Hate
I Peter 3:13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?
Every time the Bible asks a question, there is something to pay attention to! I used to brush over these seemingly small questions as rhetorical...there for poetry. God' s word, as beautiful as it is, wastes not one word. Sometimes the painful truth of following Jesus highlights the smallest thing, or the glorious revelation of His plan illuminates another. There is a very clear answer to the question the Holy Spirit posed through Peter:
John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
Jesus promised: some will take in your testimony, and some will hate you for it, just like Him!
But this is the hard part: sometimes the reviling words come from those closest to me. Family can hurt the most, because family is the closest. Pretending this reality will never manifest in MY local Body of believers isn't helpful. Knowing it will happen, and then knowing what to do about it is what will defeat satan every time.
So, who was it that led the way for the hating of Jesus? The very ones that claimed to represent God to the people. Those in charge of the synagogues:
John 16:2-3 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.
So, the question naturally becomes: was Jesus against the synagogues? Did he abandon the Jewish people...God's people... because they rejected Him? No! In fact, Jesus instructed the disciples to keep going to the Temple!
Acts 2:46-47 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
When the Christian Church turns on you, is it license to abandon it and still be right with God? No! It is not!
Jesus prayed for forgiveness for those in and out of God's family...He prayed for the very religious leaders, and unbelieving Romans, who killed Him. He offered instant reconciliation to anyone who wanted it. Even the thief to His right was a candidate for instant reconciliation.
The truth is, if you are going to really follow Jesus, at some point you are going to have to deal with reviling from within, and without, the very Bride Jesus loves. The world hates truth, and right now all of us in the Bride still have some world in us. If you don't find yourself engaged in this struggle between truth and the world in at least some small degree, then you are likely not standing on the truth and "letting your light shine."
Following Jesus, the way Jesus described it, is radically different from what the world is doing. Following Jesus is an all-in zealous pursuit that forces a confrontation with truth from the inside out. This confrontation is designed into the experience of following God. It starts first in my own heart, then in my family, then the Church, then the world. God designed redemption to be this way...on purpose! The struggle is evidence that Jesus' plan is actually working to birth life from death!
Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Who killed the prophets? The very people...the people of God...the prophets were sent to instruct and shepherd! Unbelievers don't mind prophets, because they don't care about their words. Other believers are the ones most offended by true prophets and easily enticed by false prophets. But God still sent the prophets...for love. Jesus loves the Church and if I love Jesus, I must love the Church, too.
The bride right this second is a little wrinkly, spotted, compromised, loveless, dead in some areas, trying to be faithful, and in some places under intense persecution. A big part of the Church thinks it has all it needs to walk into revival, not fully realizing the revival that is coming requires a seven-fold overcoming of the worst time the planet has ever seen. A lot of the Bride doesn't realize it is poor blind wretched and naked and needs to get serious about being refined before the trouble is even more evident than it is right now:
Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Jesus has a brilliant plan to produce a spot free and wrinkle free Bride. That plan involves her overcoming the events described between the invitation to overcome in Revelation 2 and 3, and the moment she has overcome in Revelation 19. In between Revelation 3 and Revelation 19 is the Great Tribulation. Tribulation is good for believers, that means the Great Tribulation is great for the Bride!
Romans 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The perseverance, character, and hope brought to the surface through enduring tribulation produce endurance for the Great Tribulation...it produces longsuffering that will root out the division within the Bride. God doesn't want the Bride spending less time with each other, He wants her spending more time with each other, and out of the overflow of that bond of love, the Church will expand. The Bride will bring in the harvest as God pours out His power on the united praying Church. This is revival that brings in the harvest:
Acts 5:12-16 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
For this reality to mature, I need to see that a fixed gaze on Jesus...to know Him and to share His suffering...to be longsuffering with the very people that revile me...is what will draw me, and every other member of the Bride, closer to Him, and thus closer to each other. Picture a wheel with every person following a spoke to the center. If the Bride is scattered about in understanding and doctrine, but circling Jesus at the center...the hub of the wheel...as we all draw closer to Him, we naturally draw closer to each other. This requires not letting offense entice me to quit and leave the circle altogether. A fixed gaze on Jesus and a heart set to share in His same suffering of being reviled by the ones God loves, is the only way to unity. If you don't quit, you win.
In the end, every deed and word will be shown for what it really was. Suffering a little now is worth it for the Lord to get His united family. Keeping my gaze fixed on Jesus will short circuit the enemy's plan to divide and conquer the Bride. Don't worry, Jesus is for 100% justice. That means every private conversation against you and every public reviling directed at you, will be made plain to all at some point, just like it was for Jesus! If I act like Jesus while it is happening, then whatever Jesus is accused of or honored for, I will share in, too!
I Peter 3:14-16 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
Every time the Bible asks a question, there is something to pay attention to! I used to brush over these seemingly small questions as rhetorical...there for poetry. God' s word, as beautiful as it is, wastes not one word. Sometimes the painful truth of following Jesus highlights the smallest thing, or the glorious revelation of His plan illuminates another. There is a very clear answer to the question the Holy Spirit posed through Peter:
John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
Jesus promised: some will take in your testimony, and some will hate you for it, just like Him!
But this is the hard part: sometimes the reviling words come from those closest to me. Family can hurt the most, because family is the closest. Pretending this reality will never manifest in MY local Body of believers isn't helpful. Knowing it will happen, and then knowing what to do about it is what will defeat satan every time.
So, who was it that led the way for the hating of Jesus? The very ones that claimed to represent God to the people. Those in charge of the synagogues:
John 16:2-3 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.
So, the question naturally becomes: was Jesus against the synagogues? Did he abandon the Jewish people...God's people... because they rejected Him? No! In fact, Jesus instructed the disciples to keep going to the Temple!
Acts 2:46-47 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
When the Christian Church turns on you, is it license to abandon it and still be right with God? No! It is not!
Jesus prayed for forgiveness for those in and out of God's family...He prayed for the very religious leaders, and unbelieving Romans, who killed Him. He offered instant reconciliation to anyone who wanted it. Even the thief to His right was a candidate for instant reconciliation.
The truth is, if you are going to really follow Jesus, at some point you are going to have to deal with reviling from within, and without, the very Bride Jesus loves. The world hates truth, and right now all of us in the Bride still have some world in us. If you don't find yourself engaged in this struggle between truth and the world in at least some small degree, then you are likely not standing on the truth and "letting your light shine."
Following Jesus, the way Jesus described it, is radically different from what the world is doing. Following Jesus is an all-in zealous pursuit that forces a confrontation with truth from the inside out. This confrontation is designed into the experience of following God. It starts first in my own heart, then in my family, then the Church, then the world. God designed redemption to be this way...on purpose! The struggle is evidence that Jesus' plan is actually working to birth life from death!
Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Who killed the prophets? The very people...the people of God...the prophets were sent to instruct and shepherd! Unbelievers don't mind prophets, because they don't care about their words. Other believers are the ones most offended by true prophets and easily enticed by false prophets. But God still sent the prophets...for love. Jesus loves the Church and if I love Jesus, I must love the Church, too.
The bride right this second is a little wrinkly, spotted, compromised, loveless, dead in some areas, trying to be faithful, and in some places under intense persecution. A big part of the Church thinks it has all it needs to walk into revival, not fully realizing the revival that is coming requires a seven-fold overcoming of the worst time the planet has ever seen. A lot of the Bride doesn't realize it is poor blind wretched and naked and needs to get serious about being refined before the trouble is even more evident than it is right now:
Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Jesus has a brilliant plan to produce a spot free and wrinkle free Bride. That plan involves her overcoming the events described between the invitation to overcome in Revelation 2 and 3, and the moment she has overcome in Revelation 19. In between Revelation 3 and Revelation 19 is the Great Tribulation. Tribulation is good for believers, that means the Great Tribulation is great for the Bride!
Romans 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The perseverance, character, and hope brought to the surface through enduring tribulation produce endurance for the Great Tribulation...it produces longsuffering that will root out the division within the Bride. God doesn't want the Bride spending less time with each other, He wants her spending more time with each other, and out of the overflow of that bond of love, the Church will expand. The Bride will bring in the harvest as God pours out His power on the united praying Church. This is revival that brings in the harvest:
Acts 5:12-16 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
For this reality to mature, I need to see that a fixed gaze on Jesus...to know Him and to share His suffering...to be longsuffering with the very people that revile me...is what will draw me, and every other member of the Bride, closer to Him, and thus closer to each other. Picture a wheel with every person following a spoke to the center. If the Bride is scattered about in understanding and doctrine, but circling Jesus at the center...the hub of the wheel...as we all draw closer to Him, we naturally draw closer to each other. This requires not letting offense entice me to quit and leave the circle altogether. A fixed gaze on Jesus and a heart set to share in His same suffering of being reviled by the ones God loves, is the only way to unity. If you don't quit, you win.
In the end, every deed and word will be shown for what it really was. Suffering a little now is worth it for the Lord to get His united family. Keeping my gaze fixed on Jesus will short circuit the enemy's plan to divide and conquer the Bride. Don't worry, Jesus is for 100% justice. That means every private conversation against you and every public reviling directed at you, will be made plain to all at some point, just like it was for Jesus! If I act like Jesus while it is happening, then whatever Jesus is accused of or honored for, I will share in, too!
I Peter 3:14-16 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
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