Do Right and Be Hated

In 1 John 3:16-18 the Apostle John informs us about the kind of love that indicates that one has been born of God. But before he gives us the positive example of Christ, he first wants us to think about the negative example of the Old Testament character, Cain.

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.

Now the reason John mentions Cain and his murder of Abel is not so much to give us a negative example of love, but rather to show how the world will respond to the love of God within us. So in verse 13 he says, in light of what Cain did to Abel, “do not be surprised that the world hates you.” As Abel was to Cain, so Christians are to the world. The world will hate Christians as wickedness hates righteousness.

Notice how illogical this hatred is. Abel did nothing wrong, certainly nothing injurious to Cain. But he was hated by Cain nonetheless. Christians will be hated, but not because of anything wrong done to the world. We are, in fact, to show love to the world and so give them no legitimate reason to despise us (Titus 2:7-8). We are to love our neighbor and do good to them. It is a good thing to be at peace with your neighbor.

But Cain hated Abel and killed him, "because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." Every time Cain laid eyes on his brother, he was reminded of his own sinfulness. Similarly, the Christian's right standing with God will be a constant reminder to the world that they have been rejected by God.

So it will come as no surprise when we do have to bear the hostility of the world simply because of our association with Christ. If he was hated, so his followers will be. This is what Jesus predicted in John 15:18-19.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were 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.

Now the reason why it is important for us to know this is because it will be tempting for the believer to deny Christ when he faces the hatred of the world. After Jesus warned about the coming hatred, he said

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. . . . Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. . . . But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. (John 16:1-4)

Those who are coming to faith in Jesus need to know that doing so will not make their life easier. Wouldn't Jesus have had more followers if he had promised a life of ease and prosperity? Sure, but they would have followed him for his material blessings and not for his glory. Instead, Jesus set the bar high at the beginning. Following Jesus means you will be hated, but God's glory will shine brightest when we persevere in faith and love both our brothers and sisters as well as our enemies.

We need to stop suggesting to people that following Jesus is a life of ease. Jesus never hinted that that would be the case. Instead, he wanted us to know that following him would bring its share of suffering and hardship precisely because of our choice to follow him.

Still interested in following Jesus?

Highlights from Sunday's Sermon

Yesterday's sermon was from Genesis 28 and Jacob's "Stairway to Heaven" dream. Rick pointed out that Jacob's "ladder" was not really a ladder but more like a staircase. And according to John 1:51, Jesus himself is the staircase through whom God's revelation to man is made.

But I was challenged by this statement from the sermon:

Our temporal happinesses are not as important as God's plans for my life.

When Jacob dreamed this dream, he was not exactly "happy"--he had to use a stone for a pillow! But it was precisely at this time of spiritual darkness that God revealed to Jacob the plans he had for Jacob's life.

So God's plans for my life often exclude temporal happinesses. God's plans include suffering and pain and death. These things do not exactly make us "happy." But happiness is fleeting, and God is more interested in our abiding joy.

And thanks be to God that he is.

Seeking God's Presence, Holding Him in Awe

It is a very difficult time for our family right now as we watch a very close family member suffer with cancer. For me and my wife, we have had to dig deep to find how our faith sustains us in times like these. Earlier this week, I read this from D. A. Carson:

As an athlete endures in order to build up endurance, so a Christian perseveres under trial in order to build up perseverance. Perseverance contributes something important to our character. It “must finish its work so that {we} may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4). The alternative is a personality that may love the Lord when things are going well, a character that is bold and happy on bright days in the Spring, but knows little of steadfastness under duress, of contentment when physical comforts are withdrawn, of quiet confidence in the living God when faced with persecution, of stability in the midst of a frenetic pace or a assive disappointment. In other words, in a fallen world perseverance contributes maturity and stability to our character — and trials build perseverance.

We certainly want to know that "quiet confidence in the living God." It seems like that only comes through trials.

Today my reading was in 1 Chronicles 16. I was moved by these words from David's song of thanks (on the day before Thanksgiving):

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! (verse 11)

We know something of what it means to seek his presence continually. Another:

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. (verses 25-26)

Keeping our attention and awe on the LORD is the only way to think straight in times like these.

Comfort in Suffering

You walk in the hospital room and find the family in tears. You know their situation. The pain and suffering are great. What can you say--what will you say--to try to comfort them?

I found out first-hand last week that the only real comfort comes in acknowledging God's sovereignty in suffering. By this I mean coming to terms with the truth that God does not merely permit suffering but that he actually designs it.

This does not sound all that comforting at first. But what other answer can we give? If God is merely allowing suffering, we might wonder how sovereign he really is when it comes to agents of suffering like sin and Satan. Or, we will question his character, asking ourselves what kind of a God he really is. What point is he trying to make in allowing us to suffer? I have found little comfort in pondering the answer to that question.

But Paul said that his physical suffering ("a thorn in the flesh") was given to prevent him from exalting himself (2 Corinthians 12:7). That does not sound like a reason why Satan would induce suffering. Rather, God had graciously done this for Paul, so that rather than boasting in himself he would boast in Christ: "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Do you see that? Paul would rather suffer if it would allow him to exalt in Christ. So in designing suffering, God has graciously helped us to desire him more than the fading pleasures of this life. Now that is an act of love by a loving God.

And that has been bringing me and my family comfort ever since we heard the news in the hospital room.