Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

• Ephesians 2:8-9

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

• Romans 2:4

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

• 2 Peter 3:9

“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 sacraments, 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. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?
“Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian ‘conception’ of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. 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.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Costly Grace)

Salvation is by Grace and not of works.  We can do nothing to obtain salvation.

With those words, many street evangelists and pastors in the pulpit play on the concept of Grace being free.  Then it is a matter of the “name it and claim it” concept, which is also a misrepresentation of the Gospel, and you are “saved” by just saying a few meaningless words.  Oh, the words have meaning, but when you leave out most of the Bible in reducing salvation to merely saying a few words without there being a change in your life, the words become meaningless.

I have had people comment, having been offended that “repentance” has anything to do with the Christian life.  One person had to change the definition of repentance in order to even talk about it.

But if we truly make a life-changing acceptance of God’s Will, letting Jesus into our heart, Jesus will start making changes.  He will give us the desire to repent, and the Holy Spirit will give us the strength to repent.  Repentance is not necessary at that moment of salvation.  Indeed, we could not repent of our sins on our own power, at least not for long.  But among the changes that are obvious when we have truly accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is that we want to repent of our sins.  We want to jettison those things from our life that are far from what Jesus taught.  And another of those gifts of the Spirit is understanding of the Word of God.

Do the people who claim they are Christians by saying a few words…  Do they understand what repent means?  Do they understand that the “LORD” has ultimate and absolute power over us?  “Lord” is far from a meaningless four-letter word.

Lord, guide me. When I accepted You as my Savior, I knew it was an unconditional surrender.  I am still not perfect, but You have put the desire within me to repent, and the understanding that I must leave all trappings of this world behind, in body, in mind, and in spirit and soul.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

I had written last week that I had no idea where I would go for my next mini-series.  When I read this book by Bonhoeffer this past summer, I was convinced it would be the next book, but then I set it aside and had forgotten about it.  In looking for a totally different book, I found it.  Indeed, God guides us.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.