Saturday, July 14, 2018

Studd: location, location, location

Saturday, July 14, 2018
    Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866
Meditation:
    Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
    —Jude 1:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
Some wish to live within the sound
    Of Church or Chapel bell,
I want to run a Rescue Shop
    Within a yard of hell.
    ... C. T. Studd (1860-1931), quoted in C. T. Studd—Cricketer and Pioneer [1933], Norman P. Grubb, World-Wide Revival Prayer Movement, 1947, p. 170 (see the book)
    See also Jude 1:22-23; Rom. 11:13-14; 2 Cor. 7:10; 1 Tim. 4:16; 1 Pet. 3:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, open my eyes to lost people around me.
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Friday, July 13, 2018

Tertullian: the beginning of humanity

Friday, July 13, 2018
Meditation:
    And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
    —Genesis 9:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For us, murder is once for all forbidden... It makes no difference whether one take away the life once born, or destroy it as it comes to birth. He is a man, who is to be a man; the fruit is always present in the seed.
    ... Tertullian (Quintus S. Florens Tertullianus) (160?-230?), Tertullian: Apologetic and practical treatises [2nd-3rd century], Oxford: J. H. Parker, 1842, Apology, ch. IX, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 9:5-6; Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21-22; 1 John 3:12-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me how to honor Your image in every person.
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Thursday, July 12, 2018

Barclay: the best kind of student

Thursday, July 12, 2018
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.”
    —Revelation 22:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The devout student is the best of all students. There are too many who are devout, but not students. They will not accept the discipline of study and of learning, and they even look with suspicion upon the further knowledge which study brings to men. There are equally too many who are students, but not devout. They are interested too much in intellectual knowledge, and too little in the life of prayer and in the life of service of their fellow men. A man would do well to aim at being not only a student, and not only devout, but at being a devout student.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Revelation of John, v. II, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961, p. 286 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 22:7; Matt. 22:29; Mark 12:24; Luke 24:27,45; John 5:39-40; Acts 17:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a better disciple.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Kantzer: the case for inerrancy

Wednesday, July 11, 2018
    Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550
Meditation:
I hate and abhor falsehood
    but I love your law.
Seven times a day I praise you
    for your righteous laws.
Great peace have they who love your law,
    and nothing can make them stumble.
    —Psalm 119:163-165 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The case for inerrancy rests precisely where it has always rested, namely, on the lordship of Christ and his commission to the prophets and apostles, who were his representatives. Because it rests on Christ and his authority, the question of inerrancy will therefore remain a key doctrine of the evangelical church so long as Christ is Lord. Evangelicals must remember, however, that this basis must be set forth anew for every generation. What was adequate for Gaussen, Pieper, and Warfield is still valuable, but it is not necessarily adequate to serve as the foundation for the thinking of our generation. The case for inerrancy must be made anew with each presentation of the gospel teaching.
    ... Kenneth S. Kantzer (1917-2002), “Evangelicals and the Doctrine of Inerrancy” [1963], in Foundation of Biblical Authority, ed. James Montgomery Boice, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978, p. 151-152 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:163-165; John 10:34-36; Rom. 3:2; 15:4; Gal. 3:8; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:19-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant, Lord, that I may trust Your word.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Hall: how to count your life

Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Meditation:
    Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
    —1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every day is a little life; and our whole life is but a day repeated: whence it is that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic—To number, not his years, but his days. [And so, those] that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate.
    ... Joseph Hall (1574-1656), from a letter, The Works of the Right Reverend Joseph Hall, v. VI, Oxford: University Press, 1863, p. 280 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 5:1-6; Gen. 29:20; Ps. 39:4-5; 90:12; Isa. 40:6-7; Jas. 4:14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, every day with You is blessed.
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Monday, July 09, 2018

Buttrick: the gifts of biblical faith

Monday, July 9, 2018
Meditation:
    But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
    —James 3:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What are the gifts of biblical faith to the secular university? ... Education can receive from the Bible a faith concerning man far more realistic than the naive faith by which education has tried to live. Not man as “pure reason”: his reason is not pure... Not man as incipient angel: he can turn any structure... to good or to demonic purpose. Not man with his steps on the highroad called evolution: he is relatively free and, therefore, can and does wreck any evolution unless some Grace constantly renews his onward journey. Not man who by his science is sure to fashion a “brave new world”: by science he can destroy the world... Not man as centrally and characteristically a reasonable creature who needs only that his mind shall be educated to build a reasonable world. Not man regarded in any naive faith, but man as potentially divine and potentially unworthy, who stands always in need of help from beyond the confines of the natural order. If education confronts this faith, education will know that the mind’s adventure also, like all things human, stands in need of redemption; and it can then proceed with lowliness, and thus with the power and light which are the reward of the lowly.
    ... George A. Buttrick (1892-1980), Biblical Thought and the Secular University, Louisiana State University Press, 1960, p. 55,57-58 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 3:17-18; Ps. 131:1; Pr. 26:12; Matt. 5:5; 11:29; 1 Cor. 8:1-2; Gal. 6:3; Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Tim. 1:5-7; 6:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me wisdom from above.
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Sunday, July 08, 2018

III. The Dungeons of Delusion


[Continuing thoughts from II. What's Wrong with What's Wrong? ]

Beyond the immediate consequences of estrangement from God and the discarding of the commandments is the hideous prospect of moral self-determination—people, often young, naïve people, deciding for themselves what shall be their moral code, what they shall consider to be virtuous. Of course, this is precisely as impossible as pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps. One can no more elect what shall be right and wrong than one can elect which direction gravity shall work. Just as all physical laws hold everywhere in the universe, so all moral propositions partake of universality. If morality, right and wrong, means anything at all, the same act cannot be simultaneously moral for one person and immoral for another. But choosing one’s moral code asserts exactly that: one’s moral choice is completely personal--based on one’s thoughts, background, inclinations, appetites, or even whims--not based on a perception of right and wrong in a universal sense.
One may suppose that this kind of moral self-determination is rare, confined solely to extreme radicals and people who are already morally bent. But it is not. The practice of revising (if ever so slightly) particular commandments to suit the situation or the times or the shifts in culture has been going on for generations. If young people often make this error, it is partly due to their elders who have failed to pass along the immutability of morality. There is only One.
Of course, in a society that is determined to experiment with freedom on an unprecedented level, the standards have fallen, one after another, some good, some bad, but all headed for the dustbin. This constant revision has induced fear, and with fear, anger, and with anger, violence and more violations of God’s law. The estrangement from God expands, as the consequences of moral self-determination multiply.
Unfortunately, for the one who is estranged from God, the act of choosing one’s moral code grants the illusion of freedom, in a realm where there is absolutely no freedom at all, and the illusion of having chosen, when there is no choice. To believe otherwise is a trap. For with the choosing, the unwitting slave is taken into the dungeon of his delusion, from which his only hope of release must be an Act of God.
Mercifully, He has acted. God has satisfied man’s need with the Gospel. The Gospel perfectly addresses man’s need, everywhere, for it holds exclusively the promise of establishing fellowship with God. And from that restoration alone, all the other corrective measures flow, as spiritual health returns. To spend time and effort chasing other answers, other solutions to man’s problems, or the alleviation of man’s miseries, without first embracing and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is a fool’s errand. To be clear, even the condemnation of moral self-determination and all the antinomian behaviors that result is not enough. One may well be called upon to act and work in other ways to address man’s less fundamental needs, but those efforts should be subordinated to the one primary calling, to live out and proclaim the Gospel of God’s reconciliation of the world to Himself.

II. What’s wrong with what’s wrong?


[Continuing thoughts from I. What's Wrong?]

While we watch great multitudes of people chase one utopian dream after another, we might reasonably ask, what is so wrong that our current condition in life cannot satisfy? Or, to put it another way, what is so wrong with widespread estrangement from God?
One of the early results of estrangement from God is the ignoring of His commandments. A brief review of the history of the 20th century will readily reveal what happens when people and nations abandon the commandments. There was already war enough in earlier times when people still held to the commandments, at least nominally. The wars, tyrannies, and oppressions of the 20th century demonstrate what mankind is capable of when the commandments are not considered to be in force at all. Of course, all that continues to this day.
The commandments are meant to be a restraint. Note that they do not express principles or theses; they are injunctions: “Do this… Do not do that…” They are not just good advice. In a sense, they are like guardrails, in that they can prevent one from going over the moral precipice. They contain scant explanation, let alone, justification for their content, for their content rests on the authority of God. The great philosophical and religious systems of morals and ethics, which pretend to comprehend the commandments and their intent for the good order of society, are in fact derived from the commandments, rather than the other way around, and are therefore less certain. But those who are estranged from God cannot access the commandments’ foundation, and so they discard the commandments as irrelevant, antiquated, cumbersome, or meaningless.
Those who are estranged from God and discard the commandments still worship: they worship other gods. Important among these is the prosperity god, materially indistinguishable from the weather gods or fertility gods or war gods of our distant ancestors—gods that must be appeased with sacrifices or certain behaviors, so that the god will grant favorable outcomes. Even today, many practice the rituals of worship to appease a god whose only purpose is to answer prayers.
The gods that people sacrifice to, in this supposedly secular age, are too numerous to list, but they include the social approval god, the safety gods, the political gods, the health god, and the worst of all, the self-god. In fact, whatever one believes will save—from neighborhood watch to national defense, from superstition to the most elevated science, from chocolate to spiritual happiness—is a god in this sense, for it demands attention, respect, and sacrifice. These pagan gods will serve only to increase the one’s estrangement to the One True God, no matter how much they demand and disappoint.
Thus, if one may freely worship the god of one’s choosing, which Western society has elevated into a cherished freedom, then why should the other commandments retain any force? In the collective thought of Western culture, the other commandments have declined to good advice, or ancient wisdom, or murky social mores, or babble. The result is that Western society has lost its moral compass.
When we look at society through the eyes of the world, we see chaos and rivalry and are tempted to believe we must therefore attach ourselves and our energies to a party or cause that seems righteous, so that we do not entirely lose our own moral compass. But when we look upon society with the eyes of faith, we see God’s children lost to Him through estrangement. We see that any life, even the most morally upright, most successful and prosperous, lived in estrangement from God, leads inevitably to destruction. We cannot prevent this in our own strength, but God wants us to convey His message to everyone we know or encounter, so that some may be saved.