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._"--Romans 12:1.

There is perhaps no chapter in the New Testament, certainly none in
this epistle, with which we are more familiar than this one which is
introduced by the text; and yet, however familiar we may be with the
statements, if we read them carefully and study them honestly they must
always come to us not only in the nature of an inspiration but also
with rebuke, especially to those of us who preach.

Paul's intellectual ability has never been questioned. Yet, giant
though he was in this respect, he was not ashamed to be pathetic when
he likens his care for his people to the care of a nurse for her
children. He is not ashamed to be extravagant when he likens his
sorrow and pain at their backsliding to the travail of a woman for her
child. He is not ashamed to be intense when in the ninth chapter and
the first, second and third verses he says, "I say the truth in Christ,
I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I
could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh."

We must also be impressed with the fact that he was not at all afraid
of public criticism. He not only sat at Gamaliel's feet but the great
lawmaker might well have taken his place at his feet, and yet he says,
"I am willing to be counted a fool if only I may win men to Christ."
He is not bound by custom. He not only preaches in the synagogue and
in the places set apart for the churches of the early days, but he goes
about from house to house entreating people to come to Christ. He is
not ashamed to weep, for he sends his messages to the people and
exclaims, "I tell you these things weeping"; and here in this text he
is strikingly unusual, for he is not a preacher speaking with dignity,
nor an Apostle commending obedience, but a loving friend beseeching in
the most pathetic way the yielding of themselves to Christ.

There are two things to remember about Paul in the study of such a
subject.

First: He was a Jew and he knew all about offerings. Sacrifices were
not forms to him and a living sacrifice was not a meaningless
expression. He had been present on the great day of Atonement when the
scapegoat bore away the sins of the people.