Love Has A Cost

 Pastor Keren explores the concept that true spiritual love requires personal sacrifice and a deep commitment to others. She distinguishes between common emotional connections and Agape love, defined as the selfless, unconditional devotion modeled by God. By examining the life of the Apostle Paul and the teachings of Jesus, she argues that believers are commanded to toil and suffer for the spiritual maturity of their community. Ultimately, she emphasizes that living a life of faith is not a passive experience, but an active labor fueled by the Holy Spirit. She concludes by calling for a total surrender of the self to fulfill the divine mandate of loving one's neighbor.

Transcript

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So I've entitled this message today that love has a cost. And if you see me reading my notes, it's because I am. Because I'm not that polished. So today, love has a cost because love costs something. And while it seems like an obvious thing, I dare say that many lack in the love department. I see the elbow. See, I told you. Well, that's not the love that I'm talking about. But rather, we need to fully understand what God's love is. And so we're going to jump right into it. Peter, the apostle of Jesus, didn't fully understand God's love either. It seems like a word that we throw around today. But let's look at John, or there. 21, 14. This is now the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. Now when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said to them him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, Tend my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Shepherd my sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was hurt, because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, Then tend my sheep. Jesus asked him three times if he loved him. And Peter confirmed three times that he did. But they were talking about two different kinds of love. The word love in Greek can be translated four different ways. So when you see it in the Bible, you have to say, well, what is the context that this love is being used? There's a passionate love between a husband and wife, a brotherly love between friends, a familial love for family, and one that is selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional, one that represents God because God is love. And when Jesus asked Peter, Do you love me? He was asking him if he selflessly, unconditionally, and sacrificially loved him. But Peter only stood the love of a friend and was saying, You know I love you, we're Gumpas. That's an Italian slang for we go way back. However, Peter's love was surface when Jesus was asking for depth. Jesus' question was preparing Peter for what was to come. Because love has a cost. Many have asked the question, why am I here? Why was I born? And the answer is simple: because God wanted you here. He created you. And we are his will. If we weren't his will, he wouldn't have created us, but we're his will. And being made in his image and likeness, he is at work in us. If you couldn't look at Philippians 2.13, and it confirms this, saying, for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for his good pleasure. That's why you're here. And you're his will, and he wants to work in you. John uh 1 John 4.19 says he loved us because we loved him because he first loved us. That's the reason why we love. The Beatles made a song popular entitled What? All you need is love. I dare say they were talking about the wrong love. But upon research, primary things he humans need to survive are what? Does anybody know four things? Oxygen, water, food, and shelter. The popular TV show Survivor has challenged people for 25 years to survive on the basics or less. And if you've ever watched a cowboy show, you'd see that everyone is just trying to survive, raise a family, pay taxes, hope not to get robbed or killed in the meantime. Maybe nothing's changed. What people had in them was a God-given desire to live and to make things stay alive for those who would come after them. They had God-given vision. Statistically, back in the day, did you know that between 30 and 50 percent of all those born died before the age of 16? Either from infant sickness or just death at birth. And if you lived past 16, you had to just beat a couple of things: disease, infection, unclean environments, war, famine, poverty, malnutrition, among other things. And besides it being a divine act of God that we exist, it is the divine act of God that you are here and alive today. You beat the odds, congratulations. Throughout history, people have put into action their God-given ability. Someone envisioned, prayed, toiled, struggled, and even survived for you to exist. In our early years of marriage, we prayed for the existence of children. After several years of trying, the doctors told us you have 1% chance of getting pregnant. So we prayed and we did tests and we did shots and we did procedures and cried and prayed more and did more procedures till finally, finally, an answered prayer. It was an act of sacrifice from us to have children. And it still remains one to see them grow. We struggle and toil for their provision. We surrender our will for their well-being. We teach, we motivate, we discipline, and we live by example as an act of sacrifice to promote the life of those that will come after them. And hope one day that they'll do the same for generations that will come after them. Today we're going to see that the capacity we are endowed with to love goes beyond the natural and in fact is commanded as a believer. The last time I preached, I talked about uh the man that was dying, and he had one last wish please tell my wife I love her. And the message now had to go. He had to, the gentleman that had the message had to go find the loved one to tell them. And we as Christians, too, are obligated when Jesus told us in Matthew 28, 19, to what? Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then it continues teaching them to follow all that I commanded them. So we see three things in there. Go into all the world and preach the gospel, baptize, right? And then teach them to follow what I commanded them to do. Believers, you and I, are to tell others about Christ. We are to live by example, and we are to teach others to follow God's commands. That's what it says. The mistake I think people make is that they think the going, the baptizing, and the teaching are all done by a select few. But this exhortation from Jesus is for me and you, believers, the ones filled with the Holy Spirit. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit today? But in order for one to preach the gospel, and you have to know it. In order to baptize, you must lead a transformed life. And in order to teach God's commands, you need to live them. For many, becoming a believer is the easy part. Because history already proves Christ. In fact, the devil believes in them. The baptizing is a public profession of faith. The harder part is actually following God's commands because it means that you can't follow your own. Thou shalt not. But in Matthew, Jesus is asked, What is the most important of these? Matthew 22, 36 through 40. It says, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law? And he said to them, You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. But the second is like it. By loving God with all your heart and soul and mind, and as your neighbor as yourself, you fulfill the commandments. And if we truly love God, we won't murder, commit adultery, steal, covet, lie, or even disobey God's word. We won't do things our own way. Well, if we say, well, that's impossible to live out God's commands, then I dare say it's because you don't really love God. I'm not saying this. John 14, 50 says, 15, if you love me, you'll what? You'll keep my commandments. John 13, 35 says, by your love, they'll know that you're mine. 1 John 4, 7 and 8. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And anyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. But the one who does not know God does not love, because God is love. The Greek word for love in these passages is agape love. It's the selfless one. It's not the one that's the can't eat, can't sleep, over the fence, reach for the stars, World Series kind of love. It's not the one that says, You had me at hello. It's more like the one that says, hello, do you hear me? The one that's tenderly trying to tap on your heart to break through. It's the never leave you and forsake you kind of love. It's the one that's patient and the one that's kind and the one that doesn't envy and it doesn't boast and it isn't proud and it doesn't dishonor. It isn't self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrong. It rejoices in the truth. It's the one that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It's the one that never fails. This is how we're supposed to love one another. This is the commanded love that God gave to believers. The one that seeks to preserve the life of another for eternal glory. Deuteronomy 7.9 says, Know therefore that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps his commandment and his faithfulness to a thousand generations for those who love him and keep his commandments. See, I'm not making this stuff up. But love has a cost. Paul understood this. He selflessly and lovingly desired the growth for believers that they would grow from baby food to solid food. Look at Colossians chapter 1. And although you were previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his body of the flesh through death, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. If indeed you continue in the faith firmly, established and steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was the main uh named minister. But I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am supplementing what is lacking in Christ's affliction in behalf of his body, which is the church. Paul understood that love has a cost. First Corinthians 15, 1 through 2. It says, Now I remind you, uh, now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preach to you, which you received, and which you also stand, by which you are also saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preach to you, unless you really believed in vain. He says, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God within me. Let's look at 1 Timothy 4. 6 through 10. It says, Rather, train yourself for godliness, for while bodily exercise has some value, godliness is the value in every day, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, for to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially for those who believe. Colossians 4 12, always struggling on your behalf in prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. Love has a cost. And Paul took the call of God seriously, and it cost him something. We saw the words struggle, and we saw him use the words toil. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 11, 23. Have you ever loved someone this much? Are they servants of Christ? I'm speaking as if insane. I'm more so in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I've received from the Jews 39 lashes, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times shipwrecked, a night, day spent adrift at sea. I have been frequent journeys in dangers of rivers and robbers and countrymen, dangers of Gentiles and cities, of wilderness and sea, and among false brothers. I have been in labor and in hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure. Have you ever loved someone this much? Paul toiled so that others may live in light of God's agape love, because he knew that their eternal life depended on it. In 1 Timothy, Paul describes himself as the chief of sinners. He desperately struggled to become a giver of life after formally being a giver of death as a murderer. Paul understood that God loved us into creation, died so that we might live, and then commands us to go and do the same for others. Paul loved God's love. I think if Paul were here today, he would describe God's love like a really fancy car. An expensive one. Like, what do you think is expensive? I'm gonna say a million-dollar car. Okay? I know the Toyota can get the job done too. But when you get in and you feel the comfort and you put the seatbelt on, and you shift it into gear with anticipation, and you press the gas pedal, and you're thrust into motion easily, climbing the heights of Mount Washington, speeding through tunnels and over bridges that span the ocean, feeling the safety of the rains and the winds that whip. Surrender to the centrifugal force as you hug the bend of a cliff that has no rails. Trust the brakes that halt sudden death and seemingly float over the rifts of life with ease. Then, when having experienced such a ride, you're compelled to tell a friend, you've got to try this. When you truly experience God's love, agape love, you'll love others in return. You can't help it. You toil, labor, strive, and struggle for them to stay on the righteous path, to live, and to watch them grow into spiritual maturity. But the strength to do this does not come from us. To love God's people, God's way, we need the Holy Spirit. Paul said in previous verses that he could only love God because his hope was set on the living God. And it was not by his strength, but God within him. Galatians 2, 20 says this: I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So you can do this because you have the capacity, because God created you. As Christ has done for us, we now do for others. Not by the world's definition of love, but by God's. We're not simply to be hearers of the word, but what? Doers of the word. After becoming a believer, you must grow, you must be discipled, you must mature, you must uh be the one who fulfills the commandments too. Otherwise, you're here thinking that we get some sort of a participation trophy at the end. But love is an act of worship. And when you worship, you do it in spirit and in truth. John 15, 12 through 14 says, This is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. And greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I'm not sure if you're aware, but outside these walls, there's a war going on. But for many, there's a war going on in here. It's a war for your soul and for the souls of others that God has placed in front of you to toil for, to struggle for, to die for, for their salvation and for their spiritual growth. But some will never follow God's commands because I dare say they've never toiled for their own soul. They've never struggled for their own spiritual growth. They won't love their neighbor as themselves because they don't love themselves in light of God's word. They say their addiction isn't strong enough to give up. Their sin isn't bad enough for repentance. The lies they tell are for the greater good. The addiction of over-the-counter drugs isn't habit-forming. The laziness doesn't harm anyone. The wickedness in their heart no one sees. They say, I'm here, aren't I? Isn't that enough? Yes. It means that you need to grow closer to the Lord and to catch a glimpse of who he really is and surrender daily, just like we all do, to his will. It means you need to choose today whom you're going to serve. For many, it'll be hard to be a people of love because you first need to be a people of prayer. Supplicating to the Lord on another's behalf on our knees, growing in maturity ourselves so we can lead like Moses, Joshua, and the judges of old. Prepare the way like John the Baptist. Pioneer the growth of God's family through the work of the Holy Spirit like the disciples. Run the race with endurance like Paul, and anticipate the soon coming return of Jesus like John, which is our blessed hope. This is why we toil for one another. Jesus laid down his life so that we might live. We see it in Isaiah 53 5. But he was pierced through for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourging, by his stripes, we are healed. Jesus commanded that we are, as believers, are to love God and to love people. We are to live out what we say we believe. And if he truly is the air we breathe, the fountain we drink from, the bread of life, the Prince of Peace, then there is no life outside of a true relationship with Him. Not so fast, you're not getting out early, right this second. But if you're here today, I want you to take time and be really serious with yourself. Do I love the way I'm supposed to love? Do I surrender my life so that others will come to know who Christ is? And that you'll see them into maturity. Do you love yourself enough to see yourself into maturity? Or are you happy? Are you happy waking up every day complaining and thinking this is it? This is what I'm living for? So I come to church every once in a while. Yay! You come to church to grow, to help you mature, to be commissioned and empowered to go. If you're here and you want to get your life back on track as a surrender to God, then we want to pray for you. And if you're here and the Holy Spirit has been trying to get your attention for you to hand things over because you're stunting your own spiritual growth, then we want to pray for you. And if you're tired from toiling for others because you've been doing it in your own strength with the wrong kind of love, then we want to pray for you. And if you're here and you don't know the very God that I'm speaking of, the one that is love, then we want to pray for you. And if you just need a move of God in your life, we want to pray for you. Ah, maybe you're hungry. Maybe you're not ready for the Lord to change your DNA. Maybe you think you've arrived already. Maybe you think it's not for me. Whether you believe it or not, God is still God. God is still love. God is still good. He doesn't change. He is. And so if you don't surrender today, you will at some point. I'll tell you that right now. You don't believe me? Read the Bible. Lord, we pray, God, that you would just move in us, Lord. A real moving God, that we desire transformation in our life, Lord. That we finally realize that we are not our own. We are brought with a price. We were created by you and for you. Yes, we have a free will. But when we surrender our free will to you, that's when we live. That's when we have the oxygen and the water and the food and the shelter that we need. It's living and moving and having our being in you. Lord, I pray that if there are people here, individuals, Lord, that secretly are seeking more, but they don't know how to ask for it. I pray that you would motivate them to find someone to pray. For them to say, if you're really real, God, show me. Because I know you will. I pray that you'd be blessed by the word today that came from the Word of God. I pray, God, that we would be motivated to love and know that it has a cost and it's painful. But people are worth it. They're worth dying for, for the next generation, the next generation, and the next generation, until a thousand generations, as the Bible says. We thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.