Costly Grace

I have been wanting to read "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer for a long time. His first chapter is called "Costly Grace." I love reading about God's grace but I have to admit this time it is making me a little uncomfortable. I know it has because I have brought it up in discussions twice in the last two days and I am even going to teach on it Sunday.

His point is that there are two types of grace the church teaches. Cheap grace which is taught mostly he says "is the deadly enemy of the church." Cheap grace requires nothing from the one receiving grace. He says "Cheap Grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner."

I have noticed lately followers of Jesus want to justify their sin without accountability. When held accountable they play the judgement card and say, "you don't understand." They call for grace but they want it at a discount. What I mean is they want the benefits of grace but don't want it to cost them anything.

The problem is that many churches and church leaders today teach this type of grace. The messages are designed to make people feel good about themselves with little or no accountability. This may be the reason so many church leaders are now evaluating the churches they lead and finding out they have done a poor job of discipling followers of Jesus. Bonhoeffer makes the point that "Cheap Grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

This is the grace we like. This is the grace that is a bargain because there is little or no cost.

Costly grace on the other hand is something we don't want think about. The reason is this grace cost us something. It calls for accountability and sacrifice. In some places in the world this grace can even cost people their lives.

Jesus teaches this type of grace. He tells the rich young ruler to sell everything he owns and give it to the poor and then he will have treasures in heaven. He tells those who want to follow him things like, "If you follow me, remember I don't know where I am going to sleep tonight" or "If you follow me you will have to leave your family." He even warns his disciples on the night he was arrested that they should expect persecution and even death.

So the question I want to ask is "How costly is your grace?"

Remember Grace is costly, it should cost us something considering it cost God is one and only Son.