Zeal For Truth

In church in Sunday, we went through this passage in Luke:

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple (Luke 14: 25-33).

The speaker made an excellent point about the nature of grace. While Grace is a free gift, it is most certainly not cheap or without value. Before we accept the free gift of grace, we should also be willing to count the cost of following Jesus - which includes submitting our possessions, relationships and even our very life.

This point meant a lot to me, especially being versed in economic principles. Indeed, grace can be thought of in basic economic terms.

In a free market, the price of something (which is how we assess it’s value) is determined by the subjective preference orders of both buyers and sellers. The price of a quart of milk, for example, is not “set” by the grocery store. Rather the price is a meeting place somewhere within a relative spectrum between the minimum value the seller can bear to let it go and the maximum cost that the buyer will pay for it. The price, or value, is finally determined by where those two opposing forces can come to an agreement.

But the value of grace has been set objectively by God because, unlike milk at a grocery store, there is no exchange taking place. Since grace is unmerited - we do not give anything to obtain it - then God actually can “set” the price.

While it cost God a great deal, he has chosen to set the price at zero. But since we are hardwired to determine value subjectively, a free gift to us is likely to be undervalued. It really should not surprise us that grace has a propensity to be trampled and abused as though it was a worthless thing - we believe that the price was free - therefore, grace seems cheap.

Moreover, while the gift itself is free - accepting the gift will lead to opportunity cost. This makes following Christ even more difficult, as we can see the costs immediately (possessions, relationships, life) but the profit is still to come in the eternal.

In other words, while we need not give anything in exchange for grace - accepting it is going to bring about changes and costs. If someone were given a free house, they will still have to deal with consequences to owning that house - even though it cost them nothing to obtain it.

This is why we must not present the gospel in a manner that cheapens grace. We must not be like scam-artist salesmen and fraudulently disguise following Jesus as a life-enhancement opportunity. We need to accurately explain where the profit is, and what the costs are upfront. It is no surprise that so many who claim to accept grace soon fall away after confronting the costs - they thought they were getting something cheap.