CAN YOU TAKE THE HEAT?
John 15.18-16.4
S: Persecution
C: Witness
Th: A People with Purpose
Pr: WE SHOULD BE REALISTIC ABOUT RESPONSES TO OUR FAITH.
?: How? How should we live?
KW: Messages
TS: We will find in our study of John 15.18 – 16.4 three messages from Jesus that will enable us to be realistic about the responses to our faith.
Type: Propositional
The ____ message is about…
I. RIGHT EXPECTATIONS (18-25)
II. SPIRIT-BASED TESTIMONY (26-27)
III. REMEMBERING JESUS (1-4)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
Version: ESV
RMBC 09 April 06 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Fame
A trio of old veterans were bragging about the heroic exploits of their ancestors one afternoon down at the VFW hall.
"My great grandfather, at age 13," one declared proudly, "was a drummer boy at Shiloh."
"Mine," boasted another, "went down with Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn."
"I’m the only soldier in my family," confessed vet number three, "but if my great grandfather was living today he’d be the most famous man in the world."
"Really? What’d he do?" his friends wanted to know.
"Nothing much. But he would be 165 years old."
Well, that would make you famous, wouldn’t it?
So…
Have you ever wished that you were more popular?
I remember those high school days when being popular with someone was pretty important.
Those can be some pretty hard days.
But life goes on and we get through those days but that desire to be popular remains.
You think that’s not true?
When the award for humanitarian of the year is given out isn’t there a part of you that wishes they would call your name as the honoree?
Or when you go to a social event, don’t you wish you were the person everyone wanted to sit next to?
Or wouldn’t it be great sometime to find out that someone was bragging that they were YOUR friend?
Just once wouldn’t you like to be the "expert" the news media came to talk to?
Or wouldn’t you like to be the one being interviewed on the Tonight Show?
We could go on and on.
The point is, that right or wrong, there is a part of us that would like to be "on top."
We’d like to feel the appreciation of our peers.
We’d like to be the envy of others.
We have to admit this fact before we can appreciate what Jesus is saying in our text this morning.
Our Savior addresses the issue of popularity with words we all need to hear.
He not only understands our craving for acceptance and love, He knows we can’t find it in the applause of men.
(Goettsche, modified)
TRANSITION:
It is important for us to note today that…
1. Christians aren’t called to be popular.
It never works out when we give in to striving for it.
Consider these stories…
When Abraham gave in to the social custom of the day and had a child by his wife’s servant instead of waiting on God’s promise, he ended up with a lot of strife at home.
When Aaron didn’t stand up to the Israelite people, and helped them make a golden calf, he was stuck making dumb excuses like the calf just popped out of the melted gold.
Or when Saul wanted to keep his troops happy and offered a sacrifice that he was told specifically not to offer, he essentially lost his kingdom from that day forward.
When we try to do the popular thing, it is not the way to success.
If we want to be successful spiritually, what the world thinks about us cannot be a primary concern.
Even more…
2. WE SHOULD BE REALISTIC ABOUT RESPONSES TO OUR FAITH.
Well, then, this being so, how should we live?
3. We will find in our study of John 15.18 – 16.4 three messages from Jesus that will enable us to be realistic about the responses to our faith.
One of the books that we have been studying time from time is the gospel of John.
We started John in the year 2000, and today we return to it just for today, right where we left off as a preparation for our entering into Holy Week.
The context of John 15 is that Jesus is giving His last words to the disciples before He goes to the cross.
This very night, He will be arrested, put through a mock trial, sentenced to death, and then executed Roman-style, crucified on a cross.
So, here are the messages…
OUR STUDY:
I. The first message is about RIGHT EXPECTATIONS (18-25).
(18) "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (19) 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. (20) Remember the word that I said to you: ’A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (21) But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. (22) If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. (23) Whoever hates me hates my Father also. (24) If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. (25) But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ’They hated me without a cause.’
1. We are hated because the world hates Jesus.
As Christians, we may not like to hear this, but hatred is a given.
We can do everything right, and still be hated.
Why?
Because the world hates Jesus.
We will receive what Jesus has received.
The servant is not greater than the master.
So, we will receive the same rejection.
We will receive the same persecution.
This is a given.
Now, we can spend a lot of time and effort trying to get the world to love us, but it is a wasted effort.
The effort is not only wasted, it is misguided.
In order for people to love us, we have to act like people we are not.
We cannot go there.
For when we came to follow Jesus, our values, our priorities, our goals and our worldview changed.
They all changed.
So, we must expect the hatred, because we refuse to play nice and conform.
The truth is, that…
2. Exposed sin is rarely received well.
ILL Expose: Hughes (369-370)
Once an African chief, in this case a woman, happened to visit a mission station. Hanging outside the missionary’s cabin, on a tree, was little mirror. The chief happened to look into the mirror and saw her reflection, with its hideous paint and evil features. She gazed at her own terrifying countenance and jumped back in horror exclaiming, “Who is that horrible-looking person inside that tree?”
“Oh,” the missionary said, “it’s not in the tree. The glass is reflecting your own face.”
The African would not believe it until she held the mirror in her hand. She said, “I must have the glass. How much will you sell it for?”
“Oh,” the missionary said, “I don’t want to sell it.”
But she begged until he capitulated. She took the mirror. Exclaiming, “I will never have it making faces at me again,” she threw it down and broke it into pieces.
This is exactly what the Jews did with Jesus.
They could not stand to be exposed.
He made them face who they really were – sinners.
He made them responsible for their sin.
We do the same thing.
It is why we hear the cries of narrow-mindedness and intolerance.
Our very lives, when we are true followers of Jesus, expose the sin of others.
And it is not a matter of pointing fingers.
In fact, we don’t need to do that.
We expose sin by living righteously.
We expose sin by living the good life now.
We expose sin by getting heaven into our present world.
Sadly, though…
3. People do not want to be rescued except on their own terms.
The world hates the exclusive claims of Jesus.
They see the name and become angry.
Why?
They don’t want a Savior.
In their pride, they want to be the way.
The way they live is good enough.
If there is any way to be lived, it is to be their own way.
But here is the truth…
Jesus exposes the sin of the world in order to restore it from captivity of sin, but the world hates him for it.
And in turn, many will hate us too.
II. The second message is about SPIRIT-BASED TESTIMONY (26-27).
(26) "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (27) And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1. The Holy Spirit helps us when it comes to the truth.
Jesus explains the Trinity in action at this juncture in His message.
The Helper, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father.
And it is His, the Holy Spirit’s, responsibility to speak about the Son.
He does not do it once, but rather, He is continually doing so.
And He is an example to us.
We too are to bear witness of the Son as well.
We don’t have to be perfect in doing it, but we are to do it.
We don’t have to know everything.
We don’t have to have all the right answers to the tough questions.
But we are to say what we know.
And…
2. We are to keep speaking about what we know in a loving and gracious manner.
We are, in fact, taught a lot of things about how we should speak in such situations.
We are to bless those who persecute us.
We do that by not ever looking for revenge.
Instead, we live the principle of overcoming evil with good.
And we keep telling them the truth.
We keep living the truth.
We don’t do it to annoy them.
We don’t do it annoyingly.
But we do it to bless them, because we know that following Jesus is the best life that can be lived.
It is a good life.
So, lovingly, we go get ‘em for Jesus
But in telling the truth, we do not dilute it.
3. We do not give into easy-believism.
We do not water the good news down.
We do tell about the fatal diagnosis.
The world is lost.
All sin, and sin is hatred toward God.
The world is guilty in its rejection of God.
But we also tell about the miraculous cure.
We know this.
We have been there.
And we are living the opportunity of embracing the cure.
Now, we come to…
III. The third message is about REMEMBERING JESUS (1-4).
(1) "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. (2) They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. (3) And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. (4) But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
Jesus told us these things so that…
1. We are not to be surprised.
Jesus wanted to make sure that the disciples would not be overcome by starry-eyed optimism.
And neither should we.
So, we should not act in horror when we are cast aside in the pubic arena.
We should not be shocked when the Supreme Court prohibits the posting of Ten Commandments (1980), observing moment of silence (1985), and praying at school graduations (1992).
We should not be startled when a liberal college professor will give a lower grade when you stand for Christian beliefs.
We should not be stunned that science wants to live with its assumptions of a godless framework, and push Darwinism, even to the point of making it religious-like in its adaptation.
We should not be taken aback when the entertainment industry marginalizes and ridicules Christianity.
[relate discussion re: Da Vinci Code, or…]
We should be not be astonished when people believe a work of fiction, the Da Vinci Code, is truth.
These are things we should expect.
If we are not experiencing them, it may be an indication that something may be wrong.
But let us also understand that some ridicule we bring on to ourselves.
Christians have been rude.
Some have annoying personalities.
Some act stupidly.
And we make it worse by wrapping our religious clothes around our sin, and blame others for the confusion and conflict we have caused.
Nevertheless, let us understand that…
2. We will be recipients of hostility.
In His description of what to remember, Jesus looks forward to a time when men’s values will be so perverted that a man who kills His followers will think that he is serving God.
(Morris)
Of course, we understand the fulfillment in the text we just studied two weeks ago, as Stephen’s death was presided over by Saul (later to be known as the apostle Paul).
He even describes it for us in Acts 26.9-11…
(9) "I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (10) And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. (11) And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
Every disciple faced persecution.
Tradition tells us that all the disciples, except for John, met with a horrifying death: run threw with swords, beheaded, skinned alive, dipped in boiling oil, crucified.
So we must understand…
Persecution is the way of the world.
Remember 1999, the killing of Christian students at Columbine High School in a Denver suburb (right down the street from the seminary where I study) and then shortly after that, in the same year at Wedgewood Baptist in Fort Worth.
But there is much more…
Christians suffered horribly under communism.
In China, cooperate with the government or be labeled as a cult.
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, you will be arrested according to their anti-blasphemy laws if you speak against the prophet Mohammed.
Hindu extremists are killing Christians in India.
For decades now, rape, genocide and slavery has been happening to Christians in Sudan, and now it is spreading to Ethiopia.
In Nigeria, Christians and Muslims have been in consistent conflict.
To be a Christian in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Vietnam, or North Korea is at the risk of your own life.
But note this…
If we are persecuted for righteousness sake, we have good company.
We are with Jesus.
We are with the company of martyrs who have stood for Christ, starting with Stephen.
So, how about you?
Can you take the heat?
APPLICATION:
ILL Eternity
Pastor and freelance writer Mark Buchanan tells about a conversation he had with a young philosophy student who was a healthy, good-looking man in his early twenties. Mark had officiated a wedding on a gorgeous day on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, and at the reception the student asked Mark if he really believed all that religious stuff he had spouted at the church.
Mark writes… I said I did. He smirked. I asked him what he believed. "I tried your religion for a while," he said. "I found it’s just a burden to carry. You know what I’ve figured out? Life justifies living. Life is its own reward and explanation. I don’t need some pie-in-the-sky mirage to keep me going. This life has enough pleasure and mystery and adventure in it not to need anything else to account for it. Life justifies living."
"Good," I said. "Very good. And I believe you. Today, here, now—feel the warmth of that breeze, listen to the laughter of those people, smell the spiciness of that shrimp cooking, look at the blueness of the sky. Yes, today I believe you. What a superb philosophy. Life justifies living. Bravo!
"Only, I’m thinking about someone I met last February. Richard. Richard was 44, looked 60, and had been living on the streets since he was 12. He was a junkie. To support his habit, he was a male prostitute until he got too old and ugly and diseased for that. Now he has AIDS.
"The last time I saw Richard was on a gray, rainy day in winter. I bought him a bus ticket and put him on the bus. He was going to his mother’s home in Calgary. He hadn’t spoken with her in almost 15 years, but he was hoping he could go home to die. Almost incoherent, he sputtered, ’I wish I’d never been born. My whole life has been a mistake. My whole life has been misery.’
"I’m thinking about Richard. And I’m thinking about Ernie. Ernie was a man on the rise. While he was in his twenties, he was already vice president of a thriving national business. He was tough-minded, hard-driving, prodigiously skilled, hugely ambitious. He was a superb athlete, a natural at any sport. He had a beautiful wife. They were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted four, three from Africa and one from Mexico. On the day the fourth adoption became final, Ernie got the results back from some medical tests he had undergone to account for some dizziness, blurring of eyesight, and tingling in his hands. The tests came back with stunning news: Ernie had multiple sclerosis.
"Yes, I’m thinking about Richard and Ernie. And I have a question about your philosophy: How exactly do I explain to them that life justifies living?"
The young philosophy student had no response. He said he’d have to think about it and get back to me. I gave him my address and asked him to write me when he came up with something. I never heard from him. Because life does not justify living. Eternity does.
Used by permission of Multnomah Publishers Inc. Excerpt may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Multnomah Publishers Inc. Submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky
Mark Buchanan, "Is Life Its Own Reward?" Discipleship Journal (July/August 2003); adapted from Things Unseen (Multnomah, 2002).
Let us understand this…
1. We are not after the applause of men.
The world cannot supply what we are looking for.
They cannot give us acceptance and love.
Instead, the path for the Christian is much different, and perhaps more difficult, and definitely ironic.
It is the path of the cross.
The old songwriter got it perfectly…
ILL The Old Rugged Cross
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
You see, we are not after the applause of men.
2. We are after “well done.”
So we keep living the truth.
We keep speaking the truth about God’s love that is ever reaching out to a people that hate Him.
But we do not give up.
We are faithful, because we are after something eternal, way beyond the value of the applause of men.
We are after the eternal “well done, good and faithful servant.”
ILL Heaven
Hear how Max Lucado describes the scene…
You’ll be home soon. You may not have noticed it, but you are closer to home than ever before. Each moment is a step taken. Each breath is a page turned. Each day is a mile marked, a mountain climbed. You are closer to home than you’ve ever been.
Before you know it, your appointed arrival time will come; you’ll descend the ramp and enter the City. You’ll see faces that are waiting for you. You’ll hear your name spoken by those who love you. And, maybe, just maybe - in the back, behind the crowds - the One who would rather die than live without you will remove his pierced hands from his heavenly robe . . . and applaud.
[THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN p.190]
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Don’t be surprised…don’t be shocked when opposition comes your way, it is natural; instead, be determined to be faithful regardless of what the response is to the truth.
Don’t shy away from being a witness…we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit who helps us to speak the truth, even in the most difficult of circumstances.
Don’t run after the applause of men…don’t chase after popularity; instead pursue the eternal, for this is where true joy exists.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
RESOURCES:
Files:
Belz, Mindy. “Remember the Suffering Saints” World, September 21, 1996, 20-21.
Klein, William W. “Bless Your Persecutors” Moody, May/June 2000, 33-40.
Mathewes-Green, Frederica. “Could We Survive Persecution?” Christianity Today, March 1, 1999, 68.
Taylor, Jeff. “Are We Persecuted?” Moody, May/June 2000, 15.
SermonCentral:
Goettsche, Bruce How to Be Popular
Grant, Scott Understanding Hatred
Miller, Jim We Don’t Belong to the World
Tow, Richard Can You Take the Heat?
Hendricksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976.
Hughes, R. Kent. John: That You May Believe Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977.
