Crazy Love Book Discussion Chapters 7 and 8, January 24, 2010, 8:30-9:30pm
The questions and thoughts below are from Kurt Box on Amazon Discussion group for the book.
There are actually no questions for Ch. 8 from this source.
Chapter 7
Your best life later…
1. Pg. 111 - Do you currently feel fulfilled in your life?
2. Pg. 113 - What do you make of the statement “something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers?” Do you think that is true statement? Does your life make sense to unbelievers?
3. Pg. 115 - How did Jesus walk?
4. Pg. 116 - Do you take Matthew 25 literally? Why or why not?
5. Pg. 116 - We’ve been talking about how to love God practically. Does this now seem to mean by loving others, especially the less fortunate?
6. Pg. 117 - 1 John 3:16-20 - Does this sting you? We seem to be coming full circle on “how” to love God here.
7. Pg. 118 - It seems that falling in love with God is done through serving others, giving time to others, giving money to others, giving others concern and care. That it is a good “vicious circle,” that the more we give the more we love and the more we love the more we give and the ever closer our relationship with God gets.
8. Pg. 119 - One easy to way to think of taking the words of Jesus literally is by picturing your own children in the place of others? How does this make you feel? Does it change your perspective; bring tears to your eyes?
9. Pg. 121 - What are you preparing for?
10. Is your life characterized by comfort?
11. Pg. 123-125: Isaiah 58 - We need to check out motivations too. Read this passage, it is awesome.
“Love. Love is the most liberating freedom-loss of all. One of the principles of love - either love for a friend or romantic love - is that you have to lose independence to attain greater intimacy. If you want the “freedoms” of love - the fulfillment, security, sense of worth that is brings - you must limit your freedom in many ways. You cannot enter a deep relationship and still make unilateral decisions or allow your friend or lover no say in how you live your life. To experience the joy and freedom of love, you must give up your personal autonomy.”
- Tim Keller - Reasons for God
As Tim Keller eloquently put it, “The love of Christ constrains. Once you realize how Jesus changed for you and give Himself for you, you aren’t afraid of giving up your freedom and therefore finding your freedom in Him.”
What do you think is the greatest barrier for people in loving their neighbors?
Answer: This is probably a longer answer, but I am feeling some anthropology coming on…
It is the natural inclination of men and women to avoid disequilibrium in their lives. They want to stasis… to get set, be in their own community, in their own tribe of like-minded people. They wish to be unbothered and unmolested by those who are different around them. Thus, people spend their lives building a construct of their own making which meets their own needs among their own people for their own purposes.
In other words, they build a kingdom of self.
Jesus comes in and not only demands and breaks down our kingdom but calls us to build his. So, his agenda must be supreme- not ours. His concern for the outsider is priority over our concern to create comfort and equilibrium in our own lives. The agenda of our lives must be for His glory, not our preferences. We are to live for his kingdom- and it is a kingdom of love.
God calls Himself love. He is love. So, if we call him savior, we must live lives shaped by love. Without a doubt, this becomes difficult because the entire fallen creation teaches us to make every experience about our kingdom of self.
Jesus instead tells us to make it about his agenda. In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus declares the Shema and pronounces what we call the Great Commandment. Because of the utter greatness of God, we are to love him supremely and love others richly.
I’m always struck that the Bible always tells us to love others. But there is a reason. Most of instructions in Bible are given to people doing the opposite of what it demands. In other words, if the Bible says “Quit sleeping around,” it means people are sleeping around. If the Bible says “Love one another as I loved you,” it tells us people are not as loving as they should be. That is why the gospel of Kingdom is so remarkable. It is not just a new leaf, it is a new way of life.
