Hated for Telling the Truth

[Christsfreeservant]

John 7:1-9 ESV

“After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.’ After saying this, he remained in Galilee.”​

Now I am going to begin here by stating that Jesus taught us that if we are his disciples, and if we follow him with our lives, that we will be hated and rejected and mistreated as he was. But we are blessed who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for ours is the kingdom of heaven. And we are blessed when others revile us and persecute us and utter all kinds of evil against us falsely on account of Jesus Christ. So, we are not to be discouraged, and we are not to give up no matter how bad it gets.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:18-21; Jn 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13]

So, as I work my way through this passage of Scripture I am going to be relating a lot of what Jesus went through to what we are called of God to go through, too, if we are his true disciples, and if we are following him with our lives.

So Jesus, at this point, would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. And there may be people who would like to see us dead, too, who would like it if we no longer existed or if we just faded away into nothing. Or maybe they would just like it if we would disappear or if we would back down and stop speaking in the name of Jesus the truths of God’s word. And so it might be best if we let them be and if we don’t go where they are because we know we are not wanted, and we are not welcome.

And this may include us withdrawing ourselves from specific gatherings of what are called “churches” if we are rejected there, and if they have no place for us, and if it is obvious to us that we are not welcome and they have no use for us. Especially since so many gatherings of “the church” in America have been turned into businesses being marketed to the world, and so they have been altered in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world, we who are following Jesus are not going to be welcomed there.

And especially if we are those who are sharing the gospel of Christ in the way in which Jesus and his NT apostles taught it, and so we are also refuting the lies that are being spread about the gospel message, we are not going to be well liked nor well received, and we may even be invited to leave such gatherings.

And even our own family members may reject us and even persecute us and say all manner of evil against us on account of our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. And they may mock us as Jesus’ brothers mocked him, because they did not believe in him. They did not believe that he was the Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel. They did not believe that he was the Savior of the world who was promised, that he had now come. And so to them he appeared as a crazy person, and so they made fun of him. And they tried to goad him into doing what he did not want to do at that time.

But Jesus didn’t let their treatment of him deter him from doing the will of God the Father. Just because they didn’t believe in him, it did not invalidate who he was and is, nor the purpose for why he came to the earth. And just because our family members or others who profess faith in Jesus Christ don’t understand us, and don’t get why we do what we do, and so they may reject us and even mock us, it should not deter us from doing the will of God the Father, either. We shouldn’t allow their opinions of us to shake us and to keep us from obeying the Lord, even if it means our deaths.

For those who are still living according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, who are professing faith in Jesus Christ, but who are still walking in sin, deliberately and habitually sinning against God and other humans, they will not be hated and persecuted for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of their walks of faith and obedience to the Lord. But if we are those who are speaking the truth and who are refuting the lies and who are calling out evil and who are calling for the forsaking of sins and for walks of obedience to the Lord, we will be hated like Jesus was hated.

But we are not to be afraid, but we are to trust the Lord with our lives.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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