'Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.'
Bonhoeffer- Chapter 1 - Costly Grace. (Continued)
'The conflict between the life of the Christian and the life of the world was thus thrown into the sharpest possible relief. It was a hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world.'
My thoughts-
Hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world. TRUTH!
Joh_17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
OUT of the world.
Joh_17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Jesus prays for those who are HIS out of the world. Jesus does not pray for the world. Contrary to what people love to believe. Jesus is not going to pray for the world the way it is, but that those who are His will be kept from the evil of the world. Is it any wonder at all that Bonhoeffer can say- 'It was hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world.' This is truth, truth that Jesus brought to US.
Joh_17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh_17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
NOT of the world. Just as CHRIST was NOT of the world!
Joh_17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh_17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are in conflict with the world. Any who would follow Christ is in this conflict, this war and what a war it is. This spiritual war that we are called to fight in. This isn't a special calling for any single person, it's a calling ALL are called to!
'It was hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world.' Truth.
Bonhoeffer continued-
'Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day.'
My thoughts-
How many of us today really want to comprehend what this means? Seriously. We DO NOT want to believe that the grace of God costs us anything. We'd much rather stick with this--
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Not this-
Mat_16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
So which is it?
Or is there NOT a contradiction here but rather a complimenting?
By grace- we are saved through faith.
We are not saved by ourselves but through faith.
It is the GIFT of God.
Salvation is the gift of God.
We cannot boast that any thing we've done has earned us salvation.
We cannot earn salvation.
Jesus gives us salvation freely.
If we want Jesus who give salvation freely by His grace we are to follow Jesus.
If we follow Jesus we are to deny ourselves.
If we follow Jesus we are to pick up our cross, and follow.
We deny ourselves and must continue to deny ourselves, because we are FOLLOWING JESUS, not ourselves. We are NOT trying to create a following for ourselves. We are NOT trying to be followed, but to follow Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Author of SALVATION. Anything that would keep us from following Jesus must be denied. The whole world whose prince is Satan will tempt us with many, many, many things to keep us from following Jesus and ALL those things must be denied. All things that would give any glory to ourselves, anything that would cause us to look more to ourselves than to Jesus must be denied. Jesus said- if ANY man would come after Him let him DENY himself. Jesus is all that matters. In a world that strives to convince us from the moment we are born that we are special and deserving, we must truly comprehend that we are only special and only deserving because our SAVIOR LOVES US, and for NO OTHER REASON! Without our SAVIOR we truly are NOTHING and worth NOTHING! There are going to be MILLIONS and MILLIONS, BILLIONS of people who are going to perish and be as if they never existed, their worth determined by their own actions- if they believe they exist of their own accord and are saved by their own accord they will perish. If they believe they exist because of the love of their CREATOR and are SAVED by JESUS CHRIST, they will live, their worth defined by JESUS' WORTH. The worth of the SON OF GOD becomes theirs by HIS SACRIFICE! Satan truly wants to deceive us by making us believe that we have NO need of God, that we are worthy beings in our own right just because we exist and that existing gives us the right to all things. Satan wants God taken out of the entire picture. What Satan doesn't explain is that if God is taken out of the picture then he, the deceiver is the one living and reigning in that person's life. He'd much rather a person neither profess belief in God or him. If they don't believe in God or Satan then they are convinced they are just fine and will remain so. They will keep that belief right up to the judgment day when they will realize that they weren't just fine, that GOD is their Creator and Redeemer, and they were DECEIVED, willingly deceived. What an awfully horrific day that will be for all those who have chosen deception over redemption through Jesus Christ!
Costly grace.
Cheap grace.
Costly grace chooses to FOLLOW JESUS as commanded.
Cheap grace chooses to follow self serving, whose end is Satan.
Bonhoeffer -
'Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day.'
'Grace cost him his very life and must CONTINUE to cost him the SAME PRICE DAY BY DAY.'
Continuing with more from Bonhoeffer--
'So far from dispensing him from discipleship, this grace only made him a more earnest disciple.
When he spoke of grace, Luther always implied as a corollary that it cost him his own life, the life which was now for the first time subjected to the absolute obedience of Christ.
Only so could he speak of grace.
Luther had said that grace alone can save; his followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But they left out its invariable corollary, the obligation of discipleship.
There was no need for Luther always to mention that corollary explicitly for he always spoke as one who had been led by grace to the strictest following of Christ.
Judged by the standard of Luther's doctrine, that of his followers was unassailable, and yet their orthodoxy spelt the end and destruction of the Reformation as the revelation on earth of the costly grace of God. The justification of the sinner in the world degenerated into the justification of sin and the world.
Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship. '
My thoughts-
How incredibly true- 'Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.'
And this is the grace so many people have today, even I am guilty of this! Cheap grace without discipleship, true discipleship, a true following of Jesus Christ. It is so darn easy to fall into this trap! Not knowing, and NOT caring to study what true discipleship is because then there is accountability to be a true disciple. It's all well and good to talk about it but to make it a reality to become a true disciple we still have the mentality that it is for those SPECIAL people, those CALLED in a special way that allows them to devote their entire existence to Christ. We are STILL picking away at our having to grasp ahold of COSTLY GRACE with a true discipleship. We are STILL making excuses for ourselves citing our work, our family, our finances, our friends as to why we cannot be true disciples, and then we loudly shout- GOD UNDERSTANDS, and having placated ourselves with that we go about our lives as usual.
May God HELP us to study more and more what it means to be a TRUE DISCIPLE of JESUS CHRIST. May we be TRUE FOLLOWERS of JESUS CHRIST. He wants us to follow HIM, He want this from us. He wants to KNOW US and He can only know us if we are following HIM. We can't be known of Him if we are walking down a path different than His, if we are following our own path, if we are following Satan's paths, we will NOT be known of our SAVIOR. Help us LORD, please HELP us to follow you truly as you would have us follow YOU in all TRUTH!
All by YOUR love, by YOUR grace! In YOUR mercy! YOUR righteousness!
ALL IN YOU LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, NOW AND FOREVER!
'The conflict between the life of the Christian and the life of the world was thus thrown into the sharpest possible relief. It was a hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world.'
My thoughts-
Hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world. TRUTH!
Joh_17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
OUT of the world.
Joh_17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Jesus prays for those who are HIS out of the world. Jesus does not pray for the world. Contrary to what people love to believe. Jesus is not going to pray for the world the way it is, but that those who are His will be kept from the evil of the world. Is it any wonder at all that Bonhoeffer can say- 'It was hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world.' This is truth, truth that Jesus brought to US.
Joh_17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh_17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
NOT of the world. Just as CHRIST was NOT of the world!
Joh_17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh_17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We are in conflict with the world. Any who would follow Christ is in this conflict, this war and what a war it is. This spiritual war that we are called to fight in. This isn't a special calling for any single person, it's a calling ALL are called to!
'It was hand to hand conflict between the Christian and the world.' Truth.
Bonhoeffer continued-
'Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day.'
My thoughts-
How many of us today really want to comprehend what this means? Seriously. We DO NOT want to believe that the grace of God costs us anything. We'd much rather stick with this--
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Not this-
Mat_16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
So which is it?
Or is there NOT a contradiction here but rather a complimenting?
By grace- we are saved through faith.
We are not saved by ourselves but through faith.
It is the GIFT of God.
Salvation is the gift of God.
We cannot boast that any thing we've done has earned us salvation.
We cannot earn salvation.
Jesus gives us salvation freely.
If we want Jesus who give salvation freely by His grace we are to follow Jesus.
If we follow Jesus we are to deny ourselves.
If we follow Jesus we are to pick up our cross, and follow.
We deny ourselves and must continue to deny ourselves, because we are FOLLOWING JESUS, not ourselves. We are NOT trying to create a following for ourselves. We are NOT trying to be followed, but to follow Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Author of SALVATION. Anything that would keep us from following Jesus must be denied. The whole world whose prince is Satan will tempt us with many, many, many things to keep us from following Jesus and ALL those things must be denied. All things that would give any glory to ourselves, anything that would cause us to look more to ourselves than to Jesus must be denied. Jesus said- if ANY man would come after Him let him DENY himself. Jesus is all that matters. In a world that strives to convince us from the moment we are born that we are special and deserving, we must truly comprehend that we are only special and only deserving because our SAVIOR LOVES US, and for NO OTHER REASON! Without our SAVIOR we truly are NOTHING and worth NOTHING! There are going to be MILLIONS and MILLIONS, BILLIONS of people who are going to perish and be as if they never existed, their worth determined by their own actions- if they believe they exist of their own accord and are saved by their own accord they will perish. If they believe they exist because of the love of their CREATOR and are SAVED by JESUS CHRIST, they will live, their worth defined by JESUS' WORTH. The worth of the SON OF GOD becomes theirs by HIS SACRIFICE! Satan truly wants to deceive us by making us believe that we have NO need of God, that we are worthy beings in our own right just because we exist and that existing gives us the right to all things. Satan wants God taken out of the entire picture. What Satan doesn't explain is that if God is taken out of the picture then he, the deceiver is the one living and reigning in that person's life. He'd much rather a person neither profess belief in God or him. If they don't believe in God or Satan then they are convinced they are just fine and will remain so. They will keep that belief right up to the judgment day when they will realize that they weren't just fine, that GOD is their Creator and Redeemer, and they were DECEIVED, willingly deceived. What an awfully horrific day that will be for all those who have chosen deception over redemption through Jesus Christ!
Costly grace.
Cheap grace.
Costly grace chooses to FOLLOW JESUS as commanded.
Cheap grace chooses to follow self serving, whose end is Satan.
Bonhoeffer -
'Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day.'
'Grace cost him his very life and must CONTINUE to cost him the SAME PRICE DAY BY DAY.'
Continuing with more from Bonhoeffer--
'So far from dispensing him from discipleship, this grace only made him a more earnest disciple.
When he spoke of grace, Luther always implied as a corollary that it cost him his own life, the life which was now for the first time subjected to the absolute obedience of Christ.
Only so could he speak of grace.
Luther had said that grace alone can save; his followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But they left out its invariable corollary, the obligation of discipleship.
There was no need for Luther always to mention that corollary explicitly for he always spoke as one who had been led by grace to the strictest following of Christ.
Judged by the standard of Luther's doctrine, that of his followers was unassailable, and yet their orthodoxy spelt the end and destruction of the Reformation as the revelation on earth of the costly grace of God. The justification of the sinner in the world degenerated into the justification of sin and the world.
Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship. '
My thoughts-
How incredibly true- 'Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.'
And this is the grace so many people have today, even I am guilty of this! Cheap grace without discipleship, true discipleship, a true following of Jesus Christ. It is so darn easy to fall into this trap! Not knowing, and NOT caring to study what true discipleship is because then there is accountability to be a true disciple. It's all well and good to talk about it but to make it a reality to become a true disciple we still have the mentality that it is for those SPECIAL people, those CALLED in a special way that allows them to devote their entire existence to Christ. We are STILL picking away at our having to grasp ahold of COSTLY GRACE with a true discipleship. We are STILL making excuses for ourselves citing our work, our family, our finances, our friends as to why we cannot be true disciples, and then we loudly shout- GOD UNDERSTANDS, and having placated ourselves with that we go about our lives as usual.
May God HELP us to study more and more what it means to be a TRUE DISCIPLE of JESUS CHRIST. May we be TRUE FOLLOWERS of JESUS CHRIST. He wants us to follow HIM, He want this from us. He wants to KNOW US and He can only know us if we are following HIM. We can't be known of Him if we are walking down a path different than His, if we are following our own path, if we are following Satan's paths, we will NOT be known of our SAVIOR. Help us LORD, please HELP us to follow you truly as you would have us follow YOU in all TRUTH!
All by YOUR love, by YOUR grace! In YOUR mercy! YOUR righteousness!
ALL IN YOU LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, NOW AND FOREVER!