In John 15:18-25 Jesus tells the disciples how the world will react to them as they continue teaching His message here on earth. He tells them that His message would cause the same reaction towards them as it did towards Him. Oddly we hear so many even within "churches" who excuse away all manner of things Jesus said needed to be rejected. Repentance was something Jesus spoke of often in scripture. He was one who broke with convention, as they knew it, but always called people to holiness based on God's Word.

He says as much in verse 21. He tells them the world will hate and persecute them, because those who hate and persecute them do not know God, nor do they know Him. Can we please remember who was His audience and who were those who hated and persecuted Him? They were the religious types who claimed to know God, for they were the Jewish elites, primarily. His disciples were also Jews who made up the early church. But notice how one group would hate and persecute the other.

If we look at this from a 21st century perspective we can see the same things at play here and now. There are the religious types who will reject a call to biblical conduct and holiness. They will try to convince people that biblical standards don't apply here and now. They will, of course, use the bible if they can find where they feel it agrees with them, but reject any contrary view. The secular world will also hate and persecute those who reflect Jesus and His teachings. This isn't hypothetical, it is demonstrable.

So here is the question, first to the church. Has the culture permeated the church so much that there is often blurred lines so that people can't tell where the culture ends and the church begins? Do the individual Christian, answer the same question.

We are never to go out of our way to be offensive, obnoxious, hypocritical, distant or condescending. Jesus was none of these things. He was indeed clear and forceful in His words and always loving. So, His disciples must be like their master and they will be accused of all those things. People will demonstrate their heart when they hear and see a demonstration of true disciples.

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