Nashville, Tennessee, United States - Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “Spirituality Is a Slippery Word" for Monday, 8 September 2014Today’s Reflection:
SPIRITUALITY IS A SLIPPERY WORD. … For those whose daily lives revolve around frantic timetables of … getting children to school on time, holding down a stressful eight-to-five job, … spirituality sounds strange and impractical. It suggests another world of inactivity, passivity, and uninterrupted silences. For those whose life experiences have been scarred by suffering and oppression, the term often suggests escapism, indifference, and uninvolvement . Indeed, spirituality needs definition. Spirituality is being intentional about the development of those convictions, attitudes, and actions through which the Christ-following life is shaped and given personal expression in our everyday lives.(Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant, The Way of Transforming Discipleship)From p. 15 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 Upper Room Books. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question"
In what ways are you intentional about your desire to follow Christ?
Today’s Scripture:
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.(Exodus 14:21, NRSV)
This Week: pray for those facing surgery.
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Did You Know?
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This week we remember:
John Chrysostom (September 13).
St. John Chrysostom was born a Christian in 347, but was taught rhetoric and oratory by Libanius, who was a pagan. As his name indicates ("chrysostom" is Greek for "golden-mouthed"), John was an amazing speaker. Many of his sermons were meant to convert, and did so, with stunning success. John spent six years as a monk in the wilderness, but when he became too weak he was taken back to his native city of Antioch to serve the Church.John was ordained in 385, and his approach to New Testament theology, logical and highly methodical, gained him great renown. In 397 he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople, and immediately gave his savings and part of his salary to the poor. John was banished twice by the Empress Eudoxia, who was angry at John for his criticism of the behavior of court women. He died on the journey to Pythius, the place of his second exile, in 407.
If St. John Chrysostom had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Prophet. John's feast day is September 13.
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Lectionary Scriptures:
Exodus 14:19-31
Psalm 114
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
Scripture Text:
Exodus 14:19-20 The angel of God that had been leading the camp of Israel now shifted and got behind them. And the Pillar of Cloud that had been in front also shifted to the rear. The Cloud was now between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. The Cloud enshrouded one camp in darkness and flooded the other with light. The two camps didn’t come near each other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and God, with a terrific east wind all night long, made the sea go back. He made the sea dry ground. The seawaters split.
22-25 The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters a wall to the right and to the left. The Egyptians came after them in full pursuit, every horse and chariot and driver of Pharaoh racing into the middle of the sea. It was now the morning watch. God looked down from the Pillar of Fire and Cloud on the Egyptian army and threw them into a panic. He clogged the wheels of their chariots; they were stuck in the mud.
The Egyptians said, “Run from Israel! God is fighting on their side and against Egypt!”
26 God said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea and the waters will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, over their horsemen.”
27-28 Moses stretched his hand out over the sea: As the day broke and the Egyptians were running, the sea returned to its place as before. God dumped the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. The waters returned, drowning the chariots and riders of Pharaoh’s army that had chased after Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.
29-31 But the Israelites walked right through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall to the right and to the left. God delivered Israel that day from the oppression of the Egyptians. And Israel looked at the Egyptian dead, washed up on the shore of the sea, and realized the tremendous power that God brought against the Egyptians. The people were in reverent awe before God and trusted in God and his servant Moses.
Psalm 114:1-8 After Israel left Egypt,
the clan of Jacob left those barbarians behind;
Judah became holy land for him,
Israel the place of holy rule.
Sea took one look and ran the other way;
River Jordan turned around and ran off.
The mountains turned playful and skipped like rams,
the hills frolicked like spring lambs.
What’s wrong with you, Sea, that you ran away?
and you, River Jordan, that you turned and ran off?
And mountains, why did you skip like rams?
and you, hills, frolic like spring lambs?
Tremble, Earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence!
in the presence of Jacob’s God.
He turned the rock into a pool of cool water,
turned flint into fresh spring water.
Romans 14: Cultivating Good Relationships
1 Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
2-4 For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
5 Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.
6-9 What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
10-12 So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:
“As I live and breathe,” God says,
“every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
that I and only I am God.”
So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.
Matthew 18: A Story About Forgiveness
21 At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”
22 Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
23-25 “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
26-27 “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
28 “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’
29-31 “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
32-35 “The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”
John Wesley Notes-Commentary:
Exodus 14:19-31
Verse 19
[19] And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
The angel of God — Whose ministry was made use of in the pillar of cloud and fire, went from before the camp of Israel, where they did not now need a guide; there was no danger of missing their way through the sea, and came behind them, where now they needed a guard, the Egyptians being just ready to seize the hindmost of them. There it was of use to the Israelites, not only to protect them, but to light them through the sea; and at the same time it confounded the Egyptians, so that they lost sight of their prey, just when they were ready to lay hands on it. The word and providence of God have a black and dark side towards sin and sinners, but a bright and pleasant side towards those that are Israelites indeed.
Verse 21
[21] And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
We have here the history of that work of wonder which is so often mentioned both in the Old and New Testament. An instance of God's almighty power in dividing the sea, and opening a passage through the waters. It was a bay, or gulf, or arm of the sea, two or three leagues over. The God of nature has not tied himself to its laws, but when he pleases dispenseth with them, and then the fire doth not burn, nor the water flow. They went through the sea to the opposite shore; they walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the pillar of cloud being their rereward, the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. Moses and Aaron it is likely ventured first, into this untrodden path, and then all Israel after them; and this march through the paths of the great waters would make their march afterwards through the wilderness less formidable. This march through the sea was in the night, and not a moon-shine night, for it was seven days after the full moon, so that they had no light but what they had from the pillar of fire. This made it the more awful, but where God leads us, he will light us; while we follow his conduct we shall not want his comforts.
Verse 23
[23] And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
And the Egyptians went in after them into the midst of the sea — They thought, why might they not venture where Israel did? They were more advantageously provided with chariots and horses, while the Israelites were on foot.
Verse 24
[24] And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,
The Lord — Called the angel before, looked - With indignation, upon the Egyptians, and troubled the Egyptians - With terrible winds and lightnings and thunders, Exodus 15:10; Psalms 77:18,19. Also with terror of mind.
Verse 25
[25] And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
They had driven furiously, but now they drove heavily, and found themselves embarrassed at every step; the way grew deep, their hearts grew sad, their wheels dropt off, and the axle-trees failed. They had been flying upon the back of Israel as the hawk upon the dove; but now they cried, Let us flee from the face of Israel.
Verse 26
[26] And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea — And give a signal to the waters to close again, as before upon the word of command they had opened to the right and the left. He did so, and immediately the waters returned to their place, and overwhelmed all the host of the Egyptians. Pharaoh and his servants, that had hardened one another in sin, now fell together, and not one escaped. An ancient tradition saith, That Pharaoh's magicians Jannes and Jambres perished with the rest. Now God got him honour upon Pharaoh, a rebel to God, and a slave to his own barbarous passions; perfectly lost to humanity, virtue, and all true honour; here be lies buried in the deep, a perpetual monument of divine justice: here he went down to the pit, though he was the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
Verse 28
[28] And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
After them — That is, after the Israelites.
Verse 30
[30] Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the shore — The Egyptians were very curious in preserving the bodies of their great men, but here the utmost contempt is poured upon all the grandees of Egypt; see how they lie heaps upon heaps, as dung upon the face of the earth.
Verse 31
[31] And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.
And Israel feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses — Now they were ashamed of their distrusts and murmurings; and in the mind they were in, they would never again despair of help from heaven; no not in the greatest straits! They would never again quarrel with Moses; nor talk of returning to Egypt. How well were it for us, if we were, always in as good a frame, as we are in sometimes!
Psalm 114
Verse 2
[2] Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
Judah — Or Israel, one tribe being put for all. Judah he mentions as the chief of all the tribes.
Verse 4
[4] The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
The mountains — Horeb and Sinai, two tops of one mountain, and other neighbouring mountains.
Verse 7
[7] Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
Tremble — The mountains did more than what was fit at the appearance of the great God.
Romans 14:1-12
Verse 1
[1] Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Him that is weak — Through needless scruples.
Receive — With all love and courtesy into Christian fellowship.
But not to doubtful disputations — About questionable points.
Verse 2
[2] For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
All things — All sorts of food, though forbidden by the law.
Verse 3
[3] Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
Despise him that eateth not — As over-scrupulous or superstitious.
Judge him that eateth — As profane, or taking undue liberties.
For God hath received him — Into the number of his children, notwithstanding this.
Verse 5
[5] One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
One day above another — As new moons, and other Jewish festivals.
Let every man be fully persuaded — That a thing is lawful, before he does it.
Verse 6
[6] He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Regardeth it to the Lord — That is, out of a principle of conscience toward God.
To the Lord he doth not regard it — He also acts from a principle of conscience.
He that eateth not — Flesh.
Giveth God thanks — For his herbs.
Verse 7
[7] For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
None of us — Christians, in the things we do.
Liveth to himself — Is at his own disposal; doeth his own will.
Verse 10
[10] But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Or why dost thou despise thy brother — Hitherto the apostle as addressed the weak brother: now he speaks to the stronger.
Verse 11
[11] For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
As I live — An oath proper to him, because he only possesseth life infinite and independent. It is Christ who is here termed both Lord and God; as it is he to whom we live, and to whom we die.
Every tongue shall confess to God — Shall own him as their rightful Lord; which shall then only be accomplished in its full extent. The Lord grant we may find mercy in that day; and may it also be imparted to those who have differed from us! yea, to those who have censured and condemned us for things which we have done from a desire to please him, or refused to do from a fear of offending him. Isaiah 45:23
Matthew 18:21-35
Verse 22
[22] Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Till seventy times seven — That is, as often as there is occasion. A certain number is put for an uncertain.
Verse 23
[23] Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Therefore — In this respect.
Verse 24
[24] And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
One was brought who owed him ten thousand talents — According to the usual computation, if these were talents of gold, this would amount to seventy-two millions sterling. If they were talents of silver, it must have been four millions, four hundred thousand pounds. Hereby our Lord intimates the vast number and weight of our offences against God, and our utter incapacity of making him any satisfaction.
Verse 25
[25] But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
As he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold — Such was the power which creditors anciently had over their insolvent debtors in several countries.
Verse 30
[30] And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Went with him before a magistrate, and cast him into prison, protesting he should lie there, till he should pay the whole debt.
Verse 34
[34] And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
His lord delivered him to the tormentors — Imprisonment is a much severer punishment in the eastern countries than in ours. State criminals, especially when condemned to it, are not only confined to a very mean and scanty allowance, but are frequently loaded with clogs or heavy yokes, so that they can neither lie nor sit at ease: and by frequent scourgings and sometimes rackings are brought to an untimely end.
Till he should pay all that was due to him — That is, without all hope of release, for this he could never do. How observable is this whole account; as well as the great inference our Lord draws from it: 1. The debtor was freely and fully forgiven; 2. He wilfully and grievously offended; 3. His pardon was retracted, the whole debt required, and the offender delivered to the tormentors for ever. And shall we still say, but when we are once freely and fully forgiven, our pardon can never be retracted? Verily, verily, I say unto you, So likewise will my heavenly Father do to you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
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