I had a conversation with an awesome brother, Jeremy, the other day and we realize that we as sinners always find ourselves viewing God's grace very cheap, which is shown through our lifestyle and how we treat/view God. I talked to another amazing brother, Koobie, today and he shared with me this amazing man, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Koobie told me about Bonhoeffer's story and his book, "The Cost of Discipleship". I didn't realize until he mentioned the title. I found out that I had this book for a few weeks now given from a friend that asked me to read it. I just sort of threw the book into my bookshelf and forgot about it. I think God was definitely telling me something. It all pointed to the title of this blog. Faith not by works, it is the gift of God. I think it will be better if you just read the introduction to "The Cost of Discipleship" instead of my babbling:
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Introduction
Dietrich was born in Germany in 1906. In the first years of the Nazi regime he protested against the movement, especially what he thought was the apathy of the state church’s pastors and people toward their Christian calling vis-à-vis the rise of fascism. He supported the signing of the Barmen Theses criticizing the German church’s support of Nazism. He then pastured a church in London, taught in the United States, and led the seminary of the Confessing Church of Germany at Finkenwald in Pomerania. He was hung by the German government shortly before the end of the war for his supposed complicity in a plot to assassinate Hitler.
Bonhoeffer was keenly interested in the life of the Christian. He felt that the German state church had succumbed to a Christianity that paid only lip service to discipleship. Though committed to the idea of justification by grace through faith, Bonhoeffer thought that “faith” had come to mean little more than intellectual assent to the work of Christ. He feared that the church had turned the favor and merits of God in Christ Jesus into a “cheap grace,” that cost Christians little and mocked the sacrifices God made on humanity’s behalf. This cheap grace manifested itself in the life of ordinary German Christians:
The upshot of it all is that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven. I need no longer try to follow Christ, for cheap grace, the bitterest foe of discipleship, which true discipleship must loathe and detest, has freed me from that.
This is not to say that a Christian with true faith would be without sin. Indeed, it is only when the Christian has indeed committed himself to following Christ that he truly recognizes the depths of his sin and requires a Savior. Then God’s grace is no longer cheap, but costly. Bonhoeffer writes, “Yes...become a sinner…and be bold about it. But to whom can such words be addressed, except to those who…make a daily renunciation of sin?”
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I find it so true. We go to church once a week, maybe twice a week, maybe three times a week. Maybe even hang out at church quite often. These quotes left me hanging.
"The upshot of it all is that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven"
"the church had turned the favor and merits of God in Christ Jesus into a “cheap grace,” that cost Christians little and mocked the sacrifices God made on humanity’s behalf. This cheap grace manifested itself in the life of ordinary ____ Christians"
doesn't matter if it is German Christians, I think this is true today. I will fill in Hmong Christians in America because I read this and saw a mere reflection of my home church with me included in Minnesota. What are you gonna take out of this?
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