Crazy Love Blog Series- Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Profile of the Luke Warm

Here are the notes for Chapter 4 of Crazy Love: 

So there’s an incalculable, faultless, eternal God who loves the frail beings He made with a crazy kind of love. Even though we could die at any moment, and genuinely think our puny lives are pretty sweet compared to loving Him, He persists in loving us with unending, outrageous love. The only way I know how to respond is like the man in one of Christ’s parables.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, when a man found it he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  -  Matthew 13:44

In this account the man joyfully sold all that he had so that he could obtain the one thing that mattered. He knew that what he had stumbled upon, the kingdom of heaven, was more valuable than anything he had, so he went for it with everything in him. This kind of enthusiastic response to God’s love is entirely appropriate. Yet what a contrast to our typical response at discovering the same treasure.

Most of us have too much in our lives.

“Too much of the good life ends up being toxic, deforming us spiritually.” – David Goetz

A lot of good things are good by themselves, but all of it together keeps us from living healthy fruitful lives for God.

Taking the words of Christ literally and seriously is rarely considered. That’s for the “radicals” who are “unbalanced” and who go “overboard.” Most of us want a balanced life that we can control, that is safe, and that does not involve suffering.

Would you describe yourself as totally in love with Jesus Christ? Or do the words halfhearted, lukewarm and partially committed fit better?

As you read these examples, I encourage you to take a searching, honest look at your life. Not who you want to be one of these days, but who you are now and how you are living today.

Lukewarm people:

•           Attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe “good Christians” do, so they go.

Isaiah 29:13

•          Give money to charity and to the church…as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.

1 Chronicles 21:24

Luke 21: 1-4

•           Tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict.

Luke 6:26

Revelations 3:1

Matthew 22: 5-7

•          Don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin.

John 10:10

Romans 6:1-2

•          Are moved by stories of people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. They assume such action is for “extreme” Christians, not average ones. They call “radical” what Jesus expected of all His followers.

James 1: 22

James 4: 17

Matthew 21: 28-31

•          Rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion.

Matthew 10: 32-33

•          Gauge their morality or “goodness” by comparing themselves to the secular world.

Luke 18: 11-12

•          Say they love Jesus, as He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but He isn’t allowed to control their lives.

Luke 9: 57-62

•          Love God, but they do not love Him with their heart, soul, and strength.

Matthew 22: 37-38

•          Love others but do not seek to love the others as much as they love themselves…. There is little love left over for those who cannot love them back…

Matthew 5: 43-47

Luke 14: 12-14

•          Will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give.

Luke 18: 21-25

•          Think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven.

Philippians 3: 18-20

Colossians 3:2

•          Are thankful for their luxury and comforts, and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor.

Matthew 25: 34,40

Isaiah 58: 6-7

•          Do whatever is necessary to keep themselves from feeling too guilty. They want to do the bare minimum, to be “good enough” without it requiring too much of them.

1 Chronicles 29: 14

Matthew 13: 44-46

•          Are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.

1 Timothy 6: 17-18

Matthew 10:28

•          Do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to… 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…The truth is their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.

Luke 12: 16-21

Hebrews 11

Matthew 23: 25-28

This profile of the lukewarm is not an all-inclusive definition of what it means to be a Christian, nor is it intended to be used as ammunition to judge your fellow believers’ salvation. Instead, as 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, it is a call to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.”

Jesus didn’t say that if you wanted to follow Him you could do it in a lukewarm manner. He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”

Jesus asks for everything, but we try to give him less.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, it is thrown out.” - Luke 14: 34-35

When salt is salty, it helps manure become good fertilizer…but luke-warm and uncommitted faith is completely useless. It can’t even benefit manure. 

For more on the book visit: www.crazylovebook.com

*Quotes from Crazy Love by Francis Chan

*Photos by me