The World's Hatred

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world... Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. Anyone who hates me also hates my Father... 

I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. The time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God. This is because they have never known the Father or me.” - Jesus, John 15:18-20, 16:1-3

This is a powerful reminder that Jesus gives to his followers, for the mission they have ahead. And the redemptive work they're going to do is going to elicit a strong reaction from those outside of the movement and in positions of power. Jesus reminds the disciples what is the main thing because when the hate comes, it'll be hard to see straight and keep going.

Let's Talk About Hate

Hate is a powerful motivator. Jesus says if we have hate, we have murdered in our hearts.

This idea of hate's motivational power is sharply illuminated at the culmination of the movie, Furiosa: A Mad Max Sage. Here's what Dementus, the villain, says to Furiosa at the end.

"You fabulous thing. You crawled out of a pitiless grave, deeper than hell. Only one thing that is going to do that for you. Not hope. Hate. No shame in hate. It's one of the greatest forces of nature."

In a ruthless world, there is no hope for redemption but a shameless embrace of hatred.

In the Roman world, Jesus threatened the top worldly powers. The several hundred years that followed would see the Roman Empire turned upside down by the early Christian church. Those in power during these shifting times were in an ongoing existential threat.

The Western world was turned upside down over the two millennia that followed. But through our Western eyes, many have lost sight of what this passage means, particularly in America. Where we have the freedom to worship it's hard to imagine the type of persecution this passage is referencing.

“I have been the type of Christian that convinced myself that people hated Jesus when in reality they hated my toxic theology and the ways I failed to look like him.” - Dante’ Stewart (Stew)

This blindness has led to a distorted form of persecution complex from American Christians.

"Some Christians sacrifice their principles to gain power to advance them. But when that power is gained, they lose all influence. When others fight to get their power back, these Christians say, "The world hates us because of our principles." No, it’s your hypocrisy they hate." - Alan E Godwin

Jesus came to save us, through his crucifixion sacrifice.

Those who reject their need to be saved or reject the idea that someone else sacrificed on their behalf are those who reject the core truth of Christianity.

Those who are threatened by a loss of power, unwilling to let it go, like Pilate, are opposed to the power of God.

These are helpful points of clarity to know if the flack you're getting is because you are Christ-like versus being a hypocrite or an unpleasant person. It's quite easy to leverage our plight as a cover story to continue to operate in darkness and sin.

Persecution by Association

Many Western Christians hide behind claims of persecution as a shield. They assume if they are hated for any reason, it's because they are a Christian, but in reality, perhaps it's because they are, at best, unlike Jesus, or at worst the antithesis of him. 

Megan Phelps-Roper was part of the Westboro Baptist Church which is culturally known as a group that expresses their hatred for people, particularly gays and lesbians and military veterans. They're known for holding signs of hatred towards those they hate at public events and funerals.

Megan eventually escaped this toxic cult and she shares in an online talk about her experience inside the group. Here's what she says about how she perceived the experience at the time of her involvement.

"We actually saw ourselves as living out meaningful values, like courage. These attacks only furthered our feelings that we were being persecuted for telling a hard truth to the world." - Megan Phelps-Roper, The Witch Trials of JK Rowling

Those that embrace a victimhood persecution mindset, cocoon themselves from truth and believe they are ambassadors of it. All the while, they're stewing in the lie.

When facing persecution, let us first ask if we are like our savior. And where we are not, let us ask him to transform that part of us. And once that part of us is dealt with, we can more clearly see what is unfolding and whether or not the criticism or perceived persecution is justified. Remove the log out of our eye before removing the speck out of our neighbor's eye.

Moving Forward in Sacrifice & Loving Our Enemies

It's no surprise that Jesus models how we respond to persecution and the early church too. Taking responsibility and bearing the burden of our cross is the sacrificial way forward.

”Sacrifice is more than the act of giving, it is the forgoing of any claim on reciprocation or result and most often entails an experience of profound loss.” - Jacqueline Feather

The flip side of this victim mentality is to pursue our enemies. Simon Sinek shares about this idea in an interview on his podcast.

"The way Deeyah Khan responded, to being trolled by white supremacists... was to move to the USA and meet white supremacists. She gave white supremacists a safe place to be heard.

She realized that screaming, yelling, and spitting at people isn't the solution. At the point they feel heard, they are willing to listen back. They then struggled to reconcile their racist views with the fact that they trust her and see her as a friend. One by one, they dropped out of the movement.

The lesson Deeyah learned is that the victim often has to go first. The victim should not have to... but how will they see the light if they don't have an experience that helps them see it?

In a relationship, one has to go first. If you have a debate, an argument, or a fight, one has to say, "I'm sorry" even if the other person is wrong. What happens when both parties stand on the sides going you have to go first and I refuse?" - Simon Sinek, Giving a Sh*t with Phoebe Robinson

Inspiring. I also had the opportunity to interview Daryl Davis, a black man who attends and reaches out to KKK members to intervene in their lives, share the truth, and love them well while also providing accountability. Imagine having the courage to reach out and love those who hate you, in the hope of their redemption.

As Christians, this is what God intends to do with us. He wants to fill us with this courage and passion for our enemies, not to destroy them but to joyfully participate in their redemption as part of our redemption transformation. It's an extension of what God has modeled for us. 

“For that reason-we have here a participation in the passion of Christ (1 Pet. 418)- it is all joy and blessedness and grace to be persecuted, not something strange or to be feared. "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps (1 Pet. 221)...

…He loved His enemies, by identifying Himself with them.” - Karl Barth, pp 244, 2. The Judge Judged in Our Place

Test of Faith

“And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.” ‭‭- Revelation‬ ‭12:11‬, ‭NLT‬‬

Persecution is real, and it is also a test of faith; an opportunity to find out what faith we have and how God wants to transform it. For some, we might wonder why there is suffering. Others may wonder why there is a blessing for us sinners and broken people. 

C Kavin Rowe, in his book, Christianity’s Surprise reminds us of the story of which we modern Christians must unlearn. We must let go of our autonomous selves and see our need for the vine of Christ.

“...the story of the autonomous individual says that the ‘I’ is self-sovereign, emerges into the world without any prior obligations that have been placed upon it, and chooses the laws it has for itself. This story requires us to imagine an isolated individual, unconnected by an necessity to anything else at all and able to make for itself the life it chooses to make… Nothing can be force upon the autonomous self from without that it does not agree to from within. ” - C. Kavin Rowe, Christianity’s Suprise

This is not our story.

We’re receiving training not to fear death so that we can live fearlessly. It's our trust in God, and that however things play out, he's got this and, in the end, it'll be the best possible outcome, eternally speaking. This is the antidote to our feeling of powerlessness.

Ideological Killers

“...if I stick to my convictions, before long I will become anti-Christ.” - Oswald Chambers, Biblical Ethics

One of my early and successful ideas and marketing successes came from the “war against Christmas” political rhetoric. I launched a satirical website about elves dying every time someone said Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. I called into radio shows and was interviewed about the issue. It was a fun project but also revealed how little I knew of our Christian heritage and the reality of true religious persecution. 

Christians should be the ones to transform any unfairness as opportunities to share the good news we have received.

This requires transformation; also known as sanctification. 

“Sanctification is not a question of being delivered from hell but of identifying myself with the death of Christ.” - Oswald Chambers, Biblical Ethics

The person of Jesus will purge the hell from us. But our prize is ultimately a relationship with Jesus.

In the starting passage, Jesus warns the disciples of persecution and that the religious leaders of the time will think they're doing God's work when they are doing the opposite.

Depending on where you are at in your journey of faith, it may very well be the corrupt worldly leaders Jesus is warning the disciples about that embody who we are acting like in this season of our life.

"Everyone thinks they are right. The real question is, how self-righteous are you? How condescending are you? How disdainful are you? That's the question. Christians got something that ought to destroy self-righteous that makes us agents of pluralism and civility. It's the idea that we are saved by grace alone, not good works." - Tim Keller

Self-righteousness is a virus that comes for us all.

Let us embrace Christ's work in us over being right or our hard-fought way of life that may become opposed to the savior we've known.