Driver: the cart and the horse

Saturday, August 1, 2020
Meditation:
    We [Paul and Silas] loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
    —1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Priestcraft ... is fostered whenever and wherever the ... whole people of God begins to view the ordained ministry as an office rather than as a function, and allows the office to shape the function rather than the function to shape the office. Most churches and most Christians in Britain—the denomination is immaterial—conceive the ministry as a professionalized caste with its own exclusive tabus, rather than as a specially trained task force, working to professional standards simply in order to make its service more effective. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Christopher Driver (1932-1997), A Future for the Free Churches?, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 100 (see the book)
    See also 1 Thess. 2:8; Matt. 9:37-38; Mark 1:17; 2 Cor. 6:3-10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your bind Your people together by love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ignatius of Loyola: as Thou deservest

Friday, July 31, 2020
    Commemoration of Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, 1556
Meditation:
    For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
    —Philippians 1:29-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest:
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest;
To labor and not ask for any reward,
Save that of knowing that we do Thy will.
    ... St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491/5-1556), included in A Treasury of Sermon Illustrations, Charles Langworthy Wallis, ed., Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950, [1548] p. 61 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 1:29-30; Prov. 10:16; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 4:13-14
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the heart to serve You now. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wilberforce: Christian diligence

Thursday, July 30, 2020
    Commemoration of William Wilberforce, Social Reformer, 1833
Meditation:
    Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
    Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
    —John 6:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion; and no one expects to attain to the height of learning, or arts, or power, or wealth, or military glory, without vigorous resolution, and strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labour, study or inquiry! This is the more preposterous, because Christianity, being a revelation from God, and not the invention of man, discovering to us new relations, with their correspondent duties; containing also doctrines, motives, and precepts, peculiar to itself; we cannot reasonably expect to become proficients in it by the accidental [encounters] of life, as one might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy, or a scheme of mere morals.
    ... William Wilberforce (1759-1833), A Practical View, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1829, p. 79-80 (see the book)
    See also John 6:26-29; Deut. 6:5; 11:13-15; Ps. 119:60; 1 Cor. 15:58; 2 Tim. 4:2; Heb. 11:6; 2 Pet. 1:5-8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the strength to teach my body to do Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Markus Barth: purification of the Church

Wednesday, July 29, 2020
    Feast of Mary, Martha & Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord
Meditation:
    You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
    —John 15:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The holiness and spotlessness of the Church (Eph. 1:4; 5:27) are a gift and commission which God already has given, and is giving, to the assembled saints upon earth now. The Christians cannot make or call themselves holy. They would be ridiculous pretenders if they did. But they are called to acknowledge what “the word” does and says to them. By the word, they are purified... Despite all the counsel which the Ephesians needed concerning their worship, conduct, and testimony, they were actually God’s elect. They were commissioned and committed to be holy and spotless. They were entitled to believe and proclaim that God, despite all the sin and weakness of man, creates people called saints!
    ... Markus Barth (1915-1994), The Broken Wall, Chicago: Judson Press, 1959, Regent College Publishing, 1959, p. 106-107 (see the book)
    See also John 15:3; Rom. 4:3; Eph. 1:4-6,13-14;5:25-27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, cleanse me again with Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bach: the aim of music

Tuesday, July 28, 2020
    Commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach, musician, 1750
Meditation:
    So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.
    —1 Corinthians 14:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging.
    ... J. S. Bach (1685-1750), Glory and Honor: the musical and artistic legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gregory Wilbur & David Vaughan, Cumberland House Publishing, 2005, p. 1 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 14:15; Mark 14:26; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Rev. 5:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone fill all things with meaning. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Stott: the devil hates the Gospel

Monday, July 27, 2020
    Commemoration of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, Teacher, 1901
    Commemoration of John R. W. Stott, spiritual writer and teacher, 2011
Meditation:
    Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
    —2 Timothy 2:11-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The world’s opposition is strong and subtle. And behind these things stands the devil, bent on ‘taking men alive’ and keeping them prisoner. For the devil hates the gospel and uses all his strength and cunning to obstruct its progress, now by perverting it in the mouths of those who preach it, now by frightening them into silence through persecution or ridicule, now by persuading them to advance beyond it into some fancy novelty, now by making them so busy with defending the gospel that they have no time to proclaim it.
    ... John R. W. Stott (1921-2011), Guard the Gospel; the Message of 2 Timothy, Downers Grove, Ill., Inter Varsity Press, 1973, p. 126 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 2:11-14; Matt. 10:33; John 14:19; 1 Thess. 5:10; 1 John 2:22-23; Jude 1:4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your Gospel be proclaimed over the objections of those who hate it. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Miller: reasons for religious freedom

Sunday, July 26, 2020
Meditation:
    Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
    —2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The student of [Roger] Williams’ own writings will, I trust, perceive that, great as has been his symbolic role, he himself was thinking on a deeper plane than that which simply recognizes religious liberty as a way for men to live peaceably together. He was not a rationalist and a utilitarian who gave up the effort to maintain an orthodoxy because he had no real concern about religious truth, but was the most passionately religious of men. Hence he is an analyst, an explorer into the dark places, of the very nature of freedom. His decision to leave denominations free to worship as they chose came as a consequence of his insight that freedom is a condition of the spirit.
    ... Perry Miller (1905-1963), Roger Williams, Atheneum, 1970, p. 255 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1; 1 Pet. 2:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the true source of freedom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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