This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 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. 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. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 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. Whoever hates me hates my father also. 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. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. 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. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. I've said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you." This is the reading of God's word. Would you pray with me, please? Our Father, we pray that you would be with us. We pray that now would be fully a time of worship. As we hear you speak through your word, we pray that we would be those who would honor that. And I pray that you would make us ready to hear the things that are hard to hear. I pray that you would make us ready for what your son told us this life would be like. So please be with us. Be with us as we hear. Be with me as I speak. We ask these things in Christ's precious name. Amen. So we return to the age old debate. Would you rather be loved or hated? No, that's not a debate, is it? As a people who love being loved and hate being hated, reading a passage like this is hard. Believing a passage like this is hard. You kind of want to skip over and keep talking about the highlights. And Jesus has given us something sobering. something different than our hearts often long for, something different than perhaps we almost ever hear out in the world. Because what you have in the world, even in the world of Christians, is you have what I would call being proclaimed as a cotton candy gospel. A cotton candy gospel. It is light, it is fluffy, and it is so sweet that it'll make you sick. The cotton candy gospel spends its time preparing you for a world full of opportunity and self-realization. It is light and it is fluffy, and it was nothing like the gospel that Christ brought us. The gospel He brought, the gospel that was proclaimed by His disciples, involved a cup of sorrow, filled to the brim with trials and heartaches. It's not the one that makes the billboards, though, is it? And as we get to this point in Jesus's preparation of his disciples for him leaving, as we get to that point, Jesus basically is looking around and saying, before drinking this cup, before drinking this cup, are you sure? Are you sure you are ready for this? Are you sure you are ready for what is coming? Are you sure it is worth it? It's a real question. And it's a question that we should all ask. Are you sure? Because what Jesus prepares them for as he goes into this is that the followers of this Jesus Christ will face persecution. They will face it. There's no doubt about it. As you get into these verses 18 through 20, you see Jesus preparing them and saying, here's the line of reasoning. They hated me. The world hated Jesus. They opposed Jesus. And you saw that in his ministry, not that long ago. I mean, one of those, one of the many accounts you could find. In John chapter eight, you recall, Jesus is mixing it up with the Jewish religious leaders. And they get into this debate, which then Jesus, to cut it very short here, Jesus comes down to, you know what? Before Abraham was, I am. He drops his bombshell on them and say, you wonder how I'm old enough to see God or to see Abraham. I'm God. They heard that and they picked up stones to kill him. They heard him speaking truth and they wanted to kill him. They tried to kill him. That was what he faced in the world. You see the world's not going to have a problem with a Jesus who was just basically a big cuddly teddy bear crossed with a spiritual guru. They don't mind that Jesus. That one's okay. But when Jesus comes and stands up before them as who he really is, the son of God before whom you need to bow and worship. Is that Jesus welcome? No, the world hates that Jesus. You know, it was common in that culture. And it's actually not all that different now. It was common that when you became friends with someone, you inherited their enemies. There was a cost to being a friend of someone. And so we rejoice not very long ago that Jesus says, I call you friends now. But there's a very real other side to that, that all the people that call Jesus enemy now see you as his friend and they call you enemy. Christ is preparing his disciples for that. He says, you, my followers, you are not of this world. I chose you out of it. You are not of this world. It's more than a bumper sticker. It's more than a brand. This isn't something to the world, they do not view what Jesus meant here. They do not view it as, oh wow, that's cool and counter-cultural. Way to bring the Bible into a cool marketing campaign, you know? That's not how they look at it. To Jesus, when he described his disciples as being not of this world, he described them as now being marked for the world's hatred. So you put that sticker on your car, great, just know what it means. Not of this world means being opposed by this world. The logic is easy. Jesus says, if you were of this world, the world would love you. You would belong here. You would feel welcome here. You would have a home in the world if you were still of the world. But what Christ says, he says, I chose you out of the world. So you don't get that anymore. It's actually a really similar thought to Colossians chapter one. When Paul is saying that God delivered us from the domain of darkness and he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. There's been a transfer. There's been a change of citizenship. Christ made a sovereign choice. It was his alone. He made a sovereign choice. And when he made that choice for us, our citizenship changed. Our citizenship changed. And where we once belonged, what this world is, this world is really just a society of rebels. It is a society of rebels, whatever the differences we have among the world when we're in the world, and there are many. There's still reasons we fight and disagree and bicker and whatever it is, but whatever our differences, we are united, and when we're part of the world, in the common rebellion against the true king. That was the society to which we belonged. And so, if you belong to that world, and all you share together is your rebellion, and then the true king comes and chooses you out of that, the world is not going to like that you just defected back to the true king's side. To the world, Christians are just a bunch of Benedict Arnolds. We are those who have betrayed the country to which we once belonged. We have been chosen out, our citizenship was changed, and that is why they will hate you, Christian. They will hate you because you have changed sides. You went to the right side, but you changed sides. You are on the other side of the battle line now. Believe the Savior when he says, you are not on good terms with the world. You aren't. Sometimes I think we just need to own up to that. We're so busy thinking we can belong and integrate and all these things. And fundamentally our Savior has said, I have put you on the other side. You don't belong here anymore. You are not of this world anymore. And because of that, you should expect to receive exactly the treatment that your master received. Jesus says, they hated me. Guess what? They're going to hate you. Expect to be opposed where Jesus would have been opposed. Expect to be received where Jesus would have been received. We get to rejoice and worship and celebrate in the fact that we are anticipating heavenly blessings, right? And it's wonderful and it lifts our souls. But the reality is we are also expecting the other side of that coin. We are expecting earthly trials. We are expecting earthly affliction. You know, at the heart of the gospel is our union with Jesus Christ. That we are united in everything that was His, that is His. So we're united in His death. We're united in His resurrection. We're united in the life He lived. We're united in the glory of the new creation. But, united with our Master, we are also united to Him in experiencing the opposition of this world. There's no getting away from that. We should own up to that is the reality of the deal. It's much better to get what we're going to get, but we are going to get the other things. We should expect the world's opposition. We should expect persecution everywhere we go. because we are his people, because we are not of this world. We have defined ourselves and labeled ourselves by his name, Christians, right? We have defined ourselves by him. Christ is our defining identity. That is who we are. for all the ways that we describe ourselves. Our fundamental identity is none of those things. It is not about our upbringing. It is not about our status. It is not about our education. It is not about our ethnicity. It is not about our occupation. It is none of these things that we would say, I am fill in the blank, right? If you had to introduce yourself somewhere, you'd say, I am a, I don't know, small business owner or something like that, right? Now, I can completely accept the ways in which that is true, right? If you're a small business owner, that's what you do day in and day out. You labor for that, that's how you put bread on the table, so on and so forth. I get that. Do you get the way that that is actually completely not true? If you were to describe who you are fundamentally, it is not what you do for 40 hours a week. It is not what you do most even necessarily. Who you are is you are a Christian. You are defined by the name of Christ. Christian is more than the box you check on some application. Christian is everything you are. Follower of Christ is everything you are. You know, I love that verse I've told you about before, the idea that Christians, as Christians, we're sent forward to be ambassadors for the king, right? Ambassadors going forth to the world and saying, be reconciled to God. I love that. But you put it in light of this and you recognize you are in fact, not just an ambassador, not just an ambassador of, you know, the neighboring country or something like that. You are an ambassador for the enemy king. So when you go forward and you call out to a world, be reconciled, what comes before that is surrender, put down your arms and be reconciled. You are an opposition. The only way you get to come back, the only way you get to be reconciled is if you lay down your arms, is if you put down, repent of this opposition to the true King. And so no wonder if you're that kind of ambassador to the enemy King, no wonder you're not very popular. No wonder the world would oppose us. No wonder Jesus's name would bring persecution. Christ's disciples will be persecuted because they bear his name. And they bear it in the midst of a world that did not know and does not know his father. You know, on a related topic, I mean, this has everything to do with why we're willing to host the Voice of the Martyrs conference. is because this opposition is real. Because truly, our brothers and sisters are experiencing life and death kind of persecution. That is why we are behind this, because we are all in this together. We are ambassadors together. We are opposed together. And you know, all this hatred, as Jesus keeps going, all this hatred and this mistreatment It is just further evidence of the guilt of the world. The world stands condemned because of how they treated Christ. You get into verses 22 and verses 24. Jesus basically just says this. He says, they rejected my words. They rejected my works. They have rejected the clearest possible revelation of God. They rejected it all. They responded to God incarnate with blasphemy. They responded to the Prince of Peace with violence. They responded to the Beloved Son with hatred. Of all the possible reactions you could have had when Jesus Christ came, hatred was not the one you were supposed to respond with. Hatred is not the appropriate reaction. Humility ah joy worship not hate Hate is not how you're supposed to receive the king Jesus as he describes as he says something that might sound odd on first glance and he says if it were not for These things if they had not heard this if they had not seen this they would have no sin well, it's not like Jesus is saying well, they were perfect and sinless before I got here and Then arriving they messed it all up and I'm gonna judge them for it If they were perfect and spotless, he never would have needed to come. No, the world rejected the clearest and most gracious offer of God possible. When they rejected Jesus, they made a stark choice, a black and white choice. They chose darkness over the light of Christ. And so the sin and the guilt is just heaped on their heads. Jesus says to hate me is to hate my father. To hate Jesus is to hate his father. Christ is so close to his father. He so clearly represents his father. They're so closely united that one rejects the father by rejecting the son. When we reject that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, we did not just leave ourselves on some neutral plane. We have then set ourselves in opposition to his father who sent him. That has something to do with the exclusivity of the faith. You must embrace Jesus, otherwise you set yourself at war with his father too. And you know, I hope you hear it. When we talk about the condemnation of the world, when we talk about that, that's not something that I think we need to do defensively and angrily. I don't think that's something that I just need to be pounding, pounding, pounding. You're going to hell, all of you. I don't do this with anger. I think if anything, I do this with pleading. I do this, and I think this is probably how we're supposed to conduct ourselves. Plead with the world. Do you realize who's coming? Lay down your arms. You don't want to be on the wrong side when he gets here. You stand condemned for rejecting his son. You should fear that. You should fear the judgment that comes your way. No, we don't do this condemning the world. They've condemned themselves. We don't do this angrily, like we have to defend God, like he can't fight his own battles. No, we proclaim this, we announce this pleadingly, seeking the world's good, even if we seek the world's good at our own peril. That is how we carry this message forward. And as Christ prepared his disciples, he prepared them for a forthcoming mission. A very clear mission. Bearing witness to him. Bearing witness about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit and the disciples would bear witness to the Savior, to the one that the world rejected. Sort of similar to like how the prophets would bear witness to the covenant that Israel had broken against their God, right? By the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples would go forward and they would not let the Savior be known by the lies of the world. They would proclaim him in truth. They would witness in truth And as that faithful, truth-bearing witness continues, the persecution will continue too. Absolutely, we should expect that. As we as Christians, as we go forward and demolish the teddy bear savior that we've set up, the cotton candy gospel that's so popular out there, we should be prepared that this faithful testimony will in fact draw negative attention. It will in fact draw opposition and persecution. A Jesus that had to die because our sin was so corrupt and dirty. No, that Jesus isn't welcome here. A Jesus that stands as the sole way to God, not some vague spirituality. No, that Jesus is not welcome here. A Jesus that will come and judge the world. No, that Jesus is not welcome here. And Jesus says, you know why I'm telling you this? You always appreciate when Jesus does things like that. You know why I'm telling you this? I'm telling you this not so you can dodge the hatred coming. I'm telling you so you can be ready for it. There's a big difference there, right? If we had our druthers, wouldn't we just, oh great, then I can just get out of the way when it comes. No, no, no. Jesus says, you being known by my name, you will be hated. Get ready. Jesus prepares them against falling away. That is what he wants to prepare them for. He wants to prepare them against abandoning the way, the truth, and the life, the only Savior. That is what he wants to prepare them for. The goal of the Christian life is not to live a comfortable life. And I say that as a person who greatly enjoys comfortable lives, right? No one wants an uncomfortable life, but that's not the goal of the Christian life. That's not Jesus' goal here. Our goal is to cling to our Savior, to cling to him to the very end. And for that reason, he prepares his followers and he says, do not be surprised when this comes your way. Don't be surprised. No one said anyone likes persecution. Why would we? No one's supposed to like it, but he says we should not be surprised when it comes. See, if persecution can shock you out of following Christ, then you have not been listening to what Jesus has been saying. You have not heard him for what he has been proclaiming. If you think Jesus promised a life full of cotton candy, then you have not been listening to what he has been saying all along. The real problem, C.S. Lewis said, is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not. That flips our whole way of looking at the world on its head. It's weird because we would look at it and say, whoa, I'm suffering. I must be on the wrong track. There's no way God would want me to suffer. He wants me at my happiest and my healthiest and my most hopeful and whatever else starts with H, right? No, we are supposed to expect the suffering. We are supposed to expect, plan on it, anticipate it. It's coming for you. We're supposed to expect the persecution. And so if Christ promised us persecution, then it cannot possibly be a good reason to abandon Christ because we're experiencing the thing he promised, right? If anything, I think that shows he's still in control. That cannot possibly be a good reason for abandoning Christ. No one can make light of the suffering, not for a second, but when it comes, This is exactly what Jesus promised. Exactly what he promised. What would those first disciples face? Jesus says, they're gonna throw you out of your synagogues. The place that you used to call kind of the home of your community, where you were blessed to learn the law. The place you would come together and have discussions. The place you would gather, like there was a focal point of your community. That very place would now sort of become the headquarters for your persecution. They are going to throw you out of the place you used to call home. The world is going to stand in judgment, Jesus says, over you. Those disciples were going to face their judgment. They would be, as they were getting cast out of the synagogues, they would first bring them in and examine them, examine them and find them heretical or not, or, you know, unorthodox or whatever it is. And then they would accuse them and judge them and throw them out. But as they pronounce judgment on the followers of the son of God, those very same judgments would stand as exhibit A against them. when they would stand in judgment before the true judge. Oh, it's a humbling thing. But that doesn't mean that the disciples get to dodge this. That doesn't mean that they would be delivered from the world's judgment. Yes, the world would be making themselves more guilty by it, but it doesn't mean the disciples get out of it. And people, Jesus says, They would think they were worshiping God by killing Christians. These persecutors would think it was an act of worship to kill the followers of the Son of God. They'll be wrong, but they'll do it with a clear conscience. You know, it's an obvious time when good motives are not good enough. It is a sobering thing to face those who can persecute you with such zeal. That's how Paul was, right? Saul, before he becomes Paul, he was an eager, zealous persecutor of the church, and he was deadly. You want to think that when people persecute, when they persecute Christians, you want to think that they have this nagging conscience in the back of their head, that at the very end they would realize, I've been wrong, and you know, free the captives. And what Jesus prepares us for is opposition and persecution that has no doubts about it. Clear consciences thinking that they are in fact ingratiating themselves to God by persecuting the Christians. When these things come, remember that you were prepared for them, he says. When the opposition comes, remember that he prepared us for it. These things were spoken first off to a room full of disciples that would then go on to proclaim the gospel to their deaths. Church tradition holds that all but John were executed. Executed. in the spread of this gospel. They faced exactly what their master faced from the world. And then these things are spoken to us in anticipation of whatever is coming for us, whatever God has put out prepared for us. Follower of Christ, expect that your time will come too, that your day will come. So are you sure? Are you sure that it is worth it? To do that question any justice, you have to acknowledge that the cost of following Christ is both high and real. There is, in fact, a Christ. There's no way I can preach this passage and not leave you with that. There is supposed to be a cost. If you're not a Christian, in fact, I'll give you a gentle word of discouragement here, okay? Before any of us follow Christ, we are called to count the cost. Even just what Paul experienced, count the cost of fearful nights, of betrayal, of oppression and injustice. I say only follow Christ because you can't help it. It will do you no good to kind of jump on board for a little bit, hit some turbulence and just go running. It'll do you no good. Count the costs, but count the cost and know that it is worth it. I also can't preach this passage without making that clear. Count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ and know that it is worth it. Jesus promised that it will be worth it. What has he just been promising us, right? He's been promising us his joy, his peace, his love, reconciliation with the Father, eternal life. He promised us all those things, but he said, yes, there will be a sobering cost too. So follower of God or the one who hasn't followed yet, yes, the cost is real and yes, it is high, but the reward far outweighs the cost. Let's pray. Our Father, please prepare us. Prepare us so that we would not fall away. Prepare us so that when dark days come, we would not be surprised. Prepare us as those who have meditated and dwelt on and dreamt of the treasures of the gospel so that when the dark days come, we can compare the two and say, yes, I know this gospel is worth it. I pray that you would give us that certainty. so that if and when our day comes, we would be ready. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.