Home > Work > Stott on the Christian Life: Between Two Worlds
1 " There is a third way to understand the church, which combines what is true in both false images, and which recognizes that we have a responsibility both to worship God and to serve the world. This is the double identity of the church (or incarnational Christianity). By its “double identity” I mean that the church is a people who have been both called out of the world to worship God and sent back into the world to witness and serve. "
― Tim Chester , Stott on the Christian Life: Between Two Worlds
2 " Thus each parable emphasizes a vital aspect of Christian discipleship—its beginning when like the prodigal son we come home for salvation, and its continuing when like the good Samaritan we go out in mission. Each of us resembles the prodigal; each of us should resemble the Samaritan. First we face our own sins, and then we face the world’s sufferings. First we come in and receive mercy, and then we go out and show mercy. Mercy cannot be shown until it has been received; but once it has been received it must be shown to others. Let us not divorce what Christ has married. We have all been prodigals; God wants us all to be Samaritans too.13 "
3 " If it is God’s desire that everybody acknowledge Jesus, it must be our desire as well. Hindus speak of “the Lord Krishna” and Buddhists of “the Lord Buddha,” but we cannot accept these claims. Only Jesus is Lord. He has no rivals. There is no greater incentive to world mission than the lordship of Jesus Christ. Mission is neither an impertinent interference in other people’s private lives, nor a dispensable option which may be rejected, but an unavoidable deduction from the universal lordship of Jesus Christ. "
