By Tim Chester, reprinted from his blog under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.
I’ve just been reading a draft of Jason Meyer’s forthcoming book, Lloyd-Jones on the Christian Life (Crossway). I was struck afresh by many things including how Lloyd-Jones anticipated some of our emphases in Everyday Church (that anticipated in the sense of got there ahead of us rather than saw us coming!). Here are three quotes I might well have put in Everyday Church had I read them (or re-read them) before writing it …
The first Christians conquered the ancient world just by being Christian. It was their love for one another and their type of life that made such an impact upon that pagan world, and there is no question but that this is the greatest need of the hour – the Christian quality of life being demonstrated among men and women. That is something to which we are all called and something which we can all do.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Joy: An Exposition of Philippians 1 and 2, Baker, 1989, 22.
My dear friends, I say again that this is our unique opportunity at this time. That is what we stand for in a world that is so largely non-Christian. The way to convince the world of the truth of that gospel is to let them see that it makes a difference, that it is a power, that we are not mere theorists and philosophers but that we preach the power of God. And we prove that there is a power in the gospel by showing what we are in work, in business, in profession and in the home. Wherever we are, whatever we are, only let our citizenship be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Life of Joy: An Exposition of Philippians 1 and 2, Baker, 1989, 22.
Perhaps someone looking at me and seeing me enjoying the drudgery, and doing it with a finesse, and with a glamour and a glory that the world can never produce, may suddenly be convinced and convicted of sin, and may become an enquirer after the way of salvation. Get rid of the notion that you have to be preaching or teaching explicitly in order to evangelize. You can evangelize where you are, just as you are. You do it primarily by your life, by the way in which you do your daily work. You prove that you are a Christian in that way, because only a Christian can possibly do it in that way.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home and Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, Banner of Truth, 1974, 358.
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