“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” John 15:18-20
Should those who follow Jesus and hold fast to His Word be surprised when they run into opposition and even persecution from those who walk according to the ways and thinking of this world? Jesus clearly warned His disciples that the world would hate them and persecute them just as it hated and persecuted Him — even putting Him to death by crucifixion.
Why is this? Because true Christians believe and teach God’s Word and seek to live in accordance with the Bible’s teaching. They acknowledge as sin all that God, in the Bible, calls sin, and they look to Jesus Christ, God the Son and true man, as the only Savior for sinful mankind. They trust that God pardons and forgives their sins when they look in faith to Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of all. And trusting in Jesus and His sacrifice for sins, they also seek to live according to God’s Word.
This offends those of this world, including many who call themselves Christian, because they do not hear and believe the words of Jesus and accept as truth all that the Bible teaches. They do not accept the truth that they, like all of us, are sinners deserving of God’s eternal wrath and punishment and that they, like all of us, need to turn from their sins to Christ Jesus for mercy and forgiveness for the sake of His blood, shed on the cross for the sins of all. They are unwilling to accept the truth that Jesus is the only way for us sinners to be pardoned and spared in God’s judgment upon this world. Nor do they wish to amend their way of life and seek to live for Him who died for them and rose again (cf. Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Cor. 5:15).
The witness and life of true disciples of Jesus remind them of their own sins and shortcomings and their need to repent and place their faith in Jesus.
As Jesus said: “The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
Fellow believers will rejoice and give thanks when they see sinners repent and look to Jesus for mercy and pardon. Those of this world will scorn them and even persecute them, as they did to Jesus Himself.
Dear Lord Jesus, grant that I look to You in faith and hold fast to You and Your Word, that I may know Your mercy and forgiveness and walk in Your ways unto life everlasting. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]