The Church confesses her timidity, her evasiveness, her dangerous concessions. ..She was silent when she should have cried out...she failed to speak the right word in the right way at the right time.
01464 – The Church was Silent
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01380 – Obedience to God
Who stands fast? Only the person whose final standard is not his or her reason, principles, conscience, freedom, or virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God--the...
01354 – Being There for Others
The church is church only when it is there for others...not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell people in every calling what a life with Christ is, what it means "to be there for others." from Letters and Papers from Prison
01297 – The Fundamental Wickedness of Evil
For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness...
01267 – Faith and Obedience
For faith is only real when there is obedience, never without, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience. Since, then, we cannot adequately speak of obedience as the consequence of faith, and since we must never forget the indissoluble unity of the two, we...
00464 – Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus...
00424 – Obedience to Jesus’ Call
The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus. Unless a definite step is demanded, the call vanishes into thin air, and if men imagine that they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics. …The following two...
00421 – Christianity Without Christ?
With an abstract idea it is possible to enter into a relation of formal knowledge, to become enthusiastic about it, and perhaps even to put it into practice; but it can never be followed in personal obedience. Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably...
00418 – Called to Follow Christ
When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person. The grace of his call bursts all the bonds of legalism. It is a gracious call, a gracious commandment. It transcends the difference between the law and the gospel. Christ...
00324 – The Blessedness of Advent
With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality. He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing. He confronts you in every person that you meet. He walks on...