Devotion 4.22.26

Acts 2

"44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."

I'm not sure what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant in his book, "Cost of Discipleship," when he wrote about "cheap grace" early in the book. He noted that the church had become "secularized."

Does "secularized" mean, for example, it became more bureaucratic? That's an age-old problem of any organization at any size that holds the value of the organization as sacred and forgets its mission. We often use it to mean a large organization that loses its way and to get an answer requires you to use an extension that is twenty-digits long only to get a real person who is located on a different continent.

Does Bonhoeffer mean that the church cared more about being the church as an institution rather than being Christ's bride? The more the church fits my definition of a what a "good church" is, the more suitable it is for me, even though it may fly in the face of what Christ intended church to be.

In the Book of Acts, the disciples are living sacrificial and intentional lives. They are foregoing the luxuries in life so that they can give of their time, talents, and treasures to do one thing: share God's grace to the world around them. I'm thinking that is what Bonhoeffer is referencing because he follows up the "secularized church" comment with the fact that a monk named Luther returned us to some of the scriptural truths. The truth that grace alone saves.

"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Paul writes this in Ephesians 2.

How do we forget the intent of the church as seen in Christ's eyes, and how do we move to works' righteousness? How does any organization lose sight of its purpose? By focusing solely on itself and its desires for its own existence outside of the mission and reason it exists in the first place.

Pray with me; Gracious Father, Forgive me when I focus solely on myself. Help me to remember the world I live in and the need of this world to hear your Word, your message of grace. Send your Spirit to me daily to clarify and focus me on this simple truth that it is grace alone. In Christ's name, Amen.