Nashville, Tennessee, United States - Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “Blessed to Receive" for Friday, 31 October 2014Today’s Reflection:
IT MAY BE MORE BLESSED to give than to receive, but receiving is critical as well – especially with regard to the word of God. Without receiving the word of God, the gospel simply remains words or ideas. I ponder that thought as I read this text [1 Thessalonians 2:9-13] again, and the most beautiful and arresting part of it, which is the reason for Paul’s unceasing thanks: “When you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.”Lord, may I receive your word today as your word to me, and may your word be active in my life. Amen.(Disciplines 2014)
“From the reading for October 31 by Thomas R. Steagald in The Upper Room Disciplines 2014: A Book of Daily Devotions. Copyright © 2013 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission.”http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Pray today’s prayer. Lord, may I receive your word today as your word to me, and may your word be active in my life. Amen.
Today’s Scripture:
We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.(1 Thessalonians 2:13, NRSV)
This Week: pray for those who miss loved ones.
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In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers, call 1-800-251-2468.
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Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember:
Jude (October 28).
Two of the gospels mention Jude (sometimes called Judas Thaddaeus, son of James) as one of the original twelve apostles. He is only quoted once when, in John 14:22, he asks Jesus, "Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?" (NRSV) Some scholars believe that he was the author of the New Testament's shortest book, "The Letter to Jude."According to legend, Jude was a missionary to Persia and Mesopotamia, but it wasn't until the twentieth century that he was embraced as the patron saint of hospitals and hopeless causes.
One St. Jude shrine encourages this prayer:
St. Jude, apostle of the Word of God, pray for us.
St. Jude, follower of the Son of God, pray for us.
St. Jude, preacher of the love of God, pray for us.
St. Jude, intercessor before God, pray for us.
St. Jude, friend of all in need, pray for us.
St. Jude, pray for us, and for all who invoke your aid.
If Jude had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a lover. Jude is remembered on October 28.
(This image of Jude is from the carving of da Vinci's "Last Supper." The carving can be viewed in The Upper Room Chapel in Nashville, TN.)
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Lectionary Scriptures:
Joshua 3:7-17
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Matthew 23:1-12
Joshua 3:7-8 God said to Joshua, “This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They’ll see for themselves that I’m with you in the same way that I was with Moses. You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: ‘When you come to the edge of the Jordan’s waters, stand there on the river bank.’”
9-13 Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: “Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. This is how you’ll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. Look at what’s before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan’s water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap.”
14-16 And that’s what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant. When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho.
17 And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.
Psalm 107:1-3 Oh, thank God—he’s so good!
His love never runs out.
All of you set free by God, tell the world!
Tell how he freed you from oppression,
Then rounded you up from all over the place,
from the four winds, from the seven seas.
4-9 Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.
He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road
that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.
33-41 God turned rivers into wasteland,
springs of water into sunbaked mud;
Luscious orchards became alkali flats
because of the evil of the people who lived there.
Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,
arid earth into springs of water,
Brought in the hungry and settled them there;
they moved in—what a great place to live!
They sowed the fields, they planted vineyards,
they reaped a bountiful harvest.
He blessed them and they prospered greatly;
their herds of cattle never decreased.
But abuse and evil and trouble declined
as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.
He gave the poor a safe place to live,
treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren’t freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
13 And now we look back on all this and thank God, an artesian well of thanks! When you got the Message of God we preached, you didn’t pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God’s true word to you, which it is, God himself at work in you believers!
Matthew 23: Religious Fashion Shows
1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.
4-7 “Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’
8-10 “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.
11-12 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
John Wesley Notes-Commentary:
Joshua 3:7-17
Verse 7
[7] And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
Magnify thee — That is, to gain thee authority among them, as the person whom I have set in Moses's stead, and by whom I will conduct them to the possession of the promised land.
Verse 8
[8] And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
The brink — Heb. to the extremity, so far as the river then spread itself, which was now more than ordinary, Joshua 3:15.
In Jordan — Within the waters of Jordan, in the first entrance into the river; Where they stood for a season, 'till the river was divided, and then they went into the midst of it, and there abode 'till all the people were passed over.
Verse 9
[9] And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
Come hither — To the ark or tabernacle, the place of public assemblies.
The Lord your God — Who is now about to give a proof that he is both the Lord, the omnipotent governor of heaven and earth, and all creatures; and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and affection for you.
Verse 10
[10] And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Ye shall know — By experience and sensible evidence.
The living God — Not a dull, dead, senseless God, such as the gods of the nations are; but a God of life, and power, and activity to watch over you, and work for you.
Among you — Is present with you to strengthen and help you.
Verse 12
[12] Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
Twelve men — For the work described, Joshua 4:2,3.
Verse 13
[13] And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
The ark of the Lord — That so it may appear this is the Lord's doing, and that in pursuance of his covenant made with Israel.
Of all the earth — The Lord of all this globe of earth and water, who therefore can dispose of this river and the adjoining land as he pleaseth.
Cut off — The waters which now are united now shall be divided, and part shall flow down the channel towards the dead sea, and the other part that is nearer the spring of the river, and flows down from it, shall stand still.
An heap — Being as it were congealed, as the Red-Sea was, Exodus 15:8, and so kept from overflowing the country.
Verse 15
[15] And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
All the time of harvest — This is meant not of wheat-harvest, but of the barley-harvest, as is manifest from their keeping the passover at their first entrance, Joshua 5:10, which was kept on the fourteenth day of the first month, when they were to bring a sheaf of their first-fruits, which were of barley. So that this harvest in those hot countries fell very early in the spring, when rivers used to swell most; partly because of the rains which have fallen all the winter, partly because of the snows which melt and come into the rivers. And this time God chose that the miracle might be more glorious, more amazing and terrible to the Canaanites; and that the Israelites might be entertained at their first entrance with plentiful and comfortable provisions.
Verse 16
[16] That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
Adam — The city Adam being more obscure, is described by its nearness to a more known place, then eminent, but now unknown. The meaning is, that the waters were stopped in their course at that place, and so kept at a distance from the Israelites whilst they passed over.
Against Jericho — Here God carried them over, because this part was, 1. The strongest, as having in its neighbourhood an eminent city, a potent king, and a stout and war-like people. 2. The most pleasant and fruitful, and therefore more convenient both for the refreshment of the Israelites after their long and tedious marches, and for their encouragement.
Verse 17
[17] And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
Stood firm — That is, in one and the same place and posture; their feet neither moved by any waters moving in upon them, nor sinking into any mire, which one might think was at the bottom of the river. And this may be opposed to their standing on the bank of the water when they came to it, commanded, Joshua 3:8, which was but for a while, 'till the waters were divided and gone away; and then they were to go farther, even into the midst of Jordan, where they are to stand constantly and fixedly, as this Hebrew word signifies, until all were passed over.
The midst of Jordan — In the middle and deepest part of the river.
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
Verse 3
[3] And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
Gathered — Into their own land.
Verse 4
[4] They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
No city — Or rather, no town inhabited, where they might refresh themselves.
Verse 6
[6] Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
The Lord — Heb. Unto Jehovah, to the true God. For the Heathens had, many of them, some knowledge of the true God.
Verse 7
[7] And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Forth — Out of the wilderness.
Verse 33
[33] He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Rivers — Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore fruitful. And so the water-springs, here, and the standing water, verse 35 are taken.
Into — Into a dry ground, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
Verse 34
[34] A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
For — He doth not inflict these judgments without cause, but for the punishment of sin in some, and the prevention of it in others.
Verse 35
[35] He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
Water — Into a well-watered and fruitful land.
Verse 36
[36] And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;
Hungry — Poor people who could not provide for themselves.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Verse 10
[10] Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
Holily — In the things of God.
Justly — With regard to men.
Unblamable — In respect of ourselves.
Among you that believe — Who were the constant observers of our behaviour.
Verse 11
[11] As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,
By exhorting, we are moved to do a thing willingly; by comforting, to do it joyfully; by charging, to do it carefully.
Verse 12
[12] That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
To his kingdom here, and glory hereafter.
Matthew 23:1-12
Verse 2
[2] Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
The scribes sit in the chair of Moses — That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are their appointed teachers.
Verse 3
[3] All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
All things therefore — Which they read out of the law, and enforce therefrom.
Verse 4
[4] For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Luke 11:46.
Verse 5
[5] But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Their phylacteries — The Jews, understanding those words literally, It shall he as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, Exodus 13:16. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, Deuteronomy 6:8; used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment, bound on their wrist and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were writ. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seem to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives.
The fringes of their garments — Which God had enjoined them to wear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Numbers 15:38. These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. Mark 12:38. 8,9,10. The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required, 1. To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; 2. To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority. Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.
Verse 9
[9] And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Verse 10
[10] Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Verse 11
[11] But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Matthew 20:26.
Verse 12
[12] And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and he that shall humble himself shall he exalted — It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord's is so often repeated as this: it occurs, with scarce any variation, at least ten times in the evangelists. Luke 14:11; 18:14.
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