Jesus was a rebel

JESUS WAS A REBEL
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 15:18 18"If the world hates you, keep in mind
that it hated me first.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The World's Hatred
John 15:18-21
J.R. Thomson
Our Lord enjoined that within the Church there should prevail love
and brotherhood. But at the same time he foretold that from
without Christians should meet with hatred and opposition, enmity
and persecution.
I. EVIDENCES OF THE WORLD'S HATRED OF CHRISTIANS.
1. We are constrained by facts to rank with the world, in this
respect, the adherents of the Jewish system. As his own countrymen
were our Lord's opponents and in truth his real murderers, so were
the Jews the earliest opponents of the Church of Christ. The Book of
the Acts of the Apostles exhibits the hostility of the leaders of Israel
to the society which was called by his Name whose crucifixion they

had brought about. The Jews attempted to silence the first
preachers of Christianity. And this they did under the influence of
hate towards Christ himself. They regarded the new religion - for
such it seemed to them - as subversive of their own, not discerning
that it was the fulfillment of what was Divine in Judaism. And they
hated a doctrine which, by laying stress upon the personal and
spiritual elements in religion, imperiled their own rulers' authority,
and the whole system of form and ceremony with which they were
associated.
2. Our Lord doubtless looked forward to the time when the vessel of
the Church should quit the narrow straits of Judaism, and should
sail out into the open seas of the world, there to encounter fiercer
storms. Then he foresaw the hatred of the world should take a more
formidable, though not a more virulent, shape. In the Roman
empire, Christianity, we know as matter of history, encountered
fierce hostility mainly because of its exacting, exclusive claims,
because of its open hostility to all that savored of idolatry, and
because of its rapid, and (to the heathen) unaccountable progress.
Hence the several persecutions which arose under successive
emperors, verifying the predictions uttered by the Divine Founder
of our faith. Hence the long roll of confessors and martyrs who
sealed their testimony with their blood.
3. But it must not be overlooked that, where persecution is
impossible, hatred often prevails, and manifests its presence and
power in many distressing forms. There are at the present time,
even in the midst of professedly Christian communities, not a few
who are suffering from that hate which our Lord here foretold.
II. EXPLANATIONS OF THE WORLD'S HATRED OF
CHRISTIANS.

1. The world knows not God, and hence hates the Church which is
in possession of this knowledge. Had the world known God, it would
have recognized among Christians the tokens of the Divine presence
and operation.
2. Christians are not of the world. The world loves its own, but hates
that which is out of harmony with it. If Christians do not adopt the
world's spirit and language and habits, this singularity and
nonconformity naturally excites dislike and provokes to ill
treatment.
3. It cannot but be that the world must be rebuked by the presence
of the Church, confronting and reproving it. Whether by a public
protest against the world's sins, or by the silent protest of a pure and
upright life, Christians are bound to a course of action which will
bring down upon them, now and again, the enmity and the anger of
the world.
III. CONSOLATION FOR CHRISTIANS UNDER THE WORLD'S
HATRED. All true comfort comes from that personal relation to the
Lord Jesus upon which such stress is laid in these discourses
recorded by St. John, and which is exhibited as the inspiration not
only of consecrated activity but also of patient endurance.
1. The hatred which besets Christians was first directed against
Christ himself.
2. The servant must expect to follow in his Master's steps, and to
meet with the same treatment.
3. When Jesus says, "For my Name's sake," he presents to us a
motive to patience which is divinely fortifying and persuasive. - T.

Biblical Illustrator
If the world hate you.
John 15:18-25
Kosmos: unregenerate humanity
D. Thomas, D. D.
is here presented.
I. AS GLOWING WITH HATE.
1. It was a hatred of goodness. To hate the mean, the selfish, the
false, the dishonest, and morally dishonourable would be right. But
evil was not the object of their hatred.(1) It was good as embodied in
the life of Christ. "It hated Me before it hated you." How deep,
burning, persistent, and cruelly operative was this enmity from

Bethlehem to Calvary.(2) It was good as reflected in His disciples.
Just so far as they imbibed and reflected the Spirit of Christ were
they hated. "For My name's sake."
2. It was a hatred developed in persecution. It was not a hatred that
slumbered in a passion or that went off even in abusive language, it
prompted the infliction of the greatest cruelties. The history of true
Christians in all ages has been a history of persecution.
3. It was a hatred without a just reason. "Without a cause." Of
course they had a "cause." The doctrines of goodness clashed with
their deep rooted prejudices, its policy with their daily procedure,
its eternal principles flashed on their consciences and exposed their
wickedness. But their "cause" was the very reason why they ought
to have loved Christ. Christ knew and stated the cause of the hatred
(ver. 19).
4. It was a hatred forming a strong reason for brotherly love
amongst the disciples. Christ begins His forewarning them of it by
urging them to love one another (ver. 17). As your enemies outside
of you are strong in their passionate hostility towards you, be you
compactly welded together in mutual love. Unity is strength.
II. AS LOADED WITH RESPONSIBILITY (ver. 22). These words
must, of course, be taken in their comparative sense. Before He
came amongst them the guilt of their nation had been augmenting
for centuries, and they had been, filling up the measure of their
iniquities. But great as was their sin before He came it was trifling
compared to it now since His advent amongst them.
1. Had He not come they would not have known the sin of hating
Him. Hatred towards the best of beings, the incarnation of goodness,
is sin in its most malignant form, it was the culmination of human

depravity. But had they not known Him they could not have hated
Him, the heart is dead to all objects outside the region of knowledge.
2. Had He not come they would not have rejected Him. "He came to
His own and His own received Him not." The rejection of Him
involved the most wicked folly, the most heartless ingratitude, the
most daring impiety. "If they which despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two witnesses," etc.
3. If He had not come they would not have crucified Him. What
crime on the long black catalogue of human wickedness is to be
compared to this?Conclusion:
1. Good men accept the moral hostility of the unregenerate world.
Your great Master taught you to accept it. It is in truth a test of
your character and an evidence of your Christliness.
2. Nominal Christians read your doom.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The world
W. H. Van Doren, D. D.
The children of this world as distinguished from the children of
God. Called the world as indicating number, confederacy, and
spirit. Three characteristics.
I. GOVERNED BY SENSE.
II. LIVING FOR THE PRESENT.
III. RULED BY THE OPINIONS AND CUSTOMS OF MEN.

(W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The world
J. Culross, D. D.
The world of John's day we know, as to its actual condition, from
other sources. Let anyone turn over the pages of Tacitus, Martial, or
Persius, and what he learns will put "colour" into John's outlines:
nay, one dare not say, "turn over their pages," for some of them can
scarcely be read without hurt by the saintliest living. The same
"world" — at heart — we still find in the present century, under
modern conditions. It has grown in wealth. It has become civilized
and refined. Law has become a mightier thing. The glory of science
was never half so radiant. But, looking close in, we still find the old
facts — a dislike of God and love of sin, pride and self-sufficiency, a
godless and selfish use of things men "hating one another,"
selfishness fighting selfishness — an infinite mass of misery. Look
beyond the borders of comfort and respectability, and think of what
exists today round about us. Think of the unblest poverty that is
growing side by side with enormous wealth and luxury, associated in
many cases with vice and crime, crushing the spirit in ways that
comfortable people cannot understand, and frequently aggravated
by the temper in which it is borne, and by added evils which do not
properly belong to it. Think of the ignorance that has grown to such
proportions under the very shadow of our schools and churches.
(J. Culross, D. D.)
Sheep among wolves

A. Maclaren, D. D.
1. These words strike a discord in the midst of sweet music. The
keynote of all that has preceded has been love, and just because it
binds the disciples to Christ in a sacred community, it separates
them from those who do not share in His life, and hence there result
two communities — the Church and the World; and the antagonism
between these is perpetual.
2. Our Lord is here speaking with special reference to the apostles,
who were "sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." If we may
trust tradition, every one of that little company died a martyr's
death, with the exception of John. But there is no more reason for
restricting the force of these words to the hearer,, than there is for
restricting any of the rest of this discourse.
I. WHAT MAKES THIS HOSTILITY INEVITABLE? Our Lord
here prepares His hearers for what is coming by putting it in the
gentle form of an hypothesis. The frequency with which "if" occurs
in this section is rely remarkable, but the tense of the original shows
us that, whilst the form is hypothetical, the substance of it is
prophetic. Jesus points to two things which make this hostility
inevitable.
1. If we share Christ's life, we must necessarily, in some measure,
share His fate (ver. 18). He is the typical example of what the world
thinks of, and does to, goodness. And all who have the spirit of life
which was in Jesus Christ will come under the same influences
which carried Him to the cross. In a world like this it is impossible
for a man to "love righteousness and hate iniquity," and to order his
life accordingly, without treading on somebody's corns.

2. And then (ver. 19), there are two bands, and the fundamental
principles that underlie each are in deadly antagonism. We stand in
diametrical opposition in thought about God, self, duty, life, death,
the future; and that opposition goes right down to the bottom of
things, and, however it may be covered over, there is a gulf, as in
some of those American cations: the towering banks may be very
near — but a yard or two seems to separate them; but they go down
for thousands and thousands of feet, and never get any nearer each
other, and between them at the bottom a black, sullen river flows. If
the world loves you it is because ye are of it.
II. HOW THIS HOSTILITY IS MASKED AND MODIFIED.
1. There are a great many bonds that unite men together besides
religion or its absence. There are the domestic ties, the associations
of commerce and neighbourhood, surface identities of opinion. We
have all the same affections and needs, do the same sort of things. So
there is a film of roofing thrown over the gulf. You can make up a
crack in a wall with plaster after a fashion, and it will hide the
solution of continuity that lies beneath. But, let bad weather come,
and the bricks gape apart as before. And so, as soon as we get down
below the surface of things and come to grapple with real, deep-
lying, and formative principles of a life, we come to antagonism.
2. Then the world has got a dash of Christianity into it. Thus
Christian men and others have, to a large extent, a common code of
morality, as long as you keep on the surface; and do a great many
things from substantially the same motives. And thus the gulf is
partly bridged over; and so the hostility takes another form. We do
not wrap Christians up in pitch and stick them up for candles in the
emperor's garden nowadays, but the same thing can be done in
different ways. Newspaper articles, the light laugh of scorn, the

whoop of exultation over the failures or faults of any prominent man
that has stood out boldly on Christ's side; all these indicate what lies
below the surface, and sometimes not so very far below. Many a
young man in a warehouse, trying to live a godly life, many a
workman, commercial traveller, student, has to find out that there is
a great gulf between him and the man that sits close to him; and that
he cannot be faithful to his Lord and at the same time down to the
depths of his being a friend of one who has no friendship to his
Master.
3. And again the world has a conscience that responds to goodness,
though grumblingly. After all, men do know that it is better and
wiser to be like Christ, and that cannot but modify to some extent
the manifestations of the hostility. But it is there all the same. Let a
man for Christ's sake avow unpopular beliefs, let him boldly seek to
apply Christian principles to the fashionable and popular sins of his
class or of his country, and what a chorus will be yelping at his
heels! The law remains still, if any man will be a friend of the world
he is at enmity wish God.
III. HOW YOU MAY ESCAPE THE HOSTILITY. A half-
Christianized world and a more than half-secularised Church get on
well together. And it is a miserable thing to reflect that about the
average Christianity of this generation there is so very little that
does deserve the antagonism of the world. Why should the world
care to hate a professing Church, large tracts of which are only a bit
of the world under another name? If you want to escape the hostility
drop your flag, button your coat over the badge that shows that you
belong to Christ, and do the thing that the people round about you
do, and you will have a perfectly easy and undisturbed life. Of
course, a Christianity that winks at commercial immoralities is very

welcome on the exchange, a Christianity that lets beer barrels alone
may reckon upon having publicans for its adherents, a Christianity
that blesses flags and sings Te Deums over victories will get its share
of the spoil. If the world can put a hook in the nostrils of leviathan,
and make him play with its maidens, it will substitute good nature,
half contemptuous, for the hostility which our Master here predicts.
Christian men and woman I be you sure that you deserve the
hostility which my text predicts.
IV. HOW TO MEET THIS ANTAGONISM.
1. Reckon it as a sign and test of our true union with Jesus Christ.
Let us count the reproach of Christ as a treasure to be proud of, and
to be guarded.
2. Be sure that it is your goodness, and not your evils or your
weakness, that men dislike. The world has a very keen eye, and it is
a good thing that it has, for the faults of professing Christians. Many
bring down a great deal of deserved hostility upon themselves and of
discredit upon Christianity; and then they comfort themselves and
say they are bearing the reproach of the Cross. Not a bit of it. Be
you careful for this, that it is Christ in you that men turn from, and
not you yourself and your weakness and sin.
3. Meet this antagonism by not dropping your standard one inch. If
you begin to haul it down where are you going to stop? Nowhere,
until you have got it draggling in the mud at your foot. It is no use
trying to conciliate by compromise. All that we shall gain by that
will be indifference and contempt.
4. Meet hostility with unmoved, patient, Christ-like, and Christ-
derived love and sympathy. The patient sunshine pours upon the
glaciers and melts the thick-ribbed ice at last into sweet water. The

patient sunshine beats upon the mist clouds and breaks up its edges
and scatters it at the last. And our Lord here tells us that our
experience, if we are faithful to Him, will be like His experience, in
that some will hearken to our word though others will persecute,
and to some our testimony will come as a message from God that
draws them to the Lord Him. self. The only conqueror of the world
is the love that was in Christ breathed through us. The only way to
overcome the world's hostility is by turning the world into a church.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(18) If the world hate you.—He has spoken of their close union with
Himself, and of their love to each other. He proceeds in the
remainder of the chapter to speak of their relation to the world.
There is a striking contrast between the “love” in the last verse, and
the “hatred” in this. There was the more need for them to be close
bound to each other, and to their Lord, on account of the hatred
which awaited them in the world.
Ye know that it hated me before it hated you.—It is better to take
the first word as an imperative, “Know that it hated . . .” The very
hatred, then, is a bond of union with their Master, and this thought
should supply strength to meet it, and joy even when suffering from
it (John 15:11). (Comp. 1Peter 4:12-13.)

MacLaren's Expositions
John
SHEEP AMONG WOLVES
John 15:18 - John 15:20.
These words strike a discord in the midst of the sweet music to
which we have been listening. The key-note of all that has preceded
has been love-the love of Christ’s friends to one another, and of all
to Him, as an answer to His love to all. That love, which is one,
whether it rise to Him or is diffused on the level of earth, is the
result of that unity of life between the Vine and the branches, of
which our Lord has been speaking such great and wonderful things.
But that unity of life between Christians and Christ has another
consequence than the spread of love. Just because it binds them to
Him in a sacred community, it separates them from those who do
not share in His life, and hence the ‘hate’ of our context is the
shadow of ‘love’; and there result two communities-to use the much-
abused words that designate them-the Church and ‘the World’; and
the antagonism between these is deep, fundamental, and perpetual.
Unquestionably, our Lord is here speaking with special reference to
the Apostles, who, in a very tragic sense, were ‘sent forth as sheep in
the midst of wolves.’ If we may trust tradition, every one of that

little company, Speaker as well as hearers, died a martyr’s death,
with the exception of John himself, who was preserved from it by a
miracle. But, be that as it may, our Lord is here laying down a
universal statement of the permanent condition of things; and there
is no more reason for restricting the force of these words to the
original hearers of them than there is for restricting the force of any
of the rest of this wonderful discourse. ‘The world’ will be in
antagonism to the Church until the world ceases to be a world,
because it obeys the King; and then, and not till then, will it cease to
be hostile to His subjects.
I. What makes this hostility inevitable?
Our Lord here prepares His hearers for what is coming by putting it
in the gentle form of an hypothesis. The frequency with which ‘If’
occurs in this section is very remarkable. He will not startle them by
the bare, naked statement which they, in that hour of depression
and agitation, were so little able to endure, but He puts it in the
shape of a ‘suppose that,’ not because there is any doubt, but in
order to alleviate the pain of the impression which He desires to
make. He says, ‘If the world hates,’ not ‘if the world hate’; and the
tense of the original shows that, whilst the form of the statement is
hypothetical, the substance of it is prophetic.
Jesus points to two things, as you will observe, which make this
hostility inevitable. ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me
before it hated you.’ And again, ‘If ye were of the world, the world

would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.’ The
very language carries with it the implication of necessary and
continual antagonism. For what is ‘the world,’ in this context, but
the aggregate of men, who have no share in the love and life that
flow from Jesus Christ? Necessarily they constitute a unity,
whatever diversities there may be amongst them, and necessarily,
that unity in its banded phalanx is in antagonism, in some measure,
to those who constitute the other unity, which holds by Christ, and
has been drawn by Him from ‘out of the world.’
If we share Christ’s life, we must, necessarily, in some measure,
share His fate. It is the typical example of what the world thinks of,
and does to, goodness. And all who have ‘the Spirit of life which was
in Jesus Christ’ for the animating principle of their lives, will, just in
the measure in which they possess it, come under the same
influences which carried Him to the Cross. In a world like this, it is
impossible for a man to ‘love righteousness and hate iniquity,’ and
to order his life accordingly, without treading on somebody’s corns;
being a rebuke to the opposite course of conduct, either interfering
with men’s self-complacency or with their interests. From the
beginning the blind world has repaid goodness by antagonism and
contempt.
And then our Lord touches another, and yet closely-connected,
cause when He speaks of His selecting the Apostles, and drawing
them out of the world, as a reason for the world’s hostility. There
are two groups, and the fundamental principles that underlie each

are in deadly antagonism. In the measure in which you and I are
Christians we are in direct opposition to all the maxims which rule
the world and make it a world. What we believe to be precious it
regards as of no account. What we believe to be fundamental truth it
passes by as of little importance. Much which we feel to be wrong it
regards as good. Our jewels are its tinsel, and its jewels are our
tinsel. We and it stand in diametrical opposition of thought about
God, about self, about duty, about life, about death, about the
future; and that opposition goes right down to the bottom of things.
However it may be covered over, there is a gulf, as in some of those
American canons: the towering cliffs may be very near-only a yard
or two seems to separate them; but they go down for thousands and
thousands of feet, and never are any nearer each other, and between
them at the bottom a black, sullen river flows. ‘If ye were of the
world, the world would love its own.’ If it loves you, it is because ye
are of it.
II. And so note, secondly, how this hostility is masked and modified.
There are a great many other bonds that unite men together besides
the bonds of religious life or their absence. There are the domestic
ties, there are the associations of commerce and neighbourhood,
there are surface identities of opinion about many important things.
The greater portion of our lives moves on this surface, whore all
men are alike. ‘If you tickle us, do we not laugh; if you wound us, do
we not bleed?’ We have all the same affections and needs, pursue
the same avocations, do the same sort of things, and a large portion
of every one’s life is under the dominion of habit and custom, and

determined by external circumstances. So there is a film of roofing
thrown over the gulf. You can make up a crack in a wall with
plaster after a fashion, and it will hide the solution of continuity that
lies beneath. But let bad weather come, and soon the bricks gape
apart as before. And so, as soon as we get down below the surface of
things and grapple with the real, deep-lying, and formative
principles of a life, we come to antagonism, just as they used to come
to it long ago, though the form of it has become quite different.
Then there are other causes modifying this hostility. The world has
got a dash of Christianity into it since Jesus Christ spoke. We
cannot say that it is half Christianised, but some of the issues and
remoter consequences of Christianity have permeated the general
conscience, and the ethics of the Gospel are largely diffused in such
a land as this. Thus Christian men and others have, to a large
extent, a common code of morality, as long as they keep on the
surface; and they not only do a good many things exactly alike, but
do a great many things from substantially the same motives, and
have the same way of looking at much. Thus the gulf is partly
bridged over; and the hostility takes another form. We do not wrap
Christians in pitch and stick them up for candles in the Emperor’s
garden nowadays, but the same thing can be done in different ways.
Newspaper articles, the light laugh of scorn, the whoop of exultation
over the failures or faults of any prominent man that has stood out
boldly on Christ’s side; all these indicate what lies below the surface,
and sometimes not so very far below. Many a young man in a
Manchester warehouse, trying to live a godly life, many a workman
at his bench, many a commercial traveller in the inn or on the road,
many a student on the college benches, has to find out that there is a

great gulf between him and the man who sits next to him, and that
he cannot be faithful to his Lord, and at the same time, down to the
depths of his being, a friend of one who has no friendship to his
Master.
Still another fact masks the antagonism, and that is, that after all,
the world, meaning thereby the aggregate of godless men, has a
conscience that responds to goodness, though grumblingly and
reluctantly. After all, men do know that it is better to be good, that it
is better and wiser to be like Christ, that it is nobler to live for Him
than for self, and that consciousness cannot but modify to some
extent the manifestations of the hostility, but it is there all the same,
and whosoever will be a Christian after Christ’s pattern will find
out that it is there.
Let a man for Christ’s sake avow unpopular beliefs, let him try
honestly to act out the New Testament, let him boldly seek to apply
Christian principles to the fashionable and popular sins of his class
or of his country, let him in any way be ahead of the conscience of
the majority, and what a chorus will be yelping at his heels! Dear
brethren, the law still remains, ‘If any man will be a friend of the
world he is at enmity with God.’
III. Thirdly, note how you may escape the hostility.

A half-Christianised world and a more than half-secularised Church
get on well together. ‘When they do agree, their agreement is
wonderful.’ And it is a miserable thing to reflect that about the
average Christianity of this generation there is so very little that
does deserve the antagonism of the world. Why should the world
care to hate or trouble itself about a professing Church, large parts
of which are only a bit of the world under another name? There is
no need whatever that there should be any antagonism at all
between a godless world and hosts of professing Christians. If you
want to escape the hostility drop your flag, button your coat over the
badge that shows that you belong to Christ, and do the things that
the people round about you do, and you will have a perfectly easy
and undisturbed life.
Of course, in the bad old slavery days, a Christianity that had not a
word to say about the sin of slave-holding ran no risk of being
tarred and feathered. Of course a Christianity in Manchester that
winks hard at commercial immoralities is very welcome on the
Exchange. Of course a Christianity that lets beer barrels alone may
reckon upon having publicans for its adherents. Of course a
Christianity that blesses flags and sings Te Deums over victories will
get its share of the spoil. Why should the world hate, or persecute,
or do anything but despise a Christianity like that, any more than a
man need to care for a tame tiger that has had its claws pared? If
the world can put a hook in the nostrils of leviathan, and make him
play with its maidens, it will substitute good-nature, half
contemptuous, for the hostility which our Master here predicts. It
was out-and-out Christians that He said the world would hate; the

world likes Christians that are like itself. Christian men and women!
be you sure that you deserve the hostility which my text predicts.
IV. And now, lastly, note how to meet this antagonism.
Reckon it as a sign and test of true union with Jesus Christ. And so,
if ever, by reason of our passing at the call of duty or benevolence
outside the circle of those who sympathise with our faith and
fundamental ideas, we encounter it more manifestly than when we
‘dwell among our own people,’ let us count the ‘reproach of Christ’
as a treasure to be proud of, and to be guarded.
Be sure that it is your goodness and not your evils or your weakness,
that men dislike. The world has a very keen eye for the
inconsistencies and the faults of professing Christians, and it is a
good thing that it has. The loftier your profession the sharper the
judgment that is applied to you. Many well-meaning Christian
people, by an injudicious use of Christian phraseology in the wrong
place, and by the glaring contradiction between their prayers and
their talks and their daily life, bring down a great deal of deserved
hostility upon themselves and of discredit upon Christianity; and
then they comfort themselves and say they are bearing the
‘reproach of the Cross.’ Not a bit of it! They are bearing the natural
results of their own failings and faults. And it is for us to see to it
that what provokes, if it does provoke, hostile judgments and
uncharitable criticisms, insulting speeches and sarcasms, and the
sense of our belonging to another regiment and having other objects,

is our cleaving to Jesus Christ, and not the imperfections and the
sins with which we so often spoil that cleaving. Be you careful for
this, that it is Christ in you that men turn from, and not you yourself
and your weakness and sin.
Meet this antagonism by not dropping your standard one inch. Keep
the flag right at the masthead. If you begin to haul it down, where
are you going to stop? Nowhere, until you have got it draggling in
the mud at the foot. It is of no use to try to conciliate by
compromise. All that we shall gain by that will be, as I have said,
indifference and contempt; all that we shall gain will be a loss to the
cause. A great deal is said in this day, and many efforts are being
made-I cannot but think mistaken efforts-by Christian people to
bridge over this gulf in the wrong way-that is, by trying to make out
that Christianity in its fundamental principles does approximate a
great deal more closely to the things that the world goes by than it
really does. It is all vain, and the only issue of it will be that we shall
have a decaying Christianity and a dying spiritual life. Keep the flag
up; emphasise and accentuate the things that the world disbelieves
and denies, not pushing them to the ‘falsehood of extremes,’ but not
by one jot diminishing the clearness of our testimony by reason of
the world’s unwillingness to receive it. Our victory is to be won only
through absolute faithfulness to Christ’s ideal.
And, lastly, meet hostility with unmoved, patient, Christlike, and
Christ-derived love and sympathy. The patient sunshine pours upon
the glaciers and melts the thick-ribbed ice at last into sweet water.
The patient sunshine beats upon the mist-cloud and breaks up its

edges and scatters it at the last. And our Lord here tells us that our
experience, if we are faithful to Him, will be like His experience, in
that some will hearken to our word though others will persecute,
and to some our testimony will come as a message from God that
draws them to the Lord Himself. These are our only weapons,
brethren! The only conqueror of the world is the love that was in
Christ breathed through us; the only victory over suspicion,
contempt, alienation, is pleading, persistent, long-suffering, self-
denying love. The only way to overcome the world’s hostility is by
turning the world into a church, and that can only be done when
Christ’s servants oppose pity to wrath, love to hate, and in the
strength of His life who has won us all by the same process, seek to
win the world for Him by the manifestation of His victorious love in
our patient love.
Dear brethren, to which army do you belong? Which community is
yours? Are you in Christ’s ranks, or are you in the world’s? Do you
love Him back again, or do you meet His open heart with a closed
one, and His hand, laden with blessings, with hands clenched in
refusal? To which class do I belong?-it is the question of questions
for us all; and I pray that you and I, won from our hatred by His
love, and wooed out of our death by His life, and made partakers of
His life by His death, may yield our hearts to Him, and so pass from
out of the hostility and mistrust of a godless world into the
friendships and peace of the sheltering Vine. And then we ‘shall
esteem the reproach of Christ’ if it fall upon our heads, in however
modified and mild a form, ‘greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt,’ and ‘have respect unto the recompense of the reward.’

May it be so with us all!
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
15:18-25 How little do many persons think, that in opposing the
doctrine of Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, they prove
themselves ignorant of the one living and true God, whom they
profess to worship! The name into which Christ's disciples were
baptized, is that which they will live and die by. It is a comfort to the
greatest sufferers, if they suffer for Christ's name's sake. The
world's ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the disciples of
Jesus. The clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth
of Christ, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in
him.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
If the world hate you - The friendship of the world they were not to
expect, but they were not to be deterred from their work by its
hatred. They had seen the example of Jesus. No opposition of the
proud, the wealthy, the learned, or the men of power, no persecution
or gibes, had deterred him from his work. Remembering this, and
having his example steadily in the eye, they were to labor not less
because wicked men should oppose and deride them. It is enough for
the disciple to be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord,
Matthew 10:25.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17-21. The substance of these important verses has occurred more
than once before. (See on [1860]Mt 10:34-36; Lu 12:49-53, &c.).
Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the latter part of this chapter our Lord cometh to comfort those
who were his true disciples, against that third trouble, from the
prospect they had of that hatred which the world would pour out
and execute upon them, as soon as he should be withdrawn from
them. Hatred is rooted and originated in the heart, and is properly a
displeasure that the mind taketh at a person, which, fermenting and
boiling in the mind, breeds an abhorrence of that person, anger, and
malice, and a desire to do him mischief, and root him out; and then
breaks out at the lips, by lying, slanders, calumnies, cursings,
wishing of evil, &c.; and is executed by the hands, doing to such
persons all the harm and mischief within the power of him that
hateth: all this is to be understood under the general term
hate. By
the world here must be meant wicked men, in opposition to good
men, who are often in Scripture called the world, because they are
of the earth, earthly; they relish and savour nothing but worldly
things, and pursue nothing but worldly designs. Against this our
Saviour comforts them; first by telling them, that this part of the
world hated him before it hated them, which must needs be so,
because they hated them as his disciples, and for that very reason.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
If the world hate you,.... After our Lord had signified how much he
loved his disciples and what great things he had done for them, he
faithfully acquaints them with the world's hatred of them, and what
they must expect to meet with from that quarter, and says many

things to fortify their minds against it; his words do not imply any
doubt about it, but he rather takes it for granted, as a thing out of
question; "if", or "seeing the world hate you"; they had had some
experience of it already, and might look for more, when their master
was gone from them: wherefore, he, in order to engage their
patience under it, says,
ye know that it hated me before it hated you; which words are an
appeal of Christ to his apostles, for the usage he had met with from
the wicked and unbelieving world of the Jews; how they had
expressed their hatred, not only by words, calling him a gluttonous
man, and a winebibber, a sinner, a Samaritan, a madman, one that
had a devil, yea, Beelzebub himself, but by deeds; taking up stones
to stone him more than once, leading him to the brow of an hill, in
order to cast him down headlong, consulting by various means to
take away his life, as Herod did in his very infancy; which was done,
before they showed so much hatred to his disciples; and perhaps
reference may be had to the original enmity between the seed of the
woman, and the seed of the serpent, mentioned Genesis 3:15; as well
as to these instances. Moreover, the words , rendered "before you",
may be translated "the first" or "chief of you", your Lord and
head; and denotes the dignity, excellency, and superiority of Christ;
wherefore it is suggested, that if he, who was so much before them in
personal worth and greatness, was hated by the world, they should
not think it hard, or any strange thing, that this should be their case.
Geneva Study Bible
{6} If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated
you.

(6) When the faithful ministers of Christ are hated by the world as
their master was, it should not cause them to fear, but rather
strengthen and encourage them.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 15:18-19. But now your relation to the world! as far as John
15:27.
In your fellowship, love; from without, on the part of the
unbelieving, hatred against you! Consolation for you: γινώσκετε
(imperat.) ὅτι ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὑμῶν (John 1:15), μεμίσηκεν. Comp. 1
Peter 4:12-13. This hatred is a community of destiny with me. A
further consolation: this hate is the proof that you no longer belong
to the world, but to me through my selection of you (John 15:16);
therein exists the reason for it. How must that fact tend to elate you!
Comp. 1 John 3:13; 1 John 4:5.
The fivefold repetition of κόσμος is solemn. Comp. John 3:17.
τὸ ἔδιον] “Suum dicitur pro vos, atque sic notatur interesse mundi,”
Bengel. Comp. John 7:7. They have become a foreign element to the
world, and therewith the object of its antipathy; χαίρει γὰρ τῷ
ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον, Euth. Zigabenus; comp. Plat. Lys. p. 214 B; τὸ
ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ φίλον εἶναι.
Expositor's Greek Testament

John 15:18-25. The relation of the disciples to the world.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
18. ye know that it hated me] Better, know that it hath hated me
(comp. John 15:20). As in John 14:1 the principal verb may be
either indicative or imperative, and the imperative is preferable: the
second verb is the perfect indicative, of that which has been and still
is the case.
before it hated you] ‘It hated’ is an insertion by our translators, and
‘before you’ is literally ‘first of you,’ like ‘before me’ in John 1:15
(see note there) and 30; excepting that here we have the adverb and
there the adjective.
18–25. The Hatred of the World to both Him and them
In strong contrast to the love and union between Christ and His
disciples and among the disciples themselves is the hatred of the
world to Him and them. He gives them these thoughts to console
them in encountering this hatred of the world. (1) It hated Him first:
in this trial also He has shewn them the way. (2) The hatred of the
world proves that they are not of the world. (3) They are sharing
their Master’s lot, whether the world rejects or accepts their
preaching. (4) They will suffer this hatred not only with Him, but
for His sake. All this tends to shew that the very hatred of the world
intensifies their union with Him.
Bengel's Gnomen

John 15:18. Μισεῖ, hates) So far from loving you. [In this there is
described, 1) the unreasonable hatred of the world in general, John
15:18-25 : 2) the confirmation of the truth which stands in contrast
to the same, John 15:26-27 : 3) the hatred accompanied with more
violent paroxysms, John 16:1-4: 4) the greater force of the
confirmation, John 15:5-11.—V. g.]—γινώσκετε, know ye) [But
Engl. Vers. ye know]. They did know it: ch. John 11:8, “The
disciples say, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee:” and yet
they are ordered now more to reflect on this very fact: John 15:20,
Remember, etc., ch. John 16:4.—πρῶτον) prior to its hating you.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 18. - You need net be surprised if the world hate you. "The
world," κόσμος (five times used in strongly emphatic manner), is
humanity apart from grace. This world will despise and hate your
mutual love, will scorn your love to itself for my sake; will detest the
higher and unworldly standard which you will set up. But here is
some consolation. Know (γινώσκετε imperative, as μνημονεύετε in
Ver. 20) that it has hated me before (it hated) you. "Me first, me
most" (Lange). "The superlative contains the comparative"
(Tholuck). "This hatred is a community of destiny with me"
(Meyer). You know how it has hated me, and hunted me from
Bethlehem to Egypt, from Nazareth to Capernaum, from Gergesa to
Jerusalem. Be not surprised if it hate you.
Vincent's Word Studies
If the world hate (εἱ μισεῖ)
Literally, hates. The indicative mood with the conditional particle
assumes the fact as existing: If the world hates you, as it does.

Ye know (γινώσκετε)
This may also be rendered as imperative: Know ye.
It hated (μεμίσηκεν)
The perfect tense, hath hated. The hatred continues to the present
time.
Before it hated you (πρῶτον ὑμῶν)
Literally, first in regard of you. See on John 1:15.
END OF BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
STEVEN COLE
What To ExpectIn The World (John 15:18-27)
RelatedMedia

If you know that you’re going to face a difficult situation, it’s helpful to have
some idea in advance of what you’ll be in for. I’ve told you before about a
funny event that happened when I was in CoastGuard boot camp. A guy
showedup for boot camp with his water skis and fishing pole because a
recruiter had told him that boot camp was on an island (true) and that you
could water skiand fish in the estuary surrounding the island (true, if “you” is
understood to mean, “a person technically could do those things”). But if
“you” meant “you personally,” it was about the furthest thing imaginable
from the truth!
The recruiter conveniently failed to tell this naïve recruit that the first day of
boot camp, they issuedyour uniform and made you ship home all of your
civilian clothes, including your underwear, along with your comb, shampoo,
and all toiletries, exceptfor a razor and shaving cream. You wouldn’t need
your comb and shampoo after they gave you the bootcamp haircut, which
came next, because youwould have no hair! Also, they controlledyour life all
day and all night. If they wanted to wake up everyone at 2 a.m. and have you
march or stand in formation in the cold, they could do that. For the next nine
weeks,you were not in controlof your life—they were!If that recruit had
been told anything close to the truth, he might not have signed up. (I joined
because it was better than being drafted and sent to Viet Nam.) But for sure,
he wouldn’t have shownup with his waterskis and fishing pole!
The problem is, some Christian “recruiters” (also called, “evangelists”)entice
you to sign up by describing all the wonderful benefits that you’re going to
receive:“Godloves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” That sounds
pretty good! And, Jesus promises an abundant life to all who follow Him!
“Yeah, I could use more abundance in my life!” And so you sign up for the
program, not realizing that while there are many benefits in following Jesus,
there are also many trials and persecutions (Mark 10:28-30).
Jesus knew that after He left the disciples to return to heaven, they would face
some difficult opposition from the world. Maybe, because He had just told
them that they would do even “greaterworks”than He did (John 14:12), they
were envisioning receptive crowds and smooth sailing ahead. But the reality
was, they would face some severe persecution, notjust from the paganworld,

but also from the religious crowd. The Lord wanted them to know what to
expectfrom the world and how to respond to the hostility that they would
experience. His messageis:
While the world hates believers, we should testify to the world of the truth
about Jesus Christ.
These verses presenta sober, evengrim, picture, exceptfor what has gone on
before: Becausewe enjoyChrist’s love and joy (John 15:1-11)and because we
are members of the loving family of God (John 15:12-17), we canendure the
hostility of the world. But we need to be prepared for it so that we’re not
shockedwhenit happens. Our text falls into two sections:The world’s hatred
of Christians (John 15:18-25);and our responsibility to the hostile world,
namely, to bear witness of Christ (John 15:26-27).
1. The world hates believers because it hates Jesus Christ (John 15:18-25).
There are five things to note about the world’s hatred:
A. Hatred or love for Jesus Christ is what either divides or unites people.
Note the contrastbetween verses 17 & 18:Christians are to be known for
their love, but the world is known for its hatred. Jesus emphasizes “world,”
using it six times in verses 18 & 19. The world refers to the organized system
under Satan’s domain that is opposedto God and His rightful King, Jesus
Christ. In 1 John 5:19, the apostle draws the contrast: “We know that we are
of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”
Of course, if you were to go out and ask people on the street, “Do you hate
Jesus Christ?” mostwould answer, “No, I don’t have anything againstJesus.
He was a greatmoral teacher.” If you asked, “Do you follow the devil” they
would strongly exclaim, “There’s no waythat I follow the devil! I’m not a
Satan-worshiper!” They don’t follow Jesus, but they aren’t openly opposedto
Him, either. And they aren’t aware that they’re following the devil, even
though they are. They subscribe to godless values. Theyignore God in their
daily lives, unless they get into a crisis where they suddenly decide to pray.
But the average unbeliever isn’t going to say, “I hate Jesus and I hate

Christians!” He’s just living his life as he sees fit and is content to let religious
people follow Jesus if they want to.
But Jesus says (John15:18), “If the world hates you, you know that it has
hated Me before it hated you.” “If” is not uncertain; it’s a Greek construction
that means, “If the world hates you, and it will”. The Lord wants us to know
that behind the world’s hatred for us is its hatred for Him. And, as He adds
(John 15:23), “He who hates Me hates My Fatheralso.” You can’t separate
Jesus from the Father.
But, you may wonder, why does Jesus saythat the world hates both Him and
the Father, as well as all believers, when most unbelievers would say that they
don’t have anything againstJesus or againstChristians? In Matthew 12:30,
Jesus draws a similar line: “He who is not with Me is againstMe.” He paints
the contrastin black and white to draw a distinct line to show that you must
take sides. There is no gray zone. Either you love Jesus and His Fatherand all
who follow Jesus, oryou hate them all, whether you admit it or not! The boat
is leaving the dock. Either you’re on board or you’re not, but you can’t
straddle both!
D. A. Carson(Jesus’FarewellDiscourseandFinal Prayer[Baker], pp. 116-
117)points out that we see the world’s hatred in those who claim to be liberal
and tolerant of differing viewpoints, but who are not so tolerantwhen it comes
to Christian absolutes. He states,
They demonstrate their forbearance and large-heartedgoodnesswhenthey
confront diverse opinions, varied lifestyles and even idiotic practices. Butif
some Christian claims that Christianity is exclusive (as Jesus insisted), or that
moral absolutes exist because they are grounded in the characterof God (as
the Bible teaches), orthat there is a hell to be shunned as wellas a heavento
be gained, the most intemperate language is used to excoriate the poor fool.
The world hates.
B. The world hates because Jesus exposesits sin.
John 15:22: “If I had not come and spokento them, they would not have sin,
but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Jesus adds (John 15:24): “If I had

not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have
sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.”
What does Jesus mean? Obviously He doesn’t mean that those who have
never heard of Him or His miracles are sinless. The Bible is clearthat all
people, even those who have never heard of Jesus, are guilty sinners before
God (Rom. 3:10-18). All people have evidence that there is a Creatorby
looking at His creation, but they “suppress the truth in unrighteousness … so
that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:18-20). Also, all people have violated
their consciences, doing what they instinctively know is wrong (Rom. 2). And
so, all have sinned and thus are guilty before God (Rom. 3:23).
Rather, Jesus means that His coming and the many miracles that He did
increasedpeople’s responsibility and guilt when they did not submit to Him as
Savior and Lord. In Matthew 11:20-24, Jesus denouncedthe cities where He
had done most of His miracles because they did not repent. He made it clear
that it will be more tolerable even for the pagans in Tyre and Sidon and for
wickedSodomon judgment day than for these cities. In other words,
increasedlight rejectedmeans increasedsin and guilt.
When Jesus exposes people’s sin, unless the Holy Spirit is convicting them and
drawing them to Christ, they reactdefensively. As Jesus told His then
unbelieving brothers (John 7:7), “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me
because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” Or, as John 3:19-20 states, “This
is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the
darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who
does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his
deeds will be exposed.”
Also, note that unbelief is not due to a lack of solid evidence. These people
heard Jesus’words and they saw His many miracles that no one else had done
(John 15:22, 24), but they still rejectedHim because He exposedtheir sin. It’s
still true today: there is more than enough evidence to believe in Jesus Christ,
but people rejectthat evidence or bring up other excuses fortheir unbelief
because they enjoy their sin and they don’t want to repent.

Two applications:First, if you live in obedience to Jesus Christ, you will
threaten unbelievers in your family, at school, orat work, because your godly
life will expose their sin. As a result, they will try to getyou to sin so that
you’re just like they are; or they will attack you falsely. Be ready for the
onslaught!
Second, if you go to church but you don’t submit your life to the lordship of
Christ, you’re exposing yourself to greaterjudgment! To put it another way,
going to a church where the Bible is taught is dangerous!There will be
degrees ofpunishment in hell. There’s a point where you have more than
adequate evidence to believe that Jesus is Lord. But if you rejectthat evidence
and don’t repent of your sin, you will incur a stricterjudgment.
C. If the world thinks that you’re wonderful, you may need to question
whether you’re being a bold enough witness for Christ.
Let me make it clear: You should not be the source of offense by being
insensitive, rude, or obnoxious. We need to conductourselves with wisdom,
grace, and sensitivity toward unbelievers (Col. 4:5-6). But here’s where you
will catchflak: Unbelievers will be tolerant until you tell them that Jesus is the
only way to God. Then they will accuse you of being intolerant. They will be
friendly until you make it clearthat God has absolute moral standards and
that our culture’s standards are wrong. Then they will accuse youof being
self-righteous and judgmental. They will be tolerant of your Christianity until
you refuse to lie to covertheir wrongdoing or cheatin favor of the company.
At that point, they will turn againstyou and go behind your back to turn
others againstyou.
But if you state or imply to unbelievers that all goodpeople will go to heaven,
you laugh at their dirty jokes, you go to the same filthy movies that they go to
so that you can be in the know with all the office chatter, and you lie for the
boss, the world will think you’re wonderful; but you’ve compromised your
witness for Christ. You may think, “But if I don’t go along with the world like
that, I’ll lose my job!” Well, we have brothers and sisters in Iraq who are
losing their lives because they won’t deny Christ. As Jesus said(Matt. 5:11-
12), “Blessedare you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely

say all kinds of evil againstyou because ofMe. Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward in heaven is great;for in the same waythey persecutedthe prophets
who were before you.”
D. The world’s hatred for Christ and for believers does not thwart God’s
sovereignty, but rather fulfills it.
Jesus says regarding the world’s hatred of both Him and His Father (John
15:25), “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law,
‘They hated Me without a cause.’” He is citing Psalm 69:4 to show that
unbelievers can rage againstGod, but they don’t have any basis for their
hatred and they’re inadvertently fulfilling God’s word. God is sovereignand
no one can thwart His will (Ps. 103:19;115:3;Job 42:2; Dan. 4:35). The
application is that when unbelievers seemto win, don’t fret. God is still in
control and He will ultimately judge all unbelievers who wrong you and He
will vindicate His people who have been persecutedfor His name’s sake.
E. The world hates believers because we’re different than they are.
We’re different in many ways, but there are three in the text:
1) We have a different calling: Christ chose us out of this evil world.
John 15:19: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but
because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of
this the world hates you.” Jesus againbrings up a theme that upsets many:
divine election. Proud people like to think that they have the ability to choose
Christ, but He taught that no one cancome to Him unless the Fatherchose
him and draws him. When Jesus taught that in John 6:37-40, 44, & 65, we
read (John 6:66), “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were
not walking with Him anymore.”
The world, even many in the religious world, will saythat if God chose only
some, He is not fair. But, as I pointed out when we studied John 6, Jesus
taught God’s sovereignelectionto the unbelieving Jews who were grumbling
againstHim (John 6:41ff.) to humble their pride. And, I must add, don’t ever
ask God to be fair with you! Pleadwith Him to be merciful to you, the sinner!

2) We have a different Master:Jesus is our Lord, while the world serves
Satan.
In verse 20, Jesus implies that we are His slaves and He is our Master. But
Satanis the ruler or god of this world (John 12:31;14:30), who has blinded
the eyes of unbelievers so that they cannotsee the light of the gospel(2 Cor.
4:4). Before God rescuedus, we all lived in Satan’s domain of darkness (Col.
1:13), but now we live in Christ’s kingdom of light.
This means that the world does not understand our thinking or our behavior.
The world thinks that people are basicallygood, whereas the Bible says that
all are sinners in rebellion againstGod. People in the world live for themselves
and their own agendas, whereas the Lord’s people live for Him and His
purposes. The world makes up its own relative moral standards, whereas
God’s people obey His moral absolutes. So misunderstanding and hostility
from the world are inevitable.
3) We have different knowledge:We know the Father, but the world does not.
John 15:21: “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake,
because they do not know the One who sent Me.” The fundamental problem
of people in the world is that they do not know the living and true God.
Instead, they make up their own gods. Even atheists worship their own
intellect as supreme, refusing to acknowledgethatall that they have comes
from God (1 Cor. 4:7) and that they will give an accountto Him when they die
(Heb. 9:27). But knowing God is the essenceofthe eternallife that Christ
gives to all who believe in Him. As He prayed (John 17:3), “This is eternal life,
that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have
sent.”
But in spite of the world’s hatred, we should never respond with retaliation or
hatred. There may be times to ask God to judge the wicked. There are times
to shake the dust off your feetand move on (Matt. 10:14). There are times to
be silent rather than to castyour pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6; Luke 23:9).
But our normal response should be:

2. In spite of the world’s hatred, we should testify to the world of the truth
about Jesus Christ (John 15:26-27).
Jesus leaves us in this world to proclaim His glory (1 Pet. 2:9). But how can we
bear witness in the face of such a hostile world? Jesus shows thatwe cando so
only through the Spirit of truth.
A. The Spirit of truth testifies about Jesus Christ.
John 15:26: “Whenthe Helper comes, whomI will send to you from the
Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify
about Me….” As you may know, that verse sparkeda controversythat split
the Easternand Westernchurches over whether the Spirit eternally proceeds
only from the Father(Eastern) or from the Father and the Son (Western).
But in the context, Jesus was not referring to the ontologicalnature of the
trinity, but rather to the mission of the Holy Spirit, whom He calls the Spirit
of truth. But we can know that the Holy Spirit is a person. A mere “force”
cannot testify to the truth. And, the fact that the Spirit proceeds from the
Father and is sentby Jesus, who Himself was sent by the Father, implies the
deity and the distinctiveness of all three persons of the trinity.
But the point here is that the Spirit will continue the witness to Christ after He
returned to heaven. How does He do that? He does it through the Word of
God, which He inspired, but also through believers. As Petertestified (Acts
5:32), “And we are witnesses ofthese things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom
God has given to those who obey Him.” The Spirit testifies through us.
B. Christ’s disciples testify about Him.
John 15:27: “… and you will testify also, because youhave been with Me from
the beginning.” This refers in the first place to the apostolic witness, because
they were with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry until He ascended
into heaven. They testified about what they had seenand heard (Acts 4:20).
They didn’t make up cleverly devised tales, but were eyewitnessesofChrist’s
majesty (2 Pet. 1:16). We have their factual testimony in the New Testament.
So our witness is not just true for those who choose to believe it. It’s always
true whether people believe it or not.

So the Holy Spirit uses believers to testify to others about the truth of Jesus.
As Merrill Tenney puts it (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Zondervan],
ed. by Frank Gaebelein, 9:155), “Without the witness of the Spirit, the
disciples’witness would be powerless;without the disciples’witness, the Spirit
would be restrictedin his means of expression.” We can’tjust relax and trust
the Spirit to do His thing apart from us. We have to give verbal witness to the
truth about Jesus Christas the Spirit gives us opportunities.
Conclusion
Three applications: First, some of us (like me!) need to have more contact
with the world. We are not to be of the world, but we are to be in the world
(John 17:14-18). If you’re always surrounded by Christians, ask the Lord for
opportunities to rub shoulders with people who need the Savior. You can’t
testify to the truth about Christ if you don’t have contactwith the world.
Second, pray for alertness to opportunities and boldness when you speak. I
often think about what I could have said about an hour after the opportunity
has passed. And, most of us do not err on the side of being too bold. None
other than the apostle Paulsaid (Eph. 6:19-20), “Prayon my behalf, that
utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known
with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassadorin
chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Third, expect from the world what Jesus receivedfrom the world: mostly
hatred, but some fruit. He says (John 15:20), “If they persecutedMe, they will
also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keepyours also.” If you
expecteveryone to respond favorably, you’ll be discouragedwhenthey don’t.
But if you expecteveryone to respond negatively, you won’t even try to bear
witness. Jesus promises that some will believe through your witness (Acts
18:10). So keepproclaiming the goodnews!
First Century Believers

Those first believers turned to Christ with the full understanding that they
were espousing an unpopular cause that could costthem everything. Shortly
after Pentecostsome were jailed, many lostall their earthly goods, a few were
slain, hundreds were ‘scatteredabroad.’They could have escapedallthis by
the simple expedient of denying their faith and turning back to the world.
This they steadfastlyrefusedto do.
To make converts, we are tempted to play down the difficulties and play up
the peace ofmind and worldly successenjoyedby those who acceptChrist.
We will never be completely honestwith our hearers until we tell them the
blunt truth that, as members of a race of moral rebels, they are in a serious
jam, and one they will not get out of easily. If they refuse to repent and believe
on Christ, they will most surely perish. If they do turn to Him, the same
enemies that crucified Him will try to crucify them.
A. W. Tozer, Source unknown
https://www.preceptaustin.org/john_commentaries
Jesus Was a Rebel'
Okay, he was. What's your point?
Brett McCracken
"Jesus was a rebel" is a favorite sloganof Christian pastors and authors
trying to "reachtwentysomethings,"as they say. The logic? 1) Young people
think Christianity is tired, boring, stale. 2)Young people are naturally
rebellious and contrarian. Therefore … 3) Maybe Christianity will be fresh
and exciting to them if it is framed in the context of subversion and rebellion.
But I'm not so sure that's a sound syllogism.

It's not a stretch to say that Jesus was a rebel. He was. He was bucking the
system, turning over tables, and saying all sorts of subversive things in the
days when he was walking the earth. It is perfectly appropriate, then, for
Christians to call Jesus a rebel or a subversive. And it certainly fits neatly into
any sort of a "Christianity is hip" PR ambition a church might be
undertaking. Hipsters love rebels, and even if they loathe church or
Christians, most of them still think Jesus is pretty dang cool.
When I askedEric Bryant, a pastorat Mosaic in L.A., why Jesus is still
consideredcoolin the eyes of young people, he saidthis:
They're intrigued by Jesus. Theylook to him. He is real, authentic, relevant.
He spoke with honesty. He was a man on a mission. He was a radical, a
revolutionary, yet tender and kind and loving. He was doing things completely
againstthe rules of the day. He was a mix of justice, kindness, judgment and
grace. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/februaryweb-only/18-
22.0.html
Jesus Was a Rebel
Mark Driscollwas interviewed on ABC��s Nightline lastweek. I
didn��t see it. I have only read the write-up on it (click here). As usual,
Driscollsaid some things I could really go off on a rant about, things no
Christian should say, but that��s not what I want to do today. What I want
to write about is something that Driscolldid not say, or at leastwas not
directly quoted as saying in the piece I read. It seems he probably has said it,
but I can��tquote him directly. In any case, the ABC writer said it as
though quoting. All clear? Good; let��s move on, then.
The phrase that caught my attention was, ��Jesuswas a rebel.��
Whether or not Driscollsaid it is not relevant; it��s not a new idea.
It��s been said by those on the hippie-fringe of the church for as long as I

can remember. It sounds good, it sounds cool, radical, like, you know,
something hip young dudes think is, like, totally, whatever. The trouble is, it
just isn��ttrue. Jesus was no rebel. Jesus was the most humble, submissive
man ever to walk this earth. He never committed a single rebellious act or had
a single rebellious thought. That would have been sin; and as you know, Jesus
never sinned. If he did, the gospelis dead.
Rebellionis opposition, resistance,defiance to authority. With that in mind,
was it even possible for Jesus to rebel?
When they came to Capernaum, those who collectedthe two-drachma tax
came to Peter and said, ��Doesyourteachernot pay the two-drachma
tax?��He said, ��Yes.��And when he came into the house, Jesus
spoke to him first, saying, ��Whatdo you think, Simon? From whom do
the kings of the earth collectcustoms or poll-tax, from their sons or from
strangers?��WhenPetersaid, ��Fromstrangers,��Jesussaidto
him, ��Thenthe sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend them,
go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and
when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take thatand give it to them
for you and Me.��(Matthew 17:24��27)
We should not need to be told that God Incarnate is under no man��s
authority, but from this passage,we cansee from Jesus��ownwords that
he had no one on earth to rebel against. Yet, so that he would not cause
offense, he submitted to authority that had no legitimate expectationof his
obedience. Notquite the picture of a rebel, is it?
Of course, in his Trinitarian relationship with the Father, Jesus was under
authority. This is an authority to which he willingly, humbly, submitted.
Philippians 2:8��tells us, ��Being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.��In his agony in Gethsemane, he prayed, ��Father, if You are
willing, remove this cup from Me;yet not My will, but Yours be done.��
(Luke 22:42).
The submissive spirit of Jesus is also seenin the Apostle��s teaching.
Children are to be obedient to their parents (Ephesians 6:1��3;Colossians

3:20), wives to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22; Colossians 3:18;Titus
2:3��5;1 Peter3:1), slaves to their masters (Ephesians 6:5��8;
Colossians 3:22;Titus 2:9��10), and all to their shepherds (1 Corinthians
16:15��16;Hebrews 13:17)and the civil authorities (Titus 3:1; 1 Peter
2:13��16). Only one circumstance is given in which we are to disobeyany
authority: when it conflicts with higher authority. When forbidden to preach,
Peterand the apostles answered, ��Wemust obey God rather than
men��(Acts 5:27��29).
Our Lord was not a rebel, and we are not calledto be rebels. We are calledto
��pursue peace with all men��(Romans 12:18). That may not appeal to
the postmodern crowdthat values the radical and edgy, but it is what the
Lord demands of us. Let us not try to be coolerthan God.
Posted2009·01·26 by David Kjos
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12 Comments:
#1 || 09·01·26··10:14 || Daniel
John Piper's writing style annoys me. It annoys me because he seems to go out
of his way to invent a clumsy way of saying a thing, then uses the clumsy label
throughout an entire book. I have shelved more than one of Mr. Piper's books
out of sheerfrustration over this unfortunate writing technique, and chalk it
up to saying the same things as I might say, but expressing them in a way that
I would not.
What does that have to do with Mark Driscoll?
Well, I hope that when Driscollsays or implies that Jesus was a rebel, that
what he really means is that Jesus did not caterto the religious culture of His
day; that is, I hope Driscollmeans only that Jesus was seenas a rebel by those
who were keeping the status quo - that Jesus was more concernedabout the
truth than rocking the boat of the establishedreligious culture.
I hope that this trend in Driscoll, therefore, canbe chalkedup, as with Piper,
to differences in expression, in fact I am certain it can. What offends is not the
thought behind the expression, but the ambiguity of the expression - is he not

co-opting a phrase just for the shock value? Is the gospelso impotent that we
must resortto sales gimmicks?
#2 || 09·01·26··11:26 || David
I��m with you on Piper. When I like him, I really like him (as in God is the
Gospeland The Swans Are NotSilent), but when he messes withthe language
(Christian hedonism? What?), he really irritates me.
I know Driscollprobably means ��rebel��justas you say; but if you
use one word and then have to explain that you really meant something else,
you��ve failed to communicate. The fact is that when ABC reports
��Jesus was a rebel,��the world hears the word according to it��s
proper definition, and so do most Christians, especiallythe young
��dudes��thatso admire Driscoll.
In short, no matter how obtuse it makes me seem, I��mgoing to take
words at face value. If you want to saysomething, say it with the right words.
#3 || 09·01·26··13:05 || Betsy Markman
A rebel is someone who hates authority and refuses to submit to it. God's
word says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft(1 Sam. 15:23). Jesus
certainly never did such a thing. The secretto His submission was that He
knew Whom to obey. When He disobeyed, it was because He was choosing to
obey the higher authority which the lower authority was contradicting (such
as when He and His disciples pickedgrain on the Sabbath in defiance of the

Pharisees'legalistic interpretationof Sabbath laws). That doesn'tmake him a
"rebel." It makes Him a wise and discerning obeyer of God.
#4 || 09·01·26··13:31 || David
Betsy, I can��tbelieve I didn��t think of that passage. Thanks for
adding it.
#5 || 09·01·26··15:35 || Ian Hall
"As usual, Driscollsaidsome things .... things no Christian should say"
Agreed. In my view, a deliberate and ongoing strategy, the cussing pastor has
adopted to raise his own profile.
"The phrase that caughtmy attention was, ��Jesus wasa rebel. ... it just
isn��ttrue. Jesus was no rebel. Jesus was the most humble, submissive
man ever to walk this earth. He never committed a single rebellious act or had
a single rebellious thought."
Agreed. It does sound like something Driscollwould sayand it is a despicable
statement.
#6 || 09·01·27··05:16 || Adam Kruszewski

I haven't listened to the interview but as far as I remember in his sermons
Mark when he told to the youth for them to be Rebels is exactlyto be humble
and to be servants. So maybe it is just a miscommunication or something?
Cheers,
a.
#7 || 09·01·27··07:20 || donsands
Driscolsays things that are crude. There's no doubt about it. But he's a pastor
of a church of 6,000 people, and they all listen to him. So, he must be affected
by that, I would guess.
The Scriptures and the Word of God should be what molds Mark. The Word
is powerful. The Word is a razor sharp swordwhich cuts to the depth of our
soul. It convicts, and encourages. It exposes, andedifies.
I pray Mark would be more set to allow the Holy swordof the Spirit to cut
deep into his heart, and so expose his crudeness for what it is, even though
6,000, or600,000people cheerhim on. May the truth consume him, and not
the applause of people.
May the Holy Spirit do the same for the rest of us as well.
And I suppose could be wrong. I don't know his heart, that's for sure. But
there's no doubt Mark says things that are crude. I've heard him, and read
Vintage Jesus.
Greatpost BTW. Excellent. And goodcomments as well.
#8 || 09·02·09··13:40 || Bethany Lane

Look at the man's fruit and the crowdhe's reaching out to. Things are
changing in the world and Christians can evolve with those changes as long as
they are keeping true to the word of God. I am 18 and I believe in order to live
for Godin this day and age you must live radically for Him. There is such an
onslaught of sin in this world how can we combatit if we don't speak out the
word of God? Driscollis doing that and so many are seeking this church for
that truth. Those who watchedthe interview would see the majority of people
in his congregationare young adults. It's crucial for kids like me to go to
church or else we'll be sweptaway by whateverenticements the world brings.
We don't want to continue hearing what the world says of Jesus we want
what's realand the truth is he did rebel againstthe socialnorms of his day.
Rebellionagainsta culture of sin isn't bad is it? Well Jesus rebelledagainsta
culture of man's law and man's sin. Driscollwill always have critics I
understand but look at the man's fruit and you'll see he may be radical but
he's saving souls.
#9 || 09·02·09··15:52 || David
Bethany, you��ve entirely missedthe point. The fact remains that Jesus
was no rebel, and redefining the word to make it fit your usage does nothing
to change that. Calling Jesus a rebel only demonstrates one of two things:
either you don��t know Jesus, oryou don��tknow English.
But to answeryour comments:
Things are changing in the world and Christians can evolve with those
changes as long as they are keeping true to the word of God.
How, as relates to the gospel, is the world changing?
I am 18

I won��thold that againstyou. I��m sure you will learn a lot in years to
come. I hope your learning will be from God��s Word, rather than from
pragmatic, seekersensitive personalities.
and I believe in order to live for God in this day and age you must live
radically for Him.
What does that mean? Does it mean using outrageous behaviorand unclean
speech?
There is such an onslaughtof sin in this world
Yes, and so it has always been and will always be until Christ returns.
how can we combat it if we don't speak out the word of God?
We can��t. What��syour point, as it relates to this article?
Driscollis doing that and so many are seeking this church for that truth.
I hope so;but I suspectmany are there because he��s?�bercoolandthey
get to snickerat his dirty jokes.
Those who watchedthe interview would see the majority of people in his
congregationare young adults.
Yes, and that should be a warning sign. The young leading the young is not a
healthy situation. Where are the elderly folks? A church that prefers young
and crass to old and dignified has some very fundamental problems.
It's crucialfor kids like me to go to church or else we'llbe sweptawayby
whateverenticements the world brings. We don't want to continue hearing
what the world says of Jesus we want what's real
Again, what��s your point? Is the Word of God as it is not ��real��
enough? Does it need to be embellished?
and the truth is he did rebel againstthe socialnorms of his day. Rebellion
againsta culture of sin isn't bad is it? Well Jesus rebelled againsta culture of
man's law and man's sin.

And again, living righteously in an unrighteous culture is not rebellion.
It��s just the normal Christian life. But that doesn��tsound cooland
radical, does it? Sorry.
Driscollwill always have critics I understand but look at the man's fruit
The end justifies the means?
and you'll see he may be radical
That��s just funny. See, he��s notreally radical at all. That��s the
irony of the pursuit of cool. The cooleryou get, the more you��re just
conforming to the expectations ofyour audience. Boring, I say.
but he's saving souls.
No, he��s not. JesusChristis saving souls. They are souls that were chosen
by the Father before the foundation of the world, were given to the Son,
justified through his death, raisedwith him to new life, have been given
eternal life, and will be glorified with him in heaven. Their salvation was
accomplishedat the cross, not at Mars Hill Church. (I��m guessing
Driscollwould agree with that.) God is not waiting for us to come up with
��radical��new ways of reaching the lost, especiallywhen those
methods involve sensationaland unwholesome speech. He��sjust
expecting us to preach the Word.
#10 || 09·02·11··06:20 || Daniel
I suspectthat Mr. Driscoll, if he stays true to the Lord for his whole ministry,
will regretmuch in his latter years.

#11 || 09·04·29··07:58 || craig mullen
A rebel is someone who:
"Breakswith establishedcustoms"
Did Jesus do what the pharisees did? No. Did he speak out againstthe
Pharisees?Yes
Jesus didn't conform to the pattern of this world, and we aren't meant to
either. Romans 12:1-2.
I'm sorry but yes he did rebel againstsomething. No of course it wasn'this
father, But it was the Pharisees andothers like them. He didn't conform to
what they expectedor wanted, and if I'm right, based on the meaning of a
rebel, he did rebel against.
If we're not for the ways of this world, then we are for them. This world, when
it doesn't see us fitting into its ways, thinks we are rebelling againstit, that
doesn't have to be in a loud obtrusive way, but we are rebelling againstit
because we "Breaks withestablishedcustoms".
If we allow false doctrine to take place in our communities, then who is going
to stop that? We are meant to(1 Timothy). Rebelling doesn't mean it has to be
loud, but it does mean not conforming to it, and that whats Jesus did against
the Phariseesand its what we're meant to againstthe ways of this world.
��A rebel is someone who: ��Breakswithestablished
customs��
No, that would be a nonconformist.
The conceptof rebellion implies insubordination to a greaterpower of
authority. Since there is no greaterauthority than God, and Jesus was
perfectly obedient to the will of his father, he cannot be a rebel.

To the extent he was againstthe world it was because it was againstthe will of
his father, with whom he createdthe world.
Instead he devoted his life to saving the people of the world who are willing to
hear him and repent of their rebellion from God, which is sin.
Matthew 26:39
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My
Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, notas I will,
but as You will.
Matthew 6:9-10
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Fatherwhich art in heaven,
Hallowedbe thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven
Tim Ross, Thomist
Answered Dec 28, 2014 ·Author has 858 answers and819.9k answerviews
"Forlet this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he emptied
himself, taking the form of a servant, having been born in the likeness ofmen;

and found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient
even to death, and the death of the cross." - St. Paul's letter to the Phillipians
Obedience and rebellion are antonyms.
MichaelDarby, Student, gamer, former Christian, polyamorous, total nerd
Answered Dec 31, 2014 ·Author has 95 answers and 192.6kanswerviews
He was absolutely a rebel. NotagainstGod, but againstthe societyand
government of the time, he could definitely be considereda rebel.
Haaris Khan
All the prophets of Godwere rebels to the society, it's unjust practices and it's
blasphemies. They reasonedand questioned the illogicalpractices acrosstime
and thus being the reasonfor their huge following.
Jesus the Rebel
by Jeremy Crump
James Deanbecame a cultural icon for his role as a troubled teenagerin the
1955 film RebelWithout a Cause. Since then, there has been no shortage of
rebellious and controversialfigures idolized in popular culture. But none of
these hold a candle to the greatestrebelthe world has ever seen:Jesus Christ.
It might surprise you to think of Jesus as a rebel. Popular conceptions of our
Lord tend to soften him up and send a messagethat Jesus was someone who
never causeda stir or upset anybody but was loved and adoredby all. This

was certainly not the case. The realJesus made troubling statements such as
"I came to bring peace and not a sword." In fact, Jesus was hatedby most
and came into conflict with almost everyone he interactedwith for the
doctrine of moral purity and humble submission to God that he preached.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in his encounters with the religious leaders
of his day. Jesus stirred up trouble by healing on the Sabbath day and not
keeping the traditions of the Pharisees suchas hand washing. He made a point
of exposing the hypocrisy and self-serving behavior of the Pharisees and
warned his disciples not to follow their example. During the Passoverfestival,
Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and drove them out of the
temple with a whip.
Jesus'rebellion againstthe religious establishment at Jerusalemcreateda
large following of Christians after his resurrectionthat threatened Judaism.
Christians spreadthroughout the ancient world, causing trouble wherever
they went because oftheir refusal to worship idols and engage in immorality.
This "rebellion" has now infiltrated every country in the world. It has lasted
for 2,000 years andshows no signs of diminishing.
Unlike other rebels in history Jesus was not sinful in his actions. This is the
major difference that sets Jesus apartfrom other subversive icons such as
James Deanand makes him far more "rebellious" than any of them. Jesus
was motivated by his total and absolute devotion to God; this makes Jesus a
true nonconformist. Absolutely no one else in the world was as devoted to God
as Jesus was.
The problem with other icons of nonconformity is that they eventually become
just as fashionable and acceptable as the groups they are rebelling against.
Not so with Christianity. True Christianity is never in fashionand will never
be in fashionin the world because ofthe demands it makes on worldly
individuals. So if you want to be a true nonconformist, if you want to truly
rebel againstthe status quo, engaging in sin is not the answer;following
Christ is.
In emphasizing the subversive nature of our Lord I do not in any way mean to
encourage wrong behavior. In fact, what I find to be preciselyso rebellious

about Jesus is the fact that he submitted to God's authority. And submitting
to God's authority requires submitting to other authority figures as well, such
as one's parents, church leaders, and electedofficials. Absolutely no one else
in the entire world was doing that as perfectly as Jesus. He was truly a
nonconformist. He rebelled againstthe status quo by his unwavering
commitment to moral and religious purity. In a world in which sinful, ungodly
attitudes and behaviors are the status quo, how else can we follow Jesus but to
rebel?
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the wayis easythat leads
to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and
the wayis hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew
7:13-14). https://fairviewparkchurch.com/articles-menu/jesus/61-jesus-the-
rebel
By D. Thomas Lancaster
Popular teachings depict Yeshua as a rebel who defied religious authority and
struggledagainstJudaism and so-calledmanmade rules. Yeshua appears to
be a rebel hero, standing up againstinstitutions and religious conventions for
the sake offreeing his followers to explore outside the box of religion. The
problem with the rebel Jesus is that his disciples tend to be rebels too.
That’s the subject of PastorBrent Rudoski’s book Jesus Was Nota Rebel.
PastorRudoskiis seniorpastor of Faith Alive Family Church in Saskatoon,
SK, Canada, an FFOZ Friend, and long-time student of Messianic Jewish
teachings. TobyJanickiand I recently had the opportunity to visit Faith Alive
for a weekendteaching seminar titled Israeland the Nations. We discovereda
thriving church, a vibrant community of brothers and sisters, and a genuine
love for Messianic teaching.
Our visit to Faith Alive came in the midst of a quick, January teaching tour.
The three-day event was well attended despite frigid temperatures (30 degrees
below zero on the Fahrenheit scale without wind-chill), testifying to the

congregation’s genuine dedication to the teaching and worship. PastorBrent
admitted that when temperatures dip that low, Faith Alive ordinarily cancels
its services, but on this occasion, theykept the doors open on our account, and
the people came.
We had severalopportunities to see how the teaching of First Fruits of Zion
has influenced the church. For example, we met many community members
who have completed the HaYesodprogram. Faith Alive also hosts Faith Alive
Bible College, anaccreditedschoolwhere Bible students can earna degree in
theologyand Bible. The Faith Alive Bible College has recentlyrevised their
curriculum to reflect MessianicJewishperspectiveslearnedthrough First
Fruits of Zion’s materials. Moreover, the Faith Alive television program,
which airs on CanadianChristian television, includes a “Messianic Moment”
to offer viewers insights into the Bible from Messianicteaching. TobyJanicki
and I had the opportunity to fill a few guestspots on the show for upcoming
episodes.
In addition to the above examples, considerPastorRudoski’s book JesusWas
Not a Rebel. In his 2014 book, PastorRudoskilaments how the church has
been damagedby a religious climate founded on discipleship to a counter-
culture iconoclastversionof Jesus who fought authority, defied institutional
religion, and rebelled againststructure. He notes that being “religious” has a
negative connotationamong many Christians today because they have so
thoroughly bought into the idea that Jesus defiedJudaism and religious
conventions. A theologicalrebelpsychologypermeates the church,
encouraging believers to distrust their leaders, defy authority, and abandon
the localbody.
PastorRudoskithinks that this rebel image of Jesus became popular with the
1960s baby-boomgenerationand that it is responsible for a lot of today’s
instability in Christian lives and congregations. Drawing insights from Torah
Club and the teachings of First Fruits of Zion, PastorRudoskidemonstrates
that the anarchist and anti-religious Jesus is not the Jesus ofthe Bible. He
demonstrates how Jesus submitted to the authority of his parents, the secular
government, to the Torah, and to the religious leadership of Judaism. He
shows his readers how Jesus taughthis disciples to submit themselves to

institutional authority. Presenting Jesus in compliance with the Judaism of his
day rather than in defiance againstit, Pastor Rudoskiremoves any pious
justifications for rebellious heart-attitudes and subversive forms of
spirituality.
Today’s church continually tries to reinvent itself lest it fall into the dreaded
trap of becoming predictable and routine. But is it possible to be so concerned
with “keeping it relevant” that we fail to nurture spiritual growth? Christians
today seek new “outside-the-box” innovations on the spiritual life, but Pastor
Rudoskipoints out that God prefers to keephis people “inside the box” with
clearboundaries, rituals, routines, rules, and defined authority structures. He
points out that real growthand spiritual maturity take place within the
normal, the conventional, and the routine.
Jesus Was Nota Rebelis not a Messianic Jewishbook. It’s a Christian book
written for a broad church readership, but it’s a messagethat every disciple
of Yeshua needs to internalize. The title says it all: Jesus Was not a Rebel. So
why are we?
PastorRudoskiand the entire ministry team and community of Faith Alive
Family Church in Saskatoonare goodexamples of how the church can benefit
by internalizing Messianic Jewishteaching. Theyare goodexamples of why
First Fruits of Zion wants to bring MessianicJewishteaching to both Jews
and Christians. It’s all part of the work of restoring the JewishnessofYeshua
and the gospelof the kingdom, and that’s something that should be relevant to
everyone.
About the Author: D. Thomas Lancasteris Directorof Educationat First
Fruits of Zion, the author of the Torah Club programs and severalbooks and
study programs. He is also the pastor of Beth Immanuel Sabbath Fellowship
in Hudson, WI. More articles by D. Thomas Lancaster

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Jesus, The RebelWith A Cause Series
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
based on 5 ratings
(rate this sermon)
| 11,681 views
Scripture: Mark 3:1-6
Denomination: Methodist
Summary: Throughout the Gospelof Mark, we see a growing opposition to
Jesus from the Pharisees andthe other religious leaders of the day. To
understand that, we need to look at the religious landscape Jesus ministered in
1 2 3 4
Next
Jesus, the Rebel With a Cause
Throughout the Gospelof Mark, we see a growing oppositionto Jesus from
the Phariseesand the other religious leaders of the day. To understand that,
we need to look at the religious landscape Jesus ministeredin. In Jesus’time,
there were three sects of Jews andthen the rest of the population. Through
the Gospelaccount, we find that Jesus is in conversationwith these three
groups. Mostof what Jesus taught was not new but were elements takenfrom
eachof these three groups. So while Jesus startedin conversationwith these

groups, eachof them felt threatened by Him and moved the conversations to
confrontations. But who were these groups?
The Essenesare not directly mentioned in the Gospels but certainly referred
to. They were a very small monastic group which emphasized separating from
the evil in society, either in monastic communities or communities of faith in
towns across Israel. Theyalso separatedthemselves from Temple worship
because they believed the priests of the Temple were corrupted and thus their
leadership in worship was illegitimate. Some scholars believe that Nazareth
may well have been an Essene community meaning Jesus eitherhad close
contactwith them or direct participation. Jesus’conflictwith them was that
they removed themselves from the unclean rather than help them to be clean.
The Sadducees were a group of priests from the tribe of Levi and were the
wealthy upper class and educatedelite who were the priests and scribes. They
comprised approximately 10% of the population of Israel, about 50,000
people. They oversaw Temple worship which was the centerof Judaism. They
believed when you came to God, you came to the Temple and brought your
sacrifices.Theywere the most conservative ofthe Jews meaning the keptto
the oldestof traditions. They lookedat the Law of Moses,the first five books
of the Old Testamentas the only inspired Word of God. They had great
respectfor the rest of the Scriptures but the laws they followedwere only in
the first five books. Theydid not believe in the resurrectionof the dead or the
afterlife because it was not mentioned in the Law of Moses.And so everything
they believed and every practice of their faith was grounded in the first 5
books. The Sadducees hadthe most to lose because ofJesus. Jesus’growing
influence and following among the generalpopulation jeopardized not only
their influence on the religious life of Israel, but also the support of the
Romans who ruled through the Sadducees to keeppeace among the people.
On the other end of the spectrum were the Pharisees whosename means the
“calledout ones” or “setapart ones.” There were approximately 6000
Pharisees in Israelin Jesus’time, roughly 1% of the population, and many of
them resided in Jerusalemand in and around the Sea of Galilee. Theywere
the most prominent of the religious sectof Jesus’day in terms of their

influence over the generalpopulation, in part because they too came from the
lowerclass.
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While the Sadducees ruled over the temple, the Pharisees were the leaders of
the synagogue,the place where the majority of Jews wentfor worship, study
of the Hebrew Scriptures and discussionof how to apply them to life. They
were lay teachers ofthe law and their made emphasis was on holiness which
meant strict fulfillment of the law. They acceptedthe entire Old Testamentas
the word of God and believed in a number of things like angels and demons
and even life after death. The remnants of the Pharisees remaintoday in
Orthodox Judaism. They are the only sectto survive because whenthe
Temple was destroyedso were the Sadducees andthe Essenes’monastic
communities were destroyed in Rome’s suppressionof the rebellion of Israel
in 68 AD. Though Jews todaywould not considerthemselves Pharisees, they
are greatlyimpacted by them and their heritage.
Now the Phariseesemphasizedstrict adherence to the 613 laws ofMoses. To
be righteous before God, you have to make sure that people don’t
unintentionally violate any of the laws. So they createda setof rules around
the Law, called the oral law or mishnah, which actedas a hedge of protection
so people wouldn’t violate the Law. When commentary was added to the rules
and written down, it become knownas the Talmud. Forexample, take the
fourth commandment to keepthe Sabbath holy which said you shall not do
any work on the Sabbath. But what really qualifies as work? The oral law
clarified what work was. They came up with 39 different categories which
could be construedas work and in eachof those categories,there were dozens
of rules which defined what work was which violated the Sabbath. So now
instead of there being 613 laws, there are 1000’s ofrules on top of it. One
example was that a tailor was not to carry a needle with them on the Sabbath
because that was a toolof their trade and thus consideredwork to carry it.

Another rule was not to walk more than 2000 cubits or 3000 feeton the
Sabbath. Foodcannot be prepared on the Sabbath. TodayOrthodox Jews
have their own Sabbath rules which include not driving a car, riding a
motorcycle or a bike or even turning a light switch on or off. So the oral law
actedas a fence to protect you from breaking the law.
More than anything the Pharisees wantedto be holy and they called the
people of Israelto lead holy lives. But somewhere along the way, Jesus
thought they had gone astray. They had so emphasized the law that they failed
to follow the Spirit or purpose of the Law and thus God’s will. It is around
over the oral and written law where conflict arises betweenJesus andthe
Pharisees.Beginning in Mark Chapter 2 there are a series of events showing
an escalating conflictbetweenJesus and the Pharisees. All of these take place
in and around Capernaum. The historical context of this region is very
important to understanding the growing conflict with Jesus. This area had an
influx of settlers some 200 years before Jesus. Theywere Jews who had
decided to stay in Babylon after the exile but when they heard there was a
revolt in 200 BC and the government was under a Jewishcontrol, they
decided to return and begin preparations for the coming of the Messiah.
These settlers were Orthodox Jews whosemain concernwas holiness by
following the laws to the letter. So the region in which Jesus decides to do the
majority of his ministry is very conservative and strict in its adherence to the
Law.
The town of Capernaum is the home base of Jesus’ministry. He spends the
vast majority of his public ministry in and around this town and the Sea of
Galilee. In our Scripture today is the first scene ofthe clashbetweenthe
Pharisees andJesus. Some people bring their paralytic friend to Jesus and ask
him to be healed. Jesus seeing the Pharisees there turns to this man and says,
“Your sins are forgiven.” The Phariseesare unnerved by this and ask, “Who
has the right to forgive sins exceptGod?” That actually was a very good
question because it gets to the very heart of Jesus identity. Christians believe
that Jesus is God who walkedin the flesh here on earth. But Jesus says, “That
you may know the son in God in heavenhas the ability to forgiven sins, young
man take up your mat and walk.” This man who was paralyzed gets up and
walks. But the Pharisees are unnerved by this. That’s scene one.

Jesus was a rebel

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