Crazy Love :: By Francis Chan

My wife calls me a dork all the time because I fill up my iPod with podcast from a few of my favorite Bible teachers. Obviously, Matt Chandler and the Village podcast is one of my favorites, I also pick up the Desiring God podcast each week so I can get my Piper on (as Lonnie would say) and the last few months I've been really challenged by Francis Chan, the Lead Pastor/Founder of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, CA as well as a featured speaker at the Passion Conferences the past couple of years. Pastor Chan and his church have become known for their great love for "the least of these" and the fact that last year, half of everything their church brought in they gave away to missions, church plants and to help feed children all over the world (they gave $1 million dollors to Children's Hunger Fund last year...$1 million).

A few weeks ago I picked up Pastor Chan's first book, Crazy Love. He writes very much the way he speaks...a way that is easy to grasp and no doubt very compelling. I've really had a hard time the last 2 days getting through chapter 4 titled, Profile of the Lukewarm...I'm going to be honest, it's been tough. He walks through some characteristics of what he's seen in "American Christianity" and then supplies Scripture that speaks to each. I just want to share one of these...here ya go:

"Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens - they have their savings account. They don't need God to help them - they have their retirement plan in place. They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live - they have life figured and mapped out. They don't depend on God on a daily basis - their refridgerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God."

Now, check this out from God's Word in Luke 12:16-21

16. And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18. "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20. "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21. "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Tough stuff, no doubt...I also like the King James translation of verse 20 where it says, "...thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee..."

Just a little something to chew on...

ZS

The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Okay, I'm about 5 chapters into this book and I've decided to put it down for a couple of days because I was starting to make plans like...let my wife (Susan, duh) that we're selling everything we own and we're moving our family under an over pass so we can start loving "the least of these". I'm not sure I've read anything that has made me socially aware of those who are without. I'm not sure I've ever read anything that has made me so personally aware of my excess. I'm not sure I've read anything that has made me more inwardly aware of my need for the Truth "...they Word, oh Lord, is truth..." Shane's journey that took him from being a catalyst for change in Philly in resurrecting a church and find homes for the homeless, to Calcutta where he hung out with the sick and afflicted, lepers, oh yea, and Mother Teresa, to Willow Creek and back to Philly (that's as far as I've gotten so far, those of you who know me know how slow I read). So, I'm taking all this in and as I mentioned, I'm extremely shaken by the things that I've read so far...then today it occurred to me...Why is it that I've never been this messed up by reading about Jesus doing these things? I think this is what we do in our Western way of Christianity, we turn people who are simply trying to follow Jesus into rock stars.

Jesus was the one that feed the 5000, He was the one that made the blind to see, He was the one that healed a woman who simply touched the hem of His robe, He was the one that told the rich young ruler to sell all he owed and give it to the poor then follow, He was the one that turned over the money changers in the Temple, He was the one raised dead people back to life (I mean literally not only spiritually), He was the one that turned water into wine, He was the one that said, loving your neighbor is not enough...love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, He was the one that said to take the plank out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck from mine, He was the one who casted out demons (get in the pigs, I love that story), He was the one who blasted religious leaders but ate with prostitutes, He was the one who walked on water, He was the one that said a good shepherd will leave the 99 to go find the 1, He was the one who came into town as a king only to be murdered by the same people a few days later, He was the one that said, "if they stop praising me...the rocks will cry out...", He was the one that said, "whatever you've done to the least of these, you've done it to me also"...He was the one...not Shane Claiborne, not Billy Graham, not Oprah, not President Bush, not Bono, not Mother Teresa, not Zach Snow...He was the one.

The book has been a great reminder of the perfect model Jesus gave us for living life, but His model for living life well and being good is not what brings about righteousness is us. I've said it probably a thousand times in the past couple of years and I hope I have the opportunity to say it a thousand more...it has nothing to do with religion, it has everything to do with relationship...everything! There is freedom that comes in knowing this Christ personally and intimately. When you have that, maybe then you figure out the importance in living a life that models that of Jesus'...otherwise, you're just another person trying to make the good out weigh the bad...and to that I say...good luck...

"...the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love" ~The Apostle Paul

Maybe the next entry will have a little more to do with the book...maybe...

ZS