical outworking of our salvation.

Paul begins with the word, “Therefore,” indicating that what follows grows out of what was presented in the first 11 chapters. He summarizes all that he has said in those 11 chapters with the phrase: “in view of God’s mercy.” 

Then he says, “I urge you, brothers.”  He could have commanded them as an Apostle.  What he is asking for is nothing more than their “spiritual act of worship,” or as another version puts it, “your reasonable service.” 

If you understand what Paul said in the first 11 chapters about God’s mercy, then it is the most reasonable thing for you “to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.”  The word “offer” is in a tense in the original language, which means, “Offer once and for all, not repetitively.”  In other words, resolve that the commitment of your bodies to God is a “for the rest of my life commitment.”   

This commitment is to be “a living sacrifice.”  It would be challenging enough to die for Christ.  That would be a significant sacrifice! A living sacrifice means that however long God keeps you here you are willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary to carry out your assignment. 

Maintaining holiness in an unholy world also demands commitment.  But it is that kind of commitment that pleases God and honors Him. 

It is this kind of commitment that is foundational for working out your salvation in your daily walk. 

 

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