Before doing this study, please read the 1-minute introduction, Was Jesus Likable? It explains that people often misunderstand Jesus, thinking He was popular and thinking His followers should also be popular.
The passages below, spoken by Jesus, leave no doubt that genuine Christianity and genuine Christians will never be popular. Why do you think Jesus made this so clear? Why do you think so many people think Jesus was popular?
John 15:18-19, 24-25: If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you...24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'
Luke 21:17: Everyone will hate you because of me.
2. Christ explains why people hate Him.
John 3:19-20: This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
John 17:14: I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
Speaking to His unbelieving brothers, Jesus said:
John 7:7: The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.
John 7:7: The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.
3. This truth is confirmed in the epistles as well:
2 Timothy 3:12: In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted
1 John 3:13: Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
Matthew 5:11-12: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Luke 6:22: Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
We shouldn't go looking for persecution, but neither should we assume we are correctly representing Christ if we never experience it.
Some people are persecuted because of the way they speak truth, and we don't want to be rude or harsh. But we can't use poor examples as an excuse to justify silence. This reminds me of a situation that Dwight L. Moody encountered after one of his revival meetings.
A woman approached him and said, "I don't like how you evangelize."
"And how do you evangelize?" he asked.
"Well, I don't," she answered smugly.
"Well, I like how I evangelize better than how you don't evangelize," Moody responded.
We must ask ourselves: if we're not doing anything to annoy secular people, are we truly representing Christ?
copyright 2015, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com, updated in 2023
Thought-provoking, especially the last sentence. Thank u for this.
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