Food for thought…
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices…
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner…
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
Cheap grace is grace without discipleship…
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it, a man will gladly go and sell all that he has…it is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift that must be asked for, the door at which one must knock.
Words that could have been written today. But they weren’t. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote them in the 1930’s – when he was in his late twenties. A timeless truth that we should contemplate maybe more now in our commercialized, diagrammed culture.
*What does grace mean to you?
*How do you see the message of grace presented in our world today?
Comments
12 responses to “Cheap Grace”
Grace is not cheap, indeed. But, it is never anything I can earn or repay after getting it. On one hand you have cheap grace, on the other hand you have costly legalism. The tight rope we walk is knowing we have complete acceptance that we did not have to earn and the challenge to live like we are grateful for being accepted.
It seems to me that it is almost impossible to understand grace without having a biblical understanding of the sin-nature we all as humans inherit. Many churches today say they don’t like talking about sin, they focus on grace. But I ask, What is grace?
Couldn’t have said it better than Bonhoeffer or modeled it better tha he did!
Awesome. I am reading that as well. The thing is I am having a hard time understanding grace. I mean I have experienced it, but it is undescribable. Putting it into words almost cheapens it.
And the Body is so broken right now. We preach cheap grace from every street corner, giving many a false security that if they come to Christ it will cost them nothing. When in reality, it will cost their very lives.
I’m sure everyone here has heard the common way of putting it: “Mercy is not what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don’t.” I can’t believe that God has offered eternal fellowship with Him despite of what I am. How can I not serve Him, worship Him, and go where He directs?
Grace in our world today? Continually praying for, showing kindness too, and witnessing to my atheist neighbor, regardless of how he speaks about our Lord. I’m determined to win him through friendship!
I’ve read that book and it convicts on every page! I love it! I often think about how cheaply we treat the grace that was given to us..as if we deserve it. We wouldn’t admit it and I don’t know that it’s always a conscious choice, but we do behave in ways that cheapen grace. I don’t think Mr. Bonhoeffer was advocating legalism, I think it was more of an awareness or heart issue. I believe that if we truly lived every day in full awareness of what this grace costs, we would be overwhelmed and it would show in every detail of our life. We wouldn’t try to earn it because that can’t be done, but we would maybe try to live a little more worthily of it.
Just my thouhgts..
Reading it also as part of my summer fruit cocktail.
Grace=Not cheap…free!
Free, but a cost we could never pay.
I saw a veteran proudly wearing a t-shirt today in a VA hospital. It said, “Freedom is not free.”
Same general irony I suppose.
Thanks for being deep and light all at the same time, Anne. Good luck with the cold.