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God's Grace Is Free But Not Cheap

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Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles

In John 1:14-17, John records the following about our Lord:

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me [ranks higher than I], for He was before me.’ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.“

The word “grace” simply means “unmerited favor” — favor  that one receives which is undeserved and unearned. The idea of grace being “free” means that it became available to us without cost to us (Ephesians 2:8).

However, it does not mean it was without cost at all, for it cost God plenty to offer it to us without charge (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9). Grace is indeed priceless, but Someone else paid the price because we couldn’t afford it.

With the above thoughts in mind, let us look at the following aspects of what grace costs:

Grace is Costly Because it Calls Us To Follow Jesus

We are permitted the privilege of choosing the way of grace and become disciples of Jesus. To be a disciple means to follow after the Teacher. Of course, while we are given this opportunity by grace, we cannot follow through and take advantage of it without cost.

To follow Jesus, means to put His kingdom and righteousness first (Matthew 6:33). The cost of discipleship means that we must put other things second, third, etc. Another cost associated with discipleship is picking up and bearing a cross of self-denial (Matthew 16:24). We cannot be His disciple if we refuse to do this.

We cannot be Jesus’ disciple if we insist on speaking bitterly against and reviling those who have reviled us. Now that is a heavy cost of discipleship because when someone speaks ill of us wouldn’t we love to reply in kind?

But Peter states:

“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps …. who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23; cf. Isaiah 53:9).

We need to understand that it is a privilege without cost to us to be able to become disciples of Christ. We do not deserve the opportunity of being called His people, but when we choose to walk after Him, there will be costs to faithful discipleship. For that reason, He told us to calculate the cost (cf. Luke 14:25-30).

Grace is Costly Because it Costs a Person His Life

We immediately think of how Jesus gave His life for our sins so that grace could be freely offered by a righteous God to sinners.  But to receive grace, we must be willing to give our lives to the Lord as well.

There is more than one way to “give one’s life” for a cause. Not only can we give our lives by “dying” for a cause, we can also give our lives by “living” for a cause as well. If one truly follows Christ as His disciple, there will be a life given to Him.

Jesus said:

“For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:25-27).

God’s grace means we are saved without regard to our deeds, because His grace is freely offered. However, Jesus says we must give our lives to Him, and this “giving” will effect the deeds we do, and how we are recompensed on that last day.

In Romans 6:1-8, Paul likens one giving his or her life to the Lord as a death of one life and the beginning of a new life. The old person is figuratively crucified (the old way of sin is repented of) so that when one is raised up with Christ from baptism he or she might begin to walk “in newness of life” (cf. Acts 8:36-39).

But let’s remember that not only is life given, but life is also received. Jesus calls it an “abundant life” (John 10:10). Everyone who gives, always receives much more (Gal. 6:9; cf. Proverbs 11:24). This life is a gift in that it is offered to us freely, but we must be “in Christ” to receive it — “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 ESV – emphasis mine).

Grace is Costly Because It Condemns Sin

Contrary to what some believe, grace does not make sinful acts not sinful. Grace is not a license to sin (Romans 6:1). We cannot sin under God’s grace and be counted as righteous. Some apparently have the idea that God no longer views their sin to be sin because they are under grace. This is incorrect and not taught in Scripture (Revelation 21:8; Revelation 21:27; Hebrews 10:26-31).

Folks, grace justifies sinners — not their sins! Grace does not make lying, adultery, or greediness any less sinful. What it does freely offer is conditional forgiveness. All have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). While grace brings the potential for forgiveness to those under this sentence of death, we must continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43; cf. Acts 14:22), “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Titus 2:11-13).

Grace is Costly Because It Cost God The Life of His Son

Yes, grace is not cheap. In fact, we are told that the church was purchased with the blood of God’s Son (Acts 20:28). And as a purchased [peculiar KJV] people (1 Peter 2:9 ASV; cf. Deuteronomy 14:2; 1 Chronicle 17:22; Titus 2:14), we are reminded to glorify God in our bodies because we “have been bought with a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:20 ESV).

As recipients of God’s grace, we do not deserve this most kind and merciful act.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

Who could ever claim “Jesus died for me because I am worth it.” No, we are not worthy of His grace. That is why it is grace. However, we can walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1) and conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27) and even partake of the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:27-29) but we cannot be worthy of His sacrifice.

Conclusion:

Grace is indeed free, but it is not unconditional. If it were, then everyone would be saved. But it is conditioned upon our response to it. In the Bible, our response to God’s grace is called “faith” (Romans 10:17). This is why we are said to be “saved by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8).

Let us praise God each day for the gift of His wonderful grace, and let us properly respond to it by being obedient to His will (Matthew 7:21; cf. Luke 6:46; James 1:22).

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