Sermon Tone Analysis

John Title Slide

Pray

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning.

It is a great privilege to stand before you gathered among your people and under the authority and teaching of your word.

We ask that you bless this time and use it to make much of your son in whose name we pray, Amen.

Intro

It is ironic though not coincidental that we are examining this text on this particular day that is New Years Day.

I can think of no better way to kick off the New Year than with the words- “You will be hated”.

The gospel writer John tells us in one of his letters to the church these words- 1 John 3:13

One of the greatest identifiers of sincere and true faith and, of course by contrast, insincere and false faith is persecution and hatred.

If someone is trying to become a Christian with a false motivation and a false intention, there is no, perhaps, quicker way to make evident the genuineness of their faith than to experience the hatred and persecution of the world.

If someone is trying to become a Christian because they’re trying to hookup with someone who already is one, or if someone is trying to become a Christian because of the social networking benefits of the church, or if someone is trying to become a Christian because of the community benefits and relationships and friendships within the church, or if someone is trying to become a Christian because of the economic opportunities within the church network....they just have to be placed in the eye of the storm of persecution and hatred and their faith will be immediately refined and revealed for what it is.

In our text today Jesus tells his followers that they will be hated by the world.

Why?

Because the world hates Jesus.

So to be associated with him, will incur hatred from the world.

Let’s begin by looking at V18.

This is what Jesus says-

John 15:18-19

Context

Before understanding these sayings by Jesus, we must understand whom he’s talking about when he’s referring to the “world” here.... He’s not talking about the earth.

He’s also not talking about earthly living.

Many Christians mistake this text to be teaching some sort of pie-in-the-sky escapism or worse, gnosticism, that assumes that the material world is evil and that because we’re not to be “of the world” we must therefore not value earthly things.

This error, often times, leads to the negligence of the physical order and at worse, an indifference to making any impact in the public square for the glory of God.

“This world doesn’t matter so.....who cares about how I treat my body…or how I engage in business......or how I treat my neighbors.....” is the common mentality of this kind of error.

Not only that but thinking that this earth doesn’t matter and only “spiritual” things matter, is also an erroneous assumption because we’re embodied souls.

And the new creation; the new heavens and the new earth will be a spiritual reality to be sure, but a physical reality nonetheless.

So the word “world” here is not talking about the physical earth.

The Greek word here is “kosmos”.

For those of you who understand Russian this should be familiar due to that fact that the Russian word for space is - “kosmos”.

But in the english language the word “kosmos” or “Cosmos” refers, not just to space, but to the entire universe.

And when we think of the Cosmos we think of the “order” of the universe or the “orderly system” of our galaxy.

Which is why the Greek word here doesn’t just mean “world” but also can mean “order” or “system”.

So when Jesus uses the word “Kosmos” here he is referring to an orderly system of cosmic proportions that is hellbent on opposing God and his word.

Which means that when we think of someone who is “wordly” we think of them as being in opposition or defiance of God’s order and God’s word.

But more specifically, who is Jesus talking about here when he says that the “world” will hate you?

Notice how he concludes this section of Scripture.

Look at John 15:25

Who’s the “their”?

Well, Jesus concludes by quoting Psalm 35:19 , which reads-

He’s talking about the Pharisees and Sadducees here.

When Jesus is referring to the “world” and “worldly system” here, he’s talking about the corrupt and rebellious religious Jewish system of his day.

Why?

Let me answer this question by clearing up a misconception about the Pharisees.

It’s no secret that the word “Pharisee” has become somewhat of a byword amongst not only the religious among us but also those of secular persuasions.

And I grant that the tarnished reputation of this title “Pharisee” is a deserved one.

However, the word Pharisee has also become known for or has become a synonym for the negative title of “legalist”.

Meaning- that the Pharisees were so concerned with law-keeping that they became these smug and self-righteous legalists who looked down at others with furrowed brows and a tight lip.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Pharisees (those who earned themselves this title in a negative sense) were known NOT because of their “law-keeping” but rather they were known for “avoiding” the law of God.

They hated God’s law; not publicly, of course, but in their approach to it.

They did everything in their power to come up with loophole after loophole after loophole.....to try and weasel their way out of obedience to the obvious standards of God’s laws.

And in their efforts of creating endless loopholes to try and excuse themselves from obedience, they created a bunch of their own man-made laws to justify their avoidance of God’s law and God’s word.

Why is this significant?

Because when the typical everyday average person in America thinks of Pharisees they think of people who are trying to keep God’s laws and God’s commandments......and that is a grave injustice.

A person who is trying to apply God’s commandments (properly and appropriately) is none other than an obedient follower of Jesus.

Now, to be sure, someone who is trying to obey God’s laws in an effort to make themselves righteous has certainly misunderstood the purpose of God’s laws and the means of salvation and justification.

But that is not the common flaw of Pharisees.

The true Pharisees of our modern day are the same ones as those of Jesus’ day......they are people who avoid obedience to God’s laws and God’s words and they hate people who remind them of God’s laws and God’s words; which is why they hated Jesus- because he continually reminded them of God’s laws and God’s words.

Friends, no one ever hated Jesus for his works; the healings, the miracles, the signs and wonders.....everyone loved those.

They hated Jesus because of his “words”.

Jesus says this very thing previously in John’s gospel in John 8:43-47 when he confronts the Pharisees concerning this exact same point-

They hated Jesus because of his “words”.

And it’s because of his same words that they will also hate his followers.

You remember what he said to them back in the previous chapter?

In John 14:25-26 he tells the disciples this-

So the disciples, after Jesus leaves the earth and after the Pentecost happens in Acts 2, they receive God the Holy Spirit and in receiving him, they experience a unique moment in redemptive history where the Holy Spirit reminds them of all the “words” of Jesus so that they can proclaim them and put pen to paper and write down the Scriptures.

And it’s on the basis of THOSE WORDS that Jesus’ followers are going to be persecuted and hated by the “world”; the book of Acts attests this when the “Jews” (The Pharisees and Sadducees) follow Paul around trying to get him killed.

Insert a few examples in church history of martyrs made because of God’s word.

Joan Hus or William Tyndale or Wycliffe, or Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer

"Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."

Use this at the end: Example of Cranmer as someone who compromised but then recanted his recanting and was burned in the flames along with his fellow friends.

https://discerninghistory.com/2017/12/thomas-cranmer-out-of-weakness-he-was-made-strong/

And it’s on the basis of THOSE VERY SAME WORDS that followers of Jesus will be persecuted and hated TODAY.

It’s very easy to be hated by the world.

Simply believe and speak God’s word.

To show you how easy it is to be hated by the world just think of it this way- Just simply say anything against-

Abortion

Egalitarianism

Homosexuality

Or the distortion and tragedy of Transgenderism and Androgyny.

5. Or decry Marxism and Critical Race Theory

As followers of Christ, we will experience hatred and persecution.

We shouldn’t be surprised when the world hates us.

We should expect it to.

Remember that, the Pharisees were the upperclass elites of society in Jesus’ day.

They were those who were “well-respected” because of their standing in society.

So it would be very easy to succumb to the temptation of trying to be liked by this group of people.

And the problem with many Christians today is that they’re going about the business of trying to live their life so that they’re liked by the world all the while failing to understand that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4).

We are bending ourselves backwards in trying to gain the approval of the world and we do so by trying to make God’s word palatable to pagans.

We try to make God’s word sweet-sounding to carnal ears, pleasant food to corrupt tastebuds, beautiful to blind eyes, and relevant to people who hate it no matter how distilled and contextualized it becomes.

Don’t misunderstand me please- there’s a place for conversation and discussion about God’s word and it’s goodness, beauty, and truth with non-believers.

But it’s a conversation that happens AFTER they know that you subscribe to its authority regardless of their opinion on the matter.

In other words- God’s word is not up for debate or opinion.

It’s non-negotiable.

And I’m simply wanting to point out to us this fact- that no matter how palatable we try to make God’s word to the world.....Jesus says it’ll still hate us because of it.

So, our goal should not be to win people over with our winsomeness.

But to win them over by proclaiming the truth of God in love desiring their good and the salvation of their soul.

The powerlessness of the modern American evangelical church is a powerlessness that has been brought about by the death of a thousand qualifications.

Kafka trap