Costly Grace

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned for speaking out against Hitler’s Third Reich, discussed the meaning of a disciplined Christian life. He wrote about the difference between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Cheap grace merely accepts the gifts of God without any real depth of commitment:

“Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. Cheap grace means grace sold at the market. Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. 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 discipline, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Contrasted with this cheap grace is what Bonhoeffer called costly grace:

“Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs us our life, and it is grace because it gives the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son, and what has cost God so much cannot be cheap for us.”

As we journey through our November sermon series, How Can I Help?, we will be reflecting on our commitments to Christ and his church. As we do, let us ask God how we can be more faithful, how we might experience more “costly grace,” how we may appropriately respond to a loving God who paid for our life in full, on Calvary.

Blessings,
JON