discussion on Costly Grace...

I want to wait to post about the second chapter until those of you who want to participate have some time to comment. I don’t want to jump a head and leave everyone behind!!
My dad made some great comments. I would like to touch on one of them. (click here to read his thoughts first)

Professional Ministry?

Someone who is walking in the flesh and thinking through the flesh, looks at their pastor and thinks, “I’m so glad he is hired, so I don’t have to do that!” That thinking is evil. It is a thought birthed out of our sin-nature. (Romans 8)

Someone who is walking in the Spirit and thinking through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, looks at their pastor and thinks, “I am so thankful to be a part of this body…what is my role in serving in God’s kingdom? Why has God placed me in this community? What can I offer and give to help partner with my brother to see God’s kingdom advance?”


When Christians think the second way and not the first, the problem is not that we have professional pastors; the problem is that we don’t have Christ-followers. The problem does not lay in the existence of pastors, churches, politicians, society, or culture. The problem is in the lack of ownership that I, that we, have taken of God’s gift of grace. This costly, priceless gift should birth within us a desire to throw our lives into the race that God has set before us, not pass the gauntlet to someone else. God forgive us for ever thinking his call to be a disciple and make disciples does not rest on us because we do not get paid to do it. (And, summing up some of my dad’s thoughts, how can there be a “higher calling” then that which Christ has called us to already?)

Romans 8: 12-19
“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father! The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God”

Costly Grace

"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church."

This chapter struck my heart in so many ways. I often look at two different extremes in thinking and rank which extreme is worse; however, the reality is that any value or belief that I hold to be true that is not centered in God's word, is false. Cheap grace is just as dangerous as salvation by works.

Depending on our backgrounds, we may be nervous to make that statement. Our past experience may have been filled with legalism, "dos and don'ts", and outward signs of "looking Christian" and the day we found that there was nothing we could do in our own power to earn our salvation was a great day of freedom and a beautiful revelation of God's grace. Or...maybe our past experience was filled attending seeker sensitive churches, church was nothing more then a social gathering where people plastered on fake smiles, no sense of authentic and real relationships and the day we discovered that we had purpose and mission was a day of great awakening for our soul.

The pendulum seems to be going back in the direction of "grace." But I can hardly call it grace, because it is a cheap grace. It seems to me that a generation looked at the church and said, "we are sick of legalism" and instead of going to God's word to define what it means to be a disciple of Christ, we simply spurned a movement in opposition to the current trend. The results are devastating. The recurring theme to me from reading this chapter was that cheap grace and salvation by works both...equally, desecrate the beautiful work of the cross.

"Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness which frees us from the toils of sin."

I confess that I have been guilty of seeing grace as an abstract concept, a beautiful, artistic idea and not as something concrete that changes the core and essence of who I am and what I am called to do. What type of salvation are we offering people if we are not offering them a salvation from their toils of sin? If we really believe that sin is as deadly as we say it is, then we need to make sure we explain a grace that really is something that leads to change. We do a disservice to our fellow brothers and sisters when we depict grace as something that gets us into heaven (making that the beginning, middle, and end of salvation)...praise God that grace offers us a life where we can take part in God's kingdom right now, here on earth!

Too often I wake up, go through my day, and go to bed fully knowing that God's grace saves me without giving thought to what this means as a disciple of his. My heart was broken as I read this chapter and realized how little sacredness I often put on "grace" and to know that I too...in my own relationship with Christ...have cheapened God's great gift to me.

Bonhoefer asks the question, "what are those three thousand Saxtons put to death by Charlemange compared with the million of spiritual corpses in our country today?" Almost 70 years later, the question haunts me.

The last paragraph paints a beautiful picture of God's amazing grace. God's ways are so opposite of the way the world would expect/think. It is in pouring ourselves out completely and fully following Christ that we are filled completely and fully. It is only in God's kingdom that you become whole through brokenness. Only in following Christ are you filled with a greater understanding of grace and mercy as you become a disciple in the truest sense.

Discussion:

I loved how Bonehofer integrates grace and discipleship. I think these two words were synonymous for Bonehofer. This is what I would like us to discuss.

Do we act like these are synonyms? Do we live out our daily life truly believing that being a disciple is a reflection of truly understanding God's grace?