Kurosaki: the one true center of the church

Saturday, May 23, 2020
    Commemoration of Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
    —John 17:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Recently, some Christians have recognized the existing state of the church as sinful, or, at least, as faulty and mistaken. They are trying to save the Christians out of this labyrinth by reuniting the divided churches, by forming an alliance of churches, or by trying to form an ecumenical church. For all that, it seems very difficult to obtain the desired result, because all the present churches are still standing on the principles of the Reformation, unable to rid themselves of the sectarian spirit inherited from Catholicism. So the number of denominations and sects shows no sign of decreasing, and all efforts to unite the churches seem likely to end only in the formation of yet other sects and denominations. Yet the center of Christianity is neither institution nor organization. Nor is it even the Bible itself, as the Reformers made it, for the Ekklesia existed before the formation of the New Testament canon. Christians were in fellowship with God and one another, centering their faith in Christ, long before there was any accepted New Testament. There is only one center of Christianity—spiritual fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 4 (see the book)
    See also John 17:20-23; Matt. 18:20; John 14:23; Rom. 12:5; 15:5-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send Your Spirit to unite us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Nida: the one work of faith

Friday, May 22, 2020
Meditation:
    “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith...”
    —Habakkuk 2:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In Romans 1:17, we are accustomed to find the words, “The just shall live by faith.” This declaration has been a clarion call to faith and has been the text for many a sermon on the necessity of continued faith throughout life. It is true that this verse may have this meaning, but it is more probable that it means, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” This is in keeping with the whole emphasis of Paul throughout Romans, which has as its theme “justification by faith” (Romans 5:1). Paul does not present two themes in Romans: the one, “living by faith,” and the other, “justification by faith.” His purpose was to emphasize one great primary truth of Christian doctrine: the righteousness which comes by faith in God. It is a kind of imputed righteousness, which has its origin in the grace of God and its response in the faith of man. Not only is this translation more in keeping with t he Pauline context, but it is more faithful to the Hebrew of Habakkuk 2:4, of which it is a quotation.
    ... Eugene A. Nida (1914-2011), God’s Word in Man’s Language, New York: Harper, 1952, p. 73 (see the book)
    See also Hab. 2:4; John 3:36; Rom. 1:17; 5:1; Gal. 3:11; Phil. 3:8-9; Heb. 10:36-39; 11:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have shown the world how to live! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ: the joy of Ascension Day

Thursday, May 21, 2020
    Ascension
    Feast of Commemoration of Helena, Protector of the Faith, 330
Meditation:
    When [Jesus] had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
    —Luke 24:50-51 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This Ascension Day is properly the most solemn feast of our Lord Jesus: for this day first in His manhood He began to sit on the Father’s right hand in bliss and took full rest of all His pilgrimage before.
    Also this is properly the feast of all the blessed spirits in heaven: for this day they had a new joy of their Lord whom they saw never before there in His manhood.
    ... The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, tr. Nicolas Love, Michael G. Sargent, Westminster: William Caxton, 1490, critical edition, Garland Pub., 1992, p. 219 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:50-51; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9; Eph. 1:18-21; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long to see You in the flesh. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Behrends: Jesus, both God and man

Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Meditation:
    Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
    —2 John 7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus Christ is God in the form of man; God in every fiber of his being, man in every fiber of his being; as completely God as if he were not man, and as completely man as if he were not God. We cannot divide him. He is always divine, and he is always human. The truly human experiences were also divine experiences. The truly human acts were also divine acts. The personality was human from center to circumference, and it was divine from center to circumference. The one soul was human to the core, and it was divine to the core. It follows from this, that whatever is affirmed of Jesus Christ, is as true of his deity as it is of his humanity.
    ... A. J. F. Behrends, part VII. “Why Did Christ Die?”, from “Short Studies Upon Great Themes”, printed in Christian work: illustrated family newspaper, v.64, p. 173 (see the book)
    See also 2 John 1:7; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 4:2-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I do confess Jesus, fully God and fully man. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Adams: Inscription for a pulpit

Tuesday, May 19, 2020
    Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
Meditation:
    [Paul to the elders at Ephesus:] Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
    —Acts 20:28 (NIV)
Quotation:
INSCRIPTION FOR A PULPIT

“The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.”
The hungry sheep that crave the living Bread
Grow few, and lean, and feeble as can be,
When fed not Gospel, but philosophy;
Not Love’s eternal story, no, not this,
But apt allusion, keen analysis.
Discourse well framed—forgot as soon as heard—
Man’s thin dilution of the living Word.

O Preacher, leave the rhetorician’s arts;
Preach Christ, the Food of hungry human hearts;
Hold fast to science, history, or creed,
But preach the Answer to our human need,
That in this place, at least, it may be said
No hungry sheep looks up and is not fed.
    ... Robert Hammond Adams (1883-1975) (my grandfather)
    See also Acts 20:28; Ps. 23; John 6:32-35,51; 10:11; 21:15-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant our pastors Your Spirit for the preaching of Your word.

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Arnold: narrow in the right way

Monday, May 18, 2020
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
    —Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We must become “narrow” in the right way—“narrow” in the sense that we live only for Christ. I do not mean at all that our lives should show more religiosity. There is no one as broadhearted as the crucified Christ, whose outstretched arms seek all men. It is a matter of decisiveness in one’s heart, of living only for Christ. If we have this decisiveness, we will have broad hearts, though not, of course, in the worldly sense of tolerance for anything and everything.
    ... J. Heinrich Arnold (1913-1982), Discipleship, Farmington, PA: Plough Pub. House, 1994, p. 30-31 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 7:13-14; Isa. 65:1; Luke 13:24; 19:9-10; John 4:23
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You must lead me along life’ path; alone, I will stray. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: Lord, come away

Sunday, May 17, 2020
Meditation:
    When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
    “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
        “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
    Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
    “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
    —Luke 19:37-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
        Lord, come away;
        Why dost thou stay?
Thy road is ready and thy paths made straight
            With longing expectations wait
    The consecration of thy beauteous feet.
Ride on triumphantly: behold, we lay
Our lusts and proud wills in thy way.
Hosannah! welcome to our hearts: Lord, here
Thou hast a temple, too, and full as dear
As that of Sion; and as full of sin;—
Nothing but thieves and robbers dwell therein,
Enter, and chase them forth, and cleanse the floor;
Crucify them, that they may never more
        Profane that holy place
        Where thou hast chose to set thy face.
And then if our stiff tongues shall be
Mute in the praises of thy deity,
        The stones out of the temple wall
        Shall cry aloud and call
Hosannah! and thy glorious footsteps greet.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. XV, London: Ogle, Duncan & Co., 1822, p. 77 (see the book)
    See also Luke 19:37-40; Rom. 6:6; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have conquered our hearts of stone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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