“You get what you pay for!”  Or do you?  Does paying more necessarily mean getting more?  The spin doctors and podcasters of popular finance tell you, “Never pay full price.”  Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey certainly feel a disturbance in the force if you shop the department store and not T. J. Maxx or let that Dollar General coupon expire unused.  Though Americans do not have a haggle culture, we haggle in different ways.  We hunt discounts like game. Then mount our trophies on social media.  

Digital couponing, GoodRx, Temu, Fuel Rewards and a thousand other weapons are at our disposal to track and bag remarkable discounts on everything from food, to pharmacy, to fuel.  “Never pay full price!” And when there is no discount weapon available, we simply ask for the ‘unadvertised discount.’  Few refuse this simple but powerful tactic.   But in our rush to discount everything in life, is there perhaps some truth to the maxim, ‘you get what you pay for?’

My dad was a depression-era baby, steeped in all the financial austerity of his age.  He never bought brand names, he never paid full price, and simply refused to buy something if it was more than he wanted to pay.   But there were a few things my dad said were worth full price.   A mantra that has served me well is, ‘son, when you get insurance, get State-Farm and when you have to fly, Fly Delta.  They will never be the cheapest, but what they cost in money, they make up in service and reliability.’   This has proved good advice.  There are few things for which we must pay full price, but there are some that are worth it.

It is one of the great paradoxes of our faith that grace is one of those things.   It can only be purchased at full price.  The cost of grace is never up for debate.  But what makes grace, grace is not what it cost, but who pays.  The cost of our sin is staggering.   There are no discounts, no works, not piety, not good intentions, no sincere motives that make its cost affordable.   We simply will never amass enough to pay its bill. 

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of the costliness of judgement.

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Matthew 5:25-26

And the Psalmist noted.

Truly no man can ransom another,
    or give to God the price of his life,
for the ransom of their life is costly
    and can never suffice,
that he should live on forever
    and never see the pit.

Psalm 49:7-9

Paul speaks of our predicament and our debt in Romans and again in Galatians.

“None is righteous, no, not one;
    no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.” Romans 3:10-12

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith…”  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Galatians 3:10-11, 13

And so, when Jesus dies on the cross, he cries out one word in Greek, tetelestai, translated “it is finished.”  A word inscribed on ancient receipts to indicate a debt paid in full.   Grace is not a discount.  Not writing off bad debt.  No mere debt forgiveness.   No, a price had to be paid.  Every penny of our guilt had to be remitted.   What makes grace, grace is not what it costs, but who pays.  

Christ has paid for those who believe in Him.   For those who will not believe, the debt is theirs.   From the beginning of his earthly life, Jesus was a man under the power of the law.   Even in his infancy, his obedience to the law pointed at every turn to the full price he would pay to provide grace for us.  No sooner had the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, than we read about Jesus’ obedience to the law and hear the words of the aged Simeon that “this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and as a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

The ransom of your life is costly.  There are no discounts, no subsidies, no generics.  The full price is demanded.  Grace is not about reduced cost, but a change in payor.  Only in Christ has the full price been paid in full.   Are you still trying to pay the skyrocketing cost of your sin yourself?  Join us as we examine Luke 2:21-40 and see the cost of our salvation begin to come into focus through the rituals of the law and the song of Simeon. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.