Hear the word of the Lord:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord."
For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.
Jeremiah 7:1-7 – NRSV
Of course, since we are Christians, the temple of the Lord is no longer our spiritual focus, no longer the cornerstone of our faith. Jesus Christ is our cornerstone, the stone that too many others have rejected. But do we sometimes take the cornerstone of our faith for granted? When I read these words Thursday night, I remembered some words I had read some time ago. Words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. . . . Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. . . .
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 47-48).
Most days, we are quite competent at seeking grace and asking for the gift of grace. It has become second nature to us. Yet the real challenge that Bonhoeffer calls us to is discipleship. Following. Because the words of our faith are so powerful, it is easy to rely on them: grace, forgiveness, justification, redemption, salvation. I hope that these words never lose power in our lives, because they are the works of God in our lives. At the same time we tend to forget the importance of words connected with our part of our relationship with God: confession, repentance, yielding, emptying, imitation, discipleship. These are words that cause us to “amend our ways,” to change our “doings,” and to “act justly with one another.” At the same time, certain practices are required. In our ministry, we not only seek to avoid oppressing the “orphan,” whether physical or spiritual, but we try to help them find life. Some find that life in Jesus Christ, and that abundantly.
To do all of these things is a rich and deep discipleship, yet it is a fiercely challenging one. It is one that requires grace, grace from God. Let us not be too hasty to extend ourselves grace, but rather rely upon the power of the one who has actually purchased it to provide it for his disciples, for us. Let us seek it, let us ask for it, and let us engage in the kind of discipleship that shows that we trust in the power of the God who gives it, and not merely the structure of the words.
Blessings,
Ron
