Kurosaki: churches vs. Body of Christ

Saturday, July 10, 2021
Meditation:
    And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
    —Ephesians 1:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is obvious that no human means exists for distinguishing clearly between believers and unbelievers in borderline cases. The methods of distinction upon which the churches and the Christian groups are based can only result—as experience continually proves—in including some who do not really know Christ and excluding some who have His life. In this sense, the existing churches cannot be considered to be the same as the Ekklesia, or true Body of Christ. Serious confusion has resulted when churches have assumed attitudes or prerogatives proper only to the Body. We must always clearly distinguish between the churches of men and the Ekklesia of Christ—the Body in which He lives.
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 8 (see the book)
    See also Eph. 1:22-23; Matt. 7:15-16; Col. 1:24; 1 Tim. 3:14-15; Jude 1:8-12
Quiet time reflection:
    Jesus is Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Reeves: understanding unity

Friday, July 9, 2021
Meditation:
    For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
    —1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Whatever may be our differences of colour, culture, and class, the unity that is ours in Christ is given visible expression at every Synod. Here we all gather around the one Altar, here we all share in shaping the policy of the Church in this diocese; here we all take part in making provision for carrying on the work of the Church during the coming year. At this time, year by year, we are specially conscious of our unity in Christ, and are made aware afresh that we are members of this new race of human beings which is made up of all those of every ethnic group who have been added to Christ. We are members of that Kingdom in which all human antagonisms are transcended. Yet we shall not interpret aright this unity which is ours in Christ Jesus unless we continually remind ourselves that it has its origin in His death and resurrection. The Church springs out of the deeds of Jesus done in the flesh, and we can only fulfil our destiny in the Church as w e learn that we are utterly dependent upon the whole Body of Christ.
    ... Ambrose Reeves (1899-1980), Bishop of Johannesburg [1956], in Church and Race in South Africa, David M. Paton, London: SCM Press, 1958, p. 30-31 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 12:13; John 17:20-21; Gal. 3:28; 1 Pet. 2:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, drive all obstacles to unity away from within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Brooks: abasement

Thursday, July 8, 2021
Meditation:
    I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
    —Philippians 4:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Not to all men, not to any man always does God give complete abundance. To all men sometimes, to some men in long stretches of their lives, come the abasement times,—times of poverty, times of ignorance, times of friendlessness, times of distrust and doubt; but God does not mean that these times should be like great barren stretches and blanks in our lives only to be travelled over for the sake of what lies beyond. To him who, like Paul, knows how to be abased, they have their own rich value. They do for him their own good work. To have our desire set on nothing absolutely except character, to be glad that God should lead us into any land where there is character to win,—this is the only real explanation of life. He that has it may be more than reconciled to living. He may do more than triumph over his abasements. He may make close friendships with them, so that he shall part from them with sorrow when he is called to go to the right ha nd of God where there is no more abasement, nothing but fulness forevermore.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Light of the World, and Other Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904, p. 175 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 4:12; Matt. 18:4; Luke 14:8-11; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Pet. 5:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I be content with whatever provision You have made. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Pusey: hear and obey

Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
    —Mark 4:23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    They only really hear who obey, and they only who obey can really hear.
    ... Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882), Parochial Sermons, v. III, London: Rivingtons, 1873, p. 190 (see the book)
    See also Mark 4:23; Isa. 30:20-21; Jer. 31:33-34; Matt. 11:26-27; John 10:27; Rev. 11:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, obedience teaches us to know Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Saphir: grace in the "Old" Testament

Tuesday, July 6, 2021
    Feast of John Huss, Reformer, Martyr, 1415
    Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, &
    John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535
Meditation:
    Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
    —Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is meant by calling the writings of Moses and the Prophets [the] “Old Testament”? Do they not set forth the covenant of grace? The doctrine of justification by faith: does not Paul in his Epistle to the Romans prove it from Genesis (case of Abraham) and from the Psalms (case of David, Ps. 32)? Where is the doctrine of substitution and the vicarious sufferings of the messiah set forth more clearly than in Leviticus and in the 53rd of Isaiah? The term “Old Testament” leads people to fancy it is an antiquated book; whereas, in many respects, it is newer than the New Testament, referring more fully to the age of glory and blessedness on the earth which is still before us.
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 140 (see the book)
    See also Gen. 15:6; Ps. 32; Isa. 53
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your entire word unfolds Your grace towards Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Bruce: Christ, the complete revelation

Monday, July 5, 2021
Meditation:
    At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
    —Mark 1:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ is God’s complete word to men; He has nothing to say which has not been said in Christ. Therefore all claims to convey an additional revelation to that which has been given in Christ (as distinct from bringing out the fuller implications of the revelation in Christ) are false claims. That is so whether these claims are embodied in books which aim at superseding or supplanting the Bible, or take the form of extra-biblical traditions which are promulgated as dogmas by ecclesiastical authority. It is true, as John Robinson said, that “the Lord hath much more truth yet to break forth out if His holy Word“—but that truth will break forth from the Word already spoken, the Word which became incarnate in Jesus Christ and has been recorded for us in Holy Writ. The Spirit of God, who spoke by the prophets and apostles, still speaks to us through their words and thus bears witness to Christ, the perfect revelation of God.
    ... F. F. Bruce (1910-1990), The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 81 (see the book)
    See also Mark 1:9-11; Matt. 16:16-17; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; Jude 1:3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given us Your Word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth

Henry: not religionists, but Christians

Sunday, July 4, 2021
Meditation:
    Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
    —1 Peter 2:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation [the United States] was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    ... Patrick Henry (1736-1799), attributed, Give Me Liberty: the Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry, David J. Vaughan, Cumberland House Publishing, 1996, p. 253 (see the book)
    See also 1 Pet. 2:17; Isa. 28:16; 1 John 2:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead us to pray as You desire for our nation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah    Ruth