Can You Take The Heat?
Fortifying the Foundations # 35
John 15:18-16:4[1]
5-16-04
In our text this morning Jesus warns his followers about persecution. Sometimes Christians are suffering persecution and they don’t even realize that what they are experiencing is persecution. In other cases Christians think they are being persecuted for righteousness sake but in reality the trouble is their own fault. It is extremely helpful to know the difference. A good doctor determines the cause of the problem before he prescribes a solution. And when a Christian is experiencing rejection or ill treatment it is a good idea to know the cause behind what is going on.
John 15:18 “If the world hates you...” Most of us have not experienced anything like the intensity of persecution that the early church experience or that our fellow believers are experiencing in other parts of the world. It has been estimated that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th Century than in all the years prior to 1900 combined. Approximately 150,000 Christians are martyred each year.[2] There are some horrific things going on in the world even as we speak. We are painfully aware of the hatred and animosity that is being expressed through the rise in terrorism. The reality of terrible persecution is all around us. But we enjoy a certain insulation from all that.
There is a more subtle form of persecution, however, that most of us do face. The young people call it peer pressure. When we get older we may just refer to it as a bad day on the job. But in reality anyone who genuinely lives a godly life will suffer persecution. I remember my first job when I completed college. I was working for a large CPA firm in Dallas. Because I was one an effective producer the managers wanted me on their jobs. But because I was also living for the Lord it was awkward at times when someone told a course joke and I didn’t laugh. We worked out of town a lot as a team and it was awkward when everyone wanted to go out drinking after work and I went to my room. I did not condemn them. I simply did not participate and they knew why. So what does that have to do with persecution? In subtle ways I paid a price for my convictions. No one was mean to me. But I was often assigned to the hardest tasks and was sometimes sent to subsidiaries to work alone away from the team. It was an extremely mild form of persecution. Everyone was still pretty nice to me. But I “cramped their style” so to speak. It was more comfortable for them when I was not there. At first they tried to just get me to go along and be a part of the crowd. When that didn’t work they understandably excluded me from their click.
That persecution was so subtle that I could have easily just taken it as a personal rejection. But because I understood the underlying cause of their response it was not difficult to bear.
In our text Jesus is telling us what we need to know in order to handle the persecutions that may come into our lives whether they be extremely mild like the example I just shared or whether they be extremely harsh like what the apostles experienced in the first century. What does the Bible tell us about persecution?
1st Jesus tells us that if we are persecuted for righteousness sake we are in good company.
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” In other words this is a common experience for a follower of Christ. Regardless of what we may be going through we can look at the way Jesus was treated and be encouraged to know that the ill treatment toward him was not his fault. It came because of his relationship with the Father. And when we are being mistreated because of our relationship and faithfulness to him it is nothing to be ashamed of.
In verse 20 Jesus tells us something else to keep in mind. “Remember the words I spoke to you[3]: ‘No servant is greater than his master’.” That was in all probability a common proverb in the first century.[4] “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” In that statement Jesus delineates two kinds of responses. Some people when confronted with the truth will hear it and obey it and their lives will be transformed. We are to expect some to respond in that way. In fact, it becomes very unhealthy if we only expect people to respond negatively to our message. Some will receive the word with gladness[5]. In Jesus ministry some received his word and became his follower. But others rejected it and became his persecutors. Jesus is saying you saw that in my life. Brace yourself for the same two kinds of reactions to your Christian influence.
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.
It does help to understand what is motivating their actions and attitudes. They don’t know God so they do foolish things. That’s why Jesus prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”[7] That should be our attitude toward anyone persecuting us. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.”[8] When we find ourselves resenting our persecutors, hoping God will show them we are right, wanting to come out on top at the end of the contest—we are thinking wrong. We are thinking just like they are and that hinders the cause of Christ. Is there anybody mistreating you? How are you responding to that? It can be a real test. In Acts 7 Stephen was being unjustly stoned. Saul of Tarsus was one of the persecutors. As Stephen was dying he prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” He sounded a lot like Jesus. And the results were awesome. For that testimony pierced the heart of Saul of Tarsus who was converted and became the great apostle Paul.
Who knows what God is trying to do in the lives of those people who are treating you unjustly? The persecution is I’m sure far milder than Stephen endured. But God calls us to operate in the same spirit. It is a mere fantasy to think we would behave like Steven in his circumstances when we can’t endure a little gossip at work or a little ostracizing in some social context. In persecution the devil is usually at work trying to discourage us and provoke us. But guess what? God is also at work building character in us and reaching lost souls—the very people who may be mistreating us at the time.
4. Godliness in the believer excites persecution from the ungodly.
Jesus said concerning his own ministry, John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.” What upsets the world is the exposure of their wickedness. A stick may look fairly straight lying with other crooked sticks. But if you lay a plum line beside it the crooked places become obvious. The common claim of the sinner is, “I’m as good as anybody else, I pay my taxes and try to do what’s right.” It is human nature for people to justify the way they live—even if their conscience is telling them its wrong. But if our lives are godly then they will see the difference. If the Holy Spirit is controlling our lives then He will convict the world of sin using us in the process. That conviction will always get some kind of a response.
In verse 25 Jesus said, “But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason’.” There was not one ounce of justification in their rejection and persecution of Jesus. His motives were pure toward them. He only pursued their highest good. His miracles were life giving. His words were true. They hated him without any just cause.
Their persecution was darkness responding to light. John 3:19-20 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” NKJV
I mentioned earlier that sometimes Christians get confused about the source of their trouble. If the persecution is indeed a response to godliness then we can rejoice that God is using us to fulfill His purposes. In Matt 5:10-12 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
I want us to pause and take in a few specifics from those verses. “Blessed are those who are persecuted...” Notice the scripture does not stop there but adds “because of righteousness.”
Not all persecution of Christians is because of righteousness. I have seen people go into churches and stir up all kinds of confusion and conflict—behave pride fully and rebelliously. And then when they were corrected claim they were being persecuted because of some stand for the truth. I have seen Christians stir up trouble on the job, not do their work, disobeying directives and just generally being a pain in the neck. Those people get fired and claim they are being persecuted for righteousness sake. No, you are just reaping what you sowed. If I gossip about people, and then they gossip about me, I’m not being persecuted for righteousness sake. I’m being persecuted for unrighteousness’ sake. There is no reward in that. 1 Peter 2:20-21 “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
If you are suffering persecution make sure you have not brought it upon yourself. Don’t put a religious cloak over your own sin and claim some kind of special godliness because everybody that works with you gets irritated and frustrated. But if you examine yourself and have the witness in your heart that this is happening for His name’s sake, then rejoice in God’s plan for your life.
1 John 3:11-13 “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” When I read that passage in 1John I was struck by the association John makes with Jesus’ command that we love one another and the persecution from the world. In John 15:17 Jesus said, “This is my command: Love each other.” Then he immediately began to address this issue of persecution from the world. In 1 John 3:12 we have this exhortation following a reminder of that command, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.”
We have been talking about unbelievers persecuting believers. But in 1 John 3 the apostle is telling believers to not persecute believers. In my opinion, that is the harder experience to endure because we don’t expect it to come from that direction. The motives behind the persecution are the same because the flesh of believers behaves exactly the way the flesh of unbelievers behaves. That’s why Paul tells us to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) so we will not do those kinds of things.
Paul talks a lot about persecutions in his epistles. In 2 Tim 3 he talks about the persecution he has experienced. And then he makes this profound statement in verse 12, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”
That statement raises this question in may mind. If I never experience any persecution what is that saying about my life? Am I really being a witness for Jesus Christ? Or am I so much like the world that I invoke no response at all. “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Am I fitting into the world so well that they are not influenced by my presence? Jesus said, (Luke 6:26) “Woe to you when all men speak well of you...” I am not saying that we should witness with such insensitivity that we invoke persecution because of our disrespect. I have done that and I don’t ever want to do it again. But there ought to be something in our lives that is enough different from the world that it at least raises some response.[9]
It is actually the Holy Spirit in us that is being reacted to more than anything else. Peter makes this clear in his epistles. 1 Peter 4:12-16 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
5. We are not to allow persecution to trip us up in our spiritual journey.
That’s why Jesus gives the warning he does in this passage. John 16:1 "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.” The word translated “go astray” is “scandalizo”. We get our word scandalize from it.[10] I have told you these things so it will not trip you up when it happens. Jesus is telling us about persecution so that we will be able to handle it when it does occur in our lives.
Do you remember the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13? In verse 20 he explained, “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”
Jesus does not want that to happen to you and me. He wants us to understand what is going on when we experience persecution so that we can deal with it effectively.
In the clip we are going to watch from classic movie “The Robe” we see an inspiring dramatization of how to respond to persecution. The clip is about 8 or 9 minutes.
In this scene the Roman Tribune, Marcullus Callio, is brought before the emperor to be tried for treason. In the movie, Marcellus (played by Richard Burton) was the centurion who oversaw the crucifixion of Christ and later became a Christian. He is now being persecuted for his conversion to Christianity.
(2:04:47 to 2:13:09)
As we come to the communion table this morning, lets use this time as an opportunity to renew our allegiance to our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. May we represent Him well in our current context by the power of His Holy Spirit.
TEXT: John 15:18-16:4
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.’
26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16
16:1"All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. 2They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. NIV
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Text was presented earlier in the service using DVD from Visual Bible International (www.gospelofjohnthefilm.com). Text is provided at end of manuscript. All quotes are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
[2] Dennis Deese, “Why The World Hates Christianity” preached in August 2003 (Fan The Flame Ministries, Inc., 3410 Hickory View Drive, Marietta, GA 30064)
[3] John 13:16
[4] R. Alan Culpepper, The Gospel and Letters of John (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998) p. 215-216
[5] Luke 8:40; 9:11, John 1:12, Acts 2:41
[6] Ray Stedman, “Loving Amidst Hate” accessed 5/12/04 at http://pbc.org/dp/stedman/john/
[7] Luke 23:34
[8] Romans 12:19
[9] I Peter 3:15
[10] NT:4624 skandalizo (Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.) and Mirrriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-
