Most people want to be liked. Yes, there are some people who literally couldn’t care less about what people think about them. Most people, however, want people to think well of them and at the very least treat them with kindness and respect. As part of His last moments of instruction to His disciples, Jesus prepares them for the rejection they will soon face for being His followers. Jesus does not want them to stumble because of this, but He wants them to remember that He loves them and that “My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (15:11). Let us consider John 15:9-16:4. In this section we have good news and bad news. Personally, I prefer to hear the bad news first, so that is where we will begin.
The Bad News: The World Hates You
Jesus prepares His disciples for the world’s hatred. Jesus’ disciples will be hated and persecuted because they are His followers. Jesus’ disciples should expect this persecution. Paul told Timothy, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12). This is the “achilles heel” of much of modern American Christianity. Whether it is the “seeker-sensitive” movement or liberalism, there is a desire to either water down the truths about Jesus and the Bible or to completely explain them away. The goal is not to be faithful to God, but to be accepted by the world. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble” (16:1)
The world hates Jesus’ disciples (15:18-19) because the world hates Jesus and the Father (15:18,24). Jesus said, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecute Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me” (15:20-21). Why does the world hate Jesus? He said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin” (15:22). This doesn’t mean that they are sinless before Jesus’ ministry, but that they have rejected the light of Christ and prefer darkness. Earlier Jesus said in John 3:17-20:
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
Jesus continued, “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father” (15:24). Jesus convicts them of sin and calls them to turn to God to receive forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus specifically warned His early disciples: “they will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” (16:2). This principle applies to all disciples as we will suffer persecution from the world. Later in John, Jesus would remind His disciples that “in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The world hates you because you belong to Jesus.
The Good News: God Loves You
Jesus reminds His disciples that they are loved by God. Jesus’ disciples are loved because they are united to Christ by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9) and have been adopted into God’s family (Rom 8:15). Being loved, they should delight themselves in the Lord; obeying His commands and enduring hardship. His most important commands are to love God and love one another (Matt 22:36-40). This includes loving those who persecute you (Matt 5:43-44). Our model for love is Jesus. He said, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (15:9). There is a connection between love and obedience. You cannot love God and reject His commands. Jesus said “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (15:10; Eph 2:8-10).
Jesus continues, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (15:11). God wants us to rejoice. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16, we are told to “rejoice always” and in Philippians 4:4 we are told to “rejoice in the Lord always.” What if we don’t feel like rejoicing? Consider Psalm 118:24: “This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Notice that the call to rejoice is not based upon what the day brings, but on the One who brings the day. Jesus gives us joy, let us cultivate it in our lives. The world hates you because you are loved by God. Jesus allows us to rejoice because our joy comes from Him (Neh 8:10).
God loves us and demonstrates His love in Jesus. Jesus said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (15:12). How do we love like Christ? He explains, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (15:13). Jesus is our model for love in that He died for us and He calls us friends (15:14-15). He said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another” (15:16-17).
Jesus wants His disciples to be prepared for the rejection they will soon face for being His followers. The world will persecute you because they neither love Jesus nor the Father. He assures them of His love for them and does not want them to stumble. He wants His disciples to abide in Him. Jesus wants His followers to trust and obey. He also promises His disciples that they will receive another Helper (Holy Spirit). The Holy Spirit will come and testify of Jesus (15:26). We will discuss more about the role and work of the Holy Spirit next week.
Take time this week to examine your life. It is understandable that you want to be liked and to avoid conflict, but Christians must accept that the world will hate us and reject us. We must accept our prophetic role as ambassadors for Christ as we call them to repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, the world will hate you, but God loves you and has adopted you into his family. Let us be strong and courageous as we shine as lights in the midst of a wicked world.
First Baptist Scott City, MO 
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