Costly Grace

THE SUFFERING SERVANT

But Peter was wrong, suffering was a part of the plan that God had for Jesus. Jesus must suffer for the sins of this world so that our salvation would be secure in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus must suffer so that our arrogance and self-will could be redeemed. Jesus must suffer for sin to be put to death, that new life may come from the hand of God. Jesus tells Peter it is the will of God for him to suffer. He says "You are a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men." Peter was thinking in human terms, according to the plans and ideas of men, not God. People cannot understand the workings of God, humanity has its own thoughts about the plans of God, Jesus is saying, but God’s plans are that I must suffer so that you will not have to suffer. Jesus tells Peter in a sense that he must understand what is the will of the Father for his Son. Peter must understand that suffering is part of this plan; not glory, not riches, not a grand army, but suffering, death and the cross, then God will act to raise him on the third day. God will bring life where there was death, God will bring glory where their was suffering, God will deliver Jesus from the hands of the devil and exalt him to His right hand in the heavenly places. God will do all of this because he is a God of love.

IF ANYONE WILL COME AFTER CHRIST

This is the way of God. And so, Jesus goes on to tell Peter, and all his disciples that everyone must take up his cross to follow him. Jesus makes it clear that this is the way of the kingdom. This is God’s plan, and to be one of God’s people is to follow this way of the cross. Jesus is saying that being his follower is no easy matter. There is sacrifice, there is giving up and letting go, there is suffering, there is setting priorities in ones life, so that those things which really do count, eternal life, have the priority that is number one. Jesus is telling the disciple and us this morning that whoever looses ones life for him, will find it. Whoever forgets about the demands, the values, the standards of this world, whoever is willing to live totally for Jesus, that person will find life in Jesus; that person will know Jesus as the Savior of life. Jesus is saying that the Christian life is not easy, rather it is the most difficult life to live, because it is a life of sacrifice, it is a life living for him instead the demands of this world, or for ourselves. We don’t like that, it is too hard, so instead of living under the cross we make the Christian life easy. The rigor and discipline and cost of being Christian have disappeared. We constantly appeal to new members by saying how easy it is to join the church. We come to church when we feel like it or when we have nothing else to do. We pray when we need something, rather than praying to obey God’s will. We substitute self-assertion classes for God’s lessons of self-surrender.

COSTLY VS CHEAP GRACE

Another person has described the Christian life in this age in a similar manner. Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was a martyr during World War II in Germany wrote "Cost of Discipleship". In it he says that Christians today are living by cheap grace. He says,