Introduction to Grace

“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. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap? Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian ‘conception’ of God. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living word of God, in fact, a denial of the incarnation of the word of God.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. “All for sin could not atone”. The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners “even in the best life” as Luther said. Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin… Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

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, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

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 pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The cost of discipleship

If you are anything like me, this quote will rattle you to your core. On a personal level you may identify with these powerful words from Bonhoeffer written all of those years ago, or perhaps with what you see in the life and faith of the young people you work with. As far as I’m concerned, these words could have been written by someone today, about this generation of Church: our theology, our practice, our discipleship. For in our desperation to see everyone and anyone attend church and youth group, we’ve pushed the bar for faith so low that we are guilty of peddling ‘cheap grace’ to those who walk on in. Just as culture cries out for ‘acceptance’, so too we have warped our theology into one of acceptance without transformation, without any requirement of change. This is not the discipleship that Jesus outlines in his Sermon on the Mount, and it is not the costly grace he offers.

Take a moment to pause and reflect: are you living by costly grace? Bring your thoughts and prayers to God.

In this series on discipleship, we want to recapture a vision for what it means to be disciple makers, and what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus in our time and place. We will first explore what discipleship might mean in our youth groups, and the interplay between what we believe and what we do. As Bonhoeffer goes on to explain in The Cost of Discipleship, the Church has been guilty of taking Martin Luther’s theory of ‘justification by faith’ so literally that it has brought about the end of discipleship, for cheap grace, offered freely and without consequence or cost, has made discipleship redundant. This cheap grace: “Instead of opening up the way to Christ, has closed it.”

Working through Matthew chapters five to seven in eight sessions over the next two months, we will uncover together the practical, day-by-day, moment-by-moment implications of following Jesus in all of the big things and all of the small things. We will seek to recapture the importance of implementing how Jesus says we should live, being, once again, the salt and the light of the Earth, a holy and transformed people set apart for God.

1. THE CALL AND COST OF DISCIPLESHIP Introduction
2. SHINE BRIGHTLY Matthew 5:1-16
3. FULFIL THE LAW Matthew 5:17-48
4. DON’T SEEK MAN’S APPROVAL Matthew 6:1-24
5. TRUST GOD Matthew 6: 25-34
6. DON’T PLAY GOD Matthew 7:1-6
7. SEEK GOD AND FIND THE NARROW PATH Matthew 7:7-14
8. BE WISE AND DISCERNING Matthew 7:15-2