Phillips: Christ and mysticism

Saturday, July 2, 2016
Meditation:
    There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
    —Galatians 3:28-29 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It should be noted, at least by those who accept Christ’s claim to be God, that he by no means fits into the picture of the “mystic saint.” Those who are fascinated by the supposed superiority of the mystic soul might profitably compile a list of its characteristics and place them side by side with those of Christ. The results would probably expose a surprising conclusion.
    There is, in fact, no provision for a “privileged class” in genuine Christianity.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Your God is Too Small [1953], Simon and Schuster, 2004, p. 56-57 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 3:28-29; Matt. 20:26-28; 23:8; Acts 10:34-35; Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6; Eph. 6:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, extinguish all scorn and pride of position from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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van Ruysbroeck: the universality of His love

Friday, July 1, 2016
    Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873
Meditation:
    For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
    —1 Timothy 2:5-6 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Christ was common to all in love, in teaching, in tender consolation, in generous gifts, in merciful forgiveness. His soul and His body, His life and His death and His ministry were, and are, common to all. His sacraments and His gifts are common to all. Christ never took any food or drink, nor anything that His body needed, without intending by it the common good of all those who shall be saved, even unto the last day.
    ... Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381), Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, II.xlv (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 2:5-7; Luke 20:38; 2 Cor. 4:13-15; 5:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Never cease, Lord, to grant us the living food. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Robertson: too hard to hear

Thursday, June 30, 2016
Meditation:
    For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
    —1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Paul’s argument in First Corinthians 1:18-25 is equally relevant when we come to ask why men cannot understand the Bible. Any attempts to hide behind the excuse that it is too difficult, when what we mean is that its word is too hard for us to bear, meets the just remark of a pastor from Communist Germany: “How can they say that the Bible is difficult, when young Communists are poring over much more difficult and much more technical literature to discover what Communism is all about?”
    Sometimes the Biblical teaching is crystal-clear, but we dare not understand it. The Christian Church has a vested interest in its present forms, and Christian people, like others, have their pleasant prejudices. This unwillingness to hear some new thing, except in times of great disturbance, plays a bigger part in weakening the voice of God through the Bible than we are prepared to admit.
    ... E. H. Robertson (1912-2007), The Recovery of Confidence, London: S. C. M. Press, 1960, p. 60 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:18-25; Job 5:12-13; Isa. 29:14; 53:1; Jer. 8:9; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21; Acts 17:18-21; Rom. 1:20-22,28; 1 Cor. 3:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You reveal Yourself to Your people through Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Trench: the human need of support

Wednesday, June 29, 2016
    Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles
Meditation:
If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
    For he knows the secrets of the heart.
    —Psalm 44:20-21 (ESV)
Quotation:
    No man can be without his god. If he have not the true God to bless and sustain him, he will have some false god to delude and to betray him. The Psalmist knew this, and therefore he joined so closely the forgetting the name of our God, and holding up our hands to some strange god. For every man has something in which he hopes, on which he leans, to which he retreats and retires, with which he fills up his thoughts in empty spaces of time, when he is alone, when he lies sleepless on his bed, when he is not pressed with other thoughts; to which he betakes himself in sorrow or trouble, as that from which he shall draw comfort and strength—his fortress, his citadel, his defence; and has not this a good right to be called his god? Man was made to lean on the Creator; but if not on Him, then he leans on the creature in one shape or another. The ivy cannot grow alone: it must twine round some support or other; if not the goodly oak, then th! e ragged thorn; round any dead stick whatever, rather than have no stay or support at all. It is even so with the heart and affections of man; if they do not twine around God, they must twine around some meaner thing.
    ... Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886), Sermons Preached in Westminster Abbey, New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1860, p. 252 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 44:20-21; Ex. 9:29; Josh. 24:23; Ps. 81:8-9; Jer. 5:19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, there is no Name like Yours. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: hope for good

Tuesday, June 28, 2016
    Feast of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher, Martyr, c.200
Meditation:
    But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
    —2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    We need not despair of any man, so long as he lives. For God deemed it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit evil at all.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Expositions on the Book of Psalms, v. II, Oxford: Parker, 1848, Ps. 37, sermon 1, vs. 19, p. 27 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 37:19; Matt. 7:11; Rom. 3:19; 2 Cor. 4:7-10; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 2:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never despair over another of Your children. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay: where heaven is

Monday, June 27, 2016
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
    —John 14:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For the Christian, heaven is where Jesus is. We do not need to speculate on what heaven will be like. It is enough to know that we will be forever with Him. When we love anyone with our whole hearts, life begins when we are with that person; it is only in their company that we are really and truly alive. It is so with Christ. In this world our contact with Him is shadowy, for we can only see through a glass darkly. It is spasmodic, for we are poor creatures and cannot live always on the heights. But the best definition of it is to say that heaven is that state where we will always be with Jesus, and where nothing will separate us from Him any more.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of John, v. 2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, p. 181-182 (see the book)
    See also John 14:2-3; 13:33-36; Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 5:1; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; Heb. 11:13-16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12,21; 21:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown me Your Way. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Neill: the Church in the Gospel

Sunday, June 26, 2016
Meditation:
    To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
    —Ephesians 3:8-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Theologically, we have been discovering anew that the Church is not an appendage to the Gospel: it is itself a part of the Gospel. The Gospel cannot be separated from that new people of God in which its nature is to be made manifest.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), Christian Faith and Other Faiths, London: Oxford U.P., 1970, p. 208 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 3:8-10; Matt. 16:17-18; 1 Cor. 12:28; 14:12,26; Eph. 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, demonstrate the Gospel in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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