"Persecution"

Link to service:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50jLhZbFDPg

 

Persecution

John 15:18-16:4

September 18, 2022

 

Read John 15:18-16:4

This is the Word of the LORD.

This text would seem to be a preacher’s paradise.  It sets up like a great compare and contrast: the world is bad and we are good.  Those people are bad and we are good.  This is the invitation to soapbox – to rail against all those things that irk me.  Think David, the little guy, versus Goliath, the big guy.  David had all the virtue, all the moxie, and all the courage, while Goliath had strength, experience, and muscle.  David was the underdog who overcame the odds stacked against him, felling the great Goliath.

Oh, how this text tees up like an opportunity to really go after the world.  There is such a temptation to highlight everything that is wrong, everything that is bad, and everything that is unholy – and to talk about “them”; you know, all those other people who are doing all those bad things.  Then, we could talk about how virtuous and righteous we are…

Oh. Oh, yeah.

It does not work that way.  It is not at all what Jesus was saying.   

Now, it is true that there is no way to construe, “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you” in a favorable light to the world. Jesus was not commending the world’s hatred.  He was not recommending it, encouraging it, or affirming it.  He was observing it.  He was reflecting both the big picture -- the world’s generations’ long rejection of God – and also reflecting the immediate picture of the rejection happening to him.

Remember what was going on as Jesus was saying these things.  Jesus had ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem.  The town was already crowded with people who had come for the Passover.  Now, they were abuzz with news of the Lazarus miracle.  Because of the danger of insurrection and revolution against Rome, the leaders – chief priests, scribes, and elders; in other words, the church – decided that Jesus had to die.

Jesus, for his part, had concluded his public ministry.  He moved into an intense period of teaching and fellowship with his closest disciples.  As they gathered for the Passover meal, Jesus washed their feet – including the feet of Judas, who would soon leave to betray him.  Peter’s exclamation of loyalty was met with Jesus’ prediction that Peter would deny knowing him three times before the next morning.

After comforting them about what was about to take place and telling them about the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “Rise, let us be on our way.”

On their way to the garden that was familiar to the disciples, Jesus continued to teach. We talked last week about the vine and the branches, and about Jesus’ command that the disciples love one another as He loved them.  All of that was the setup for today’s, “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.”

So, with the world’s hatred as the foundation and the given, this is where we begin to pick up what Jesus wanted to get the disciples to understand.  Our verses come in the midst of a larger conversation Jesus was having with his disciples while he was on his way to be arrested.  That is the context.

This third part of the teaching – after “abide in me” and “love one another as I have loved you” – was the discussion about their relationship with the world.  The hatred of the world was the starting point because Jesus was actively experiencing the rejection of the world and knew that his disciples would experience that very same rejection. That he was speaking with a broad brush is clear when he said, “If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”  There are some in the world with ears to hear.  He distinguished between those who received him versus those who did not.

          The World

I do not think I have to spend much time here convincing you that Jesus’ observation was accurate: the world does hate Jesus and hates those who belong to him.  What may surprise us, however, is that the “world” Jesus referenced included both the Gentiles AND the Temple authorities; in other words, both the secular world AND the church world.

Historically, there are innumerable examples of Christians suffering and dying because the world hated them.  The persecution of the early church was particularly horrific as believers were torn apart by wild animals for sport or set afire as torches for Nero’s garden.  There are also examples of the church moving away from the authority of Scripture, the attempt to separate Jesus from the things he said, and the notion that our understanding of what constitutes rights (contrasted with righteousness) – our “rights” are supreme.

Within our own life experience, we are witnessing the culture overtly rejecting the idea that there is an ultimate authority outside of ourselves.  They do not know the Father or Jesus.  The psalmist observed, “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’  They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.”

If you need a case-in-point illustration, let me share with you something that has bothered me for days now.  Last Sunday afternoon, I was getting ready to doze off for a good nap during a football game when, during a commercial break, a promotion for a new animated series came on and I was stunned.  The show is called “Little Demon,” and is produced for the FX network by a Disney-owned company.  The promotional – not critical – the promotional material reads like this 

Satan's teen daughter.

"13 years after being impregnated by Satan, a reluctant mother, Laura, and her Antichrist daughter, Chrissy, attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware, but are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who yearns for custody of his daughter's soul."[1]

In case you were wondering whether it’s an exaggeration to suggest that this is an attempt to make mainstream the occult, the actress who voices the main character in the show removes any doubt. “I love that we are normalizing paganism,” she said in a July interview.  “Laura is a pagan.  She’s a witch.  She’s jacked.”[2]

Friends, this is being promoted as entertainment.  They do not know the Father or Jesus.

For the church, there are plenty of examples as well.  There are the obvious examples like the Westboro Baptist folks who do the hateful and profane protests at various public events.  However, for our purposes today, the example is a bit more subtle.  The mainline denominations are a better illustration.  In my lifetime, the understanding of evangelism has changed from “proclamation” to “listening.”  Instead of declaring with confidence the good news of the words of Jesus, we explain them away to avoid offense or keep silent while people are encouraged to express their own truths.  Hear me clearly: it is important to listen because Jesus meets us where we are; however, we do have a gospel to proclaim.  There is more to Jesus than supporting my truth.  Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  Every.  Those who do so now proclaim him joyfully, those who reject and rebel now will proclaim him in sorrow for their error.

Mainline denominations have discouraged people from embracing the gospel, discouraged people from being too Jesus-focused, discouraged people from sharing the truth because it is offensive (offensive to those who hate Jesus) is the hatred of the world inside the church.  They do not know the Father or Jesus.

          Yeah, but…

Some of you may be thinking, “if they are wrong, are you saying that ‘we’ have it right and can feel good about ourselves?”  No, that is not what I am saying.  We do our best, but we do still hold with humility the motto of the Reformed tradition, “Reformed, always to be reformed, according to the Word of God.”  We are not perfect.  We can point to errors and failings in our own mission and ministry together – hang out in the parking lot after any committee meeting.  I can confess errors and failings in my own efforts as your pastor.

That is absolutely true and it makes the point.  None of us are righteous – not one.

The church is not our righteousness; the church has the message of our salvation – righteousness reckoned to us – through the grace of the one who is righteous.  The church bears witness to the one who is our righteousness.  Our hope, our salvation, and our life is in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ.  That is why it is essential – not just a best practice, though it is that, too – it is ESSENTIAL that we abide in Jesus.

We do not have pride because we are Christian.  We have hope because we are Christian.  We do not have merit because we are Christian.  We have merit because of Christ.  Should we aspire to be like Christ?  Absolutely.  Can we claim to be fully conformed to Christ?  Absolutely not.  Our testimony is not based the righteousness we have within us; it is only in the righteousness reckoned to us by faith in Christ.

And, because that righteousness from Christ is not recognized by everyone – in fact, it is rejected – so also those who are abiding in Christ can expect to be treated as Christ was treated.

          Christ Chose Us

“Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you.”

Because we belong to Jesus, therefore the world hates us.  The critical thing for us to understand today is that we are different because Christ has chosen us out of the world.  We understand reality differently.  We understand our relationship with God differently.  We live differently.  We talk differently.  We treat one another differently. We treat those outside the church differently.  We strive for different things.  We hope for different things.  (We do not do any of those things perfectly; but we are being perfected by Christ in our imperfect efforts.)

Christ chose us out of the world to be different.  Being chosen by Christ means that our primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God that Jesus was proclaiming.  Paul would later use the imagery of our being “ambassadors for Christ.”  Think of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia.  Or North Korea.  Or Iran.  Or China.  Ambassadors represent their nation in foreign lands – lands often hostile to their own.  The Old Testament has multiple expressions of God’s people being aliens living in a foreign land.  Jesus was telling the disciples that he was forming them into a new Israel, one which would fulfill the purposes God had intended for Israel to serve: a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

Think about it this way: the Declaration of Independence declared the United States to be a new nation.  England thought differently and the Revolutionary War was fought to determine who would prevail.

Here, Jesus was saying that he had chosen them (and us) out of the world. Establishing the kingdom of God would not be decided without a battle.  And, just because the outcome was clear – God was always going to prevail, did prevail, and always will prevail – it did not mean that the battle would not be waged.

Being chosen out of the world sets up a contrast and a conflict. Jesus was the champion – God’s champion – who was taking on the most powerful forces feared by humankind: sin and its consequence, death.  He was walking towards those who rejected and rebelled against God’s authority.

The battle Jesus waged was not with earthly weapons.  Though the world hated him, he did not hate the world. He said himself, ““For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  He was not hateful to the world that hated him.  No, the battle Jesus fought was in accordance with the power of the kingdom of God; in other words, Jesus trusted and obeyed God’s leading by waging the battle in love rather than relying upon the weapons of destruction and hatred.

The same is true for those who follow Jesus.  We are not to resort to earthly weapons to wage the battle against the hatred of the world.  .Paul would write in Ephesians 6,

“…our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

By abiding in Jesus as branches from His vine, we will bear fruit for God’s glory.  By doing our part – testifying on Jesus’ behalf and intentionally loving one another as Christ loved us – we do battle as Jesus did.  We are not to be hateful to a world that hates him.  We are not to be hateful to a world that hates us.  We are to testify to him by abiding in Him and trusting in the power of the kingdom of God.  We, too, are to trust and obey God’s leading by waging the battle in love rather than relying upon the weapons of destruction and hatred.

          The Consequence of Christ’s Coming

On paper, waging the battle in love rather than relying upon the weapons of destruction and hatred seems like a good thing.  It seems good, that is, until we watch how hatred plays out in the world our flesh and blood.

Jesus was walking towards his arrest.  He knew what would follow.  What he said would come to the disciples was actually taking place to him as they walked along.  “They will put you out of the synagogues.”  They declared Jesus to be a blasphemer.  “Those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God.”  The Temple leaders who persecuted Jesus thought they were defending God from a pretender; the tragedy for them is that they were fighting against God himself.

Even though it looked to the disciples – and even though it looks to people today – that by going to the cross Jesus was a victim destroyed by earthly powers, the exact opposite proved to be true.  And, in order to avoid the mis-understanding (or the refusal to understand) of the Temple authorities, we need to understand the consequence of Jesus’ coming.

Jesus made two statements that we often overlook when we read these verses.  They were a beforehand declaration of the judgment and victory that God was accomplishing in him.

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

“If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin.  But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.”

Consider these two statements any time we start thinking (or someone says), “it’s not fair.”  The point is that the judgment the world attempted to impose on God was, in fact, the judgment of God effected on the world.  In Christ’s obedience – obedience unto death, even death on a cross – God’s judgment was made certain.  Both Jew and Gentile are subject to the judgment God effected through the blood of Jesus. Ignorance is not a defense because Jesus spoke and speaks.  Fear of the world is no defense because Jesus had done the works among them that no one else did.  People had – and have – seen the works and they have hated both Jesus and the Father.

But the hatred of the world does not deter or change the outcome.  Friends, this is the good news of our hope in the midst of the hatred we experience from the world: the outcome is assured.  God prevailed, prevails, and always will prevail.

           Hard Times Are Coming

In the meantime, we have to pay heed to what Jesus was telling the disciples.  Hard times were coming.  The world was going to hate them.  He told them these things to prepare them for the hard times they would face themselves. He told them so they would recognize what was happening in the moment and so that they could respond in faithfulness to whatever crises they encountered.

It was true then and it remains true now.  We can expect hardship.  We have hard times now.  Things are not as they should be; things are not as they will be when the kingdom of God is fully revealed.  The battle continues to rage.  The world is hostile to the gospel even today.  Even here in the United States, we see it in our polarized society.  Both the secular society and church institutions have conflated faith with political platforms.  Both sides of our political debates try to weaponize the faith against one another.  “If they say they are Christians, how can they…”  Friends, hear this clearly: weaponizing the faith is not how God calls us to wage the battle against the hatred of the world.  Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of this; and both sides are wrong.

What is the alternative?  What are we to do?  We are to do battle as Jesus did.  Abide in Him as He abides in us.  Testify on Jesus’ behalf, trusting that the Holy Spirit will teach us everything, and remind us of all that Jesus said.  Intentionally love one another as Christ loved us.  We are to do these things when it is easy; we are to do these things when things get difficult.  We are to do so in the face of hatred, in the midst of hatred, and under the threat of hatred.

For how long?  Until that day – the promised day.  What day?

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Oh, how we live now in expectant hope for the day we see that fully realized; God’s kingdom done, God’s will done on earth as it is in Heaven.  We are confident because we belong to Christ now.  We belong to Christ now because he chose us out of the world.  That’s good news, right?  Go out from this place and tell someone.  Amen? Amen.

Questions:

1. How do you experience the hatred of the world? How has that hatred impacted you?  How have you been encouraged by Jesus’ words explaining why these things are happening?
2. Look at Ephesians 6 again. What does it mean to put on the full armor of God?
3. Where does the battle end? What happens when God prevails and the kingdom of God is fully revealed?

 

[1] https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/little-demon

[2] https://www.al.com/opinion/2022/09/cameron-smith-with-little-demon-disney-mainstreams-the-antichrist.html