Love and Hate

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

LOVE AND HATE

 John 15:18-27

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.'  

26 "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

NIV

What other conclusions could we come to other then the world is hateful of the truth. If the world has so much hate of Jesus, of God, of the truth, then we also have to conclude that we have absolutely no business being in any kind of partnership with it. Jesus has made it clear that he has called us out of the world and that we do not belong to the world. Because we do live among this world, it does not mean that we belong to it. The world has no ownership of us, it does not define us, nor does it confine us. One of the major differences between us and the world is guilt. Jesus made it clear that because the world is aware of him, but refuses to accept him, or in other words, hates him, they are now guilty of sin. If someone has absolutely no knowledge whatsoever, totally void any anything about Jesus, has never heard a word spoken regarding Jesus, it seems Jesus is saying that they would not be guilty of sin, because they do not know the truth. If they have nothing to compare righteousness from sin, then they do not know sin either. That would seem right, but then we are also told no man is without excuse because what may be known about God is plain, through his creation. But the point Jesus was making is that the world hates us because we love Jesus. That seems a little odd as it seems we do not experience all this hate from many of the people we are living among. Many of our co-workers who are not believers in the same sense we are, do not hate us, or at least, it does not appear that way. It would seem our country was founded on a person’s individual rights or freedom of religion, however, it also seems as of late, many leaders of our country are making a concerted effort to remove any reference to God from the public square. Christianity, in general, is under attack from this country as well as many others, so than the world does hate Christ. Now the reason we may not experience as much hate as we do may be due to the fact we are too close to looking like them and not like Jesus. If we do not belong to the world, then we should have nothing to do with the world’s system, its philosophies, its way of life, or its business affairs. Partnership with the world in any form is not to be part of our life. We are told not to be unequally yoked. That means working together or being a partner in some endeavor. Whatever that means, it is for certain we should refrain from it. Because we have been called out of the world, then we are out of it and we no longer live in the same manner as we once did. We no longer have our citizenship in the world and as such we are officially foreigners who speak an entirely different language and have altogether different customs. In fact, we are citizens of the kingdom of God and have been sent into this world as an ambassador for our sovereign, to speak on his behalf, to speak the words he authorized us to speak. It also means, as ambassadors, we have diplomatic immunity, which means we are not subject to the laws, or principles of this world. Sure, we are not supposed to speed or do any of those other crimes against the state. It is not the law of the land, which is meant, it is the law or ideas, or concepts, principles, philosophies, ideologies, or other matters of this world that we have immunity from. We have been told that we cannot serve two masters and in that context, it is either God or money. But the idea is the same, we cannot be a part of the world and a part of God. It has to be one or the other. Love God, the world hates us.