Schaeffer: the testimony of the Church

Saturday, February 25, 2017
Meditation:
    Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
    —Colossians 3:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Now the world should be able to see in the Church those marks which exhibit that there is a substantial sociological healing possible in the present generation... It is not enough for the Church to be engaged with the State in healing social ills, though this is important at times. But when the world can turn around and see a group of God’s people exhibiting substantial healing in the area of human relationships in their present life, then the world will take notice. Each group of Christians is, as it were, a pilot plant, showing that something can be done in the present situation, if only we begin in the right way.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The God Who is There [1968], in The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy, Good News Publishers, 1990, p. 166 (see the book)
    See also Col. 3:9-17; Rom. 15:1-2; Gal. 6:2; Eph. 4:2-3,32
Quiet time reflection:
    We are broken vessels, Lord, but You alone can mend us and make us useful again. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Schaeffer: Christian sociology

Friday, February 24, 2017
Meditation:
    Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
    —1 Corinthians 14:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This is the real Church of the Lord Jesus Christ—not merely organization, but a group of people, individually the children of God, drawn together by the Holy Spirit for a particular task either in a local situation or over a wider area. The Church of the Lord Jesus should be a group of those who are redeemed and bound together on the basis of true doctrine. But subsequently they should show together a substantial “sociological healing” of the breaches between men, which have come about because of... man’s sin.
    The Christian sociological position is that the sociological problems which exist... are a result of the separation that has come between men because of sin. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The God Who is There [1968], in The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy, Good News Publishers, 1990, p. 166 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 14:20; Rom. 1:21-23; 12:1-2; 13:14; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 2:19-22; 4:24-25; 1 Tim. 1:8-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Heal us, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Polycarp: who will be raised?

Thursday, February 23, 2017
    Feast of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155
Meditation:
    And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
    —1 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    He who was raised from the dead will raise us also, if we do His will and live by His commands and love what He loved, refraining from all injustice, covetousness, love of money, evil-speaking, false witness, not returning evil for evil or abuse for abuse, or blow for blow, or curse for curse, but remembering what the Lord said when He taught: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged; forgive and you will be forgiven; have mercy so that you may be shown mercy; with the measure you use men will measure back to you; and blessed are the poor and those who are persecuted for their uprightness, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.
    ... Polycarp (69?-155?), Letter to the Philippians A.D. 110-140, 2:2-3 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 6:14; Matt. 5:7,11-12; 6:14; 7:1-2; Luke 6:20,22; Rom. 6:4-8; 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:15-20; 2 Cor. 4:13-14; Phil. 3:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we rise in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay: little is much

Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Meditation:
    Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten.
    —John 6:11-13 (ESV)
Quotation:
    It may well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph because we will not bring to Christ what we have and what we are. If, just as we are, we would lay ourselves on the altar of the service of Jesus Christ, there is no saying what Christ could do with us and through us. We may be sorry and embarrassed that we have not more to bring—and rightly so; but that is not reason for failing or refusing to bring what we have and what we are. Little is always much in the hands of Christ.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of John, v. 1, Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1965, p. 207-208 (see the book)
    See also John 6:11-14; Matt. 14:19-21; 15:36-38; 16:8-12; Mark 6:41-44; 8:5-9,17-21; Luke 9:13-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, take my little and make what You will of it. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bell: the evil of riches

Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
    —Luke 12:31 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The evil of riches, then, for institutions, for nations, for individuals, is that those who possess or seek to possess almost invariably overvalue possessions and so cease to live creatively. They stop loving God with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength and all the mind. They stop loving their neighbors, too. When you find a person of means who is not either a self-centered bore or a low creature, you may know that God has worked a miracle.
    ... Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958), God is Not Dead, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945, p. 89 (see the book)
    See also Luke 12:27-34; Lev. 19:18,34; Deut. 6:5; Matt. 19:23-24; Mark 10:24-25; 12:30-31; Luke 12:15; 16:13; 18:24-25; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; Jas. 1:9-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, work a miracle of love within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pinnock: all doubt

Monday, February 20, 2017
    Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906
Meditation:
    Be merciful to those who doubt—
    —Jude 1:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I know what it is to doubt and question. And I suspect that every Christian who takes the time to think seriously about his faith, does so too.
    ... Clark H. Pinnock (1937-2010), Reason Enough, Exeter: Paternoster, 1980, p. 107 (see the book)
    See also Jude 1:22-23; Matt. 14:28-31; Luke 14:28-30; John 10:24-27; 20:24-29; 1 John 4:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are always the answer to my doubts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: love before justice

Sunday, February 19, 2017
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
    —Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The pure eye for the true vision of another’s claims can only go with the loving heart. The man who hates can hardly be delicate in doing justice, say to his neighbor’s love, to his neighbor’s predilections and peculiarities. It is hard enough to be just to our friends; and how shall our enemies fare with us?
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Love Thine Enemy”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 224-225 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:43-45; Ex. 23:4-5; Ps. 35:11-14; Luke 6:27-28,34-35; 23:34; Rom. 12:14,20-21; 1 Pet. 2:23; 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me how to do this harder love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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