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Podcast Host
Welcome to the Crazy Love Podcast. What does it actually look like to obey Jesus? Is it just showing up to a service or something more? Today, Francis brings us back to Jesus Command. Love one another as I have loved you. A love that shares sacrifices and refuses to let anyone stand alone. This is the kind of obedience that defined the early church, and it's the kind of love that sets God's people apart.
Rob
Today,
Sarah
This morning, I.
Rob
I was just thanking God for his word again. We were talking with a couple in the back and just talking about, it's
Sarah
so good to have this.
Rob
You know, sometimes we forget how precious
Sarah
this is, because otherwise it's so easy
Rob
to just do what's popular and what
Sarah
everyone else says is normal and to stay away from things that people would say, that's weird, that's weird, that's weird. But then when you look at the Bible, you go, no, this is. That's not weird. What's weird is what everyone else is doing. In light of the fact that there's this God who says, this is my word, we've got to stop looking at the world, what everyone else is doing. Like, just clear your mind of that, of what's the norm. And look at this book. This book is so good because it just tells us this is truth. Okay, Anything that I've been thinking this
Rob
week, who knows whether it's true or
Sarah
not, whatever's been going through your mind, whatever you were brought up with, like, everyone's going to have a different opinion. But for thousands of years, years, people have held onto these words. And so we come together saying, we're
Rob
not here to listen to a person. We're attaching ourselves to thousands of years of history.
Sarah
What if people said all through the
Rob
millennia about truth, about God that they've held onto? What? Rather than trying to create something new? Okay, we live in the Silicon Valley and it's all about startups and come up with a new idea, but we come here for the exact opposite. To say, what have believers in Yahweh, God believed in for thousands of years?
Sarah
I mean, wasn't it good to read through the Book of Numbers and the
Rob
Book of Acts the last couple of weeks?
Sarah
I mean, when you read through numbers,
Rob
see, right now, everyone complains, but you
Sarah
read the Book of Numbers, you're like,
Rob
I better not complain about anything. Like, God hates complaining.
Sarah
Like, that's why I try to live my life. Just like, I don't want to complain about anything. Everything's good.
Rob
Everything's good.
Sarah
You know why?
Rob
Because the Bible says that's what should be normal, not what everyone else does. And it's like everyone else hates authority, rebels against authority.
Sarah
I read the Book of Numbers.
Rob
I'm like, okay, I better not rebel against authority.
Sarah
I better not talk bad. You know, we were reading that story about Aaron and Miriam talking about Moses and his wife, and God says, you're
Rob
going to talk about Moses?
Sarah
Are you kidding me? You're going to talk about Moses? Do you know my relationship with Moses?
Rob
And then he strikes her with leprosy. I'm like, okay, I'm going to be careful what I say about Rob.
Sarah
You know, love you. Love you, Sarah. You guys are great. You belong together. You know, it's just. Let me just be careful with the. This is our standard. And so I want to share a
Rob
verse, a bunch of verses with you today. And again, remember, we don't want to be all about a sermon.
Sarah
We want to be people who tremble at God's word. And for too long, church has been about, oh, that was a good sermon. That was a good sermon.
Rob
No, it's about a great promise.
Sarah
It's about great commands.
Rob
It's about the.
Sarah
You know what he said? And if a voice from heaven says these things, then we all need to tremble. Me included. We're just all going, oh, that's what you said. I've been thinking about these verses, and I came here thinking about these verses and making sure I try my best
Rob
to obey these verses.
Sarah
Okay, in John 15, 9.
Rob
Beautiful verse. This is Jesus speaking.
Sarah
As the Father has loved me, so
Rob
have I loved you. Abide in my love. Just focus on those words. Picture Jesus himself standing here and saying this to you. Jesus in the perfect relationship with God the Father. And picture Jesus saying to you, just as the Father, the perfect Father, has loved me, that's how I love you now. Just abide. Just live inside that love. Just remain in that love. You guys, let's not complicate Christianity. Let's not complicate church.
Sarah
This is an amazing verse. I don't care what good news you got this week.
Rob
It's not better than this, okay?
Sarah
So just forget about everything else, all your problems, everything else Jesus is saying to you. Just as the fathers loved me, so
Rob
have I loved you. All I want you to do, just live in my love.
Sarah
Not a great command. Just remain.
Rob
Have you been living in his love this week? Think about this week. Have you just been abiding in his love? Like, it is so good to be loved by Jesus. It is so good that the one that spoke this earth into existence Loves me. Why do I think about anything else?
Sarah
This is at the core of what we believe. Just as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Rob
Abide in my love.
Sarah
But then in verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Okay, so some of you, you'll read that and go, oh, there's a catch to it.
Rob
If. Yeah, it's conditional.
Sarah
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I've
Rob
kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
Sarah
I believe it's in John 8, where
Rob
Jesus says, I obey everything the Father tells me to do. And Jesus says that's part of this love relationship, is we obey his commandments. But I want you to see the next verse. Verse 11.
Sarah
These things I have spoken to you,
Rob
that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. You have to believe something fundamental about God's commands.
Sarah
Why did Jesus give us his commands? Why does God give us commands?
Rob
Is it that, oh, there's the catch. There's the downside. We have to obey this book. And Jesus is saying, I'm telling you
Sarah
this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Okay, The Bible says, your commands are not burdensome. Your commands lead to life. Believing in God means, yeah, I believe everything he says. I believe his commands are good. The world is teaching us that submitting to these commands and these laws, it's like, man, let's break these chains. I just want to be me. You do you. I'll do me. We'll just, you know, just enjoy yourself and don't put yourself under this. And what God is saying, my commands lead to life. Why does God say, you shouldn't commit murder?
Rob
Was he saying, okay, I really want to ruin their lives? I'm going to give them these commands. Oh, this will kill them. Don't kill each other.
Sarah
Why does he command this? Why does he say, hey, don't bear. Don't lie to each other? Imagine a world with honesty. Imagine you read the news and you know it's true. Imagine you go on the Internet and everything you read was true. That'd be crazy. Imagine everyone that spoke to you was telling you the truth. Man, we're living in a time where you come to a gathering like this and you have to look at me and you go, man, I wonder if that guy is for real. Because there's so Many lies. And anytime, anyone. Why do we have contracts?
Rob
God's saying, man, don't bear false witness,
Sarah
don't kill each other, don't commit adultery. If you knew your marriage was just going to be faithful, just going to be you and your spouse. Thou shall not steal.
Rob
Why do we have cameras everywhere?
Sarah
He says, this would be such a bad. All of his commands lead to life. And so he says, look, if you love me, you'll obey what I command. You'll abide in my love if you obey what I command you. And then the next verse, this is
Rob
my commandment singular, that you love one another as I've loved you.
Sarah
Greater love has no one than this,
Rob
that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Sarah
So earlier he says, abide in my love. And then he says, if you obey the commandments, my commandments, you'll abide in my love. But then here he says, this is my commandment singular. Isn't that interesting why he says that you love one another as I've loved you. This is very similar to remember when the Pharisees were asking Jesus in Matthew 22, verses 34 to like 40, they asked Jesus, hey, what's the greatest commandment?
Rob
And what does Jesus say? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Sarah
And then he says, the second is
Rob
like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And he says, on these two commands,
Sarah
hang all of the law and the prophets. But here in John after he says, hey, you want to abide in my love?
Rob
Obey my commandments. And here's my commandment. Love one another just as I've loved you. That's it
Sarah
again, let's not over complicate everything. Like if God could have it this
Rob
way his way today, we would have
Sarah
just shown up
Rob
deeply loving each other. That's what he cares most about. And sometimes we make church about so many other things. How was his sermon? How was the singing? You know, why is that lady holding a baby while she's singing?
Sarah
You know, we just, whatever.
Rob
Why are we outside?
Sarah
Why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? And we make it about all these things.
Rob
And God's going, why didn't you come and love each other the way that I loved you?
Sarah
Because that's my one. I gave you one commandment. I gave you one commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. And then he explains, he goes, think about how this is Jesus going, how have I loved you? Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. He's not talking about us just showing up and be willing to sit through
Rob
a service together, give each other a
Sarah
hug, high five, smile at each other,
Rob
have a sports day, play some games together.
Sarah
That's all good stuff.
Rob
But he calls us to the standard. He goes, I want you to love one another just as you watched me love you. And then he says, I, I'm going to die for you. I'm going to show you the greatest love. I'll actually die for you. And I've been meditating on this the last couple days, knowing that I was going to teach. I thought, wow, who would I die for in this group? Because that's what God's calling me to. I thought, well, I, I know I would die for my wife and my kids and most of my kids. No, no, I would die for my wife or my kids. Yeah. Just start thinking about people that it's, it's a no brainer. I thought, Al, I would die for Al in a second. And I believe he would die for me. And I started thinking, wow, that's pretty cool that I have confidence in a relationship that he would die for me. And I thought, yeah, I'd take a bullet for Rob easily. I would take it. And I believe you'd take it from me. I go, man, that's the church. That's church. I would die for you, Jason. I'd die for any of your kids, Zabala kids, any of them. In a second. I just started thinking about the love. I go, wow, I really would give my life. That's what he's called us to. And then I started thinking about other people. I go, yeah, Would I die for Diana? For Christine? Yeah, I would. God, I would give my life for Lem. I believe Lem would give his life for me. Like, wow, this is what he's calling us to, that level of love, you guys, this is why I can't just do services and call it church. Okay? This is why.
Sarah
It's because what I said in this book, look, some of you grew up with a certain type of thinking. And so it's hard once you grow up a certain way to get rid of that way of thinking where you were taught, oh, a good Christian goes to church. They go every Sunday to a church service. And so if you show up to that church service and you're faithful to it, man, good job. And you just feel like, oh, I've been obedient. This is why we read this book. Because you don't See anyone in this book doing that. That just became our culture. Show me someone with perfect church attendance that would go to a building, sit through a service that was not church. The church was a group of people. We've been reading the Book of Acts. Look at the Book of Acts. Acts, chapter two. Here's the church. With many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. In other words, get out of this whole generation what's popular and everything else. Save yourself from it. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. They devoted themselves, and awe came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things, all things in common. They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. And they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having
Rob
favor with all the people.
Sarah
And the Lord added to their number,
Rob
day by day, those who are being saved.
Sarah
Okay, so here's the Bible. This is not the world. This is not American culture. This is not church as many of us were taught it. I'm saying church as we were taught. You won't find it in here. It's talking about this. See, when Jesus says, I want you to love each other as Christ loved me, he says that right before his death. Here's how the early church responded. They go, hey, Jesus told us to
Rob
love each other as Christ loved us.
Sarah
And Christ gave everything for us.
Rob
So, hey, what's mine is yours. I don't want anyone in need here. This is what God wants.
Sarah
This is why when I was just doing big church services, there was no peace in here. Once I started reading this, I'm like, this isn't all God wants of us. He wants us. This is Christianity. This is his command. Singular. Love each other like I loved you, man. What do you need? That's why when I showed up this morning, you know, when I'm. I'm leaving my house, you know, and I'm just going, God, help me. Help me to love, like, everyone I run into. Help me to love them as much as you love me. Help me to come with that mindset. Whenever I see believers, God, I want this because this isn't natural for me. I don't just naturally wake up and go, what does Everyone else want. I think of me. I go, God, I don't want to be like that. This is the one commandment
Rob
I want to be able to say I would die for you and that my stuff is your stuff.
Sarah
And that we could someday be that. That's why we meet together in homes,
Rob
because you got to know each other.
Sarah
You've got to have people that you just love to the point of death. Because that's how we put God's love on display to the world. I could preach about it. I can tell you right now, okay, and I will. That we've all broken his commandments. And yet he in return, even though we rebelled against him, he still loved us. And he loved us so much. He says, but I'm fair and I have to punish your sins. So he says, I'm going to have my son take the form of a man and he is going to pay because someone has to. This way I can be fair and yet I can still forgive you. And he's going to pay for everything on that cross. And Jesus saying, no one takes my life. I willingly give it. This is my choice. I want to die for you. And he dies on that cross so
Rob
we could be forgiven. He says, if you believe in me, if you can confess with your mouth
Sarah
that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.
Rob
That was his example.
Sarah
So I can preach that and say, look. And when he rose from the dead, that's when the disciples truly believed and
Rob
said, this really is the son of God.
Sarah
He just conquered death. And then they all gave their lives for the gospel.
Rob
They all got martyred because they're like, I'm not afraid anymore. Go ahead, kill me. This week we just read about Stephen, right, being stoned to death.
Sarah
He looks up into heaven, he goes,
Rob
like, I can see Jesus right now. Go ahead, throw the stones. Kill me. Angel says, father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Go ahead, kill me. And they said his face was like the face of an angel, just going, I'm not afraid. It's all good. God, don't hold this against them. Amazing.
Sarah
See the early believers, see, I can preach that. But God says, what I want you to do is put that on display. Just like on that upper room when he started washing the disciples feet. He didn't say, now come wash mine everyone.
Rob
He goes, no, wash each other's feet. That's why he says, this is my commandment.
Sarah
That's why he says that second commandment is like the first. You can't separate your love from God,
Rob
from your love for each other. You can't do that. I can't say, oh, I love God. I just can't stand Kelly. That doesn't make any sense. God lives in Kelly. How could I hate her? I gotta love her like Christ loved the church. I go, what do you need? You know, anything you need. We got you, we got you. We want to be family to you. Anything you need how? Whatever you need. The early church understood that that's what church is. Why do we call this we are church? Because we don't want this to be a place you attend and show up to and go, ooh, I went to church. No one went to church in the Bible. That's our generation that came up with this.
Sarah
They were a group of people. They were a family.
Rob
I wouldn't let any of my kids go hungry. And in the same way, as long
Sarah
as I've got means, I'm not going
Rob
to let any of you go hungry. We should all have that attitude.
Sarah
We'll go to Acts, chapter four. Look at this. Acts, chapter four, verse 32. Now the full number, the full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own. But they had everything in common and with great power. The apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of land or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
Rob
and laid at the apostles feet. And it was distributed to each as any had need when you grew up. Is that what people told you? That's what church is? See again, that's why we read this book. This is why we encourage you all. This is why we read through the
Sarah
Bible every year together, is because otherwise we're just going to do what everyone else does. But we're saying no, read this. Show me, show me from this book
Rob
what the church ought to be like.
Sarah
Okay, don't show me from all my mom says you just go for an hour every week and you know, or maybe, you know, just Easter and Christmas, whatever. No, show me from this book.
Rob
Where is Easter and Christmas?
Sarah
You know, it's like, what, what, what does this say?
Rob
I want this.
Sarah
I, I, this is, this is what I've wanted.
Rob
And Jesus, this will make your joy complete. Look, I get it in the flesh. I can wake up and go, oh man, I gotta love people as much as Christ loved me.
Sarah
It does feel like a downer sometimes.
Rob
But then you gotta go back to God's word. He's like, no, these words will lead to life. My commands lead to life. I wrote this so that my joy could be in you and your joy could be made full. Selfishness doesn't lead to life. That's when you just let go and go, whatever, everything. Ashish, Lydia, Yogas. Ever need anything. We got you, you know, Kevin, whatever. We got you. We take care of you. It's just. This is it. Sonia, Nathan, whatever. I know I just met you, but whatever. You don't have a job. You can. I got you. It's just. We'll figure it out. God says, this is what I want. Love each other that deeply. Love each other like I loved you. Let's not over complicate this.
Podcast Host
Thank you for listening to the Crazy Love podcast. Join us next week for a new episode. But until then, for more resources from Crazy Love Ministries or to support the world work of Crazy Love, please visit our website@crazylove.org.
Episode Title: What It Really Means to Follow Jesus | Francis Chan
Date: May 11, 2026
Host: Crazy Love Ministries
Speaker: Francis Chan (and group contributors)
This episode centers on Francis Chan’s passionate exploration of the true meaning of following Jesus. Going beyond church attendance, Francis focuses on Jesus’ command to “love one another as I have loved you,” emphasizing sacrificial, community-focused love that defined the early church. Drawing from Scripture, especially John 15 and the Book of Acts, Francis challenges listeners to move from passive observance to radical, life-sharing obedience, arguing that genuine Christianity is measured by how deeply believers love each other.
Timestamp: 00:33–04:26
Timestamp: 05:11–07:34
Timestamp: 07:34–11:32
Timestamp: 11:32–18:22
Timestamp: 18:22–23:01
Timestamp: 23:10–26:08
Timestamp: 27:23–29:03
Timestamp: 29:03–31:08
Francis Chan powerfully re-centers the definition of “following Jesus” around active, all-encompassing love for fellow believers. He urges the audience to reject shallow religious routines, urging them to embrace the sacrificial, life-sharing, radical love modeled by Jesus and the early church—reminding listeners that in God’s economy, true obedience and deep joy flow from loving others as Christ has loved us.