Endure

In order to understand what we are going to talk about this morning, we have to really have an idea planted in our brains and in our hearts.

Jesus is preparing his followers to be a new community.

A community that is set apart.

A community that looks different.

A community that is teaching and preaching things that are radically opposed to the culture at the time.

This new community is based on what Jesus has been teaching his disciples from Jn 13-16.

This new community is counter-cultural

B/c this new community is going to be so different from the world.

B/c this new community is going to be bringing the message of Jesus.

B/c this new community is going to be following in Jesus’ footsteps, Jesus wants to prepare them for what is going to lie ahead of them.

They are going to face opposition.

They are going to face death.

They are going to face immeasurable persecution.

And Jesus wants them to be aware of that fact.

He doesn’t want them to be surprised by the terrors that they will face.

So he prepares them.

That’s the goal and the purpose behind this section of scripture to prepare them for the trials that come with following him.

This opposition was no surprise to Jesus, he predicted all of this.

And the text we are going to look at this morning is Jesus telling the disciples as much.

He is warning them and preparing them for the reality that they are going to be hated.

They are going to be outcasts.

They are even going to be murdered b/c of their faith in him.

I’m not sure if you’re aware but for most of church history being a Christian has bee a bloody business.

Just think about those readings we just had.

Christians suffered and were persecuted.

The reading out of Acts was about the first Christian Martyr, Stephen.

Who was killed for his faith in Jesus.

And this isn’t just something that happened in the past.

This is happening today to brothers and sisters around the world.

The Western church has gotten off pretty easy when it comes to persecution.

That doesn’t mean that it isn’t coming, but for our history we’ve had it pretty easy.

Over 360 million Christians living in places where they experience high levels of persecution and discrimination

5,898 Christians killed for their faith

5,110 churches and other Christian buildings attacked

4,765 believers detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned

These are the ones we know about.

So this is not a romanticized past event.

Persecution is happening around the world.

Right now.

This is a reality.

But Jesus knew that this would happen.

He knew that following him would cost us something.

And for some it would cost them all.

So this morning, as we look at Jesus’ words I want you to remember, realize, or recognize that if we are truly following Jesus.

It is going to cost us something.

Discipleship is not cheap.

Discipleship is not easy.

Discipleship is costly.

John 15:18 CSB

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.

The World Hates Jesus

The first thing we need to see is that the world will hate us.

But it’s not going to be because of us, It’s going to be because of Jesus.

The source of the World’s hatred for Followers of Jesus is Jesus himself.

Now, we’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating.

We need to understand what John means by the world, when he talks about the World.

What John and Jesus don’t mean is just everyone.

The World does not mean every non-believer.

Not every non-believer you come across hates you.

When John talks about the world he is speaking about those that openly oppose Jesus and his mission.

They are the ones that are openly defiant of God’s and boast about it.

One commentator put it this way “The world…refers to the created moral order in active rebellion against God.”

Why do we need to make this distinction?

Why does it matter how we classify the world.

B/c if we aren’t careful about how we view the World we will over react and become like hermits.

We don’t need to view every unbeliever as a threat.

We don’t need to see every unbeliever as an enemy.

They aren’t our enemies to be conquered but image bearers to be loved.

The calling of the follower of Jesus isn’t to hunker down and wait for Jesus’ return it is to engage the world and proclaim his salvation.

Our calling is to preach the gospel in the face of hatred and opposition.

We aren’t to avoid the world we are to engage the world.

Rather than withdrawing from the culture we should be engaging in the culture.

We are called to be kingdom builders.

We are called to be disciple makers.

And we can’t do that if we avoid the culture.

Now we have to be careful.

As followers of Jesus we can’t become a part of the culture to engage in it.

We are called to be distinct from the world.

Listen to what Jesus says.

John 15:19 CSB

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.

Chosen out of the World

We are supposed to be different from the World.

We are not supposed to be like the ones that hate God.

Why?

B/c Jesus has chosen us. He has removed us from the enemies of God to a new community of God.

Listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We used to be rebels.

We used to be enemies of God.

But Jesus has saved us from that.

He has called us to be different.

If we are more comfortable with the World.

The enemies of God than we are with our new family, maybe we don’t belong to the new family.

Maybe we are still a part of the World.

Maybe we are still in rebellion.

If the enemies of God don’t hate the people of God then the people who claim to be of God don’t belong to him.

We have to know our status before God.

If we are a part of this new community he is building then we are former Rebels.

Listen to what this commentator said, We are “former rebels who have by the grace of the king been won back to loving allegiance to [our] rightful monarch...” therefore, we “are not likely to prove popular with those who persist in rebellion.”

One of the dangers and temptations that stems from our new position and our new community is to think that we are intrinsically superior b/c of our salvation.

I would caution against this.

We are not superior to anyone else.

We are simply saved by the King of the Universe.

We have to be careful not to flaunt our new position around as if we deserve it or earned it.

It’s grace that saved us.

It’s Jesus who chose us.

None of this had anything to do with me.

It had to do with Jesus bringing glory to the father.

And b/c God has saved us we should be distinctly different from the world.

Those outside our community need to be reached, but we don’t need to compromise our values and ethics to reach them.

James 4:4 “4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.”

Remember, we are to be counter-cultural.

That means we don’t love the same things that the culture loves.

We don’t sleep with people who aren’t our spouse.

We don’t engage in activities that make a negative mark on Jesus’ name.

I think its best for us to look at what Paul says to help understand just how different from the world we are to be.

Galatians 5:19–26 CSB

19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

So we are to be a unique and separate people.

And we should not chase after the World’s approval.

But unfortunately, there are those that do.

There are people who claim the name of Jesus while, at the same time, trying to garner the approval of the World.

They don’t want to be separated from the world, rather they want to take their sin and unrighteousness and attach the name of Jesus to it.

This is where theological liberalism and abandonment of the hard truths is scripture arise.

The bible is abandoned and seen as advice or even silly myths.

Whole sections of the God’s word are avoided b/c they will offend people.

The truth is, the Word of God will offend people who are enemies of God.

And as a new and unique community we need to stand firm on what God has said.

We have been called and saved to produce much fruit.

Jn 15.5 “5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

But we won’t produce fruit if we are chasing after the world.

Fitting in with the world is the exact opposite reason than why Jesus saved us.

We are called, chosen, and saved to look like, act like, and serve like Jesus.

That comes with problems.

The world is going to see us as aliens.

They are going to think that we are bigots or intolerant.

The world is going to hate the way we act b/c they hate Jesus.

And Jesus again reminds the disciples that this is going to be a reality for them.

John 15:20–21 CSB

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.

Serving the Hated One

We cannot expect the World to treat us any differently than they treated Jesus.

That’s what he means when he said “A servant is not greater than his master.”

In fact, this is the second time that he has used that phrase.

Do you remember when the first time was.

John 13.16 “16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.”

This came on the heels, no pun intended, of the foot washing ceremony.

Jesus first tells his disciples that they aren’t greater than him, therefore they need to serve one another.

Then he tells them, they aren’t greater than him so they will face the same persecution and hatred that he faced.

But if we want to follow Jesus we follow him all the way to the cross.

We can’t expect or wish for escape.

We have to know that following Jesus is going to cause hatred and anger to stir up in the hearts of his enemies.

But at the same time, there are going to be those that we come in contact with that are transformed by the preaching of his word.

They are going to listen and obey the instructions given by the father.

What Jesus is doing in these verses is identifying with his disicples.

He knows that struggles they are going to endure.

He knows the problems they are going to face.

He knows the hatred and anger that lies in the hearts of the enemies of God.

And how does he know it, it’s because he experienced it.

So we aren’t alone when people hate us for the message we bring.

Jesus was hated too.

And as we follow Jesus we are going to encounter a few different types of people.

1. People who are indifferent to the message. They don’t really care one way or the other about Jesus.

2. People who are hostile and oppose the gospel message. This is the category of the World. They will persecute those who love Jesus.

3. People who receive the message of the cross and submit themselves to Jesus.

But we aren’t in charge of who responds or how they respond.

We are tasked with the mission to bring the word to them.

The Holy Spirit is tasked with the mission to decided how they respond to the message, but we will talk about that later.

The world’s hatred towards you as a follower of Jesus isn’t personal.

They don’t hate you. They hate Jesus.

I think this is a truth that we really need to have a firm grip on.

Because I believe one of the reasons that people don’t share the gospel is b/c they hate rejection.

They don’t like to be turned down or turned away.

But we need to know that if we present the true gospel and someone rejects it, they aren’t rejecting you. They’re rejecting Jesus.

If they rejected Jesus while he walked the earth they are going to reject him now too.

Here’s another thing, we should be encouraged when we face the hatred of the world.

It marks us out as actually doing what Jesus commanded us to do.

It demonstrates that we are really his disciples.

We shouldn’t seek out persecution, but our lives should be such mirrors of Jesus that it happens as a by product of our obedience.

Listen to what happened to the disciples in Acts.

Acts 5:40-41 “40 After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. 41 Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name.”

Why were they hated?

Why did they get beaten?

B/c of the Name of Jesus.

That’s what Jesus said in v.21 Jn 15:21 “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.”

They hate us on account of the name of Jesus.

Remember we talked about what that means a few weeks ago.

But the name of Jesus represents his character and his mission.

So get this, you can’t be a jerk and claim it’s persecution.

You can’t act unlovingly or unkindly and say that it’s persecution.

You are only persecuted as a Christian if you are living like a Christian and people hate that about you.

If they hate you b/c of Jesus that’s righteous.

If they hate you b/c you’re hateful that’s not okay.

Why do people hate God?

B/c they are estranged from him.

They don’t want to submit to him.

And Jesus wants to help his followers see that.

John 15:22–25 CSB

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.

Why They Hate Jesus

Jesus lays out a simple and easy reason that the world hates him.

It’s because he exposes their sin.

He shows the world that they are wicked.

That they live in open rebellion against God.

They hate that their sin is exposed.

They hate that they can’t attain the perfect standard God has laid out.

People love darkness more than they love light.

Sin seems easier and more pleasant than living a life following Jesus.

The world is pitch black drowning in an ocean of sin and Jesus stepped into the world and shined a light on what wants to remain hidden.

So people fight against the exposure.

How does the world fight against being exposed?

It kills Jesus.

It rationalizes sin.

It calls what is bad good and what is good bad.

One of the things that baffles me is when people are surprised that the enemies of God are acting like enemies of God.

We should expect the world to look at like the world.

We should expect that sexual ethics are abandoned.

We should expect that selfishness increase.

Sin lashed out at Jesus driving him to the cross.

And on that Friday afternoon, Sin and Satan believed that they won.

They believed that the battle was over.

But Sunday morning, their defeat was apparent.

Here’s the thing if we want to live like Jesus.

If we want to walk in his footsteps, we must be willing to call out sin.

We cannot sit idly.

We tell people about their sin and point them to the grace of Jesus.

And some people will listen to the confrontation of their sin and they will repent.

They will turn toward Jesus.

Other’s, however, will want us to face the same fate that Jesus faced.

Exposing sin is how people can know they need a savior.

But as we tell people the same things that Jesus told them they will hate us and that exposes the truth that they hate the Father too.

You see, in order to truly love Jesus you have to be confronted with your sin.

Where you fall short.

Where you don’t meet the perfect standards God has laid out.

Some people when confronted with this truth, turn from their sin.

Others hate Jesus.

Jesus says here that people are without excuse for their sinfulness.

He is talking specifically about the Jewish people here.

But He is also saying that his work and his word testify about who he is and what he claims.

Since Jesus came to earth, the world is without excuse.

Now, if you are a follower of Jesus, you have seen the light and haven’t run from it.

You have embraced the truth that you are a sinner in need of a savior.

And You need to be prepared for what goes with that.

You are going to face persecution if you stand up for Jesus.

But you need to anyway.

In fact, Jesus tells us that in the face of persecution we need to continue to testify about his goodness and grace, but the good news is we won’t be alone.

John 15:26–27 CSB

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.

Keep Testifying

This is the third saying in the Final discourse that Jesus brings up the Paraclete.

The Holy Spirit. Our comforter, our counselor, Our Advocate.

The one who walks alongside us as we live the Christian life.

And in these two simple lines, Jesus is telling us that the Paraclete, The Spirit of truth’s job will be to testify about Jesus.

Verse 26 is a beautiful picture of the Trinity in Scripture.

The Father, Son, and HS working together to draw men to salvation.

The HS coming from both the Father and the son.

And the Spirit of Truth, the Paraclete, is going to empower us and equip us to bring the message of truth to hostile world.

We should be compelled by the goodness of God to tell others about him.

We need to expose the truth to a dying world.

That means we need confront the world and those who don’t know Jesus about their sin.

We also need to be honest and truthful about our sin.

We need to walk in truth.

We need to live in truth.

We need to testify to the truth.

We have to be willing to be rejected by people when we confront them with the truth that they are sinners and need a savior.

Some will hate our words.

They will hate the truth.

But it’s not loving, kind, or Jesus like to hide this truth from them.

We have to accurately and boldly preach the gospel to our family, friends, and neighbors.

We do not need to fear the rejection of the World.

B/c we know that the world, those opposed to God, will hate the truth of God.

But we can never stop testifying no matter the cost.

And for some of us the cost will be great.

It was Great for the first disciples.

Listen to what Jesus predicted would happen.

John 16:1–4 CSB

1 “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.

Don’t Fall Away

I want you to see something here, “the greatest danger the disciples will confront from opposition of the world is not death, but apostasy.”

What that means is that the greatest threat is not that you will die, it’s that you will walk away from the truth.

Because the cost may be too much for you to bear.

But that will only happen if you don’t recognize the greatness of the gift you have in Jesus.

If you popularity, influence, job, community or anything else is more valuable to you than Jesus then when persecution comes you will quickly give up Jesus for that other thing.

So what were the disciples going to give up to follow Jesus.

To testify about the truth?

They were going to be cast out of the synagogue.

Now this is a big deal.

It’s not like you could go to the church down the street.

If you were cast out of the synagogue then you were untouchable in the Jewish community.

Your identity would be erased. All future plans that you had would be gone.

You could not marry within the community anymore. Your children would also be outcasts.

You would be considered dead by your family. They would actually have a funeral and mourn you death.

You would be without a family, a community, and a future.

Everything that you had known, loved, and been raised in would be stripped away from you.

So you can see why Jesus found it important to warn them of the dangers of following him.

Why it would be important to spur them on to finish the race.

The cost of following Jesus was real.

So the temptation to walk away was great.

Not only that, but Jesus also told them that there would be those who would hunt them down to kill and eradicate them.

And if we are being real, many Christians have given their life for the church.

In fact, in the 20th century alone there are an estimated 26 million Christians that died for their faith.

But death isn’t the greatest danger, falling away, stumbling, or turning your back on Jesus is.

So how do we keep from falling away.

We keep our eyes on Jesus.

Who knew the pain of death.

Who sacrificed himself for our sins knowing that it would be painful.

Jesus is our model.

He endured to the the end.

He finished the race.

He is our example.

The author of Hebrews wrote this and I can’t think of a better way to finish this sermon than with these words.

Hebrews 12:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let’s Pray