Message: ‘Do You Have What It Takes?’                                                                                         Text: John 15:18-16:4

Introduction: Three old veterans were bragging about the heroic exploits of their ancestors one afternoon 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 still 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? (Paul Decker)

Have you ever wished that you were famous…at least more popular? Yes, you wanted to be popular in High School, but that desire for recognition didn’t end when you graduated, did it?
    •    Have you ever wished you would get that prestigious award at work?
    •    When at a social event, have you ever wished you were the person everyone wanted to sit with?
    •    Have you ever done something you knew was wrong just to be accepted, to be popular, to be liked?
    •    Have you ever purchased something just because you thought you would be the envy of others and liked by them?

Point is, we like to feel appreciated, we like to be liked. Sometimes we will do what we know we shouldn’t do just to be more popular and liked by others.  This is important to acknowledge if we’re going to truly appreciate what Jesus is about to say in our text this morning. Jesus knows our craving to be popular, to be liked and he knows we won’t find it anyplace but in relationship with him…no matter how hard we may look elsewhere.

O how I wish I could tell you that if you believe in Jesus and follow him, you’ll be popular and well liked by everyone. But this would be far from the truth…as we’ll soon see.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 15:18 (pg. 824 in the Bible under the chair in front of you). Here Jesus will tell us the truth about our relationship with the world and ask ‘Do you have what it takes to successfully and faithfully navigate the Christian life, to make the Christian life work for you?’

1. Love-Hate relationship    John 15:18-20
Read: John 15:18-20

As a Christian you might not want to hear this…or believe it, but the world hates you…that’s a given. You can do everything right,
    •    help little old ladies across the street,
    •    give money to popular charities
    •    keep your home and grounds impeccable,
    •    even be nice to everyone

…and still be hated. Why? Because of your relationship with Jesus Christ. Specifically two things…they will hate you because of what you believe and how you live. Let me explain.

What you believe
Every Christian shares a common foundational belief: I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God’ Wouldn’t you agree? Let me tell you why the world hates you because of this one common belief.
    •    You have declared all other world religions to be wrong. because along with the Apostle Peter you have said this about Jesus: ‘Salvation is found in no one
          else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)
    •    When you said I believe Jesus is the Son of God you declared that you are not an atheist who believes there is no God or an agnostic who doesn’t know
         if there is a God.
    •    When you said I believe Jesus is the son of the living God you declared that you do not worship idols, your dead ancestors or nature.
    •    When you said I believe Jesus is the Christ you declared that you are not an unbelieving Jew or a follower of Islam who thinks Jesus is only one of
          God’s many witnesses.
    •    When you said I believe in Jesus you declared you have placed your faith, your trust, your life in him, not in Buddha, or Mohammed or anyone else.
    •    When you said I believe you declared your trust in the Bible because faith in Jesus is the direct result of the Word of God impacting your life.
    •    When you made this confession of faith in Jesus Christ, you drew a line in the sand. You declared that everyone outside of faith in Jesus Christ was
           wrong and will be condemned to an eternal death in Hell.
                                                                                                                            (Jeff Strite)

People won’t like that, no matter how nicely you say it. You’ll be hated because of what you believe.

How you live
The world will hate you because
    •    you no longer play by their rules
    •    you are no longer one of the crowd
    •    your goals in life are different
    •    your values in life are different
    •    what’s important in life to you is different

That’s what ‘being in the world, but not part of the world’ means. And people notice. Generally people often reject and dislike what’s different. If you’re different, you’ll be disliked.

In fact, you’ll be asked to shut up, back off and keep to yourself. First you’ll  be asked and then you’ll be told to compromise your faith. The temptation will be to shut up and deny your faith by your silence, because you won’t want to offend anyone. Don’t do it! Don’t give in! Because as Jesus will tell us, it’s not really you they hate…it’s him.

2. It’s not you, really!        John 15:21-25
Read: John 15:21-25

Jesus gives us a few reasons the world will hate us because they hate him.

We will be hated by the world because of Jesus’ name
    •    The world hates the exclusive claims Jesus made. Like ‘I am the Way , the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by me.’ (Jn 14:6)
    •    They don’t mind a Savior. What they don’t want is a Lord because they want to live their life as they want…on their own terms.  And they want more
          options for the hereafter. Jesus alone isn’t enough choice for them.

We will be hated by the world because the world does not know God
    •    Let me ask. Do you know who I am referring to when I say ‘The World’? People…all people who have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ as the only
          way to receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life in heaven.
    •    The world, people do foolish things because they don’t know God. We shouldn’t expect non Christians to act like Christians We shouldn’t be surprised
         when non Christians act like non Christians…it’s who they are, it’s what they do…because they don’t know God. If they knew God they wouldn’t hate
         Jesus and they wouldn’t hate you.

We will be hated by the world because Jesus reveals their sin
    •    When we abide in Christ, remember from a few weeks ago, our lives will reveal sin in the world. We don’t have to point fingers, we expose sin in others
          by living rightly before God. That’s one of the reasons the world wants us to play their game, so they won’t be reminded of their sin by our lives.
    •    Listen to 2 Cor. 2:14-16a ‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance
         of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the
         smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.’
    •    I like to smell good, I usually put on a bit too much cologne, or so I am politely told. But have you thought about the fact that we smell good to those who
        are Christians and we smell really bad, like death, to those who are not saved? Because their sin is revealed by Jesus, often through our right living.

With all this said, understand that every reason the world can and does give for hating Jesus is wholly underserved. His motives are pure, he only wants their highest good, his miracles are life giving and affirming, his words are always true. The world hates Jesus without just cause.

Transition: Jesus gives the bad news but he says hold on, help is on the way.

3. Help is on the way!    John 15:26-27
Read: John 15:26-27

Jesus will send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to help us deal with the hatred and persecution that’s coming. How, by setting the example of being a faithful witness of Jesus Christ, even in the hatred and through the persecution.

The word ‘counselor’ means ‘one who comes alongside to help, to offer comfort, advice, strength and instruction. Isn’t that exactly what these disciples would need when the hatred and persecution begins? Isn’t that what we need?

Jesus is telling us something very important here. He is saying that even in the midst of hatred and persecution, they and you must not retreat. You must abide in Christ and proclaim him to the world that hates him and you.

Like the Holy Spirit, Jesus is calling you to be a faithful witness. And you can be when you depend upon the Holy Spirit.

Transition: Remember last week I said that friends tell each other stuff, important stuff. Jesus is telling his friends, then and now, very important stuff so that they’ll be strong when the tough times come, and they are coming.

4. Foresight is better than hindsight. John 16:1-4
Read: John 16:1-4

I can just imagine what the disciples were thinking after Jesus said this?
    •    First you say we’ll not be the most popular people in town.
    •    That people will hate us because of our association with and belief in you.
    •    Then you say they will throw us out of the synagogues, to be cut off from our people.
    •    Now you say that they’re going to kill us and think they are doing God a favor.’
    •    And how is that all this helpful?

Jesus didn’t want to see his friends fall, he didn’t want to see his friends stumble under the pressure that was coming. He wanted them to know ahead of time so they could prepare for the hatred and persecution.

Peter surely remembered what Jesus said.
Read: 1 Peter 4:12ff ‘Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you… if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.’

Conclusion
Let me ask, do you have what it takes to successfully and faithfully navigate the Christian life to make Christianity work in your life when the hatred and persecution comes?

I am not asking if you have the strength, or the determination or the intestinal fortitude to stick it out when you are hated or persecuted for being a Christian. I am asking if you have what …or more correctly, who it takes to make it…. Do you have the Holy Spirit living, freely in you? Because it is the only way you can successfully and faithfully navigate the Christian life in the midst of hatred and persecution that is coming.

Perhaps the greatest sins a Christian can make are not those of commission like lying, stealing and adultery. I think it just might be the sins of omission,
    •    not living up to the high calling of God in Jesus Christ,
    •    but instead settling for compromise with the world, by our silence
    •    by watering down of our faith so we don’t offend anyone

Let me close with a challenge from Dr James Merrit a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention.

ILL: We face a secular culture that is becoming increasingly strident and militant in its antiChristian, anti-truth, anti-God mentality and 1 fear the danger of facing this spirit with a lackadaisical heart," "More and more we are being told to sit down, shut up, go along and get along, be inclusive, be tolerant, be nice and be quiet," Merritt said. "More and more I see pastors, churches and denominations crumbling before this onslaught of humanistic, political correctness.

With love in our hearts, tears in our eyes, but resolve in our souls, we are not going to march under the white flag of compromise. We’re going to march under the bloodstained banner of the cross of Jesus Christ. Flying the flag of biblical truth higher than we have flown it before, we will never give out, never give up and never give in when it comes to standing up for the truth of the Word of God. (Larry Thompson)

That’s my prayer for each one of us as well.