City Life Starter

The Word

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.

Exegesis

Jesus wanted to remind the disciples that when they are hated for His name, that they are to look at Him and remember that He was persecuted first. I think this bears significant value for any Christian struggling through persecution. If you really think about it, we are hated for imitating Christ and sometimes justly so as we sin and make mistakes in our life. How often do we need to repent from selfish actions as the Holy Spirit guides us into our need for Jesus?

Then, when you look at Jesus’ life, you see someone who never made mistakes, but who lived the most holy life (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus, being fully God and fully man, never missed the mark. Though, His life of serving others and caring for the needy brought about hatred from those in power. These people had something to lose and felt threatened by Jesus and eventually killed him for this. They did not want to give up their authority and surrender humbly to God.

In our lives, we will come into trials of many kinds. Satan blocks our ability to reach others or we may be greatly persecuted for our faith. When this happens, we are to look at the Cross and be reminded of Jesus’ death for our sins. That if God Himself suffered to set us free, how much more are we to suffer for others to set them free. We are never alone in our sufferings and the Holy Spirit is with us through it all.

We are no longer of this world as we live to bring others into repentance, to stand up for justice, and to love those who have nothing. The world hates this because that’s not how the world works. Yet, we serve a God who will bring everyone to justice and who watches over us. Our Master is greater than that of the world. This is where we put our hope.

Application

This past week I finished reading, Hearts of Fire: Eight Women in the Underground Church and Their Stories of Costly Faith. A book of eight different women who sacrificed everything including worldly comforts in order to choose to live a life for God and to reach others. Each story was a reminder of the sacrifices that were suffered for the sake of Christ and how this decision led to persecutions. They refused to let go of their faith in God through it all.

I look at these women and realize that they are like the modern day Paul’s. I do not feel like I am even worthy to be considered a Christian when hearing their stories.

Persecution can come in many forms, the question is, are you willing to suffer persecution for the sake of Jesus? Are you willing to stand up and defend your faith against all odds? We serve a God who did it for you and I, who was hated first.