As a review from the last Sundays, the narrative from chapters John 13 - 14 is describing Jesus is in His last week on earth and in chapters 15 on, it is down to the last hours before the crucifixion. He has been preparing the disciples for His death, eventual departure from the world and that after He was gone, He would send the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Trinity) who would continually keep them connected to Him and the Father. The Holy Spirit would always be with them, filling them, speaking the words of Jesus to their innermost beings, and revealing God’s mind to them.
Before the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples’ relationship with Jesus was outward - they heard His words and witnessed His miracles, but after the ascension, when the Spirit would come, He would speak heart-to-heart with them, help them understand spiritual truths, and transform their moral and spiritual character. Through the Spirit they would learn how to have a personal vibrant, ever-deepening relationship with the Lord. If they remained in the Vine, in God’s love, the Spirit would produce much fruit in them, that is, Christlike character, the life and character that was in such sharp contrast of what human beings could ever produce or achieve.
The Holy Spirit’s presence would enable or empower them to love God, to love each other and to be a witness for Jesus in a world that had become hostile to the Gospel. Let’s turn to:
John 15:17-16:4
17 This I command you, that you love one another. 18 “If the world hates you, 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, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates Me hates My Father also. 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 My Father as well. 25 But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘THEY HATED ME FOR NO REASON.’
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you will not be led into sin. 2 They will ban you from the synagogue, yet an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering a service to God. 3 These things they will do because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. However, I did not say these things to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Even though Jesus was talking about the world’s hatred towards Himself and His disciples, this passage applies to those who have experienced different levels of hatred as followers of Christ. Because we live in a world that is hostile to light and truth it is vital to know:
? What to expect
? Who you are
? How to testify
Let’s look at the first point:
1) What to expect
Jesus said, “This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another” (v. 17). Why did He say this? Why is it so important for us to follow Jesus closely, keep ourselves in His love, and to love each other with His love? Because in the next verse He says that the world will hate you, as much as it hates Me.
There is a way God designed you to live as His child, as part of His family. The fruit of your life will be a testimony of your relationship with and to God, which is walking in love and obedience to Him which is something that this self-seeking world system cannot fathom. Even if the culture agrees with certain Christian ethics and morals, it rejects God as the source of life and the final authority. This rejection is a form of hatred.
The word hate here means:
To detest (on a comparative basis); hence, denounce; to love someone or something less than someone (something) else, i.e., to renounce one choice in favor of another.
There are some cultures and societies that acknowledge God, but the form of hatred Jesus is referring to is the fact that the world loves something more than it loves God. Some people may consider what you believe and respond in a positive way, but ultimately reject your belief because they have chosen to love the way they think and live over God’s thoughts and ways. This is a form of hatred - of loving intellectualism, materialism, pleasure, power, and honor over honoring and loving the God of the universe, their Creator. These things take the place of God in people’s lives, and they serve these things as if they were God.
This is why this world system hates Jesus and His followers. John 3:19-20 says,
God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
Throughout history there have been many levels of hatred expressed towards Jesus and His people, but the worst expression of this hatred is murder. Even today in certain parts of the world, many believers have suffered martyrdom for their faith because of the animosity that other religions and political ideologies have for the light of the Gospel. In 2021 it was estimated that 1 in 7 believers around the world have suffered significant persecution for their faith.
But who is behind this world system, who hates God the most and hates His creation? Who is the one that deceives the whole world and would have people believe in anything or anyone besides God? Who is the one who has turned the world system against the biblical worldview and replaced it with secular philosophies and wisdom and its own standard of morality? Satan is promoting this world system. Paul exposed Satan’s work in Ephesians 2:2:
You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God].
Satan hates Jesus and will do everything in his power to hinder people from coming to God. He doesn't want this world to see what the mercy and grace of God can do in a person’s life. And when people do come to faith and are made spiritually alive with Christ, Satan tries to wear God’s people down, distract them, discourage them, and ultimately shipwreck their faith.
No one is immune to hate and hatred. Here’s my question? Directly or indirectly, have we as God’s children ever hated Him? Have we loved anything above Him, preferred other things over Him? Have we ever loved yourself less than God does. Have you treated yourself or others less than God would? Have we become familiar with His Word, with His family? Have we rationalized away our obedience and given ourselves “grace” believing that God understands when we sin? Sadly, I have to say yes, the Lord lets us see it for what it is. In love He convicts us and when we respond in repentance, He cleanses us. This is why Jesus continually calls us to remain in His love, stay close to Him, follow Him, and to love each other.
Jesus told His followers not to be shocked when things get rough and not to abandon their faith when they experience this kind of hatred (vv. 19-20). If they persecuted me (and they did) they will persecute you. If they won’t listen to Me, they won’t listen to you. Jesus was preparing His followers for the things they would suffer for speaking the truth and taking a stand.
Peter told his readers not to think of these difficulties, the trials and suffering that they were going through as something strange (1 Pet. 1:6, 4:12). According to the Word, none of our suffering is random, without purpose or reward. Trials and suffering:
? Prepare us for ministry - God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor 1:4).
? Test the depth or the reality of our faith. They reveal whether our faith and our foundation is really in God or just skin deep.
? Stretch our capacities to believe God in greater ways and develops godly character in us.
Paul said:
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (Rom 5:3-5 NLT).
Trials are meant to cause our faith to go deeper. This is why, as we spoke about last Sunday, it is so important to keep yourself in the love of God, to remain in His love, to continually receive His strength, and to love each other because no one will make it alone. This is why it is vital to know...
2) Who you are...
In v. 19 Jesus said, if you were of the world, [if you had their value system, if you thought like they do, if you believed in what they believed in, lived for what they live for] they would love you.
The word love here means they would let you in and embrace you as their intimate friend. How many Christians, out of a desire for intimacy and fear of rejection, have embraced certain worldly values and ways as a short-term solution for their need for love and acceptance? This is why Jesus reminds His disciples that they are in this world but are not of it. Once you recognized and accepted Jesus as your Savior, you were taken out of the Kingdom of darkness and placed in His Kingdom.
Those of us who have experienced this redemption used to be under the sentence of God’s wrath because we were governed by our sinful mind and spirit just like the rest of the world. But when we turned to God, He gave us His righteousness and made us spiritually alive. He did this so that He could reveal His immeasurable and unsurpassed riches of His grace in His kindness toward us (Eph 2:3-7). The world no longer has its say in your life, sin no longer rules you, you are not your past or your failure, you are a child of God. This world is not your home, your citizenship is in heaven. You are His master work, His masterpiece, a new creation - reborn from above, transformed, renewed, and given a new purpose and a new family in Christ. He not only saved us by faith, He wants us to grow in our faith.
When we live for Christ, we will be tested, resisted, and stretched. God will allow circumstances to shake our faith to show us who or what we are really trusting in. Everyone builds his or her life on one foundation or another and it’s just a matter of time before each one of us will experience a shaking that will determine what that foundation is built upon.
When the tragic earthquake took place in Turkey, people were shocked at how quickly their supposedly earthquake-proof buildings collapsed. Many had placed their faith in the builders who cut corners and used inferior building materials. When the quake hit it only took about two minutes to create the devastation and destruction we witnessed. What happened to the builders/architect? They were arrested and put into prison. In other words, they paid dearly for not paying the price up front.
It made me think about the foundation we are building upon as believers and as a church. Is Christ really our foundation or have we placed our faith and hope in people, in financial security, in anything other than God as the object of our faith and trust?
There are plenty of building sites here in Vienna where you can see how incredibly deep, the builders dig down when creating a foundation. A good foundation is determined by the location or region, soil condition, types of material that will be used in construction, and lifespan of the structure. They have very strict building codes including ensuring the foundation and building is earthquake proofed, etc. Why do they put all this time, money, and effort into the foundation upfront? So that the building will be able to withstand every possible scenario - extreme weather conditions, flooding, earthquakes, even insects that eat away at the foundation. I worked for a company that came in to fix bad foundations. It is an incredible amount of work to fix a faulty foundation. That is why it is better to build it right the first time.
We must consider the spiritual foundation we are building now. Building a sure foundation requires time, inspecting the work, and ensuring the foundation is maintained. Wise people will build their foundation on the Rock because they are expecting the storms and as Paul wrote in 1 Cor 3, no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to know how secure our faith is in Him. If we know what to expect, if we know who we are and how solid our faith is we will know…
3) How to testify
In vv. 26-27 Jesus said,
When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
It is interesting to note the progression in this verse. God the Father sent His Son on a mission of redemption. Now Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to testify about that saving mission in and through the lives of His followers. No matter how much the world may hate God and His people, it has never stopped His plan of redemption. God’s love for this lost world cannot be overcome by hate.
You will notice that nowhere in this passage does Jesus call any of His followers to seek revenge or to retreat from the world but He is calling them to be an active, living testimony of the love and life of God. Jesus is saying: You are to testify about me and the power of my saving grace, my love and my truth. You are to be witnesses of my life, words, works, death, and resurrection. This will not be possible unless you have internalized the Word of God, are filled with His Spirit, remain in His love, and are around God’s people because it is so easy to internalize the negativity, rejection, and hatred that is expressed in this world. Only then can you testify about Jesus who said, “I have given you the Spirit of Truth who will testify about me and as you are already testifying about me.” While you are testifying of Christ’s life, the Holy Spirit brings the truth of what you are saying to the hearts of those who are listening and makes the truth of the gospel come alive.
God not only wants us to take a stand, He wants us to advance, to move forward and this will take courage. Yesterday a group of 15 or so people from different churches went out with Stephan Höfler for street evangelism at Hauptbahnhof. Pearl, Yuliya, and I spoke with an atheist, a Muslim, a Jehovah Witness. We had good conversations with each and all of them were very open. The atheist was an older gentleman from former East Germany who has lived in Vienna for 20 years. He held to different philosophies of life including Sigmund Freud’s and Schopenhauer’s but said that he had been reading the Bible for the past 3 years (since he retired). He and the JW listened respectfully and engaged in conversation. But for the young Muslim man, the Holy Spirit brought the truth of the gospel home. We were just watering the seeds that others had sown as he had a Christian friend who had given him the New Testament, and another friend who testified of many answered prayers in his life, so he was ready to make a decision for Christ and prayed with us right there on a bench at the train station.
Jesus said that the fields are white and ready for harvest but the laborers are few so we are to pray that the Lord sends more workers into the field.
Jesus wants us to put Him first and He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us testify about His love and what is to come. He wants us to be super fruitful and that is why He calls us to enlarge the place of our tent, stretch our tent curtains wide and to not hold back. He’s calling us to lengthen our cords and to strengthen our stakes. He is deepening our foundation, our conviction of who He is and what He can do, stretching our capacity of faith, and calling us to testify of who He is in our own lives.
Even though we live in a world that hates God, puts him lower than everything else, we can testify of His love because we have experienced His love. Testifying about who Jesus is, means taking a stand for the truth. It means holding to the veracity and authority of the Scriptures as the foundation of our Christian faith and practice even if the majority move away from the truth. Jesus told us what to expect, to keep growing in who we are in Christ, continue to strengthen the foundation upon which we stand and in the power of the Spirit of God to go out and testify to the truth of the Gospel.
