A World of Hate

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 146:1-2, 7-10
• Hymn — Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Nicene Creed
• Scripture Reading — Joshua 6:15-27
• Hymn — Lead On, O King Eternal
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Preparation
• Hymn — Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
• Sermon
• Hymn — I Know Whom I Have Believed
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: A World of Hate

Scripture: John 15:18–16:4

I. The World Hates the Christian's Master

A. The world's hatred of Christians is rooted in its hatred of Christ himself

1. Jesus likened disciples to branches united to the vine (John 15:5); the world's true target is the root — Christ
2. Two millennia of persecution have failed to destroy the church because the Life Source, Christ, cannot be eliminated

B. The basis: John 15:20 — A servant is not greater than his master; if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you

1. This echoes Jesus's word from John 13 at the foot-washing, and the new commandment to love as he loved

C. The world hates Christlike, self-effacing love for two reasons

1. It is a humble, self-emptying love for the unlovable that seeks nothing in return — the opposite of worldly love
2. It exposes the world's own ugliness; like a political spin doctor, the world attacks the church to deflect attention from its own darkness

D. The silver lining: John 15:20 — If they kept my word, they will also keep yours

1. Christ will always preserve his remnant
2. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 — Christ crucified is folly to the world but the power and wisdom of God to those who are called

II. The World Hates Christian Theology

A. The conflict is theological, not merely sociological

1. In John 8, Jesus used the divine name "I AM," claiming equality with the Father; the authorities sought to stone him
2. To reject the Son's equality with the Father is to reject the Father and the Spirit — the entire Trinity

B. Christ's miraculous works before their eyes filled up their guilt

1. Matthew 11:20 — Jesus denounces cities that witnessed his mighty works yet did not repent; it will be more bearable for Sidon, Tyre, and Sodom on the day of judgment
2. The Old Testament distinguished sins of ignorance (for which atonement was available) from high-handed, willful sins — deliberate rejection of God's manifest power brings condemnation

C. What one confesses about Christ determines one's standing before the Triune God

1. Confess Christ as Lord God in the flesh — you have the Father and the Spirit
2. Deny his full deity — you have neither the Father nor the Spirit
3. The Nicene confession — God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, of one being with the Father — is not a throwaway line

D. Where one stands with Christ determines love or hatred for God's word — John 15:25

1. They hated me without a cause — likely a reference to Psalm 69, which first-century Jews read as a Messianic psalm
2. Cf. John 2:17 — Zeal for your house will consume me, also quoting Psalm 69
3. The irony: the very law they wielded to condemn Jesus condemns them, because their law points to him as Messiah
4. Christology determines whether the word of God commends or condemns you

III. The World Hates the Christian Testimony

A. The Spirit-empowered witness of the disciples — John 15:26-27

1. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the Son's name, bears witness to Christ
2. The disciples bear witness because they were with him from the beginning — the apostolic credential also stated in Acts 1:21-22 when Matthias replaced Judas

B. The Trinitarian "trickle-down" of witness

1. The Father sends the Son (John 1:14); the Son reveals the Father; the Son returns to the Father and sends the Spirit
2. The Spirit bears witness to the Son in the disciples; the disciples go in the Spirit's power to bear witness to the Son
3. The Bible is the product of this supernatural Trinitarian act

C. The cost of the testimony — John 16:2-3

1. Disciples will be expelled from synagogues; some will be killed by those who believe they are offering service to God
2. Certain rabbinic authorities taught that slaying heretics was an act of divine worship
3. Irony of God's judgment: in "offering to God" through the disciples' blood, they reject the one true offering — the Son of God; cf. Haman hanged on his own gallows in the book of Esther; Psalm 2 — God laughs at his enemies; 1 Corinthians 1 — through the foolishness of the cross God brings the wisdom of this age to nothing

D. The blood-stained book and the call to faithfulness

1. By tradition, all apostles except John (the author of this gospel) died as martyrs for their testimony
2. As Veterans Day calls citizens to honor those who died for freedom, so the blood of the martyrs and apostles — and supremely the blood of Christ — calls believers to be faithful, diligent students of the word
3. The Bible has come at immense cost — the blood of Christ, the apostles, and martyrs such as William Tyndale; it must not be treated flippantly