Choose Costly Grace where Ungrace and Cheap Grace dominate

Help us be much more like Jesus!

Introduction

I’ve come back many times to reading the powerful book by international best-selling author and Christian, Philip Yancey, What’s so Amazing About Grace? (1997). I suspect I’m drawn back to the content in this book because Yancey, in compelling chapters, reminds me, as he would remind us, of that one unique contribution of Christianity among the world religions: Grace!

Yancey observes:

The notion of God’s love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, the Muslim code of law – each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God’s love unconditional. (p.45)

Grace is what Jesus of Nazareth, the 1^st century Palestinian Jews, spoke about often and remains one of his core and lasting legacies. Yancey continues:

Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world suffused with God’s grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds gratis, neither plowing nor harvesting to earn them; where untended wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw a grace everywhere. Yet he never analysed or defined grace, and almost never used the word. Instead, he communicate grace through stories we know as parables. (ibid.)

Perhaps best known among Jesus’s stories on God’s grace and unconditional love is the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32).

Luke 15:11-32

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother

¹¹ Then Jesus^[a] said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. ¹³ A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living. ¹⁴ When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶ He would gladly have filled his stomach^[b] with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ ²⁰ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹ Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’^{[c] 22} But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. ²⁷ He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ ³¹ Then the father^[d] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

In chapter 4 of What’s so Amazing about Grace? entitled “Lovesick Father,” Yancey attempts to transpose Jesus’ parables, among these the Lukan story above, into modern settings which opens up and makes accessible the deep and profound message of Jesus and its true meaning – the liberating and transforming power of God’s grace in a world starving for grace and drowning and dying in sloughs of so much ungrace, whether families, communities or nations.

I also attempt to reframe in poetic fashion this famous story of the Prodigal son: https://rogerarendse.substack.com/p/returning-is-a-lifelong-struggle

Betting our whole life on (costly) grace

In our world which seems so dominated by ungrace; dare we open ourselves up and choose grace! Not cheap grace which easily collapses into sentimentality and tokenism, but costly grace which Jesus incarnated and was prepared to live and die for.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 -1945), German pastor and theologian reminds us of the importance of costly grace, and the temptations of cheap grace which the Church easily falls prey to:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacrament, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits…Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system…Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the incarnation of the Word of God…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate…

…Costly grace…on the other hand, is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. 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…Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.

Source: The Cost of Discipleship ©1948 by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

During his life and ministry, Bonhoeffer came to choose the path of costly grace. He demonstrated a courageous and outspoken resistance to the anti -God, anti-human ideology and system of the Nazis which led to his arrest and imprisonment by the Gestapo in 1943, and his execution by the S.S. in 1945.

See: https://rogerarendse.substack.com/p/liberating-dimensions-of-church-state

Somehow, if our world is to survive, if WE are to survive, surely we need (now, as in Jesus’ day) an outpouring of God’s grace upon us. Perhaps, this should be our single, daily prayer and commitment: to bet our life on grace, and to live accordingly.

Breaking the chains of tyranny

And so, the choice remains: Will we live our lives imprisoned by the chains of ungrace, and be satisfied with the pretentious practices of cheap grace? Or will we who call ourselves followers (‘disciples’) of Jesus Christ dare to choose the pathway and practice of costly grace in our lives?

Help us be much more like Jesus (lyrics)

Verse 1
There is so much noisy brawling,
Too much jostling for ‘our cause’,
We’ve forgotten our true calling,
To be witnesses; own our flaws;

Chorus
God of mercy; God of grace,
We bow down in deep contrition,
Cast ourselves in Your embrace,
Free from all our false ambition;

Help us be much more like Jesus,
In our actions and our words,
Power through us God’s Kingdom focus,
With its rich and healing promises.

Verse 2

So much grabbing and controlling,
Too much pride, harshness and greed,
We’ve forgotten our true consoling,
To serve those in desperate need.

Chorus (repeat)

Verse 3

There is so much pain and agony,
Too much senseless wars and hate,
We’ve forgotten our true humanity,
To leave false gods that dominate.

Chorus (repeat)

Interlude 
We awake to our true calling,
We embrace our true humanity,
We reach out with true consoling,
We trust in the Divine Mystery;

Tune into the desperate cries,
‘Midst the rising fear and fraud,
Resist deceitful globalist lies,
Bring their tyranny to naught!

Chorus (repeat)

© Roger Arendse 20241016

Conclusion

During our own times of rising global fascism and transhumanist technocracy which seek to capture and control our minds, hearts, and souls, Bonhoeffer offers us an example of what it means to incarnate Jesus in our world and be heralds and advocates of costly grace.

How will we respond?

Reflection and Journalling Exercise

• What do you understand by grace?

• How do you describe the differences between cheap grace and costly grace?

• Make time to re-read and reflect on the Parable of the Prodigal son (or ‘Lovesick Father’) in Luke 15. What fresh understandings of grace and ungrace do you find in this story?

• What may costly grace mean for us in our world right now where the forces and systems of anti-God and anti-human tyranny and transhumanist technocracy are on the rise?

• What examples of costly grace do you find in our current times and how may you be called to embody this in your life more and more wherever you may find yourself right now?

Thank you for making the time to read and reflect on this substack. Kindly consider sharing this with those in your networks. Please feel free to offer your own comments.

I look forward to welcoming you back.

Blessings!