And The World Will Hate You

John 15:18-25

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Hatred of the World

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.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.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 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,[a] but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23  Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24  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.25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled:‘They hated me without a cause.’

There is a lot that comes with living a life for Christ. And it is not an easy load to carry. In order for us to truly live a life of worship for Christ, we must give up everything and put aside anything and everything we ever wanted. We have to live our lives to bring Him glory. Jesus calls us in Mark 8:34 to set aside our selfish ambition and follow Him. There are hardships that come along with this path. But the Lord always gives light that shines through the darkness that we can see. Here we will look at the realities of what being a follower of Christ will look like.

Jesus tells us in John 15:18, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." Through this verse we learn that we will be hated for loving Christ. People from countries that are more oppressed have died for their passionate faith in the Father. We will be persecuted and we must stand strong against this world as it attempts to tear us down. There are many reasons that Christians are persecuted, but mainly it is from people who live in sin and oppose God.

Persecution can happen anywhere and from those you would least expect it to come from. We can experience the pain of persecution from our friends to our families to our own government. We can feel persecution from the religious community who live very legalistic lives and judge us to feel superior, not to glorify God. The governing authorities can persecute against us. In Islamic countries, being a follower of Christ is treason to the country. If we are the only believers in our homes, we can become an enemy of our own family. We get it from all directions; work, school, and all of society.

So how do we stand strong against the hate of this world? As we learn from reading the first part of John 15, we must abide in Christ. That is we must remain in him and all that he has done for us. If we aren't abiding in Christ, then we have screwed ourselves. Overcoming the immense hate of this world is impossible for us on our own. It is when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us that we can overcome it. 

So first we must abide and trust in the Lord. Second we must testify our faith. We need to live like Christ has called us to live. Thirdly, we must be thankful that God has allowed us to be persecuted in the His name. It sounds strange to be thankful in hard times but it is how God will overcome persecution through us. Lastly the key to overcome persecution is love. We are to love our neighbor and that’s everyone. We are called to love our enemies and those who hate us. When we can love those who persecute us, by the grace of God, we can overcome anything the world wants to throw at us.

Listen To Your Sheperds

            1 Peter 5:1-7

English Standard Version (ESV)

Shepherd the Flock of God

5 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2  shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the Elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

6  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

In 1 Peter 5, the Apostle Peter does not command us to do things, but he exhorts us to. Exhort can be means to urge, advise, or to caution earnestly. Peter urges that we have those who are older and wiser in their faith around to advise us. As we  lead people in our church, we should have people, who are stronger Christians than us, lead us. We must acknowledge that this is done for our benefit and not to put us down. We should be happy to have someone to guide us in our leadership. And when the chief Shepherd returns, Christ, we will receive glory for following under these wiser men and leading our flock.

So as worship leaders, or any kind of leader in our church body, we must be humbled and allow those who are wiser than us to guide us in how we lead. The key for this is humility. If we do this half-heartedly we aren't honoring God by it. We must be humbly seeking this kind of guidance and be eager to have them help us. It is important for us to realize that there will always be much that we do not know. We always have things to learn from people much more wise and knowledgeable than us. Peter says in the end of verse five, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

In verse 6, Peter exhorts us to humble ourselves because this will bring glory to God and when the time comes, God will exalt you for this. All the things we do in God's name are to honor Him. If we are prideful and not humble then we are bringing Him the opposite of glory, we have brought Him dishonor. Peter gives us great comfort though in verse 7, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he care for you." We have relief that we can speak to God about our burdens and anxieties. He is the Father and we can speak to Him as a father that loves and cares for the well being of his children. You can talk to Him, and because He loves and cares for you, he will speak back to you.

From these verses, we learn that for us to lead the flock well, we need stronger shepherds guiding us. This takes great humility for us to lay down our pride but it is what God commands from us. God gives us a way to humble ourselves as leaders too. Just because of our position God will still care for us and will be there to hear our issues. 

And The World Will Know You By How You Loved

John 15:12-17

English Standard Version (ESV)

12  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15  No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant[b] 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. 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.17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Jesus lays a lot out for us to follow in John 15. In the first eleven verses we learned what it means to abide in the father. We also learned how we produce good fruit. In order to abide in Him, we must remain in Him, which means we must be in constant relationship with God the Father. In John 15:12-17, Jesus tells us the importance of loving one another. We learn that Jesus has called us his friends and we are to love everyone as our brothers and sisters. Jesus explains to us the characteristics of how to love like Him.

From verse 12, we learn that we are commanded to love this kind of love. We are commanded to love one another as Christ has loved us. Jesus says, "...love one another as I have loved you." This is not easy to meet this standard of love. We are to love one another, which means everyone, as Christ loved us? We are to love unconditionally? That is a difficult task. We can only do this with the Holy Spirit working through us. Jesus goes on to tell us that there is no greater love than one who will lay his life down for his friend. This kind of love is a sacrificial love. We must be willing to lay down for our friends. And everyone should be our friends. Christ tells us that there is no greater love than this kind of love; it has to be pretty important.

Jesus tells us in verse 14 that we are his friends because we do what he has commanded us to do. The love within our relationships must be roots in this kind of friendship. He also tells us that this love will cause us to produce fruit that will abide in him. In verse 17, he closes with "love one another." This is such a loaded phrase and there is a lot to loving one another. But in short, Jesus is telling us that this love must go both ways. It must be a love that goes both ways.

In these verses, we learn that the world will know us by how we love each other. It is crucial that we put aside our foolish ways and love one another even when we seem unlovable. Love is the one the most important aspects of the gospel. True love like this is the distinguishing mark of a true Christian.

What it means to Abide in Christ

In John 15, Jesus tells us that he is the one true vine. He says that any branch that does not produce good fruit will be cut off of the vine, or cut away from Christ. And the branches that do produce good fruit he will prune and care for so they will continue to grow and produce fruit. Throughout the first eleven verses, Jesus uses the words, "Abide in me." What does it mean to abide in Christ? Abide can be defined as to remain in, to live in, or to continue. So to abide in Christ means to remain in him. So in order to remain in Christ, we must have constant communion and relationship with the Father. Jesus tells us what that looks like in these verses. 

We learn from verse 1-2, that we must allow God to work in our lives. This is how He prunes us. As we need, God will cut out sin that prevent us from growing. In verse 3, he speaks of how the word of God has made us clean. In order the Word to cleanse us, we must listen for the Holy Spirit to speak to us through it. We can't grow without the power of God's Word cleansing us. 

Verses 4 and 5 speak of abiding in Him. Jesus says that just as the branch abides in the vine to produce good fruit, we must abide in Christ so we can produce fruit. There are two kinds of good fruits we can produce. The first one is the fruit that causes us to grow spiritually as an individual. It is how we are personally growing in our walk with God. The second is fruit that grows the body of Christ. It is how are we reaching the lost and bringing people into the presence of God. The first kind of fruit greatly impacts the second. As we mature and learn more, we need to go share that knowledge and word with the world that has no idea what they are missing. 

In verse 7, we learn that our relationship with Christ must be the basis for answered prayer. Jesus wants us to know and realize that when we abide in him, our prayers will be answered. Though the answers will be in his will and not our own, they will be answered. We see from verse 8 that as we abide in him, it must glorify the Father. The fruit that we bear needs to bring glory to God, if it brings glory to anything else, that we will be cut off of the vine. Our fruits must be rooted in the love of God. Verse 9 says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love." So we must our relationship with Christ must be rooted in love so that we can love as Christ did.

He tells in verse 10, that when we keep his commandments we are abiding in him. We must walk the walk that we talk. This is also how we will abide in his love. For us to love as Christ, we need to keep the commandments that the Father laid out. Lastly Jesus tells that as we abide in him and commune with him, we will be filled with joy. He tells us that our joy will be filled.