Politics & Power Quote by John Stott

Authority is usually the word that makes modern readers flinch; Stott makes it the engine of courage. The line is built like a three-part ratchet: earth, heaven, presence. Each clause tightens the moral logic until the listener feels less “inspired” than conscripted. That’s not accidental. Stott is a clergyman writing in the long shadow of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), where Jesus’ universal authority and promised presence are paired with a command to “make disciples of all nations.” He’s not offering a pep talk for religious activism; he’s reconstructing obligation as inevitability.

The intent is missionary: to press Christians outward, across borders, languages, and comfort zones. The subtext is psychological triage. “Authority on earth” answers fear of human opposition: if Christ outranks emperors, bureaucrats, and mobs, you can risk embarrassment, rejection, even persecution. “Authority in heaven” answers the deeper anxiety: that your effort won’t matter. Success isn’t framed as market penetration or institutional growth but as hope grounded in divine sovereignty. Then the twist: “His presence with us leaves us no other choice.” Presence becomes a kind of holy surveillance, but also companionship; either way it eliminates neutrality. If God is with you, staying put isn’t cautious, it’s disobedient.

Context matters: Stott helped shape postwar evangelicalism, pushing it to be intellectually serious and globally engaged. This sentence carries that program in miniature: mission not as cultural conquest, but as compelled witness under a King whose jurisdiction is total and whose proximity makes excuses collapse.