Crazy Love Chapter/Week 5 - Serving Leftovers to a Holy God

This might have been a difficult chapter to read after our chapter last week reviewing the profile of a lukewarm person. Frances Chan says that Chapter 5 was the most difficult for him to write.

Chan believes that too often there are patterns in church and in our lives that we follow simply because it has always been done that way. On the study resource video, he gave the example of building their church sanctuary. Once they outgrew their previous sanctuary, they simply built a larger one. Chan said that only afterward did he realize that he never asked God if that was the biblical thing to do—the thing God desired for them to do. He gives us much to think about when he said in the video that we are fed so much in the church that may not be biblical, but we accept it as if it were. We accept it simply because it has always been done that way.

In Chapter 5, Chan quotes Tim Kizziar who said, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” After reading chapter 5, share honestly your answers to the following questions:

Question 1: On pages 83 and 84, Chan says the following: “As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm’ are not Christians.”
Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

Question 2: We need to be totally honest with ourselves, yet not feel any shame over the answer to this next question. If you sensed a lukewarmness in your life, trying harder is NOT the answer but rather pressing deeper into the Lord Jesus Christ and allowing Him to assure you of your salvation or come into your heart for the first time. After reading chapters 4 and 5, do you have any doubts about your salvation? Where did Chapter 5 leave you?

Challenge: Make a commitment to NOT be the type of Christian who ‘gets to go to heaven without having to commit to anything’.

Week 3 Crazy Love

Is everyone hanging in there? The discussion has been great and I can tell that we are all growing in our love for the Lord through this study. Those of you who have not left your comment/answers to the questions, please come join us even if you are not reading "Crazy Love". Feel free to go back and comment on previous week's questions, as well. All of these questions should provoke some serious contemplation from most any heart. Ok, now on to Week 3/Chapter 3.


At the beginning of Chapter 3, Francis Chan says, "For years I 'got' God's love in my head, checked the right answer on the 'what God is like' test, but didn't fully understand it with my heart." Does that resonate with anyone? I know it did for me. In chapter 3, Chan compares God's love for you and me with a parent's love for their child. Just like with a parent and child, God doesn't need us for anything. He just flat out loves us and wants a relationship with us. Examining how we should respond to that was a big part of this week's chapter.


I encourage you to go here to the Crazy Love website and view the video for Chapter 3. Now for our questions for this week:

Question 1: Choose and share one word or phrase to describe your feelings about God in the early years of your Christianity. Then choose and share one word or phrase to describe your feelings about God in your current walk with Him. Finally, if you can, please explain why you chose those words or phrases.

Question 2: Jeremiah 1: 4 The LORD gave me a message. He said, 5 "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."

God knew you and me before He made each of us. As you meditate on this concept, what feelings, thoughts or emotions come forth?

Question 3: Share the moment in your life when you first realized that you loved God with your heart, mind and soul.

Thank you to each of you who are willing to share your thoughts as we move toward a deeper walk with Christ. He is so worthy of our love and devotion.