Our Savior did not tell us we are saved now go and sin, go and disobey

Chapter 3 -Single-Minded Obedience  (continued)

Bonhoeffer- ' Are we to treat the commandment of Jesus differently from other orders and exchange single-minded obedience for downright disobedience? How could that be possible?

It is possible because there is an element of truth underlying all this sophistry. When Jesus calls the young man to enter into the situation where faith is possible, he does it only with the aim of making the man have faith in him, that is to say, he calls him into fellowship with himself.

In the last resort what matters is not what the man does, but only his faith in Jesus as the Son of God and Mediator.

At all events poverty or riches, marriage or celibacy, a profession or the lack of it, have in the last resort nothing to do with it-- everything depends on faith alone.

So far then we are quite right; it is possible to have wealth and the possession of this world's goods and to believe in Christ-- so that a man may have these goods as one who has them not.

But this is an ULTIMATE possibility of the Christian life, only within our capacity in so far as we await with earnest expectation the immediate return of Christ.

It is by no means the first and the simplest possibility. The paradoxical understanding of the commandments has its Christian justification, but it must never lead to the abandoning of the single-minded understanding of the commandments.

This is only possible and right for somebody who has already at some point or other in his life put into action his single-minded understanding, somebody who thus lives with Christ as his disciple and in anticipation of the end. This is the infinitely more difficult, and humanly speaking "impossible possibility," to interpret the call of Jesus in this paradoxical way.

And it is just this paradoxical element which exposes his call to the constant danger of being transformed into its very opposite, and used as an excuse for shirking the necessity of concrete obedience.

Anybody who does not feel that he would be much happier were he only permitted to understand and obey the commandments of Jesus in a straightforward literal way, and e.g. surrender all his possessions at his bidding rather than cling to them, has no right to this paradoxical interpretation of Jesus' words.  We have to hold the two together in mind all the time.

The actual call of Jesus and the response of single-minded obedience have an irrevocable significance. By means of them Jesus calls people into an actual situation where faith is possible. For that reason his call is an actual call and he wishes it so to be understood, because he knows that it is only through actual obedience that a man can become liberated to believe.'

My thoughts-

We are called.

Joh_12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Mat_24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

We are called, all of us.

Can we accept the grace of Jesus Christ without the call to Him?

We can't.

Anymore than we can accept anyone's invitation without there being a one who tenders the invitation.

There is NO invitation without someone inviting, that's an impossibility.

By acknowledging our need of a Savior, our need of forgiveness, we are acknowledging there is a SAVIOR, One who offers us forgiveness.  We are called to a new life, to be born of the Spirit, and we have to ACT on that call. We can ignore it, we can try to change it to suit our own selfishness, making is ineffective, or we can answer the call as it is given to us. As soon as we respond to the call- as soon as we OBEY the invitation and act by accepting the truth of our Savior and the Gospel of the Kingdom He preaches- we have OBEYED and we've OBEYED by FAITH, through BELIEVING.  But if we do not obey we are not acting on faith.

As Bonhoeffer explains in the excerpt above- it is paradoxical.

We cannot separate the two without destroying them both.

Bonhoeffer said this- 'By means of them Jesus calls people into an actual situation where faith is possible. For that reason his call is an actual call and he wishes it so to be understood, because he knows that it is only through actual obedience that a man can become liberated to believe.' 

If the call to be a disciple of our Savior isn't real to us, then we can play act at being a Christian and nothing more. 

Jesus and the gospel He preached MUST be real to us! He preached of His return and the salvation to eternal life with Him- this must be real to us NOW.  In all we do this MUST be real to us!  Obeying our Savior through Faith, having Faith in our Savior through obedience this must be REAL.

Our Savior did not tell us we are saved now go and sin, go and disobey, NEVER did He ever utter those words!

It is by HIS grace, His mercy, His love that we can have faith, that we can be saved, that we can obey!

Please Lord, save us, undeserved of it as we are, please, save us!