Run With It: If The World Hates You

John 15:18-25 NKJV

18“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember 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 keep yours also. 21But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”

Not Strangers

The people who hated and persecuted Jesus, and who plotted and who had carried out Jesus’ death on a cross, were not strangers to him. They were not outsiders. They were his own people, of his own race and nationality, and of his own faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were the Jews, as he also was a Jew. Some of them were members of his own family, and some were probably his neighbors and people in his own community. And they were rulers of the people and influencers in the Temple of God.

So when this talks of the world hating us like it hated Jesus, this is not necessarily speaking of just people who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ, or people from other nations, or people we don’t know. It includes professing Christians, and people who attend weekly gatherings of what are at least called “the church.” And this includes pastors and elders of said “churches,” too. And it can include family members and neighbors and other people we know. And this includes the leaders of our own country, as well.

The World

So, who makes up “the world”? We all live in the world. But they are the people who are of the world. They are those who love the world, i.e. who prefer the things of the world, such as the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. They are those who are still living to please the flesh, and not to please God, and who are captives of sin, and whose lives are not surrendered to God. They are the wicked, the self-indulgent, the prideful, the immoral, the liars, the cheats, the murderers, and the haters.

And sadly many of them are people of influence in our nations, in our governments, in our communities, and in the gatherings of the institutional church. So, even if some (or many) of them profess faith in Jesus Christ, it does not mean that they are on our side and that they are not against us. Many of them are following the wrong people, and they are believing the lies, and they are rejecting much of the truth taught in the Scriptures. So they reject the idea we must deny self, die to sin, and obey God in practice.

They Hate

So, even though many of them profess faith in Jesus Christ, and they attend weekly gatherings of the institutional church, and some of them are pastors and elders and deacons who are supposed to love us and nurture us and train us in righteousness and equip us for the work of the ministry, they will turn against us if we take Jesus and his teachings seriously to obey them, and if that is what we are teaching others. For so many of them have gone the way of the world and are turning their gatherings into marketplaces.

Their goal is not to please God and to produce biblical disciples of Christ, but it is to entertain the world in order to grow their numbers so that the people of the world will come to their gatherings. And so they dilute the gospel message, and they turn their gatherings into show cases, and they pamper people in their sin rather than call them to biblical repentance and obedience to our Lord’s commands. So if we are standing on the truths of the Scriptures and calling out the lies, we will be hated, rejected, and tossed!

World Pleasers

Since so many of them are working to please the people of the world so that the world will join in with them in their gatherings, they have become much like the world in character, in faith, and in action. So the enemy thus becomes us who hold to the truths of the Scriptures and who will not compromise with the world of sin. Like one pastor told me, “I was warned about people like you, people with strong convictions.” So he invited me to either let him be God’s voice to me or to go where I will be a “better fit.”

And in their efforts to please the world they are now compromising biblical truth in order to join in with the world in harmony, as one people holding hands, living in unity with one another. For many of them this is their resolution for hate and conflict, if they can get everyone to agree, which definitely engages compromise of biblical conviction and the teachings of the Scriptures on what it means to be “Christians,” and followers of Christ. So they will hate us who do not join in with them in their compromise.

The Faithful

But we who are followers of Jesus Christ must remain faithful to the Lord and to the teachings of the Scriptures. We must not deny our Lord and his gospel message in order to make peace with the people of the world. We are to stand out as different if truly Jesus is Lord of our lives and if we are following him in obedience and in surrender to his will and purpose for our lives. And we must keep speaking the truth of the gospel to the people of the world for their salvation from sin and eternal life with Jesus, our Lord.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

His Tender Mercies

An Original Work / January 26, 2014

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Fear not! I’m with you. Be not dismayed!

God watches o’er you. Trust Him today.

He’ll lead and guide you; Give you His aid.

He’ll love and keep you with Him always.

Walk in His footsteps. He’ll lead the way.

Trust in His love; Believe that He cares.

He will not leave you. Faithful He’ll be.

His tender mercies now you will see.

Fellowship with Him throughout the day.