Hated for Christ

John 15:18- "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you".

We are told in verse 19: "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."

Here we are told why the world hates us. It is because we are not "of the world" and if we were of the world, the "world would love its own".

Being believers in Christ means that we are united with Him. In fact, we are told in Colossians 3 that we are "raised up" with Christ.

We are told in John 1:10-11: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him".

Even though the world, was made by Christ according to Colossians 1:16 and John 1:3, the creation rejected the Creator. The sad fact is that at one point in all of our lives, we all rejected the Creator. This is of course because nobody is "born" a Christian, but a Christian must be "born again" (John 3:3).

So why does the world hate us? Why does the world hate Christ? In John 14:6, Jesus is called "the Truth" and in John 1:5-9, He is called "the Light". Also, John 8:12 says: "Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life'".

So who doesn't want truth and who doesn't want to walk in "light"? The answer is found in John 3:19-20: "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil."

That is why the unregenerate reject Christ and oppose Him and by so doing reject and oppose truth and cling to thier sin. Friends, this is the same reason that kept us from Christ for a time: we too loved our sin and did not want to come into the light.

But why is that? Why do men fear coming into the light? Verse 20 goes on to tell us: "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

This is why the world hates us. This is why before being born of the Spirit, we hated the light also. It is because the light exposes man's wickedness and depravity. But as 1 Peter 2:9-10 says of believers: "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY".

Now, we come to the light because God has placed us in His marvelous light where we are reconciled to God as Colossians 1:21-22 says: "And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach."

So the next time you are hated for righteousness sake, remember Matthew 5:11-12: "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you".

It's not you that they hate, but the light that exposes their sin, which the bright spotlight of Sacred scripture exposes!