Lidgett: a share in the saints

Saturday, January 12, 2019
    Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167
    Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689
Meditation:
    Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
    —Colossians 3:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    As we look out upon history and the world, it is with the same vision of all things in Christ which dominates the perceptions of all believers, without distinction of age, or race, or Church. Not a saint, a thinker, a hero, or a martyr of the Church, but we claim a share in his character, influence and achievements, by confessing the debt we owe to the great tradition which he has enriched by saintly consecration, true thought, and noble conduct.
    ... John Scott Lidgett (1854-1953), Apostolic Ministry: Sermons and Addresses, London: Charles H. Kelly, 1909, p. 13 (see the book)
    See also Col. 3:11; Eph. 1:9-10,22-23; 2:13-15; 3:14-15; Rev. 11:16-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prompt us to honor the work of Your Holy Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay on conversion: social conscience

Friday, January 11, 2019
    Commemoration of Mary Slessor, Missionary in West Africa, 1915
Meditation:
    His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    —Ephesians 3:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    A conversion is incomplete if it does not leave one with an intense social consciousness, if it does not fill one with a sense of overwhelming responsibility for the world. It has been said... truly that the Church exists for those outside of itself.
    The Church must never be in any sense a little huddle of pious people, shutting their doors against the world, lost in prayer and praise, connoisseurs of preaching and liturgy, busy mutually congratulating themselves on the excellence of their Christian experience.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), In the Hands of God, New York: Harper & Row, 1967, Westminster Press, 1981, p. 41 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 3:10-11; Gal. 2:10; Heb. 13:16; Jas. 1:27; 1 John 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead Your church to demonstrate Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay on conversion: fellowship

Thursday, January 10, 2019
Meditation:
    Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
    —1 Corinthians 10:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    A conversion is incomplete if it does not leave one integrated into the Church. By this we do not mean any particular part of the Church; what we do mean is that conversion must leave one linked in loving fellowship with one’s fellow believers. Conversion is not something simply between a man and Jesus Christ, with no other person involved. True, it may start in that way; but it cannot end in that way.
    Conversion is not individualistic. It is in fact the opposite. It joins man to his fellow men, and certainly does not separate him from them. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), In the Hands of God, New York: Harper & Row, 1967, Westminster Press, 1981, p. 40 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 10:17; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12,27; Eph. 1:22-23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, inhabit the fellowship of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barclay on conversion: Jesus as Lord

Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Meditation:
    Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
    —1 Corinthians 12:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A conversion is incomplete if it does not leave Jesus Christ in the central place in one’s life. The shortest possible description of a Christian—a description with which the New Testament would fully agree—is that a Christian is a person who can say: “For me Jesus Christ is Lord.”
    Herbert Butterfield’s words about facing the future are good: “Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.” Any alleged conversion which does not leave one totally committed solely to Jesus Christ is incomplete and imperfect. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), In the Hands of God, New York: Harper & Row, 1967, Westminster Press, 1981, p. 40 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:3; Matt. 16:16-17; John 13:13; 1 John 4:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord Jesus, focus all my loyalty on You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Elliot: fresh terms

Tuesday, January 8, 2019
    23rd anniversary of CQOD
    Commemoration of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming, martyrs, Ecuador, 1956
Meditation:
    [Stephen:] “This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.”
    —Acts 7:37-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For my generation I must have the oracles of God in fresh terms.
    ... Jim Elliot (1927-1956), The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot, Revell, 1990, p. 166 (see the book)
    See also Acts 7:37-38; 17:23; Heb. 5:12; 1 Pet. 4:11-13; Jude 3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word is truth; show me how to speak it to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Jones: the time for renewal

Monday, January 7, 2019
Meditation:
    Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”
    —Matthew 13:34-35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The new age cannot live on naturalism or on secularism. Life becomes sterile and futile without the depth and power which come from participation in eternal realities. But this new age cannot any more successfully live on religious faiths that are out of harmony with known truth, or that hang loose in the air, cut apart from the fundamental intellectual culture of the age. The hour has struck for the serious business of rediscovering the foundations, and of interpenetrating all life and thought with the truths and realities of a victorious religious faith.
    ... Rufus M. Jones (1863-1948), A Preface to Christian Faith in a New Age, New York: Macmillan Co., 1932, p. 42 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:34-35; Ps. 51:10; Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 1:20; 2:6-8; 3:18; 4:4; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:18-19; 4:22-24; Col. 1:21-23; Tit. 3:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have secured the victory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: who was worthy?

Sunday, January 6, 2019
    EPIPHANY
Meditation:
Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
    who alone does marvelous deeds.
Praise be to his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
    —Psalm 72:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The [Roman] imperial coinage (which was regularly used as a propaganda medium)... is full of the characteristic motifs of Advent and Epiphany, celebrating the blessings which the manifestation of each successive divine emperor was to bring to a waiting world. Among the adulatory formulas with which the emperor was acclaimed, [Prof. Ethelbert Stauffer] mentions, as going back probably to the first century, “Hail, Victory, Lord of the earth, Invincible, Power, Glory, Honour, Peace, Security, Holy, Blessed, Great, Unequalled, Thou Alone, Worthy art Thou, Worthy is he to inherit the Kingdom, Come, come, do not delay, Come again” (p. 155). [in Christ and the Caesars, Ethelbert Stauffer (1955)]. Indeed, one has only to read Psalm 72, “in Latin, in the official language of the empire, to see that it is largely the same formal language which is used alike in the Forum for the advent of the emperor and in the catacombs for the celeb ration of the Epiphany of Christ”. Here there could be no compromise. Who was worthy to ascend the throne of the universe and direct the course of history? Caesar, or Jesus?
    ... F. F. Bruce (1910-1990), The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 65 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 72; Matt. 2:1-12; 3:13-17; 22:15-22; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; 23:2-3; John 2:11
Quiet time reflection:
    Jesus, You alone are worthy! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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