Can You Take The Heat Series

2nd The reason the world persecutes us is because we no longer belong to the world. We are no longer a part of that crowd. Our values are different. Our goals are different. Our whole worldview and orientation toward life is different. And haven’t you found that in general people often reject what is different. I read the story the other day of the man who invented the umbrella. When he first tried it on the streets of London he was pelted with stones and rotten vegetables just because he was different. The society around us is always pressuring us to conform to their mold.[6] That’s why Paul exhorted the church in Romans 12:2 to not allow ourselves to be conformed to the pattern of this world. I’m not saying we have to dress like 19th century pilgrims. But I’m saying that the principles the world lives by are vastly different from the values Christ calls us to walk in. And the two will never, never be reconciled. One of the difficult things teenagers have to deal with is the pressure from the world to conform to its image. Adults deal with the same issues in a little more subtle ways. But our identity has to be established in our relationship with Christ in such a way that we don’t succumb to those pressures. The strength to do that comes from the Spirit within us. We’ll talk about that more in a moment.

We must not take the rejection too personal. Jesus said in verse 19, “If 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’s one reason getting connected with a community of believers is important. We have an identity in Christ as an individual in relationship with God. But that identity is also found as a member of the Body of Christ. You are loved and accepted as one of God’s people. The way we handle persecution is largely dependent upon knowing who we are in Christ and in relationship to the Body of Christ.

3. The world persecutes Christians because the unbelieving world does not know God.

In John 15:31 Jesus said, “They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” Everybody has some concept of God and what He is like. A few may deny He even exists. But most of those people will not claim to be atheists but simply say, “I am an agnostic. I don’t know for sure there is a God.” What’s amazing to me is when you talk to those people they still have some concept of what God is like “if He does exist.” They will tell you how terrible it is that He allows suffering and injustice in the world. They will accuse God of all kinds of unfairness. But in reality it is all just their concept of God for they do not know Him.

They assume that you simply have a concept of God because they don’t know that you can really know God on a personal basis. It is an amazing truth—that puny people like you and me can actually know God and enjoy a real, vital relationship with Him. But it’s true and it’s good news for anyone who will hear it.