Lets pray.

We need your peace. Lord, show everyone here who is worried, who doubts, who haven’t experienced the vastness of your love, your incredible strength and comfort. As we study your word today, help us breathe in and notice the blessings that are bestowed on us as followers of your son. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Read John 15:18-16:4 with me.

^15:18 “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.’

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.

^16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ² 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. ³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴ But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. (John 15:18 – 16-4a ESV)

Big Idea: Knowing our opposition and our support helps disciples stay on the way

Knowing exactly who our opposition is and who our support is, will allow us to ACT, RATHER THAN REACT. From what Jesus is saying, we understand that clearly while we live out our faith there will be opposition. So much opposition that Jesus calls it hate, with the intent to kill. So he tells his disciples, as you follow me in my way, you must be intentional in your actions because your reactions are instinctually sinful and it will cause you to lose your way.  

This past week I faced some heavy opposition in my life. I share this with you because I want you to be encouraged. More than that, I want you to act better than me. I know you can. I believe you can.

So I’m trying to give Kate a bath this past week and the key word is “trying.” I’m trying.

• I’m trying to be fun and engaging.
• I’m trying to be patient and understanding.
• I’m trying to be disciplined and firm.
• I’m trying to be composed and godly
• I’m trying to be loving.

But none of it is working. I couldn’t even get her into the bath. The water is running. I’m like sweating, I’m huffing and puffing. My tricks and tools for parenting all failed that night. Oprah, Spock, Bundys, Kardashians, Tanners, Simpsons, Heelers. The traditional paradigms and models of parenting, none of them prepared me for that night.

So I resorted to the Tony Soprano method of parenting, because you know, Tony Soprano is a family man just trying to put food on the table for his family. Some of you know what I’m talking about. You’ve been there. Kate, startled that I can go full Jersey on her finally gets into the bath. Mission accomplished right?

Then Kate retaliated with some Scarface. She looks me in the eyes and starts pouring her bath water from her bath onto the bathroom floor with her one of her bath toys. She didn’t say this, but her eyes did, her eyes said, “dad, say hello to my little friend…”

I told you, I was trying. But then the trying stopped. I exploded into a full Ezekiel 25:17, “I will execute great vengeance upon them…” moment which is when Michelle rushed in to save me.

In a battle of superpowers, I lost to a three year old because I was reacting to a three year old and not acting like the parent of a three year old. I’m fuming, literally seething red for the rest of the night.

Later that night, my lovely wife points out to me that Kate’s just blessed with an exponentially compounded portion of my own independent spirit. Let me translate that. Michelle was saying, “what did you expect? She’s your daughter.” Husbands, are you grateful for your wives? I am. Michelle was sent by God to help me with perspective.

Isn’t that funny sometimes how your greatest opposition to you losing your faith is you and of your own doing? Right before Kate went to bed that night, I repented to her because my reaction was not in the way of Jesus.

But that’s what happens when we react instead of act. Our visceral, sinful mindsets take over and we sin epically. We fall away from the faith we confess. We’ve all seen this: pastors, church leaders, politicians, business people, friends, family, they all proclaim to be faithful to the ways of Jesus and then opposition and their reactions take over and they spiral. Their reactions set their lives on fire — addictions, affairs, and anger.

We’re going to face opposition in life, but through it all, we need to intentionally act instead of allowing our situations, circumstances, and other people force us into a sinfully instinctual reaction.

Before we talk about how we can intentionally act in light of certain opposition, I want to layout three fundamental truths from verses 16 and 17. Read it with me.

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (John 15:16-17 ESV)

1. Disciples of Jesus are chosen by God and commanded by him to bear fruit.
2. The fruit that Jesus’ disciples are supposed bear bring glory to God. The command to bear fruit is so great that when we do bear fruit, our prayers ask God to bring glory upon himself.
3. The reason God brings glory to himself through our prayers is so that we can continue to follow his commands and love one another.

The big problem is that we live in a world that stands in direct opposition to him, and as a result, us. So bearing fruit and loving others is hard. Let’s pick this up in verse 18.

^15:18 “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. 

If you ever felt like the world is out to get you, it’s not just a feeling, it’s real. Let these truth sink in from what we just read:

• The opposition we face in our lives has nothing to do with us, except that we were chosen by God to be his child.
• When we were chosen, we became the target of hatred against God in this world.

The world is trying to make you react to it’s hatred because when you do so, you lose your way. You lose your calling. You lose the fruit you’re supposed to bear in obedience to the command you have as a child of God. Some of us have experienced this type of hate because of our relationship with Jesus. Maybe manifested itself in discrimination, you’ve been turned down for opportunities you’re qualified for as a result. Or maybe you were publicly ostracized, and you lost relationships, or clients.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s a good thing. I pray that my daughters can grow up blessed that way. But don’t be shocked when it does happen. Know it’s happening to you because you placed your trust in Jesus.

But I have a feeling, if you’re an adult and you’ve never experienced hatred from the world because of what you believe, it’s because the world doesn’t even know what you believe. They have no idea who you follow because your life doesn’t reflect who you follow. You’re loved by the world because the world thinks you are of the world.

This is a safe space. I’ve faced hatred in the form of discrimination, racism, and have even been physically assaulted simply because the color of my skin wasn’t the same as those who hated me for my complexion. Do you really think when the world finds out that your God isn’t the same as their god, that they would leave you alone? The only way that happens is if they don’t know who your God is.

Verse 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. 

Point 1: The haters persecute Jesus; they will persecute you

So, we don’t react to hatred in the form of persecution by withdrawing our love for others. Rather we must become more intentional with our actions despite it. Jesus, using the same words he used when he washed the disciples feet in chapter 13, says do like me because this is my way. That way being: engaging the world by serving those who persecute you. We serve them by washing the dirtiest parts of them.

Jesus is foreshadowing what’s going to happen when Judas comes with the soldiers from the chief priests and scribes to falsely accuse Jesus. His posture toward serving did not change in the face of persecution. In fact, he leans into it, more intentionally. His service is emboldened even more so by accepting the false accusations of sin and then paying the price for those sins on the cross. Jesus intentionally acts to serve those who hated him because that’s how much the people of the world needed to be intentionally loved by him.

Family, it was an act of intentional love and service that God came into this world to walk with us in the form of Jesus Christ. He did what nobody else could, but more than that, he did what nobody wanted to do—which was to pay for the sin of people at enmity with him. How are we engaging the world like our savior? Or are we’re not engaging the world through our service because we’re afraid of the world’s hate being inflicted on us?

I want to challenge you all today: Go and engage the world by serving somebody who is of this world, who is not a disciple of Jesus. Try it. Just serve one person a week for the next month. You can do it through one of our ministries here at church or you can find somebody on your own in your neighborhood.

In the midst of being persecuted and hated, Jesus says something interesting at the end of verse 20 which is why I’m challenging you to engage a world that hates us: If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 

Yes, we will face persecution because we were chosen by God and are no longer of the world. We need to accept that and act accordingly. But then there are people, who sympathize with God, who are influenced by the actions of Jesus’ disciples. When we engage the world, we will encounter people who, through our service, may encounter God.

Lauren Frith, our Life Groups Director, writes this about engaging the world like our master. This is from our Coaching Circle:

“We’re called to love everyone, but God doesn’t call us to invest our time in everyone equally. Jesus didn’t. He was selective about who he spent personal time with, whose homes he entered, and to whom he explained his teachings. He invested in people of peace. That doesn’t mean that those people become Christians right away. It simply means that they do not hate you simply based on the fact that you follow Jesus and talk about him. In fact, they are curious about how you live and think.”

There are people of peace in your life who don’t straight away oppose you even though they know who you follow. Go serve them and see what happens because they are listening and they are watching. This is a gift from God. In fact, what that means is that the world can be transformed as long as we faithfully obey God’s command to do like he does and engage the world by serving it.

This is the reason we do things like Trunk or Treat with a community partner away from the church building. It creates an environment to meet new people who are of this world, who otherwise would never had an opportunity to not hate God and God’s people. This is why we do Thanksgiving boxes. This is why we encourage you to do things like coach sports and participate in community block parties. It’s not because your kids are going to become pro athletes or because you mix a mean margarita. It’s so you can find opportunities to intentionally engage the world with your service and bear the fruit of the gospel through it.

The world may hate us, but if we’re willing to faithfully seek out those persons of peace as we serve in the world, then will witness the glory of God through transformation of this world. Don’t live afraid of being shamed for loving people who don’t love you. Our master loved those who hated him, and then we became part of his family.

Verse 21.

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.’

What Jesus is saying is that because he came, the most central and controlling sin in the lives of people was confirmed by the reaction they had to him. He is not saying that there would be no sin if he didn’t come. He is saying that people reacted sinfully to Jesus by rejecting God’s grace through him, and thereby chose to live full of hate for him and therefore hate for God.

Flip with me to John 3 because what Jesus is talking about becomes crystal clear in his exchange with Nicodemus.

^3:1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit….

^3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

(John 3:1-6, 16-21 ESV)

Some of us, those who call ourselves disciples of Jesus, we need to decide whether we will serve the world that hates God by sharing the good news of our faith. Or if we will simply not engage with them, allowing their hatred toward God as it’s manifested in us be our sinful reaction to them.

Others of us, if you don’t consider yourself a disciple of Jesus, need to decide if you want to intentionally place your trust in Christ to be your savior, to be born of the Spirit of God and to live in his Spirit, knowing that if you don’t, you condemn yourself because our natural reaction to God is to hate him.  

Where ever you stand, know that the culture will hate you. But you are not alone. Go back to chapter 15, verse 26.

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.

If you received Jesus as your savior and are reconciled with God as a result, the Helper, or the Holy Spirit will come to you. He will bear witness about Jesus. We receive the Holy Spirit so we can boldly face the world who hates us.

Point 2: The helper promotes Jesus; he will help you too

This truth brings begs the question: How will you now act as a disciple of Jesus living in a world that opposes us?

Culture may despise us because of God, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have support when we engage a hateful world. The Spirit of God lives in you, he manifests himself with you. The Spirit of God supports us as we lovingly serve the people in this world like Jesus did. It’s when we intentionally serve people who hate us that our intentional acts of faith testify to the glory of God. That’s how God will transform the culture we live in.

Jesus already transformed culture when he died on the cross for you and me. The course of eternity shifted for those of us whom he selected. He was sacrificed on our behalf to pay the penalty for our hatred so we could come before God and be found pure, clean, and holy. No other religion. No other god. No other philosophy, ideology, or worldview, does that. Only our God meets those who hates him and serves them, and choses them to be his children.

If you are still unsure whether you want to engage the world with the love of God, then I want you to see the reality that compels us to love and engage the culture that hates us. Chapter 16, verse 1.

^16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ² 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. ³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴ But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

Do you know what causes us to fall away from our faith? We fall away from faith when we don’t practice or faith.

It’s like anything else in our life, when we stop engaging or when we stop practicing, our skills, our relationships, our talents, they all fall away. Some of you know and remember your former athletic glory. But you got a job or became a parent and stopped practicing, so the last time you looked at your athletic shorts, you threw out your back and couldn’t move for a week.

So we must continually engage the world with our faith, knowing what opposition is before us. I know this whole time, you’ve been waiting for me to be real tangible with how we can engage the world for the glory of God. I’m going to give you an easy framework: pursue your respective vocations with the intention to love others like Jesus did.

• If your vocation is a fulltime parent, then intentionally serve your kids with the fruit of God’s spirit in you
• If you’re a manager or owner at a company, then intentionally serve your employees with the fruit of God’s spirit
• If you’re a sales person, then act to serve your clients with the fruit of God’s spirit
• If you’re a teacher, then act to serve your students with the fruit of God’s spirit
• If you’re a student, then act to serve your teachers and parents with the fruit of God’s spirit
• Even simpler, from the Apostle Paul: “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV).

We live in a world that is toxic, destructive, and suffocatingly hateful. But Jesus did not call us to be his disciple so that we could hate instinctually like the world hates, but to love intentionally and bring glory to God. You are a witness of God’s love to this broken world and in your faithfulness, God will get his glory. He will transform this world and the culture in it.

Keep engaging. Keep loving those who hate you. We have the Helper. He is with us and will never leave us. So be bold. The Spirit of God is working and is testifying to God’s glory and we will witness God transform our culture through our intentionality. Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, You gave Elisha a double portion of your spirit so that he could continue to faithfully serve you boldly in a time and period where your name was persecuted and abandoned by society. Now, as we live in this world, give us the same double portion of your Spirit. We want the same boldness. We want the same confidence of faith. We want to witness the amazing works that you manifest in our world because your spirit is moving here amongst us. Help us continue to engage the world that hates us with the love you give us.

Lord, I ask that you keep us from falling away from you. There are some here who need rest from trouble. There are some here battered by the woes of culture. There are some here who are broken hearted because of the rejection from the world. Heal those wounds and scars. Lord, we want to rest in your spirit. Give us gladness and give us reason to rejoice in you.

For those of us who have lacked the courage or the drive to engage the culture, emboldened us to act as witnesses now and in the future. Infuse us with your wisdom, insight, and strength. This hopeless place needs your gospel, and we obediently accept your charge to do as our master does and serve the world. Lord, help us see our giftings, and act with an intentionally in a way that brings light in the darkness.

Lord, make us winsome to those searching for your son. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.