Dave’s Monday Blast – June 21, 2021
Who will you serve? Who or what takes precedence in your life? Last week we introduced Hiroo Onoda and applauded his commitment to duty during the second World War, but acknowledged that his service was gravely misplaced. We also considered the life of Joshua and unpacked his declaration of service to the God of heaven found in Joshua 24:15. This week I wanted us to remember the life and service to the Kingdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Bonhoeffer was born in 1906. His life was cut short at the age of 39 at the hands of the Nazi’s approximately two weeks before the war concluded in Europe. He had been imprisoned since April of 1943, accused of attempting to overthrow the German government. He was executed for his tireless work since the early 30s to keep the German church from surrendering the Lordship of Jesus Christ to the kingdom of men as defined by Hitler.
Bonhoeffer was a pastor and educator. He was a lone voice among German pastors as Hitler’s influence moved across Germany. His book, The Cost of Discipleship defined his life in service for the Kingdom of God and humanity. “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. 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.”
This is the path that Jesus would lead him down. Hitler was determined to manipulate the church to his advantage and to insert his disciples into church leadership where they would twist and redefine the very nature of Christianity. Most German pastors were eager to compromise in the face of Hitler’s threats. Not Bonhoeffer. He was a true disciple, a true servant of Jesus. He chose Christ. As he was being led away to this execution he told a fellow prisoner, “This is the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.” In Philippians 1:26 the Apostle Paul simply said, “To me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”
Bonhoeffer further wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, “If we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us? What decisions will it demand? To answer this question we shall have to go to Him, for only He knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow Him, knows the journey’s end. But we do know that it will be a road of boundless mercy. discipleship means joy.”
The days in which we live mirror the world of the 30s and 40s, but on steroids. The enemy is at every gate. Gratefully…the hordes of darkness shall not prevail!
