God’s Mission
John 15:18-16:4
The World Hates the Disciples
A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
~ Jesus,
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
The Work of the Holy Spirit
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you,
Pondering Point
Jesus was known to go off alone at times to be in prayer or spend time with his Father, but in general he was invested in people and committed to working with people. He had intimate-level partners in Peter, James, and John. He had heavily committed partners in the others apostles, all who gave their lives to the cause (See Matthew 10). He had financial partners who made sure that his needs were met (see Luke 8).
We should invest in people and partnerships as well. While we are to enjoy partnerships in the church, we should also expect to face rejection too – from those outside the church and maybe more so from those inside it. Don’t let such knowledge discourage you, but rather steel you to stand strong under the Lord Jesus who faced similar circumstances and stayed the course.
Prayer For The Day
Lord Jesus, as the Hebrew writer suggests, I am thinking about You and all of the opposition You experienced from sinful men. Help me to not lose heart in the face of such adversity, but rather to stand strong and let You train me up. Through such struggle, enable me to produce a harvest of peace and righteousness to God’s glory. In Your name I pray. Amen.