Jesus is Free

To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:6 NIV

How Expensive is the Gospel?

Someone was telling me about a recent letter they received from a T.V. evangelist. It was a "burn your debt" letter. It asked the receiver to send in a list of their financial debts. Then the evangelist would pray over it and set in on fire to signify that God was going to get rid of their debt. (I suggested to this person to make sure they kept a photocopy of their debts). Attached to the "burn your debt" mailer was a card asking for a contribution . . . of course.

Another person told me that they were having such deep family trouble that they were tempted to send their urgent prayer requests to a well-known prayer chain conducted by a popular T.V. evangelist (who causes people to be "slain" by waving his hand at them). This minister solicits money from millions of people across the country. What saddens me is that many well-intending people, especially the elderly, are exploited by these questionable appeals for money because they have honest needs and they are desperate for help. The question I am provoked to ask is: "How expensive should the Gospel be?"

Religion is Expensive

All religions demand a price for salvation. Judaism says keep the entire Law. Islam teaches there must be a balance between good and evil in one’s life. Hinduism hopes in cycles of reincarnation. Ancient pagan religions called for human sacrifice as the ultimate price for life here after. Others, in the Philippines, recreate the crucifixion to pay for the sins of their dead loved ones. Some pay money for channels and spiritualists to buy secrets from the "other world" on how to attain happiness or rejoin their dead companions.

Is this the message of Christianity? Is it the calling and mission of the Church to give out systems, formulas, programs, steps, rituals, disciplines, ministries, or even elaborate feats mysticism, whereby they can attain or qualify for the promises and mercy of God?

How expensive should Christianity be? What should the sinner pay for the mercy of the Savior? Is Christianity supposed to be a way to buy God’s grace?

Not Free to Jesus

One of the most poignant facts of the Gospel is that our salvation is very expensive. It was costly for one Person: Jesus. He became poor so that by his poverty we might be made rich. He emptied himself, and was made in fashion as a man. He suffered the vicissitudes of aging and atrophy. He bore the sin of the world. He humbled himself unto death - even the death of the Cross. He endured the shame of the Cross. He bore the wrath of God. He died a criminal’s death

But he rose again! He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Jesus through his death and resurrection obtained for us all the promises and blessings of God. WE DON’T NEED TO PAY THE PRICE - BECAUSE HE PAID IT FOR US!

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24,25 NIV)

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21 NIV)

Jesus Is Free To Us

I would like to tell all those precious people who sincerely pay and send money to T.V. ministries: All any man, whether celebrity preacher, Christian rock star, or anonymous Christian, can do is take you to Jesus. I mean by that, to point you to Jesus through the Gospel. There is only one mediator between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus!! There is no franchise fee. There are no commissions. There are no membership dues. Jesus is free!

Why not cut out the middle man and go straight to Jesus. He is the intercessor. He alone is the mediator between God and Mankind. And best of all, He is free.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28 NIV)

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Cor. 8:9 NIV)

I mean by that, He does not charge you for his service of grace and salvation. He is rich and lavish in His mercy. He gives it abundantly and free!

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7 NIV)

Certainly there is a cost to discipleship. All who follow Christ, will suffer for righteousness sake. However, you don’t have to pay Jesus for his saving grace. Salvation is not a deal. Its not a quid pro quo. He offers it out of love with no intent of obligation or manipulation. You and I are only made right with God by a gift from that gracious God.

Surprised By Grace

C. S. Lewis, a renown scholar of English Literature, was happy as a young boy living at home. When his mother died suddenly, it threw Lewis into a time of disillusionment, and a search for meaning until the age of thirty one. It was through a long search that God open His heart and revealed the Gospel to him. He wrote a book about this called, Surprised By Joy.

It is this theme, the longing for a restoration of the joy he experienced as a boy, that permeates the entire volume. By "joy," Lewis meant not mere pleasure but the sublime experience of the transcendent, the glimpse of the eternal that is only fleetingly available in earthly loves and aesthetics. It is, for Lewis, only finally received in heavenly glory at the consummation of the age, a joy to be found in the Creator who himself invented both world and word, person and personality. It is He alone who redeems his fallen creation and provides them joy. [Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis: A Critical Summary and Overview, Dr. Bruce L. Edwards, Professor of English, Bowling Green State University.]

J. I. Packer, one of today’s Gospel champions tells about his conversion. When he was eighteen and attending Oxford a student spoke with him about Christ. He said that he believed mentally in Christ, but he knew that was not sufficient. He said, "I saw myself standing outside a house looking in on a tremendous party with laughter and joy. The Lord tracked me down and found me. I was surprised by grace."

The most remarkable truth that ever wrapped itself around my soul was that God did it all in Jesus. I had always looked at the work of Jesus as something He did for me, but that I had to find the way to appropriate it in order to be personally saved. It was when the interposing layers of "religion" (steps, formulas, and human traditions) which distanced me from the grace of the Cross were dissolved, like a thinning fog once imposing, that I truly saw that my sins were destroyed two thousand years ago just outside the city walls of Jerusalem in man hanging on a wooden instrument of death. Nothing more needs be done. Nothing more can be.

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews 10:12-14 NIV)

My friends, Jesus is free! And my prayer for you and your families is that you would receive divine comfort and encouragement in knowing what Jesus has done for you!!

He left His Father’s throne above,

So free, so infinite His grace!

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam’s helpless race!

‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,

For, O my God, it found out me.

Amazing Love! how can it be;

That Thou my God, shouldst die for me!