Grace is free - but it is not cheap

A sermon clip of Alistair Begg has been repurposed by "influencer" Josh Howerton, who called it “the best 3-minute sermon ever preached.”

The premise is that the thief on the cross who acknowledged Jesus as Lord would that day be in paradise. He was not baptised, did not go to a Bible study, and did not hold any formal membership in a local church. The thief on the cross simply arrived into eternal glory because the “man in the middle said I could come.” Such is the grace of God. Amen.

This is of course, true, and Alistair Begg puts it so eloquently. But it is only half of the story. 

'Cheapening' God's grace?

The tragedy that is often overlooked is that it took the thief to be crucified before coming to know Jesus as Lord. If given the opportunity, knowing what he knows now, I am sure that the thief would have loved to have attended a church service instead. Furthermore, the other thief, who was not in church either, seemingly failed to receive God’s grace at Calvary and may well now be eternally damned.

This clip has been shared by millions of people because of the beauty of such grace presented by Begg. But I fear that it has also been received by many as an excuse to justify their complacent Christianity: “If the thief knew God’s grace without going to church, why should I bother?”

But from just a casual reading of the thief’s testimony in Luke 23v39-42, it is clearly not intended to be a prescriptive method of Christian living! I am sure that Alistair Begg’s sermon was not meant to imply this, but the clip is being weaponised by some to cheapen God’s grace.

Church as an 'option'

Our individualistic culture has invaded the church and has sidelined Christian practice into a self-indulgent personal faith movement, reduced to quiet times, online sermon snippets and little commitment to anything else.

Church has become an option for many professing Christians, justified by the misunderstanding of sermon clips like Begg’s.

The subsequent decline in church attendance has reduced our witness in the public sphere and arguably encouraged secularisation. 

“I will go for a round of golf on Sunday, it doesn’t matter, the thief on the cross never went to church, and he is in paradise.”
“I am off to the shops on Sunday; it makes no difference to my eternal state, because the man in the middle said I could come.”

Jesus responds: “Many will say to me on that day Lord, Lord…and I will say depart from me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7v21-23).

The importance of spiritual disciplines

I wish I could say this to you through the more palatable, winsome tones of Alistair Begg’s Scottish accent. I am sure that it would sound a lot better coming from him. We evangelicals get so consumed by the centrality of the gospel that we have neglected to teach post-salvation disciplines for fear of being called legalistic.

As a result, the church has lost an entire generation because of such self-serving beliefs that have excused a lukewarm Christianity.

The Bible teaches us that salvation is by grace alone, but such salvation is to be experienced and practised in sacrificial community; Christianity is a religion of love that needs others (the church) to be lived out authentically.

The man in the middle also said: “Go and make disciples.” It is our job as ministers of the gospel to educate the church on what this should look like, just as Jesus has modelled for us.

A gospel without application is no gospel at all. We are not saved by convenient grace.

Moving forward

What I am encouraged by is that the younger generation seems to understand this better than the previous one. Evidence suggests that Gen Z are coming to church and taking the cost of discipleship far more seriously than their parents.

In our lost secular society, the young are crying out for authentic Christianity. They do not want a hollow, self-serving faith, but want to love each other tangibly.

They do not want to hear an uplifting sermon that gives them a way out of any responsibility; they want to be challenged so that they can practise the grace that was shown to the thief on the cross in their new and redeemed lives.

They want to live out the commitment that they read of in the Bible, and they desperately need mature believers to be their example. I pray that we will not let them down.