Reference

John 15:18-16:4

Sermon Discussion Questions:

[For a handful of additional passages to consult in your discussion alongside John 15:18-16:4, go read 1 Peter 4:12-19, Matt 5:44, Romans 12:14-21, Luke 6:22-23, 26.]
1. The world is the system of beliefs and assumptions that make godliness seem weird and sin seem normal. Can you think of any examples of what "worldliness" looks like that may tempt those in our church most?
2. Are you a person who is terrified of being hated by the world or who may relish the idea of being hated by the world? How does Jesus' model help correct you?
3. How do we know if we are being hated for the right reasons? 
4. How do we balance what Jesus tells about being hated by the world with the ideal of being "well thought of by outsiders" (1 Tim 3:7) or the promise that the world will "see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matt 5:16)? [See Rom 12:14-21]
5. What does this passage tell us about a Christian who never experiences the opposition of the world?
6. How does Stephen forgive those who are killing him? How do Paul and Silas praise God in prison and share the gospel with the prison guards? How does Paul rejoice in the gospel being preached from false motives? How do we endure the hatred of the world and not return hatred with hatred?

'The Cannibals, you will be eaten by cannibals!'

Mr Dickson, you are advanced in years now and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you that if I can live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”

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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. 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 15:18-16:4)

Who is hating you?

If the world hates you…

Who is “the world”? This does not mean every human being alive on the planet, because the disciples have been chosen “out of the world.” The Church lives on planet earth. Perhaps “the world” just refers to those outside of the church? In a sense that is true, but if that were the case, then we would struggle to understand what John means in his epistle:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2:15-16)

Don Carson’s definition: “the created moral order in active rebellion against God.”

The world is an idea, an assumption, a worldview, a vibe, a lifestyle that flees from God and seeks its own way. The world is what makes sin look normal and ordinary. The world is what mocks at childlike obedience to Christ. The world is the point system that rules the politics of the day. The world is the dog-eat-dog mentality of looking out for number one and doing what seems right in your own eyes. It is remarkably ordinary and we, the Church, are more shaped by it then we realize.1

Brief application: how do I know where I have been shaped by the world? Examine the places where your assumptions run contrary to God’s Word. Everyone gossips at work, right? It make sense to wait to get married until you’re done with school and your career is established, even if it means that abstaining from pre-marital sex becomes more difficult, right? Of course you should only tithe and give when there is extra left over at the end of the month, right? That may be normal in the world, but we are not of this world.

Did you notice who Jesus includes in the category of “the world” in this passage? It isn’t secular people, nor the Gentiles. It is his fellow Jews. It is religious people. In fact, in 16:2, Jesus tells us that the people who will persecute the church are doing so because they think that it is pleasing to God!

This is to say, persecution can come from secular critics of religion, but also from those in zealous devotion to their faith. This can take different shades of application:

  • (Jews) Stephen’s martyrdom and the great persecution that follows
    • And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem…Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. (Acts 8:1, 3)
    • “Saeed converted to Christianity in 2016 after years of personal reflection. Since that time, he has endured severe and sustained persecution by Egyptian authorities, including repeated arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment, forced divorce, separation from his young son, and continuous surveillance,”
  • (Gentiles) Paul and Silas being flogged and imprisoned for healing a demon oppressed girl who was being used for divination
    • 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. (Acts 16:22-23)
    • Dmitri, a Russian Christian living under the USSR, who was imprisoned for 17 years for running a house church.
  • (Church) Fellow preachers who proclaim the gospel out of envy or rivalry of Paul
    • The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.. (Phil 1:17)
    • John Bunyan imprisoned for 12 years by the Church of England for preaching without a license.

What does Jesus mean by “hate”?

“Hate” is fairly straightforward, as an emotion, but what constitutes the kind of hatred that Jesus speaks of here? Jesus tells us that how He was treated will be how we are treated. This includes…

  • Death, torture (17 Nigerian Christians killed on Easter by Islamic terrorists)
  • Wrongful imprisonment, miscarriage of justice, false charges (Ryan Corbett, Afghanistan)
  • Publicly shamed, slandered, and misrepresented
    • “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” (Matt 10:24-25)
    • They will put you out of the synagogues. (John 16:2)
    • Losing friends, family, career opportunities, respect.
    • Paige Rogers fired from her job for replying to a question about what her beliefs were about marriage.

Why are they hating you?

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. (John 15:18-19)

We are hated because Jesus was hated. Jesus was hated because He revealed to them what God was like, and they did not like that. Jesus explains in verses 21-24 that His ministry of teaching and miracles actually amplified the guilt of the world because prior to that, there was the chance that they could say that they had not been given enough evidence to know God sufficiently to be responsible. That excuse was eliminated with the arrival of Jesus. He provided crystal-clear revelation of what the Father was like and the Jews—who all claimed to worship the Father—were repulsed by what they saw. They hated Jesus because they hated God (see Rom 1:30).

We are hated because Jesus chose us out of the world. Meaning, we were once part of those who would have hated Jesus. But now, we have been transformed. We are actually like Jesus.

The world is a society of rebels, and therefore finds it hard to tolerate those who are in joyful allegiance to the king to whom all loyalty is due…Former rebels who have by the grace of the king been won back to loving allegiance to their rightful monarch are not likely to prove popular with those who persist in rebellion. (Carson)

What would it take for the world to love you? You have to be one of them. You have to love what they love and hate what they hate: the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. But we don’t. We know that this world is passing away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Do you know the sensation of sharing something you deeply care about with someone—a tv show or a game or a meal—and they don’t respond the same way you do? They don’t love it, they seem to politely endure it? Don’t you hate that? Oh, you don’t love what I love? Now, have you ever been doing something you kind of know you shouldn’t be doing—you go for the second bowl of ice cream, the third cocktail, the fourth slice of pizza—and someone else is there and they give you a, “Do you really need that?” look? You feel embarrassed, caught. Now, keep dialing that up in intensity and that is how the world feels about Jesus, and those who have been redeemed by Jesus.

Earlier, while speaking with his brothers who had not yet come to believe he was the messiah, Jesus tells them: The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. (John 7:7)

Jesus isn’t controlled by the same love of money, the ego trip, the vanity, the grind, the sexual experimentation that the world is. The world may live in a constant pursuit of more money, more status, more stuff…but Jesus? Not only does He live a simple life of integrity, but Jesus is willing to make things awkward at dinner parties and in conversations. In His words, deeds, and values, Jesus reveals that the world is in rebellion. He is the voice who is willing to say, “What you are doing is wrong.”

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. (John 3:19-20)

The Christian wife doesn’t join in on the discussion the other wives are having about how terrible their husbands or children are, but instead speaks of them with honor and gratitude. The Christian husband voices his opposition to the other men who allude to the women at work they are flirting with. The Christian employee refuses to decorate their office for Pride month or attach their preferred pronouns to the end of emails. The Christian student resists the pressure to get drunk. The Christian teen befriends the outcast who is made fun of by others, knowing that her own social reputation will take a hit.

The main point of this passage is that if we follow Jesus, we should expect to be treated like Jesus. And this offers a corrective to two different kinds of people: those who are terrified of being hated, and those who love being hated.

Those Who are Terrified of Being Hated

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. (John 15:20)

  • Not all will hate us. There are some who kept Jesus’s word (the disciples), and so there will be some who will keep ours. They will believe.
  • But the dominant response to Jesus from the world was hatred. Which means that we need courage.
  • If you are the person who thinks that people just need more time to get to know you and if they do they couldn’t possibly hate you…then this passage is a corrective. This tells us that actually, for those who are of the world, the problem is not that they don’t understand you. The problem is that they do.
  • They hated me without a cause.’ (John 15:25)
    • Psalm 69: David is hated because of his zeal for worship, prayer, and piety.
    • Psalm 35: David is hated despite the fact that when those who hated him were sick, he prayed and fasted for their healing, he mourned and wept for their suffering. But when he was sick, the very same people mocked and attacked him.
  • Those who follow Jesus will draw the hatred of the world because they are righteous.

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets….Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. (Luke 6:22-23, 26)

Those Who Are Hated for the Wrong Reasons

Dogs have four legs That animal has four legs Therefore, it is a dog

Those who follow Jesus will be hated I am being hated Therefore, I am being hated for the same reason that Jesus was

It is possible to be hated for wrong reasons.

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. - 1 John 3:12-13

Are you easily offended? Are you looking for the opportunity to be hated to justify your own hatred? This is not the way of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit should be evident in our response to those who persecute us and hate us.

All of our acts of obedience and righteousness are tempered by the humility that we were once “of the world” and it was only Jesus’ choice that delivered us from the world.

How do you endure hatred?

How does Stephen, Paul and Silas, and Paul respond?

  • Stephen forgives those who attack him.
  • Paul and Silas sing songs in prison and share the gospel with their abusers.
  • Paul rejoices that the gospel is preached, even from bad motives.

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)

Christians rely on the Holy Spirit to endure hatred in distinctly Christian ways. It does not take the Holy Spirit to hate those who hate you.