15 verse 18. So if you've got one of the church Bibles, the black ones, which are on the back
desk if you don't have one, it's page 902.
John 15 verse 18.
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you are 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.
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.
But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
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.
Whoever hates me hates my father also.
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.
But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled.
They hated me without a cause.
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.
And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.
I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.
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.
And they will do these things because they have not known the father nor me.
But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.
Amen.
Well, I'm often known around the traps here as Eeyore.
I reckon I see the miserable side of life.
Well, the mantle today has been translated and shifted onto Rob.
So I'm positively euphoric compared to Rob's introduction.
We all want to be accepted, don't we?
We all want to be welcomed.
We all want to be at ease in whatever context we find ourselves in.
That's what it is to be relational beings, isn't it?
Nobody wants to be isolated, rejected, certainly not despised and hated.
And I think one of the things I really appreciate about being Australian is that Australia gets that by and large.
So as Australians, we sense that racism and sexism is bad.
And that a commitment to multiculturalism is good.
But we're slowly as a nation recognizing past wrongs to indigenous people and working to get some real healing.
We're developing disability support programs, valuing people for who they are rather than what they can or cannot do.
And we rightly applaud people and programs designed to promote unity among Australians.
But mixed in among that, I need to tell you this morning, if you haven't already worked out, there are those who use the language of unity, but their design is altogether different.
Their design is actually to promote disharmony and exclusion and isolation.
Two words dominate our culture at the moment.
The words inclusivity and the word tolerance.
That is, these two words both are banded around as being open and accepting of all views.
Especially they're used in terms of being open and accepting of all gender expressions, all sexual expression.
As I say, it's the language of inclusiveness.
But behind that apparent language of unity is, dare I say, a ruthless agenda to silence any critique of moves to redefine personhood, to redefine identity through this new thing called gender fluidity.
Unrestricted sexual expression.
And Christians bear the brunt of this attack.
And the attack aims to remove from our society, from our culture, any reference or influence from historic, the ethic of historic biblical Christianity.
And replace it with an ethic of, anything goes, driven by my imagination.
A couple of examples.
Two weeks ago, Monty Python team member Terry Jones died.
The response to his death, a massive celebration of his life.
Focused in one line, his most famous, or as I would say, infamous line.
He's not the Messiah.
He's just a very naughty boy.
From the Life of Brian movie.
Now that whole movie is called a satire, but I think it's just hit.
It just ridicules from beginning to end the life and death of Jesus.
It was always and remains one of the most popular movies ever produced.
This week, John McEnroe published what can only be called a vitriolic YouTube directed at Margaret Court.
Begging her tennis fraternity not to acknowledge her Grand Slam victory 50 years ago.
He called her, among other things, a despicable homophobe.
Inutterably offensive.
Why?
Because she spoke against homosexuality.
And the irony for me was, you have this vitriolic outpouring from McEnroe, which I would call hate speech.
And it's applauded Margaret Court, demonized.
And again this week, Israel Folau back in the news.
He's been forced to sign a contract and promised that he would make no public comment as a Christian in order to play rugby league again.
And the Catalan Dragons team that have signed him have been absolutely pilloried in the press this week.
While only two hours later, after the news broke of him being signed by the Catalan Dragons,
the Wigan Warriors and another team in the same comp advertised that their next game was going to be dedicated to gay pride.
And everybody got on board and said, what a perfect response.
One is silenced.
One is encouraged to flaunt their position.
Why is it like this?
Well, we have the answer direct from Jesus' own lips in these verses this morning.
But before I jump into the passage, I need to do some revision because it's six weeks since we've been in John's biography of Jesus.
As Rob introduced, chapter 14 to 16 is called Jesus' Farewell Discourse.
For obvious reasons, he had told his disciples that he was going away.
Meaning he was about to go to his death in order to achieve God's purpose in salvation.
But we shouldn't think of the farewell discourse as a warm and fuzzy hug and kiss goodbye like you would dropping the kids off to school.
The right picture of the farewell discourse is that of the supreme commander briefing his troops before the decisive battle in a war.
That's the picture you need to have in mind.
This is serious stuff.
The stakes are high.
The disciples, we're told, were confused and terrified about Jesus going away.
We can understand that.
So Jesus walks them through what was about to happen in the immediate future, that is in the next 24, 48 hours,
and in the longer term to them as disciples of Jesus.
And everything he says to them is framed by the opening and closing sentences of the unit.
Chapter 14, verse 1.
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
And chapter 16, verse 33.
I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation.
But take heart.
I have overcome the world.
There are the brackets that frame this.
This is a sobering piece of literature.
This is a sobering speech.
This is a very sobering farewell briefing.
Now let's jump into the passage, beginning with what can only be described as unambiguous language of Jesus and ideas that confront us.
Jesus is calling his disciples here to battle stations.
If I can follow through the military metaphor.
Battle stations brace for an avalanche of hatred.
In these verses, six times in the first two verses, Jesus used the word hate or hatred.
And that's not just an English translation.
That is fair dingam to the Greek word.
It's a strong word.
There's no getting around it.
And this is what the disciples should expect to experience.
And then added to that, as you read through the passage, references to totally unjust persecution.
Irrational persecution.
Sanctions.
Injury.
And even death, says Jesus.
That's what you guys, my followers, have to look forward to.
That's going to be the new normal for you.
As it has been, will become the normal for me.
And has been the normal.
You can just hear Jesus, see Jesus looking around.
Eyeballing all his disciples saying, hey guys, this is not a game.
This is not a dress rehearsal.
This is the real thing.
Listen up.
And he goes on then to, as he briefs them, to talk about hostiles.
Hostiles on the outside, beyond our ranks.
And he calls them here the world.
Which is, in John's gospel, humankind in rebellion against God.
And six times again, the world is mentioned in these first two verses.
And it's how the world will deal with his disciples.
The world is humankind in rebellion against God's rule.
And it includes, therefore, my friends, the majority of our fellow Australians.
And it includes, if you move around the world, the majority of most nations around the world.
What does Jesus say?
That inevitably, not possibly, but inevitably, they will unleash hatred on Christians.
The followers of Jesus.
And I pick up three reasons in here.
Why?
Why will they do that?
Well, it's because, first of all, we identify with Jesus, who is God's king.
Verse 18.
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
In verse 20 and 21.
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.
But all these things they will do to you on account of my name.
Because they do not know him who sent me.
The master-servant relationship is one of close identification.
So every part of a servant's identity and daily existence was defined by the master's character and the master's business or master's affairs.
Conversely, the master of the household thought of his servants almost as an extension of himself.
If things were good for him, then they were good for the servants.
And vice versa.
If things went badly for the master, they were going to go badly for the servants.
The other reason, another reason is because we reflect what the world hates.
God's sovereignty.
Look at verse 19.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.
But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you.
The fact that Christians exist is an ongoing testimony to rebellious humankind that God is alive.
That God is powerful and active in his world in spite of every attempt of rebellious humankind to exclude him from his world.
And to claim this world for ourselves.
Christians are a reflection of God's sovereignty.
The reality of salvation is that each Christian has been plucked out of the world, renewed, grafted into Jesus the true vine,
the first part of the verses of chapter 15, and then sent back into the world as branches now of the vine.
The totally new worldview, which at every point is at odds with the attitudes, desires, thinking of those around us, the world.
We now look to Jesus for identity, meaning and purpose in life.
We look to Jesus for our standard of right and wrong and truth, not to one another.
And friends, get this.
Even though people will often say that they're angry at Christians because of our failings and inconsistencies, which are real,
but that's not what this passage is saying to us.
We are hated not because people do not see Jesus or God in us, but because they do.
Because they do see a fundamental difference in how we approach life.
A fundamental difference in where we look to for the authority of life.
And that difference is a reminder to them of the thing they hate, that their professed autonomy is just that, professed.
And they despise that.
And the third reason Jesus gives in here, I think, is that because we're ambassadors of Jesus who exposes rebellion and sin.
So it's God's king, God's kingdom, God's sovereignty, and God's word.
Perfect trifecta.
Perfect hatred.
For it.
Verses 21 to 25.
All these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
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.
Whoever hates me hates my father also.
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.
But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled.
They hated me without a cause.
Jesus came into this rebellious world, calling it out at every point.
Exposing sin and guilt.
And leaving people without excuse for continued rebellion.
No longer do people say, well, I didn't know that that's what God was like.
Or I didn't know that's how God was operating.
They do now.
And they refuse to accept it.
Because it doesn't fit with what they think God would be like, or should be like, or should operate.
And all that Jesus taught, explained, and modeled has been recorded under God's hand in what we call the Bible.
And therefore continues to challenge and expose people today as Christians.
You and me proclaim the words and works of Jesus in our own generation.
So it's as if when we speak that, it again opens up this great chasm, this great divide.
It challenges autonomy.
People hate it.
Can't get to Jesus.
Next best thing?
They shoot the messenger.
They can't rid themselves of the message.
They shoot the messenger.
Or beat them.
Or whatever else they can imagine to do to them.
And rebellious humankind, and remember what I'm talking about here is really immediate.
It's around it.
It might be your extended family.
Some in your extended family.
It might be your workmates.
It might be your neighbors across the road from you.
It might be the people you play sport with.
Make no mistake.
They actually hate their proud, self-interested, autonomous hearts and lifestyles being exposed.
And as I say, since they can't rid themselves of the message, they certainly do a good job of trying to rid themselves of the messengers.
That's hostiles from without the ranks.
But then, more insidious, Jesus also warms about hostiles within the ranks.
Those who love religion, but hate Jesus.
Chapter 16, verses 1 to 3.
Now, at first read, this doesn't sound right.
But what Jesus is saying here, if we just go on the face value of the words, what Jesus is saying here is that the worst treatment that his disciples will receive will come from those who claim to be doing God's work.
Who are religious people.
And particularly here, the religious people Jesus is referring to are the Jewish religious authorities.
Jesus knew that within the next 24, 48 hours, he was about to experience their ruthless, senseless, violent, murderous hatred.
Every bit of it done in the belief that they were God's agents protecting God's reputation.
And his disciples should expect the same.
Talks here about excommunication, verse 2, from the synagogues.
Now, that doesn't mean much to us in our culture.
But what it meant in those days was a massive thing.
Excommunication meant you were cut off from family privilege, from social privilege, from economic privilege, from religious privilege, from political privilege.
You were totally isolated.
In your local town or village.
But even then, says Jesus, sometimes that won't be enough.
Sometimes the hatred will burn so deep that nothing short of your death will satisfy.
Man, that's a sort of hatred, isn't it?
Why would religious people be so capable of such deep hatred?
Well, Jesus has been saying it right through in his ministry.
For three years now, almost three years, Jesus has been saying the same thing.
And he's been saying the same thing.
Because Jesus has exposed their outside-in religious practices.
Jesus has shown how they think that they can set the criterion for acceptance by God.
That what God will be pleased about is, one, that they're Jewish, as opposed to all the other races.
Two, that they do their prayers, and they read their Bible, and they do all these religious acts, and they offer their sacrifices.
It's a self-salvation that they had concluded would meet with acceptance to God.
And therefore, when they stood before God, God would actually reward them.
Because, well, you're a good person.
And they thought that they were protectors of God, so Jesus had to go.
But Jesus took away their control of their salvation.
They had reduced it to a relatively easy self-salvation, which rewarded their pride and their goodness.
And was racially best.
Jesus said, no, you're totally wrong.
Totally wrong.
They said, no, you must be wrong, Jesus.
And they backed their own thinking.
So Jesus, his message, and all who promoted his message, would have to be silenced.
We talk about people being intransigent, people being unwilling to change a position.
Doesn't come much clearer than that.
And the one who shows himself to be God, repeatedly by what he does and by what he says,
is rejected in favor of their own opinion about how to get to heaven.
Friends, a very simple conclusion out of all of that is don't ever expect it.
Don't ever expect to be welcomed and at ease in the world.
The sad thing is we still hold out hope for that, don't we?
And that's part of being relational.
But we mustn't hold out so much hope that then prizes away from the truth of Jesus.
Inseparably joined into Jesus, chapter 15, verses 1, following, the vine and the branches.
Inseparably joined into Jesus means inevitably linked to hatred directed at him.
Now this is where we sometimes bring ourselves unstuck.
Because I think we genuinely think if only people knew more about God.
It's an information problem.
If only Christians could be more consistent.
And less sort of public scandals.
It's a perception problem.
If only, if only, if only then people would believe.
More people would come to Jesus.
But in fact, the opposite is the case.
The more people realize what God is really like,
the more they see a reflection of God in those who are the followers of Jesus,
the more their hatred rises.
And they back themselves.
Battle stations means being prepared.
But battle stations also means weapons ready.
That's actually a command in the army.
Weapons ready.
A good commander ensures that his troops have all the firepower they need
for the incoming battle.
That means the right weapons and the proper supply of ammunition to feed those weapons.
Jesus provides both defensive and offensive weapons
that are never exhausted in terms of ammunition.
The Holy Spirit, verses 26 and 27.
But the helper, but when the helper comes,
and the word there in the Greek is advocate, it's a legal term,
but when the advocate 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.
And you also
will bear witness.
The word paraclete
is like having a personal QC
at your beck and call.
Whose job is to work in and through
each of the followers of Jesus
to assist them
advocate Christ's lordship
and Christ's message of salvation
in this hostile world
while Jesus isn't here.
In Acts chapter 1, verse 8,
the Holy Spirit is described there as dunamis,
that is dynamite.
The Holy Spirit is the power of God
in salvation.
So,
he is not just the perfect defense weapon
who's there to assist us,
he is the perfect offensive weapon.
He is God's dynamite
to blast through
unbelief.
His witness through us
as Christ's followers
will achieve that
which we could never achieve
on our own.
Arrest
and renew
unbelieving,
rebellious hearts,
convicting them of truth,
as we see next week
in chapter 16,
convicting them of truth
in respect to
sin and righteousness
and judgment.
Weapons ready,
the Holy Spirit.
He comes from the Father
so knows every part of the battle
and every one of Jesus' troops
personally.
What a great assurance,
what a great reassurance
to keep us from giving up
and that's exactly
why these words are spoken by Jesus.
To keep us from stumbling
and giving up.
Hear this.
With this weapon,
this Holy Spirit,
our Holy Spirit
within us,
it means this,
that we are never alone
in the battle.
And we are never powerless
in the face
of this avalanche of hatred.
loving one another.
Verse 17.
So it can be argued
whether you put verse 17
in one passage or the other.
I'm going with Don Carson.
I think it's a transition verse.
So it does apply to this.
Jesus has said repeatedly
in this section
of the farewell discourse,
is repeatedly said,
look,
you must love one another
as I have loved you.
Loving one another
is a key
function for God's people.
Loving one another.
we are,
in this battle,
we are to be
as committed
to one another,
to one another's safety
and well-being
as Christ is to us.
As I say,
you can read back through
chapter 13 and 15
and you'll see that.
Love one another
as I have loved you.
Friends,
here's where it comes to us
in this battle.
We have a responsibility
to support
and help one another
stay faithful
in the face of persecution
and attack.
We are to remind one another
of the truth of the gospel
and the certainty
of Christ's victory
when we're in danger
of being overwhelmed
by hatred.
Now this is such a big weapon
in scripture,
but my friends,
it's a weapon
we obviously
just don't value
that much.
We are to lovingly
rescue
and rehabilitate
those who do stumble
or go astray
or get battle weary.
In chapter 15,
the first part of it,
talks about
evidence of
the vine
and the branches
working right
is abiding in Jesus.
Well,
I would say
on the basis of that
then,
that failing
to love one another
is failing
to abide
in Jesus.
Even worse,
I think
it's equivalent
to discarding
the weapon
issued by Jesus
and actually
assist the enemy
in their attack.
How does that assist
the enemy?
because before the enemy
can even get to us,
we have wounded
one another
within.
Within.
How awful is that?
that?
But again,
as I said earlier,
it's so common
in our local churches.
Battle stations.
Weapons ready.
Friends,
with those two
commands,
we can be encouraged
because everything
is as King
Jesus said
it would be.
He knows
precisely
what we are
going through.
He's been there
before us.
He's not some
uncaring,
dispassionate
commander
who just
sees his people
as cannon fodder.
He knew
what was coming.
He's provided
for every
assurance
and comfort
and reassurance.
But more than that,
everything
is going
exactly to plan.
Jesus said this
before it all
happened
so that we'd know
when it happened
that he was
in control,
that he could
see ahead,
that he is
the Lord
and God
that he claimed
to be.
He knows
the end
of the battle
before we even
join it.
He knows
his troops
by name.
Person by person
across this
universe,
God's salvation
purpose
is being
achieved
in spite
of all
the hatred
and God's
glory
is being
displayed.
God's
salvation
will be
achieved.
Do we take
collateral
damage?
Absolutely.
But that's a
battle.
The battle
is as Jesus
said it would
be.
The outcome
is as Jesus
promised it
will be.
God will be
glorified.
Not one of his
people will be
lost.
God's salvation
purpose will be
achieved.
Friends,
our weapons
are more than
adequate for the
task God
calls us to.
Repeated
attacks have
been repulsed
and Christ's
cause is
alive as
has always
been.
We should be
encouraged but I
want to pose one
question as I
close.
Just very
briefly,
just more or
less to throw it
into your mind
to think
about.
Given all
the above
that Jesus
said,
what if I've
not experienced
that attack?
What if the
attack hasn't
come?
Well, let me
just throw a
couple of
things into
your mind
to think
about.
A couple
of perhaps.
Perhaps
what it
means is
that what
the world
hears from
you is no
challenge.
There's a
big movement
among Christians
today that
argues that
the best way
we can get
along Christians
and see them
saved is to
move towards
them and to
find as many
common points
as we can so
that the gap
between our
gospel message
and their
lifestyle at the
moment is as
small as
possible.
So we
emphasize the
positives of
Christianity and
the gospel,
the things that
are likely to
like, and we
downplay the
negatives.
We don't talk
so much about
sin and judgment
and giving up
autonomy and new
obedience.
But my
friends, the
divide is so
great, it
can't be
crossed without
compromise.
It can't be
brought together
without compromise.
What the
world needs
is not
identification
with it,
but a real
alternative.
What the
world needs
is counter
cultural people
who are prepared
to stand up
and say,
look, this
empty way of
life handed
down from
our
forefathers
is just
that, it's
empty.
And here I
offer the
alternative in
the Lord
Jesus.
Perhaps what
the world
sees in you
is no
threat.
Perhaps you've
thought over
the years,
well, okay,
yes, I'm
certainly wanting
to be a
Christian, I
certainly want
to and need
to identify a
bit with
Jesus, but
I'm pretty
sure I can
also indulge
and identify
a fair bit
with the
world and
its pleasures.
The Bible
warns us about
that and
perhaps,
lack of
attack is
actually evidence
to you that,
well, you
cannot serve
two masters
and that one
has captured
your heart
and it's
not Jesus.
Jesus.
And finally,
the most
drastic one,
perhaps you're
still in the
world and
not yet in
Jesus.
That's a real
possibility for
some here this
morning.
In other
words, if
you're in the
world, then
the world
loves you as
its own.
That's what
Jesus says
here.
Maybe that
explains any
lack of attack
that you might
perceive in
your life,
your circumstance.
And just to
keep the
military theme
going to the
very end.
When challenged
by the
word of
Jesus, you
only have two
options to
answer.
Friend or
foe.
Let me pray.
Lord, we pray
that your
word might not
be stolen away
from us this
morning, either
because of the
heat or
because of
circumstances
happening among
us right at
this moment.
We pray, Lord,
that the evil
one might not
be able to
do that.
Pray, Lord,
that we might
be confronted
by it and
rightly
encouraged by
it, Lord,
as your
people.
But, Lord,
I pray also
that any here
this morning
who are not
your people
might be
rightly
challenged by
it and
confronted by
it, Lord,
as a
decision that
is yet to
be made.
Will they
stand with
Jesus?
Or will they
stand with
the world,
even though
there is no
excuse left
for sin,
no excuse
left for
rebellion,
no ability
to plead
ignorance,
only the
fearsome
prospect of
having to
give account
to you for
having ignored
the truth of
Jesus.
Help us, we
pray in Jesus'
name.
Amen.