Any one know anything about him? Born in 1906, Bonhoeffer was a theologian and church leader in Germany When Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church. The Confessing church in Germany were a group who saw Hitler and the Nazis as dangerous and at completer odds with the teaching of Jesus He organized and for a time led the underground college of the Confessing Church, training church leaders. Although he originally believed that Christians should always obey the laws of the land they live in, he came to believe that to do so was sometimes the right choice—when governments were so unjust and evil—they had to be opposed.
In 1939 his brother-in-law introduced him to a group planning the overthrow of Hitler, and he made significant contributions to their work. After several years helping the Jews and resisting the Nazis he was arrested in April 1943 and imprisoned in Berlin. After the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life in April 1944, he was sent to a severe prison camp. His life was spared at first, because he had a relative who stood high in the government; but then this relative was himself implicated in anti-Nazi plots. On Sunday 8 April 1945, he had just finished conducting a service of worship in the prison, when two soldiers came in, saying, "Prisoner Bonhoeffer, make ready and come with us," the standard summons to a condemned prisoner. As he left, he said to another prisoner, "This is the end -- but for me, the beginning -- of life."
He was hanged the next day, less than a week before the Allies reached the prison camp.
He never compromised his faith in God—he was truly distinctive. Standing against the Nazi’s and their hatred even to the point of giving his life. A few years before he was executed he wrote what’s been his most widely read work—’The Cost of Discipleship.’ I wonder when he wrote that book if he had even an inkling of what the cost might mean for him?
Like many Christians today, Bonhoeffer understood that we are all disciples, we’re all apprentices, learners, following Jesus. We may have different roles and different gifts, but Jesus calls us all to be a disciple.
In his book, ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ Bonhoeffer writes about how we should be distinctive, how we should be salt and light, bringing out the taste of a fully human life and illuminating the darkness with the light of Christ.
Bonhoeffer talks a great deal about a word which takes on a specific meaning for the Christian—that word is grace. And grace is the unconditional love God has for us. Grace is love which cannot be earned, only received as a gift
Grace is most clearly seen on the cross, where Jesus died, where he paid the price so that we don’t have to. Grace is what God offers to us as a gift—and we receive that gift when we choose to follow Jesus.
Bonhoeffer writes about something he calls cheap grace: Here’s a quote from his book: ‘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.”
Bonhoeffer, writing more than 70 years ago said that so many Christians understand that God loves them, that Jesus died and rose again for them, but that it doesn’t seem to make a difference to their lives.
Grace, the love God has for us, should be transformative. If it’s not then it doesn’t change anything—it’s cheap. In comparison, we have costly grace—which is actually what we find in the pages of the Bible and in fact on the lips of Jesus when he calls people to let go of all that holds them back and to follow him. Grace, he says, should be costly—it cost the very life of God’s own son. It’s not something we should take for granted but rather it’s something to be treasured and responded to.’
He makes the point that : 'When Jesus called his disciples, it meant that faith “can no longer mean sitting still and waiting — they must rise and follow him. ‘
Bonhoeffer then was writing about distinctive Christian living, being salt and light, following the way of Jesus whatever the cost. And as we’ve seen the cost for Bonhoeffer, like Jesus, was his life.
So what does it mean for us? If we receive the gift of new life, a life lived in tune with God now and beyond this life into the world to come, how should we be living now? What should be distinctive about us?
Well, rather than make some specific suggestions, let me suggest that this is a question we should continually asking ourselves as followers of Jesus and it’s a question we need each others help in answering as we live day by day, week by week, month, by month. It’s about learning to live our lives in balance the way Jesus did—a life which had a rhythm, based around 3 great loves or 3 types of relationship:
Up—to God In—to other Christians Out—to the world
Up – Gathered Worship Way of Life Rhythm of prayer In—with each other this is where small groups come in Home Groups Bubble Groups
Out—to the world Frontlines: Daily Lives = being salt and light in God’s strength Mission with other Christians—festival of faith, serving together to make a difference.
So what I’m suggesting is that the more we develop rhythms of life which feed us, which bring us life and energy, the more we live into UP, IN and OUT then the more distinctive we will be—and we’ll be more distinctive because we’ll become more and more like Jesus.
Let me leave you with this thought:
To answer ‘how can we be salt and light in the world?’, we must begin with another question….
What steps can each of us take to follow Jesus more closely in our daily lives? How can you develop a rhythm of life in which we can bit by bit be transformed by the love of God and so be an instrument of transformation in the world ourselves?..... (the video in part 6 of this website might be helpful as a refresher)