Grace and Cheap Grace
Why do many British Christians and their churches find it so hard to make headway in influencing our society? Could it be that we have moved away from apostolic teaching about the implications of the significance of God’s grace? Eternal salvation is always initiated by God. He chose Adam, he chose Abraham, he chose Moses just as he chose his ‘Chosen people’, the Jews. Throughout the New Testament the apostles reminds us that the followers of Jesus are also his ‘Chosen People’. It is always God who enables us to want to belong to God. Peter wrote to the young churches,
“But you are a chosen people . . . a holy nation, a people belonging to God . . .” 1 Peter 2:9
Paul wrote,
“For he chose us in him (Jesus) . . .to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Ephesians 1:4
God’s covenant with his people is always initiated by him. We are utterly dependant on his grace, God’s undeserved favour. This has been cleverly explained as ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense’ as he sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
However, as in every covenant, there are two sides. Jeremiah had to remind the Jews of his day that being part of God’s chosen people included obligations. He was told that the Messiah, a descendant of king David would be entering this world and they must serve him just as they should serve God.,
“Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. . . Instead they will serve the Lord their God and David their King whom I will raise up for them” Jeremiah 30:2,9
“So you will be my people and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 30:22
Problems always come on God’s people,
“ . . . because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them.” Jeremiah 31:32
God’s grace has a purpose
We have not been saved primarily for our benefit but for the glory of the God who made and saved us. God’s intent is always to have a people to represent him and so, he saves a group of people for this very purpose. Let us look at some key apostolic passages on this subject:
1. Ephesians 2:8-10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
God has created us as Christians for a purpose, to do “good works” for him. Here Paul makes a clear distinction between how a person becomes acceptable to God - salvation can only be by welcoming Jesus as my Saviour and Lord. Jesus isthe incarnation of God and only he has paid the penalty for our sin on that cross, for my salvation. He then stresses that, wherever there is real faith, peoples’ lives will radically alter. God has created us as Christians for a purpose, to do ‘good works’ for him.
2. Titus 1:1-2
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.”
Being a church member is no substitute for the new birth. The New Testament is absolutely clear that we are put right with God through the saving work of the Lord Jesus but that true faith in Jesus will always result in a different lifestyle where Jesus is Lord. We all know in our consciences whether we are subject to the Lord Jesus. Being a church member is no substitute for the new birth.
3. Titus 2:11-14
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
Grace teaches us to live very different, God-centred, God-pleasing lives. Again Paul reminds us twice in this passage that we have been saved by God’s grace for a purpose. It was his choice to save us and call us to himself. He has saved us when we could not help ourselves, just as a surgeon can remove an internal cancer that we could not treat ourselves. Yet it is this grace that then teaches us to live very different lives, God-centred, God-pleasing good lives.
3. Titus 3: 4-8
“But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.”
How often people think their efforts to ‘lead a good life’ will somehow make them acceptable to God. Yet, here again Paul stresses that it is God who has saved us by giving us our status of being God’s chosen people. Our salvation has nothing to do with the righteous things we have done. Yet how often people think their efforts to ‘lead a good life’ will somehow make them acceptable to God. There is another problem however, it is easy to believe that we have been saved because we have a cerebral belief in Christ, have been baptised and even confirmed and are church members yet live lives during the week that are little different to those of pleasant unbelievers around us. Too many of us are indistinct. Could it be that churches will come under the same judgment of God that the Jews in Old Testament times faced? Christ’s criticisms of the seven churches given early in the book of Revelation (chapter 2 and 3) tell us that churches can also face the same judgment. Thus God said to the members of the church in Sardis,
“Remember therefore what you have received and heard; obey it and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will be like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” Revelation 3:1-5
What we have received is what God has given us in Scripture through his prophets and apostles. There is no other certain ‘word of God’.
Cheap grace
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who was appalled at how many German Christians had failed to stand up for Christ under Hitler’s Third Reich regime. He did speak up and paid a heavy price, he was hanged shortly before the end of the Second World War. He wrote about those church people who have a nominal faith but whose lives are not being lived for Christ. Repentance is the condition of salvation and that involves rethinking the direction of my future life.
“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 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 Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man 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: ‘You were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” (1)
What a tragedy it is when people who claim to be Christians either do not talk about their Saviour or whose lives are not reflecting their love for Jesus. We are only saved if we have both a personal commitment to follow the Lord Jesus and openly acknowledge that he is our Lord. Paul wrote,
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
No-one is saved by being religious. Jesus constantly warned that there will be active religious people who do not have this personal relationship with Jesus and who are not personally committed to obeying what he teaches. No-one is saved by being religious. Jesus warned us what will happen at the judgment:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.” Matthew 7:21-22
A personal relationship with Jesus as my Lord, to be known by him, is essential if I am to spend eternity in heaven with him. What a disaster it is for people to claim the title of Christian but to openly advocate ethical standards that differ from those of God as revealed in Scripture. For example, the Bible is clear that God created men and women to come together in marriages and that sexual activity outside these relationships is ungodly. However, it is also possible for people to hold to strong moral positions and even be religious yet not to have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus. Many can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ but only a Christian can say ‘Jesus is my Lord.”
Repentance
Repentance means a personal turning away from my living outside of a personal submission to Jesus Christ allowing him to be my Lord and Saviour. There is no salvation without a rethinking of who is Lord of my life. The word ‘repent’ is similar to ‘rethink’. Our word ‘pensive’ means ‘to think’ and ‘re-pent’ means to ‘think again’.
Jesus began his teaching ministry with this summary of what he taught,
“The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15
Without this obedience there is no saving faith. Jesus emphasised this when instructing his disciples in the upper room, shortly before his crucifixion. He made the point three times,
“If you love me you will obey my commandments.” John 14:15
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” John 14:21
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” John 14:23
Paul both opened and closed his letter to the Romans with a reminder that obedience is key to a Christian’s life. He begins by reminding his readers that the Christian gospel is all about Jesus, the Son of God, whose coming was promised beforehand in the Jewish Scriptures. The Christian message is summarised with the words,
“Jesus Christ is Lord.” Romans 1:4
The message the early church passed on was essentially simple,
“ . . . to call people from among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” Romans 1:5
There is no true faith without obedience. Repentance and obedience are essentially the same.
The letter to the Romans ends with a similar reminder that God prepared his people for the coming of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures,
“. . . so that all nations might believe and obey him . . “ Romans 16:26
Paul summarised what the Christian life is all about in another letter,
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21
This is the apostolic faith. Even so a vicar once criticised a Bible teaching church with the astounding words,
“They talk too much about Jesus.”
How can any Christian say such a thing? The gospel is all about Jesus who is ‘Lord of all’ and who we will all meet in judgment. When Peter first spoke to a Gentile audience he was clear about God’s message,
“You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” Acts 10:36
Such a Christ-centred faith will inevitably result in a new lifestyle which is how this article started. However, the Bible is clear that an ethical moral lifestyle without that life being centred on the Lordship of Jesus is not a saving faith and is not Christian.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was a leading eighteenth century politician and moralist. He wrote a long “Letter to a Member of the National Assembly” that was published in February 1791 and is still in print. He condemns Rousseau for his immoral influence over French politics and ethics, saying that he was a man driven by selfish ambition. What he says about Rousseau can be applied to everyone. We must acknowledge that our freedoms come from the internal control of God’s Spirit in us controlling how we think and live. Without his internal control, individuals will tend to live selfish, immoral lives and this will result either in pandemonium or in a very strict totalitarian external control. Burke wrote,
“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, — in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity,—in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption,—in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (2)
‘Integrity’ is thinking and living in accord with the will of God. Few people realise what the opposite is. It is ‘dis-integrity’ or ‘disintegration’. When we lose our integrity and fail to live as God wants, first our personal life begins to disintegrate, then our social lives tend to disintegrate and eventually the nation will disintegrate. Furthermore our eternal salvation is imperilled.
A choice has to be made, ‘Who is in control of me?’
Jesus teaches on the implications of grace
Jesus repeatedly warned religious people not to rely on their self-righteousness but to seek god’s mercy. He told a parable about a Pharisee who went to the temple to pray where he compared his moral living with sinful people. Jesus contrasted him with a repentant tax collector who simply prayed,
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Luke 18:13
Jesus explained that he told this story as a warning,
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” Luke 18:9
Being religious and even being a religious leader is no guarantee of salvation. In the sermon on the Mount Jesus repeatedly warned people to seek God’s salvation which can only be found through having a relationship with Jesus himself. He said,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, your evil doers!’ Matthew 7:21-23
These religious people were still responsible for their own sin, their rebellion against God. They have not found the forgiveness that only the Lord Jesus can give. He gives his righteousness to those who are committed to love and obey him.
Jesus repeatedly warned people that the freedom he offered comes with a price. There is no ‘cheap grace’. Immediately after people had acknowledged that Jesus was the ‘Christ of God’ Jesus said to all his disciples,
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of the Father and his holy angels.” Luke 9:23-26
This leaves no place for an ashamed disciple – they are not really Jesus’ people! A little later Jesus again addresses the question of the cost of being one of his followers, using the same opening phrase,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. If anyone does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:25-27
This statement appears strange as the fifth of God’s ‘Ten Commandments’ is clear, ‘Honour you father and mother’ (Exodus 20:12) This statement must therefore be comparative, we are to love Jesus even more than our parents – pleasing him matters, above everything else.
We must each make a decision that has eternal consequences, ‘Who is my Lord?’ Believing in cheap grace is both worthless and dangerous.
June 2022
1Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘The Cost of Discipleship’
2 Burke's "Letter to a Member of the National Assembly" 1791,
