“[A]t the heart of all theology for Luther is God and how one knows God; or perhaps better said, one must start all theology with understanding how it is that God reveals Godself” (Thomas J. Davis, This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 58).

“Luther did not do away with the notion of good works, works of love; he repositioned good works so that they follow necessarily from the working of the Word. Good works do not effect salvation; they are its flowering. The communio sanctorum, the community of love, is thus a necessary result of the Word” (Thomas J. Davis, This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 58).

I spend very, very little time in the land of YouTube. However, this was too cool to pass up. Enjoyed this with my kiddos.

“Christianity is enshrined in the life: but it is proclaimed by the lips. If there is a failure in either respect the gospel cannot be communicated” (Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, 194).

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One of my pastors back in Indiana use to say, “You need to wear your theology.” In the quote above, Michael Green is saying the same thing. There are two parts to Gospel Communication: 1) Life and life-style and works — aka, one’s agenda/what you do, and 2) the words and speech that dance on your lips — aka, one’s creed and confession/what you proclaim. That is, you need to wear/live what you believe (your theology). Therefore, Gospel Communication consists of two parts, and the twain ought not to be separated.

“God must be the guide of your desires, and the ground of your expectations in prayer. . . . Keep your voice in tune for prayer, and let all your language be a pure language, that you may be fit to call on the name of the Lord, Zeph. iii. 9 (From Directions for Daily Communion with God by Matthew Henry).

“Let not any other business hinder our saying what we have to say to God. We have business with a friend, perhaps, but we cannot do it, because we have not leisure; we have something else to do, which we think more needful; but we cannot say so concerning the business we have to do with God; for that is without doubt the one thing needful, to which every thing else must be made to truckle and give way. It is not at all necessary to our happiness that we be great in the world, or raise estates to such a pitch. But it absolutely necessary that we make our peace with God, that we obtain his favour, and keep ourselves in his love. Therefore no business for the world will serve to excuse our attendance upon God; but, on the contrary, the more important our worldly business is, the more need we have to apply ourselves to God by prayer for his blessing upon it, and so take him along with us in it. The closer we keep to prayer, and to God in prayer, the more will all our affairs prosper” (from Directions for Daily Communion with God).

Thomas J. Davis quoting Martin Luther: “Now this is the fruit, that even as we have eaten and drunk, and say the same words to our neighbor, Take, eat, and drink . . . meaning to offer yourself with all your life, even as Christ did with all that he had” (This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 56).

Here is a thoughtful article by Peter Leithart; he is commenting on Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956, and his closing thoughts are quite compelling: social collateral (the matrix and benefits created by social institutions) is greater and more powerful than raw free enterprise (the market).

Leithart says that the former, not the latter, serves as a better bulwark to tyranny. Surely, for some, this is a controversial statement.

“What God has done for the individual in eucharistic celebration then becomes the model for how the believer acts toward others” (Thomas J. Davis, This is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 55).