German war-time Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed “cheap grace” the deadly enemy of the church.

“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 race is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living & incarnate”

(taken from editorial, Triple helix , winter 2014)

Several potentially dangerous gatherings have broken up and dissipated as worship was released among the unruly participants. Coming in a spirit of intercession, worshippers began to sing and position themselves between the protesting crowd and the Highway Patrol forming a protective line. Within minutes, the riotous crowd deflated and dispersed as, “This isn’t fun anymore.” and “I’m going home.” were heard. Others in the crowd joined the worship, with several coming to Christ.

(St. Louis, Missouri)

Jesus brought a message that spoke to the deepest longings of the human heart to become not simply conformed to a religious subculture but transformed into “new creatures”. instead of focusing on the boundaries, Jesus focused on the centre, the heart of spiritual life. When asked to identify what the law is about, Jesus response was simply “Love God, Love people”. He names a fundamentally different way of identifying who are the children of God:” do they love God, and do they love the people who mean so much to Him?”

John Ortberg (The life you’ve always wanted)

Chris Evans (Islwyn, Labour)  Argoed in my constituency was rocked over the weekend by a particularly gruesome and horrific murder, and I am sure the whole House will join me in extending sympathies to the family of Cerys Yemm, the young girl who lost her life. The Ministry of Justice has launched an immediate investigation into why her killer committed such a serious offence within 30 days of being released. However, reports yesterday said that he could not get a prescription for his paranoid schizophrenia, he was not met at the prison gate and he was referred to a local bed and breakfast, where this horrific murder took place. Does the Secretary of State agree with the need for an urgent investigation into how mental health is treated in prisons and the monitoring of prisoners after they are released?

Chris Grayling (The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice ; Epsom and Ewell, Conservative)   Let us be clear that we all think that what took place was a horrendous incident. I offer my sincere condolences to the family of the victim. I also offer my sympathy to the hon. Gentleman as the localMember of Parliament dealing with this difficult situation. Of course, a serious further offence review is looking at what took place and it would be wrong of me to prejudge its outcome, but it is already clear to me that lessons will need to be learned and that we may need to make modifications to the way the system works in order to try to make sure that nothing as horrendous as this can ever happen again.

The heart of Christianity is about transformation-about a God who isn’t just concerned with our “spiritual lives “but who wants to impact every aspect of living. Its realising that God meets us not in a monastery but on Main street, and that all of ordinary, daily living has the potential to be lived as if Jesus himself were the one living it.

The Life you’ve always wanted  by John Ortberg

Fiona Bruce MP.   I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to clarify the law relating to abortion on the basis of sex-selection;
and for connected purposes.

Sex-selective abortions are happening in the UK, and there is widespread confusion over the law, which is why this Bill is needed. The Bill is extremely straightforward, merely clarifying that nothing in section 1 of the Abortion Act 1967 allows a pregnancy to be terminated on the grounds of the sex of the unborn child. It is a shame that this clarification is needed. Successive Health Ministers and even the Prime Minister have been very clear on the matter. They state that abortion for reasons of gender alone is illegal. The Prime Minister has described the practice as “simply appalling”. But these Ministers are being ignored. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which performs around 60,000 abortions a year, flatly disagrees with them. Even today, it is advising women, in one of its leaflets and on its website, that abortion for reasons of foetal sex is not illegal, because the law is “silent on the matter”.

The BMA represents every doctor who permits or performs an abortion and BPAS is the UK’s biggest abortion provider. We cannot sit idly by as it contradicts Ministers over a practice that the Government state is illegal. Urgent clarification from this House is needed.

Chris Evans (MP) :

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions
he has had with internet service providers about bringing forward
legislative proposals to tackle revenge porn websites.

Also:- This month Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, announced that the posting of so-called “revenge pornography” on the internet will carry a maximum jail term of two years. It is now likely to become law in the Criminal Justice Bill next spring.

According to ChildLine, 25 per cent of 13 to 18-year-olds have admitted sending a sexual image of themselves to someone else and the National Stalking Helpline and UK Safer Internet Centre report a dramatic rise in revenge porn incidents in the last six months.

Also from Chris Evans:-

Chris Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment
he has made on the potential merits of consolidating all government
websites into gov.uk as means of reducing the use of copycat websites
which charge extra for government services.

How good to sing praises to our God!
    How delightful and how fitting!
³ He heals the brokenhearted
    and bandages their wounds.
⁴ He counts the stars
    and calls them all by name.
⁵ How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!
    His understanding is beyond comprehension

For Christian prisoners of faith, ‘taking up their cross and following Christ’ is no easy road. Their testimony of enduring faith is both a challenge and an encouragement to their brothers and sisters in Christ here in he UK and Ireland and around the world.

North Korean, Eritrean, Iranian and other Christians who seek to share and live out their faith in theses countries often pay a high personal price- yet it is a price they accept as ‘normal’ Christian discipleship.

Their prison experience is not viewed with surprise outrage: on the contrary, they often regard the prison cell as their mission field, imprisonment as training and the whole experience as part of God’s purpose & plan.

The reality is that today in detention centres and prison camps across the world, God is doing exactly what he promised to do: building His church.

Just as He did with the early church, God is there in those cells watching over His children, pouring out His love into their hearts and reaching out in love to others, prisoners and persecutors alike. Still He calls us to ‘remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison’. (Hebrews13V3

Jesus was always being asked questions. He also answered people with questions. And questions about whether Jesus is unique are not new.

For example, when faced with Jesus on trial, Pilate the Roman governor represents all the political and religious tension of the time in his question in John 18:33: “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Pilate is in this immense conflict within himself. Something within him is prompting him to say that this trial is a charade. But he’s trapped between the political manoeuvring of Rome and the Jewish authorities he’s subjugating. And he asks the crucial question: Who is Jesus? Is he unique?

We often hear that all religions are the same, but this is not true. They are superficially the same, but they are fundamentally different.

How is Jesus different? There are a number of ways:

The Human Condition

Fundamental is Jesus’ description of the human condition. He talks of the alienation of the human heart by being separated from God. He says that the heart is in rebellion against God: so deep is this, that morality alone cannot solve it. It goes beyond mere good vs bad. The heart is in need of something greater than just pulling ourselves up by our moral bootstraps.

The  Unique Solution

Second, Jesus offers a unique solution to the problem. The provision he gives for you and me is absolutely unique, and it is not cheap. It is the cross. That’s why you will find an Easterner, when they come to Jesus Christ, literally sobbing and sobbing and sobbing, because they have felt the anguish of what sin is. Their recognition of the graciousness of forgiveness is very, very unique. Islam says, to get to heaven your good deeds will have to outweigh your bad. In other words, you pay. When Christ comes and says to you and me that he is offering forgiveness and doing so through the payment of his life on the cross, it is an extraordinary truth. The Bible says that we need a Saviour and we need forgiveness.

Love, Forgiveness & Justice

There is only one place in the world where love, forgiveness and justice come together: justice was being revealed, love was being demonstrated and forgiveness was being offered. That is on the cross of calvary. Jesus Christ claimed to be the way, the truth and the life because he is what the absolute truth really is. Repentance is an anguished moment, but your tears are wiped away with the joy of forgiveness. This truth of Christ’s grace is unique.

Sinless

Thirdly, Jesus was unique in that he had no sin. Even Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man”.

The Resurrection

Finally, the resurrection is the ultimate demonstration of his uniqueness. Jesus shows that he is the Son of God through his rising from the dead. And, through his death and resurrection, Jesus conquered through evil, not in spite of it. It shows that there is a hope that comes from beyond the grave.

This is a precis of a talk given to the Keswick Convention 2014. The audio is available free here and will be summarised in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast on 24 August.