Grace Can Be Costly

Scriptural Text: ,

For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace … grace be with you all. Amen. (, )[ Believers and leaders duty]

The believer who seeks to live the Christian life through self-effort is like the man who, in attempting to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, found his boat becalmed for days. Finally, frustrated by his lack of progress, he tried to make his stalled boat move by pushing against the mast. Through strenuous efforts, he succeeded in making the boat rock and so created a few small waves on the otherwise smooth sea. Seeing the waves and feeling the rocking of the boat, he assumed that he was making progress and so continued his efforts. Of course, although he exerted himself a great deal, he actually got nowhere.

There is no short cut in this Christian pilgrimage to get "something for nothing."

So, Let this premise be established in our minds

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Definition: grace-The unmerited favour of God, made known through Jesus Christ, and expressed supremely in the redemption and full forgiveness of sinners through faith in Jesus Christ.

The unmerited favour of God, made known through Jesus Christ, and expressed supremely in the redemption and full forgiveness of sinners through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave his life as a martyr in Hitler’s Germany, but he left a book now known around the world: The Cost of Discipleship. He pointed out a sharp distinction between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.”

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 gladly go and sell all that he has.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The unmerited favour of God, made known through Jesus Christ, and expressed supremely in the redemption and full forgiveness of sinners through faith in Jesus Christ.

Case in Point:

Grace, False

An elderly woman was standing in the checkout line ready to pay for her merchandise: a quart of milk and a loaf of bread. She opened her purse. No money was there; neither was her checkbook. As she was about to ask the clerk to put her things back, suddenly a gentle voice said, “It looks like that is your lunch.” A gentleman was standing right behind her, smiling. “Don’t worry,” he continued. “Today I want to treat you. Take your things with you.” Then the man paid for her merchandise and his own. A week passed by, and the woman came back to the store. The checker knew about the incident and recognized her. She approached the woman and whispered, “Ma’am, maybe you’d be interested to know. That gentleman’s check—it bounced!”

Salvation is a free gift of God, and it cannot be merited by our good behavior ().

Grace declares that salvation is not the culmination of humanity’s quest for God but that it resides in the initiative of God toward men and women ().

Even our faith is a gift of God (), and, as a matter of fact, all of life is such ().

If grace brings us to God, it also enables us to continue and complete our spiritual pilgrimage.

MEANS OF GRACE: The ways that God communicates and conveys his grace. (church ordinances including baptism and the Lord’s Supper; preaching, prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and so on)

Everyday Definition

For example, baptism reminds believers of the grace of regeneration, forgiveness, and spiritual union with Christ, while the Lord’s Supper is a sign of the grace of Christ’s suffering, atoning death, resurrection, and second coming.

The means of grace are the ways that God communicates and conveys his grace. Traditionally, the sacraments or church ordinances including baptism and the Lord’s Supper have been regarded as the means through which the triune God communicates his grace to his people. For example, baptism reminds believers of the grace of regeneration, forgiveness, and spiritual union with Christ, while the Lord’s Supper is a sign of the grace of Christ’s suffering, atoning death, resurrection, and second coming.

God communicates his grace through nonsacramental means as well.

Preaching is a means of grace because God’s living Word is conveyed through it.

Prayer can be a means of grace because through prayer Christians can have fellowship with the triune God and experience God’s grace of provision and providence.

Bible study is another means of grace; when Christians study the Bible in depth, they can absorb spiritual food for growth in God’s grace.

Fellowship with other believers can be a significant means of grace; through spiritual fellowship with other Christians, Christians can experience God’s grace of edification and encouragement.

The Christian life, from its beginning to its end, is totally dependent upon the grace of God.

Therefore from our Text, be mindful of strange teaching or doctrines:

(13:9) Teaching, False: the strange doctrines or teachings.

Note: there was not just one strange teaching in the church, but several had seeped into the church. Here are a few things said about strange teachings.

1.  Strange teachings carry people away from the grace of God (). "Carried away" means to be carried past or astray.(, )

To be carried away from the grace of God is the most dangerous thing that can happen to a person, for it is the grace of God that saves a person. A person can become acceptable to God only if he approaches God through God's grace.

"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" ().

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" ().

2.  Strange teachings stress ritual over grace [rituals of food, circumcision, baptism, church membership, confirmation] (, , )

No ritual or ceremony makes a person pure and acceptable to God. This is not to say that ritual and ceremony are not helpful in reminding us of our life and walk with the Lord. They are, and they are very, very helpful.

No ritual or ceremony makes a person pure and acceptable to God. This is not to say that ritual and ceremony are not helpful in reminding us of our life and walk with the Lord. They are, and they are very, very helpful.

No ritual or ceremony makes a person pure and acceptable to God. This is not to say that ritual and ceremony are not helpful in reminding us of our life and walk with the Lord. They are, and they are very, very helpful.

But the teaching of Scripture is that rituals and ceremonies do not make us inwardly pure and acceptable to God.

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth" ().

"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" ().

Note: God does not accept and transform us because of some physical or material or external thing or act.

It does not make him pure, holy, clean, righteous, or acceptable to God. In fact, ritual and ceremony can do great harm to a person. How? It can cause a person to focus and depend upon the ritual and ceremony instead of Christ.

3.  Strange teachings do not profit the person who follows them (; , ).

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" ().

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" ().

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" ().

An ongoing experience of God’s grace requires the believer’s co-operation (, ; ; ; )

(ESV) — 1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

2 Corinthians 6:1 (ESV) — 1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

(ESV) — 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

(ESV) — 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Christian experience may be summed up in terms of grace ()

(ESV) — 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.