Costly Grace
Grace. It’s a word that runs counter to our human nature, one we wouldn’t have a category for without Jesus.
One of the things I love about being at Mars Hill Church is hearing the incredible stories of God’s grace. I grew up in church but I never heard stories like the ones I hear at Mars Hill. The stories I’ve heard from the stage and online include:
- Marriages ravaged by porn and adultery—then restored
- Men in the military listening to sermons while on duty, deleting hard drives of porn and starting Bible studies on their bases
- Former addicts and prostitutes saved from the streets and baptized on Easter
- Community groups caring for elderly neighbors and single mothers
- Couples ministering to each other through miscarriage and infertility
- College students saved to lives not driven by performance or sex
- Men saved from using women to become husbands and fathers who love, care, and respect their wives and children.
It’s not that we are great; it’s that Jesus is amazing. We are a church and a people swimming in his grace. The question we have to ask is: Are we moved by that grace? We might value truth, but do we value grace? Does that grace affect your worship? Does it change your life? If not, you may be settling for cheap grace.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor martyred for opposing Hitler, described costly grace like this:
"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" (The Cost of Discipleship).
What does it look like for you to follow?
Part of God’s grace is that he doesn’t save us to nothing, and he doesn’t save us in isolation. He saves us to a mission in a community.
- For some of us it looks like putting down roots and joining a community group or a redemption group.
- For those already in groups, it could mean becoming members.
- For a large percentage of us it looks like being more responsible and generous with our time, talents, and treasure.