Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the Call of Jesus to Share in His Mission

Have you heard Christ's call to follow him and share in his mission? 

I highly commend to you Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship. Macmillan: New York, 1963.

Let me offer you a few snippets (below). Also please read some background to the book by a respected Christian leader.

Then please find a full copy of the book for yourself and read it prayerfully; I believe you will hear the voice of Jesus...

Snippets from The Cost of Discipleship ...

"Grace and Discipleship

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today 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....  p.45

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.... 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. p.45-46

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.' 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....

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.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. p.47

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man' will gladly go and self 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 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 word 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."

On two separate occasions Peter received the call, "Follow me." It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple (Mark 1.17; John 21.22). A whole life lies between these two calls. The first occasion was by the lake of Gennesareth, when Peter left his nets and his craft and followed Jesus at his word. The second occasion is when the Risen Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the lake of Gennesareth, and once again the call is: "Follow me." Between the two calls lay a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half-way between them comes Peter's confession, when he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God....p.48

This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself, now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs. p.49

As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost....p.49

The Call to Discipleship

"The call goes forth, and is at once followed by the response of obedience. .... It displays not the slightest interest in the psychological reason for a man's religious decisions. And why? For the simple reason that the cause behind the immediate following of call by response is Jesus Christ Himself." p.61

"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. ... There is trust in God, but no following of Christ." p.64

"He wants to follow, but feels obliged to insist on his own terms to the level of human understanding. The disciple places himself at the Master's disposal, but at the same time retains the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is no longer discipleship, but a program of our own to be arranged to suit ourselves, and to be judged in accordance with the standards of rational ethic." p.66

"If we would follow Jesus we must take certain definite steps. The first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous existence. ... The first step places the disciple in the situation where faith is possible. If he refuses to follow and stays behind, he does not learn how to believe." p.66-67

Discipleship and the Cross

Jesus Christ must suffer and be rejected. (Mark 8:31-38) This 'must' is inherent in the promise of God-the Scripture must be fulfilled. Here there is a distinction between suffering and rejection. Had He only suffered, Jesus might still have been applauded as the Messiah. p.95

Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor. Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected of men. Suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil, especially when it comes from his own disciples; for it is in fact an attempt to prevent Christ from being Christ. (Peter in Matthew 16)

That shows how the very notion of a suffering Messiah was scandal to the Church. ... Peter's protest displays his own unwillingness to suffer and that means that Satan has gained entry into the Church, and is trying to tear it away from the cross of its Lord.

Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the "must" of suffering applies to his disciples no less than to himself. ... Discipleship mean adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ which is the law of the cross. p.96 [See John 15:20-21]

When Jesus begins to unfold this inescapable truth to His disciples, He once more sets them free to choose or reject Him. "If any man would come after me," He says. For it is not a matter of course, not even among the disciples. Nobody can be forced, nobody can even be expected to come. He says rather, "If any man" is prepared to spurn all other offers which come his way in order to follow Him. Once again, everything is left for the individual to decide.... p.96-97

To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. ... All that self-denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to Him...and take up his cross." ... Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for His sake. If in the end we know only Him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto Him. If Jesus had not so graciously prepared us for this word, we should have found it unbearable. p.97

To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. ... the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.

It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause of conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity... We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering.

The Psalmist was lamenting that he was despised and rejected of men, and that is an essential quality of the suffering of the cross. But this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an ordinary human life and life committed to Christ. The cross means sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and to the fullest.

Only a man thus totally committed in discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross. The cross is there, right from he beginning, he has only got to pick it up there is no need for him to go out and look for a cross for himself... Every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. p.98

But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and given them the grace of martyrdom, while others He does not allow to be tempted above that they are able to bear....
The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. ... we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death-we give over our lives to death. ... When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. ...death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man [or nature] at his call. Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die...

The call to discipleship... means both death and life... [It] sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of his Lord. p.99

But there is another kind of suffering and shame which the Christian is not spared. While ... only the sufferings of Christ are a means of atonement, yet...the Christian also has to undergo temptation [and] bear the sins of others; he too must bear their shame and be driven like a scapegoat from the gates of the city. (Heb. 13:12-15) ...The passion of Christ strengthens him to overcome the sins of others by forgiving them. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2) ...

Suffering then is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master... That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true Church... If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow Him. But if we lose our lives in His service and carry out cross, we shall find our lives again in the fellowship of the cross with Christ. The opposite of discipleship is to be ashamed of Christ and His cross and all the offense which the cross brings in its train.

Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ... It is a joy and token of His grace. ... Christ transfigures for His own [the early Christian martyrs] the hour of their moral agony by granting them the unspeakable assurance of His presence. In the hour of the cruellest torture they bear for His sake, they are made partakers in the perfect joy and bliss of fellowship with Him. To bear the cross proves to be the only way of triumphing over suffering. ...

Jesus prays to His Father that the cup may pass from Him, and His Father hears His prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from Him-but only by His drinking it. p.101

God speaking to Luther: "Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend-it must transcend all comprehension. ... Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. My comprehension transcends yours. Thus Abraham went forth from His father... not knowing whither he went. ... Behold, that is the way of the cross. You cannot find it yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man. Wherefore it is not you, no man... but I myself, who instruct you by my Word and Spirit in the way you should go. Not the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which is clean contrary to all you choose or contrive or desire-that is the road you must take. To that I call you and in that you must be my disciple." p.103-4

Discipleship and the Individual

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26)

Through the call of God, men become individuals... Every man is called separately, and must follow alone. But men are frightened of solitude, and try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves in the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment. They become suddenly aware of their responsibilities and duties, and are loath to part with them. But all this is only a cloak to protect them from having to make a decision. They are unwilling to stand alone before Jesus and to be compelled to decide with their eyes fixed on Him alone.... It is Christ's will that he should be thus isolated, and that he should fix his eyes solely upon him. p.105

The Beatitudes

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Privation is the lot of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They ... have no security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no earthly society to claim their absolute allegiance. ... For his sake they have lost all....

The Antichrist also calls the poor blessed, but not for the sake of the cross, which embraces all poverty and transforms it into a source of blessing. He fights the cross with political and sociological ideology. He may call it Christian, but that only makes him a still more dangerous enemy.... p.120

"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." With each beatitude the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people, their call to come forth from the people becomes increasingly manifest.... And so the disciples are strangers in the world, unwelcome guests and disturbers of the peace. No wonder the world rejects them! ... they bear their sorrow in the strength of him who bears them up, who bore the whole suffering of the world upon the cross.... The community of strangers find their comfort in the cross, they are comforted by being cast upon the place where the Comforter of Israel awaits them. Thus do they find their true home with their crucified Lord, both here and in eternity. p.121-122

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." This community of strangers possesses no inherent right of its own...nor do they claim such right for they are meek, the renounce every right of their own and live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When reproached, they hold their peace; when treated with violence they endure it patiently; when men drive them from their presence, they yield their ground. They will not go to law to defend their rights nor make  a scene when they suffer injustice.

Their right is in the will of their Lord -that and no more. They show by every word and gesture that they do not belong to this earth.... But Jesus says: "they shall inherit the earth." p.122-123

"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Not only do the followers of Jesus renounce their rights, they renounce their own righteousness, too. They get no praise for their achievements or sacrifices.... [--for all the praise goes to our King!]

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Who is pure in heat? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that He may reign in them alone. ...p. 125

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace.... But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than where they meet the wicked in peace and are ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ's work of reconciliation, they are called the sons of God as he is the Son of God. p. 125-126

"Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ...The world will be offended at them and so the disciples will be persecuted for righteousness' sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get from the world for their message and works....p. 127

Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. "For My sake" the disciples are reproached, but because it is for His sake, the reproach falls on Him.

...while Jesus calls them blessed, the world cries: "Away with them, away with them!"

Yes, but whither? To the kingdom of heaven. "Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." There shall the poor be seen in the halls of joy.... God wipes away the tears from the eyes of those who had mourned upon earth. He feeds the hungry at his Banquet. There stand the scarred bodies of the martyrs, now glorified and clothed in the white robes of eternal righteousness instead of the rags of sin and repentance. The echoes of this joy reach the little flock below as it stands beneath the cross, and they hear Jesus saying: "Blessed are ye!" p. 128

The Enemy--the "Extraordinary"

There were those who cursed them for undermining the faith and transgressing the law. There were those who hated them of leaving all they had for Jesus sake.... There were those who persecuted them as prospective dangerous revolutionaries and sought to the destroy them. Some of their enemies were numbered among the champions of the popular religion, who resented the exclusive claim of Jesus. p. 162-163

The Hidden Righteousness

The life of discipleship can only be maintained as long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves -- neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world. The discipline always look only to his master, never to Christ and the law, Christ and religion, Christ and the world. ... Only by following Christ alone can he preserve a single eye. ... Thus the heart of the disciple must be set upon Christ alone." p. 173-174