"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." -Bonhoeffer

During Jesus' time on earth, he had some really challenging things to say. Those who deny his Lordship, yet admire Him as a "good teacher" must be overlooking some of the things Jesus taught:

"And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt 10:38-39). 

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).

Jesus said some things that are tough for us to swallow. A mere moral teacher wouldn’t make these kinds of demands. Why do I need to pick up a cross? Am I really supposed to hate my family in order to follow Jesus? The Messiah is warning us that there is indeed a cost in deciding to follow Him. So what's the price? Your very own life. 

Wow. That's a steep price. And it's a bold demand for Jesus to make. This is what Bonhoeffer wrestles with in his book. Here are a few key takeaways:

Grace is free, but it isn't cheap.

No man or woman will ever earn their way to being accepted by God. There is nothing we could ever do, in and of ourselves, that would impress God enough to pardon us of the sins we have committed. Instead, God offers us grace free of charge. He offers us forgiveness and acceptance and love and mercy and compassion. We don’t have to pay anything for it. But that doesn’t mean grace is cheap. God Himself pays for it. Jesus Christ, the God-man, came to step in our place. Motivated by His love for you and me, He lived the sinless life, yet died the sinner's death that we deserved. He paid the penalty for sin. Then he defeated sin and death by raising back to life from the grave. He secured the victory for us. Something we could never do on our own. 

The grace we receive cost Jesus His very life. So even though it is free to us, we shouldn’t treat it like the complementary bag of nuts you get on an airplane. You might eat it. You might not. Keep it in your pocket in case you get hungry later. No, grace is the kind of free gift that changes your life forever. So how do we respond to such a gift?

The call of Jesus is to come and die. 

Our response to the free gift of expensive grace is to obey the call of Jesus. And what is His demand? It's not to pray a prayer. It's not to read the Bible. It's not to put on our best performance. Jesus tells those who want to follow Him to come and die. Take up your cross. Be executed. And then you can follow Me. 

The prayer and study and good deeds will come, but first there's death. How are we supposed to understand this? What is Jesus talking about? Jesus wants full surrender. He is asking us to die to ourselves: our desires, ambitions, opinions, doubts, pride, idols, etc. Nothing can be placed above Jesus. Not our family. Not our job. Not our comfort. Not ourselves. We make room for Jesus to live in us and through us. The old me has to die in order for that to be possible. 

The "cost of discipleship" is not the price we pay to grab a hold of God's grace. His grace is free, remember? But that raises a question: If grace is free to us, why is there a cost to being a disciple? This cost is not something we are paying to God in order to earn His blessing. The cost of discipleship is simply receiving the gift from God. It is a gift to die. The old me that has been crucified was not heading anywhere good. I now get to receive the life of Jesus instead. As I receive the life of Jesus, the life of the old me passes away.

"Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes." -Bonhoeffer

I have been chewing on that quote for weeks now. I encourage you to do the same. Faith and obedience cannot be separated. Grace and discipleship are forever married. Preaching forgiveness without promoting repentance portrays a cheap grace – like a bag of nuts on an airplane ("I might as well take it just in case"). Demanding behavioral change without sharing the gospel bypasses grace altogether. 

Jesus wants faith and action. "Repent and believe" was His sermon. It is not either/or. It is one in the same according to Jesus. He knows that absolute trust in who He is and what He does will always lead to obedience to what He says. 

This strong language demands some nuance: Our belief and our obedience will not be perfect in this life. When a Christian disobeys God, the first step is not to question his or her faith altogether. Believers will struggle with doubts. Disciples will fall into sin. But this is exactly why we receive the life of Jesus when we start to follow Him! It is because His perfect life covers the mistakes we have made and will continue to make. 

"If you want to be fearless, do good." -Bonhoeffer

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows the Christian community – disciples of Jesus – who they are declared to be and what they are commanded to do. Presently, we the Church are called to believe and obey. We are citizens of God's kingdom. Our allegiance is ultimately to Him. Oftentimes, Jesus' message and way of life are met with opposition from the world. But we must continue in our life of discipleship regardless. Our faith in Jesus gives us hope in the presence of persecution. Our obedience doesn’t stop in the face of ridicule. In order to be fearless in this life, we simply continue on in doing good.