Hated without a Cause

Hated without a Cause

John 15:18–25 (ESV)

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.’

I’d like to turn your attention to the often overlooked celebration that Halloween calls to mind. In case you've missed it before, the name Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows' Eve and signifies the night before All Saints’ Day. For centuries on All Saints’ Day, the Church celebrated the lives of Christians who went before us.

And rightly so: We can learn so much from those whom the author of Hebrews calls that great cloud of witnesses.

The tradition of remembering the Church triumphant dates back to the time of the first Christian martyrs. When soldiers of Marcus Aurelius Verus came to arrest Polycarp, a beloved church leader, Polycarp greeted them kindly.

According to the third-century historian Eusebius, Polycarp “ordered a table to be laid for them immediately, invited them to eat as much as they liked, asking in return a single hour in which he could pray.”

When Polycarp later stood in the coliseum, accused and surrounded by the jeering crowds,

the governor pressed him to recant his faith. Instead, this man, who himself had been discipled by the Apostle John, said this:

“For 86 years, I have been [Christ’s] servant, and He has never done me wrong: How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” As they were preparing to burn him alive, Polycarp offered up prayers of faith and praise.

In the years following Polycarp’s death, Christians would gather annually to take communion beside his grave. There they would remember his brave witness and take courage from his example.

As the years passed, the day shifted in focusing from remembering Polycarp to honoring all martyrs. By the seventh century, the Church created a holiday to honor all of God’s saints—heroes of the faith.

That was Chuck Colson, from October 31, 2007, describing the rich history behind All Saints' Day.

About 100 years ago, wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

GK Chesterton

There is much wisdom in this. The Christian faith is not easy for the human mind to grasp in so many ways, and not just because we believe God became a man, and died for the sins of the world.

What is so hard to grasp is its cost.

Not simply that which was paid by Christ himself, who set aside his glory to live among us, so that we might live forevermore with him.

But what it requires of us—the cost of being a Christian.

A life without cost and without Christ

Years ago, I read a passage from J. C. Ryle that described this dilemma well. He put it this way, first describing the ease of having an outward appearance of faith:

I grant freely that it costs little to be a mere outward Christian. A man has only got to attend a place of worship twice on Sunday, and to be tolerably moral during the week, and he has gone as far as thousands around him ever go in religion. All this is cheap and easy work: it entails no self-denial or self-sacrifice. If this is saving Christianity, and will take us to heaven when we die, we must alter the description of the way of life, and write, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to heaven!”1

Introduction

According to Jesus, there is a cost to following him that must be faced: his followers will be hated by the world.

Just as Jesus was savagely opposed by the people of his time,

despite his loving ministry and godly life, so also must those who follow him expect hostility and persecution from the world.[1]

Peter Kusmic, a Yugoslavian Christian who suffered under Communist persecution:

So much popular Western evangelical religiosity is so shallow and selfish. It promises so much and demands so little. It offers success, personal happiness, peace of mind, material prosperity; but it hardly speaks of repentance, sacrifice, self-denial, holy lifestyle and willingness to die for Christ.1[2]

According to Jesus, such an easy, persecution-free Christianity is far from normal.

Indeed, a kind of Christian faith that involves no sacrifice and produces no opposition from the world is, according to the New Testament, not true Christianity at all. Paul stated plainly:

“All who desire to lead a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).[3]

Open Doors released their annual World Watch List. The World Watch List assesses 50 countries where Christians face the most severe types of persecution.

The newly published data reveals significant changes in the situation of Christian minorities around the world.

The persecution of Christians has reached the highest levels since the World Watch List began nearly 30 years ago.

“Across 76 countries, more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith – an increase of 20 million since last year.”

312 million Christians live in the top 50 countries alone. One in every seven Christians live under at least high levels of persecution or discrimination for their faith.

Hated by the World

John 15:18 (ESV)

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

The word world?

He’s not talking about the planet. He’s referring to

All those who live in open rebellion to the Creator, which means all people. By virtue of our sin, all people have embraced this anti-God world system.

“In the unlikely event the world hates you.” The sense is more “If—and trust me they will.”

live as if not only isn’t there a God in heaven but even if there is he is not one that requires anything from me.

The hatred of the world is a certainty. If you’re following Christ, this is a guarantee. If Jesus was hated, so will his followers be.

Was Jesus hated?

Less than twenty-four hours after he made this statement, he was arrested, tried for crimes he didn’t commit, mocked, beaten, whipped, then executed as a criminal.

Before being hung on the cross, he was dressed up as a mock king, and while hanging on the cross, he was verbally assaulted before being physically impaled by a spear. Yes, the world hated him.

Jesus Has Called Us Out of the World

John 15:19 (ESV)

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.

The often low-key but nevertheless real hostility to Christ that is deeply imbedded in this world.

This world hates the things of God. This world hates Christ.

Unbelievers can tolerate Christ only as long as He is stripped of His real identity.

But if Jesus’ followers proclaim the real Christ, the biblical Christ, and demonstrate their allegiance to Him, they are despised by this world.

That’s why Jesus warned, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you” (Luke 6:26a).

If you’ve made friends with the world, you must have done it by compromising Christ.[5]

godless values and morals of this world- living not for the Honor of Christ for what is expedient and comfortable for me.

but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Christ chose the disciples for a specific work in this world. Therefore, although the world rejects Christ’s salvation and despises his work, it also hates those who have been chosen by him for it.

There is probably nothing that the world hates more than the idea that God has chosen for Salvation certain individuals.

Certainly, it was this more than anything else that caused the world’s hatred of Christ during the days of his ministry.

In John 6,

after Jesus had begun to talk about God choosing certain people for salvation,

pointing out that no man is able to come to him unless drawn by the Father

and that those who do not come to him do not because they cannot,

we read that many of his disciples “turned back and no longer followed him” (v. 66).

Similarly, in John 8, after he had taught the same thing, we read, “Then took they up stones to throw at him” (v. 59).

Nothing so stirs up the hatred of the worldly mind than the teaching that God in sovereign grace chooses some and does not choose others.[6]

“When the ‘I have chosen you out of the world’ becomes a practical reality, then the world’s rage and ban will be displayed.” A. W. Pink

We Serve the One the World Hates

John 15:20 (ESV)

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.

We follow Jesus. Where did Jesus go?

where did our master go?

To the cross.

You can’t follow a crucified Savior and not expect a cross. If our Master (who never sinned) died because of the world’s hatred, logic alone tells us we should expect something similar, especially since we have sinned.

“To put it at its widest—the world always suspects nonconformity.

The world likes a pattern; it likes to be able to label a person and to classify him and to put him in a pigeon-hole.

And anyone who does not conform to the pattern will certainly meet trouble.”1

if you and i do not agree with the trends in our culture away from godliness to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes we will be taken note of---- are you willing to stand for what Christ does?

When the world hurts and imprisons and kills Christians, it’s not about us; it’s about Jesus.

Their intended target was the King, but they can’t reach him, so they settle for taking aim at his followers.[7]

Several apostles were arrested in Jerusalem for preaching about Jesus. When they were brought before the ruling council, they continued to talk about Jesus. The religious leaders wanted to kill them but were talked into letting them go:

After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. 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. (Acts 5:40–41)

“If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

As was the case with Jesus, the majority would reject the disciples’ teaching and persecute them. But there would always be a minority who would accept the disciples’ message.

The joy of seeing those few come to faith in Christ far outweighs the sorrow caused by the hatred and hostility of the many who reject the gospel.[8]

The World Is Estranged from God

John 15:21 (ESV)

21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Sometimes Christians act surprised by the world’s behavior.

Too often we expect the world to live in obedience to God. We think a bunch of non-Christians should act like Christians. Jesus reminds us the world is estranged from God (v. 21).

The world is living in open rebellion against the Creator. Whenever we’re shocked by the world’s behavior, it’s because we’ve forgotten the world’s condition.

This is the great point that Jesus wants us to know:

the world hates his disciples because of him and therefore only because we bear his name.

This is our single greatest privilege, and it ought to be our greatest joy: to bear Christ’s name amid the world’s hatred and persecution.

when our greatest privilege is to be a Christian and never pay a price we have lost our way and give more evidence that we hate the father as the world does

When we are persecuted simply because of our faith in Jesus, our love for him, and the power of his kingdom at work in us, this blesses us richly.

It proves as little else can do that we must be children of God and citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

J. C. Ryle comments, “Persecution, in short, is like the Goldsmith’s hallmark on real silver and gold: it is one of the marks of a converted man.”7[10]

We actively seek out Jesus, and the more we do, the more the world will see it and respond negatively.[11]

No Plea of Ignorance

John 15:22–25 (ESV)

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.’

Jesus came to earth and did amazing things. He spoke like no man had ever spoken, and he did works no man had ever done. Yet the people hated him. [12]

Jesus adds his works to his words: “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” (John 15:24).

The religious leaders who crucified Jesus had seen his great miracles.

John’s Gospel highlights Jesus’ giving of sight to the man born blind (9:24–25) and his resurrection of dead Lazarus (11:44–46), both of which were miracles that the Pharisees knew to be true.

Years earlier, at the beginning of his ministry, the Pharisee Nicodemus had admitted what was obvious about Jesus’ mighty works:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (3:2).

This awareness, which ultimately drove Nicodemus to saving faith,

condemned those who recognized the divine origin of Jesus’ miracles and yet opposed, hated, and persecuted him.

It is similarly true today for

There are those who cannot deny the power of God at work in the lives of Christians, yet because of their love of sin and hatred for Christ go on to hate and persecute Christ’s disciples all the more.[13]

Jesus shone like the sun at high noon. As a result, all the sin and shame and wickedness around him were seen in the truest and most undeniable light.

Jesus made hidden sin visible.

He exposed all the ugliness in the hearts of the people.

All those who thought they were pretty good saw their sin exposed, and they hated Jesus for it .[14]

Jesus concludes his teaching with a reminder that the true judgment belongs not to the world but to God.

We see this in his statement that by the world’s persecution, “the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’ ” (John 15:25).

Jesus is referring here to the Pharisees who would crucify him, speaking of the Old Testament as “their Law.” The important point is to realize that, so

Far from the world’s being in control in its hatred and persecution of Christ and his people, the world is instead merely fulfilling what was foreordained and prerecorded by God in the Bible.

This quotation is from either Psalm 35:19 or Psalm 69:4, but the chief point is that it came from God, just as the world’s persecution of Jesus was ordained by God.

It was their malice that would nail Jesus to the cross, but it was God’s grace at work that through his death believers would be forgiven of our sins.

(cf. Acts 2:23).

We should not, therefore, fear the judgment of a world that even in its wrath can work only for the praise and glory of God and the salvation of his people.

(see Ps. 76:10). Instead, we should fear God, that is, we should concern ourselves with his judgment and seek his salvation through a costly faith in Jesus Christ.[15]

The real cost of being a Christian

And that’s what Ryle was really getting at. It’s not that there is such a thing as a cost-free faith, but in our attempts to live easily and comfortably, we need to consider what we’re losing.

We need to count the cost, as we were once commanded. Ryle put it this way:

But it does cost something to be a real Christian, according to the standards of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run.

Conversion is not putting a man in an arm-chair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory. Hence arises the unspeakable importance of “counting the cost.”

J.C. Ryle

That is the reminder we need in our moment. The reminder we need in every moment, in every era, whenever Christians are encouraged to conform to the world.

The Christian faith will cost us something. It requires us to let go of old patterns of life, destructive behaviors, even good things that are not the best things for us.

It demands that we deny ourselves for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and even our “enemies.” And we do this not to go along to get along, but to make the gospel known.

Conclusion

In Christ, our self-denial and sacrifice are transformed into joy as we pursue greater things than the fleeting pleasures of the world.

Let’s put the lavish love of God on display in word and deed and say, “Christ is better.”

We will all stumble in our pursuit of this joy, but may God grant us the strength to pursue still.

Matthew 5:10 (ESV)

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1. As published in J.I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J. C. Ryle, p. 174[📷]

3. Faithfulness and Holiness, p. 174[📷]

[1]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 311). P&R Publishing. 1 Quoted in Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King! (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 226. [2]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 312). P&R Publishing. [3]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 312). P&R Publishing. [4]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 15:18). Holman Reference. [5]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John (pp. 293–294). Reformation Trust Publishing. [6]Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (p. 1191). Baker Books. 6 Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 843. 1 William Barclay, The Gospel of John, vol. 2, 217. [7]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 15:20). Holman Reference. [8]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (p. 173). Moody Publishers. [9]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 15:21). Holman Reference. 7 J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1999), 3:132. [10]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 317). P&R Publishing. [11]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 15:21). Holman Reference. [12]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 15:22–25). Holman Reference. [13]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 319). P&R Publishing. [14]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (Jn 15:22–25). Holman Reference. [15]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 320). P&R Publishing. [16]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, pp. 320–321). P&R Publishing.