Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Resistance Transmission #4.5: The Resistance and the Call to Discipleship

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

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote Jesus said that if any ma these words sometime before he was martyred by the Nazis in 1945. His book, "The Cost of Discipleship," opens with those very words. How very true they are.

You see, the Church has allowed the doctrine of Grace to become one of Cheap Grace. Well, what does that mean? To begin with, it means that the Grace which Christ has provided for us costs us nothing when, in fact, it should cost us everything to receive that Grace. We think that we can do whatever and however we please because the Cross of Christ has taken care of everything. We have nothing to worry about and we can live our lives like everyone else, right?

WRONG.

Jesus says that whoever wants to follow him will pay a price (Luke 9:23). Grace is costly. Let me repeat that for those of you who didn't catch that. GRACE IS COSTLY!!!!! Cheap grace undermines the gift of salvation and destroys the message of Christ. Your grace DOES have a high cost. Following Christ will COST YOU EVERYTHING!!! Look at the Twelve, the first ones ever to be recruited into the Resistance. They had to leave everything and everyone behind. They gave their lives TO THE POINT OF DEATH to follow Christ.

Being in the Resistance, being a true Christian. will require you to lay down your entire life. If you aren't willing, get out. Christ said that we are either hot or cold; to be lukewarm will cause him to spit us out (Rev. 3:15- 16). Just know, friends, that following Christ means saving grace, but at a very high cost.

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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