(Audio version; Music: "Treasure" (Jared Anderson)--WorshipMob--Real Live Music)
Introduction
I came
across a headline this week that introduced a new book by yet another
“Christian leader.” The headline quoted the author in part when it read:
“Stunning Revelations About Bible-Believers Should Send ‘Shock Waves’ Through
Christian Leadership.” Ok I’ll admit, the headline got me and I had to read the
article. I’m not a “Christian leader” but it sounded like a pretty big deal and
maybe something I should know about. I won’t go through all the details of the
article but I’ll give you a quick summary: Unbelievers hate Christians because
they focus too much of their time at war with the sinful world and not enough
time being accepting, loving, and compassionate of the sinful world. Wait! I
was so disappointed! Where was the shock wave? I want a shock wave! Are
Christian leaders supposed to be shocked that unbelievers hate Christians for
being salt and light in a sinful world? If you want a shock wave, I’ve got my
own headline: “Stunning Revelation About Christian Leaders Who Are Shocked That
Unbelievers Hate Christians—They Haven’t Actually Read The Bible!” Here are a
few things that are supposed to send “shock waves” through Christian
leadership: ‘Christians devote too much time opposing abortion.’ Really? So
much opposition that only 56,000,000+ babies have been murdered in America
since 1973 {read sarcasm}. ‘Christians
spend too much time engaged in politics.’ Let’s see, did Jesus ever
engage the leadership of his day? There was hardly a day that went by during
Jesus’ earthly ministry when Jesus didn’t manage to pick a fight with the
leaders. ‘Christians spend too much time talking about sin.’ Is sin a big
deal? Well only if you think that Jesus died on a cross because of sin.
Otherwise, I guess it’s not a big deal {read
sarcasm again}. ‘Christians spend too much time fighting
against homosexuality and not being more welcoming and compassionate toward
sinners.’ It’s been more than 40 years since I was kid in elementary
school and 40 years ago there was never even a consideration that homosexuality
was an acceptable alternative lifestyle. In the 40 years since I was in
elementary school, the percentage of Americans who have self-identified as
Christians has remained right around 80%. Today, homosexuals, bi-sexuals, and
transgenders represent a little less than 3% of the population. Same-sex
marriages are now legal in more than half the states in America. Christian
businesses are being forced out of business because they refuse to cater
same-sex ceremonies. Christian pastors face fines and imprisonment for refusing
to perform same-sex weddings. If there really is a battle going on between
Christians and homosexuals, Christians appear to be losing. ‘Christians
are too obsessed with judgment and condemnation and don’t spend enough time
focusing on the love and grace of Jesus.’ That always seems to be the
trump card doesn’t it? What unbelievers don’t seem to understand is that
warning them about the dangers of sin is an act of love not an act of judgment.
As a parent, I warned my girls with the most earnestness I could muster about
the dangers of running out into the street without looking or the dangers of
wandering away from me in a crowded place. I told them stories about children
who were killed when they ran into the street without looking or stories about
children who were stolen away forever from their parents when they wandered out
of sight even briefly. When I warned them about these things, I did so because
I loved them deeply. I’m not so naïve as to believe that there aren’t some,
even many, Christians who abuse their call to be salt and light in a sinful
world. However, I believe most Christians take this calling very seriously and
with all humility knowing that they too are sinners—just forgiven sinners.
The English
author, George Orwell, not a theologian or stalwart of Christianity, had a very
lucid understanding of the culture around him and its long-term trajectory. Orwell
once wrote, “The further a society drifts from the Truth, the more it will hate
those that speak it.” I am convinced more than ever that Christians are
becoming more and more hated every day as society continues to drift farther
from the Truth. Salt’s influence becomes all the more pronounced when applied
to something that is tasteless and light seems brightest when it is introduced
into an environment of profound darkness. This principle has been clearly understood
throughout the history of Christianity but seems to be lost on some “Christian
leaders” today. Consequently, for some, the revelation that Christians are
hated for their Christian witness is now supposed to send “shock waves” throughout
Christian leadership. Clearly it’s time for a refresher course on why
Christians are Hated For Christ.
Subject Text
John 15:18-25
18“If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If
you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not
belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words
I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will
treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the
One who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to
them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have
no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me hates my
Father as well. 24If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have
seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25But
this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me
without reason.’”
Context
By this
point, Jesus is closer to the end of his earthly ministry than He is to the
beginning. In fact, in the last chapter, Jesus promised the disciples that He
would send the Holy Spirit because He would soon be leaving them. Jesus spent
three years trying to tell the people that He was the One who would rescue
them; the One who would set them free from their bondage to sin; save them from
the condemnation resulting from their sin. Many came to Jesus because they
believed His offer of salvation even if they didn’t fully understand it. Many
came to Jesus because they had some need and heard that He could fill that need
somehow. Many others, maybe even most others, refused to believe in Him and
hated Him. Some hated Him because of who He claimed to be and others hated Him
because He exposed their sins. Hatred toward Jesus would soon reach its
pinnacle and would lead to His death. In our Subject Text, Jesus warns His disciples that they will be hated in the
same way that He was hated, not because of who they claimed to be but who they
claimed Jesus was and because they exposed the people’s sins and need for forgiveness
that was available only through faith and belief in Jesus.
Text Analysis
18“If the world
hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
When Jesus
makes reference to the ”world” in v. 18, He is referring to the sinful culture
that refuses to believe in Him. It is important to remember that the use of the
word “world” is intended to be pejorative in this case not referring to all
unbelievers but specifically to those who have been given the opportunity to
believe and have fervently rejected that opportunity. The “world” are those who
have picked a side in the war between good and evil; right and wrong; sin and
salvation, and stand in opposition to Christ and all those who follow Him. Let’s
not forget that sin has caused us to be enemies of God. And enemies of God
naturally hate Him. It is therefore inevitable that those who hate God will
also hate those who have aligned themselves with God; friends of God. Jesus no
longer considered His disciples to be His servants but instead considered them
to be friends because they were faithful in doing what He commanded (Jn 15:15).
Like the first disciples, Christians are friends of God when we do what is
commanded of us. Consequently, we will be hated in the same way that Jesus was
hated because He was faithful in carrying out His task of becoming the means to
atone for humanity’s sins. “‘The world’ (kosmos)
in John’s gospel is described as actively hostile to God, which illustrates sin
as enmity. Jesus explained that the reason the world hated him was that he
testified to its essentially evil nature (Jn 7:7). The hatred of the world is
therefore assumed by Jesus, who warned the disciples to expect it. ‘The ruler
of this world’, who is judged and cast out at the ‘hour’ of Christ, has clearly
usurped the place of God and has brought men into a similar alienation.’ Since
the disciples of Jesus are distinguished from the world even though they live
in the world, it is evident that Jesus himself is the key to the division.
Man’s attitude to him profoundly affects his position in the world, i.e. whether or not he becomes a target
for hate.”[1]
19If you belonged to
the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
The first
disciples, like all those who have come after them, are not longer part of the
world in the way that John identifies “the world.” Specifically, everything the
world is; what the world believes; what the world values; the world’s
priorities, no longer defines the disciple. And, according to v. 19, this is
precisely why the world hates Christians—because Christians no longer belong to
the world and its way. “Former rebels who have by the grace of the king been
won back to loving allegiance to their rightful monarch are not likely to prove
popular with those who persist in rebellion. Christians cannot think of
themselves as intrinsically superior…But having been chosen out of the world,
having been drawn to the Messiah’s love into the group referred to as the
Messiah’s ‘own’ who are still in the world, their newly found alien status
makes them pariahs in that world, the world of rebels.”[2]
20Remember the words I
spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me,
they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours
also.
Back in
chapter 13, Jesus teaches the disciples an important lesson during a
foot-washing ceremony where Jesus washes the feet of all the disciples. In
doing so, He teaches them that no service to humanity, no matter how menial or
degrading, should be beneath them as servants because nothing was beneath Him,
the Master. Even though He was by His nature God, He didn’t come to us
heralding His divinity. Instead, He made Himself nothing and took on the very
nature of a servant; a man. Jesus was fully obedient to His redemptive purpose
and in ultimate humility, allowed Himself to be put to death on a cross (Phil
2:6-8). Jesus returns to this principle in v. 20. Where previously Jesus taught
that they must be willing to serve in the same way He served, He now teaches
them the principle is the same when it comes to the way people react to them.
If people hate Jesus they will hate His disciples. If people listen and obey
Jesus they will listen and obey the disciples. Disciples are emissaries;
ambassadors; an extension of Christ. Since Christ was hated and put to death,
His emissaries or ambassadors should expect no less. “The sayings about bearing
the cross form a part of the warning the disciples to count the cost [of
following Jesus]…For Jesus the inevitable implication of being the Christ is
suffering, death, and the opposition of men. Inevitably, therefore, those who
associate with him as the Christ are liable to the same fate.”[3]
21They
will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who
sent me.
What Jesus
says in v. 21a seems a bit odd when He says that we will be mistreated because
of His name. Unfortunately v. 21b just adds to the confusion. Let me explain it
this way: In our present day, parents usually give little thought to the
meaning of the names they give their children. Names or a derivation thereof
are often passed down from one generation to the next. Or perhaps a name is
chosen based on personal preference (that’s how we picked the names of our
children anyway). But in ancient Judaism, this wasn’t the case. Ideally, a name
represented a person’s personality. Names may also be prophetic in nature;
foretelling a person’s hoped-for destiny. A child’s name could also be a form
of prayer that the person bearing the name will live up to the potential
conveyed by the name. Let’s see how this works in relation to the name of
Jesus.
The name “Jesus” is the English
translation of the Greek name Iesous.
The ancient Hebrew translation is Yehoshua
which is translated back to English as “Joshua” (I know it’s weird that it
doesn’t translate back to “Jesus,” but that’s not really unusual. In fact, the
Greek Iesous is translated as
“Joshua” in Heb 4:8 so clearly the names are interchangeable at times). The
Hebrew translation, Yehoshua, is
derived from the same Hebrew root as the word signifying “Jehovah is
salvation.” The name “Jesus” is significant because it means “God our Savior.”
In this sense, the name of Jesus represents his personality; “Savior.” When the
angel appeared to Joseph, while Mary was pregnant with Jesus, the angel said
that Mary was to name the child Jesus because He would save his people from
their sins (Matt 1:21). In this respect, Jesus’ name is prophetic as it
foretells his divine destiny. Consequently, Scripture tells us that, “at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil 2:10-11a).” Can
you see the personality trail? Let’s string the words and ideas from above
together: Yehoshua=Jehovah +
Savior=God our Savior. Jesus=Yehoshua;
Jesus = God our Savior. The fullness of God in “Jesus” (Col 1:19)! The writer
of the Book of Hebrews as well as Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, say
that Jesus is the exact representation of God in His nature and essence. To
know Jesus is to know God. It should therefore follow that to know God is to
know Jesus. And that’s Jesus’ point in v. 21b that they mistreat Jesus because
they don’t know Him because they don’t know God. “The guilt of the world
consists in its rejection of the revelation brought by Jesus, and since that
revelation is from God in entails the rejection of God himself, which is direst
sin. Moreover the works of Jesus are God’s works in and through him; hence it
can be said that the world has ‘seen’ God, i.e., seen him in action in the
person of his Son, but its response has been to hate both the Son and the
Father in him.”[4]
22If I had not come
and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no
excuse for their sin.
It’s hard
to understand v. 22 in light of the nature of sin that began with Adam in
Genesis. Based on what Jesus says in this verse, it seems to imply that sin didn’t
exist before Jesus revealed Himself to the world. But now that Jesus has
revealed himself and given the world the opportunity to believe in Him, if they
refuse to believe then they own their sin. So what is Jesus saying about the
guilt of the world’s sin before His revelation? What Jesus is saying is not
that sin didn’t exist before He came. What Jesus is saying is that there was
nothing the people could do about their sin. They could sacrifice animals year
after year after year and meticulously keep the Law but the effect of their
sins would remain—separation from God. Consequently, God provided another way;
a way to deal with their sins once and for all and that way would be Jesus.
Jesus was the answer to dealing with their sins and now that he had presented
Himself to them as the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the means of dealing with
their sins, if they refuse to accept Him then they have no excuse for being
separated from God because of their sins because God has given them a way
out—Jesus. “Although sin was obviously present long before Jesus came into the
world…The contrary-to-fact condition also recalls what Jesus said to the
Pharisees after he healed the man born blind: ‘If you were blind, you would not
have sin. But now you say that “we see.” Your sin remains. This too he said
against the background of an announcement that ‘I came into the world’ for a
dual purpose—not only ‘that those who do not see might see,’ but ‘so that those
who see might go blind’ (Jn 9:39). In this sense the ‘coming’ of Jesus creates
not only ‘friends,’ but ‘sinners’ as well. In both passages, the phrase ‘but
now,’ or ‘as it is,’ brings us back to reality, and the reality is that ‘Your
sin remains,’ or, here more specifically, ‘they have no excuse for their sin.’
That is, they are now fully accountable. They cannot claim innocence on the
basis that they have not been warned, or have not heard the word of God! They
have heard it from the lips of Jesus, but have not recognized his words as
words from God. In hating him and persecuting him they have (unwittingly) hated
as well the One they worship as God.”[5]
23He
who hates me hates my Father as well.
Jesus
issues quite an indictment in v. 23 against those who oppose Him. At this point
Jesus has made it pretty clear who He is so when the people hated and rejected
Him they hated and rejected the Father. We take this for granted today because
at least most Christians have a rudimentary knowledge of the Trinity—God the
Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit. But for those to whom Jesus first
revealed Himself, there wasn’t even a rudimentary understanding of the Trinity.
It is important to understand that this is precisely why Jesus performed the
many miracles He did. It wasn’t specifically for the purpose of healing just
some people or raising just some people from the dead. No, the purpose of
Jesus’ miracles was to validate who He was. Jesus’ miracles weren’t a show,
they were a sign; or, more specifically, the signature of God. “Jesus is the
uniquely commissioned agent of God who, in his task of bringing the salvation
of God to the world, exercises a unique, mediating function between God and
human beings. Because Jesus is the designated agent of God, he also represents
God to human beings in such a way that the Gospel can say that to encounter
Jesus is to encounter God, to have seen him is to have seen the Father, or to
know and receive him is to have known and received the Father. As God’s agent
Jesus carries out a mission which mediates God’s salvation to the world, as is
manifested in the signs which he does.”[6]
24If
I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of
sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and
my Father.
In v. 24 we
find out from Jesus Himself the purpose behind the miracles He performed among
His followers and others who didn’t yet believe in Him. People, usually
unbelievers, tend to get twisted in knots about Jesus’ miracles. Many use the
absence of miracles as proof that God doesn’t exist. I suspect that this
attitude is generally prevalent in the West or in more modern cultures. But I
know that some of you are first-hand witnesses of miracles in your own lives or
in the lives of someone you know. You know God’s power and it makes it
difficult to deny His existence. However, many of the people who witnessed
Jesus’ miracles nevertheless refused to believe in Him. Many continued to call
for miracles so Jesus could prove who He said He was. But Jesus said they
didn’t believe Him in the face of the miracles He had already performed. The
people just used the demand for miracles as an excuse to not believe. In fact,
after Jesus’ greatest miracle of all, rising from the dead, people then and now
still refuse to believe. They witnessed Jesus’ many miracles and eventually
they knew the tomb was empty so they had all the evidence they needed to
believe yet they persisted in their unbelief. “He had not only come and spoken,
but had done works which none other had done. The miracles wrought by Christ
were themselves of a kind fitted to produce faith. In them men were meant to
see God. So that He could say…This is their guilt, that they have both seen and
hated both me and my Father.”[7]
25But this is to
fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’”
Jesus said
that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill the Law (Mt 5:17). And,
according to v. 25, the fact that the people hated Him was just another
fulfillment found in Psalms 35:19 and 69:4 that those anointed by God are often
hated for no reason. In the case of these two Psalms it is the anointed king
David who is hated for no reason and in our Subject Text it is the
Messiah (Heb. ‘anointed’) who is hated for no reason. Think about it, what did
Jesus do that warranted the peoples’ hatred? Was it giving sight to the blind?
Was it healing the sick? Was it turning water into wine at a wedding ceremony?
Was it feeding thousands of men, women, and children? Was it raising a son or
daughter or brother from the dead? It would be foolish to think that Jesus was
hated for any of these reasons although I suppose in some strange way it’s
possible. A pretty good argument could be made that He was hated because He
claimed to be equal with God. Although I’m sure there were probably some
sincere and pious Jews who were offended by this, most of the religious leaders
hated Jesus because the people began to follow Him instead of them. No, I think
that Jesus was hated for another reason unrelated to either of these things and
I think it explains why His followers since then have also been hated for what
seems like no reason. Jesus convicted them of their sins and their need for
forgiveness that was available through Him. “God’s own action and demands are
represented in him, Jesus. The world, however, like everyone who does evil,
hates the light. It hates the Revealer without cause, because he bears witness
that its works are evil. This hatred is directed also against Jesus’ disciples.
They are counted blessed when men hated them for the Revealer’s sake. Those, on
the other hand, who do no reckon themselves separated from the world are not
hated.”
Application
Can we stop
pretending for a minute that there’s a way we can get unbelievers to stop
hating us and accept the fact that Christians are destined to be hated because
Jesus was hated. Do you want to know something that really should send “shock waves” through Christian leaders? That there are
Christian leaders who think that the key to winning unbelievers to Christ is to
get them to like us even though that is not taught anywhere in the Bible. Here’s
the thing, no one wants to be hated. But serving others and preaching the
Gospel does not require that people like us. In fact, the objective is for our
lives and our words to be a bright light that shines in the darkness that sin
has created in the world. Unbelievers don’t like it when Christians share their
biblical beliefs and speak out against unbiblical practices, they don’t like
the biblical ethics of Christian business owners and leaders, they don’t like
Christians to influence politics with their Christian worldview, they don’t
like Christians insisting that Jesus is the only way to be saved, for that
matter the don’t like that Christians insist that people are sinners that need
to be saved. So what must Christians do to be liked by unbelievers? Well let’s
start by taking the inverse of all the things I just listed. Unbelievers like
Christians who keep their beliefs to themselves. Unbelievers like Christians
whose business practices are influenced by profits at any expense. Unbelievers
like Christians who don’t allow their Christian worldview to influence their
politics. Unbelievers like Christians who believe that Jesus is their personal means for salvation but
others may believe in equally valid means for salvation. Unbelievers like
Christians who don’t talk much about sin or the need for salvation. Wait! I
think I’ve figured out how Christians can be liked by unbelievers—don’t be
Christians!
[1]
Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology,
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), p. 194.
[2]
D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to
John—The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991), p. 525.
[3]
Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1986), p. 404.
[4]
George R. Beasley-Murray, John—Word
Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), p. 276.
[5]
J. Ramsey Michaels, The Gospel of John—The
New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010), pp. 821-822.
[6]
Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 1992), pp. 378-379.
[7]
W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s
Greek Testament, Vol. I, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1983), p. 833.
