Barclay: what are the dangers?

Saturday, February 3, 2018
    Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
Meditation:
    “Haven’t you read,” [Jesus] replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
    —Matthew 19:4-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    While it is right to stress the dangers of the permissive society, the argument from danger is not in itself a good argument, because it seems to imply that, if the danger could be removed, if there was no risk of a child and no peril of infection, then the objection would be removed, too. It tends to imply that the objection is to the attendant dangers and not to the thing itself. But, if sexual intercourse before and outside marriage is against the teaching of Jesus, then the thing is not only dangerous, it is wrong in itself.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), Ethics in a Permissive Society, New York: Harper & Row, 1971, Fontana, 1971, p. 208-209 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 19:4-6; Acts 15:29; Rom. 1:24; 1 Cor. 6:18; Eph. 5:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, instruct Your people concerning Your laws. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bronnert: successful evangelism?

Friday, February 2, 2018
    THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
    —John 5:36-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It belongs to the very nature of the gospel that the Church is built across cultural, social, and racial barriers. There are siren voices (as well as gut reactions) telling Christians that the way to success in evangelism is to follow the natural divisions, and to try to build churches along cultural, social and racial divisions. In doing so, they ignore the “success” in the New Testament in crossing these lines; more importantly, they are in fact stressing success more highly than the truth of the gospel. To buy success at the price of treating the fundamental nature of the gospel as dispensable is to follow a false gospel.
    ... David Bronnert, “The Gospel and Culture”, in The Changing World, Bruce Kaye, ed., vol. 3 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 125 (see the book)
    See also John 5:36-40,46; Matt. 22:29; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 2:10; 16:27-31; Rom. 1:16; 3:29-30; 10:12-15; Gal. 3:28; 5:6; 1 Cor. 12:13; Col. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me from favoritism. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Pike: camouflage

Thursday, February 1, 2018
    Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525
Meditation:
    But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
    In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
    “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
    The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
    Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
    —Luke 10:29-37 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “Help!”
    “Sorry! ’monmywaytochurch.”
    The deepest sins are camouflaged as holiness.
    ... Kenneth L. Pike (1912-2001)
    See also Luke 10:29-37; Pr. 20:6; Matt. 5:23-24; 6:1-8; Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42; 13:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me alert, so that I may be of service to one in need whom you have set before me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Guinness: the believer's encounter

Wednesday, January 31, 2018
    Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888
Meditation:
    In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
    At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
    “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
    Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
    —Isaiah 6:1-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In his experience of God, a Christian has a strong sense of his individuality, never of his unity with God. Expressed more sharply, he has a strong sense of the Creator-creature distinction, never of merging or absorption. Or, to put it more sharply still, a Christian has a sense of his moral sin and not just of his metaphysical smallness in the face of the beyond. The dilemma for man is not who he is but what he has done. His predicament is not that he is small, but that he is sinful.
    ... Os Guinness (b. 1941), The Dust of Death, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973, p. 293 (see the book)
    See also Isa. 6:1-7; Zech. 3:1-7; Matt. 12:34-37; Jas. 3:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Purge my sin, Lord, that I may be in Your presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newbigin: the dilemma

Tuesday, January 30, 2018
    Commemoration of Lesslie Newbigin, Bishop, Missionary, Teacher, 1998
Meditation:
    Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
    —1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The problem of how an unholy concourse of sinful men and women can be in truth the body of Christ is the same as the problem of how a sinful man can at the same time be accepted as a child of God... Our present situation arises precisely from the fact that this fundamental insight, which the Reformers applied to the position of the Christian man, was not followed through in its application to the nature of the Christian church.
    ... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God, London, SCM Press, 1953, New York: Friendship Press, 1954, p. 23 (see the book)
    See also 1 Tim. 1:15-16; Matt. 1:21; 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32; 19:10; Rom. 1:16-17; 3:22-24; 5:8; 1 John 3:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach me to know and love Your people, as You have loved us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eckhart: God is near

Monday, January 29, 2018
Meditation:
    For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...
    —Colossians 1:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    No man desires anything so eagerly as God desires to bring men to the knowledge of Himself. God is always ready, but we are very unready. God is near us, but we are far from Him. God is within, and we are without. God is friendly; we are estranged.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Meister Eckhart’s Sermons, tr., Claud Field, H. R. Allenson, London, 1909, p. 24 (see the book)
    See also Col. 1:9-10; Ps. 73:28; 145:18; Isa. 29:13; 55:6-7; Heb. 7:18-19; 10:22; Jas. 4:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, stay with me always. Never let me forget Your presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Aquinas: Scriptures and truth

Sunday, January 28, 2018
    Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1274
Meditation:
    The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.
    —2 Chronicles 36:15-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In questions of this sort there are two things to be observed. First, that the truth of Scripture be inviolably maintained. Secondly, since Scripture doth admit of diverse interpretations, that no one cling to any particular exposition with such pertinacity, that if what he supposed to be the teaching of Scripture, should afterward turn out to be clearly false, he should nevertheless still presume to put it forward; lest thereby the sacred Scriptures should be exposed to the derision of unbelievers and the way of salvation should be closed to them.
    ... Thomas Aquinas (1225?-1274), Summa Theologica [1274], Benziger Bros. edition, 1947, Pars Prima, Quaest. lxviii, art. primus (see the book)
    See also 2 Chr. 36:15-16; Matt. 12:7; Acts 17:18-32
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that what I proclaim shall be Your word and not my opinion only. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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