From EBC
[W]e are not washed by Christ, that we may plunge ourselves again into new filth, but that our purity may serve to glorify God. Besides, he teaches us, that nothing can proceed from us that can be pleasing to God until we are purified by the blood of Christ; for as we are all enemies to God before our reconciliation, so he regards as abominable all our works; hence the beginning of acceptable service is reconciliation.
– John Calvin
We quickly learn that God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of his church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy him and obey him than to men and women whose horizons revolve around good jobs, nice houses, and reasonable health. He is far more committed to building a corporate “temple” in which his Spirit dwells than he is in preserving our reputations. . . . He prefers that his people live in disciplined gratitude and holy joy rather than in pushy self-reliance and glitzy happiness. He wants us to pursue daily death, not self-fulfillment, for the latter leads to death, while the former leads to life.
– D. A. Carson
The Church is the mirror that reflects the whole effulgence of the Divine character. It is the grand scene in which the perfections of Jehovah are displayed to the universe. The revelations made to the Church—the successive grand events in her history and, above all, the manifestation of ‘the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ’—furnish even to the heavenly intelligences fresh subjects of adoring contemplation.
– Charles Bridges
The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all; [he] is just, good and does good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
— “Of Religious Worship” from the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) & The London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689)
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8, 9
The whole life of Christ was a continual Passion; others die martyrs but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas day and his Good Friday are but evening and morning of one and the same day.
– John Donn
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
– John 3:16
Worship is the fuel and goal of missions. Missions exits because worship does not. . . . Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord. . . . I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Ps 104:34, 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.
– John Piper
Anyone who reads the Gospels—and especially [Luke]—knows that Jesus is a friend of the poor and oppressed. The story of Zacchaeus testifies that Jesus is a friend of the rich—even rich oppressors—as well. Luke’s story of the incarnation is not developed according to a stereotype of justice in which the poor are befriended and the rich condemned. The fellowship of Jesus is not offered as vindication of poor and condemnation of rich, but as “good news of great joy” (2:20) to all who are lost, whether poor or rich.
– James Edwards
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.
– J. I. Packer
If we take it all for granted, if we think life just shows up with this stuff already in place, if we trick ourselves into believing that everyday household items come from the grocery rather than from a gracious God, we walk right past countless reasons for [thanksgiving] without even knowing it.
– Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves.
– J. I. Packer
The gospel is boldly advancing under the contested reign and inevitable victory of Jesus the King.
– D. A. Carson
When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
– Martin Luther, Thesis 1
We believe that the very beginning and end of salvation, and the sum of Christianity, consists of faith in Christ, who by His blood alone, and not by any works of ours, has put away sin, and destroyed the power of death.
– Martin Luther
One is not righteous who does much, but the one who, without work, believes much in Christ. The law says, “Do this,” and it is never done. Grace says, “Believe in this,” and everything is already done.
– Martin Luther
The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.
– Martin Luther, Thesis 62
God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?
– C. S. Lewis
Then Bacchus … and Maenads began a dance, far wilder than the dance of the trees; not merely a dance for fun and beauty (though it was that too) but a magic dance of plenty, and where their hands touched, and where their feet fell, the feast came into existence.… Thus Aslan feasted the Narnians till long after the sunset had died away, and the stars had come out.… And the best thing about this feast was that there was not breaking up or going away, but as the talk grew quieter and slower, one after another would begin to nod and finally drop off to sleep with feet towards the fire and good friends on either side.
–Prince Caspian
