The Cost

"What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you feel you can’t believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God." 

         - Flannery O'Connor

Come and Die

From a challenging article by Dane Ortland at The Resurgence:

Jesus’ secret to joy and life was simple: Die.

“If anyone would come after me,” he said, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34–35).

Against what all our instincts of self-preservation whisper to us every day, total surrender to Jesus is the safest investment we can make.

For disciples of Jesus, the gospel of grace not only plucks them from the easy path to hell but also places them on the hard path to heaven. “When Christ calls a man,” wrote the German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “he bids him come and die.”

That’s more than a cute tweet.

  Read the whole thing at the link.

Sin Boldly: Believe More Boldly Still

"Sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more boldly still."  - Martin Luther

"...Luther's point then, was when we sin we need not despair. Jesus covers all of our sins.  He died for the sins you've already committed and he died for the sins you will commit tomorrow. Luther means we can stop being afraid of ourselves; stop being afraid that we may make mistakes.  Just love God and live your life - and when you stumble, fall into the grace of Jesus Christ.

By trusting the grace of God, we can be courageous in following Jesus an equally courageous in confessing our sins before hi.  There is no need to hide our sins or to posture as if we have not sinned. We can just admit it and keep on following Jesus, even if we have to confess sins to Jesus every day."

              - Jon Walker, Costly Grace, Page 27

Costly Grace

"Costly grace justifies the sinner: Go and sin no more.  Cheap grace justifies the sin: Everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are."

Jon Walker, Costly Grace, page 25

He is Our Textbook

"...Discipleship means we are inseparably bonded to Jesus.  Without him, there can be no discipleship: he is the curriculum we study: he is the Word we believe: and he is the Way we live. 'Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly,' Jesus says (Matthew 11:30 MSG).

Jesus is our textbook on how to live connected to God, how to make decisions with the mind of Christ, and how to act on promptings from the Spirit rather than self-impulse.  The more intimate we become with Jesus, the more successful we will be at becoming like him."

Jon Walker, Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, page 19

Who - Not What or How

"Jesus calls us away from the hows and whys and whats into the rhythms of grace, standing before us as the Son of God Incarnate, Jesus, God's Word in the flesh.  The answer to our frustrations is 'who,' not 'what' or 'how.'

The Word of God who stands before us is not a problem to be solved, but a person to know; when we try to relate to him as a 'how' or 'what,' we end up in the never-ending cycle of trying harder to fit into an equation that God never meant for us to solve."

Jon Walker, Costly Grace: a Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, pages 17-18,

The Cost of Discipleship Retold

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship has long been considered a classic, if not the classic, work on discipleship, following Jesus, and costly grace. It was written in German just before World War II, but became popular when translated into English after the author's death at the hands of  Hitler and the Nazis.

I first read it when I was in high school.  It is an astounding book.  However, as the concepts are sometimes difficult, and as it is a translation from thoughts and words first expressed in a foreign language and culture, it can be hard for many Americans to read and understand. I include myself in that group.

Jon Walker has done us all a great favor by publishing Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship. This book is not a re-translation of Bonhoeffer.  It is a retelling of the concepts and idea of his book, following the same structure, yet written in contemporary English. This makes it easier for us to understand. I do not say, however, that it makes it easier to digest and process. Easier to understand, but still as hard to process as is Jesus' call to take up the cross and follow him.  He still says "Come and Die."

Over the next several days I will be posting quotes from the book.  Decide for yourself.  Come and follow!

Grace Over Legalism, Truth Over License

More from Costly Grace:

"If I am full of grace, there is no excuse for legalism in my life (Matthew 23:4; 11:28-30).

If I am full of truth, there is no excuse for unrestraint (licentiousness) either (Matthew 5:17-20; John 8:11).

The only reason to live legalistically or licentiously is unbelief in the adequacy of the indwelling Lord Jesus Christ who freely supplies grace and truth for my every need. Or an unwillingness to let him be himself - full of grace and truth - through me.

We must go to Jesus not only to learn how to live, but to receive the life from which we live - his life place in us to create in us the righteousness of God and the characteristics of Christ.  The essence of discipleship, then, is to know Christ at a level of intimacy that can only be sustained by his constant presence in our lives."

Jon Walker, Costly Grace: A Contemporaries View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, page 21
  

Jesus is the Textbook

"The Word of God who stands before us is not a problem to be solved, but a person to know; when we try to relate to him as a 'how' or 'what,' we end up in the never-ending cycle of trying harder to fit into an equation that God never meant for us to solve..."

"...Discipleship means we are inseparably bonded to Jesus.  Without him, there can be no discipleship: he is the curriculum we study; he is the Word we believe; and he is the Way we live...

.... Jesus is our textbook on how to live connected to God, how to make decisions with the mind of Christ, and how to act on promptings from the Spirit rather than self-impulse.  The more intimate we become with Jesus, the more successful we will be at becoming like him."

Jon Walker, Costly Grace: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, pages 18-19

(Just started reading this book, and so far I am very impressed!)
  

Life Which Springs From Grace

"Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship. Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word. For them the word of grace has proved a fount of mercy."

 -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 56

Hat Tip: Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology: Happy Are They: