Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a very disciplined view on how a church should thrive and have being. He wrote The Cost of Discipleship as an outline on what a church should do and act like. Many churches today do not follow his methods, in fact, some churches have never even heard of his book. His ideals should be present and followed by every church in order to achieve the true nature of the words Disciples of God.
Grace is a gift that we, the disciples of God, recieve that is undeserved and unmerited. Nothing that humans could do or not do could earn us such a glorious gift from God. Some churches today have taken the gift of grace and lessened its value. they take it for granted. Dietrich calls this "cheap grace" because the mindset is that sin is no big deal bacuase God is going to forgive us no matter what. Jesus died for us so it doesn't matter if we sin, that's why he came down as a human and was crucified. Dietrich states, "Cheap grace means the justification of the sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before." justification of the sin is done by humans and the justification of the sinner is done by God, and God alone. the justification is about our response to grace. the mindest that nothing has to change once you have recieved grace is the problem that most churches have today. they believe that everyone is saved so it doesnt matter if they act one way in church an another way outside of it becuase no matter what, as long as they repent, they will enter into the Kingdom fo God. when one justifies their sin, they say that they are coming to God for forgiveness when in realitty they are only coming so that they can feel better about themselves. Self righteousnes ...