Tag: hatred

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1 John

To have fellowship with God (part 2)

1 John

We saw yesterday that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. So if we are going to claim to have fellowship with him, then we need to be walking in that light with him.

If we try to explain away his commands or blatantly ignore them and still claim fellowship with him, we are liars.

John then gives one specific example which he will get back to again and again in this letter. He says,

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you had since the beginning. This old  command is the message you have heard.

Yet I am writing you a new command; it’s truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. (1 John 2:7-8)

What is this old/new command?

I think John is specifically referring to loving your neighbor, although as we will see in later passages, loving your neighbor goes a long way to proving your love for God too.

In Moses’ law, God said to love your neighbor as yourself. That was the old command.

But the new command as seen in Jesus is this: to love one another, not merely as we love ourselves, but as Jesus himself loved us. (John 13:34-35)

In short, it is to know the love of God so much in our lives, that his love can’t help but flow out of our lives to others.

And so John says that this truth is not just seen in Jesus, but in us who truly believe in him. For his true light of love is already shining in our hearts, while the darkness which formerly marked our hearts is departing.

Therefore, John says,

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in darkness; he does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him. (2:9-11)

All this links right back to chapter 1 verses 5-7. There is no way we can claim to have fellowship with God if we hate our brother. A person who hates is still walking in darkness, not light.

This hatred can manifest itself in bigotry or racism of course. It can also manifest itself in jealousy or envy.

But one place it most often manifests itself is in unforgiveness. And many people stumble around in darkness, bound in bitterness and hatred because they can’t forgive.

And like I said before, for such people, it can be very easy to either try to explain away scripture or blatantly ignore it, all the while holding on to their hatred toward the person that hurt them.

But if we truly understand the love God has for us and the forgiveness he has extended toward us, can we truly hold on to that hatred?

A true child of God can’t.

Now I’m not saying that Christians should never struggle with unforgiveness. They do. And it’s not easy to forgive, especially when the pain is deep.

But if you are truly born of God, you cannot simply stay in the darkness. You cannot make excuses for your hatred, saying things like, “What he did was unforgiveable. I can’t forgive. I won’t forgive!”

To say such things is to step out of light into utter darkness. And to claim to still have fellowship with God in that state is to make yourself a liar.

A true child of light will step out into the light and receive the healing touch of Jesus. And by his grace and power, they will forgive.

How about you? Is there someone you hate? That you can’t forgive? You can’t hold on to those things and have fellowship with God.

Healing will require time. It will require prayer. It will require emotional support from your brothers and sisters in Christ. It may require counseling. And it will definitely require the love and power of God’s Spirit working in your life.

But stop making excuses, and step out into the light.

Until you do, you will find your relationship with God stunted, if not impossible.

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Romans

When people hate us

Romans

One thing that the early Christians had to face, and Christians have to face to this day is hatred and persecution.

And Paul told the church how to handle it. He said,

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14)

Those words echo what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount.

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)

Jesus himself, lived out those words. When he was on the cross, facing those who put him there, he prayed,

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)

We are to do the same. When we let bitterness consume us, it destroys us.

So Paul says, “Let go of bitterness and resentment to those who hurt you. Instead, pray for them.”

He goes even further in verse 17 saying,

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. (Romans 12:17)

Rather,

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

The wording is perhaps not the best here. Paul is not saying, “Follow the moral standards of the people around you.”

He’s saying, “In the eyes of the people around you, whether they persecute you or not, do what is right.”

And that of course means not giving into bitterness or anger and taking revenge.

He then says,

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)

Sometimes this means simply agreeing to disagree agreeably.

Sometimes this means we need to apologize to someone even if we feel they shouldn’t have been hurt by something we did.

Sometimes it means finding a middle ground in which you don’t have to compromise the Word of God.

I have friends here in Japan, for example, that refuse to go to any Buddhist funeral or memorial ceremony, but they will go out of their way to serve their family or friends after the ceremonies in any way they can.

Finally, Paul tells us,

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12:19-20)

In short, remember justice belongs to God, not you. God will bring all people to account for what they’ve done. So don’t give in the desire to “fight fire with fire.”

And again, don’t hold on to bitterness. It will only eat you up.

Rather, follow the example of Jesus and show his love to them.

Who knows? Through your actions, they may actually come to Christ.

I wonder how much Stephen’s prayer (Acts 7:60) for those who were killing him ate at Paul before Paul himself finally came to Christ.

So as Paul concludes,

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

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John John 15 John 16

An occupational hazard

John

I remember one time working for a church here in Japan, and the pastor’s daughter was working at a Christian pre‑school.

One day, she complained that one of her students stabbed her hand with a pair of scissors. (Fortunately, it was a blunt one, but still.)

Later on, she told me, “We need an English teacher at our school. Don’t you want to come?”

Needless to say, I declined. Getting stabbed in the hand is one occupational hazard I could do without. 🙂

As Christians, however, we do face an “occupational hazard” that we cannot avoid.

If we are going to testify for Christ, there will be people that will get angry with us. There will even be people that will hate us for it. Jesus said,

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Remember the words I spoke to you: “No servant is greater than his master.”

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. (John 15:18–21)

Jesus was perfect love. He lived a perfect life. And still people hated him. Can we expect to escape the same fate as Jesus?

This is not to say that all will hate us. Some will love us for telling them the truth about Jesus. But to expect no conflict at all is unrealistic unless you compromise the message.

And unfortunately, far too many Christians do. Why? Because they don’t want to be hated. They don’t want the conflict.

I’m not saying that we should go out of our way to generate conflict and hatred. We’re going to generate enough as it is just by representing Jesus.

But neither should we be afraid of conflict by telling people the truth. Not just part of the truth, but the “whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27)

Jesus never shrank back from it. Why should we?

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Luke Luke 22

Preparing to face a hostile world

Luke

As Jesus led his disciples out of the upper room, he asked them,

When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything? (Luke 22:35)

This is referring to the two times he sent out the disciples to preach the gospel throughout Israel (Luke 9 and 10).

At those times, he told the disciples to bring no provisions with them, but to rely on the hospitality of those they were reaching out to.

And at that time, at the height of his popularity, that was perfectly fine. Despite hostility they might face, there would always be people to welcome them. (Luke 22:35b)

But now, the situation would be changing. Jesus would be “numbered among the transgressors,” (37-38) and they would face more hostility than ever. People who once might have welcomed them would do so no longer.

So Jesus warned them, saying,

Now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. (36)

In short, “It’ll be even more dangerous for you out there than ever before because you follow me. Be prudent. Be careful.”

But Jesus’ disciples responded,

See, Lord, here are two swords. (38)

In other words, “Lord, don’t worry. We’ll take anyone down that comes after us.”

Peter would later show that exact attitude in the garden of Gethsemane.

So Jesus curtly and perhaps exasperatedly told them,

That is enough. (38)

Jesus’ point wasn’t that they should turn to violence against those who attacked them, but simply that they should be prepared to face a hostile world.

But Jesus’ words were not just for the disciples, they were for us.

As we’ll see later in John, Jesus specifically warns us that people will hate us on account of him. There will be persecution. And he basically tells us that we shouldn’t be surprised by this when it happens.

So while we are to love and reach out to those who are lost, we are also to be on our guard. People will hate us. People will betray us. People will hurt us. Even those we love.

Because of this, let us always remember the words of Jesus when he told his disciples,

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men… (Matthew 10:16-17)

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John John 7

When you tell the truth

John

As I look at this passage, there is one more thing that strikes me, and so we’ll stay here one more day.

When you tell God’s truth, people will not always take it well. Often times, they respond with disbelief, and other times, they will even respond with hatred.

Jesus faced both. As we saw yesterday, even his own brothers didn’t believe in him, and so they mocked him.

But as Jesus told them his reasons for not going, he also said this:

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. (John 7:7)

I was reading an article today about a man who is being heavily criticized for saying homosexuality is sinful. The truth is, it seems nowadays in America that if you dare to say that publicly, you’re labeled bigoted and intolerant.

It is a perfect fulfillment, in fact, of what Jesus says here. When we testify that what the world does is evil, they will hate us for it, and they will persecute us.

That said, and I’ve mentioned this before, there is a right way to tell the truth, and a wrong way. We are to tell people the truth not because we hate them, but because we love them.

I warn my four-year old daughter all the time, “Don’t run out in the parking lot! Don’t run out in the street! Sooner or later, you’ll get hit by a car if you do.”

Why do I say that? Because I love her. Because I don’t want her to be hurt.

And that’s the same attitude that we should have when we warn people of their sin. It shouldn’t be because we despise or hate them, no matter how despicable their sin. We need to tell them because we love them and want their best.

We need to tell them because our deepest hope is that they be saved, and that they don’t see the consequences of their sin. That instead, they would know God’s grace and mercy in their lives.

But know that if we tell the truth, even in love, people will not always believe us and will even hate us for it.

Jesus was the perfect Son of God. Yet people disbelieved him and hated him to the point that they crucified him. Can we expect any different for ourselves?

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Psalms

When people hate us

Psalms

When I was a kid, I had a friend that I would often hang out with.  But by the time we hit junior high school, we had kind of drifted apart, and it soon became evident that he really didn’t like me.  To this day, I’m not completely certain why.

How do we deal with these kinds of people?

David certainly experienced this.  Though David did nothing to deserve it, he experienced the wrath and hatred of King Saul.  And it was perhaps during his time of fleeing from Saul that he wrote this psalm.

David opens by praying,

Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.

Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid.

Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me.  (Psalm 35:1-3)

One thing that we see about David is that when dealing with those who hated him, he always left the fighting in God’s hands.  He said, “Lord, please fight for me.  You be my defender.”

Even so, it was probably difficult for him to remember to do this and not take things into his own hands, and so he prayed,

Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”  (3)

In other words, “Remind me Lord that you’re on my side.  Remind me that you will deliver me so that I don’t try to avenge myself.”

What’s really amazing to me is his attitude towards those who hated him.

Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.

When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.

I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.  (13-14)

You actually see this attitude when David heard about the death of Saul.  When he heard of Saul’s and Jonathan’s death, he not only mourned for Jonathan who was David’s best friend, but he wept for the man who had tried to kill him.

It is the kind of attitude, in fact, that Jesus had.  In fact, I see a lot of Jesus in this psalm.

Like David, Jesus had false accusers coming against him (11), and people mocking and slandering him (15-16).

And yet, he prayed for them, even as they were crucifying him.

God calls us to do the same.  In 1 Peter, the apostle wrote,

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.  (1 Peter 2:21)

In particular, Peter is talking about suffering for doing what’s right.  And he’s saying that because Jesus endured suffering in order to save us, we should also endure suffering for righteousness’ sake.

But we also see in this passage more on how Jesus responded to those who hated him.  And in this, we are to follow in Jesus’ steps as well.  How did Jesus respond?

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his   mouth.”

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.

Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  (1 Peter 2:22-23)

How about you?  When people hate you and hurt you without cause, do you follow in Jesus’ steps?