Love and Hate

Today we will talk about contrasts. After Jesus talked about giving us the holy spirit he began to tell his disciples about what to expect in the future. he wanted them to be prepared and ready for what came next. He wanted us to be prepared.

There are two reasons to tell someone something, the first is that you expect them to do something, change something, or respond in some way that they would not have done had they not known what you told them. Most education falls in this category. We teach doctors about diseases because we expect them to respond differently than other people by knowing what cure goes with what disease so that they can do their job. The more they know about the various diseases and the various cures the better they are able to help their patients. We also teach doctors the names of all the bones in the body and the function of the organs in the body. We do not expect that they will prescribe different medicines because they know the names of the bones in the hand or that they will be better at setting bones because they know what a spleen does but we know from past experience that just knowing more and understanding more about how the body is put together and how the various parts work makes someone a better doctor.

Jesus has just told us about the holy spirit because he wants us to rely on the holy spirit and wait on the holy spirit. Next he tells us one piece of information because he wants us to act differently because of what he told us and another piece of information because he wants us to know it is coming.

John 15:12–27 NASB95

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. “You are My friends if you do what I command you. “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. “This I command you, that you love one another. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave 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. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. “He who hates Me hates My Father also. “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

First he tells us to love one another. He tells us this because he expects us to change our behaviour so that we do love one another. He tells us that laying down your life for your friends is the greatest love so that you will know how to love one another and he tells us that this is a commandments so that we will know that he expects us to do it without fail, whether we feel like it or not. We are all well aware of what Jesus expects here but he makes sure to make it official by telling us and then commanding us to obey.

Next he tells us about something else. When he told us to love one another he was telling us what we should do but then he tells us what to expect from others. Of course we can change what we do and so change our own behaviour but we have no control over what others do. There is nothing for us to change or do different, we do not control the actions of others, even those actions which affect us, but we are affected by them.

So Jesus warned us what to expect. We are supposed to love one another but the world is going to hate us. In fact Jesus says the world hated him and it continues to hate him. Because the world hated Jesus and hated the God who sent him and the world had not changed, the world will hate anyone who tries to imitate or follow Jesus. If the world hates God for being God and hates Jesus for doing everything God wanted him to do and for being like God then it stands to reason that if a man or a woman began to transform their lives to be more like God and more like Jesus then the world would hate that man or woman for the same reasons it hates God and Jesus.

Now this idea of hating us means something a little more than what you might think. Why would the world hate us, what would cause that, after all we didn’t do anything to them, or did we? This word hate also means to detest or to persecute. Now why do you think people detest other people. I tried to think of things that we detest or things that I detest, of course the obvious place to turn was the bible.

Proverbs 6:16–19 NASB95

There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

The word abomination is also translated detest.

Arrogance, liars, murderers, planned wickedness, false witness, and troublemakers, that is what God finds detestable. Why because these things are all ways to act hateful to one another rather than acting lovingly toward one another. All of these actions directly oppose what God is trying to accomplish and directly work to counteract God’s plans. But if that is what God finds detestable what would we expect the world to find detestable?

Well the world would find things detestable that are the opposite of what the world wants and that work contrary to the world’s plans.

The world wants to have fun and be happy. The world teaches that the way to have fun is to do the opposite of what God says to do. Many people have the idea that God just wants us to not have any fun or that being a Christians means that you can’t do anything that is fun. If you thought that the thing that makes you happy is having fun and that someone was trying to keep you from having fun wouldn’t you hate that person?

The world also thinks that the best way to have fun and be happy is to do whatever you want to do and not let anyone tell you that you can’t do something or that you have to do something. No one likes being told what to do. Of course we see this in our own lives and the lives of our children. If you just let children do whatever they want to do and whatever they think is fun most kids would only play and never go to school or study. Of course we know that to be successful and to live a full life there are things they need to know and learn. If kids were left to do whatever they wanted to do they would eat only candy and no vegetables. Of course we know that if you only eat candy you will be unhealthy and sick and no one likes to be sick, a diet of only candy would not give you the strength or energy you need to do what you want to do. We know that even though candy tastes great eating only candy will not keep you healthy. In fact eating only apples, or only potatoes, or only anything else “only” would be unhealthy.

Now the impression that much of the world has about Jesus and Christianity and Christians is that we are always going around telling people what they can’t do and what they have to do and what they should do. That we are telling them what to do and that we are judging them and condemning them. People hate to be told what to do and they really hate to be judged so when they think that is what we are about then they hate us by extension. Of course as Christians we are not supposed judge and the commandments of God are not things that we are supposed to tell others to do but things we are supposed to do ourselves. Christianity is not about telling other people how to live their lives or what to do but about how we live our lives and who we live our lives for.

Of course some Christians are judgmental and some of us love to tell others what they should do and how they should live but that is not because God told them to but because we are all sinners. God is constantly telling his people how to live and what to do but Paul tells us in his word that if someone is not a child of God then we are wasting our time trying to tell them how to act and what to do because even if they were somehow able to correct all of their bad behaviour and act perfectly if they did not get saved and still had their past sins left unclensed they would still go to hell and so you would not have accomplished very much. Instead of trying to fix the behaviour of those who are not saved Paul recommends to the Corinthians that they focus on getting them saved and then after they are saved is the time to work on their behaviour.

If we did it right, did what God actually tells us to do we would spend our time like this. First we would spend most of our time and effort working on our own behaviour and our own relationship with Jesus which would make us kinder and more caring people, better friends and better workers. We would be the kind of people everyone wants for a friend or a coworker and when we did interact with people who were not saved we would be most concerned with their well being and what is best for them, because that is what christian love is. Of course even if we did everything right the world would still hate us. We know this because Jesus did everything right and the world hated him.

Do you wonder why. It is easy to explain. People often feel condemned. The fact that God says one thing is right and another thing is wrong means that people who are doing the things that God says is wrong feel that they are being condemned and no one likes to be condemned. Of course they are not entirely wrong. They are wrong that Jesus is not condemning them just because he says one thing is right and another thing is wrong. The truth is they are condemned already. Whether you hear Jesus say what is right and wrong or not and whether or not any Christian anywhere in the world has ever told you about the bible or about the rules that God established the rules still exist and the end is the same.

It is just like eating only candy and not eating healthy food. It doesn’t matter if you know that only candy is unhealthy or not it does not change the fact that it is in fact unhealthy. Whether you understand the difference between healthy eating habits and unhealthy eating habits does not change how your body responds to the eating habits you have, whether you have a doctorate in human nutrition or you are a two year old child who only knows what they like your body responds just the same no matter what your knowledge level is. Of course if you don’t know any more about nutrition than the average two year old then even if you want to do better and feel better you don’t know how so you are stuck and you can’t make a change even if you want to.

But what if someone came and took the time to tell you all about how nutrition works and how your body responds to different foods, the kind foods you need and how to know what vitamins you need and how to get them now you have some options. Knowing everything there is to know about nutrition does not make you healthy and it won’t change your overall health Just knowing about it doesn’t change the outcome and it doesn’t change your eating habits but it does give you the option of making some changes. If you just don’t know why your body doesn’t have what it needs to be healthy then you can’t fix it even if you want to. Once you know what is going on and why, and how to fix it you have options and you can choose how to respond and what to do.

In the same way, if you don’t know about how God made the world and how salvation and condemnation works then you are stuck, you don’t have any options. If someone tells you about God and about how God made the world, if someone tells you about sin and about salvation and about how God made the world and how it works nothing really changes. Its like knowing about good nutrition. Knowing doesn’t force you to change and not knowing doesn’t protect you from the consequences of how everything works. The only thing that changes is that now you have options.

People feel condemned by Christians because we tell them that they are condemned, actually feeling condemned is appropriate because they are condemned. The thing is that any person who is not perfect is condemned. The only way to change that is to accept the salvation of the one person in history who is perfect and “put on” the perfection of Jesus so that it covers our imperfections. We are born condemned because we are born into sin, whether we know about Jesus or not we are condemned, whether we know how to fix it or not we are condemned. If Jesus is not in your life, and if you are past the age of accountability, then you are condemned. At least if you know about Jesus you have the option of fixing that. You have the option of changing your life.

The goal of Christian witnessing is to display what living a Christlike life is like and showing someone how to change their own life by accepting Jesus as their saviour. Now you have the option, it doesn’t force you to change. Neither Jesus nor a christian acting on behalf of Jesus will force you to get saved, it is still your option. However it would be unkind and unhealthy to not tell you the truth and let you destroy yourself without giving you the option of changing your life.

The response of many people is like I was as a little kid about monsters in my bedroom. I was afraid that there was something in the dark in my bedroom that wanted to hurt me. I was terrified that if I turned off my light whatever it was would get me before I could get to the bed. So I would turn off the light and run to the bed as fast as I could and cover myself up and hide. It was critical that every part of my body was covered so that the monsters could not find me. After a little while I would feel safe enough to poke my head out from under the covers but it was terribly important that I keep my eyes closed tight so that I couldn’t see the monsters. I guess if I could not see them then they could not see me. It made no sense. There was nothing in the dark and if there was a monster there in the dark it would also be in the light. Even if there had been a monster that only came out in the dark I am not sure he would be unable to find me under the covers or that keeping my eyes shut would keep him from seeing me.

If you can’t see the bad guys they can’t see you. If no one tells you what is wrong you don’t have to fix it. If you ignore God and pretend. that he doesn’t exist then you can ignore the need to do anything about it and you can do whatever you want just as if there are no consequences. It’s a great plan except it just isn’t true. So you kill the messenger. Expect to be hated and detested, expect to be misunderstood and accused. Give grace, they just don’t know, they just don’t understand. Expect to be treated unfairly but treat others fairly anyway. Expect to be hated and despised, love anyway.

Expect to be rejected, offer anyway, expect that most will not accept Jesus, most will take the wide path, spread Jesus anyway.