Chapter 7 of Dr. MacArthur’s book for new believers, “Welcome to the Family,” informs them of their hatred against the world and the only love they will ever have, Lord Jesus and His chosen people.
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OLD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS
Loving other Christians is proof of the change God has wrought in your heart. But there’s also another proof, perhaps the severest trial you will face as a new believer: people who were once your friends, maybe even members of your earthly family, may now hate you the way the world hated Christ.
On the night before the Crucifixion, Jesus warned His closest friends, His disciples, about what they could expect from the world of men. In spite of the wonderful, divine promises that would be fulfilled in their lives, life would be far from blissful. Ministry would not be easy in a rebellious, Christ-hating world. The world was going to treat them the same way it treated Him, and they were going to be despised and persecuted—some of them even brutally killed.
- These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet 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 keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, “They hated Me without a cause.” (John 15:17–25)
One reason their love for one another was so important was that they would know hatred from the world. Love among Christians was the only genuine love they would know.
History shows that Jesus was right; the apostles were hated. James was martyred. The Roman emperor Nero beheaded Paul. Andrew persisted in preaching and was tied to a cross and crucified. Peter, too, was crucified; tradition holds that he was crucified upside down because he considered himself unworthy of the same death as his Savior. All of them were martyred except perhaps Matthew and John, the latter being exiled to the Isle of Patmos. The rest of Christ’s followers suffered persecution from the Roman government, which regarded them as disloyal citizens and a threat to the unity of the empire.
Following Christ isn’t likely to lead you to martyrdom or exile, but the same hostility toward believers is true in today’s world. The culture does not accept Christians because it rejects the gospel of our Lord. And you can’t evade that hostility without compromising your Christianity. That means to continue following Christ, you have to accept the fact that others will resent you, including some who have loved you in the past.
Jesus gives three reasons why persecution is unavoidable for you as a Christian:
YOU ARE NOT OF THE WORLD
The world rejects Jesus’ disciples because they are no longer a part of its system. Jesus told the apostles, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). “World” is the English translation of kosmos, a common word in Greek. It appears often in John’s writings and changes its meaning with the context. Here it means the evil, sinful system begun by Satan and acted out by men. The kosmos is the result and expression of human depravity. It is set against Christ, His people, and His kingdom, and Satan and his evil minions control it.
This evil world system is incapable of genuine love. When Jesus said the world loves its own, He was saying that a worldly individual loves himself and his own things. He loves others only if it is to his advantage. The world’s love is always selfish and superficial.
The world sets itself against those who love and follow Jesus, those who declare their faith in Him and show it by their words and deeds. It does not generally persecute those who are part of its system. Jesus said to His earthly brothers who did not follow Him during His ministry, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil” (John 7:7).
The unavoidable fact is that people who don’t know Jesus Christ are part of a system that is anti-God, anti-Christ, and satanic. That system fights against God and His principles and is opposed to all that is good, godly, and Christlike. Part of that system is false religion. While the majority of people appear religious, their religion is not the same as righteousness. False religions and their followers have a superficial tolerance of the things of God. Still, they are tools of Satan in his war against the truth. They disguise themselves with godliness, but they reveal their true nature by suppressing the truth. Throughout history, false religion has been the most aggressive opponent of the true church.
Persecution is inevitable for the righteous. Paul warned Timothy, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). The true believer stands apart from the world because he has been made holy through identification with Jesus Christ. He lives righteously and does not belong to the system. Because a genuine Christian represents God and Christ, Satan uses the world’s system to attack him. That is why Jesus prayed for the Father’s protection of His followers: “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
Our lives are to be a rebuke to the sinful world. Ephesians 5:11 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” If you are not experiencing much rejection from the world, your life may not be a rebuke to the world. To have an impact for Christ on this hostile and perverted world, you must avoid sin and “become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”(Philippians 2:15).
That was Jesus’ point in Matthew 5:14–16, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Make sure your righteousness is visible to the world; don’t hide it through compromise or a tolerance of sin.
You stand out from the world because Jesus has chosen you for that. In John 15:19 He says, “I chose you out of the world.” Jesus is literally saying, “I chose you for Myself.” He has chosen you to be different. So be the living rebuke to the rest of the world that Christ called you to be.
THE WORLD HATES CHRIST
A second reason persecution is inevitable for Christians is that the world hates the Lord Jesus. Jesus told the Eleven,
“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 keep yours also” (John 15:20). Because the world hates Him, it hates those of us who name Him as Lord.
Not everyone rejects Christ, and not everyone will reject us. A few will listen and believe. Yet much of the world’s apparent acceptance of Jesus is nothing more than a facade. Most of the movies, songs, and books about Jesus written from a secular viewpoint only confuse and deceive people into thinking they understand the truth about Him. But no one can really know Him without knowing about sin, repentance, judgment, and salvation.
There was a time in Western history when Christianity became the only acceptable religion. After two centuries of intense persecution, the Roman government suddenly adopted it. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and everyone had to be a “Christian.” True Christianity was endangered more by shallow popularity than it had been by persecution. Infant baptism was adopted as the means to “Christianize” everyone. Christianity had become a monstrosity, an institutionalized blasphemy, and it became unclear just what constituted genuine saving faith. Satan welcomes that kind of confusion as much as he relishes persecuting the church.
There is a unique joy in being so fully identified with Jesus Christ that you suffer the rebuke, ridicule, and hatred directed at Him. Most Christians never know that joy. In Philippians 3:10, Paul called it “the fellowship of His sufferings.” First Peter 2:21 says, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” But when we share His sufferings, we also share His joy over those who come to saving faith. And that makes all the sacrifices worthwhile.
THE WORLD DOES NOT KNOW GOD
Jesus gave the disciples another reason for persecution: “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me” (John 15:21). The Jews of Jesus’ day prided themselves on what they thought was an in-depth knowledge of God. When Jesus said that they did not know God at all, the religious leaders were infuriated. But in rejecting Christ they themselves proved He was right. They claimed to know God, yet they hated Christ, who was God in human flesh. Their love for God was a pretense.
What many people fail to realize is that religion itself is perhaps the greatest hindrance to the knowledge of the true God. The world’s approach to religion is to postulate a god and worship it, even though that god does not exist outside man’s imagination. Jesus exposed the false religion propounded by the Jewish leaders when He said, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do” (John 8:44).
The problem is not that men have no access to the truth about God. Romans 1:19 says, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” Through both innate knowledge and nature, God gives everyone basic knowledge that He exists. People willfully reject the truth, not because of ignorance but because they love the darkness rather than the light. Exposing men to the truth is like shining a light on the bug that just wants to crawl back into the darkness.
People in Jesus’ time knew what the Old Testament taught about the Messiah. They also heard what Christ said and saw what He did. But the Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin, along with the people of Israel, and the Romans, killed Him anyway. Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4 in John 15:25: “They hated Me without a cause.” The people’s rejection of Him was a fulfillment of David’s words. Jesus had healed all manner of diseases; He had fed multitudes; He had been completely sinless. How could anyone hate Him?
The world hated Jesus because He exposed its sin. When His divine holiness cast its righteous light on those of the world, it exposed their love of darkness. Instead of turning to Him in faith and love, they turned against Him in unbelief and hatred.
The evil system of the world is no different today—it still hates Jesus. And it still hates those who truly serve Him. As a follower of Christ, you will have to suffer the hatred of the world. Paul warns us that suffering persecution is the lot of “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:12).
And yet, to be persecuted for Him is a unique privilege (see Acts 5:41; Philippians 3:10). And when you truly suffer for righteousness’ sake—family and friends turn against you, and you are hated without cause—you will then begin to understand persecution, not as a trial to be resisted or avoided, but as a wonderful privilege to be welcomed and embraced and shared with all who are your family in Christ.
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MacArthur, J. (2004). Welcome to the family : What to expect now that you’re a Christian (Page 67). Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson Books.