Abide: Friend vs Hated

Intro

Years ago, I took some students to the Florida Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values (yes, very catchy) in Tallahassee

After each session with a Florida government official, there would be a Q&A time

This one boy, every time, raised his hand and asked the same question:

“Are you a Christian and if so, how does that affect the way that you lead?”

One official, whose name shall remain anonymous, answered, “Yes, I am a Christian. But for me, it’s kind of a private thing. If you asked most people who I work with, they wouldn’t know I am a Christian.”

Ok, hold that thought as we turn to our passage for this morning

Please open your Bibles to John chapter 15

Scripture Reading: John 15:12-27

John 15:12–27 ESV

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all 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 should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. “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. 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. 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. 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.’ “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.

Pray

Main Point

Looking at this text, here is the main point I want us to see, to hear, to believe

We can endure being hated by the world because we abide in the promise of being a friend of God

So all we are going to do this morning is break that statement down phrase by phrase

First, we are hated by the world

Hated by the World

Personally, I tend to be a pretty middle-of-the road person

Not prone to the extremes

Kinda convinced that, as a culture, we tend to the edges of the pendulum

We see something we don’t like, so we swing to the far other end

And really, I think that is part of why we struggle to have productive, nuanced conversations and everything feels so divisive

So on the whole, seeking a third way, a middle way, has often served me well

But there is one space where that approach is both unhelpful and unbiblical

And that is when we, as Christians, seek to blend in with the culture

We become indistinguishable, just another group

Back up in John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

To go back to my opening story, if people don’t know you are a disciple, a Christian, a follower of Jesus, something is off

In my preparation this week, I came across this quote from Peter Kusmic, a Yugoslavian Christian who suffered under Communist persecution:

“So much popular Western evangelical religiosity is so shallow and selfish. It promises so much and demands so little. It offers success, personal happiness, peace of mind, material prosperity; but it hardly speaks of repentance, sacrifice, self-denial, holy lifestyle and willingness to die for Christ.”

But here’s the hurdle most of us face: We have been promised that if we are living in a way that is faithful to Jesus, we will be hated

Challenge of being hated

Let’s highlight from the text 3 important aspects of being hated

Oh, and in case you were wondering if that word “hate” is an overstatement or too strong a translation, the Greek word occurs 179 times in the NT and is translated as “hate” every single time

Expectation of Being Hated

Look again at the text

John 15:18–20 ““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. 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.”

It will happen

The effect of faithfully following God, seeking to love and obey God, is that the world will hate you

Notice how verse 20 summarizes it

John 15:20 “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.”

We are the servants, he is the master

If they hate our master, we should expect that the world will hate us as well

Hate the Son and the Father

John 15:18 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

John 15:23–24 “Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 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.”

Hatred for you by the world really isn’t about you at all - it’s about hatred of the Father and the Son

But, here’s the caveat: There is a difference between being hated by the world because we have aligned ourselves with the one true God and being hated by the world because we are jerks

If we are hated because we are jerks, then we are both experiencing the hate of the world and not being faithful to our God

That is why our value of compassion with conviction is so important

We are to hold firmly (conviction) to our beliefs while being gentle and compassionate to hurting people

If we are hated because we are seeking to love and obey God, then we are receiving the outflow of their animosity and opposition to God himself

John 15:21 “But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

Hatred for us as Christians is really about hatred of the one for whom we are ambassadors: God himself

Son Reveals Sin

Final observation about the world’s hatred concerns the conviction for sin

John 15:22–24 “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. 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.”

A big part of the reason for the world’s hatred is that Jesus, by his perfect, sinless life, reveals how sinful people are and leaves us all without excuse

The world hates Jesus because it both reveals their sin and that they love their sin more than they love God

As verse 20 shows us: they have not kept the commands of God and they do not want to keep the commands of God

He has taken away all excuses for sin leaving only guilt

Friend of God

To reiterate our main point:

We can endure being hated by the world because we abide in the promise of being a friend of God

But Jesus does not leave us with the hostility of the world

He gives us something greater: the privilege of being his friend

Now we look at that final phrase, the promise of being a friend of God

We want to see here in our passage 4 key components about being a friend of God

Abraham, Friend of God

Did you know, in the whole Bible, there is only one person who is described as God’s friend?

James 2:23 “and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.”

That is pretty amazing

And before we get back to John 15, look at these words about Abraham

Genesis 18:17–18 “The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?”

Because Abraham was the friend of God, God revealed himself and his plans to Abraham

He told Abraham what he was intending to do

And why is that so cool?

John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Abraham is the only person in the Bible called a “friend of God”

And yet Jesus has called us his friends!

Just as God revealed his plans to Abraham because Abraham was his friend, so also Jesus has made known the plans of the Father to us, his friends!

“The Bible is not only the holy book for us to revere, but also Jesus’ disclosure of his own heart for us to treasure as his friends.” —Richard Phillips

Jesus has given us the Bible as a way to reveal the plan of God, and the heart of God for us

Chosen

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you …”

If you are like me, you sometimes wonder if God really loves you, if God really has forgiven you, if you really belong

Maybe even feeling like a fraud or a pretender

But, and this is so beautiful, being a friend of Jesus is not about you choosing him

You didn’t, you couldn’t…

Jesus chose you

Before the foundation of the world, in the great counsel of the Trinity, God the Son set his affection upon you and chose you to be his friend

I think that many of us may believe that God loves us

I mean, after all, it’s kinda in the job description for God

But do you believe that God likes you?

That he looks on you, and smiles in delight?

That he sees you and sees a masterpiece of all creation?

That he wants to be your friend?

You believe God has given you

But do you believe that he is for you?

That is part of the promise of being a friend

He chose you

He loves you and

He likes you!

Appointed

And now we can look at the second half of that verse

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

When he chose you, he also appointed you

He gave you a task, a mission, a reason to be

2 components of that appointing

The first is to obey

As we have seen repeatedly in this series, there is a call to obedience

And that is true here in our passage today as well

John 15:14 “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Our obedience to the commands of Jesus are not what makes us his friend, but are the necessary evidence of being his friend

The second is to bear fruit

This idea of bearing fruit picks up from earlier in the chapter where it occurs 6 times

And what is that fruit?

The multiplication of the gospel

As a friend of Jesus, we are to bear fruit that results in others being drawn to become friends of Jesus with us

Others should be invited not to hate Jesus, but to follow Jesus by our friendship with Jesus

Quick story

Couple of weeks ago, Skye Ranch School PTO hosted a volunteer appreciation breakfast

I attended and had the chance to tell a couple of people at my table about what we are doing as a church

But then the president of the PTO came up and introduced herself

She and I had interacted by way of email, but never met in person

So she thanked me for our sponsorship of the school, and then asked if she saw me at another event in town

I have served on the board, as some of you may know, for a childhood cancer foundation called Casting for the Kids

I had given the opening prayer and said a few words for the gala for CFTK and this gal, the president of the Skye Ranch School PTO, was there and recognized my name

Even before we had ever met in person, she had experienced my involvement with the school, with another nonprofit in town, and more

And then she asked me, “Where exactly does your church meet?”

Now, I would love to see her join us here, but I don’t know if she will

That is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to himself

But we bear fruit when we are faithfully present seeking the thriving of our community and ready to share about the work of God in our lives and about our church

So here is my question for you: Who are you pursuing, building a relationship with, and desiring to see the gospel to bear fruit in his or her life?

Death for a Friend

The final aspect of being a friend of Jesus is to consider his death for us

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Now this is a well-known verse and one that we reference frequently to remember the sacrificial deaths of those in our military or police

But Jesus’ death is different from all those deaths, however honorable and sacrificial theirs may be

We should honor and celebrate when someone gives their life for another

But that person was going to die eventually

Not so for Jesus

Because Jesus alone didn’t need to die at all

And yet he did, because that is how great his love is for us, his friends

Endure by Abiding

So how can we endure being hated by the world?

By abiding in the promise of being a friend of God

The strength to persevere, to keep going, to get up again, to not be distraught by the world’s onslaught is what it means to abide

Abide is this idea of resting in that which you know to be true

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

Jesus loves you and he invites you to abide in that love as his friend

Conclusion

I opened with a story from the Florida Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values

Well I want to close there as well

The one speaker shared that being a Christian was a private thing and that it was likely no one who knew him or worked with him knew that he was a Christian

The very next speaker…

The same kid asked the same question

And a very different response

The next speaker answered the question:

“Yes, I am a Christian. My faith in Jesus is the most important thing in my life and I hope that it shapes everything I do, including serving the people of the state of Florida.”

The world should - will - know that we are Christians by our love for one another and our obedience to the commands of Jesus

But when that happens, we can be assured the world will hate us because they hate Jesus

And sometimes, as verse 25 says, the hate will be without cause

But we can endure being hated by the world because we abide in the promise of being a friend of God

A friend to whom God has revealed his plans and his heart for us in the Bible

A friend who entered that friendship by God’s initiation

A friend who was appointed to bear fruit by inviting others to become friends of Jesus

A friend for whom Jesus, in his great love, died

Pray