The Price We Pay
Everything has a price or a cost associated with it. This even includes the things we may be given. True, the material “gifts” which others may bestow on us might not cost us anything at all, but someone had to bear the cost of them. We also ought to be made aware that the price of something is often not the same as the cost of it. We read of this in Acts chapter 5 as Ananias and Sapphira received a fair price for their land, but as they lied to the Holy Ghost in their giving, paid the cost of so doing with their lives.
Perhaps they hadn’t heard of the teachings of Jesus in Luke 12:16-21 in regard to the attitude of the rich man. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. He was willing to pay to have barns built, but wasn’t aware of the cost of forgetting God.
What will be the cost of the decisions we make while in this life? Will we be like the man in the above parable and focus only on ourselves and what we can amass in this life? In 2Corinthians 5:10, those brethren were told that the price one will pay, or the reward one will receive, will be that which is determined by the things they do in the here and now. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
There was indeed a steep price paid for Salvation that we could not pay. The Lord died on Calvary’s cross to shed His blood so we could be saved. He told His apostles in Matthew 20:17-19, when, where and how He would pay the price for the Salvation of a soul. And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, 18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, 19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Prior to this event, He told them in John 14:1-4 that because He was to die on the cross, those who would believe on Him and were obedient to His Word would have a place prepared for them and a way laid out for them. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. He paid the price, then following His resurrection went to His Father and is preparing a place where the obedient and faithful will spend eternity.
But, don’t we not have an obligation in this arrangement? Do we not also have a price to pay? 1Corinthians 6:20 lets us know that we certainly do. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Those that are washed in the blood of Christ indeed are to have a part and have responsibility for their salvation. The Spirit had John, in 2John verse 8, instruct the recipients of that letter how to glorify the Lord in obedience and watchfulness so they would not lose the promised reward. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Then, in Philippians 2:12 the Spirit had the apostle Paul write so all will know the “price they must pay” to maintain that Salvation. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Christians need to be reminded that this “price” must continue to be paid as long as we live. In Philippians 3:12-14 the Spirit had Paul remind the folks there, and us of this. Our “work of Salvation” doesn’t end until we pass from this life. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus told us the cost of true discipleship. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. God the Father, the Spirit and Christ, have all done their part, and paid the price for our Salvation. Are you willing to do your part as God has directed in His Word? If you don’t pay the price now, the eternal cost is unbearable. Think about it!
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
