"They hated me without a cause"

I'm not sure there can be a more solid verdict from the courtroom of God than this. Yet, how many times have I read over this verse (John 15:25) with about as much care as I would read about yesterday's Giants game?

What an incredible statement. "They hated me without a cause." What a picture it raises in my mind, of Isaiah 53, even as the Savior quotes from Psalms 35 and 69. It was God's will to crush him. This is the same God from Ps. 35:10: "O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?"

What business does this God have being hated? What enemies could this God possibly have?

Answer: Us. The World.

And symptomatic of the world's hate for the Savior, which is really hate for the Father (Jn. 15:23), is the hate the world harbors toward disciples of Jesus. We who follow Jesus have that target on our back as marks for the world's hatred of God the Father. What else could Jesus be talking about when he says the following in v. 21:

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

There's definately no lack of people in the world who would profess to know God, perhaps in their own way. Absolutely no shortage of people who come to God on their own terms, but doesn't the hate shown at the very least in a marginalization of Christians betray the world's bigger problem of a lack of knowledge/hatred toward God the Father? It seems like Jesus would have us think in these terms.

Jesus lays down some heavy instructions, explanations and promises for his disciples in this little section of John. He warns his disciples of two aspects of the world's hatred toward Jesus followers. First, Jesus advises his followers to be expecting the world's hatred as a continuation of its hatred for him.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

Don't be suprised or alarmed, in other words, just look at the hatred slung at Jesus and expect that it will continue to be directed at his followers, just as the servants of a house should expect to incur the same wrath unleashed on the master of the house (v. 20).

How incredible will our lives look when we grab ahold to this? Seeing that Christ has called us out of the world, called us his friends (v. 15) and in doing so has turned us against the world, how radical will our lives look?

If we understand that opposition against anything we could say or do for the kingdom of God relates directly to opposition against God himself, what kind of boldness are we going to have in our everyday lives? What kind of peace will we have, knowing that if we are hated, it is because Christ has loved us?

What kind of passion for the lost will we have as well, knowing that the world has become without excuse by rejecting the saving hand of God? What a tragedy that is, and how great is the great commission in light of that truth?

God has given us great promises, great marching orders and great peace, let's pour out our lives for the gospel and live every moment "Downtown in Gospel City".