Cheap Grace Part 2

What type of "Christianity" do you observe? Is it the enterprise focused on money or the one that answers the call to discipleship? Jesus set the terms of discipleship in Matthew 16:24: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (KJV) According to David Stern in his book Jewish New Testament Commentary: "Yeshua's (Jesus' real name) great call to discipleship is his teaching on how to think the way God thinks. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran theologian who was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp and hanged at age 39 by the Gestapo at Flossenburg, days before the close of World War II, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship that there is no 'cheap grace,' no primrose path to heaven. Jews have often thought Christianity to be offering exactly that; and some Christian theologies, by emphasizing God's work and de-emphasizing man's in the salvation process, encourage this misunderstanding."

Consider the typical Christian evangelical service. After the message is preached, the piano begins to play softly and the minister says something like this: "Now with every head bowed, and every eye closed and no one looking around; if you would like to accept (or they may say invite or make a decision) Jesus Christ into your heart, raise your hand." Then the minister will coax them to the front where they will repeat a "sinners prayer." They are then told that they are saved and some denominations tell them that there is nothing they can do to lose their salvation. Compare this approach to Matthew 16:24 and you will quickly see the difference. The Gospel is not about what God can do for you or your "accepting" Him (although I'm sure He appreciates your vote of confidence) or you finding your purpose. The Gospel is about your death to self and the following of Yeshua all the way.

God's way of discipleship requires sacrifice. No, it is not easy and it is not supposed to be. The American enterprise of Christianity is selling a different religion from that the Jewish Yeshua offered. So, which one are you buying?