"According to Bonhoeffer, 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."
God imparted His grace to us, giving us a pardon for sin when we did not deserve it.
It was not that God took sin lightly, its that He took it so seriously that the shedding of His blood was required to pay for that sin.
How could anyone use "grace" as an excuse to diminish sin knowing what it cost to be forgiven for that sin.
God has not diminished sin in this age of grace, just the opposite, He gave us a means to confess and reject the sin that dwells in our bodies.
God commanded that we confess to be cleansed, however the is a second requirement that comes with confession and that is to reject the sin we have confessed as having any place in our lives.
The word "grace" has been bandied about as though it erases the consequences of sin as well as the stain of it. As long as we remain in our sin without confession we have a stain on us that God does not only not overlook but will discipline.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Sweeping sin under the rug as a lenient way of accepting it, is not only sin in and of itself, it manages to dilute truth, the need for confession and enables those who remain in it. The influence of ignored sin has been seen in our culture to such a degree that there is barely any righteousness left anywhere.
Every sin that is ignored is another building block in the degradation of the culture and the family.
We used to hear it often many years ago, the "degrading of the fabric of society." Meaning every act and every attitude is part of a bigger piece of the fabric. Each new sin that is ignored is a new tear in that fabric. The fabric of our culture right now is so torn and thread bare that it can hardly be viewed as a beautiful tapestry.
Even the churches are torn and thread bare lacking the ability to warm anyone with holiness and righteousness.
Our culture is cold, mean and indifferent to the needs of one another. Pleasure and good feelings have replaced dignity and duty because of the lack of concern for the influence of our own actions on others, family and society in general.
When we take lightly the sin withing the body of Christ it is an endorsement of it.
Hebrews 12:11
"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
1 Corinthians 5:12
"5:12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?"
We are to judge those in the body of Christ and discipline them when needed. This discipline is to help them learn how to obey God as well as encourage them to confess to be cleansed.
There are those in the body of Christ who brag at how accepting of sin they are even feeling proud that they do not chastise those who are in sin. Here's what God says about that:
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
"5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Hebrews 6:1-2 "1 What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?…"
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