Sermon Tone Analysis

The Cost of Love

Introduction

I wanted to bring some of the Boogie Down Bronx here to South Florida – I know Pastor D is a Brooklyn guy, but ya’ll will just have to rock with me for a little bit.

I’m sure you’re familiar with block theologian Jennifer Lopez, right?

Anyone remember when JLo once sang about the cost of love?

What did she sing?

You think you gotta keep me iced (You don’t)

You think I’m gonna spend your cash (I won’t)

Even if you were broke

My love don’t cost a thing.

“my love don’t cost a thing.”

Love don’t cost a thing.

Truthfully, we resonate with that, don’t we?

That love cannot be bought with dollar bills and Benz-es (Though to be fair, she was also the one who said if I wanna floss I got my own…she just had it like that).

Sidenote – JLo says that love don’t cost a thing, but for some reason, I always double my spending when I’m in a relationship – can I get a witness?

But either way, we all realize and resonate with the fact that love is not something that money can buy.

But we must not get it twisted family – though it might not cost money, we all know that love does cost.

Even in human terms, right?

I’m not even talking about the love of God.

But as humans, we experience that love requires sacrifice, it requires a laying down of preferences, it requires a concern for the person you love.

Thus, to say love don’t cost at

There’s a deeper quality to it.

JLo goes on to say

All that matters is

JLo goes on to sing that

That you treat me right

Give me all the things I need

That money can’t buy

You see, for JLo, though love doesn’t cost a thing, she knew there was a cost.

And we know this too.

Therefore it’s not necessarily true to say that love don’t cost a thing – I guess it’s a matter of the ‘currency,’ if you will.

So here is my main point from today’s text:

They say that love don’t cost a thing,

but God’s love is costly.

The question is – Who did it cost?

Who paid for it?

Your answer to that question will tell you whether or not you truly know and are walking with Jesus.

Your answer to ‘who paid for it’ determines your eternity–whether you will spend eternity with God and His people, or eternally separated from God under His punishment.

But not only that, your answer to this question will change everything about how you live life on this earth – it will impact how you treat people you love, how you treat people you hate, how you care (or don’t care) for those who are in difficult situations.

And, your answer to this question will determine whether you live a life of freedom in the grace of God or a life of shackles – guilt, shame, and attempted performance in a failing attempt to earn love.

Our text for today is .

Would you open up there with me right now.

Sometimes, it’s good to work through a passage and get the whole idea of the chunk, but other times, we need to zero in on a specific verse – especially one like this, which gives us a comprehensive understanding of God’s love.

They Say that love don’t cost a thing,

but God’s love is costly.

The question is – Who did it cost?

So, the apostle John is writing this letter to these churches spread out across Asia Minor (which is modern day Turkey – a little North and West of Israel).

It seems like they needed some encouragement in the area of love.

Especially in the area of loving one another.

How many of us, from time to time, struggle with loving one another?

This letter might have some encouragement for us.

In fact, surrounding this verse, the apostle John goes so far to say that our love for one another shows that we ‘know’ God – because God doesn’t simply have a characteristic of love – God Himself is love.

That if we don’t love one another, we show that we don’t really know God.

Because how can you know the love of God, and not live a life that displays the love of God flowing out of you?

So God Himself is love–therefore if we really wanna understand love–we must look to the God.

Far too often, we as people look to our experiences and our surrounding culture to tell us what love is.

We’d be silly to not acknowledge that our understanding of love is shaped by those things.

Perhaps a relationship has taught us that we have to earn our boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse’s love.

Perhaps music has taught us about love being something isn’t really worth much.

It is fair to say that we as a society are indeed love-sick.

We are sick, church, not because we have not been told what true love is, but because we are listening to the wrong voices.

Far too often we have allowed our understanding of love (and our understanding of God’s love) to be defined by culture and experience, instead of allowing God Himself to define love on His own terms.

Isn’t that foolish?

If God is Himself love, then why allow foolish human substitute teachers to define love for us?

They are not love, so what right do they have to set the terms of love.

Today we’re going to seek to let God speak straight from His Word.

And tell us what love is.

What His costly love is.

The story of the world is a story of the God of the universe deciding to create His people for a relationship of love with Him.

That is what we were created for – a relationship of love with the God of the universe.

I thought it might be helpful for us to understand what “love” means when God is talking about His love.

Because we can all agree, right, that not all love is created equal.

The word ‘love’ can mean a million different things.

When I say, “I love pernil,” do I mean it in the same way when I say “I love you” to my mom?

Do I love “pernil” the same way that I would use the word to say I’m ‘in love’?

Right.

Sometimes love can mean “I really like this thing” sometimes love can mean “I’m care deeply for you” sometimes love can seem to be an emotion (I.e.

“I’m in love”).

So what is love?

We’re going to let God define it.

Because He is love.

There is this beautiful word for love in the Old Testament that gives us insight into what God’s love truly is.

It’s this word hesed.

It’s seen all over the Old Testament, and is often translated “steadfast love” or “lovingkindness” or “loyal love”.

It’s the kind of love that is a reliable commitment to the good of another.

It’s a covenant love.

Covenant love is the kind of commitment that has signed on the dotted lines that you will be to somewhat what you’ve said you will be.

It’s the kind of love we see in marriage – “in sickness or in health,” “for better or for worse” – it’s not a circumstantial love – it’s a love that says, “I’m going to keep my end of the bargain.”

It’s a faithful love.

This is who God describes Himself to be all over the Old Testament, and it’s who He proves Himself to be in Jesus Christ.

God is faithful in His commitment to His people.

He is merciful, gracious, and slow to anger.

So He is forgiving towards those who seek His forgiveness.

This love is the core content of who are God is – A committed God.

One commentator, in reflecting on this verse, said it like this:

However fickle and unreliable humans may be in their relationship to God, he is nothing of the sort but can be counted on in every situation and at all times to be completely faithful to his promises for his people

I just wanted to make this clear, that we’re not talking about love like a ‘feeling’ that comes or goes, or even a ‘caring’ for someone that shifts dependent on our deservedness of that care.

We’re talking about a commitment from God for the good of His people.

Point-blank.

Then, we get to the love in our text.