A Nifty Quote on an Old Theme

A nifty quote for the week – we’ve had an ongoing theme of Revival in this blog (though I won’t claim to be the “revival blog”, but the theme does seem to keep cropping up.

In reading Martin Lloyd-Jones work on Ephesians (in preparation for an upcoming sermon series), I came across this quote:

“How was it that the early Christians, who were but a handful of people, had such a profound impact on the pagan world in which they lived? It was because they were what they were. It was not their organization, it was the quality of their life, it was the power they possessed because they were truly Christian. That is how Christianity conquered the ancient world, and I am more and more convinced that it is the only way in which Christianity can truly influence the modern world. The lack of influence of the Christian Church in the world at large today is in my opinion due to one thing only, namely (God forgive us!) that we are so unlike the description of the Christians that we find in the New Testament.” (Volume 1, pg 24).

This quote goes right along with Mike Foster’s comments about being Missional. If we yearn for impact and long for making a difference, if we long for revival of Christian passion in our land, then we need to be used by Christ as missionaries where we've been placed. Then we go over to yesterday's post on Intellectuelle, and we see that God's ordinary method for shaping and transforming our lives is through the proclamation of the word. When, under the guidance of Scripture, we live lives of doxology – when all that we do serves to bring God praise – when we take seriously Christ’s claim upon our lives – and his intent to use us where He placed us – then we begin to understand the parable of the mustard seed.

Soli Deo Glori
Russell