Hate Has a Home in the World

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.” - John 16:1

Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room, sharing his final meal with them before he goes to the cross. During this meal, he has shared some of his most remarkable teachings. He washed his disciples' feet. This not only displayed God’s radical, sacrificial love for them, but also what they should go and do for each other. He’s taught them that he is the way, the truth, and the life. He’s taught them that he is the true vine. He’s taught them where joy is found, and commanded them for the umpteenth time to love one another. He now gets into his next teaching in which his purpose is to keep them from falling away. How did he get there? What would cause them to fall away? To answer this, we have to rewind the text…

18 “If the world hates 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, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ - John 15:18-25

After talking about joy and loving one another (things easy to listen to), Jesus takes a 180 degree turn and talks about being hated. When we sign up for Jesus, we come into a relationship with many benefits, but it also comes with some threatening realities as well. This is a difficult text to stomach. Hate is a strong word, it always has been, but particularly these days. There’s a deep place in all of our hearts where we want to be loved and accepted. There’s nothing wrong with that, those are good desires. But because we go to people for approval, we fear rejection or the idea of being hated by them.

Before we continue further, we should get a question out of the way. “Is how much I am hated for my faith a measure of how well I am doing as a Christian?” In other words, “If people don’t hate me, does that mean I’m of the world and I’m not living up to the faith I claim?” No.

It’s often contextual. I coach a high school golf team on the side. I’m very intentional about loving them well as Jesus commands me to, but also sharing Gospel truth when possible, also as Jesus commands me. I have very good, healthy relationships with my student-athletes. The respect and trust I have established with them is the reason I can go deeper with them. I don’t know if they “love” me, but I’m certain they don’t hate me. Does that mean I am not doing a good job as a Christian? No.

In another situation, I was recently approached by a disheveled man outside as I was leaving the doors of the Corner Bakery. He was asking me to drive him to a beer distributor so he could buy alcohol. It was 9:30am. I told him I would not. But I also said that I had very good news, and I shared the Gospel with him. He became on edge, raised his voice, and accused me of judging him. I thought he was going to beat me up. I told him that I was not judging him, that I have my own sin I reckon with every day, that I believe this message for myself, and that it is transforming me in how I live and how I treat myself and others. If I felt like I was going to get beat up, did I do a good job as a Christian in this situation? I don’t know, perhaps.

How do we make sense of Jesus’ words? The ways and patterns of the world are sometimes overtly, but more often, subtly averse to Christianity and Christians. In our western culture, we see it subtly (like an undercurrent) in the media. An example would be on a major news network, when somebody professes faith in Christ and shares how much their faith means to them, but then it goes viral on social media that the “Christianity stuff” was edited out, never to see the light of day. Or in TV shows, the "Christian" seems to always be portrayed as the weak, dorky, timid, unappealing one out of the group. We also see it overtly (like a big wave) in our workplace and in schools when talk of “Christianity” is sharply condemned.  

When you look at the Gospel and all of its teaching, it’s honestly no wonder the world is allergic to Christianity. The Bible confronts us and unapologetically exposes realities that we don’t like to acknowledge, like “sin”. Because of the world's hatred of Christianity’s teaching of sin, the world tries to redefine sin as physiological and emotional malfunctions that can be treated with science, medicine or technology, not as a spiritual reality that has a devastating effect on our hearts, minds, life, eternity, and standing with God.

We also see it a lot in the world's response to the absoluteness of the Bible. While we do have choices on some things, God doesn’t give us a choice on a lot of other things. When Jesus says to “love your enemies”, it’s not a suggestion or a recommendation, it’s an absolute command. Most people, Christian or not, agree with the sentiment behind that command. It sounds beautiful in theory. However, when the rubber meets the road and we actually have an enemy in front of us, our true colors come out and we want the choice to hate our enemy, disparage, slander, and think of them as we please. Loving our enemies is very difficult in practice. The world loves options and personal freedom of choice. It hates absolutes. The human heart naturally bends towards self-sufficiency and independence and we don’t want somebody to tell us what to do or think. If you’re a person that doesn’t believe in moral absolutes, you won’t take to Christianity very well. Christianity doesn’t give us very many options. The world hates that and it’s going to hate you to some degree when you take absolute positions from the Bible.

Jesus’ words to his disciples are clear: the world will hate you. The world will have a general disdain, an often subtle or sometimes overt hatred, towards you and what you believe. Sometimes it’s thinly veiled passive aggressiveness, meaning somebody won’t overtly attack you face-to-face for your faith, but inside when you walk away, their heart may boil over your biblical positions. That’s the common situation we face in our modern, western context in America. In other parts of the world, it could be more overt like being killed for your faith in Christ.

So how do we share and live out our faith without fear? Jesus continues...

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. - John 15:26-27

When we believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins, he was buried and was raised on the third day, we receive the “Helper” - the Holy Spirit - who dwells in us. The Holy Spirit gives us an identity shift that empowers us to bear witness about Jesus. If you shy away from sharing and living out your faith in the midst of people who aren’t Christian for fear of hatred and rejection, it’s ultimately an identity issue that you have. Either your identity is in what other people think about you and the opinions of others, or your identity is in Christ and what God thinks about you. If your identity is in other people, you will be swayed by their opinions. You will walk on the edge of falling away from Jesus, obedience, the message, and the mission. When your identity is in Christ, what people think about you won’t ultimately matter. It’s okay to want people to like you. It’s a poor witness to be somebody who isn’t nice, trustworthy, and likable, but their opinion of you won’t matter so much that it keeps you from sharing the greatest news the world will ever know.

Simply put, we need more of the Cross in our lives. It tells us two very important things. The first is that it tells me of my great sin. The Gospel deeply humbles us. We need humility to share our faith and live out our faith in front of the world. It’s fundamentally prideful to not share our faith out of fear of rejection or other people's opinions because, in that case, we’re only thinking about ourselves and our reputation, not the good of another person. We need the deepening humility that the Cross cultivates in us.

The second thing the Gospel tells us is of God’s great, radical love for us. His love fortifies us and builds us up. His infinite love is the approval I’m seeking after, whether I realize it or not. If I’m always going to others for the approval and affirmation I seek, I’ll never get it. I’m not meant to find it in others. Seeking other people’s approval will only lead me to shrink away from sharing and living out the Gospel. The security of a deepening understanding of God’s love for me is another component I need in order to share and live out the Gospel regardless of the world’s hatred towards me.

As Christians, we tend to struggle in one of these areas more than the other. We’re either too prideful to share our faith, or we’re too fragile to. I think I struggle the most with pride. I find that when I don’t share my faith with somebody when I think God might be prompting me, it is because I’m afraid of what they might think of ME. I’m thinking of myself too much. I need God to drive these Gospel truths of humility deeper and deeper into my heart. I need to be humble enough so I think of myself less and share for their good. Perhaps you’re on the other side of the spectrum and you need to be built up enough so you can be open to and handle the rejection that might come. Where do you fall on this spectrum?

In conclusion, we shouldn’t seek to be hated and wear it like a badge of honor. But we also shouldn’t avoid the hatred of the world either. We should put our identity in Christ and what God thinks of us and not in the thoughts and opinions of other people, lest we fall away. As we put our identity in Christ, we should earn people’s trust to speak into their lives. We should love people unconditionally and speak the truth of the gospel in love. And Come what may.

Prayer: Father, humble me and secure me in your love so I can share and live out the Gospel without fear of the worlds hatred toward me. Your Son, Jesus did nothing but help people, bless people, love people, and forgive people, but was scorned, mocked, hated and rejected for calling people to faith in him. Jesus was so secure in Your love and his identity was so steadfast in You, that nothing could curb him from the mission and the message. I want that. Help me, please. 

- Pastor B.