Tertullian: the church

Saturday, June 3, 2017
    Feast of Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, Teacher, 1910
    Commemoration of Martyrs of Uganda, 1886 & 1978
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
    —Matthew 18:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Wherever there are three persons, even though they are laymen, there is the church. Every man lives by his own faith, and God does not distinguish between classes... Since, in cases of necessity, you have the right to act as a priest, then you must also accept priestly discipline... It is God’s will that all of us should be in the right spiritual state, at any time or place, to administer His sacraments.
    ... Tertullian (Quintus S. Florens Tertullianus) (160?-230?), The Writings of Quintus Sept. Flor. Tertullianus, v. III, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1870, p. 11-12 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 18:19-20; Ex. 20:24; Matt. 28:20; 1 Cor. 5:4; Rev. 21:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my eyes to the existence of Your church wherever two or three are gathered. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fray: the origin of ethics

Friday, June 2, 2017
Meditation:
    Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
    —1 Peter 5:2,3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As we shared together our feelings about the study groups, we realized that we were not meeting together each week for an intellectual exercise. Something very real and significant was taking place. We were coming to know that the Christian faith is not primarily an ethic. It is not the struggle to do good or be good, but an encounter with Christ, of which morality and ethical living are by-products.
    ... Harold R. Fray, Jr., “The Spirit Making New”, in Spiritual Renewal through Personal Groups, John L. Casteel, ed., NY: Association Press, 1957, p. 72 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 5:2-3; Isa. 40:11; John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 9:16-17; Tit. 2:7-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, take away the temptation to “earn” salvation; rather, lead me to see Your grace in all my relationships. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Schaeffer: relating to whom or what?

Thursday, June 1, 2017
    Feast of Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165
    Commemoration of Angela de Merici, Founder of the Institute of St. Ursula, 1540
Meditation:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you and watch over you.
    —Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In saying God is there, we are saying God exists, and not just talking about the word god, or the idea god. We are speaking of the proper relationship to the living God who exists. In order to understand the problems of our generation, we should be very alive to this distinction.
    Semantics (linguistic analysis) makes up the heart of modern philosophical study in the Anglo-Saxon world. Though the Christian cannot accept this study as a total philosophy, there is no reason why he should not be glad for the concept that words need to be defined before they can be used in communication. As Christians, we must understand that there is no word so meaningless as the word god until it is defined. No word has been used to reach absolutely opposite concepts as much as the word god. Consequently, let us not be confused. There is much “spirituality” about us today that would relate itself to the word god or to the idea god; but this is not what we are talking about. Biblical truth and spirituality is not a relationship to the word god, or to the idea god. It is a relationship to the One who is there. This is an entirely different concept.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), The God Who is There [1968], in The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy, Good News Publishers, 1990, p. 158 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 32:8; 73:23; 139:7-10; Isa. 41:13; Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me the way. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: impossible accommodations

Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Meditation:
    Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
    —2 Corinthians 4:13-14 (ESV)
Quotation:
    However the gospel may be defended, it cannot be defended by concessions which deprive it of its essence or which detract from our Saviour’s title to be called The Word of God.
    ... F. F. Bruce (1910-1990), The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 103 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:13-14; John 1:1-4,14; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; Eph. 3:10-11; Col. 2:2-3; 1 John 1:1-2; Rev. 19:11-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, focus my mind on the Word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: Till we know Him

Tuesday, May 30, 2017
    Feast of Josephine Butler, Social Reformer, 1906
    Commemoration of Joan of Arc, Visionary, 1431
    Commemoration of Apolo Kivebulaya, Priest, Evangelist, 1933
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.”
    —John 6:46 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The one use of the Bible is to make us look at Jesus, that through Him we might know His Father and our Father, His God and our God. Till we thus know Him, let us hold the Bible dear as the moon of our darkness, by which we travel toward the east; not dear as the sun whence her light cometh, and towards which we haste, that, walking in the sun himself, we may no more need the mirror that reflected his absent brightness.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Higher Faith”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 55 (see the book)
    See also John 6:46; Matt. 11:27; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 10:22; John 1:18; 5:36-40; 8:19; 14:10; Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 6:13-16; 1 John 4:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I praise Your word and seek Your light. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Short: serving the unknown god

Monday, May 29, 2017
Meditation:
    Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
    —Galatians 4:8-11 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The heart’s slavish and dogged devotion to its idol is what fathers of the Church have called “the bondage of the will.” This bondage becomes most painfully apparent in our lives when we earnestly feel the need of changing but cannot; when we are attracted to another value that for one reason or another conflicts with the desires of our true god—that value nearest and dearest to us. But our true god lies so deeply inside us that often we are not even consciously aware of its presence or of what it actually is.
    ... Robert L. Short (1932-2009), The Parables of Peanuts [1968], New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 90 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 4:8-11; Isa. 44:9-11; Rom. 7:14,25; 1 Cor. 10:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Purge, Lord, the idols from my heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Davidman: the reason for the second commandment

Sunday, May 28, 2017
    Commemoration of Lanfranc, Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1089
Meditation:
    Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
    —Colossians 3:5 (ESV)
Quotation:
    The idol-maker may know, more or less clearly, that he is only giving shape to the half-formed concept of God in his head; that his images are solid metaphors—what we call symbols. The skeptical Greek philosopher may remind us that, after all, the image of Athena is only a symbol, only a means of fixing one’s rambling thoughts upon the spirit that is Athena. Yet the idolater will persist in losing sight of the forest for the trees, and the god for the image. The gold and ivory statue of Athena becomes holy in itself, an answerer of prayer, a mysterious source of power, a material object somehow different from other objects. The crucifix, the plaster image, the saint’s relic or miraculous medal or cheaply and illegibly printed Bible may become themselves things considered holy and magical, able to stop a bullet. Worse yet, the god confined in an image is a shrunken and powerless god. Because you have limited your concept of God to a man shape on a carved crucifix, you may be in danger of inferring that you are free to outrage the man shapes walking and breathing around you. Because you worship the god in a specially baked wafer and a specially designed chalice, you may forget to worship the God of all bread and all wine.
    ... Joy Davidman (1915-1960), Smoke on the Mountain, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1955, reprint, Westminster John Knox Press, 1985, p. 32-33 (see the book)
    See also Col. 3:5; Ps. 115:4-8; Acts 17:29-30; Rom. 1:22-25; 1 Cor. 10:14; Rev. 9:20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I will have no God but You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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