The Cost Of Discipleship Quotes
"Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares."
"The first step places the disciple in the situation where faith is possible."
"Discipleship means adherence to Christ, and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship."
"Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship, and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ."
"The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ."
"The call to follow at once produces a new situation. To stay in the old situation makes discipleship impossible."
"The commandment of Jesus is not a sort of spiritual shock treatment. Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to perform it."
"Discipleship is not an offer man makes to Christ. It is only the call which creates the situation."
"Only the obedient believe. If we are to believe, we must obey a concrete command."
"The first step of obedience makes Peter leave his nets, and later get out of the ship; it calls upon the young man to leave his riches."
"We must take a definite step. What does this mean? It means that we can only take this step aright if we fix our eyes not on the work we do, but on the word with which Jesus calls us to do it."
"But when once Christ has called him, Peter has no alternative—he must leave the ship and come to him."
"Are you worried because you find it so hard to believe? No one should be surprised at the difficulty of faith."
"The gracious call of Jesus now becomes a stern command: Do this! Give up that! Leave the ship and come to me!"
"This situation is therefore not the consequence of our obedience, but the gift of him who commands obedience."
"If anyone rushes forward and challenges this point in an excess of Protestant zeal, let him ask himself whether he is not after all allowing himself to become an advocate of cheap grace."
"In dealing with souls, it is essential for the pastor to bear in mind both sides of the proposition."
"But Jesus says: 'First obey, perform the external work, renounce your attachments, give up the obstacles which separate you from the will of God.'"
"The pastor should give up arguing with him, and stop taking his difficulties seriously."
"For at this stage, the first step is what matters most. The strong point which the refractory sinner had occupied must be stormed, for in it Christ cannot be heard."
"Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call."
"The very failure of the light to shine becomes the touchstone of our Christianity."
"It is a wicked sophistry to justify the worldliness of the Church by the cross of Jesus."
"The good works are none other than those which the Lord Jesus himself has created in them."
"The cross is the strange light which alone illuminates these good works of the disciples."
"The only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a standstill because it does not find the resistance it is looking for."
"The law of God is not a 'better law' than that of the Pharisees, but one and the same."
"The righteousness of Jesus submits to the cross because that is what the law demands."
"Anger is always an attack on the brother’s life, for it refuses to let him live and aims at his destruction."
"Lust is impure because it is unbelief, and therefore it is to be shunned."
"Jesus does not impose intolerable restrictions on his disciples, he does not forbid them to look at anything, but bids them look on him."
"Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbour."
"The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him."
"In Jesus they have apprehended the loving-kindness of the Father."
"The life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh."
"The disciple always looks only to his master, never to Christ and the law, Christ and religion, Christ and the world."
"Only by following Christ alone can he preserve a single eye."
"What are we really devoted to? That is the question."
"The light of the body is the eye, and the light of the Christian is his heart."
"Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected."
"He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."
"Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
"He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
"He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."
"Baptism is not an offer made by man to God, but an offer made by Christ to man."
"The baptized Christian has ceased to belong to the world and is no longer its slave."
"The disciples are not expected to show fear of men."
"In the Body of Christ we are caught up into eternity by the act of God."
"The whole purpose for which the Word came was to restore lost mankind to fellowship with God."
"The Son of God becomes man. The Word is made flesh."
"Our faith must be aware of the greatness of this gift."
"Christ is the Second Man in whom the new humanity is created."
"The Body of Christ is the ground and assurance of that faith."
"In him they are all borne and taken up."
"Every act he wrought was performed on behalf of the new humanity which he bore in his body."
"The earthly body of Jesus underwent crucifixion and death."
"True, his earthly body undergoes death, but only to rise again as an incorruptible, glorious body."
"Works are dead, fruit is alive, and bears the seed which will bring forth more fruit."
"The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only he can produce it."
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance."
"The Christian dies daily, but although this may mean suffering and decay in the flesh, the inward man is renewed day by day."
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."
"The community of the saints is not an 'ideal' community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women."
"Sanctification means driving out the world from the Church as well as separating the Church from the world."
"The only reason why the saints have to die in the flesh is that Christ through the Holy Spirit has begun to live his life in them."
"The believer will be justified, the justified will be sanctified and the sanctified will be saved in the day of judgement."
"To be conformed to the image of Christ is not an ideal to be striven after."
"Christ took upon himself this human form of ours. He became Man even as we are men."
"The image of Jesus Christ impresses itself in daily communion on the image of the disciple."
"The form of Christ incarnate makes the Church into the Body of Christ."
"The image of God is the image of Christ crucified."
"If we would bear the image of his glory, we must first bear the image of his shame."
"Christ, incarnate, crucified and glorified is formed in every Christian soul."
"The Church in the first place is his image, and through the Church all her members have been refashioned in his image too."
"Now at last deeds are performed and life is lived in single-minded discipleship in the image of Christ."
"Our sanctification is veiled from our eyes until the last day, when all secrets will be disclosed."
"The follower of Jesus is the imitator of God."