I believe people will pay any amount of money for something they really value. It’s a proven fact in my ministry that students who have been to summer camp in previous years are less likely to respond negatively to a price increase in camp registration. They see they value of it, and they know it’s worth it.
So there is a tension between cost and value. People don’t like being ripped off, but they don’t mind paying for quality. So one lesson here is if people pay for something (like camp), they should get their money’s worth. We have a responsibility to pursue quality.
But the primary takeaway of this principle is this: have we cheapened grace and the Kingdom of God in the name of accessibility? Jesus makes it pretty clear that the Kingdom has immeasurable value:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. –Matthew 13:44
He also made it clear that the only way to enter this Kingdom was through His redeeming death on the cross:
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” –John 3:3
So the grace of the cross and the Kingdom of God are certainly linked. However, grace is defined throughout Scripture as the free gift of God’s undeserved kindness:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. –Ephesians 2:8-9
So as Christian leaders we talk about the free gift of grace (and it is indeed truly free), but we hardly ever talk about the cost. We don’t want freak people out, or worse yet, start preaching legalism; that we must somehow earn our salvation. Can grace be free and cost everything at the same time?
Yes, and if we preach anything less we may attract people to a caricature of God’s grace, but it will be a grace that has no value.
Anything free automatically arouses suspicion that it must not be very valuable. This isn’t always true, but this is how we think nonetheless. Is this why any discussion of God’s grace in the New Testament always comes around to our response to that grace? Our response is to give nothing less than everything.
We can’t earn grace. But we also can’t preach a valueless grace that never elicits a response beyond that cursory nod we give to the supermarket lady who is giving out free bagel samples.
Grace cost Jesus everything, it cost us nothing, and it costs us everything because it’s worth everything.