Love or Hate

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LOVE OR HATE

John 15:18-25

18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'  

NIV

Jesus or the world, there is not fence riding allowed. We cannot live in both camps, we must live wholly in one or the other. So why do we spend so much time trying to make the world love us, in the name of Jesus, of course. We do so much to try to show the love of Jesus to the world, which is a command, but we are also commanded to share the gospel message, and although it is a message about love, it is a message that declares a person will perish and never see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. It should be apparent that if we were to tell them unless they are born again they will never see the kingdom of God, they might well hate us for being so closed or narrow minded. As long as they are good people they will go to heaven might be their idea, but they would be wrong, dead wrong. But Jesus also made a certain warning in saying that if the world does love us, that is they are not threatened by us in any way, and think of us as being like them, the reason is that in fact we are like them, and not like Jesus. It would appear Jesus was not in a popularity contest, but it is possible that we could get caught up in that very thing, trying to be liked by the world. All the efforts to appear not like a church so the unchurched will feel comfortable may be bordering on trying to be liked so much by the world, we are beginning to look like the world, and if that is the case, woe to us. Yet there are people who actually hate Jesus, hate organized religion, hate the very idea of God, because it puts restrictions on their lives, their sin. If they do not believe in God then there is no consequence for their sin. That is what Jesus is saying, but once they hear his words, they are no longer without excuse. Of course Jesus was speaking about the chief priests who were about to get him crucified, but he also speaks to all mankind throughout the ages. There will also be some who hate him and hate God, and if we are truly following Jesus, they will hate us as well, no matter how much we try to make them love us, by whatever we do to entice them. What matters is that we tell them about Jesus, then they have the choice to live or die, but it is their choice. If no one tells them about Jesus they have no choice, they will just die. This phrase of Jesus about if he had not come they would not be guilty of sin, might well be directed solely to those who rejected him and in fact wanted to kill him. If he had not come they would not have been guilty of hating him, and wanting to kill him, but he did come, he did everything in front of them to prove he was the Messiah and still they rejected him, so now they are without excuse. But this truth also holds true to all of mankind. We have the record of what he did to prove he is the Messiah, and those who reject this truth are without excuse, they are still guilty of all their sin, but the rejection of Jesus is what will ultimately condemn them. Our task is to make sure they have the choice, and we cannot do that unless we tell them, unless we stand our ground, speaking the truth. If we try to look too much like them in order to tell them, they will not listen, as they will tell us we are no different than them. We cannot live in both camps, we are either followers of Jesus or we are not. Does the world love us or hate us?