Green: ministry: function or office?

Saturday, November 28, 2015
Meditation:
    Then the devil leaveth [Jesus], and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
    —Matthew 4:11 (KJV)
Quotation:
    In the New Testament, ministry was a function, not a status. When we talk of the Christian ministry today, we instinctively think of a man ordained to the ‘ministry’ of Word and Sacrament. The New Testament knows nothing of any such distinction. All Christians are called to serve Christ, all are called to ministry, diakonia. The word is applied to Jesus, to Paul, as well as to administrative helpers at Ephesus and Philippi. It is used both of apostles praying and teaching, and of assistants serving tables. Jesus made it plain that he was fulfilling the role of the Servant of the Lord, and that his followers were called to carry out that same pattern of service... The Christian ministry is coextensive with the Christian Church.
    ... Michael Green (b. 1930), “Mission and Ministry”, E. M. B. Green, in The People of God, Ian Cundy, ed., vol. 2 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, P. 68-69 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 4:11; 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:26-27; John 12:26; 1 Pet. 4:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a servant to Your people wherever You lead me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Foster: the divine scrutiny

Friday, November 27, 2015
Meditation:
    But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
    —1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God knows our heart better than we ever can. He is the only one who can separate the true from the false; he alone can purify the motives of the heart. But he does not come uninvited. If chambers of our heart have never experienced the healing touch, perhaps it is because we have not welcomed the divine scrutiny.
    ... Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water, Harper San Francisco, 1998, p. 87 (see the book)
    See also 1 Sam. 16:7; Ps. 26:2; 139:23; Isa. 55:8-9; Luke 16:15; Rev. 3:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, search out the sin in my heart, that it may be removed. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watts: What shall I render to my God

Thursday, November 26, 2015
    Commemoration of Isaac Watts, Hymnwriter, 1748
    Thanksgiving (U.S.)
Meditation:
How can I repay the LORD
    for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
    is the death of his saints.
O LORD, truly I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;
    you have freed me from my chains.
I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
    and call on the name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD—
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.
    —Psalm 116:12-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
What shall I render to my God,
    For all his kindness shown?
My feet shall visit thine abode,
    My songs address thy throne.

Among the saints who fill thine house,
    My off’ring shall be paid;
There shall my zeal perform the vows,
    My soul in anguish made.

How much is mercy thy delight,
    Thou ever blessed God!
How dear thy servants in thy sight!
    How precious is their blood!

Now I am thine, for ever thine,
    Nor shall my purpose move;
Thy hand hath loos’d my bonds of pain,
    And bound me with thy love.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Psalms of David Imitated [1719], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, p. 230 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 116:12-19; Joel 2:32; Jon. 2:9; Luke 12:4; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; 12:1; Heb. 13:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people raise their praises to You.

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Kingsley: truth and chaos

Wednesday, November 25, 2015
    Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century
Meditation:
    The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    —John 1:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a healthy ferment of mind in which one struggles through chaos and darkness, by means of a few clues and threads of light—and—of one great bright pathway, which I find more and more to be the only escape from infinite confusion and aberration, the only explanation of a thousand human mysteries—I mean the Incarnation of our Lord—the fact that there really is—a God-Man!
    ... Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), Daily Thoughts: Selected from the Writings of Charles Kingsley by His Wife, London: Macmillan and Company, 1888, p. 291 (see the book)
    See also John 1:14; Deut. 4:35; Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16; John 20:27; Eph. 5:8-10; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the only true God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: The Universal Presence

Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Meditation:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
    —Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign God, but the familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love has for these thousands of years enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but respond to His overtures.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 67 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 139:7-10; 34:18; 63:8; 73:23; 90:16; Isa. 6:3; Jer. 23:23-24; Hab. 2:14; John 1:14; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:18; Jas. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are close by. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: an uprising

Monday, November 23, 2015
    Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100
Meditation:
    After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
    —Acts 4:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968)
    See also Acts 4:31; Judg. 16:28; 1 Sam. 8:6; Dan. 6:10; Jon. 2:1; Matt. 26:42; Luke 5:16; Jas. 5:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may You lift the world out from its bondage. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: submission to blessing

Sunday, November 22, 2015
    Commemoration of Cecilia, Martyr at Rome, c.230
    Commemoration of Clive Staples Lewis, Spiritual Writer, 1963
Meditation:
    Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
    Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
    —Matthew 16:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I am beginning to feel that we need a preliminary act of submission not only toward possible future afflictions but also toward possible future blessings. I know it sounds fantastic; but think it over. It seems to me that we often, almost sulkily, reject the good that God offers us because, at that moment, we expected some other good.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 26 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 16:22-23; Ps. 84:11; Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13; Acts 1:6-7; Rom. 8:28
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my eyes to see Your goodness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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