There is something about human nature that loves a bargain. Few things please us more than getting something for next-to-nothing. We dream of striking it rich quick. We boast about "what a steal" a particular purchase was.
We flock to clearances and auctions and garage sales. Though we pay lip service to the notion "there ain't no free lunch,” we keep hoping that one day we will stumble across something of real value that doesn't cost us anything.
We're even tempted to look for a bargain when it comes to matters of faith. I believe that salvation is the ultimate free gift from God. But even as I say that, my ears perk up at the words "free... and gift.” The bargain-lover in me hears words like "grace,”“mercy,” and “gift” and immediately I begin to wonder if there might really be a free lunch after all. It's as if God were holding a cosmic garage sale, and, while picking through the treasures, we run across salvation marked down so low that any dummy would jump at the deal. Imagine what it would mean if something so precious and valuable as salvation, eternal life, could be obtained at no cost to ourselves, with no risk and no obligation.
Unfortunately, that's not even close to reality. Just because salvation is free doesn't mean it's cheap or easy. That is one of the most perplexing paradoxes in all of religion. But it is not our paradox - it is Christ's. Jesus made this very point in at least two of the parables he told his disciples. Take a few minutes and re-read Matthew 13:44; 45-46 about the treasure in a field and the pearl of great value.
In each of these parables, the price paid for the treasure was insignificant compared to its actual worth. It was a "bargain,” a “steal” for those two lucky men, even though each man had to sell everything he had to buy that one treasure of incalculable worth.
Here is the great paradox of religion: Salvation is the free gift of God, yet it costs us everything we have. It cannot be earned, yet it requires we leave all, take up a cross and follow Christ if we are to attain it and hold onto it. It demands our faith, yet that faith demands everything else about us. Salvation is by grace, but that grace is the most costly commodity humankind will ever know.
Many so-called Christians simply don’t see it that way. Being a Christian is easy, in fact so easy nothing in your life really has to change. And if you stumble into sin in your Christian walk, grace will cover you, again and again. You can call that easy-believism and cheap grace, neither of which have any validity.
There are too many people looking for a bargain in God's house. They want something for nothing. They want the greatest thing in all the world - forgiveness of sin, intimacy with the God of the Universe, the hope of eternal life... all without any cost to themselves. They are looking for cheap grace; grace that winks and shrugs at sin, grace that demands no change, grace that requires no bending of the knee, no submission to Christ's Lordship, no holiness or obedience or commitment. They are looking for easy-believism: they want to purchase salvation at the cost of a few words, a sinner's prayer often said as they watch a TV evangelist who promises a tingling religious experience. So sorry to burst your bubble, the salvation God offers as a free gift, does not come cheap. Yet much of Christianity today is no more qualified to teach the principles of discipleship than a used car dealer!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran minister, theologian and martyr at the hands of the Nazis in 1945, said this about his own denomination... “We Lutherans have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison which has killed the life of following Christ.... The result was that a nation became Christian and Lutheran, but at the cost of true discipleship. The price it was called upon to pay was all too cheap.... We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale, we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation unasked and without condition. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. We poured forth unending streams of grace. But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard.”
John MacArthur, Jr., a popular author, conference speaker, preacher and president of a Seminary, in his 1989 book The Gospel According to Jesus, said this... “One segment of evangelicalism has even begun to propound the doctrine that conversion to Christ involves "no spiritual commitment whatsoever. Those who hold this view of the gospel teach that Scripture promises salvation to anyone who simply believes the facts about Christ and claims eternal life. There need be no turning from sin, no resulting change in life-style, no commitment -- not even a willingness to yield to Christ’s lordship. Those things, they say, amount to human works, which corrupt grace and have nothing to do with faith.”
There are countless churches among the myriad of denominations dispensing cheap grace from the pulpit. Leaders may not explicitly or blatantly be preaching messages of cheap grace, but the evidence is all to visible. Too many of their congregants live as if whatever they do is covered over again, and again by a grace without accountability.
We want to give as little as possible of ourselves in exchange for the pearl of great value. Oh, we'll say the words, we'll go to church, and we’ll even participate in programs that don’t require too much of our time. But many of us do not yet understand, or dare I say, refuse to acknowledge... that Jesus did not die so that we could sit in a building a couple of hours a week. He came, he lived, he died so that we could become his disciples, taking up our crosses to follow him.
Do you really understand what’s going on around you in the Christian world? Are you a religious bargain-hunter? If that’s your brand of religion, then you will not be pleased with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus never put salvation in the bargain basement. You don't find Jesus marketing salvation to the lowest bidder. He doesn’t offer "cut-rate" religion or any kind of cheap grace. If we don't understand that, people of his day certainly did.
Take the rich, young ruler for example. The account is in Luke 18:18-23... take a few minutes and re-read what happened. Jesus wasn't interested in how "good" the man was, in how many of the commandments of the Law he had kept or his wealth and status in society. The bottom line for Jesus was whether this man, [or any man], would give up everything to follow him. This young man was not willing to pay that price. The cost of salvation was to steep for him.
Or the story of Nicodemus as recorded in John 3:1-21. He understood something of how high a price Jesus was asking. The kind of rebirth Jesus was demanding was as difficult and demanding as a full-grown man entering his mother's womb to be born again. At that time, the price was too high for Nicodemus, in his mind and heart impossible to meet. Fortunately for him, he later became one of Jesus' disciples, but not until he was willing to give what Jesus required.
To the people in churches who really do want to follow Jesus as one of His disciples, you need to understand first the sacrifices and then the benefits of discipleship. Anything less than a well-reasoned cost-benefit analysis of your capacity for total commitment, suggests that churches leaders, preachers and elders are guilty of raising false expectations in those who come to Christ. If all we talk about are the rewards of discipleship, but never the costs involved, then no one feels the need to change their lives. Obedience, Submission, Commitment and Sacrifice won’t mean anything to you. First you count the cost, then you contemplate and enjoy the benefits.
Discipleship truly is worth every sacrifice you have to make. But before you think about blessings, you must be willing to count the cost.
Next Time... The Price-Tag of Discipleship
