Radical Christianity Is Normal — Francis Chan

The Reward of Persecution and the Great Love of God

Blessed are you when men persecute you and revile you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice in that day, which is, of course, a crazy thing to do when you're being reviled.

Rejoice in that day for great is your reward in heaven. That's what that song said. We will rise, and it's the greatness of the reward, it's your best life later that makes all the difference in the world too.

That's a chapter in the book. One of the favorite phrases that the Apostle Paul uses is, being rich in mercy, but God being rich in mercy out of the great love with which he loved us made us alive together with Christ.

If you're alive tonight in Christ, you are loved with a great love. He only uses that phrase one time in all of his letters. A great love made you alive. You have to have a right theology to believe that.

You didn't make yourself alive. God made you alive, and when he made you alive, it was an expression of great love, or you could say crazy, crazy love. While I was singing here beside Francis, one memory came to my mind just to illustrate this phrase here.

Abraham's Faith and Radical Obedience

About eight years ago maybe, no, it was way longer than that. I was preaching through Hebrews, whenever that was. So Hebrews, that was before Romans. So Hebrews, and it was chapter 11, and it was on Abraham went out not knowing where he was going.

There was a young man named Tom. I won't give his last name just because of the missionary situation, it might be sensitive. He's sitting right over there where that guy in the white shirt is. That's where they always sat.

He was in seminary wondering what to do with his life, had given thought seriously to go in with Wycliffe Bible translators to a remote region with his wife and two kids, and his parents the night before, Saturday night, had said to him, you're crazy.

You're crazy if you do that. And I stood right here. I call these prophetic moments in preaching. I stood right here, and I'm preaching away, and he told me this later. I didn't know this. I didn't know this until years later, several years.

I'm saying to Abraham, he went out not knowing where he was going. I looked around and said, that's crazy. He used those very words. He said, that ended it. That just settled the deal. I mean, it was done.

He's in Thailand today with his wife and kids. So these moments that are crazy moments of prophetic love from God. I felt spoken to and loved by God and loved by this church. That's it. That's the answer I had to have this morning, and he's never turned back ever since then.

So here, we're going to be studying this for the next 12 weeks or so. This is Francis's book, as you all know. That's why you're here, I suppose. And I am thankful you're here. He was the pastor, founded a church, founded a college, served the church faithfully, left it in good hands, is doing a new work in San Francisco, and is a sweet and beautiful and crazy embodiment of what he's written here.

So Francis, come and tell us what God has told you to tell us.

Thank you. Well, I have so many thoughts running through my mind right now. First, I want to say hi to the people in the north, whatever that means. You got a campus in the north. I just had to say hi to you.

So hello to the people in the north there in Duluth. I have so many thoughts going through my mind right now because we just finished up the pastor's conference, and I came there thinking one thing and things that I was going to share and focused on my message.

And then you hear these messages, and things started to just gnaw at me, different things where the Lord just began to convict my heart. And just praying, even praying for an opportunity, saying, God, this last night, saying, God, give me a chance to even put my weaknesses on display for the people to see.

And he gave me an opportunity for that today. So many thoughts running through my mind right now, things that I need to deal with and do something with. I remember when I entered into seminary, one of the things our president warned us, he says, be careful.

He goes, be so careful. You're going to study this book, but be careful. Make sure when you hear something, when you read something, you better do it. When you're convicted about something, you better do something about it.

He goes, because if you don't, the next time it'll be easier to study the Word of God, be convicted, and do nothing about it. Then pretty soon, it becomes a habit to hear the Word of God, study the Word of God, be convicted by something, and do nothing about it.

He says, very, very dangerous, dangerous habit to get into. And so I try to apply that. In seminary, you can't because you're studying so much, you can't apply it all. But for the most part, that's been a rule I try to keep in my life because I don't want to deceive myself.

And so right now, there are so many thoughts going on in my mind where I go, I've got to do something. I mean, today was one of those humbling moments when we had a little discussion there with the different speakers, and they asked about our prayer lives at home with our wives, about, you know, tell me about your daily devotion with your wife, and your prayer time with your wife.

And, you know, first, oh, it's great. It's wonderful. Oh, it's glorious. How about you, Frances? And Lisa and I don't pray together that often, and that was a little humiliating to admit that. We have a great, great relationship.

She'll share with me the things that she's praying about and how God's working on her heart. I'll share with her the things that he's convicting me of and what I'm learning in the Word, but the time together, and just to have to say that and go, gosh, I was so convicted last night as I was listening about the importance of prayer in the home, and even times I knew that it's Satan that keeps us from praying with one another, and yet there's this awkward thing I've got going.

I can pray with just about anyone except my wife, whom I love the most, and it's just a weird thing. It's an issue. It's whatever it is, and so convicted, and thinking about that, thinking about that.

And then, yeah, so this afternoon, I called her, and I said, you know, honey, this whole thing has been about prayer, and I'm just convicted. We need to pray together more. She said, oh, that's great.

That's great. And she was heading off to...she goes, you know, I'm about to leave, and she's going out with one of my daughters. We just moved to a new area, and her daughter's new friend, you know, and her mom, the four of them were going to go out, and Lisa was going to try to minister to that family.

I said, you know, can we just pray over the phone right now? And she goes, what? Let's just pray, like, right now over the phone. That's the most awkward, like, you know, pray that this...I don't know.

It's just like this. It's an awkward...I can pray with anyone, you know, but I know it's Satan that's keeping us apart. And it was fine afterwards. I was like, oh, okay. I did it. I did it, you know. And I know that sounds so weird to you because you think, wow, but you're able to do this and this.

That seems like it requires so much faith, but we all have our struggles in these different areas, and it's an interesting thing. But I bring that to your attention because there's just so many things on my heart, so many things I learned the last few days, and I just really want to do something with them and not deceive myself.

I want to say that it's an absolute... It really is. I don't just throw that out. It's an honor for me to be teaching from this podium, this stage. In my opinion, from this pulpit, come some of the best preaching on earth right now.

And this, yeah, it's an exciting thing. You can clap for it. It's changed my life. It is. It's cause for celebration, but it is also cause for introspection. I want you to think about something. And I'm not saying this is what's going on here or whatever, so just remove this from the situation.

The Danger of Hearing Good Teaching Without Obedience

I just want to ask a question. What would be worse if there was a church with terrible teaching and therefore there was very little Christian action, or if there was a church with wonderful biblical teaching and yet there was little Christian action?

Think about that one. If someone asks you that question, you know, check it off, you know, A or B, which is worse? I'm not saying I'm sure, but my guess is the latter. My guess is that, based upon what Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 21, Woe to you, Chorazin!

Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You'll be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.

And there's something about when we are exposed to whom much has been given, that there's a requirement. And that's, you know, when I look at my life, I go, well, I have heard a lot of good teaching, and praise God for that.

And then it's a cause for celebration, but it's also a cause to go, okay, I've been given a lot, I've been taught a lot, and how does that play out in my life? And there's a sense, a little bit of an intimidation coming to a place like this, and a temptation to assume certain things about you because of this place.

And yet, as I shared yesterday, I don't assume a whole lot anymore. Once you've been a pastor over three or four years, you learn not to assume certain things about certain people. And you realize, okay, outwardly, you guys all appear to be some great Christians.

Outwardly, you showed up on a Wednesday night, you came early, had a little fellowship meal together, you parked, and you made it here, and you could have died out there. It's unreal. Unreal. But you did that, and you braved the weather.

So there's these different things. And so you have this, it's easy to have an assumption, but I've been lied to so much. And when you get into people's lives, as the elders have gotten into the lives of some of the people in the church, and they bring back stories.

We as elders at one point just said, you know what, we gotta get into their lives more, we gotta break it down and find out what's going on in people's lives. And it was shocking. It was so shocking. No, no, no, not him.

Not her. Are you kidding me? I see her face every Sunday, she's just like, no. And you just find out, wow, amazing, amazing, amazing. But I mean, I praise God, I don't want to be like this downer right off the start, but I just, I want to be careful.

Because what a great reputation your church has. And your pastor. I respect you more every time I hang out with you, every time I hear him. He's the one that caused me to really, really understand Christian hedonism.

I didn't even have a clue about that, but just understand how much joy and life can be found in the scriptures. He renewed my desire for scholarship, and to study more deeply, and to read more books, and get more educated, even at this phase in my life, because it can lead to a greater passion and joy.

And I hadn't seen that before. I really hadn't. So I praise God for that. What a wonderful, wonderful reputation this church has, to hear that you guys were in India and everything else. But it makes me, again, my mind goes to Revelation, to just wondering some things.

Sardis: Reputation Versus Spiritual Reality

Because in Revelation 3, there's the church in Sardis. And this is one that I have to deal with, and I think you need to deal with it also. These letters, the letter of what he said to the church in Sardis, to the angel of the church in Sardis, right?

The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Because you've got this reputation. You have a reputation.

I have a reputation. I have a reputation. And based upon my reputation, I don't think many of the men in that room today would have guessed that my wife and I don't pray together a whole lot. We have reputations.

You assume certain things about me. Some of you are here because of my reputation. It's a scary thing, because I could be anything behind your back. See, you don't follow me around. You don't know what's going on.

Maybe I'm in San Francisco, you know? What do you know? But I can ride this reputation, and you can ride a reputation. You go to Bethlehem Baptist, I'm going to assume certain things about you. And so here, here's Jesus speaking.

He goes, I know. I know your works. I know the truth about you. You have a reputation. But Jesus himself says, but you're dead. I know the truth about you. Man, I've lied. I've lived that. I confessed at the urban pastor's gathering today.

I go, gosh, there was a time in my life. Man, early on, there was just a deception. During that whole time when I was studying the scriptures, and yet I wasn't living it out. And yet I had a reputation.

I had people fooled. A reputation of being alive. But ultimately, Jesus says, you are dead. He says, wake up. Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

Remember then what you've received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you will not wake up, I'll come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Yet you see, you have still a few names in Sardis.

People who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

I'll confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Wouldn't that be awesome? To hear Jesus confess your name before the Father and the angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Examining the Testimony Others Would Give About Us

Reputation. If I were to, because I don't know many of you at all, but let's say I just started interviewing you. Maybe I'd interview the people closest to you. Your friends who are here with you today, and I asked them, tell me about David.

If there's a David out there, tell me about David, or whatever your name is. I asked your wife, David. I asked your kids. I asked your friends. I asked people who worked about you. Tell me about his relationship with God.

Tell me what he's like. Tell me about, who is this guy? Think about that. If I interviewed the people close to you, what would they say? If I interviewed people in this church about you, what would they tell me?

Can you think about that? Some of the people in this church might say some very nice things about you, right? People in your Sunday school, people that have been on missions trips with you, people that were at the dinner table with you.

Think about what they would tell me about you. What would they say? What's your reputation? And maybe Pastor John knows you, and I would ask Pastor John, tell me about this guy. What do you know about him?

Tell me about this woman. What do you know about her? Think about the report I would get by interviewing those people. Okay, you got it in your mind? We have an idea of what they would say. Okay, now what if, what if God would allow me right now to just leave this earth and come before his throne, and I could actually interview him and ask him about you?

Father, tell me, tell me about, tell me about David. Well, what are your thoughts about him, his actions, his life, his love for you? And I just kind of took down a report. What would the two reports look like?

Would this one report, would what your friends and your family and the people around say about you be much higher than what God would say? And if so, could it be that you've been more consumed about your reputation than you are about your character and who you really are before God?

And you may purposefully, we can do this, right? Make ourselves sound better than we are to certain people and create a reputation for ourselves that may indeed be false when we stand before God. And we know it, and we know it.

What God would say about us in many ways, and sure, sometimes we even deceive ourselves on that, but for the most part, we know, right? And that's what he says to these people, and the verse is very dear to me because I now have a reputation, and I want my life to match up.

I don't want, at the end, God to say, wow, that's good, ooh, Mr. Crazy Love, you know? But for Jesus to confess my name and say, Francis, he loved me, he loved me. Father, angels, here's Francis, he loved me.

He didn't go these other directions. He lived it out. It's not what you would love to hear from the voice of Jesus. That's what we're after, and so if it comes across me just going, wow, this guy doesn't even know me.

He's getting in my face already. It's because I want that for you. What a silliness. There's such a silliness to fake when something so big is on the line, something so grand is on the line. I sometimes just tell people, why would you fake?

Take it to the end. Take it to the very end. You fooled everyone. That's great, and so you die, and you go to hell, and you think, but everyone thinks I'm in heaven. That's your goal? How long is that joy gonna last?

Genuine Conversion and the Warning of Matthew 7

You guys, it's this time to get real. It's just a time for us. We gotta get honest with some of our disbelief, be honest with our fear of surrender, to be honest with some of the concern we have of the incongruency of what we see in New Testament Christianity and what we see in our own lives.

That's what led me to write Crazy Love. That's what led me to enter into ministry. In fact, the passage that led me into ministry was Matthew 7, 21. I know that's been preached here. Pastor John preached it at the Passion Conference, and it hit me again.

Well, there'll be those who, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, and yet some are gonna say, but didn't we do these deeds in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in your name?

Didn't we prophesy in your name? Wait a second, but didn't I have reformed theology? And he says, apart from me, I never knew you. There was not a love, a relationship. I mean, you may have had the reputation of it, and it's a scary, scary passage because I would go, gosh, I'm looking around, and I know my friends at school, the way they act, and then they come to church, and I'm going, oh, and I'm not to judge.

It's more just a fear, like a concern. It's like someone jumping out of the plane, and I'm going, that looks like, that doesn't look like a parachute, it looks like a backpack. I think you're gonna pull that.

It's not a judging. It's just I'm deeply concerned about that Hello Kitty thing on your back. It's not gonna work. That's what this was. It was in the church going, gosh, they're making assumptions. They think that God loves, I'm not seeing the fruit in their lives.

And it was a concern, a deep concern. And as a pastor for the last 16 something years, I, my congregation knows, I care very deeply about that. I wake up at night concerned about that. I've looked people in the eyes, including my own child.

I am so concerned about this, because I don't see the real thing. And I'd hate to not say anything. I'd hate to just celebrate with you and assume certain things, because this is the most important thing to me.

This is what got me into ministry. There were just times when I would read this book, and then I would sit around in a church service, and I would just think, that seems like two different things. What I see today and what I see in here.

And yet I would never say anything, because initially I would just think, well, it seems like I'm the only one that's bothered by it. Everyone else is smiling. Everyone else is happy. And so let me just go on with it, go on with it.

But it would just nag at me until I finally started saying things and speaking up more and more. And then a few years ago, I still remember when I turned 40, I just thought to myself, you know what, just say what you need to say.

You're practically dead. Just say it. I mean, really, how much longer are you gonna live? And so I just go, you know what? Okay, here's what I'm concerned about. Here it is. You guys ever wonder, do you ever read the word of God?

And when you're alone, you just go, gosh, that sure seems different. That sure does not seem like what I've experienced as I never bothered you. And then you think, well, but if I say something, everyone's gonna think I'm crazy or I'm judging or whatever else.

It's just, I can't help it when I'm alone with that book and I read it and just with just God, not just the Holy Spirit and the word of God as I study, I just go, gosh, it seems different. Seems like it's speaking a different language sometimes.

And I just began to share and say what I was thinking and what I'd been studying. And I remember just asking people, I go, have you ever thought that? And everyone just kind of opened their eyes and go, yeah, I've totally thought that.

I can't believe you said that. I thought I was the only one. And when I thought I was writing a book for a few individuals that might have felt that and thought that, the circulation of the book showed me, wow, a lot of people have thought this.

Okay, a lot of people have thought this. A lot of people have wondered about this. There should be a tremendous difference. Like what Pastor John was saying earlier about the person who is alive now, filled with the Spirit, right?

The Evident Difference Between Death and New Life

There's a big difference between my dad and I. Big, big difference. My dad's dead. He's been dead for 30 years. He's in a coffin. He just lays there. Here I am. Big difference. Big difference. Shouldn't there be a big difference between someone who is dead in their trespasses and sins?

And then another, so one person does not have the Holy Spirit of God in them. They're dead in their trespasses and sin. They're enslaved by a different master. And then someone else, the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead is now in this person and not in that person.

This person is dead in their trespasses and sins. And this person is alive. He's been regenerated. He's been transformed. He's got a new heart, everything about it. He's a new creation. The old is gone, new thing.

Shouldn't you see it? And then I would go, gosh, it seems when I see in Scripture, there should be a pretty marked difference between a believer and unbeliever. And I would look around the church again and go, I'm getting really concerned.

Please understand. It's not like I'm judging and go, oh, I'm so much better than you. It was first, let me look at my own life. Am I really that different? And if not, God, what have I not surrendered to you?

What is it? I'm concerned about me first and foremost. I'm gonna be honest. I care about me more than anyone. As much as God has changed me and I'm about His glory and I do love other people when it comes to salvation, I still don't get the Romans 9 thing where Paul talks about how I'd rather be accursed for their sake.

Man, he hasn't brought me to that point yet. You know, I still care very much that I am right with Him. So I do look at that and I get concerned about it. But I go, no, no, no, I know the spirits in my life.

I've seen the fruit. Yeah, there's still sin. There's still issues. But I know what God's done in my life and He has changed me. And I know how He listens to me. And when I pray to Him, it's like, wow, Lord, you love me.

You know, someone during the conference mentioned that Abba, Father, you know, when your spirit cries out, that Galatians 4 just goes, Abba, Father. I don't even know how to explain it. But even right before I spoke the last time, I was in the back.

I just, it's like this childlike, ah, Dad, I just love you. I can't even stand it. I don't know how in the world I'm gonna tell these people how wonderful we have it and how in love with it. I'm crazy about you.

Get them there if they're not there, because this is so good. And my soul just crying out, Abba, Daddy. I don't know how to explain it. I just know that verse is true. And then I've experienced it. How do you explain your spirit crying out, Abba, Father?

It may be totally different for you, but I know what it's talking about. And so there's this peace and it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's issues like I've shared. But man, I know, I know he's the Lord of my life.

I know I have a new master. I know my spirit cries out, Daddy, Abba, Father. And I know that we're in love. It's not about a reputation. But sometimes I'd look around and I'd go, I'm deeply concerned because I love.

This is, it's not a judgment. It's just love. I mean, do you really believe, probably the first verse you learned, that God so loved the world? You love, you believe that? That he gave his only son, his one and only son, his only begotten, that whoever, anyone, whoever, believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life?

Can you believe that? Do you believe that about yourself? Where you go, you know what? I've got eternal life because I know I believe in him. And the Bible says whoever believes in him. I mean, do you believe those words of scripture?

Just John 3, 16, I mean, you're assured of that. Like, yeah, that's the word of God. So I can be assured because whoever believes him, whoever believes in him, anyone, I fit in there. So I got eternal life.

I'm not gonna perish, I don't die. Shoot me, I'll show you. I just, I don't, my body, my physical body, yeah. But I don't really die. There's nothing to fear, it's awesome. It takes away the sting of death because whoever believes has eternal life.

You believe that, right? It's the word of God. That phrase, whoever believes, is also in John 14. Same phrase, looked it up. John 14, 12, truly, truly. So it's definitely true, truly, truly. I say to you, whoever believes in me, there it is again, right?

Whoever believes in me will have eternal life. Whoever believes in me will never perish, but have eternal life. And now he's saying, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.

And greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father. Wow, you believe that one? Really, you believe that about yourself, that you're gonna do the works that Jesus did and even greater ones?

These were some of the things I would wrestle with, with going, okay, it's the same phrase, saying the same thing. Whoever believes in him, yeah. So that means I'm gonna do the same things the Father did.

I'm gonna do the works that God did, the things that Jesus did while he was on the earth. And even greater works than these will he do because I'm going to the Father. See, we'll say we believe John 3, 16.

I believe, therefore, I'm gonna go to heaven. The Bible also says, I believe, therefore, I'm gonna do the things that Jesus did and even greater things than these. So if you believe the prior verse, do you see evidence of the latter verse in your life?

Let's be honest with these things. Let's be honest if there's an incongruency here. And you go, wow, Lord, maybe I've doubted what you could do through me. I've struggled with insecurity because I look at myself rather than looking at the word of God.

Or I look at other people and I compare myself to them rather than to the word of God, rather than looking at how God uniquely made me, rather than believing in the spirit that he placed inside of me.

Laodicea and the Reality of Lukewarm Faith

Revelation 3, again, going back to that, the other letter that led me to ministry, that led me to write the book, was the church in Laodicea. You know, it was nice in Sardis, at least there were a few names, a few people, that he says, okay, look at these guys.

That's a real thing. Come on, come on in. But the church in Laodicea threw me for a loop because it seems like he's speaking to the whole church. He doesn't point out a few individuals there. And I kept thinking, wow, what if I lived there?

Could I have really stuck it out? Could I have really noticed it? Because he says, to the angel of the church in Laodicea, right, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation, I know your works.

Again, you're neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Okay, and this is what bothers me. I looked at this passage.

I spent some time digging in this passage. And the reason why was it seemed like there was a way that believers, people, nominal believers, people in the Phil church buildings would speak about this phrase, the lukewarm.

And it was used very casually. And there was this phrase, the lukewarm Christian. And as I looked at this passage where we get the term lukewarm, I said, I don't see that possibility in this passage. Okay, understand something.

I'm not saying that as believers, we're perfect, we'll never sin again. Okay, and that there aren't times when we will struggle and do this or that. I'm not even judging those things. I'm just struggling with this term that we've coined, oh, I'm a lukewarm Christian.

Based upon this passage where we get the term lukewarm. Because according to this passage, because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. See, when I look at that phrase, I will spit you out of my mouth.

That didn't seem like a good thing. It didn't seem like something he would do to believers, spit them out of his mouth. And people question me on this. How can you say there's no such thing as a lukewarm Christian?

I'm going, how can you say that there is? Aren't you getting the phrase lukewarm from Revelation three? And he says these people who are lukewarm are spit out of his mouth. I don't believe that's a Christian.

But then he goes on to say, for you say I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked. Is that how you describe a Christian? Do you see that in other places in scripture where God describes us who have been redeemed, those of us who have been rescued, those of us who become new creations, are we referred to as those who are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked?

So you would say, oh, that describes a believer. I once was blind, I'm still blind. I sing that all the time. I look at the adjectives. I look at that. And then he goes on in verse 18, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by the fire so that you may be rich and white garments so you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

These are people who couldn't see. These are people who are not clothed in the white garments, not clothed in righteousness. And so I'm looking at this passage. Where in this passage would you go, okay, but I think they're believers.

So they're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked. They're gonna be spit out of the mouth of God, lukewarm, and in verse 19, I love this. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens a door, I'll come into him and I'll eat with him and he with me.

What's the answer? Try harder, work harder? He goes, no, no, no, I'm knocking. Let me into your life, let me, because I'll transform that heart of yours. I'll change it. I'll change it from this heart of stone and turn into a heart of flesh.