The World Tells Us How It Really Feels
The recent display at the Paris Olympics stirred up a lot of controversy. Conservative sites are outraged (see here and here), liberal sites are bemused and the event’s creator is defensive. At least some on the Paris organizing committee are feeling the heat, since they offered a “non-apology apology.”
The event reminded me of 1 Jn 3.13: “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.”
Daniel Akin, in his commentary on the verse points out that the conditional statement in the verse is a first-class condition in Greek, which assumes the truth of its premise. Sometimes we translate that as “since” — “do not be surprised, since the world hates you.”
The hatred of the world for Christ and Christians is “an historical fact” says David Martyn Lloyd Jones.1 He goes on, “This is one of the great principles which we find in the Bible from the beginning.
All the way back to Cain and Abel, as 1 Jn 3.12 references:
not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
Lloyd-Jones points out that the difference between Cain and Abel was “in Cain, not Abel.” Nothing Abel did in the encounter was wrong. He offered an acceptable sacrifice to God, and Cain did not. The fault was in Cain. The same story is found in the conflict between Joseph and his brothers. The fault was in the brothers. Or consider Saul and David. Who hated whom? Who sought to end life, who sought to preserve life? Ultimately the Lord Jesus came on the scene and the world hated him too.
Jesus asked his enemies why they wanted to stone him:
Jn 10.31-33 ¶ The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”
In this moment, we see something of where the hatred lies. Jesus enemies did not hate him for his good works. They flocked to see him work his works. They were glad to see his works, even if they didn’t follow him or believe in him. The works were amazing, attracted attention and approval.
The same could be said for our good works as Christians. If we were just about good works, what reason would the world have to kick at us? Often Christians make the mistake of thinking that if we just are nice enough (and we should be nice), or if we are kind enough (and we should be kind), and do enough good (and we should do good), then the world will like us and even listen to our message.
That is where we have it wrong. The world doesn’t mind our good works.
It’s our message they can’t stand.
Our message is that Jesus Christ appeared in the world to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for sins, enabling anyone who will call on his name to have eternal life. That message lay behind Jesus “making Himself out to be God” (to paraphrase Jn 10.33). That message, if accepted, marks the vital difference between the Christian and the world, and it rebukes the unbelieving world for its unbelief. Again, to turn to Lloyd-Jones: “because we are so different, it feels condemned. If feels lost, and it hates the feeling of condemnation, so it hates us.”2
What should we say, then, to the world which so regularly mocks Christianity, blasphemes Christ, and hates Christians, especially if they dare preach the gospel?
We should simply carry on living for Christ, preaching the gospel, doing good for all men, praying for those who despitefully use us and calling on God to bring about justice in our world. The men and women in the recent scandalous display, no matter how they want to justify themselves, will never escape their accountability to God. That is, unless they repent and flee to Christ.
Let’s give them Christ, then. Let’s preach the gospel. Let’s call our friends and neighbours to repentance and faith in Christ. There is no hope for them anywhere else.
And let’s leave our hurt feelings in the ears of Jesus, letting him make things right in his own good time.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
For the audio version of this article: The World Tells Us How It Really Feels (substack.com)
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Photo by Peter Robbins on Unsplash