A Pseudo Grace

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Grace is the sweetest song in the world for the soul that knows its tune, but there is a grace that is anemic. It's the difference between the "cheap grace" and "costly grace" Bonhoeffer identifies.

I was meditating on the words of Bonhoeffer earlier this afternoon trying to get my head around the crux of what he meant when he spoke of "cheap grace".

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate ("The Cost of Discipleship").

Preaching a grace that makes people feel better about themselves isn't the idea. Frequently I write and talk about God's amazing grace with people and it's like I am a hero until the conversation takes a turn and I begin to mention why we need that grace (i.e. our total depravity), and why Jesus is so absolutely essential in order for that same grace to be possible. I get the feeling the person on the other end of the conversation who viewed me two sentences ago as an angel from heaven all of a sudden considers me a minion of Satan himself when all I have done is state the gospel truth.

You can talk of grace, just don't let anyone know why they need it because they actually might put less trust in man and end up feeling better about Jesus instead of themselves. Imagine that!

10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. ~Acts 15:10-11, ESV

Paul paired the two constantly, it's not be chance he spoke of grace and Jesus together.

20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ~Romans 16:20, ESV

Basically, cheap grace boils down to a kind of pseudo grace that massages our egos rather than centering in on Jesus and his cross.