I was listening to radio one afternoon recently when I heard story of a young woman in Albania who had come to faith in Christ and was a joyful, radiant Christian, witnessing to her friends about what she had found in Jesus. Then I listened with great sadness & shock to hear that this vibrant young believer had not merely been rejected by her former friends, but within a couple of years of her conversion had been killed—she had actually been murdered by her former friends because of her newly-found faith and testimony for Jesus Christ. I was shocked and found myself wondering why her friends could not just have left off with rejecting her, and leaving her alone, with a live and let live philosophy.
And this is all because I had forgotten passages like the one we come to today—a passage full of promises which no believer really wants to claim, a passage which would not be taught in many Christian churches in America today because it would not be attractive, it would not be seeker-sensitive, it might turn some people off to Christ and the Gospel if, God forbid, they had to count the cost, or something like that.
But it is a passage spoken by none other than Jesus Christ, at one of the most sober and intimate moments in all of his ministry to his 11 faithful disciples, moments before the ultimate effect of the World’s persecution against Him would result in His death. It’s a passage that was spoken with a purpose, a good purpose, a God-ordained purpose given with all the divine wisdom we need to hear, with the goal of keeping us from being disillusioned, keeping us from being shocked by the realities of life for a believer in this world. What we hear from Jesus this morning could be considered a reality check—a reality check to see whether we have a grasp of exactly what life will be like for someone who lives in godly manner in this world.
Remember, once again we’re in John 15, the last evening Jesus would spend with his disciples before his arrest late that evening and His crucifixion the next day. In John 15 Jesus explains to his disciples and to us about three vital relationships we will have as we live out our Christian life and what we must do to please Him in each of those relationships. The first vital relationship is with Jesus Christ Himself, and the key word was abide. We must abide in Christ—that is we must obey Christ and depend on Him and His power for the ability to do so. The second vital relationship is to one another—to other believers, and we must love one another. We must love one another as Jesus loved us and love one another to the point of death. A self-sacrificing kind of love unique to Christians is in view here. And just why this love for one another will be and is so necessary is that we will not be getting much love from the world. We will not be getting much love from anyone or any other place. And that’s the subject of our message this morning. Don’t be shocked that the world hates you but keep on witnessing to it anyway. And there we find the key word for our relationship to the world—witness. Keep on witnessing, or testifying to Christ, despite the world’s hatred for you.
Three vital words with regard to three different relationships. With regard to Christ—abide or obey. With regard to one another—Love one another. With regard to the world—Witness or Testify.
In John 15:17, Jesus has just summed up the disciple’ss responsibility toward one another—Love one another. And immediately His commentary as He prepares His disciples for their life without his physical presence with Him turns to the absolute opposite of love. And that of course, is hatred. And He warns them in advance that they will experience plenty of that, hopefully, not from other believers. But surely from unbelievers. And He in essence tells them to count on the world hating you. Count on the world hating you. Don’t be surprised if you find that you are the object of hatred from unbelievers. Don’t be surprised like I was when you hear stories like that of that young vibrant believer in Albania. Jesus actually promised us that this would be part and parcel of a vibrant believer’s experience. In fact, if it isn’t somehow a part of our personal individual experiences, a question we ought to ask is whether we’re really abiding in Christ and witnessing to the world we are a part of.
John 15:18: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”
Now the first thing we need to establish clearly and carefully here is just exactly what the word world means, in this context. The world, in the Greek, kosmos, can speak of the physical earth, as reflected in the sentence, God created the world and all that exists in it. Or it could be speaking of the world of mankind, as we find it in John 3:16, where it says, “For God so loved the world, that is the world of men, that He gave His only begotten Son.” And then it could be speaking of the world of men who are opposed to and without God, and devoted to their sin, the lusts of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life, as we find it portrayed in I John 2:19. In this context, Jesus is clearly using the word world according to the latter of these three definitions. He’s speaking of the world of men who do not follow God, who are devoted to living for pride, for the lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes without any regard for the will of God or righteousness. And He tells us something that would be good for us to know as we embark on this journey of following Him, of living for Jesus Christ. He’s telling us that upon making this choice to follow Christ and follow God in heaven, we will not be popular in the eyes of the world. In fact, we will not merely be unpopular, He chooses to use the word hate repeatedly to describe this world’s attitude and actions demonstrated toward us.
And in the Greek, we have what’s called a first-class condition, where the condition, or the “if” statement is assumed to be true. It’s not a matter of whether the world comes to hate you, it really is only a matter of time before you discover the world hates you. In other words, when the world hates you, you are to know that it has hated Me, Jesus before it hated you.
Now, there’s another thing to note about verse 18. As the NASB translates the second half of this conditional sentence, it seems to be indicating that, as a matter of fact, you will also be aware of the fact that the world had already hated Jesus before it hated you. And that is a possible and grammatically-correct translation. However, the word for know here in verse 18 can also be translated as an imperative, or a command. In other words, Jesus could just as well be commanding us, or telling us what we need to make sure we do know this in such a situation. He could be, and I believe He is, commanding us that we must make sure to know, we must make a point of remembering when we are hated by the world, that Jesus was hated first. And as a result, thinking that this is just part and parcel of the Christian life, this is just what you should expect. If the world hated Jesus first, and you follow the example of Jesus, and live like He did, abiding and obeying His Word as a result, count on it—the world will hate you as well. Don’t be surprised at the fiery trial that comes upon you because you are a Christian and live like one. The same thing that happened to Jesus—to one degree or another, you can expect and you better be prepared for it happening to you. And what would happen to Jesus on this very night? He would be hated to the point of death—His crucifixion on the cross.
And you might wonder why, at this point, why in the world would the world hate someone who is so much better, so much more worthwhile, so much more loving and giving as a person as a result of trusting and following Christ? Well, Jesus provides us with some reasons in verses 19-21.
First, in verse 19, He tells us that it’s because you are no longer one of them. You are no longer a part of the world or living according to its standards. Verse 19: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
Again, as I John 2:19 tells us, the world operates according to these motives, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. We could sum up these motivations for living in this way—the world is all about sex and lust, it’s all about covetousness for the things it can have—the Almighty Dollar and the possessions it can buy, and it’s all about showing how good it is, that it’s better than someone else, or it’s the best at something. That’s the boastful pride of life. But when you become a Christian and you follow Christ, what are you all about? Your priorities and motivations are now completely different. You are about loving, worshiping and serving and obeying God and Christ. You’re all about loving one another and giving to others and you’re all about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. You are obviously very different. You are obviously motivated by much higher and greater values and morals than others. And the world, I believe, is convicted, feels guilty, and is exposed for what it’s really all about. And the world encourages conformity. If someone is very different, if someone no longer applauds or even accepts the world’s immorality, selfishness and pride, then guess what, the world feels shown up. And the world is going to reject the non-conformist, it’s going to hate the non-conformist and shun him and, in some cases, even kill the non-conformist, because of what the righteous non-conformist exposes and ultimately says about the unrighteous worldly conformist.
This same author John puts it this way in I John 3:11-13: For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. You’re different. You’re righteous if you are following Christ. And that’s precisely what the world doesn’t like about you—you show them up, you’re an irritation, a reminder of the very thing they don’t want to know, and ultimately, if you push it, they’ll eliminate you completely from the scene. They don’t like righteous competition. And all this has happened, according to Jesus in verse 19, not because of your righteous choices in choosing to follow Him, but because of his sovereign choice or election of you. You can’t become proud of it, because ultimately you are not responsible for the fact that you are in Christ and of Christ rather than being in the world and of the world. Christ is. He chose you, and it’s only because of His choice of you, that you have become what you are—in and of Christ and His righteousness rather than in and of the world and its evil.
A second reason for why the world will hate you is simply this: The world will respond to you exactly as it responded to Christ Himself. It will respond to you as a Christian follower exactly as it would have responded to Christ Himself. If the people of the world would have hated Christ, they will hate you. If some of the people of the world respond in faith and obedience to the Word of Christ, they will respond the same way to Christ’s Word spoken through you. That’s the meaning of verse 20: “Remember the word that I said to you, “A slave is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep your word.
So as a Christlike person, you simply receive precisely the same reception that Christ Himself would have from the World. By and large you will be hated or persecuted, Jesus says. Sometimes, people will receive you and Christ’s Word, because they will be converted by your testimony. So, in effect, don’t take it personally. When you are reproached, it’s because Jesus is reproached. and even when you are received and believed, it’s because Jesus is received and believed. As a believer in Christ abiding in Christ, you simply get the response from the world that Jesus Himself would have.
And verse 21 provides us with the third and ultimate reason: The world does not recognize that Jesus was actually sent by the Creator-God, God the Father Himself. They persecute and hate you, because they don’t believe Jesus really came from God. They may believe in some other god, or some other version of God, but they reject you because they actually reject that Christ is really from God, and therefore the Son of God Himself.
Verse 21: But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”
Now we’ve all had this kind of experience, of being rejected because we are Christians by friends or by others. I just recently ran into an old friend who, at the age of about 40, some 30 years ago, came to Christ. And in casual conversation he was still expressing astonishment that many of his close friends completely withdrew from Him after He became a Christian. My best friend from elementary and high school days rejected me after I came to Christ. He had even told his mother so later in life, who then communicated to my mother who then communicated it to me. Don’t take it personally. But do count the cost, the cost of following Jesus includes counting on the world not to just having a mild aversion to you, but the world hating you. That’s the précise word Jesus chose for this kind of circumstance. It should not be shocking or surprising to us. Jesus has forewarned us and forearmed us.
Now some of you, seven of you, are getting baptized today. I would not be at all surprised if you experienced some level of persecution from family or friends because you are getting baptized today. I’ll bet that some of you had a mother or a father or a brother or a sister or a relative express some considerable dismay that you’re getting baptized. I wouldn’t be surprised if they disagreed with you and tried to dissuade you from your decision to make a public commitment to Christ. And you were shocked and dismayed and discouraged. You wondered what in the world was going on. Why, when you were only doing what is good and right, would so many people be opposed to it and you. Well, here’s your answer—it’s part and parcel of following Christ. There has been a major change in who you are. You are no longer part of the world, applauding what the world is and does, going along with sin, able to congratulate and encourage others for their enjoyment of the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, no longer participating with them in it, and they’re going to feel rejected, they’re going to feel like you have rejected them and that you think you’re better than them, and they’re not going to be happy with you, and yes, they may even come to hate you. Don’t be shocked. Count on this reaction—it’s what will often happen as a result of being in and of Christ, rather than in and of the world.
And here’s another thing to count on—they will hate you for no good reason. They will hate you for no good reason other than that they love their sin, and therefore hate Jesus.
Verse 22: “If I had not come and spoken to them, (and I believe Jesus is speaking of the unbelieving Jews, and especially the Jewish religious leaders) they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”
Now this is a difficult verse, because what it literally seems to be saying is that if Jesus hadn’t come, if He hadn’t spoken to the Jews, that then they would have been completely without sin. In addition to that, they would have had no excuse whatsoever for their continuing in sin. It’s the first issue that is most troubling. For Romans 3:23 tells us that all of have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. And that there is no exception to that. And more than that, Romans 5:12-21 indicates that Adam
s sin has been imputed to all mankind. So on several levels the whole world has sinned. And that sin even became more sinful when the Law, embodied in the Old Testament came, because it defined sin and even enhanced the desire to sin among many.
So the struggle we have here is understanding how Jesus could say that these Jews who were rejecting and murdering Him had no sin apart from His coming and His words spoken to them. Now I’ve searched far and wide and the best answer others have come up with for this seeming dilemma, which also appears in verse 24, is that Jesus is speaking specifically of the sin of Israel’s rejection of Jesus, and therefore it’s rejection of Jesus’ Father, God the Father. And since Jesus had come and spoken to them, and more than that, according to verse 24, done the works, or the miracles, that no other man in all of history had ever done, then they were without excuse in their rejection of not only the Son of God, but also God the Father, because Jesus perfectly represented God the Father. So with that in mind, let’s read verses 22-24 through again. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. And what was their sin. Verse 23: “He who hates Me hates My Father also.” And this is an emphasis in the Gospel of John as well as the letters of I-III John. You love the son, then you Love the Father. You have the Son then you also have the Father. You hate the Son, then you also hate the Father. Why? Because the Son is the exact representation of the Father in human form. He who has seen the Father has seen the Son. Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God. So you reject Jesus, then you don’t have God. And anyone who says he has a personal relationship with God but does not believe in Jesus as the Son of God, is either deceived or a liar.
Then on to verse 24: “ If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin, but now they have both seen and hated Me,” and notice this again, “and My Father as well.” Notice how much importance Jesus puts on His works, His miracles as clear evidence of His divine nature—as an absolute proof that He was indeed God in the flesh. And He makes it clear, and history bears this out as well, that there has never, ever been another man like Him in terms of miracle-working power—He did the things no one else did, repeatedly and as a matter of normal course. He did them multiple numbers of times a day, all the time, during his earthly ministry, up to and including raising people from the dead, including Himself. And all these things were good things—He healed people, delivered them from demons, raised the dead, and loved people right and left—all this should have settled the matter that He was God and was from the Father and represented God perfectly in visible form, but it didn’t matter. He was rejected, He was hated, he was even murdered despite all this—an object lesson of the truth that we may, and the disciples each of them absolutely did, face exactly the same fate, and the same attitude of hatred regardless of our good works, our love and our giving for others.
And Jesus says that for He Himself, as the Messiah,,that all this had been predicted by the very words of the Scriptures which the Jews themselves claimed was the Word of God. Verse 25: “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause,” a quote from Psalms 35:19 written 1000 years earlier.
The point: Count on the world to hate you for no good reason—and for a lot of bad reasons—the world loves its sin. That’s what it comes down to. Not an intellectual issue at all. Not a “can’t believe,: but a “won’t believe.” Because they love their sin. That’s the bottom line when it comes to hatred from the world. They hate Jesus and they hate you for no good reason. Don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. The reason is simply that they love their sin, they love darkness, and therefore they hate the light and everyone, even you, who exposes them to the light.
But Jesus does have encouragement, and direction for us. Once again, He refers the disciples to that coming Holy Spirit, and his continuing work in our role in the world. In other words, as we’re in the world, we won’t be alone. The Holy Spirit will be with us in helping us fulfill our task in the world—Witnessing, witnessing despite the world’s hatred. Keeping us witnessing—our responsibility in relationship to the world, regardless of how the world responds.
And our final point this morning is this: Keep on witnessing, just as the Spirit keeps on witness despite the world’s hatred.
Verse 26: When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me. That’s just going to happen, that’s going to happen anyway, regardless of what we do, but also because of what we do. If we abide in Christ, we cooperate with the Spirit, and we will testify or witness to the world about the truth of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of truth, as we abide in Christ, will see to it that we are effective in this matter.
And that’s what verse 27 indicates: And you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. Of course, this verse has particular application to these 11 disciples, because they had been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. And the more knowledge they had, the more responsible before God and more capable before the World they were. And the world’s hatred, and its persecution and its rejection were to be no excuses. Believers, you and I are to keep on testifying, keep on witnessing in the power of the Spirit despite the world’s hatred.
Now remember, in John 15, Jesus has given us three words which sum up our responsibility as believers to the three major relationships we are going to have in this world. With regard to Jesus, we are to abide, and therefore to obey. With regard to each other we are to love one another. With regard to the world, we are to witness.
Does it strike you as it does me, that the one single responsibility, the one word, which is to sum up our responsibility to the world is the word witness or testify. The totality of your responsibility to the unbelieving world, which clearly will much of the time hate you on account of this, is to testify to Jesus Christ, to witness to them, because apart form Christ, they’re headed to hell. It does not matter that much if the world will hate you for this. They will not appreciate you; they will reject you, and on occasions they may kill you. Jesus indicates that that is no excuse. That is part and parcel of the Christian life. If you will abide and therefore obey Christ, you will testify and witness.
Are some of you here perhaps wondering why you aren’t experiencing persecution, why you don’t experience the hatred of the world? Is it possible that it’s because you don’t abide in Christ when it comes to this matter of witnessing? Is it possible that in so doing you have become a friend of the world, rather than a servant of Christ in so doing? Well, it’s high time you began to abide in Christ in every possible on every possible day. Testify to Jesus. Witness for him however and whenever you can.
I’ll tell you what I have decided to do about it. I’ve got almost 5,000 business cards t in my office. What am I going to do with all those business cards? You know what I’ve decided is that I am going to take every opportunity I have to pass those cards, at the grocery store, at the past office, at the dentist’s office, at the doctor’s office to receptionists and everyone I have association with in this world, I’m giving them a card. I’m letting them know who I belong to, and who I represent. And if they don’t like it, that’s their problem, and it may become mine, but my first responsibility is to abide in Jesus, and therefore to testify about Him even when many in the world might hate me. Some, for eternity, may some day love me and thank me for it.
What is certain, is Jesus will be pleased with me because of it.
