John 15:18-16:4a - Responding to Hate with Love

Thankfully, the Love of Christ comforted me in that moment and I resisted that temptation and lovingly explained to him why he needed forgiveness whether he agreed or not.

But that’s our tendency in our flesh, isn’t it?

To respond to hate with more hate.

To respond sinfully when we are sinned against.

Because of our tendency to respond sinfully in the face of hate,

Jesus has given us everything we need to remain in his love

so that we can respond to the hatred of the world with his love rather than more hate.

Jesus specifically mentions two things in John 15:18-16:4,

two tools to be able to respond to the world’s hate with his love,

and we are going to look at each tool one at a time.

And the first tool that Jesus gives us is understanding the nature of the world’s hate in verses 18-25 of chapter 15.

Jesus says,

John 15:18–19 ESV

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

John 15:20–21 ESV

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

John 15:22–23 ESV

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. Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

John 15:24–25 ESV

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. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

So, the first tool that Jesus gives us is to…

Know the Nature of the World’s Hate (15:18-25)

Knowledge can be a very powerful tool.

And Jesus commands his disciples and us here in verse 18 to know something that he will go on to explain through the next few verses.

He tells us that we are to…

Know that Jesus absorbs the world’s hate (18-21)

He says that if the world hates us, and it does…

Then we are to know that it hated Jesus before it ever hated us.

This sinful and rebellious world system and the people willfully aligned with this system hate Jesus.

This concept tied with what Jesus says at the beginning of verse 19 is exactly what Jesus said to his brothers back in John 7:7.

He said, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.”

The world does not, it cannot, hate its own.

Everyone who condones the evil in the world system by selfishly loving themselves are accepted and encouraged in their self-love by everyone else in that evil system.

But I think that Jesus has a very specific group of people in the world system in mind here.

Because of how Jesus talks about the hate of the world, and what Jesus has just been talking about earlier in chapter 15…

I think that Jesus has in mind those dead branches that look like they are part of the church, but they prove by their lack of love that they are not.

Judas was exhibit A in John’s gospel of those who look like believers who prove otherwise by their hate.

And there will be more.

Specifically the religious leaders at that time looked like they were God’s people, they looked righteous on the outside, but they had no love for Jesus, no love for the Father, and no love for the followers of Jesus.

We could look all throughout church history and see the hate of those who look like believers.

But we don’t have to look that far.

We can see it even today.

People who get offended and bring lawsuits against pastors just because the pastor had the audacity to call them out on their sin.

How dare you expose my sin as evil… how dare you humbly, sacrificially, and unconditionally love me…

Nobody really likes it when their sin is exposed as evil.

Mostly because that means we won’t get away with our selfishness.

Jesus exposes the evil of sin,

and the people who pursue their selfish desires don’t want to be forced to stop.

The pleasure of sin becomes uncomfortable when it’s exposed as evil.

Now the obvious solution to us when sin becomes uncomfortable is to stop sinning, to repent.

Because we understand the ultimate pleasure of pleasing God.

But that’s the opposite direction from where those of the world want to be.

They don’t understand that ultimate pleasure… to them that’s ultimate torture.

So, the obvious solution for those enslaved to the rebellious world system is to suppress the thing that’s making pleasure uncomfortable!

To suppress it, and hate it, and stamp it out of existence.

So, the world clearly hates Jesus, and if we also thought and acted like this then the world would love us, but thankfully the opposite is true.

We are not of the world because Jesus has chosen us out of the world.

We don’t hate Jesus like the rest of the world.

We love him.

We love him and we love everything and everyone that he loves because he first loved us 1 John 4:19.

We continue Jesus’ ministry which among other things exposes the evil of the world.

And because we expose the evil of the world just like Jesus does, the world hates us just like it hates Jesus.

In verse 20 Jesus draws our attention back to what he said in chapter 13 verse 16.

A servant is not greater than his master.

Back in chapter 13 Jesus’ argument was that if the master is willing to do something so humble and sacrificial, then the servants ought to be just as willing to do the same, if not more so.

If the master loves humbly, sacrificially, and unconditionally, then his servants will also do likewise.

Here Jesus uses the same phrase to indicate the same relationship, but in a different situation.

If the master is hated for his humble, sacrificial, and unconditional love which exposes the evil of sin…

then the servants who are doing likewise will also be hated.

If the master’s teaching about humble, sacrificial, and unconditional love is accepted…

then the same message and actions of the servants will also be accepted.

As Jesus’ disciples… we can expect a similar reception of our love and the gospel as Jesus had.

Some outright hated him and persecuted him, many misunderstood and eventually hated him, but some understood and loved him.

Similarly, when we are loving like Jesus and telling people about his love in the gospel…

some will outright hate and persecute us, some will misunderstand and eventually hate us, but some will understand and love us because they’ve also begun to love like Jesus.

And then, in verse 21 Jesus tells us exactly why these people hate him and us.

Their hate, their persecution, their rejection against us is all on account of Jesus’ name.

On account of his will and authority.

They don’t like what Jesus is doing, and they don’t like his authority.

They would rather be in charge of their own lives so that they can do whatever they want with no consequences.

They do this because they don’t really know the Father’s love in sending Jesus to die for the sins of the world John 3:16.

They might know it in their head, but it doesn’t reach to their heart, it doesn’t cause them to love like Jesus, to love with his love.

They really want to strike at Jesus but they cant reach him, so they strike at us when their sin is exposed.

Understanding this is extremely helpful when we experience hate and persecution from those who look like they might be believers.

It doesn’t remove the pain of their hate and persecution, but it does lower it.

It lowers it because Jesus absorbs most of it.

Their hate is really directed at Jesus, and he takes the brunt of that pain…

So that we can continue loving like him.

So that we can respond to their hate with the love of Jesus.

So that we can remain, abide, in his love.

The next thing about the nature of the world’s hate that Jesus says, is that we need to…

Know that the world’s hate is without excuse (22-25)

Jesus says in verse 22 that his coming into the world and speaking the gospel to the world completely removed any excuse for their hate.

Jesus coming and speaking the gospel clarified the sort-of obscure prophecies about the Christ, God’s promised deliverer from the Old Testament.

So any excuse of ignorance is not justifiable.

Like the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 6:4–6 “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”

Just like Jesus has given us everything we need to be justified before God and love like him…

Jesus has also given the world everything it needs to be justly condemned for their sin against him.

At this point we may be tempted to play the “what if” game.

Jesus says that if he hadn’t come then the world wouldn’t have sin.

So, what if Jesus hadn’t come?

Would they have a legitimate excuse, then?

Would they not be judged for their sin?

That’s the wrong line of thinking.

The problem is that using Jesus’ “what if” statement in this way is not based on reality.

The reality is that Jesus did come, and he did speak, and the world does not have any excuse because of the reality of Jesus.

Jesus’ coming was not something that might or might not happen.

It was 100% going to happen because God told us he would come…

So, asking this “what if” question in this way is pointless.

The way Jesus phrases his statement focuses on the absolute reality of his coming and his message so that the world who saw him and heard him is absolutely without excuse for their sin.

Similar to what he said back in John 9:41 “Jesus said to them (the Pharisees), “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

Jesus’ presence and his message are joy and life to those who understand their need for a savior, to those who have had their spiritual eyes opened, to those who have been given spiritual life through the second birth.

But his presence and message are offensive to those who are self-righteous, blinding the eyes of those who hate him, to those who are still spiritually dead in their transgressions and sin.

None of us are neutral, but Jesus’ coming with absolute certainty, eliminated even the thought of an excuse of ignorance.

Then in verse 23 Jesus says exactly what the sin is that they are guilty of.

Hating him which is ultimately hating God the Father.

And in verse 24 he uses a similar “what if” argument to show that it was not only Jesus’ presence and his message that was denied.

They also denied the works he did to authenticate his claim to be the Christ.

The works the Father gave him to do.

The works no one else had ever done.

Why is hating God such a big deal?

Because hating God proves a lack of spiritual life, a lack of salvation.

This is not the unpardonable sin of Matthew 12:32 and Luke 12:10.

In both of those passages Jesus says that blasphemy against him, the Son of Man, will be forgiven.

And here in our passage in John 15 Jesus is talking about hate against him and his disciples.

The unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, not hate against Jesus and his disciples.

That gives us great hope that those who look like believers who are hating us because we are loving them with Jesus’ love…

They are not beyond redemption.

Jesus said in the previous passage that the Father will ultimately lop them off and gather them and burn them up.

But there is still time for them to repent and turn to Jesus.

There is still opportunity for them to become true believers and produce fruit, true disciples of Christ to love like he loves, love with his love.

We just have to make sure we continue loving them with Jesus’ love rather than responding to their hate with more hate.

Then perhaps the Lord will do what is impossible for us to do.

Perhaps he will allow them to repent and turn to Jesus.

Jesus turns in his explanation in verse 25 to specifically refers to the Jews, led by the religious leaders who all hated him and rejected him.

Their hatred and rejection were part of the plan.

God had prophesied that this would happen.

Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Jesus quotes from Psalm 69 where David, singing as a shadow of the reality to come in Christ, says “they hated me without cause.”

The Jews’ own Scriptures testify against them for their hate of Jesus taken out on his disciples.

This was all part of the plan, but even then, they are not excused for their hate.

God’s sovereign plan includes their hate of Jesus taken out on us…

but their hate is still their own,

and they will still be judged for it unless they repent and believe in Jesus loving with his love instead of hating like the rest of the world.

Remember that Jesus is giving us a couple of tools to help us remain in his love when the world hates us, specifically those of the world who look like believers.

To respond to their hate with his love rather than hating them back.

And the first tool he gave us was to know the nature of the world’s hate, specifically that their hate toward us is really hating Jesus, and that their hate is without excuse.

If we know these two things…

Hate toward us is really hate of Jesus…

And hate is not excused by ignorance…

Then we will be a LOT less likely to abandon Jesus’ love.

We will be more likely to abide in Jesus’ love and love like him with his love.

Next, in John 15:26 through the first half of 16:4, Jesus is going to give us our second tool, remembering him.

Jesus says,

John 15:26–27 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:1–2 ESV

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

John 16:3–4 ESV

And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

So, here, the second tool we are given to respond to the world’s hate with Jesus’ love is to…

Remember Who Jesus Is (15:26-16:4a)

Our first tool was focusing on those doing the hating…

Now our second tool is focusing on the one who empowers us to keep loving.

When Jesus explained the first tool he did so with a command to know something.

But here he explains our second tool with a couple of purpose statements.

He says, I have told you this SO THAT we will not do something and so that we will do something.

He has told us these things so that we will not fall away, and so that we will remember what he said when it happens.

That remembrance is key here.

And first he says we are to…

Remember Jesus’ identity (15:26-27)

This remembrance is in the form of bearing witness.

Jesus says that he will send the Helper, the Advocate, the Comforter…

This is the Greek word para-clay-toss.

It’s one who helps you by arguing your case for you, and in so doing comforts you because with them defending you everything will be alright.

Helper, Advocate, Comforter…

This is what Jesus does for us right now at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

He is interceding for us.

And this is what the Holy Spirit does in our heart at the very same time.

He comforts us, advocates for us, and helps us when our sin would otherwise shame us and condemn us.

We have both Jesus and the Holy Spirit defending us against the Father’s wrath for our sin…

But don’t think that the Father is against us.

He’s the one who sent his Son to die for us and intercede for us.

And he’s the one who sent the Spirit to advocate for us, help us, and comfort us in our sin.

The Father is not against you, he wants you to be forgiven, he wants you to be reconciled.

The one who is against us is the accuser, Satan.

But we have all three persons of the Trinity defending us against Satan’s accusations.

Ok, back to our text… Jesus says that he and the Father will send the Holy Spirit for a particular purpose.

To bear witness about Jesus.

Jesus called him the Spirit of Truth in the previous chapter.

In John 14:15–17 Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

The Holy Spirit bears witness about the truth of Jesus’ identity in the trinity, and that witness is crucial for us to remain in Jesus’ love, to keep his commandments to love like him, to love with his love.

I really think that the witness the Holy Spirit is giving in this context is a witness to Jesus’ true disciples.

Jesus’ whole focus has been comforting and encouraging his disciples to continue his mission after he is gone.

He’s given them his example and command to love like him, to love with his love.

He’s comforted them in their distress about his departure.

And he’s continuing both of those lines of thinking in chapter 15.

With his metaphor of a vine to illustrate loving with his love,

and then an explanation of those who look like disciples but prove otherwise by their hate.

He explains these two things in order to encourage his disciples to not fall away but to abide in his love by loving those who hate them.

So, it seems to follow that he is continuing to comfort and encourage his disciples with what the Holy Spirit would do to help them love like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit would bear witness to them about Jesus’ identity.

And they would also bear witness to each other about Jesus’ identity.

His identity as the Christ, the Son of God is the very thing that if we submissively believe it… it will produce life in his name.

John 20:31 “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The Holy Spirit reminds us, and we remind each other, that Jesus is the one we follow, the one we emulate, because of who he is.

He is worthy to be followed because he is almighty God, the creator and sustainer of everything.

He is our loving savior who loved us even when we were his enemies.

We have to remember who he is as a motivation, a tool, for remaining in his love when we are hated for loving with his love.

The next thing Jesus says about what we are to remember is that we are to…

Remember Jesus’ sovereignty (16:1-4a)

Nothing happens in life apart from his sovereign plan.

And even the warning that he gives his disciples and us is part of that plan.

Make no mistake, the things Jesus has been saying about the branches that are lopped off and gathered and burned…

Those who look like believers who prove otherwise by their hate toward Jesus…

All of these things are a warning to Jesus’ disciples and to us.

A warning to avoid the just judgment for their sin.

Now, the warnings in Scripture are not describing what absolutely will happen.

They are also not describing something that could never happen.

The warnings God gives us are designed to show us the reality of the danger around us in order for God to sovereignly influence us to trust him more to keep us safe from that danger.

Imagine for a moment that a father is going on a walk with his small child.

And the trail is nice and easy, so the father lets his child run around and play a bit as they are walking.

But then they come to a narrow bridge with a very steep cliff on one side, and a very long drop-off on the other.

And the father stops and calls his child over and says…

“This bridge we are about to walk over is very dangerous…

if you don’t hold my hand and walk calmly, then you will fall off of that bridge and get very hurt…

so, I need you to hold my hand now and walk calmly, and trust me to keep you safe.”

Then they walked across the bridge and nobody got hurt.

Because the child listened to the warning.

He took it seriously as a real danger.

And he trusted that he would be safe from that danger if he did what his father told him to do.

Was the danger real?

Absolutely!

Was this child actually going to fall if he disobeyed his father?

Not a chance!

Even if the child let go of his father’s hand and started running and playing on that narrow bridge…

The father would scoop him up and keep him safe, but he would also discipline him for not listening.

This is the purpose of these warnings in Scripture.

We are given a picture of the very real danger of falling away from Jesus’ love…

But the point is to influence us to trust and obey Jesus to keep us safe from that danger.

In Jesus’ sovereignty he has warned us about these things so that we will not fall away from his love.

Also, in Jesus’ sovereignty he has told us what will happen.

In verse 2 Jesus explains how the Jews would persecute the followers of Jesus in the days to come.

They would put them out of the synagogues.

This is social persecution.

Shunning and ostracizing followers of Jesus so that they were outcasts of society.

Being put out of the synagogue meant the loss of homes, the loss of income, the loss of inclusion in society.

They would also kill them thinking it was a service to God.

This is physical persecution.

Taking the lives of followers of Jesus so that the threat to their way of life is stamped out.

Even Paul thought he was serving God by persecuting the church.

We can see all of these things going on throughout church history.

And we can even see them happening today.

We might see those who look like they are believers socially persecuting followers of Jesus who are lovingly trying to help them overcome sin.

But in our time and culture we don’t see those who look like believers killing people for loving like Jesus.

There have been times where this happened in church history.

The Jews during the time of the early church.

Roman Christendom with the crusades.

The Roman Catholic church against the reformers and separatists.

The Anglican church in England in the 17th century against Baptists and Presbyterians.

I’m sure there are many more, but you get the picture.

All of these are people who looked like followers of Christ until they proved otherwise by their hate in killing those who believed differently and thinking they were doing service to God by purging the so-called evil among them.

And Jesus says in verse 3 that the reason all of this happens…

The reason these people hate followers of Jesus like this…

Is that they don’t really know the Father or Jesus.

They are doing all of these things thinking that they are offering service to God, but they don’t even know God.

If they had really known God, if they had really known Jesus, then they would know that persecuting other believers like this is NOT service to God.

But they prove by their hate that they don’t know God, they don’t know Jesus.

…

And we are to love them anyway…

In the first half of verse 4 Jesus gives his second purpose statement.

He has told us about the future persecution of Jesus’ true followers SO THAT when it happens we will remember that he told us.

Why is it important to remember that Jesus told us these things before they happened?

Well, it’s important because it proves Jesus’ sovereignty, and that this hate against Jesus through his followers is also part of the plan.

Again, nothing happens in life outside of this plan because Jesus is absolutely sovereign over all things.

He knows this will happen, and he allows it to happen as a part of his sovereign plan to glorify the Father by saving those he has chosen and justly judging the world for its sin.

It’s important to remember Jesus’ sovereignty when we’re hated like this.

Because remembering Jesus’ sovereignty directs our hope to his sovereign plan to save us, and come back for us, and make everything right.

Our hope is not in our circumstances, it’s in Jesus.

It’s not in receiving love from others in return for our love, it’s focusing on Jesus and his love.

That is what’s going to help us keep loving those who hate us.

Focusing on Jesus, remembering who he is.

Conclusion

So, when the world hates you, and they will…

Know the nature of their hate.

Their hate is really hate of Jesus whether they realize it or not.

And their hate is not excused by ignorance.

Jesus has given us everything we need to be justified before God.

And he has given the world everything it needs to be justly condemned before God.

Jesus has not left ignorance as a viable excuse.

But he has also not left those in the world without a means of repentance and forgiveness.

So, respond to their hate with love in the hope that Jesus may yet grant them repentance leading to eternal life.

Also, when the world hates you, and they will…

Remember who Jesus is.

Remember his identity as the Christ, the Son of God.

He’s the almighty creator and sustainer of everything.

He’s worthy to be followed, and worthy to be obeyed, to love like him, to love with his love.

And remember his sovereignty.

He determines the end from the beginning.

Nothing happens in life apart from his plan.

And part of his plan includes this hate from those who look like believers but prove the contrary by their lack of love.

He’s got everything under control so we can hope in him rather than our circumstances.

We can remain, abide in his love and not fall away by remembering that our hope is in our almighty sovereign savior.

That’s how we are able to respond to hate with love.

Maybe you’ve heard all of this about Jesus’ love and the world’s hate, and you still haven’t put your faith in Jesus.

Maybe it seems like it’s not worth it to love like Jesus only to earn the hate of the world.

But let me tell you that his love, and loving each other with that same love for eternity…

It is 100% worth it.

The hate of the world pales in comparison to the love of Christ.

Jesus’ love for you overwhelms any hate you may face in the world.

That hate still hurts, but Jesus’ love is so much more comforting and soothing.

And the hate of the world only lasts for a short time compared to the eternity of love in Jesus.

We get to live in his loving presence forever, but the hate of the world will pass away like a vapor.

So, if you don’t yet believe in Jesus, then I beg you to believe in him now.

Know that he loves you, and he died in your place so that you could be forgiven and reconciled back to the Father who loves you, too.

Jesus even rose from the dead so that you can be in his loving presence forever.

and all you have to do is believe in him as the supreme ruler of your life who has granted you forgiveness in his death and eternal life in his resurrection.

Pray

Father,

Communion

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