Costly Grace or Free?

When the men of Israel asked Solomon's son Rehoboam to lighten the heavy yoke placed upon the nation by his father, Rehoboam followed the bad counsel of his young friends. He replied to the Israelites that he would increase the burden and the chastisement above and beyond Solomon's exactions upon them.

Whereupon, the ten northern tribes rebelled against Rehoboam and the kingdom was sundered in twain.

Can a Saint read such texts and not be drawn to consider our Lord Jesus, Who was meek and lowly of heart, and offered rest for the souls who come to Him; for He said, My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Our Glorious Lord Jesus is far better than King Solomon, for He gives His people rest!

The writers of the Manhattan Declaration refer with approval to the notion of the "Gospel of Costly Grace," which is taken from the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a neo-orthodox theologian who nevertheless bravely stood against Hitler and the Nazis, and was put to death because of it.

He was greatly vexed by the German churches' refusal to stand against Hitler's barbarism. He concluded that German Christians had been sold a Gospel of "cheap grace" which required no sacrifice of discipleship to Christ. His view was that true grace is costly because it demands a heavy burden of following after Christ.

While there is no doubt a cost to following the Savior, His Grace is completely free for His people. When that Grace operates in a converted believer, his values are all changed, so that the perceived cost is, as Paul put it, but refuse, up against the glorious knowledge of Christ!

Grace was costly to our Lord Jesus: He paid all the cost at Calvary!