The Christian Quotation of the Day: 2015-05-17

Chadwick: ablaze

Saturday, May 23, 2015
    Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
Meditation:
    Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
    —Acts 2:41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is fire that prevails. For fifty days the facts of the Gospel were complete, but no conversions were recorded. Pentecost registered three thousand souls. It is the cause that sets men ablaze that wins converts.
    ... Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932), The Way to Pentecost, Hodder and Stoughton, 1932, p. 98-99 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:41; 1:4-8; 4:5; 13:48; Heb. 12:29; Jude 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, place Your fire in our hearts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: the scandal

Friday, May 22, 2015
Meditation:
    This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
    —1 John 4:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When we as Christians say that only by an intervention of God, by His creating a new situation, can communion with God be established, we recognize that a breach between God and man does exist.
    That is why historical revelation is the great scandal or stumbling block for natural men. Man, filled with his self-love and self-pride, does not want to be uncovered, because he does not want his pride to be infringed upon. To acknowledge historical revelation means to acknowledge that the truth is not in us, that the right relation to God cannot be established from our side; that the breach between God and us is of such a nature that we can do nothing about it.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:2-3; Pr. 16:18; Isa. 2:11-17; Obad. 1:3-4; Matt. 9:35-36; 20:25-28; 23:5-12; Mark 10:42-45; Rom. 3:10-11; 8:7-9; 12:3,16; Eph. 2:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Yourself in Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tillotson: wickedness, then division

Thursday, May 21, 2015
    Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Meditation:
    You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
    —1 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Next to the wicked lives of men, nothing is so great a disparagement and weakening to religion, as the divisions of Christians.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IX, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon CCIX, p. 45 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 3:3; Matt. 12:25; John 17:23; Rom. 15:6; 16:17; 1 Cor. 1:10; 11:18
Quiet time reflection:
    What can I do to heal some division in my church? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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McGrath: victory over disorder

Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Meditation:
    [Peter quoting David:] “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”
    —Acts 2:26-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The resurrection of Jesus is a sign of God’s purpose and power to restore his creation to its full stature and integrity. Just as death could be seen as the culmination of all that is wrong with the world, so the resurrection can be seen as a pledge of God’s ultimate victory over the disorder which plagues his creation on account of the fall. Death is the greatest enemy, and yet death has been defeated by God through Christ. And so we are given hope that the remainder of the powers and forces that confront us are similarly being defeated and their power broken.
    ... Alister E. McGrath (b. 1953), What Was God Doing on the Cross?, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1992, p. 51-52 (see the book)
    See also Acts 2:26-27; Ps. 16:8-11; Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:55; Col. 1:27; 1 Thess. 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit has witnessed to Your victory over death. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Adams: women inferior?

Tuesday, May 19, 2015
    Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
Meditation:
    Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
    —Matthew 9:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Suppose the evidence had been reversed: suppose Jesus’ first convert in Samaria had been a man, and His favorite friends in Bethany had been two active brothers and a silent sister; suppose a woman had betrayed Him with a kiss, and another woman had cursed Him for fear of a manservant in the High Priest’s courtyard; suppose two men had first found His tomb empty, and the women had come to see it only in doubt and fear; suppose that the church in Caesarea had been served by the four sons of Phillip, all prophets, and Aquila’s name had always been mentioned before his wife’s—would we not assert without fear of contradiction that the New Testament reinforces the teaching of the Old, that women are and must remain inferior to men?
    ... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985)
    See also Matt. 9:22; 16:13-15; 17:12; 26:47-49,69-74; 28:1; Luke 24:9-12; John 4:7-10; 11:1-2; Acts 18:26; 21:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have honored the women in the church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Head: the cross-eyed church

Monday, May 18, 2015
Meditation:
    “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
    —Matthew 4:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Church on earth is a cross-eyed church, with one eye on God in His heavenly benediction, and one eye on the needy world of men.
    ... David Head, Shout for Joy, New York: MacMillan Co., 1962, p. 108 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 9:2; 32:3; 42:6-7; 61:1; Acts 6:1-4; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:3,18-19; Heb. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have placed Jesus before us as we serve those in need. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cowper: I thirst, but not as once I did

Sunday, May 17, 2015
Meditation:
[Jesus:] “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
—John 7:38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
I thirst, but not as once I did,
The vain delights of earth to share;
Thy wounds, Emmanuel, all forbid
That I should seek my pleasures there.

It was the sight of thy dear cross
First wean’d my soul from earthly things;
And taught me to esteem as dross
The mirth of fools and pomp of kings.

I want that grace that springs from thee,
That quickens all things where it flows,
And makes a wretched thorn like me
Bloom as the myrtle or the rose.

Dear fountain of delight unknown!
No longer sink below the brim;
But overflow and pour me down
A living and life-giving stream!

For sure, of all the plants that share
The notice of thy Father’s eye,
None proves less grateful to his care,
Or yields him meaner fruit than I.
    ... William Cowper (1731-1800), The Works of William Cowper: his life, letters, and poems, New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1851, p. 682 (see the book)
    See also John 7:38-39; Ps. 46:4; Eccl. 2:1; Isa. 5:14; John 4:12-14; 6:27; Rom. 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:21-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You remind me of my smallness.