Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “The Authentic Self” for Monday, 3 March 2014

Upper Room Daily Reflections - daily words of wisdom and faith “The Authentic Self” for Monday, 3 March 2014

Today’s Reflection:

AN ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL element of Christian community that is seldom discussed is a willingness to offer to others one’s true self rather than one’s contrived self. The greatest gift we can give to another is the authentic self.--Rueben P. Job and Marjorie J. Thompson-Embracing the Journey

From page 59 of Embracing the Journey, Participant’s Book, Vol. 1 in the Companions in Christ Series, by Rueben P. Job and Marjorie J. Thompson. Copyright © 2001 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question:

What does it mean to you to be authentic in your relationships? Have you considered this an expression of your faith?

Today’s Scripture:

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.--Joel 2:1-2, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are confused and afraid..

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Did You Know?

Pray your way through Lent in The Upper Room’s online Lenten retreat featuring Pamela Hawkins’s The Awkward Season. Log in anytime from anywhere to access audio, video, readings, and group discussion that will enliven and deepen your Lenten prayer practice. Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday.

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Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember:   John Wesley (March 03).

ohn Wesley (1703-91), cofounder (with brother Charles Wesley) of the Methodist movement, Anglican priest, Oxford fellow, theologian, author, publisher, evangelist, and itinerant preacher. Wesley was the fifteenth child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. At the age of five, John nearly perished in the Epworth rectory fire. From that moment, Susanna regarded John as a "brand plucked from the burning" and was convinced that God had some special purpose for his life. Wesley studied Greek, natural and moral philosophy, and logic at Oxford University. While at Oxford as a teaching fellow, he took over the leadership of the Oxford Holy Club, a group started by his brother Charles and a few close friends. The purpose of the group was to provide a mutual accountability structure for the imitation of Christ. Under John's leadership, they established a semimonastic lifestyle of extreme frugality (living on £28 a year), praying the Daily Office (Liturgy of the Hours), a form of daily self-examination (examen), twice weekly Holy Communion, serious Bible study, penance and mortification (especially fasting), and works of mercy among the poor. The methodical rigor of their pious practice caused much ridicule among the intellectuals of the university, who nicknamed them Methodists.

From the time of the Holy Club, Wesley kept a journal that he regularly edited for publication. The first volume recounts a disastrous trip as a missionary to Georgia, after which Wesley felt he was a failure as a priest, a Christian, and a human being. His search for a felt sense of assurance in his relationship with Christ culminated on May 24, 1738, when, at a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, he felt his "heart strangely warmed." By 1739 Anglican pulpits were repeatedly closed to Wesley because of his strong preaching on salvation by faith. Reluctantly he began field preaching. ... From 1738 to 1765, Wesley built a strongly organized Methodist society as a renewal movement within the Church of England. Through his evangelistic preaching tours tens of thousands were converted to Christ. ... He said that his aim was "not to form any new sect; but to reform the nation, particularly the Church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land." However, due to his pastoral concerns for the Methodists in America following the Revolutionary War, Wesley did set up the American Methodist Episcopal Church (1784) by ordaining and sending Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke to be its first bishops.

Wesley's Journal letters, sermons, and treatises are available in many editions, including some available on-line. A Plain Account of Christian Perfection summarizes Wesley's teaching on that subject.

If John Wesley had taken the Spiritual Types Test he probably would have been a Sage. Wesley is remembered on March 3.[Excerpted with permission from the entry on John Wesley by Cynthia I. Zirlott, The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]

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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion,

    and sound an alarm in my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

    for the day of Yahweh comes,

    for it is close at hand:

2 A day of darkness and gloominess,

    a day of clouds and thick darkness.

As the dawn spreading on the mountains,

    a great and strong people;

    there has never been the like,

    neither will there be any more after them,

    even to the years of many generations.

12 “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart,

    and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

13 Tear your heart, and not your garments,

    and turn to Yahweh, your God;

    for he is gracious and merciful,

    slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,

    and relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent,

    and leave a blessing behind him,

    even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion!

    Sanctify a fast.

    Call a solemn assembly.

16 Gather the people.

    Sanctify the assembly.

    Assemble the elders.

    Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts.

Let the bridegroom go out of his room,

    and the bride out of her room.

17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar,

    and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh,

    and don’t give your heritage to reproach,

    that the nations should rule over them.

Why should they say among the peoples,

    ‘Where is their God?’”

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, don’t spare.

    Lift up your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their disobedience,

    and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily,

    and delight to know my ways.

As a nation that did righteousness,

    and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,

they ask of me righteous judgments.

    They delight to draw near to God.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see?

    Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’

“Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,

    and oppress all your laborers.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention,

    and to strike with the fist of wickedness.

    You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the fast that I have chosen?

    A day for a man to humble his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself?

Will you call this a fast,

    and an acceptable day to Yahweh?

6 “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:

    to release the bonds of wickedness,

    to undo the straps of the yoke,

    to let the oppressed go free,

    and that you break every yoke?

7 Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry,

    and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house?

When you see the naked,

    that you cover him;

    and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then your light will break out as the morning,

    and your healing will appear quickly;

then your righteousness shall go before you;

    and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer;

    you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away from among you the yoke,

    finger pointing,

    and speaking wickedly;

10 and if you pour out your soul to the hungry,

    and satisfy the afflicted soul:

then your light will rise in darkness,

    and your obscurity will be as the noonday;

11 and Yahweh will guide you continually,

    and satisfy your soul in dry places,

    and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

    and like a spring of water,

    whose waters don’t fail.

12 Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places;

    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach,

    Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.

Psalm 51: For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.

    According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.

    Cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions.

    My sin is constantly before me.

4 Against you, and you only, have I sinned,

    and done that which is evil in your sight;

that you may be proved right when you speak,

    and justified when you judge.

5 Behold, I was born in iniquity.

    In sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.

    You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.

    Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness,

    That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

    and blot out all of my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.

    Renew a right spirit within me.

11 Don’t throw me from your presence,

    and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

    Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways.

    Sinners shall be converted to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.

    My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips.

    My mouth shall declare your praise.

16 For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.

    You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

    A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6:1 Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain, 2 for he says,

“At an acceptable time I listened to you,

in a day of salvation I helped you.”[a]

Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed, 4 but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; 6 in pureness, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, 7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Footnotes:

a. 2 Corinthians 6:2 Isaiah 49:8

Matthew 6:1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, 4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

16 “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face; 18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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John Wesley’s Notes/Commentary:

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

II A farther description of the desolation of the land, ver. 1-11. An earnest call to repentance, ver. 12-17. A promise of all good things to the penitent, ver. 18-27. A prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom, ver. 28-32.

Verse 1. Blow ye - The prophet continues his exhortation to the priests, who were appointed to summon the solemn assemblies.

Verse 2. A day of darkness - A time of exceeding great troubles and calamities. And this passage may well allude to the day of judgment, and the calamities which precede that day. As the morning - As the morning spreads itself over all the hemisphere and first upon the high mountains, so shall the approaching calamities overspread this people. A great people - This seems more directly to intend the Babylonians.

Verse 13. And repenteth him - He turneth from executing the fierceness of his wrath.

Verse 14. He will return - God doth not move from one place to another; but when he withholds his blessings, he is said to withdraw himself. And so when he gives out his blessing, he is said to return. And leave a blessing behind him - Cause the locusts to depart before they have eaten up all that is in the land.

Verse 16. The children - Though they understand little what is done, yet their cities ascend, and God with pity looks on their tears. These that suck - Their cries and tears may perhaps move the congregation to more earnest supplication to God for mercy. So the Ninevites, Jonah iii, 7, 8. The bridegroom - Let the new married man leave the mirth of the nuptials and afflict himself with the rest.

Verse 17. The porch - That stately porch built by Solomon, 1 Kings vi, 3. The altar - The altar of burnt-offering, which stood at some distance from this porch, and here are the priests commanded to stand, fasting and praying, whence they might be heard and seen by the people in the next court, in which the people were wont to pray. To reproach - Famine, though by locusts is a reproach to this thine heritage; it will be greater reproach to be slaves to the nations signified by the locusts, therefore in mercy deliver us from both one and the other.

Isaiah 58:1-12

LVIII The hypocrisy of the Jews, in their fasts, ver. 1-5. A true fast described, ver. 6, 7. Promises to Godliness, ver. 8-12. To the keeping of the sabbath, ver. 13, 14.

Verse 2. Yet - They cover all their wickedness with a profession of religion. Delight - There are many men who take some pleasure in knowing God's will and word, and yet do not conform their lives to it. As - As if they were a righteous people. Forsook - As if they were not guilty of any apostacy from God, or disobedience to God's precepts. Ask - As if they resolved to observe them. In approaching - In coming to my temple to hear my word, and to offer sacrifices.

Verse 3. Afflicted - Defrauded our appetites with fasting, of which this phrase is used, Levit xvi, 29. Ye find - Either you indulge yourselves in sensuality, as they did, chap. xxii, 13. But this does not agree with that afflicting of their souls which they now professed, and which God acknowledges; or you pursue and satisfy your own desires: though you abstain from bodily food, you do not mortify your sinful inclinations. Exact - Your money, got by your labour, and lent to others, either for their need or your own advantage, which you require either with usury, or at least with rigor, when either the general law of charity, or God's particular law, commanded the release, or at least the forbearance of them.

Verse 4. Behold - Your fasting days, wherein you ought in a special manner to implore the mercy of God, and to shew compassion to men, you employ in injuring or quarrelling with your brethren, your servants or debtors, or in contriving mischief against them. Heard - In strife and debate. By way of ostentation.

Verse 5. Chosen - Approve of, accept, or delight in, by a metonymy, because we delight in what we freely chuse. For a day - This may be understood, either for a man to take a certain time to afflict his soul in, and that either from even to even, Lev. xxiii, 32, or from morning to evening, or for a little time. Wilt thou call - Canst thou suppose it to be so? A fast - It being such an one as has nothing in it, but the dumb signs of a fast, nothing of deep humiliation appearing in it, or, real reformation proceeding from it. Acceptable day - A day that God will approve of.

Verse 6. The bands - The cruel obligations of usury and oppression.

Verse 7. Cast out - And thereby become wanderers, having no abiding place. To thy house - That thou be hospitable, and make thy house a shelter to them that have none of their own left. Hide not - That seek no occasion to excuse thyself. Thy own flesh - Some confine this to our own kindred; but we can look on no man, but there we contemplate our own flesh, and therefore it is barbarous, not only to tear, but not to love and succor him. Therefore feed him as thou wouldest feed thyself, or be fed; shelter him as thou wouldest shelter thyself, or be sheltered; clothe him as thou wouldest clothe thyself, or be clothed; if in any of these respects thou wert in his circumstances.

Verse 8. Thy light - Happiness and prosperity. Break forth - It shall not only appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all difficulties, as the sun breaks, and pierces through a cloud. Thy health - Another metaphor to express the same thing. Righteousness - The reward of thy righteousness. Before thee - As the morning-star goes before the sun. The glory - His glorious power and providence. Thy rereward - Thus the angel of his presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.

Verse 9. Answer - He will give an effectual demonstration, that he hears thee. Here l am - A phrase that notes a person to be ready at hand to help. Take away - From among you. The yoke - All those pressures and grievances before mentioned. Putting forth - Done by way of scoff, or disdainful insulting. Vanity - Any kind of evil words.

Verse 10. Draw out - Or, open, as when we open a store, to satisfy the wants of the needy. Thy soul - Thy affection, thy pity and compassion. Thy darkness - In the very darkness of the affliction itself thou shalt have comfort.

Verse 11. Guide thee - Like a shepherd. And he adds continually to shew that his conduct and blessing shall not be momentary, or of a short continuance, but all along as it was to Israel in the wilderness. Satisfy - Thou shalt have plenty, when others are in scarcity. Make fat - This may be spoken in opposition to the sad effects of famine, whereby the flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen, and the bones that were not seen, stick out. A garden - If thou relieve the poor, thou shalt never be poor, but as a well-watered garden, always flourishing. Fail not - Hebrew. deceive not, a metaphor which farther notes also the continuance of this flourishing state, which will not be like a land-flood, or brooks, that will soon be dried up with drought. Thou shalt be fed with a spring of blessing, that will never fail.

Verse 12. They shall be of thee - Thy posterity. Waste places - Cities which have lain long waste; that shall continue for many generations to come. The breach - Breach is put for breaches, which was made by God's judgment breaking in upon them in suffering the walls of their towns and cities to be demolished. Paths - Those paths that led from city to city, which being now laid desolate, and uninhabited, were grown over with grass, and weeds. To dwell in - These accommodations being recovered, their ancient cities might be fit to be re-inhabited.

Psalm 51:1-17

PS 51 David prays for pardon, ver. 1, 2. Confesses his sins, ver. 3- 5. Prays for renewing grace, ver. 6-14. Promises unfeigned thankfulness, ver. 15-17. Prays for the whole church, ver, 18, 19. To the chief musician, A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Verse 4. Thee only - Which is not to be, understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others; yet nothing is more grievous to me, than that I have sinned against thee. Thy sight - With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions. Justified - This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use towards me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men. Speakest - Hebrew. in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me. Judgest - When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.

Verse 5. Behold - Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain: and upon a review of my heart, I find, that this heinous crime, was the proper fruit of my vile nature, which, ever was, and still is ready to commit ten thousand sins, as occasion offers.

Verse 6. Truth - Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.

Verse 7. Hyssop - As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.

Verse 8. Joy - By thy spirit, seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy. Rejoice - That my heart which hath been sorely wounded may be comforted.

Verse 10. Create - Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away. Right - Hebrew. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable. Spirit - Temper or disposition of soul.

Verse 12. The joy - The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. Free - Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God's precepts.

Verse 14. Thy righteousness - Thy clemency and goodness.

Verse 15. My lips - Which are shut with shame and grief.

Verse 16. Not sacrifice - This is not to be understood absolutely, with respect to David's crimes, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice.

Verse 17. A broken spirit - This is of more value than many sacrifices.

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Verse 20. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ-we beseech you in Christ's stead - Herein the apostle might appear to some "transported beyond himself." In general he uses a more calm, sedate kind of exhortation, as in the beginning of the next chapter. What unparalleled condescension and divinely tender mercies are displayed in this verse! Did the judge ever beseech a condemned criminal to accept of pardon? Does the creditor ever beseech a ruined debtor to receive an acquittance in full? Yet our almighty Lord, and our eternal Judge, not only vouchsafes to offer these blessings, but invites us, entreats us, and, with the most tender importunity, solicits us, not to reject them.

Verse 21. He made him a sin offering, who knew no sin - A commendation peculiar to Christ. For us - Who knew no righteousness, who were inwardly and outwardly nothing but sin; who must have been consumed by the divine justice, had not this atonement been made for our sins. That we might be made the righteousness of God through him - Might through him be invested with that righteousness, first imputed to us, then implanted in us, which is in every sense the righteousness of God.

1. We then not only beseech, but as fellow-labourers with you, who are working out your own salvation, do also exhort you, not to receive the grace of God - Which we have been now describing. In vain - We receive it by faith; and not in vain, if we add to this, persevering holiness.

Verse 2. For he saith - The sense is, As of old there was a particular time wherein God was pleased to pour out his peculiar blessing, so there is now. And this is the particular time: this is a time of peculiar blessing. Isaiah xlix, 8.

Verse 3. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offense, that the ministry be not blamed on our account.

4. But approving ourselves as the ministers of God - Such as his ministers ought to be. In much patience - Shown,

Verse 1. In afflictions, necessities, distresses - All which are general terms.

Verse 2. In stripes, imprisonments, tumults - Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress

Verse 3. In labours, watchings, fastings - Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. In afflictions, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty in necessities, one only, and that a difficult one; in distresses, none at all appears.

Verse 5. In tumults - The Greek word implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against, but which bear him hither and thither by violence.

Verse 6. By prudence - Spiritual divine; not what the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence is the due exercise of grace, making spiritual understanding go as far as possible. By love unfeigned - The chief fruit of the Spirit.

Verse 7. By the convincing and converting power of God - Accompanying his word; and also attesting it by divers miracles. By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left - That is, on all sides; the panoply or whole armour of God.

Verse 8. By honour and dishonour - When we are present. By evil report and good report - When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were it not balanced by dishonour? As deceivers - Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ. Yet true - Upright, sincere, in the sight of God.

Verse 9. As unknown - For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not. Yet well known - To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold - Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live.

Verse 10. As sorrowing - For our own manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of our brethren. Yet always rejoicing - In present peace, love, power, and a sure hope of future glory. As having nothing, yet possessing all things - For all things are ours, if we are Christ's. What a magnificence of thought is this!

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

1. In the foregoing chapter our Lord particularly described the nature of inward holiness. In this he describes that purity of intention without which none of our outward actions are holy. This chapter contains four parts,

1. The right intention and manner of giving alms, ver. 1-4.

2. The right intention, manner, form, and prerequisites of prayer, ver. 5-15.

3. The right intention, and manner of fasting, ver. 16-18.

4. The necessity of a pure intention in all things, unmixed either with the desire of riches, or worldly care, and fear of want, ver. 19-34. This verse is a general caution against vain glory, in any of our good works: All these are here summed up together, in the comprehensive word righteousness. This general caution our Lord applies in the sequel to the three principal branches of it, relating to our neighbour, ver. 2-iv, to God, ver. 5, vi, and to ourselves, ver. 16-18. To be seen - Barely the being seen, while we are doing any of these things, is a circumstance purely indifferent. But the doing them with this view, to be seen and admired, this is what our Lord condemns.

Verse 2. As the hypocrites do - Many of the scribes and Pharisees did this, under a pretense of calling the poor together. They have their reward - All they will have; for they shall have none from God.

Verse 3. Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth - A proverbial expression for doing a thing secretly. Do it as secretly as is consistent,

Verse 1. With the doing it at all.

2. With the doing it in the most effectual manner.

5. The synagogues - These were properly the places where the people assembled for public prayer, and hearing the Scriptures read and expounded. They were in every city from the time of the Babylonish captivity, and had service in them thrice a day on three days in the week. In every synagogue was a council of grave and wise persons, over whom was a president, called the ruler of the synagogue. But the word here, as well as in many other texts, signifies any place of public concourse.

Verse 6. Enter into thy closet - That is, do it with as much secrecy as thou canst.

Verse 1. Hallowed be thy name - Mayest thou, O Father, he truly known by all intelligent beings, and with affections suitable to that knowledge: mayest thou be duly honoured, loved, feared, by all in heaven and in earth, by all angels and all men.

Verse 2. Thy kingdom come - May thy kingdom of grace come quickly, and swallow up all the kingdoms of the earth: may all mankind, receiving thee, O Christ, for their king, truly believing in thy name, be filled with righteousness, and peace, and joy; with holiness and happiness, till they are removed hence into thy kingdom of glory, to reign with thee for ever and ever.

Verse 3. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven - May all the inhabitants of the earth do thy will as willingly as the holy angels: may these do it continually even as they, without any interruption of their willing service; yea, and perfectly as they: mayest thou, O Spirit of grace, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make them perfect in every good work to do thy will, and work in them all that is well pleasing in thy sight.

Verse 4. Give us - O Father (for we claim nothing of right, but only of thy free mercy) this day - (for we take no thought for the morrow) our daily bread - All things needful for our souls and bodies: not only the meat that perisheth, but the sacramental bread, and thy grace, the food which endureth to everlasting life.

Verse 5. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors - Give us, O Lord, redemption in thy blood, even the forgiveness of sins: as thou enablest us freely and fully to forgive every man, so do thou forgive all our trespasses.

Verse 6. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil - Whenever we are tempted, O thou that helpest our infirmities, suffer us not to enter into temptation; to be overcome or suffer loss thereby; but make a way for us to escape, so that we may be more than conquerors, through thy love, over sin and all the consequences of it. Now the principal desire of a Christian's heart being the glory of God, (ver. 9, 10, ) and all he wants for himself or his brethren being the daily bread of soul and body, (or the support of life, animal and spiritual, ) pardon of sin, and deliverance from the power of it and of the devil, (ver. 11, 12, 13, ) there is nothing beside that a Christian can wish for; therefore this prayer comprehends all his desires. Eternal life is the certain consequence, or rather completion of holiness.

III. For thine is the kingdom - The sovereign right of all things that are or ever were created: The power - the executive power, whereby thou governest all things in thy everlasting kingdom: And the glory - The praise due from every creature, for thy power, and all thy wondrous works, and the mightiness of thy kingdom, which endureth through all ages, even for ever and ever. It is observable, that though the doxology, as well as the petitions of this prayer, is threefold, and is directed to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost distinctly, yet is the whole fully applicable both to every person, and to the ever - blessed and undivided trinity. Luke xi, 2.

16. When ye fast? - Our Lord does not enjoin either fasting, alms- deeds, or prayer: all these being duties which were before fully established in the Church of God. Disfigure - By the dust and ashes which they put upon their heads, as was usual at the times of solemn humiliation.

Verse 17. Anoint thy head - So the Jews frequently did. Dress thyself as usual.

Verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves - Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise. Where rust and moth consume - Where all things are perishable and transient. He may likewise have a farther view in these words, even to guard us against making any thing on earth our treasure. For then a thing properly becomes our treasure, when we set our affections upon it. Luke xii, 33.

Verse 21. Luke xi, 34.

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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

First Sunday in Lent

Genesis 2: 15 Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. 16 Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, 5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.

Psalm 32: By David. A contemplative psalm.

1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,

    whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity,

    in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me.

    My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you.

    I didn’t hide my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,

    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.

    Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

7 You are my hiding place.

    You will preserve me from trouble.

    You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

Selah.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.

    I will counsel you with my eye on you.

9 Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,

    who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

10 Many sorrows come to the wicked,

    but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.

11 Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!

    Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

Romans 5: 12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. 13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. 15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification. 17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”[a]

5 Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and,

‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”[b]

7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”[c]

8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me,[d] Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” [e]

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

Footnotes:

a. Matthew 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3

b. Matthew 4:6 Psalm 91:11-12

c. Matthew 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16

d. Matthew 4:10 TR and NU read “Go away” instead of “Get behind me”

e. Matthew 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13

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John Wesley’s Notes/Commentary:

First Sunday in Lent

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Verse 16, 17. Thou shall die - That is, thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt become liable to death, and all the miseries that preface and attend it. This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin. In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die - Not only thou shalt become mortal, but spiritual death and the forerunners of temporal death shall immediately seize thee. See note at "ver. 17"

II The general contents of this chapter we have Rom. v, 12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. More particularly, we have here,

I. The innocent tempted, ver. 1-5.

II. The tempted transgressing, ver. 6, 7, 8.

III. The transgressors arraigned, ver. 9, 10.

IV. Upon their arraignment convicted, ver. 11-13.

V. Upon their conviction sentenced, ver. 14-19.

VI. After sentence, reprieved, ver. 20, 21.

VII. Notwithstanding their reprieve, execution in part done, ver. 22-24, and were it not for the gracious intimations of redemption, they and all their race had been left to despair.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We have here an account of the temptation wherewith Satan assaulted our first parents, and which proved fatal to them. And here observe, (1.) The tempter, the devil in the shape of a serpent. Multitudes of them fell; but this that attacked our first parents, was surely the prince of the devils. Whether it was only the appearance of a serpent, or a real serpent, acted and possessed by the devil, is not certain. The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, because it is a subtle creature. It is not improbable, that reason and speech were then the known properties of the serpent. And therefore Eve was not surprised at his reasoning and speaking, which otherwise she must have been. (2.) That which the devil aimed at, was to persuade Eve to eat forbidden fruit; and to do this, he took the same method that he doth still.

1. He questions whether it were a sin or no, ver. 1,

2. He denies that there was any danger in it, ver. 4.

3. He suggests much advantage by it, ver. 5. And these are his common topics. As to the advantage, he suits the temptation to the pure state they were now in, proposing to them not any carnal pleasure, but intellectual delights.

Verse 1. Your eyes shall be opened - You shall have much more of the power and pleasure of contemplation than now you have; you shall fetch a larger compass in your intellectual views, and see farther into things than now you do.

Verse 2. You shall be as gods - As Elohim, mighty gods, not only omniscient but omnipotent too:

Verse 3. You shall know good and evil - That is, everything that is desirable to be known. To support this part of the temptation, he abuseth the name given to this tree. 'Twas intended to teach the practical knowledge of good and evil, that is, of duty and disobedience, and it would prove the experimental knowledge of good and evil, that is, of happiness and misery. But he perverts the sense of it, and wrests it to their destruction, as if this tree would give them a speculative notional knowledge of the natures, kinds, and originals of good and evil. And,

Verse 4. All this presently, In the day you eat thereof - You will find a sudden and immediate change for the better. See note at "ver. 1"

Verse 6, 7, 8. Here we see what Eve's parley with the tempter ended in: Satan at length gains his point. God tried the obedience of our first parents by forbidding them the tree of knowledge, and Satan doth as it were join issue with God, and in that very thing undertakes to seduce them into a transgression; and here we find how he prevailed, God permitting it for wise and holy ends. (1.) We have here the inducements that moved them to transgress. The woman being deceived, was ring-leader in the transgression, 1 Tim. ii, 14

1. She saw that the tree was - It was said of all the rest of the fruit trees wherewith the garden of Eden was planted, that they were pleasant to the sight, and good for food.

2. She imagined a greater benefit by this tree than by any of the rest, that it was a tree not only not to be dreaded, but to be desired to make one wise, and therein excelling all the rest of the trees. This she saw, that is, she perceived and understood it by what the devil had said to her. She gave also to her husband with her - 'Tis likely he was not with her when she was tempted; surely if he had, he would have interposed to prevent the sin; but he came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed with by her to eat likewise. She gave it to him; persuading him with the same arguements that the serpent had used with her; adding this to the rest, that she herself had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was extremely pleasant and grateful. And he did eat - This implied the unbelief of God's word, and confidence in the devil's; discontent with his present state, and an ambition of the honour which comes not from God. He would be both his own carver, and his own master, would have what he pleased, and do what he pleased; his sin was in one word disobedience, Rom. v, 19, disobedience to a plain, easy and express command, which he knew to be a command of trial. He sins against light and love, the clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned against. But the greatest aggravation of his sin was, that he involved all his posterity in sin and ruin by it. He could not but know that he stood as a public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal to all his seed; and if so, it was certainly both the greatest treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever was. Shame and fear seized the criminals, these came into the world along with sin, and still attend it. The Eyes of them both were opened - The eyes of their consciences; their hearts smote them for what they had done Now, when it was too late, they saw the happiness they were fallen from, and the misery they were fallen into. They saw God provoked, his favour forfeited, his image lost; they felt a disorder in their own spirits, which they had never before been conscious of; they saw a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath; they saw that they were naked, that is, that they were stripped, deprived of all the honours and joys of their paradise state, and exposed to all the miseries that might justly be expected from an angry God; laid open to the contempt and reproach of heaven and earth, and their own consciences. And they sewed or platted fig leaves together, and, to cover, at least, part of their shame one from another, made themselves aprons. See here what is commonly the folly of those that have sinned: they are more solicitous to save their credit before men, than to obtain their pardon from God. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day - Tis supposed he came in a human shape; in no other similitude than that wherein they had seen him when he put them into paradise; for he came to convince and humble them, not to amaze and terrify them. He came not immediately from heaven in their view as afterwards on mount Sinai, but he came in the garden, as one that was still willing to be familiar with them. He came walking, not riding upon the wings of the wind, but walking deliberately, as one slow to anger. He came in the cool of the day, not in the night, when all fears are doubly fearful; nor did he come suddenly upon them, but they heard his voice at some distance, giving them notice of his coming; and probably it was a still small voice, like that in which he came to inquire after Elijah. And they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God - A sad change! Before they had sinned, if they heard the voice of the Lord God coming towards them, they would have run to meet him, but now God was become a terror to them, and then no marvel they were become a terror to themselves. See note at "ver. 6"

Psalm 32

PS 32 The happiness of them whose sins are forgiven, ver. 1, 2. The necessity of confessing our sins, and of prayer, ver. 3-6. God's promise to them that trust in him, ver. 7-10. An exhortation to rejoice in God, ver. 11. A psalm of David, Maschil. Title of the psalm. Maschil - Or, an instructor. This psalm is fitly so called, because it was composed for the information of the church, in that most important doctrine, the way to true blessedness.

Verse 2. Imputeth - Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in Christ. No guile - Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God with all his heart.

Verse 3. Silence - From a full and open confession of my sins. Old - My spirit failed, and the strength of my body decayed. Roaring - Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath.

Verse 4. Hand - Thy afflicting hand. My moisture - Was dried up.

Verse 5. The iniquity - The guilt of my sin.

Verse 6. For this - Upon the encouragement of my example. Found - In an acceptable and seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy. Waters - In the time of great calamities. Not come - So as to overwhelm him.

Verse 8. I will - This and the next verse seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers. Mine eye - So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon him.

Verse 9. Will not - Unless they be forced to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.

Verse 10. Sorrows - This is an argument to enforce the foregoing admonition.

Romans 5:12-19

Verse 12. Therefore - This refers to all the preceding discourse; from which the apostle infers what follows. He does not therefore properly make a digression, but returns to speak again of sin and of righteousness. As by one man - Adam; who is mentioned, and not Eve, as being the representative of mankind. Sin entered into the world - Actual sin, and its consequence, a sinful nature. And death - With all its attendants. It entered into the world when it entered into being; for till then it did not exist. By sin - Therefore it could not enter before sin. Even so - Namely, by one man. In that - So the word is used also, 2 Cor. v, 4. All sinned - In Adam. These words assign the reason why death came upon all men; infants themselves not excepted, in that all sinned.

Verse 13. For until the law sin was in the world - All, I say, had sinned, for sin was in the world long before the written law; but, I grant, sin is not so much imputed, nor so severely punished by God, where there is no express law to convince men of it. Yet that all had sinned, even then, appears in that all died.

Verse 14. Death reigned - And how vast is his kingdom! Scarce can we find any king who has as many subjects, as are the kings whom he hath conquered. Even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression - Even over infants who had never sinned, as Adam did, in their own persons; and over others who had not, like him, sinned against an express law. Who is the figure of him that was to come - Each of them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offense; the other, of righteousness and life by his free gift. Thus far the apostle shows the agreement between the first and second Adam: afterward he shows the differences between them. The agreement may be summed up thus: As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so by one man righteousness entered into the world, and life by righteousness. As death passed upon all men, in that all had sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in that all are justified. And as death through the sin of the first Adam reigned even over them who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression; so through the righteousness of Christ, even those who have not obeyed, after the likeness of his obedience, shall reign in life. We may add, As the sin of Adam, without the sins which we afterwards committed, brought us death; so the righteousness of Christ, without the good works which we afterwards perform, brings us life: although still every good, as well as evil, work, will receive its due reward.

Verse 15. Yet not - St. Paul now describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more directly and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift differ,

1. In amplitude, ver. 15.

2. He from whom sin came, and He from whom the free gift came, termed also "the gift of righteousness," differ in power, ver. 16.

3. The reason of both is subjoined, ver. 17.

4. This premised, the offense and the free gift are compared, with regard to their effect, ver. 18, and with regard to their cause, ver. 19.

16. The sentence was by one offense to Adam's condemnation - Occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him, which, by consequence, overwhelmed his posterity. But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification - Unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offenses.

Verse 17. There is a difference between grace and the gift. Grace is opposed to the offense; the gift, to death, being the gift of life.

Verse 18. Justification of life - Is that sentence of God, by which a sinner under sentence of death is adjudged to life.

Verse 19. As by the disobedience of one man many (that is, all men) were constituted sinners - Being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all. So by the obedience of one - By his obedience unto death; by his dying for us. Many - All that believe. Shall be constituted righteous - Justified, pardoned.

Matthew 4:1-11

Verse 1. Then - After this glorious evidence of his Father's love, he was completely armed for the combat. Thus after the clearest light and the strongest consolation, let us expect the sharpest temptations. By the Spirit - Probably through a strong inward impulse. Mark i, 12; Luke iv, 1.

Verse 2. Having fasted - Whereby doubtless he received more abundant spiritual strength from God. Forty days and forty nights - As did Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great restorer of it. He was afterward hungry - And so prepared for the first temptation.

Verse 3. Coming to him - In a visible form; probably in a human shape, as one that desired to inquire farther into the evidences of his being the Messiah.

Verse 4. It is written - Thus Christ answered, and thus we may answer all the suggestions of the devil. By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God - That is, by whatever God commands to sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will. Deut. viii, 3.

Verse 5. The holy city - So Jerusalem was commonly called, being the place God had peculiarly chosen for himself. On the battlement of the temple - Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of it without making himself giddy.

Verse 6. In their hands - That is, with great care. Psalm xci, 11, 12.

Verse 7. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God - By requiring farther evidence of what he hath already made sufficiently plain. Deut. vi, 16.

Verse 8. Showeth him all the kingdoms of the world - In a kind of visionary representation.

Verse 9. If thou wilt fall down and worship me - Here Satan clearly shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering this suggestion, calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.

Verse 10. Get thee hence, Satan - Not, get thee behind me, that is, into thy proper place; as he said on a quite different occasion to Peter, speaking what was not expedient. Deut. vi, 13.

Verse 11. Angels came and waited upon him - Both to supply him with food, and to congratulate his victory.

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