(Audio Sermon Clip) Love For The Person of Jesus — Francis Chan

Love for the Person of Jesus

And my biggest concern, and I hope it's a concern of yours, is I don't hear people talking about their love for Jesus, the person of Jesus Christ. I hear a lot of talk about churches, I hear a lot of talk about speakers, a lot of talk about different bands and songs and sermons, but where are those voices that are just saying, oh, I was with Jesus this morning, I love him so much, this is the one thing I pray for all the time is I just wanna be in his presence.

Man, you guys know when one of your friends falls in love with someone, right? You know when they get obsessive about it, right? Some of you guys know exactly what I'm talking about, and some of you guys are in that world where you're just obsessed with this person, and you meet other people who, once they have a child, it's like all they can talk about is that child, and it's this obsession, this fascination.

Wholehearted Love for Christ

You know what it's like when someone is in love. My concern is I don't hear that kind of language when people talk about Jesus. We're supposed to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but just be like, oh, man, I love being alone with him, it's so good, it's so good, it's him.

The Great Commandment and Devoted Worship

Man, this is the great command, is that what we see coming out? I mean, that's kind of a big deal. The church was supposed to produce these devoted worshipers of God where they can't get enough of him, and there's something so wrong when if we announce, hey, Hillsong's coming, and the place is packed, versus, hey, we're gonna have prayer tonight, and a handful of people show up.

The Priority of God's Presence Over Christian Celebrity

There's something really wrong with that. We can't be okay with that. I mean, we're talking about this being up there, all those angels up there just going, whoa, he's so amazing, and should just be, I'm coming into his, who cares who's leading me into his presence?

It's his presence that we're just obsessed with, right? So we know there's something desperately wrong when people walk out of these gatherings and go, oh, it was really good today, or I didn't really like it today.

Rejecting Consumer-Driven Worship

I didn't really like the worship. It didn't really work for me. I didn't like those songs. I didn't like that band. Like somehow we've lost sight of the, do you think those angels that are screaming out, holy, holy, holy day and night ever go look at each, I didn't really like it today.

Biblical Worship Versus Consumerism

Do you think ever in human history, man, seriously, man, we've got to understand how weird of a time we are living in, how consumer-driven everything's gotten. Like it doesn't make sense biblically. You think ever in the Old Testament, I don't know if I'm gonna go to the sacrifices today.

Who's sacrificing? Who's gotten the bull? Oh, I love it when Moses, you know, it's just, it wasn't about that. How did we turn everything where it's perfectly normal to walk away from our gatherings and go, man, I don't know.

Worship Is Not About Personal Preference

I didn't really like it. Did it ever occur to you that it wasn't for you? I mean, does it ever enter your mind?