John 15:18-16:4

The World will Hate You

Intro

The eleventh commandment is: thou shalt be nice. The problem with Keller’s third-wayism, is that it forces the Church to try way too hard to get the world to like you. I have used Aaron Renn’s three worlds model before, but let me sketch it briefly for you as I think it is a helpful model to look at the church today.

In February 2022, Aaron Renn, a Christian cultural commentator, wrote an article that ran in First Things called The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism. It was later expanded into a book called Life in the Negative World. In the article, he attempts to provide a framework for the development of evangelicalism from post-WWII up to the present. He posits that evangelicalism, at least since the 20th century, has gone through three different worlds. The positive world was everything pre-94; during that time, it was a positive good to be a Christian. Then, from 94 to 2014, it was a neutral world; it did not have a “privileged status but is not disfavored.” But since 2014 things have changed, we are now in what he calls a negative world. He puts it this way:

Society has come to have a negative view of Christianity. Being known as a Christian is a social negative, particularly in the elite domains of society. Christian morality is expressly repudiated and seen as a threat to the public good and the new public moral order. Subscribing to Christian moral views or violating the secular moral order brings negative consequences.(https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/02/the-three-worlds-of-evangelicalism )

Now we might argue over his dates and other specifics in the article, but I find this framework very helpful for thinking about the strategies we adopt to engage the culture. The old strategies employed during the positive world are best seen in the culture warriors of the moral majority. While the neutral world was best served by the seeker-sensitive movement, the best model of that was Tim Keller in NYC. But the problem is we don’t live in a neutral world, and I think we never did.

Part of the problem that has led our culture to slide further away from Christendom is the church has lost its prophetic edge. It has, in an effort to win the culture, conformed to it, and is now collapsing under faulty presuppositions into has fallen into irrelevance. Compare, for instance sermons preached by puritans before parliament, or even election day sermons preached in early America, when compared with Bishop Mariann Budde so-called sermon last Tuesday at the National Cathedral prayer service. What an embarrassment. But it was dripping with “niceness” and “empathy.” She spoke of unity, giving it three foundations, shared image of God, honesty (although she admits we don’t know the truth), and humility. But it was her plea to Trump for mercy on behalf of all the scared and beat down minorities in America right now who fear how his policies will affect them. No mention of the gospel.

The unstated assumption of the Gospel of “niceness” is if the world finds what we are doing disdainful, then we are wrong and should change. So our ethics get watered down in the widening of God’s mercy and we become LGBTQ affirming. We give women a prominent place in church, installing them in Women’s counsels, and hiding them on deacon’s boards, all unordained mind you, but doing the same task Elders and Deacons do. And we allow effeminate men in the pulpit, and we cater to singles by teaching them to embrace it as a calling, when most don’t have the gift of celibacy and should seek marriage. We hide our egalitarianism under the flag of Complementarianism, providing feminism with a strong shaping role. These sneak in because we want to be nice, and we want to contextualize the message to our current culture. We cave because we want to be winsome.

But Jesus says the world will hate you, and seek to persecute you. That’s a design feature that should always accompany those who follow Christ. And I would contend if you don’t make the world a little upset by your presence, then you are doing something wrong. I’m not saying we need to adopt an intentional hostile attitude like that of Westboro Baptist and their signs with: God Hates Fags. But neither should we make our churches sanctuaries for the sin of Sodomy to come and make their home in, draping the pulpit and table with the symbols of sodomy.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed and Jesus tells His disciples what to expect from the world when he is gone. He wants them to be aware so that they are not surprised when the world hates them and seeks to persecute them. By telling them beforehand, he means to fortify them so that when trouble comes, they don’t fall away. Let us consider several reasons the world hates Christians, before we look at what they might do to persecute us–often thinking they are pleasing God, in the case of the Jews.

The World will hate you because it hates Jesus. Jesus is keen to prepare His disciples for the road ahead. Which means they need to understand the why of the world’s behavior if they are to persevere and not lose hope. The disciples must not expect that they would receive any different treatment than Jesus does. So if the world hates them, they should know it first hated Him. Why might that be important? Well, simply because we naturally recoil from conflict, we want to be in step with others in society. There is none in society the disciples would have been more susceptible to want to please than the dominate religious ruling class. But it is primarily they who have hated and will persecute Jesus. So fortifying them against the temptation to second-guess their life choices when hatred and persecution come, Jesus points them to His example both as the one preeminently hated, but also as a model for how to respond.

He continues in v. 20, saying, “remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’” (Jn. 15:20). He reminds them of the discussion they had when he washed their feet (Jn. 13:16) that they should expect to imitate Him. There he was offering them a model of servant leadership (as much as that word has been ruined, the concept is biblical). If they must imitate Him in their disposition towards one another, then they must also expect that they will receive the same treatment the world gave to Him. “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn. 15:20). These things the world will do to the disciples on account of His name (21).

From the fact that the world hates the disciples because it first hated Him, the disciples will learn two things. First, hatred and persecution are not new. So don’t be surprised. Second, they hate Jesus first and only His disciples because they belong to Him. Which leads to the second reason the world will hate you.

The world will hate you because you are not one of them. The world loves their own. Who are these? Remember world in John’s Gospel are those who have set themselves against God. That includes Jews who reject Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. As Jesus has made it clear, they are of their father, the Devil. But broadly speaking, we can say that the world is all those who reject Jesus as Lord.

You see, in distinction to the world, Jesus chose some out of the world. Here again we encounter that word which in theological terms we call election. Jesus laid this out in terms that might be easier to understand when he spoke of being the Good Shepherd.

“At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”” (Jn 10:22–30).

The Jews who did not believe in Jesus didn’t hear His voice and they didn’t follow Him. But that’s because they are not His sheep. His Sheep are those given to Him by the father (29). They hear His voice, follow Him, and He will give them eternal life. These are those the Father chose from the foundation of the world for the Son to save, these he will cause to persevere until the end. For not one of them will he lose, and no one can snatch them out of His hand.

It is this status that makes the world hate you. You don’t look like them, you don’t act like them, Paul says to them you are an aroma of death. And what the world doesn’t like or understand it hates and will persecute. We become like a disease to the world that its antibodies attack, thinking that by so doing they will be healthy. But that is more akin to an autoimmune attack, since we are the healthy part

So the source of the world’s animosity is Christ, they hated Him first, and because we have been chosen by Him out of this world, we can expect the same treatment, the same animosity. But as much as this should not surprise the disciples, it is still inexcusable, and the world will be judged for their animosity towards Christ and His Church.

The World’s hatred of Christ is inexcusable and will be judged. As Jesus continues to unravel the world’s hatred, he encourages His disciples by showing that the world’s hatred of Him comes from their rejection of His word and works, both of which were revelations of the Father. Meaning that they are also hatred for the Father. But along with all the things that are not surprising, this is one of them.

Jesus came with a message (words) that the Father had commanded Him to speak, and these were accompanied with powerful signs (and wonders) which authenticated the man and the message. To hear them (and see them) and reject them renders someone without excuse guilty of sin. Not that there was no sin before Christ came, but as the truth, and the true exegete of the word of God, Jesus makes plain what may have been unclear before. To see this from another perspective consider how John explained this earlier in ch. 3.

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”” (Jn 3:16–21).

Light is clear and evident, and when it comes, to reject it, is to prefer the darkness, and there is a hardness to that, and unwillingness to come out into light (and be exposed). But to do so leaves that person condemned already.

And as Jesus has forcefully taught to reject the Word of God, is to reject God; to reject the Son is to reject the Father. If they hate Jesus, they hate His Father, for by rejecting His revelation in word and work, they have rejected the one that He came to reveal.

But along with everything else Jesus has encountered in His ministry, this is not surprising. In fact, it was a part of the plan from the beginning. He proves this by grounding their inexcusable hatred for Him in the Psalms. “But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’” (Jn 15:25). That is a quote from two Psalms which exemplify the righteous sufferer (Ps. 35:19; 69:4). In that way he shows, not only that this was always meant to be, but he aligns himself with that well know OT motif. Throughout the Farewell Discourse, Jesus has sought to impress upon the disciples that His word and work are grounded in the OT Scriptures. Including the suffering of the righteous servant of God. It’s not surprising that Jesus should suffer, for he is the person all of those OT righteous sufferers pointed to. But just because it is planned that this should be so does not at all mean the world will get away with it. As Jesus said,

““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” (Mt 23:29–36).

Although the World will hate you because of Jesus, He has told you these things so that you will not fall away. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and because what’s in store for the disciples is social isolation, being driven out to the edges of society by being excommunicated from the synagogue. But as bad as that might have seemed to most in first century Judea, I think the disciples have already wrapped their head around that. But that it might cost them their life to follow Christ, might not have registered. For we know that some of them still entertain ideas that Jesus will usher in someone sort of political victory that will reestablish the Israel as the Kingdom of God. Have they really considered the cost.

The World’s hatred and persecution will either winnow or strengthen the Church. In a sense, talk like this has two purposes: one is a winnowing affect, the other strengthens. There is no room in Jesus’ entourage for those who don’t consider the cost (and are more than willing to pay it). Remember, there are no branches in Jesus that don’t bear fruit. So there are no disciples that will not go through the painful pruning process so they bear more. One of the Father’s chosen tools to prune you is the world’s hatred.

They say the blood of the martyrs is the seedbed of the church. And it is true that the church often grows rapidly when it faces the hostility of the world. And it will weed out imposters (dead branches) and strengthen those who remain. Not that we pray for persecution, but as Jesus makes clear, we are not surprised when it comes.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Pe 4:12–14).

Everyone of the NT writers alludes to the suffering that will attend the Christian life.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Jas 1:2–4).

Yet, we are almost always surprised when we actually face it. It somehow always seems to unsettle us, and lead to why O Why God, would you allow the world to hate me? But we are often just as good at avoiding it at all costs, usually by making ourselves seem less odd to the world. By odd, I mean less holy, which is really how the world sees and interprets holiness.

In 1651 the Scottish Divines gathered to confess their sins together, and they got very specific. I have these listed on the wall in my office to remind me to confess my own sins. One of them goes like this:

"Instability and wavering in the ways of God, through the fears of persecutions, hazard, or loss of esteem; and declining duties because of the fear of jealousies and reproaches. Not esteeming the cross of Christ, and sufferings for His name, honorable, but rather shifting sufferings, from self-love.

It’s certainly not just ministers who seek to avoid suffering with Christ. What ways have you shifted suffering through self-love? Have you been cautious at work to let people know you are a Christian to avoid charges of bigot or homophobe? Or because you don’t want to stand out. Or you think it might cost you that promotion? What ways have you cheapened the cost of discipleship by refusing to go outside the camp and suffer with Christ?

If you have put your faith in Christ, and are following Him, then he has called you to bear witness to Him, and that is a public task. One that will cause you to make known to the world that you belong to Him and by implications that you are not of the world.

Now, we will consider this in much more detail next week, but notice v. 26 that Jesus promises to give His Spirit to empower this kind of witness. This is Jesus’ third time mentioning the sending of a Helper, “the Spirit of truth.” One of His purposes for coming will be to bear witness about Christ, and also to empower the disciples to also bear witness.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, bearing witness is a very rich theologically deep term, that is much broader than just say, handing out tracts. One way we bear witness is by suffering well.

Nothing speaks louder than a Christian who, amid the world’s ire and persecution, they maintain their joy as they suffer for the cause of Christ. Think of the disciples early in the book of Acts.

“and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” (Ac 5:40–42).

They rejoiced that they had been beaten for Christ. This continues throughout Acts. Think again of Paul and Silas in prison at Phillipi, after having been beaten and put in the inner prison with their feet in stocks. Yet what are they doing? “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,” (Ac 16:25). The truth is, the world is always watching you, and at every moment, you should bear witness to Christ. And that means that if the Lord should call you to suffer, you must pray that he enables you to bear witness to Him in your suffering.

While not all of your suffering is brought on by the hatred and persecution of the world, and perhaps you can’t even think of a time when you’ve been called on to suffer in this way. Yet, I want to suggest that there is another, even closer way that the world manages to hate you and even persecute that you might not have thought of.

There remains a little of the world in you which wages war against your spirit. Here I want to make a very subtle distinction between the world out there and the world that remains in you. As much as we have been redeemed by Christ, and grace restores and perfects nature. However, we are still in middle of that continuum between restoration and perfection. Grace also renews nature by aligning our wills to conform to Christ. A good illustration of this is Israel in the wilderness. It wasn’t that it took Israel forty years to get out of Egypt; it was that it took God forty years to get Egypt out of Israel.

So this life is a journey towards God by weaning you from the world. Paul’s prescription for overcoming sin is to “set your mind on the things above, not on things that are on the earth” (Col 3:2). For you are not of this world. You still live in it, but you are not of it (Jn. 17:14-15), and your life must steadily bear witness to that fact. Have you ever noticed that scripture uses martial, battle imagery to describe your stance towards the flesh (i.e. what is worldly in you). We are to mortify (kill) the flesh, which is at war within us.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” (2 Co 10:3–6).

But if you’ve been at this battle for more than a day it can seem like the flesh (world) is much stronger and that it daily persecutes you, that it even hates you since it torments you daily. Now I think this is tangential to what Jesus is speaking of, but it is still a battle and one we must fight well. John says,

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 Jn 2:15–17).

How do you be in the world, but not of it? Stop loving it; stop letting the world shape your desires. Worship is the chance each week to renew our covenant, to have our loves re-calibrated, so they point in the right direction. In worship we are reminded that although the world hates us, and seeks to persecute us, in here we remember where our home is and we are shown what he loves. For they may destroy the body, they may visit us with unimaginable suffering, but they can never separate us from the love of Christ, they can never take away from us our Hope. For we know that the path to glory, the path that leads to a place free from hatred and animosity, goes through suffering and death; it is always the cross before resurrection.

So consider yourself forewarned: they hated Christ, they will hate you. Do not be surprised when this happens. Prepare for it by arming yourself with God’s precious promises. Especially this, which could be the theme of this whole Farewell discourse: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (Jn 14:27). Amen. Let’s pray.

Lord’s Supper Meditation

Here we are invited to sit down at a table in the presence of our enemies. They may be right outside the door, but we can sit down in peace because we know that real peace is not found in being friends with the world, Its not found in making them think we are one of them. Remember, real peace is the absence of hostility, the absence of hatred and enmity, but not with the world, with God. When you are at peace with God, it doesn’t matter if the world hates you. You can have perfect peace even when they hate you and try to kill you because Jesus has removed any trace of hatred God would have had for you. For there will come a point when God’s love for the world, the love that moved Him to send His only Son to come and save it from sin, there will come a time when that love has accomplished His mission. Then he will no longer extend love and mercy through the message of the gospel, but he will, in the great fury of His wrath make war against the world. He will visit the fierceness of His wrath on the world by avenging the blood of the martyrs, those who cry out even now from beneath the throne, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Re 6:10). Then the world will have no excuse for their rejection of Jesus, then the world will held accountable for their sins and for their hatred and persecution of Christ and His church. But until then, may the peace of Christ enable you to endure patiently the hatred and persecution of the world, by coming to this table and eating and drinking by faith. Let me remind you that by doing so you also public proclaim His death, and that at least means that you will say publicly–I identify with Him. It means that you accept that when you do so, it may mean that your body will be torn and your blood may be poured out too. And that is a price you would willingly pay that the world may know you are with Him. As Paul said, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Co 10:16). You must not expect participation in the death of Christ to be a pain free experience. If you have then I promise you when hardships come you will flee from Christ, and abandon the faith. And if you do, you will prove that you never belonged to Christ. But I feel sure of better things for you. Here then this exhortation from the Author of Hebrews,

“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Heb 10:32–39).

So to those who are willing to drink the cup of Christ’s sufferings, come by faith and preserve your soul by fortifying your faith through the persevering grace of Christ offered you in this meal today.

Charge

Do not be surprised: the world will hate you and persecute you. But remember, it does so because you are not one of them; because you belong to Christ, and the world hated Him first. He has told you so that you would be ready, and when it comes, you would not be surprised and fall away. And he has given you His Spirit so that in your suffering you may bear witness to Christ.