November 20th-Costly Grace

I've been thinking a lot about grace recently, and I always return to the passage from Dietrch Bonhoeffer's book The Cost of Dicipleship. The whole passage in below, but I will give a quick summary because I know that I very rarely actually read the articles that people refer me to.

Here it goes. often times we talk about grace like it is this free thing that everyone can have in whatever measure they please, but in reality it is much more than that. Grace is not just the absolution of sin, but the justification of the sinner. Grace is free to us, but it is costly because of how deeply it cost the Father. We cannot ask for God's grace on our own terms. We can't ask Him to forgive our sin, but to leave us free to be sinners. God's grace IS that He will work in us, no matter how painful it might seem to us, until we start looking more and more like our Lord Jesus.

Here is the excerpt:

Costly Grace

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace.

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. "All for sin could not atone." The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners "even in the best life" as Luther said. Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world's standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin. That was the heresy of the enthusiasts, the Anabaptists and their kind. Let the Christian beware of rebelling against the free and boundless grace of God and desecrating it. Let him not attempt to erect a new religion of the letter by endeavoring to live a life of obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ! The world has been justified by grace. The Christian knows that, and takes it seriously. He knows he must not strive against this indispensable grace. Therefore--let him live like the rest of the world! Of course he would like to go and do something extraordinary, and it does demand a good deal of self-restraint to refrain from the attempt and content himself with living as the world lives. Yet it is imperative for the Christian to achieve renunciation, to practice self-effacement, to distinguish his life from the life of the world. He must let grace be grace indeed, otherwise he will destroy the world's faith in the free gift of grace.

Let the Christian rest content in his worldliness and with this renunciation of any higher standard than the world. He is doing it for the sake of the world rather than for the sake of grace. Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of this grace--for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a world of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

October 3rd- Jungle

Hello everyone. I have now been living in Tsoroja for about a week, and life is good. My days tend to vary a lot. Some days I spend the whole time visiting with people and playing guitar, other days I clear jungle paths with a machete, and I am starting to do language lessons today. It's a hard language, but it's becoming more clear (ex. the word for sun is "catsirincaiteri").

The photos are from when my teammate Dan and I walked on a jungle path for about an hour and a half to meet up with someone.

-Jon

September 25th- Photos of My Last Few Days in Arequipa

My Spanish Teacher Juan-Carlos

Walking with Pedro and Alfredo

August 31st- Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled

How often do we read Jesus say, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," and think of it as optional? Though this statement is both an invitation, and a comfort, it is also a command. So many times it's easy to talk to Jesus and tell him, "But you don't understand. How cant I worry about this?" He does understand. More than we could ever imagine. We need to remember that this same man that tell us not to trouble is the man who wrestled with such conflict that he sweat blood.

In reality there are two kinds of peace. The counterfeit peace that comes from ignorance, and the true peace that only comes from Christ. The counterfeit peace comes in a lot of forms. It might come from friends, money, success, or simply from ignoring the things that disrupt our peace. I am in no way suggesting that friends, money, or success are inherently bad in any way, but they are things that can distract us from reaching out to obtain the true peace of Christ. The difference between the two types of peace is that the peace of Christ can never be taken away by circumstance, while counterfeit peace depends on circumstance.

That is why Christ says the man who hears his words and puts them into practice builds his house on the stone and can endure the storms of life. God will continue to bring storms into our lives to show us how counterfeit our peace is, and he will continue to blow our houses down until we finally decide to build on the rock. But take heart, and remember that these trials are for our own good, and they come from his desire that we know him better, so that in the end, our testimony is not choked out by the troubles of this world (Matt 13:3-23).

So brothers and sisters, remember: Do not let your hearts be troubled.

-Jon

August 15th- Come Thou Fount

Hey Everyone!

So I've been working on a version of Come Thou Fount on the guitar, and I want to share it with you all. I'm using a banjo style tuning and a capo on the 5th. Enjoy!

July 15th-Characato

So if any of you get my updates, you've probably read something about the orphanage in Characato. If not, I'll give a quick recap. Right now I am Arequipa Peru, studying Spanish before I go to the jungle to work with the indigenous church. I usually spend 3.5 hours every day in class, have at least 1.5 hours of homework, and spend 3-4 hours doing construction at an orphanage that my friend Jose is building. He already owns one orphanage, and the new one is going to be for young girls, especially those who are pregnant, and their children. Even now, there are two girls who just arrived at Jose's orphanage (La Casa Hogar del Amor de Dios). The two girls are 10 and 11 years old, and they are both pregnant. Please pray for them, as it is very dangerous to give a birth when you are that young. This all just encourages me to work harder on the orphanage in Characato so that these girls will have a place that fits them more specifically. It's been amazing to see how quickly the building has progressed these past few weeks, so I thought I would put up some pictures of it. I hope you enjoy them!

July 4th- Happy Birthday America

June 30th- Losing Faith in People

I'll preface this shortly. A lot of times I see things that are so incredibly selfish that I have to stop and think to myself, "Really!?!" Sometimes it's in the form of big things, and other times it's in the form of small things, like a young man refusing to give up his seat for the old lady on the bus (which might not seem like much of an issue, but the bus drivers here in Peru drive in such a way that you hold onto the hanging rail for your life as they whip from street to street). It's one thing to see things like this every once in while, but in reality selfishness is the norm, and genuine acts of kindness are so rare that it's easy to forget that they exist. With this reality, it can be pretty easy to lose faith in people as a whole.

The Bible tells us that God loved and valued people so much that he gave his one and only son for us. We are called to see people through God's eyes, which means we see them as people who are so loved that Jesus died for them. The only problem is that the majority of the time, people act out of selfishness (ie, lie, cheat, steal, etc.). When this happens continually, it's easy to lose faith in people in general. You see it in the lives of people who claim, in one form or another, that because they have God in their life, they can survive on their own (ignore church, walk their faith alone, give up on people who aren't Christians, etc.). There's only one problem with this: It's God's plan to renew the world.

If we lose faith in people, we lose faith in the fact that they can be redeemed. If we lose faith that people can be redeemed, we lose faith that God can do what He says He is going to do. If we lose faith that God can do what He says He will do, we lose faith in God.

June 13th- El Misti

Yesterday I climbed a Volcano called El Misti. It stands 5,822 meters tall (19,101 ft, 3.61 miles). It wasn't the hardest climb, but I was recovering from being sick in Lima, and at about 5,300 meters, I experienced some altitude sickness. After that point the climb got a lot more difficult for me, but I was able to stick it out and get to the summit.

It was certainly difficult to be sick at a time like this, but through a few different illnesses that I have had these past few weeks I have learned to be grateful. I think one of the ways that God disciplines me, and forces me to pay attention to Him is through sickness. When I am healthy, I almost always fall into the temptation to do things out of my own strength, but in sickness, when all of my own strength is gone, I have to rely on Him. I think God uses different things to get our attention, and I would encourage you to see the love in his hand the next time you feel Him discipline you. Remember, "the Lord disciplines those he loves." (Hebrews 12:6).

Here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

May 22nd- Colca Canyon

So, I had the opportunity to go to Colca Canyon this past weekend. We backpacked for three days, and I saw some incredible things. Parts of the canyon are even twice as deep and the Grand Canyon! Anyways, here are some pictures of the trip. I hope you enjoy them.

May 15th

Sometimes there is nothing that we can say to make sense of the things that happen around us. Now is just one of those times that words completely gone from my mind and my heart.

We will all miss you Holly. The world is missing out on meeting the truly kind, smart, beautiful, and funny woman that you would have grown up to be.

May 9th- Missions Part 1

Hey everyone. So I've been thinking a lot about the subject of Missions and the Church, and the next few things I write are going to about this subject. I am doing this mostly because it is something that has been on my mind a lot, but also because I think there are some common misconceptions about the subject. Hopefully this is something that is equally relevant to people who are not interested in leaving their own country as it is to people who are considering a life in a different culture. So here's part 1:

Matthew 28:18-20 "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Needless to say, I got a lot of different responses from people when I told them about God's call on my life here in Peru. These discussions have inspired a lot of thought about the subject of the church and missions. Additionally in the past 5 years I've been on a number of different missions trips, and I've heard a lot from many different preachers on this subject. Here are some of the conclusions that I have come to through all of this.

Missions is a word that I have heard being used synonymously with evangelism. For example, "I am a missionary in my school." or "I am a missionary to the people that I work with." Though this form of speech conveys information in a way that we understand, it is also dangerous. It is a dangerous way to speak, because in some ways it makes the assumption that there are people in the church who are meant to spread the message of Jesus Christ, while there are others who do not have this call. Otherwise, these phrases that we hear so frequently, wouldn't be necessary at all. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to speak this way, rather I am suggesting, for clarity's sake, that we re-evaluate our titles.

Steve Saint says, "The goal of missions is not to evangelize the world; that is the role of the church. The goal of missions is to plant the church where is does not yet exist." We are all members of the body of Christ, so we all share the same burden to share the Gospel with the people around us. It is not solely the responsibility of our pastors and missionaries to fulfill the great commission (to go out and make disciples of all nations). We must come to grips with the fact that we are the church, and that it is not someone else's responsibility to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the people who we come into contact with on a daily basis. Therefore if you are talking to the people in your school, or in your work about Jesus, you are not a missionary--you're part of the church. We need to get it through our heads that the real force behind the Kingdom of God cannot be laid on a few people in the church, but that it is something that needs to be taken up by all of us.

May 1st- Miracle

How would you respond if God told you that He was going to an incredible work in you, but it would mean that everyone around you would would despise you, and talk about you behind your back? Even more, what if all of your friends at church would completely misunderstand you, and think that you were a horrible sinner? Would you respond like this:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
Luke 1:46-49

Mary was told by an angel that she would have a baby miraculously through the hand of the Lord, and she responded in worship. I'm sure she was aware of what everyone would think happened when she suddenly became pregnant, but her first response was worship. I don't know about you, but at times I have had God ask of me things much less difficult than this, and the first thing that has come to my mind was worry rather than joy.

So how is it possible? How was Mary overcome with praise instead of being worried about what her fiance would think, or about what the entire community would say about her and her new son? Mary was able to respond the way that she did because she saw the miracle. She was overcome by what God was doing in her so much that all of the worries that could have overcome her, were drowned out by the glory of God.

God is going to ask us to do things that will be hard. Maybe he will ask us to give our money sacrificially, leave our home for the sake of the Gospel, or maybe He will ask us the hardest thing of all--to tell the people who are around us about Jesus. Everything in our flesh will want to respond to this with worry or with contempt. There are many professing Christians who live their lives resenting the things that God asks of them. This is truly tragic to the Father. Mary rejoiced in the Lord because she looked past the hardship and saw God's beautiful and awesome plan.

Don't miss the miracle.

April 24th- He Has Risen!

April 22nd- It's Friday

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by others,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

April 19th- God Almighty (Dios Todopoderoso)

What I have been learning recently comes directly from my struggles. Certain things seem to be crashing down around me, and the temptation is to respond with despair, or with worry. Praise God that he has used this to bring me closer to Him, and to shape me for his service.

The other day I was waiting for my friend to meet me near a walking bridge, and got there about 15 minutes early, so I had some time to think, and to mull over the events of the past week. As I thought about some things that were troubling me, the song Eres Todopoderoso kept on playing in the background of my mind (This is one of those songs that everyone who has spent any moderately long time in South America has probably heard. A very popular song here. The video is below if you want to listen to it.). The chorus of the song is:

Tú eres todopoderoso
Eres grande y majestuoso,
Eres fuerte, invencible
y no hay nadie como tú

Which roughly translates to:
You are all-powerful
You are large and Majestic
You are strong and invincible
And there is no one like you.

These lyrics ran through my mind, and though my struggles were still there, I was able to truly find peace in knowing that our God is El-Shaddai; God Almighty; Dios Todopoderoso. I was still just as weak, my problems were just as present, but I was able to find peace in knowing that He is so much bigger than everything that can come against me. I have heard people talk about resting in His strength a lot, but many times when troubles came, I was confused because this knowledge didn't make my problems feel any less difficult, or any less imposing. I think I understand it a bit better now, and I'll do my best to explain my thoughts concisely.

I know that I am weak, and that there are many things that can harm me--but the one who I am spending myself for is invincible. I have put all of my eggs in one basket, and there is no one, and there is nothing, that can damage Him. This realization doesn't make my problems disappear or become less difficult. It does however give me strength to endure all of them. I know that the King that I serve, and the Kingdom that I labor to bring to this earth, are both strong and indestructible. Therefore I am able, in all of my weakness, to find peace in His strength.

Have a blessed Holy Week,

-Jon

This is song I was talking about, Eres Todopoderoso.

April 14th- Why Are Christians So Mean

Matthew 7:3-4 ³ “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? ⁴ How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?

I started thinking about this subject recently (that is, the subject of Christians being mean) after reading an article online. It's not important what the article was about. What really made me think was the way that people responded to the article in comments. There were a ton of people that completely discounted what the author said, and focused on how he made one point by using a Greek translation instead of a Hebrew translation. People were arguing, and tearing each other apart over an issue of translation!

I'm sure you have been in similar situations. You go to a bible study and find people vehemently arguing over one or two words, and what they "really" mean. This isn't always a bad thing, but I believe that it is a symptom of something else. Many Christians like being right, more than they like to love one another. I have heard "non-denominational" believers say that all Catholics aren't followers of Christ, I've heard Lutherans say that Pentacostals aren't believers, Pentacostals have told me that I don't know Jesus unless I have spoken in tongues, Baptists will say that you aren't following Christ unless you were baptized the right way, after you hit the magical age when you you are aware enough to receive God's grace, Orthodox Christians have refused me from partaking in communion with them, and I have heard Catholics say that all protestants preach heresy.

All of this stems from our desire to be right being stronger than our love for our brothers and sisters in faith. If you disagree with that statement, then I suggest that you ask yourself to think of the times when you had a conflict of faith with someone. Did you spend more energy in the interaction trying to prove yourself, or did you spend more energy in praying for them, asking God to correct the error in their perspective? Oswald Chambers says that God never gives us discernment about another person for the purpose of judgment, but so that we can lift them up in prayer. This is part of what I think Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7 (The scripture above). We spend ourselves so fervently on proving ourselves right that we forget the purpose of the freedom that we have in Christ; Galatians 5:13b "Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love."

Another Scripture that I love is:
1 Corinthians 8:1b "But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church."
also Romans 14:4 "Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him judge whether they are right or wrong. And with the Lord’s help, they will do what is right and will receive his approval."

I'm not against discussing what God commands us to do in the Bible. Lets just try to do it with genuine love.

-Jon

P.S. Today I decided to get a break from Peruvian food and to eat some fried chicken. I found a place that was selling chicken strips for 5 soles ($1.80). I made the fatal mistake of just looking at the picture and going with it. I wrongfully thought that mollejitas was just a fancy name for chicken fingers. I get my food and notice that it's kid of grey, and completely different than any other part of the chicken I have ever had. I rush home and look it up in my Spanish dictionary. Turns out I ate some deep fried Chicken gizzards. Yum...

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures of Arequipa and the surrounding area.