“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23, ESV).
It is difficult to add to this but it is something that has been weighing on me lately.
The Kingdom of God is an upside-down Kingdom in comparison to the kingdom of the world. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27-28, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.”
Compare this to our world, where the wise ridicule what they consider as foolish; where the strong dominate the weak; where the famous are inundated with adoration and the unnotable and unloved are overlooked; where we raise up those who have while reducing those who do not. The Kingdom of God is a complete reversal of this sin-ruled kingdom of the earth. Yet, it seems, we are dominated by the latter.
Jesus: “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).
Is this the way we live? Is this the way we preach? Is this the way we act as the priesthood of believers? Do we operate under/Are we ruled by the auspices of the kingdom that is under futility or that which is eternal? Is man our God or is God our God?
Jesus: "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:4-5).
It is interesting to note that Jesus never sought to be liked. He didn’t run any programs to woo the world to Him. He didn’t seek to become accepted or palatable to the world. No, Jesus preached the Kingdom of God. Jesus preached the Gospel. Jesus preached Himself exclusively. The world and religion killed Him for this.
"But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me" (John 5:42-43).
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 4:3).
We read this. Do we reject it? Most do, I fear. Most hold the false belief that there is something more we can do to win people. There must be something better that we can say. There must be a better program to reach people. There must be something!
Know this, Christian, there isn’t anything more you can do. It is not up to you. For "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven" (Mark 4:12) Indeed, “to this day the LORD has not given [them] a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4), for “God gave them a spirit of stupor” (Romans 11:8).
“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24).
It is not up to you to save anybody. It is up to you to proclaim the Gospel of the grace of God. And be hated for it. The world must hate you for it. Are you willing to be hated? Moses was. Even though He did not fully comprehend what was to come, “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward “(Hebrews 11:26).
Why do we live for the kingdom of the world? Why do we live to be liked and accepted? Why do so many Christians gripe at the hatred we receive? Are we so in love with the world that we want it to love us?
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
Too many of us love men, not God. Too many of us love our image, not God. To many of us love ourselves, not God. In other words, we don’t love.
“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Be hated. For this is the sign of the Gospel. So many ministries and new-age-like pastors seek to be loved at the expense of the Gospel. Many speak of injustice, and the environment, and social inequality; and they do this at the expense of the cross. They deny it by omitting it. They deny its primary purpose for the love and acceptance of their message by the world.
Jesus died because of sin. Creation groans because of sin. The world hates this message because the world loves sin. Religion hates this message because religion loves checklists at the expense of grace.
It is said that the world, even Christians, love Jesus they just don’t like the Church. Really? It is doubtful, then, that they know who Jesus is. Jesus died for the Church, not the world. What do they say to that? They say, "Oh I love the Bridegroom; but the Bride? Not so much." This is not Kingdom talk.
Why are we so scared to be hated? Why do we cry fowl at the objection of the world? Jesus had steel in His spine. Why are our backs supported with spaghetti? American Christianity is wimpy Christianity.
“If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:14).
Jesus came and tore down the dividing wall of hostility between all men (Ephesians 2:14). Yet while tearing down one dividing wall He also became THE eternal dividing wall. For He did “not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
Become all things to all men. But Christ is where we make our stand.
“For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16)
Are we prepared to be hated? Are we prepared to die? Can we live our lives with the spirit of the apostles who after they were beaten and charged not to preach the Name, “left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:41-42)?
Let us then, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).
Stop wanting to be liked. Stop being scared of men. Stop playing to the sympathies of the world. Love the lost. Preach Christ crucified.
Be hated. Be Jesus.
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