Social responsibility becomes an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our neighbour.
Greatness in the kingdom of God is measured in terms of obedience.
Topics: Obedience Source: Authentic Christianity. Christianity Today, v. 40, n. 3.
How did Jesus expect His disciples to react under persecution? (In Matthew 5:12 He said), "Rejoice and be glad!" We are not to retaliate like an unbeliever, nor sulk like a child, nor lick our wound in self-pity like a dog, nor just grin a bear it like a Stoic, still less pretend we enjoy it like a masochist. What then? We are to rejoice as a Christian should and even "leap for joy" (Lk. 6:23).
Topics: Persecution, Self-pity Source: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, IVP, 1978, p. 52.
Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.
Topics: Persecution Source: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount
Every powerful movement has had its philosophy which has gripped the mind, fired the imagination and captured the devotion of its adherents.
It is impossible to pray for someone without loving him, and impossible to go on praying for him without discovering that our love for him grows and matures.
Topics: Prayer Source: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, IVP, 1978, p. 119.
Prayer is the very way God Himself has chosen for us to express our conscious need of Him and our humble dependence on Him.
Topics: Prayer Source: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, IVP, 1978, p. 186.
And seldom if ever do I leave the pulpit without a sense of partial failure, a mood of penitence, a cry to God for forgiveness, and a resolve to look to Him for grace to do better in the future.
A person's life is his most precious possession. Consequently, to rob him of it is the greatest sin we can commit against him, while to give one's own life on his behalf is the greatest possible expression of love for him. This, then, is the ultimate contrast: Cain's hatred issued in murder, Christ's love (issued) in self-sacrifice.
Topics: Sacrifice, Murder Source: The Letters of John, Eerdmans, 1998, p. 146.
We must never think of salvation as a kind of transaction between God and us in which He contributes grace and we contribute faith. For we were dead and had to be quickened before we could believe. No, Christ's apostles clearly teach elsewhere that saving faith too is God's gracious gift.
Social responsibility becomes an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our neighbour.