Jesus, The Rock (Matthew 7:24-27)

“In applying [the Sermon on the Mount] to ourselves, we need to consider that the Bible is a dangerous book to read, and that the Church is a dangerous society to join. For in reading the Bible, we hear the words of Christ, and in joining the church, we say, we believe in Christ. As a result, we belong to the company described by Jesus as both hearing his teaching and calling him Lord. Our membership therefore lays upon us the serious responsibility of ensuring that what we know and what we say is translated into what we do.”

— John Stott

In Every Stage - Wait on the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:1-17)

“Marriage and family are temporary for this age; the church is forever. I am declaring the radical biblical truth that being in a human family is no sign of eternal blessing, but being in God’s family means being eternally blessed. Relationships based on family are temporary. Relationships based on union with Christ are eternal. Marriage is a temporary institution, but what it stands for lasts forever.” 

—John Piper

Seeing Christ through the Tension (1 John 2:28-3:10)

“True, [God’s] love for me is not based on my qualification or my preparation but it is misleading to say that God accepts us the way we are. Rather he accepts us despite the way we are. He receives us only in Christ and for Christ’s sake. Nor does he mean to leave us the way he found us, but to transform us into the likeness of his son. Without that transformation and new conformity of life we do not have any evidence that we were ever his in the first place.”

— Sinclair Ferguson, The Whole Christ