Why the Hatred

Why the hatred

May 18, 2025

John 15:12, 17-27

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One of my most enjoyable things to do is sight in a rifle. There is a satisfaction in seeing the progression of perfection. This is what I mean.

TARGET PICTURE

If I were to ask the hunters/shooters in the room if this gun is sighted in, many of us would shrug and say, not really. You have shots all over the target. It’s okay, but not perfect.

TARGET PICTURE

Now, that one is much better! There are no stray shots. There are three almost perfectly dialed shots only about two millimeter off from center mass. Getting these shots this tight takes time, practice, expertise, wisdom, charismatic awesomeness…

I have a real-world example here. As you look at this target, you see it is a dart board. There were five of us. Scott, Justin, Adam, Mike and myself. The person with the highest score won. I want you all to notice that there are three perfectly positioned rounds in the 20 (highest score) target. That person smoked all the others. I have been holding onto this for a year! I just want you all to know I won.

Other than bragging about beating these guys, there is a point. The point is I want you all to see all the other holes. The main target was hit, but there is damage all over this sheet of paper. If I were to spiritualize this, the world takes shots at us true followers of Christ in every generation. The main bullseye is the middle of the target, but there is damage all around this paper. If Jesus is the bullseye, we are the other colors on this page.

When Jesus said that the world is going to hate us, we need to understand why. This understanding will bring us confidence and encouragement to endure all that the world has to throw at us.

As a review, Jesus is giving His last real sermon to His true followers. He is still teaching His disciples to abide in Him. We find our Lord walking to the garden to be arrested and tried. Judas is NOT in the crowd. It is only the true believers. In chapters 13-15 (to this point), Jesus has been speaking about nothing but God’s Love and His love for His chosen.

I read for you verses 12, 17-25 to get your heads around the major shift from love to hate. It is a drastic shift in topic. In verses 18-25, Jesus wants His true believers to understand what we will experience and answers the question of why the hatred.

1.             We are not of the world.

Vs 18-19 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[1]

The world: (kosmos). n. masc. the created world, the universe, all created things.

When used in this context, Jesus is talking about a world and its system. John uses 10 different definitions for the word “world” and this one is specifically talking about a system. When used in the NT like this, the Word of God wants the readers to know that the “world” stands at odds to it’s creator. It is the enemy of God and those who are of God. The world is the system that seeks to destroy everything that is not of itself.

Going back to my target, the goal is to strike the center, but everything around that bullseye is fair game. The world HATES God and will throw everything it has at that target. The light came into the world, and the world sought to destroy it. (John 3:19)

RC Sproul writes that “As Jesus’ disciples and friends, we receive His peace, His love, and His joy, but we must also participate in the inheritance that He receives from this world. The legacy of the world to Christ is its enmity, scorn, rejection, and hatred. [3]”

It is an interesting study, isn’t it? You can say on national tv, “I want to thank God for my success.” But the second you say, Through Christ and Christ alone I want to thank Him for my salvation…” the feed gets cut, the topic gets changed, the animosity is felt and the frustration shows.

Have you ever wondered why? I looked it up, and there are over 10,000 individual religions in the world today. For the most part, the world is accepting of all of them. They even want to give the impression that all are okay. But the second you stand on the exclusivity of Christ, the response is immediately obvious.

The truth is that the world is a fallen system, and it continues to fall. It seems like evil only has one direction: more evil. It is a bottomless pit of rebellion from God. 1 John 3:11-15 says:

11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.

The second you define the real Jesus Christ, the One of the Bible, you will find out quickly who is of the world and those who are not. The reason is that Jesus does not give man the opportunity to be indifferent to Him. His Word shows us clearly what side we are on. Nothing is left unrevealed.

You cannot be indifferent to the Biblical Christ in hopes of being the “secret Christian.” Luke 6:26 says “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.” Jesus never said that we could secretly believe in Him. Frankly, to be a closet Christ follower is an insult to those who have endured horrific death and martyrdom for the Name of Christ, all the while we secretly hold our faith quiet for the sake of making sure people around us like us.

The world system is bent on the destruction of that which is not of its system. The 10,000 uniquely different religions are all man-made except one. That one is heavenly and will be attacked. True Christianity will always stand at odds with the world system. The reason is its source, Salvation from the world system.

SHOW PITCUTE OF LINES:  The Asch Conformity Experiment, conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950s, is a classic social psychology study demonstrating the power of conformity. It showed that individuals are likely to conform to the majority opinion, even when that opinion is clearly wrong. Participants were asked to judge the length of lines, and when most of the group gave an incorrect answer, a significant number of participants conformed to that incorrect answer.

The world seeks to make everyone, even Christ followers to conform or be broken. So, why the hatred?

2.            Because they hate the Lord Jesus.

Vs 20: 20 Remember the word that I said to you: . servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you[4]

Remember last Sunday, that word “servant” in the ESV should read “slave”. A person who has given all rights to his or her master. The slave to Christ will suffer as He did. We should and must hear what He is saying. If the master suffers, who is the slave to say that he or she is above the same treatment?

The closer we get to knowing our master, the more the attacks will be more pointed and accurate. Satan gives little attention to those who are far from Christ; that is exactly where he wants us, comfortably away from his Target. So, if you are comfortable, that may be a bad place to be.

One only needs to look briefly at church history, and you will see my point. The first to suffer for the name of Christ after our Lord was Stephen (8 years after Jesus), then James, who was the first of the twelve to be martyred in Acts 12:2 by King Herod. Then in AD 54 Pilip is said to be scourged and crucified. Matthew is said to travel to Ethiopia, where it is said he was pinned to the ground and beheaded. James the half-brother of Jesus was said to have been stoned on the order of Ananus and cast from the Temple Mount.

Andrew was the brother of Peter and traditions says that he was crucified on an X-shaped cross. Mark was said to be drugged to death. Peter was crucified on the order of Nero. Paul was imprisoned many times, stoned, and eventually beheaded in AD 66. Bartholomew was beaten and crucified, Thomas was tortured, Luke we don’t know about, John who we are studying was boiled in oil and exiled.

But, what we are not told in the Bible is that from AD 54-68 Nero is associated with the murdering thousands but he was child’s play compared to Emperor Domitian in AD 81-96. He issued the order that “no Christian, once brought before the tribunal, should be exempted from punishment without renouncing his religion.” He killed so many that it could not be counted.

Then came a line of emperors one after another bent on the destruction of Christianity. But when Diocletian (AD 284-305) took the throne, it is said that “the previous persecutions were only preliminaries for the persecution under Diocletian.” Thousands and thousands of Christ followers went to the most horrific death all in the name of Christ.

The justification was this: “Christian” became a hated name among the pagans, and any who bore that name received no mercy from them. Once again, they were blamed for every disaster and misfortune that befell the pagans.” (Foxx)

Why in the world would you want to persecute a religion built on love, respect, submission to paying taxes and goodwill? The reason is still alive today as the world has perverse, selfish and conditional definition of love. The world’s love is that of it’s father the devil.

Jesus says that they will hate you because they first hated Me. When you make your money on selling pagan gods, or you have a world system that worships the god of rain, sun, moon, fertility, and pestilence, and then it floods and destroys your crops, pagans get really mad that no one is worshiping their god of rain.

It also made ruling a people group who only worship Jesus hard. When a king or emperor needs to keep people in line, forced prayer and allegiance is necessary. What happens when a Christian doesn’t really care what you do to them because they are not of the world system? It cheapens the weight of that world system.

It is no wonder that Christians are the targets. As I read of those who have gone before us in death during these persecutions, I am struck by the joy with which they do it. Some go singing, dancing, and quoting scripture. The attitude was not, “man I hope I don’t’ get caught.” The attitude was WHEN I get caught, what can I say that will make the most impact.

Is that our attitude today? Jesus is not telling us to go through trials as if He has not already done it. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is always out front of our needs and equips us for the trials we will face. Remember, if in Christ, He chose you for your time and space. We should boldly say, what can I do or say that represents my Lord, even if it is uncomfortable!

Vs 19 you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you[5]”

He chose us to abide in Him in ALL things, even His persecution and death. He chose you, believer, to be as He was, a target for the world system. In that choosing, we should know that when the world is shooting at us, they are really just shooting at Him. The closer we get to Him, the more shots we get. As he suffered physically, we suffer physically. As He suffered spiritual anguish, we too suffer spiritual anguish.

The more we draw to our Lord, the more the world is anxiously waiting with bated breath for our failure just to point and say, “You hypocrite!”. We fuel this hatred and anxious anticipation by our imperfections and sinfulness. But as the world celebrates our failures, they are not really excited about our failures so much as an opportunity to point at the REAL TRUTH (Christ) to tarnish Him.

Even as fellow believers, we can easily slip into this pitfall as we watch as our brothers and sisters crash and burn, all the while not recognizing that our anticipation is an act of worldly approval. I would challenge you all to be gracious to those brothers and sisters who fall. Look closely at your judgment. Are you falling into the world system that points fingers at hypocrites, all the while playing the hypocrite yourself? (Pastors who crash).

What I take comfort in is that they hated Jesus, and He was perfect. How much more will they hate me who is a sinner? How can the world hate perfection?

3.          Because the world does not know God.

Vs 21-25 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

Look close at that word “know” in verse 21. Again, many will say that they know God. They will even call out to Him in ignorance. But that word that Jesus uses is oida. I would think that He would have used the word “kninosko” or intimate knowledge of God not a head knowledge.

As John is writing this, Jesus is drawing us to the Jews who have rejected Him intellectually. If we continue to read, Jesus says that they are held accountable for the level of evidence given.

They had the signs, they had HIM, they had all that is required to intellectually understand and yet, still they reject Him demonstrating the total depravity of the human heart. It is no different than today. For us who have been taught, instructed, and have heard the Gospel, we to will be held accountable for the level of hatred we demonstrate for the Word of truth.

When people reject the Words of Christ, they are not just rejecting Him, but they are rejecting their creator. The world system rejects the obvious and complete facts that Jesus Christ is and was exactly who He claims to be. And still, they reject Him. Romans 1:18 says that they willingly suppress the truth of God for a lie because they love their sin.

It’s easy to use the word “they” when talking about sin. It’s always someone else’s issue. But each of us in this room need to do some self examination. Do you suppress truth in exchange for your sin?

Look at verse 25: “But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘they hated me without a cause.” Those words are a direct reference to Psalm 69:4.

Along with Psalm 35:19, Jesus could not demonstrate more clearly who He is. Intellectually speaking, they rejected Him for no cause. They hate Him for no reason. The reason is so that the scriptures will be fulfilled.

When we read these verses, we need to be very careful to understand that Jesus is talking about the Jews who had Jesus in their sight. They saw His miracles, His signs, heard His Words, and still reject Him. The sad truth is that nothing has changed. It should not shock us. Unless God intervenes and opens closed minds and hard hearts, people will continue to reject and hate their only means of salvation.

My heart breaks for the billions of people in human history who make claims of knowing God, all the while showing that they have no knowledge of Him. Think of all the religious leaders in the world professing God and all the while coming up with their own version of the Gospel. Anyone who does this demonstrates their abject hatred for God Himself.

In an act of true love, I will say, anyone who presents a Gospel other than that which has been given us according to the Word of God is cursed and shows the hatred that person has for God Himself.

1 Corinthians 12:3 says 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit[6]

You may say, but pastor, no one is saying that Jesus is accursed. But, I would contend, any religious leader that says, “even Atheists can go to heaven,” or, “so long as you are honest or good, are you allowed to go to heaven.” Or “even Muslims can go to heaven so long as they are earnest” is an act of hatred for God. (Pope Francis) Hebrews 10 says “How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God…”

Galatians 1:8 “8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed[7]

Any other Gospel than Christ and Christ alone is a damming message, no matter the trappings or robes they come in, and it’s hatred for God for no reason.

4.            Don’t be afraid to love like Christ.

We have discussed what it looks like to love like Christ in the past. However, if I could go into your brains and find the definition of love, I would like to hit delete. No matter how hard we try, it seems like we still do not fully grasp this thing that Jesus commands us to do and why He commands us to do it. Do we fully understand what Jesus said in verses 12 and 17?

Jesus commands our love, not suggests it because He gave us the ability through a new heart and is the source of it. He understands the desperation that we will have for it. In our passage today, Jesus is saying that we have to love each other because that is what helps sustain us. The love of Christ in us for others builds each other up during the persecutions we experience. We must love like our lives depend on it, because they do!

A.       Love is a demonstration of what is in us: 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.[8] (1 John 4)

B.       Love is the mechanism to love the lost: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.[9] (Mark 16:15

C.        Love is bold in confidence: 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [10] (John 15:13

D.        Love is never afraid of the world: 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”[11] (John 16:33)

Our love flows from our position IN Christ. When we are IN a true abiding relationship with Christ, our LOVE is genuine, full, and advanced knowledge flowing from truth (Christ), sustaining and caring. Biblical love is anchored in the truth of scripture and an outpouring of sustaining perceptive understanding of right and wrong.

When John writes back to Vs 17 “These things I command you, so that you will LOVE one another,” our Lord is saying, you will need this! Lean into this based on truth. How do I know that I am loving? Does it reflect Scripture? Does your Love represent the Love of Christ? If you don't, are you unwilling to share the truth of salvation, lovingly correct those who think that they are “okay” in their worldly belief systems?

Look brothers and sister. If we are in Christ we will take our shots. We will endure hardships. But, like He said, take heart, He has overcome the world. Because He has overcome, we too can overcome through Him. Are there shots on our target? Yes. Do they kill us eternally? NO! Matthew 10 reminds us that we are not to be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul.” Imagine the confidence to stand against the world system when this is true!

Conclusion:

1 Cor 13:1-8

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.[12]