What does it really cost to love the way Jesus loved? That question has stayed with me for a long time — and it is the question at the heart of this sermon. The cost of the call is not fame, comfort, or recognition. The cost of the call is love. And love, as Scripture makes clear, costs everything.
I preached this message at Memorial Baptist Church in Parkston, South Dakota. I want to share the key truths here for anyone who could not join us — and for those who want to go deeper into the Word on what it means to live out the love of Christ.
1. Love Is What We Learned from Jesus
The foundation of everything is 1 John 4:9-21. God demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son. That is not an abstract theological statement — it is the most concrete act in human history. Love, according to John, is not primarily a feeling. It is an action. It is a demonstration.
Paul fills out that picture in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. Read that list slowly. Every item on it requires dying to self. That is the cost beginning to come into view.
James 2:1-9 adds a dimension we often overlook: love does not show favoritism. The person sitting in the back pew in worn-out clothes deserves the same love, the same attention, the same dignity as anyone else. Partiality is the opposite of love. When we treat people differently based on what they can offer us, we have already abandoned the love Christ demonstrated.
2. Humility Is the Cost of Love
This is where it gets costly. Love is not just a warm feeling toward people who are easy to like. Scripture calls us to something far harder.
Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us to put away bitterness, wrath, anger, and malice — and to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave us. Notice what forgiveness requires: releasing the debt someone owes you. That is a cost. It means you absorb the loss rather than demanding payment. This is not weakness. It is one of the most demanding things a human being can do.
Luke 6:27-28 pushes even further: love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. I will be honest — this passage does not get easier with time. It does not become comfortable. But Jesus did not say it would be comfortable. He said it would make us sons of the Most High. The cost is real. So is the reward.
Philippians 2:3-8 gives us the ultimate model. Do nothing from selfish ambition. In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. And then Paul points us to Jesus — who, though He was God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. If the Son of God modeled this kind of humility, we have no grounds to exempt ourselves from it.
3. Love Is Giving Yourself
The final movement of this sermon is the most searching. Love is not just an attitude. It is not just a posture. It is a total gift of self.
John 15:13 says it plainly: greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 1 John 3:16 echoes it: by this we know love — that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. The standard is the cross. That is the measuring rod for Christian love.
Romans 5:6-8 reminds us of the timing. While we were still weak — while we were still sinners — Christ died for us. He did not wait for us to clean ourselves up. He did not love us because we were lovable. He loved us while we were His enemies. That is the love we are called to imitate. Not a love that responds to deserving people. A love that initiates — that goes first — that gives without guarantee of return.
The Call Is Worth the Cost
I want to be clear about something. I am not preaching a works-based Christianity. We do not love in order to earn anything. We love because we have been loved first (1 John 4:19). The gospel frees us to love without fear, without keeping score, without needing the love to be returned.
But the call is real. Following Jesus means following Him into sacrificial love — toward family, toward neighbors, toward the difficult person in your life, toward the stranger. It means putting your own comfort, your own preferences, your own agenda second. It costs something. It should cost something. That is what it means to take up your cross and follow Him.
If you want to go deeper into what it means to live out your faith in community and in the broader world, I invite you to learn more on my Teachings page or reach out directly. I would love to hear from you.