The Upper Room Daily Reflections: daily words of wisdom and faith of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Sunday, 22 October 2017 "Rest in the Knowledge of God’s Love"

The Upper Room Daily Reflections: daily words of wisdom and faith of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Sunday, 22 October 2017 "Rest in the Knowledge of God’s Love"
Today’s Reflection:
GRACIOUS LORD, God of light and glory, you are the beauty I seek and the power to whom I entrust my life: enable me to rest in the knowledge of your love and care so that through the witness of my life, others might come to know you as you truly are. Amen. (Paul Wesley Chilcote, A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit)
From page 155 of A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Wesley Chilcote. Copyright © 2008 by Paul Wesley Chilcote. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Pray today’s prayer.  GRACIOUS LORD, God of light and glory, you are the beauty I seek and the power to whom I entrust my life: enable me to rest in the knowledge of your love and care so that through the witness of my life, others might come to know you as you truly are. Amen.
Today’s Scripture: But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? (Matthew 22:18, NRSV)
Today’s Question: As you begin prayer time today, become aware of your breath.
Today’s Scripture: The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! (Psalm 99:1, NRSV)
This Week: pray for community leaders.
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Did You Know?
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 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
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This week we remember: Ignatius of Antioch (October 17).
Ignatius of Antioch
October 17

Ignatius of Antioch lived approximately from 35 to 110. He was known as a bishop and martyr. Probably born in Syria, Ignatius is virtually unknown apart from his letters and journey to martyrdom in Rome under a guard of ten soldiers. Received with honor at Smyrna by Polycarp, he visited neighboring communities and wrote letters of encouragement to churches at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, and Rome. In the last he entreated that the Romans do nothing to interfere with his martyrdom. Taken to Troas, he wrote letters to the churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna and to Polycarp. From there he was escorted through Macedonia and Illyria to Dyrrhachium, where he boarded a ship to Italy.
The authenticity of Ignatius’s letters remained heatedly debated from the late fifteenth until the nineteenth century because of interpolations and spurious letters bearing his name. The debate was put to rest with the publication of J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer’s critical edition of The Apostolic Fathers in 1885. The genuine letters reveal a man passionately committed to Christ and intent on martyrdom, “ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread of Christ” (Rom. 4:1). In the letters to churches he proposed as a solution to threats of division that they “do nothing without the bishop.” The strength of insistence, however, indicates that the churches of Asia Minor did not accord their bishops such authority. Still more, the church at Antioch did not recognize Ignatius in that way. What lay behind the tension is a bit uncertain, but one facet was docetism, the belief that Jesus only appeared to be human. Ignatius emphatically underlined that Jesus was both truly human and truly divine. In connection with that affirmation, he also made much of Holy Communion as the symbol par excellence of the Incarnation and “the medicine of immortality.”
If Ignatius had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Lover. Ignatius is remembered on October 17.
[Excerpted with permission from the entry on Ignatius of Antioch by E. Glenn Hinson, from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]
Image is icon coutesy of skete.com
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Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 22 October 2017
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
Scripture Texts: Exodus 33:(iii) 12 Moshe said to Adonai, “Look, you say to me, ‘Make these people move on!’ But you haven’t let me know whom you will be sending with me. Nevertheless you have said, ‘I know you by name,’ and also, ‘You have found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now, please, if it is really the case that I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways; so that I will understand you and continue finding favor in your sight. Moreover, keep on seeing this nation as your people.” 14 He answered, “Set your mind at rest — my presence will go with you, after all.” 15 Moshe replied, “If your presence doesn’t go with us, don’t make us go on from here. 16 For how else is it to be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, other than by your going with us? That is what distinguishes us, me and your people, from all the other peoples on earth.”
(iv) 17 Adonai said to Moshe, “I will also do what you have asked me to do, because you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 But Moshe said, “I beg you to show me your glory!” 19 He replied, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce the name of Adonai. Moreover, I show favor to whomever I will, and I display mercy to whomever I will. 20 But my face,” he continued, “you cannot see, because a human being cannot look at me and remain alive. 21 Here,” he said, “is a place near me; stand on the rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you inside a crevice in the rock and cover you with my hand, until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face is not to be seen.”
Psalm 99:1 Adonai is king; let the peoples tremble.
He sits enthroned on the k’ruvim; let the earth shake!
2 Adonai is great in Tziyon;
he is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and fearsome name (he is holy):
4 “Mighty king who loves justice, you established
fairness, justice and righteousness in Ya‘akov.”
5 Exalt Adonai our God!
Prostrate yourselves at his footstool (he is holy).
6 Moshe and Aharon among his cohanim
and Sh’mu’el among those who call on his name
called on Adonai, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the column of cloud;
they kept his instructions and the law that he gave them.
8 Adonai our God, you answered them.
To them you were a forgiving God,
although you took vengeance on their wrongdoings.
9 Exalt Adonai our God,
bow down toward his holy mountain,
for Adonai our God is holy!
1 Thessalonians 1:1 From: Sha’ul, Sila and Timothy
To: The Messianic Community of the Thessalonians, united with God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah:
Grace to you and shalom.
2 We always thank God for all of you, regularly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 calling to mind before God our Father what our Lord Yeshua the Messiah has brought about in you — how your trust produces action, your love hard work, and your hope perseverance. 4 We know, brothers, that God has loved and chosen you; 5 that the Good News we brought did not become for you a matter only of words, but also one of power, the Ruach HaKodesh and total conviction — just as you know how we lived for your sakes when we were with you. 6 You, indeed, became imitators of us and of the Lord; so that even though you were going through severe troubles, you received the Word with joy from the Ruach HaKodesh.
7 Thus you became a pattern for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia; 8 for the Lord’s message sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere your trust toward God became known. The result is that we don’t need to say anything; 9 since they themselves keep telling us about the welcome we received from you and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the true God, the one who is alive, 10 and to wait for his Son Yeshua, whom he raised from the dead, to appear from heaven and rescue us from the impending fury of God’s judgment.
Matthew 22:15 Then the P’rushim went away and put together a plan to trap Yeshua with his own words. 16 They sent him some of their talmidim and some members of Herod’s party. They said, “Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and really teach what God’s way is. You aren’t concerned with what other people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person’s status. 17 So tell us your opinion: does Torah permit paying taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” 18 Yeshua, however, knowing their malicious intent, said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used to pay the tax!” They brought him a denarius; 20 and he asked them, “Whose name and picture are these?” 21 “The Emperor’s,” they replied. Yeshua said to them, “Nu, give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!” 22 On hearing this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
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John Wesley's Notes-Commentary: Exodus 33:12-23
Verse 12
[12] And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
Moses now returned to the door of the tabernacle, as an important supplicant for two favours, and prevails for both: herein he was a type of Christ the great intercessor, whom the Father heareth always. He is earnest with God for a grant of his presence with Israel in the rest of their march to Canaan.
Thou sayst, bring up this people — Lord, it is thou thyself that employest me, and wilt thou not own me? I am in the way of my duty, and shall I not have thy presence with me in that way? Yet, Thou hast said, I know thee by name, as a particular friend, and thou hast also found grace in my sight, above any other.
Verse 13
[13] Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
Now therefore, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me thy way — What favour God had expressed to the people they had forfeited the benefit of; and therefore Moses lays the stress of his plea upon what God had said to him. By this therefore he takes hold on God, Lord, if thou wilt do any thing for me, do this for the people. Thus our Lord Jesus, in his intercession, presents himself to the Father, as one in whom he is always well-pleased, and so obtains mercy for us with whom he is justly displeased, Shew me thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight - He insinuates that the people also, though most unworthy, yet were in some relation to God; consider that this nation is thy people; a people that thou hast done great things for, redeemed to thyself, and taken into covenant with thyself; Lord, they are thy own, do not leave them.
Verse 15
[15] And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
And he said, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence — He speaks as one that dreaded the thought of going forward without God's presence.
Verse 16
[16] For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
Wherein shall it be known to the nations that have their eyes upon us, that I, and thy people, have found grace in thy sight; so as to be separated from all people upon earth? Is it not that thou goest with us? Nothing short of that can answer these characters.
Verse 17
[17] And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken — See the power of prayer! See the riches of God's goodness! See in type the prevalency of Christ's intercession, which he ever lives to make for all those that come to God by him! And the ground of that prevalency, is purely in his own merit, it is because thou hast found grace in my sight. And now God is perfectly reconciled to them, and his presence in the pillar of cloud returns to them.
Verse 18
[18] And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
I beseech thee shew me thy glory — Moses had lately been in the mount with God, and had had as intimate communion with God, as ever any man had on this side heaven, and yet he is still desiring a farther acquaintance.
Shew me thy glory — Make me to see it; so the word is: make it some way or other visible, and enable me to bear the sight of it. Not that he was so ignorant as to think God's essence could be seen with bodily eyes, but having hitherto only heard a voice out of a pillar of cloud or fire, he desired to see some representation of the divine glory, such as God saw fit to gratify him with.
Verse 20
[20] And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
Thou canst not see my face — A full discovery of the glory of God would quite overpower the faculties of any mortal man.
I will make all my goodness pass before thee — He had given him wonderful instances of his goodness in being reconciled to Israel; but that was only goodness in the stream, he would shew him goodness in the spring. This was a sufficient answer to his request: Shew me thy glory, saith Moses; I will shew thee my goodness, saith God. God's goodness is his glory; and he will have us to know him by the glory of his mercy, more than by the glory of his majesty. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious - In bestowing his gifts, and is not debtor to any, nor accountable to any; all his reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself, not from any merit in his creatures, and I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy - For his grace is always free. He never damns by prerogative, but by prerogative he saves.
Verse 22
[22] And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
I will put thee in a cleft of the rock — In that he was to be sheltered from the dazzling light, and devouring fire of God's glory. This was the rock in Horeb, out of which water was brought, of which it is said, That rock was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4. 'Tis in the clefts of this rock that we are secured from the wrath of God, which otherwise would consume us: God himself will protect those that are thus hid: and it is only through Christ that we have the knowledge of the glory of God. None can see that to their comfort, but those that stand upon this rock, and take shelter in it.
Verse 23
[23] And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
And I will take away my hand — Speaking after the manner of men.
And thou shalt see my back-parts — The face in man is the seat of majesty, and men are known by their faces, in them we take a full view of men; that sight of God Moses might not have, but such a sight as we have of a man who is gone past us, so that we only see his back. Now Moses was allowed to see this only, but when he was a witness to Christ's transfiguration, he saw his face shine as the sun.
Psalm 99
Verse 1
[1] The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
People — Such as are enemies to God and his people.
Sitteth — Upon the ark. He is present with his people.
Earth — The people of the earth.
Moved — With fear and trembling.
Verse 3
[3] Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.
Them — All people.
Verse 4
[4] The king's strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.
Judgment — Though his dominion be absolute, and his power irresistible, yet he manages it with righteousness. The king's strength is by a known Hebraism put for the strong, or powerful king.
Equity — In all thy proceedings.
Verse 5
[5] Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.
Foot-stool — Before the ark, which is so called, 1 Chronicles 28:2.
Holy — It is consecrated to be a pledge of God's presence.
Verse 6
[6] Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
Moses — Moses before the institution of the priesthood executed that office, Exodus 24:6.
That call — Who used frequently and solemnly to intercede with God on the behalf of the people.
Verse 7
[7] He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.
Spake — To some of them: to Moses and Aaron, Exodus 19:24; 33:9-11; 1 Samuel 7:9, etc.
Verse 8
[8] Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.
Them — The intercessors before mentioned.
Forgavest — The people for whom they prayed, so far as not to inflict that total destruction upon them which they deserved;
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Verse 1
[1] Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul — In this epistle St. Paul neither uses the title of an apostle, nor any other, as writing to pious and simple-hearted men, with the utmost familiarity. There is a peculiar sweetness in this epistle, unmixed with any sharpness or reproof: those evils which the apostles afterward reproved having not yet crept into the church.
Verse 3
[3] Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
Remembering in the sight of God — That is, praising him for it.
Your work of faith — Your active, ever-working faith.
And labour of love — Love continually labouring for the bodies or souls of men. They who do not thus labour, do not love. Faith works, love labours, hope patiently suffers all things.
Verse 4
[4] Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
Knowing your election — Which is through faith, by these plain proofs.
Verse 5
[5] For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
With power — Piercing the very heart with a sense of sin and deeply convincing you of your want of a Saviour from guilt, misery, and eternal ruin.
With the Holy Ghost — Bearing an outward testimony, by miracles, to the truth of what we preached, and you felt: also by his descent through laying on of hands.
With much assurance — Literally, with full assurance, and much of it: the Spirit bearing witness by shedding the love of God abroad in your hearts, which is the highest testimony that can be given. And these signs, if not the miraculous gifts, always attend the preaching of the gospel, unless it be in vain: neither are the extraordinary operations of the Holy Ghost ever wholly withheld, where the gospel is preached with power, and men are alive to God.
For your sake — Seeking your advantage, not our own.
Verse 6
[6] And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
Though in much affliction, yet with much joy.
Verse 8
[8] For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
For from you the word sounded forth — (Thessalonica being a city of great commerce.) Being echoed, as it were, from you. And your conversion was divulged far beyond Macedonia and Achaia. So that we need not speak anything - Concerning it.
Verse 9
[9] For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
For they themselves — The people wherever we come.
Verse 10
[10] And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Whom he hath raised from the dead — In proof of his future coming to judgment.
Who delivereth us — He redeemed us once; he delivers us continually; and will deliver all that believe from the wrath, the eternal vengeance, which will then come upon the ungodly.
Matthew 22:15-22
Verse 15
[15] Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
Mark 12:13; Luke 20:20.
Verse 16
[16] And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
The Herodians were a set of men peculiarly attached to Herod, and consequently zealous for the interest of the Roman government, which was the main support of the dignity and royalty of his family.
Thou regardest not the person of men — Thou favourest no man for his riches or greatness.
Verse 17
[17] Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
Is it lawful to give tribute to Cesar? — If he had said, Yes, the Pharisees would have accused him to the people, as a betrayer of the liberties of his country. If he had said, No, the Herodians would have accused him to the Roman governor.
Verse 18
[18] But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
Ye hypocrites — Pretending a scruple of conscience.
Verse 20
[20] And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription
The tribute money — A Roman coin, stamped with the head of Cesar, which was usually paid in tribute.
Verse 21
[21] They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
They say to him, Cesar's — Plainly acknowledging, by their having received his coin, that they were under his government. And indeed this is a standing rule. The current coin of every nation shows who is the supreme governor of it. Render therefore, ye Pharisees, to Cesar the things which ye yourselves acknowledge to be Cesar's: and, ye Herodians, while ye are zealous for Cesar, see that ye render to God the things that are God's.

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