If the World Hates You

John 15:18-21 ESV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said 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. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

Who hated Jesus Christ? Who were his fiercest opponents? Who attacked him and hated him and hounded him and persecuted him on a consistent basis? Were they the non-Jews, those who claimed no faith in and no relationship to God? Or were they those regarded as God’s people, his covenant people? And were they the spiritually uneducated? Or were they students and teachers of the Scriptures? And rulers in the temple of God? 

And remember here that he said that the world hated him. But if you are familiar with the Scriptures you will know that the people who most hated and persecuted Jesus and who had him put to death on that cross were the Jews, his own people, the people of his own race, his neighbors, and perhaps his physical brothers, too, i.e. the people who were God’s chosen people at that time in history, although not all had true faith in the Lord.

So, by “the world” Jesus wasn’t excluding the Jews who hated him. He wasn’t excluding the rulers of the temple of God and the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He included them. So, don’t be surprised if the ones who hate you the most and are the most attentive at persecuting you are those in your own church fellowships and in your own physical family units, who also profess faith in Jesus Christ.

For Jesus Christ said if we follow him in obedience that we will be hated and persecuted like he was. And how will they hate us? They will persecute us for righteousness’ sake. They will revile us and they will utter all kinds of evil against us falsely on account of Jesus. They will deliver us over to courts and they will flog us in their “houses of worship.” And brother will deliver brother to death, and children will rise up against their parents and have them put to death – all for the sake of the name of Jesus.

They will call us crazy and they will accuse us of being of Satan, just like they did to Jesus. And they will malign us, and deliver us up to tribulation, and they will put us to death, and they will betray us, and will turn others against us. And they will exclude and reject us, and we will be cast out of their gatherings, and they will spurn our name as evil. And they will tell us they were warned about people like us who have strong convictions.

So, why do they hate us? What about us leads them to hate and persecute us? It is because, if we are following Jesus with our lives, and if we are living holy and godly lives, in obedience to our Lord, we are no longer of the world. It doesn’t mean we are perfect people. It doesn’t mean we get everything right. It doesn’t mean we never sin. But it means we are walking in purity of devotion to our Lord and we are no longer clinging to the things of this world nor to the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life.

But if we were of the world, and so we talked about all the same things the world talks about, and we did all the same things they did, and we watched all the same kinds of movies and videos that they did, and we listened to all the same music they did, and we were engaged in all sorts of immorality, and lying, and cheating, and adultery, and … then the world would love and embrace us as its own. And other professers of Christianity living like the world would not hate us and persecute us and treat us spitefully.

Therefore, if we are true followers of Jesus Christ it means that we have been called out of the world, meaning we are to no longer live like the ungodly, and we are to no longer do ungodly things, in practice. We should have died with Christ to sin and now we should be living to God and to his righteousness, and not in sin, but in walks of obedience to our Lord. And that should be the reason those who are living ungodly lives will hate and reject and persecute us.

Now this says here that if they persecuted Jesus that they will persecute us, and if they kept His word that they will also keep ours. I believe he is speaking of our words which we speak from the Scriptures or that are consistent with the Scriptures. So, if what we are teaching is the truth of God’s word, then those who are of God should listen to us, but those who are still living for the sinful pleasures of the flesh will not listen to us. And they will reject what we say even if the Scriptures teach it clearly.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:18-21; Jn 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13]

But they will treat us like this because they don’t really know Jesus, even if they do profess him as Savior and as Lord with their lips. For if we claim to know God/Christ but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant), in practice, then we are liars. And if we claim to be in fellowship with the Lord while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, we are liars. And if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and holy living and obedience to the Lord is not what we do in practice, we are not of God, but we are of the devil.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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