What is cheap grace?
- Commonly viewed as the grace of the gospel
- No strings attached
- No repentance is necessary
What is costly grace?
- The grace of the gospel
- The bible say that we bought at a price. (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Cor. 7:22-23)
- We have to repent to become a Christian.
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:25-27
This is what Jesus says we must do to become a Christian. This is the cost of becoming Jesus' disciple. Hat is strong wording for "you must love your family a lot less than you love God." Here is how Mathew wrote down Jesus' statement:
"Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Mathew 10:37-39
The two very condition for become a disciple are this:
1. Hate
2. Die
Hate is a strong way to say you must love yourself much less than you love Jesus and Take up your cross is a strong way to say that you must die to yourself.
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won't he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Luke 14:28-33
The cross ought to be a living reminder of Jesus' suffering.
True disciple count the costs and consider Jesus worthy of their complete surrender
Count the cost before you call yourself Christs disciple.
1. Put Jesus above all other relationships
2. Bear your cross daily
3. Renounce your possessions and repent of selfishness
To lose your life to Christ is to gain
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11
Grace is not cheap. It's costly. Jesus paid for grace to be obtainable and if we understand what Grace really is, we will serve God. Not because we have to, but because we want to. Understand Grace means understanding that you can't repay God and because you can't repay God, you willing become his servant.
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