When I was in college, preparing for “the ministry”, I did an internship. In the evenings, I’d ride shotgun with a guy named Larry, all over the great metropolis of Lincoln, Illinois. Larry was about as low key, soft-spoken, and conventional a man as they come. I’d venture to guess he followed the exact same routine every day. I could easily imagine him waking up at the same time every day, pressing his shirt and slacks, packing a sandwich for lunch, sipping his coffee while reading the Lincoln Courier, all before heading off to some office… where he’d punch the same old timecard, sit behind some desk, and probably follow the same dull routine all day every day. If Larry were to leap off a diving board, and attempt a cannon ball, I doubt there’d be any splash. He was a “make-no-waves” kind of guy. As innocent as a dove, as shrewd as a snake.
But at least once a week, someone would visit the church, and it was Larry’s privilege and delight, to go to their home to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. You don’t have to be flashy to share Jesus. You don’t have to be clever, or hip, or cool. You just have to be faithful. Larry may have been Clark Kent by day… but he became a super apostle by night.
At one point he’d summarize all the benefits of trusting Jesus. Things like the assurance of God’s love, the complete forgiveness of sin, resurrection hope, the gift of eternal life, the promise of an eternal dwelling with God forever, life to the full, Holy Spirit Power for Living, Holy Spirit Fruit—love, joy, peace. New Birth. Adoption. To be part of a New Family the Church. Daily help. Strength. Victory over sin, a way out of temptation, a new purpose for life, on and on.
But then at a certain point the conversation would turn. Larry would add “suffering”, and “persecution.” I think of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, extolling the promises of the Kingdom. The poor in the Spirit will get the Kingdom. Those who mourn will be comforted. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. But then Jesus would add, Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
You may want to fly under the radar. You may want to live the make-no-waves-lifestyle of a lunchbox Larry. But if you love me, you will be persecuted! Listen to Jesus’ warning in John 15:18-25, “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated me for no reason.”
In John 16:1-6 Jesus doubles down on the warning (also in John 17)… “I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. 2 They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or me. 4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”
In Jesus’ famous parable… the seed that fell on rocky soil, hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But the joy has no root, it’s short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, it immediately falls away. I’ve got to tell you some things, Jesus says, to keep you from stumbling. The world will likely hate you, just like it first hated me, and just like it hated my Father in Heaven. Oh, how we hate to be hated—but do you realize it’s a normal part of the Christian life?
It's one of the great ironies of life. If you love God, you will be hated by men. But it’s more than that. Right before Jesus warns us in John 15:18, that the world will hate us, look at John 15:17! Jesus says, “This is what I command you: Love One Another.” For all the love our love for God and love for people might engender, it may just as well engender hatred! Why might loving God and loving people engender hate?
Reason #1: You might be hated because The World Already Hates Jesus (18). I’m not talking about the cultural, progressive, reimagined, “He Gets Us” Jesus. But a Jesus who wants you to die to self, take up his cross, follow him daily, and “Believe on Him.” I’m talking about the Biblical Jesus who says things like John 12:48, “The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as their judge: the word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” The world doesn’t love that Jesus.
Reason #2: You might be hated because You are Not “Of” the World (19), because you are not the world’s little darling, the world’s “own.” If you are young, in time, and I hope it’s not before it’s too late, you will understand all the ways the world tries to mold you into its own pattern. The world will give you an A on your report card if you mimic its way of thinking. It showers you with happy faces, affirmation and praise, hearts and thumbs ups, shares and viral fame when you mimic its values. But step outside the small box the world has fashioned for you, and you will have hell to pay. What did Paul say in Romans 12:2? “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind?” If you dare to think righteous thoughts. If dare to act in righteousness. If you dare send the signal that you are not your own, and most certainly not the worlds, that you have been bought at a price, that you live to honor God, to love and serve Him. Christ’s righteousness isn’t cool. It’s the narrow gate, the narrow path. The broad path is the one that leads to destruction, and most are following it.
Reason #3: You might be hated because God has Chosen You out of the World (19). Throughout Scripture, God choses all sorts of people. For every passage that describes the “privileges and benefits” of being chosen, there are just as many talking about the “high call and high cost” of being chosen. If Christ calls you, he doesn’t just call you to salvation, but to service. You are God’s instrument, his ambassador, his partner, his servant… but indeed we are more than mere servants. Jesus calls us friends because friends know one another’s business. And as we saw in John 15:14, Jesus wants his Father’s business to be our business. To be salt and light is to penetrate and expel darkness. But men love the darkness because their deeds are evil and crave darkness for fear of exposure. To be chosen is to disrupt the status quo, to make waves, it’s to rescue and redeem, it’s to call our fellow man into repentance and change. But if salt loses its saltiness… if we lose our sense of calling… were no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled by men. It’s when you lead, that people’s opinions become divided and real change is affected. It’s when you lay down, they trample you underfoot.
Reason #4: You might be hated because You Are Not Exceptional to Jesus (20). If they hated the Father… if they hated the Son… do you think you’ll somehow be hated less?
Reason #5: You might be hated if you keep Christ’s words. Jesus says, “If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” But no, the world rejects Christ’s word, therefore they’ll reject whatever word you speak in the name of Jesus. No, they don’t want the Ten Commandments posted in the courthouse or classroom. No, they don’t want Bible Classes in the core curriculum.
Reason #6: You might be hated because Religious Ignorance is Pervasive (21). Jesus says the world will resist you on account of my name because they don’t know THE ONE who sent me. The primary source of persecution worldwide comes from rival religious groups and sects. Some even comes from within Christian groups and sects. It is our great privilege and duty to make the Father known to the nations. To hold out the uniqueness of God’s written Word, but also His Living Word, Jesus. We must preach. We must translate and declare the Word.
Reason #7: You might be hated because Moral Guilt is Real (22, 24). In Verse 22 Jesus mentions those who feel guilty, and know they are without excuse, because of the WORDS Jesus has spoken. Verse 24 mentioned those who feel guilty and are without excuse because of the WORKS Jesus has done. Again, people love darkness because their deeds are evil. They fear exposure. Nothing shines more brightly than a righteous person. Whenever our world encounters righteousness, they begin slinging mud. The only thing our world loves more than putting people on a pedestal is putting them on a platter to be consumed and devoured. If you and your Jesus are just a slob like the rest of us, I don’t have to sweat anything.
Reason #8: You might be hated because Depravity is Metastasizing (16:2). I’ve seen it in the news lately, that certain scientists feel the magnetic poles of the earth are weakening, and could literally flip north to south, south to north! They say this last happened about 780,000 years ago. Whether it’s happening magnetically, I cannot say. But morally, it seems clear that magnetic poles of the world are not only weakening, but literally flipping. In John 16:2 Jesus speaks of a time when Christians will be run out of our synagogues and churches why? Because “anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God.” Depravity is when the magnetic poles of morality flip, north to south and south to north. Depravity is when good is called evil, and evil is called good. When light is called darkness and darkness light. When the greatest good is no longer to extinguish the darkness, but to fan it into full flame, and teach others to do the same! To no longer extinguish that which is evil, but to extinguish the very good!
You might ask… What encouragement might we Lovers of God find today? John 15:26-27: “26 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father —the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:7-15, “7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.”
Sorry I have to leave it this way… But next Sunday we’ll unpack Jesus’ teaching on His Holy Spirit, and especially His promise that though we will have trouble in this world… we can take heart… because he’s overcome the world. Let it be enough for now that we see this world for what it is, and not stumble.