Upper Room Daily Reflections from The Upper Room Ministries of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "A Life That Points to God" for day, September 2015

Upper Room Daily Reflections from The Upper Room Ministries of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "A Life That Points to God" for day,  September 2015
Today's Reflection:
SWAMI DESCRIBED the modern-day Hindu guru as God’s grace — not a ploy for men and women to be worshiped and elevated above others. God cares for us enough to bestow mercy on us by showing us how best to serve. Grace has been bestowed on someone who is more advanced and who can now show us the way,” Swami explained. “We shouldn’t envy someone whom we perceive to be more advanced at living like Christ than we are. Instead, we should feel joy that God cares enough to send that person to show us what to do.”
I hadn’t thought about God appointing gurus to help us figure out this mess of a life. But that is exactly what Jesus was: the ultimate guru and the ultimate grace. And that’s precisely what the hometown gurus I’d known — the dear followers of Jesus — had done for me.
A real guru, like Christ, will always point to God. The saints I’d known in my childhood and adolescence embodied God’s grace — and accurately represented God by that grace.[J. Dana Trent, Saffron Cross]
Pages 128-129 of Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk by J. Dana Trent. Copyright © 2013 by J. Dana Trent. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Fresh Air Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Who in your life points you to God?
Today’s Scripture:
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.[James 2:17, NRSV

This Week: pray for families.

__________________________

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 web site.

____________________________

Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember: Albert Schweitzer (September 4).
Albert Schweitzer, (1875-1985), biblical scholar, organist, biographer of J. S. Bach, and medical missionary in Africa, perhaps the single best-known Protestant figure of the twentieth century. He was born in Alsace, a part of France claimed by Germany, and was himself a German citizen. He became a leader in the nineteenth-century movement that sought to discover the historical Jesus behind the Gospel accounts. But he gave up the life of scholarship to follow his sense of call to serve the people of Africa.

Although he had studied medicine, he gave organ concerts to pay for his missionary endeavors at Lambarené in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). Caught up in the events of World War I, he was interned by the French government but returned to Africa in 1924. As a nature mystic, Schweitzer developed the philosophy he called "reverence for life." As a doctor he fought against germs, but he was reluctant to destroy any life form.
His writings include The Quest of the Historical Jesus; On the Edge of the Primeval Forest; The Mystery of the Kingdom of God; The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle; and his autobiography, Out of My Life and Thought.
If Albert Schweitzer had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Mystic. Albert Schweitzer is remembered on September 4.
[Excerpted with permission from the entry on Albert Schweitzer by Howard L. Rice, from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]
Image from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room. Etching by Arthur William Heintzelman. [195-].

____________________________

Lectionary Readings:

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
Psalm 124
James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17
Mark 7:24-37
Lectiionsry Scripture:
Proverbs 22:1 Rather than wealth, choose a good reputation,
    esteem over silver and gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common —
    Adonai made them both.
8 He who sows injustice reaps trouble,
    and the rod of his angry outburst will fail.
9 He who is generous is blessed,
    because he shares his food with the poor.
22 Don’t exploit the helpless, because they are helpless,
    and don’t crush the poor in court,
23 for Adonai will plead their case for them
    and withhold life from those who defraud them.
Psalm 125:(0) A song of ascents:
(1) Those who trust in Adonai
are like Mount Tziyon,
which cannot be moved
but remains forever.
2 Yerushalayim!
Mountains all around it!
Thus Adonai is around his people
henceforth and forever.
3 For the scepter of wickedness
will not rule the inheritance of the righteous,
so that the righteous will not themselves
turn their hands to evil.
4 Do good, Adonai, to the good,
to those upright in their hearts.
5 But as for those who turn aside
to their own crooked ways,
may Adonai turn them away,
along with those who do evil.
Shalom on Isra’el!
Psalm 124:(0) A song of ascents. By David:
(1) If Adonai hadn’t been for us —
let Isra’el repeat it —
2 If Adonai hadn’t been for us
when people rose to attack us,
3 then, when their anger blazed against us,
they would have swallowed us alive!
4 Then the water would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us.
5 Yes, the raging water
would have swept right over us.
6 Blessed be Adonai, who did not leave us
to be a prey for their teeth!
7 We escaped like a bird from the hunter’s trap;
the trap is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of Adonai,
the maker of heaven and earth.
James 2:1 My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. 3 If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” 4 then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?
5 Listen, my dear brothers, hasn’t God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to receive the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6 But you despise the poor! Aren’t the rich the ones who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Aren’t they the ones who insult the good name of Him to whom you belong? 8 If you truly attain the goal of Kingdom Torah, in conformity with the passage that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[James 2:8 Leviticus 19:18] you are doing well. 9 But if you show favoritism, your actions constitute sin, since you are convicted under the Torah as transgressors.
10 For a person who keeps the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all. 11 For the One who said, “Don’t commit adultery,”[James 2:11 Exodus 20:13(14); Deuteronomy 5:17(18)] also said, “Don’t murder.”[James 2:11 Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17] Now, if you don’t commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the Torah.
12 Keep speaking and acting like people who will be judged by a Torah which gives freedom. 13 For judgment will be without mercy toward one who doesn’t show mercy; but mercy wins out over judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, 16 and someone says to him, “Shalom! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? 17 Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.
Mark 7:24 Next, Yeshua left that district and went off to the vicinity of Tzor and Tzidon. There he found a house to stay in and wanted to remain unrecognized, but keeping hidden proved impossible. 25 Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit in her came to him and fell down at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, by birth a Syro-phoenician, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” 28 She answered him, “That is true, sir; but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s leftovers.” 29 Then he said to her, “For such an answer you may go on home; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went back home and found the child lying on the couch, the demon gone.
31 Then he left the district of Tzor and went through Tzidon to Lake Kinneret and on to the region of the Ten Towns. 32 They brought him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and asked Yeshua to lay his hand on him. 33 Taking him off alone, away from the crowd, Yeshua put his fingers into the man’s ears, spat, and touched his tongue; 34 then, looking up to heaven, he gave a deep groan and said to him, “Hippatach!” (that is, “Be opened!”). 35 His ears were opened, his tongue was freed, and he began speaking clearly. 36 Yeshua ordered the people to tell no one; but the more he insisted, the more zealously they spread the news. 37 People were overcome with amazement. “Everything he does, he does well!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!”
John Wesley's Notes-commentary for Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

Verse 1
[1] A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Favour — A good report among men, especially good men, and that hearty kindness which attends it.
Verse 2
[2] The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.
Meet — They live together, and need one another.
The maker — Not only as they are men, but as they are poor or rich, which difference comes from God's providence. They have one common creator, and Lord, and judge, and the one cannot despise nor grudge at the other without reflecting upon God.

Verse 8
[8] He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
The rod — That power which he used with fury shall be taken from him.
Verse 9
[9] He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
He — Who looks upon the wants and miseries of others with compassion.

Verse 22
[22] Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
In the gate — Under pretence of justice.
Verse 23
[23] For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Spoil the soul — Take away not only their goods but their lives too.Psalm 125
Verse 3
[3] For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.
The rod — Their power and authority.
Not rest — Not continue long.
The lot — Upon the habitations and persons of good men.
Lest — Lest they should be driven to indirect courses to relieve themselves.
Verse 5
[5] As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
Lead them — Unto sinful courses.
Israel — Upon the true Israel of God.Psalm 124
Verse 5
[5] Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
The proud — Our enemies, compared to proud waters, for their great multitude and swelling rage.James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17
Verse 1
[1] My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
My brethren — The equality of Christians, intimated by this name, is the ground of the admonition. Hold not the faith of our common Lord, the Lord of glory - Of which glory all who believe in him partake.
With respect of persons — That is, honour none merely for being rich; despise none merely for being poor.
Verse 2
[2] For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
With gold rings — Which were not then so common as now.
Verse 3
[3] And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Ye look upon him — With respect.
Verse 4
[4] Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Ye distinguish not — To which the most respect is due, to the poor or to the rich.
But are become evil-reasoning judges — You reason ill, and so judge wrong: for fine apparel is no proof of worth in him that wears it.
Verse 5
[5] Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
Hearken — As if he had said, Stay, consider, ye that judge thus. Does not the presumption lie rather in favour of the poor man? Hath not God chosen the poor - That is, are not they whom God hath chosen, generally speaking, poor in this world? who yet are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom - Consequently, the most honourable of men: and those whom God so highly honours, ought not ye to honour likewise?
Verse 6
[6] But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Do not the rich often oppress you — By open violence; often drag you - Under colour of law.
Verse 7
[7] Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name — Of God and of Christ. The apostle speaks chiefly of rich heathens: but are Christians, so called, a whit behind them?
Verse 8
[8] If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
If ye fulfil the royal law — The supreme law of the great King which is love; and that to every man, poor as well as rich, ye do well. Leviticus 19:18.
Verse 9
[9] But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Being convicted — By that very law. Exodus 23:3.
Verse 10
[10] For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Whosoever keepeth the whole law, except in one point, he is guilty of all - Is as liable to condemnation as if he had offended in every point.
Verse 11
[11] For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
For it is the same authority which establishes every commandment.
Verse 12
[12] So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
So speak and act — In all things.
As they that shall be judged — Without respect of persons.
By the law of liberty — The gospel; the law of universal love, which alone is perfect freedom. For their transgressions of this, both in word and deed, the wicked shall be condemned; and according to their works, done in obedience to this, the righteous will be rewarded.
Verse 13
[13] For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Judgment without mercy shall be to him — In that day.
Who hath showed no mercy — To his poor brethren. But the mercy of God to believers, answering to that which they have shown, will then glory over judgment.
Verse 14
[14] What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
From James 1:22, the apostle has been enforcing Christian practice. He now applies to those who neglect this, under the pretence of faith. St. Paul had taught that "a man is justified by faith without the works of the law." This some began already to wrest to their own destruction. Wherefore St. James, purposely repeating ( James 2:21,23,25) the same phrases, testimonies, and examples, which St. Paul had used, Romans 4:3, Hebrews 11:17,31, refutes not the doctrine of St. Paul, but the error of those who abused it. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the apostles: they both delivered the truth of God, but in a different manner, as having to do with different kinds of men. On another occasion St. James himself pleaded the cause of faith, Acts 15:13-21; and St. Paul himself strenuously pleads for works, particularly in his latter epistles. This verse is a summary of what follows. What profiteth it? is enlarged on, James 2:15-17; though a man say, James 2:18,19 can that faith save him? James 2:20. It is not, though he have faith; but, though he say he have faith. Here, therefore, true, living faith is meant: but in other parts of the argument the apostle speaks of a dead, imaginary faith. He does not, therefore, teach that true faith can, but that it cannot, subsist without works: nor does he oppose faith to works; but that empty name of faith, to real faith working by love. Can that faith "which is without works" save him? No more than it can profit his neighbour.
Verse 17
[17] Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
So likewise that faith which hath not works is a mere dead, empty notion; of no more profit to him that hath it, than the bidding the naked be clothed is to him.Mark 7:24-37
Verse 24
[24] And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
Matthew 15:21.
Verse 26
[26] The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
The woman was a Greek (that is, a Gentile, not a Jew) a Syrophenician or Canaanite. Canaan was also called Syrophenicia, as lying between Syria, properly so called, and Phenicia.
Verse 31
[31] And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.
Matthew 15:29.
Verse 33
[33] And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
He put his fingers into his ears — Perhaps intending to teach us, that we are not to prescribe to him (as they who brought this man attempted to do) but to expect his blessing by whatsoever means he pleases: even though there should be no proportion or resemblance between the means used, and the benefit to be conveyed thereby.
Verse 34
[34] And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
Ephphatha — This was a word of SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY, not an address to God for power to heal: such an address was needless; for Christ had a perpetual fund of power residing in himself, to work all miracles whenever he pleased, even to the raising the dead, John 5:21,26.
Verse 36
[36] And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;
Them — The blind man and those that brought him.
____________________________

Upper Room Ministries, a ministry of Discipleship Ministries

PO Box 340004

Nashville, Tennessee 37203-0004 United States
____________________________

Sermon Story "Sowing Correctly" by Gary Lee Parker for Sunday, 6 September 2015 with Scripture: Proverbs 22:1 Rather than wealth, choose a good reputation,
    esteem over silver and gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common —
    Adonai made them both.
8 He who sows injustice reaps trouble,
    and the rod of his angry outburst will fail.
9 He who is generous is blessed,
    because he shares his food with the poor.
22 Don’t exploit the helpless, because they are helpless,
    and don’t crush the poor in court,
23 for Adonai will plead their case for them
    and withhold life from those who defraud them.
Thourgh the years very few preachers have preached from the Book of Proverbs due to the conficting nature of the meaning, but I remember one pastor who preached from the whole Book of Proverbs from Chapter 1 to 31 with excellent insights that were received by many including myself. It is amazing how this particular passage goes along with the other passages that were read today. This comes to realize that the early Messianics after the death, resurrection, and ascenssion of Jesus back to His Father sending the Holy Spirit to empower His followers whether Jews or Gentiles. It is amazing that God speaks about the Rich and the Poor have one thing in common is God, Himself yet he gones on to say that if one sows injusice there will be trouble. We read this and realize that is the concept of Jesus teaching for His Disciples and he early Messianic Community to never play favorites with the rich, but treat the poor as God's blessings to the society at whole. With this poor to often people have defined the poor as poor in spirit rather than the poor in earthly goods that they possessed. Yes, the rich our poor when they cannot see others who are less fortunate than they are to be a part of their community rather than in a separate community. We have seen this type of injustice the way the whites have treated the people who are different in color and all colors have treated the people who happen to be immigrants, LGBT, and people who are impaired. In some cultures, they view people with impairments as less than human or even demonic with their impairmens whether the impairment is physical, mental, emotional, or intellectual. This has been taken into the church to often keeping them separate from the rest of ccommnity. This is a sin that has not been recognized a sin because God has called all the people to be responsible for each other no matter who they are. We have seen that in the 19th Century Methodist who not only lost they way in avoiding to stand up against slavery and watering down the meaning of Biblical Holiness seeking to please the world rather than God. The Church of the Nazarene has done similar in the 20th century when they had a chance to take the reigns of the poor, but giving it to the government to handle their needs because it was becoming too expensive as the Nazarenes began to gain more wealth and status then when they refused to stand up against the segregatin of the Blacks and condoning segregation of the whites from the blacks even failing to approve of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and Apartheid in South Africa. Both of these issues have to be recognize as sin and needs to be repented within the institutions to be legimate in proclaimin the whole Gospel of Jesus to raise up a Holy People to fight against injustice in the world, as well as how both denominations have excluded people who are impaired to be actively involved in the church locally, regional, nationally, and globally. We realize sin is sin and God is God as we come to eat the body of Jesus and drink His Blood in the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We come to receive from God all He calls us to be in singing the Hymn "Sweet Humility" by Charles E. Orr, pub.1907
1. Humility, O grace so sweet!
Come, dwell within my heart;
Oh, press me to my Savior’s feet;
There lowliness impart.
Refrain:
Come softly from thy throne above,
O grace so sweet and fair;
Come, touch my heart in gentle love,
And scatter meekness there.
2. Humility, in Christ complete,
I seek thy pleasant ways;
For lowly place at Jesus’ feet
My heart with longing prays.
Refrain:
Come softly from thy throne above,
O grace so sweet and fair;
Come, touch my heart in gentle love,
And scatter meekness there.
3. Humility, the sweetest cup
Of which my heart e’er drank!
I’ve taken but one little sup,
But deep within it sank.
Refrain:
Come softly from thy throne above,
O grace so sweet and fair;
Come, touch my heart in gentle love,
And scatter meekness there.
4. Humility, O gift divine,
Thine odors fill the air;
And while our hearts to thee incline,
Oh, shed thy fragrance there.
Refrain:
Come softly from thy throne above,
O grace so sweet and fair;
Come, touch my heart in gentle love,
And scatter meekness there.
5. O sink my heart to nothingness,
Down, down to lowly planes;
Then up, far up in joyfulness,
My soul in glory reigns.
Refrain:
Come softly from thy throne above,
O grace so sweet and fair;
Come, touch my heart in gentle love,
And scatter meekness there.
6. O heaven’s grace—humility!
Thy cherished charm I’ll wear;
I must be humble, Lord, like Thee,
Thy holy image bear
Refrain:
Come softly from thy throne above,
O grace so sweet and fair;
Come, touch my heart in gentle love,
And scatter meekness there.
____________________________

Gary Lee Parker

4147 Idaho Street, Apt. 1

San Diego, California 92104-1844, United States
____________________________