Pastor Brian teaches us this week how to be hated like Jesus was. If you follow Jesus with your whole life you will face opposition and persecution. This isn't a free pass for saying and doing whatever you want in order to bypass relationship and character development. Instead, we are reminded that one's hate towards us should stem from being made new, affiliated, and becoming the light to those you share your life with.

Let's read together.

Read

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated me for no reason.

Some key statements and questions put forward that are important for us to talk about…‍

Examine

"If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you."

• Jesus makes us new. It is through him that being "set apart" happens.

• Have you experienced persecution for being a different person or having been affiliated with Jesus?

‍"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin."

• How has Jesus illuminated sin in your own life?

• How did you respond to that illumination? Did you receive it or reject it?

“Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’"

• Do you have people around you who are willing to point out your blind spots?

• How do you serve God with your life? What has following Him cost you recently?

Apply

"People who live in the darkness don't want illuminating light.” Like a child walking into a bright room after a season of darkness, the light will take some adjusting to. Are there areas of your life where you are still adjusting to the regenerative life that Jesus has begun in you? What are those places?

‍“Make sure you're being hated for the right reasons.” Be hated for the light that oozes out of you. If you're honest, when was a time that you were disliked because you did something that brought further darkness to a situation instead of light? What could you have done differently to bring light to that instead?

‍"Suffering for Jesus is suffering with Jesus." Suffering and sacrifice develops a nearness to Jesus that is sacred ground. Are you willing to live at a cost to yourself? What is that cost? Have you counted it?

Act

The King is your dad. Ask God to reveal to you where you need to believe that you are a child of the King.

The Son is with you. Ask Jesus to reveal to you the places where you can suffer and sacrifice like he did.

The Spirit is in your chest. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength and discernment to know what's worth being hated for.

Amen.

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