The Cost of Love

Genesis 12.1-9               Psalm 33.1-12             Romans 4.13-end               Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26

The Cost of Love

I think if I were to ask you to define how we relate to God by using only one word, most of you would say “love”…and you would be perfectly correct. We are commanded in both Testaments to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength and, of course, to love our neighbours as ourselves. 

But, if I were to ask you to tell me what it means to love God by using only one word, what would you say? What does love for God look like? How is it demonstrated? 

Three times in John 14 Jesus says that if we love Him, we will obey Him…If you love me, you will obey what I command…Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me…If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. And then finally he says that his love for the Father could be observed in that he always did exactly what the Father had commanded him. In other words, Jesus obeyed the Father because he loved him.

The stories of Abraham, Matthew the tax collector, the woman with the flow of blood, and Jairus, the synagogue ruler, are often used to commend faith and trust in God, as Paul does in our Epistle lesson for today regarding Abraham. But faith is not a nebulous entity. Faith is made manifest through obedience. As James reminds us: Abraham’s “faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” (James 2:22)

Abraham’s faith in God is shown time and again through his obedience to what God commanded him to do. In our Old Testament lesson, he was told to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household to go to an as yet undetermined land. Just as an aside, it is interesting to note in Genesis 11:31 we are told that “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.” Clearly the whole family was meant to go to Canaan, but while the text does not say this explicitly, I believe it is possible that Terah compromised for some or other reason and stayed in Haran instead. So, Abraham then continued with the journey Terah did not complete. 

Nevertheless, the point is that Abraham’s faith in God was demonstrated by his act of obedience. Louise and I know first-hand what it takes to immigrate…as do many of you…we’ve done that more than once. It isn’t easy, is it? There is a price to be paid…a leaving behind of what is known for what is unknown. 

But in Abraham’s case, he immigrated because God had told him to do so. Thus he demonstrated his faith in God and his love for God through his obedience to God. 

Matthew’s faith in Jesus was demonstrated by his leaving behind his tax booth. This was a very lucrative business at that time. Jesus’ call for Matthew to follow him could be compared to asking a CEO of some multinational multimillion euro company to leave that all behind to become a missionary. But Matthew did leave, didn’t he? And he never went back. The same can be said of Zacchaeus…his irreversible actions of giving away his ill-gotten gain proved his faith in and love for Jesus. 

I think this is also true of the woman with the flow of blood as well as Jairus. In both cases, their actions could have led to rejection from their fellow Jews…the woman because, according to the Law, her presence would have rendered unclean everyone who touched her …and Jairus because he was a ruler of a synagogue thus possibly exposing himself to the sneers of his peers. 

And we could say the same of everyone who followed Jesus…they all relinquished something…dropped their nets…walked away from their businesses…gave up climbing the proverbial corporate ladder…and all of them did these things because they loved Jesus more… only one renounced Jesus and subsequently lost everything, including his life.

While James tells us that an undefined faith is not faith at all, the same can be said about love. An undefined love is not love. 

So, how do we know what love is, you may ask. John answers that question in his first Epistle: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16). You see, love must be defined by the one who is love (1 John 4:16). For Jesus it meant saying “not my will, but your will be done.” It meant being obedient even unto death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). Biblical love is costly…it is freely offered…and it is freely given…but it comes at a priceless price. 

Loving God means something…it is not a vague emotion…it is a well-informed irreversible decision to obey without compromise, even if that means relinquishing everything you once held dear…even if that means leaving behind that which you once cherished…even if that means giving up life itself. 

The only way we can walk as Jesus walked and love as Jesus loved, is if we obey him in everything. Those who obey his commands live in him and he in them. We simply cannot call him Lord and not do what he tells us to do. To love him is to obey him. 

Abraham and Matthew left all. The woman with the flow of blood and Jairus the synagogue ruler risked all. Paul considered all things loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8). 

So, as you come to partake of that which illustrates most clearly the full and true meaning of love, know that to participate in his life you must participate in his death…death to self and death to the world…there must be a putting off if there is to be a putting on…because love for self and love for the world are in opposition to the love of God (1 John 2:15-17). Love is made manifest through obedience. If you love me, Jesus said, obey my Word.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023