John 15, Week 3

Week 3 - Remember That the World Hated Me

John 15:18-25

1 Peter 4:12-19

Psalm 69

Questions:

Have you ever felt hated? What sparked it? What did you do about it? Was there anything you could do about it…in other words…was there ever a resolution to the problem?

Which religion do you think bears the most persecution in the world today? What events do you think cause this persecution to escalate?

Assignment: Go to www.persecution.com (Voice of the Martyrs website) and go to the “newsroom” tab. Read at least one recent news article. Be prepared to discuss what you read at our next meeting.

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In this week’s reading of John 15, Jesus’ discourse turns abruptly from instruction in how to love each other to why the world will hate them. As He prepares to send them forth in His Name, He is warning them of the conflict to come, conflict of which they have only begun to witness, and will soon scatter them and break their hearts for a time.

It seems to me that good can tolerate being in the presence of evil because of hope. However, evil cannot tolerate being in the presence of good because of the conviction of sin. As a matter of fact, most of us, if truth be told, don’t even like for our sin to be pointed out to us. Even if we are presently in great relationship with our Father, it still takes us time to process sin, to come to repentance, to turn from our sin, and to take steps to arm ourselves with the sword of truth to combat a return to it. True evil wants to murder good so it can go on doing evil. It claims its own truth. It is in competition with God.

Jesus is explaining to his disciples here in the passage that even being associated with Him, thus being associated with the Father, will bring hatred upon them. The first question in your assignment for this week asks if you have ever been hated. I have had this experience, and the only reason I could lay at its door was a conflict of spirits—and maybe envy at perceived privileges afforded me that this person did not have. The circumstances occurred at one of my places of employment, the staff was very small, and we were the only two females employed at the establishment.  It was almost as if a switch had been flipped at a certain point, and I was totally clueless as to when that moment in time occurred. One week things were fine, the next week I was the cause of everything that was wrong at work. My husband and I were facilitating a Bible study at the time, and as I have reviewed my journals, I see that some of my struggles concerned wanting to confront my accuser, with love of course. My employer wouldn’t allow it. I’m sure he felt the problems would escalate, that because the accusations were unfounded that it would do no good to try to share my faith with someone so irrational, but I was a little frustrated with only prayer as my comfort. My journals during that time speak of warfare, and include lots of written Scripture from the Psalms regarding persecution. It was a rough road for a couple of months, mostly because the tension affected my relationship with my employer which had always been a good one, and led me to leave this job that, until this happened, had been great.

I share this story to reveal some truths about persecution [Gr. dioko – relentless pursuit]. Although we as Christians can attribute some underlying reasons for it, and we can actually place a name to the spirit in which the persecution is directed, the unspiritual often have no rational awareness of the cause of their differing degrees of aversion to the Christian. From the mildest dislike of the perception of being judgmental, to hatred such as that of other religions or the non-religious towards the cause of Christ, we will experience persecution. The world will claim to love others, yet will hate us. Christ tells us in this passage that if the world hates Him, they also hate the Father. We can conclude that the world cannot claim to love the Father but not love the Son, since they are one in the same. It makes our responsibility to love as Christ loved greater. Not only do we need each other during these times of persecution, we need to pray diligently for those who are taking the cause of Christ into areas of our world where they are daily called to die for Him.

We can take comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ our Lord shared in our persecutions. He was tempted just as we are, except He had to die for us. Next week we will discuss the Comforter He provides us for these times, the One who intercedes for us, who bears witness to the truth.

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Next meeting - Saturday, July 10, Main Street Coffee, Downtown Suffolk!