Sticking with Jesus can be costly. You can do all the things he tells you to do and still suffer.
When are you tempted to quit something? When it gets hard.
- You’re not tempted to quit playing basketball on game night. You are tempted to quit playing basketball when you’re running wind sprints in November.
- You don’t want to quit a hike when you reach the summit. You want to quit the hike about halfway up–maybe even before.
- You don’t want to quit your workout when you’re buying cool new shoes and clothes for it. You don’t want to quit in the first 30 seconds. You want to quit as soon as you begin to feel pain.
- You don’t want to quit a job that is great. You want to quit when it’s not great.
But there’s an even deeper pain than the pain of a tough workout, a long trek, or a crummy job–the pain of rejection, the pain of being disliked, the pain of being hated by someone you want to love you. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can crush my soul.
This devotion is for anyone who’s ever been tempted to quit–to walk away from Jesus, to shrink back from the faith delivered once and for all to the saints–because it really started to hurt. Because you faced rejection and hatred from the world.
The hatred of the world is an opportunity to display the grace of God, the truth of God, and the love of God
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 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. 20 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. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”
John 15:18-16:4
Jesus is preparing his disciples to face the rejection of the world. He helps them understand why they’ll be rejected and what that rejection will look like–being ostracized, persecuted, and for some, even killed.
I think we need to tread carefully here. It’s possible to revel in the hatred of the world in unhealthy ways–to enjoy controversy, to enjoy antagonism, to enjoy being seen as different and in your own mind, holier than someone else. I do think this is a verse we can take out of context. Like, maybe they hate you for Christ’s sake. Or maybe you are a jerk.
I think there are right reasons to be hated and there are wrong reasons to be hated. Jesus tells us the right reasons for the world to hate us.
Right Reasons:
You are not of the world. (v 19) If you were of the world, then the world would love you. But because you are not of the world; because you’ve been chosen out of the world, the world hates you. The world wants a certain conformity that you just cannot provide. Paul will speak to this idea. We do not conform to the patterns of the world. Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The world conforms. It’s what it does. Paul uses this metaphor of everyone walking on a course that is charted by the prince of darkness in Ephesians 2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. BUT GOD…”
What does it mean to be of the world? To conform in shared rebellion to the Creator – to rebel in mind, body, and soul. But you, Christian, are a rebel to the rebellion. You are walking a different course. You are following a different king.
They hate your master. John 15:18, “The world hated me before you.” A servant is not greater than his master–if they hated the master, they’ll hate the servant.
So that leads to another question: why did they hate Jesus? They hate him because he told them the truth. John 7:7, “They hate me because I testify that their works are evil.”
Jesus reveals to us the holiness of God and we all see clearly where we fall short. It’s not a question of if we fall short of God’s Law, it’s a question of how we fall short.
And who is “they?” Who hated him? Political opposition would come from Rome. But we don’t see a whole lot of that to this point. Really we see opposition from religious/social leaders. And they are led by two ideological camps: Pharisees and Sadducees. Neither of these ideological camps welcome the message of Jesus.
You are becoming like your master. You’ll be hated because you follow Jesus. Because, like Jesus, you’ll tell the truth. You’ll be hated because you have the aroma of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:15-17, “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”
To the living you smell of life–to the dead you smell of death. To be hated for Christ is an honor given only to those who become like him. Is there any greater joy than to be numbered with Jesus?
That term “Christian” means little Christ. Christians in the Roman world were disliked because they loved poor people. To be hated for our commitment to Christ–our love of holiness,
righteousness, justice, and peace–is an honor.
It’s possible, though, that we are not hated because of our Christlikeness…
Wrong Reasons:
You hate them. You don’t love your neighbors–they can tell, and they don’t love you. If you don’t love your neighbors, don’t even think about trying to “disciple them.”
You are a jerk. The message matters. The way you share the message matters, with kindness and winsomeness. You don’t have to be best friends with everyone you share the gospel with. But credibility helps.
I am willing to be hated for the truths of the gospel. I am willing to be hated for the truth of Scripture and the doctrine that rises from a faithful exposition of it.
Your Christian walk will not be understood, accepted, or liked by everyone. When Jesus says he came not to bring peace but to bring a sword–to set mother against daughter, father against son – this is what he means.
You simply must make peace with the reality that, because of your commitment to Jesus, you will be hated. But even this hatred is an opportunity.