Welcome to Day 2166 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Gospel of John – 32 – The Promise of Persecution – Daily Wisdom

The Gospel of John -  Part 4 Confirmation of the Word - The Promise of Persecution

Today we continue our Good News series according to John the Apostle. Last week, Jesus taught us to keep his command to love one another, and in doing so, we would be elevated to the status of being His friend, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” As Jesus's friend, and with the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, taking up residence in us, we will have the strength to endure, even when the world hates us, and we may suffer persecution for our faith. Our scripture for today is John 15:18 -16:4. "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 what I told you: 'A servant is not 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. I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.” The Work of the Holy Spirit "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father-the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father-he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. "All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you.” As I prepared this message, I had to reflect on how best to apply it to today's church. Most commentaries want to frame it in the light of persecution in the end times, but that stretches the context of this passage, which focuses on the persecution the disciples would soon face. I think the best lesson this passage for us today is that in times of peace or persecution, as citizens of God's kingdom, our lives should reflect the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. That being said, without a doubt, the constitution of the United States of America was crafted based on Judeo-Christian principles, and although the founding members of our nation had many flaws, many were also of the same mindset. Because of this, many Christians felt that we were, or are, a Christian nation. I do my best not to be political in my messages because our focus as citizens of God's kingdom is to share the Good News we have been learning in John. While it appears that the tide is shifting away from God more rapidly each day for the United States, and in many Western nations, the church worldwide is still flourishing and growing like never before. The countries where the kingdom of God is growing most rapidly have much less freedom than we do in the US. Some countries have little freedom to worship, yet God's kingdom continues to flourish. While I pray that we will see the tide turn back toward Biblical precepts in our country and throughout the world, since the time of Christ, the church has always blossomed amidst persecution. Now, if God calls us as believers to take on an active in turning that tide back to a country based on Biblical precepts, we must do so while demonstrating the Fruit of the Spirit to everyone we come in contact with. Instead of resorting to name calling, corrupt politics, rioting, and constantly trying to destroy anyone who disagrees, wouldn't it be refreshing to see our elected representative display Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” God expects this fruit to be self-evident in everyone who claims to be a citizen of His Kingdom. So these questions for each of us are the basis of our message today. If outright persecution of Christians comes to our nation, will you maintain your stand for Christ? Will your life demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit? Will you love those who hate and persecute you? The words of Jesus should be particularly relevant to us. We, like the disciples, receive these words during a time of relative peace and security. But our future is no less sure than theirs was on the eve of Jesus' arrest. As the Savior prepared the remaining eleven disciples for ministry after His physical departure from the world, He urged them to draw strength from God through obedience and to nurture one another in the same kind of love shared within the Trinity. But He also wanted to prepare the disciples for the reality of persecution that would soon come. While final victory is assured, the followers of Jesus are soldiers in a great conflict between two supernatural realms: the kingdom of God and the world system ruled by Satan-the forces of light and darkness (John 1:5; 3:19-21; 8:12; 12:36; 1 Jn. 1:5-7; 2:8-11; Rev. 21:23-24; 22:5). We live in an age worldwide with more freedom and equality than ever before. Although, as an eternal optimist, I see a possible future for the world where lives worldwide are lifted to a higher standard of living with advances in technology, knowledge, and communications, we do not know what lies between now and when Jesus Christ will return to usher in the Kingdom. So we must plan for the best, while preparing spiritually for persecution as Christians, should it come. In this passage, we will discover answers to four questions concerning the nature of this conflict and our role as believers in the midst of it:

• Who will side with the world system against God's kingdom?
• What will the enemies of God's kingdom do?
• Why is it a possibility that this conflict may take place?
• How shall we conduct ourselves during the conflict?

15:18-19 Jesus identified the enemy of God's kingdom as "the world." The construction of the Greek sentence and the use of the term translated in verse 18 as "if the world hates you" indicates that the condition is assumed to be true. This would be like a man saying, "If the sun comes up tomorrow, I'll be playing golf" In other words, the man will be on the fairways the following day. Therefore, we can substitute "if" with "because." “The world" does not mean the planet Earth, per se. Instead, "the world" represents the fallen world system, which operates according to Satan's values and is subject to the curse of sin (Gen. 3:14-19). "The world" also represents the portion of humanity that lives by this system's values and willingly serves its ends. Jesus originally came to redeem the world (John 3:17; 12:47), but He was rejected by the world (3:18; 12:48); therefore, He began to separate "His own" from the world (10:14, 26-27; 13:1; 15:19). His crucifixion would formally declare the dividing line between the kingdoms of God and the kingdom of this world controlled by Satan. Jesus's resurrection would demand a choice from each individual. While there is still some tolerance in most countries for believers, when push comes to shove, we may find that the world either loves or hates, with little neutral ground. The world loves or hates depending on whether one agrees with it. The world's disposition is primarily conditional. As we see more and more, tolerance is only one-sided. Some claim tolerance, but only as long as you agree with them. Unfortunately, we also see many of the same traits within the ranks of those who claim to be Christians. This should not be. We should be distinctively different, even to the point of persecution, if necessary, to build God's kingdom. Yes, the world system may be arrogant, rude, unkind, immoral, hateful, and have nothing to do with God. We should be distinctively different, exemplifying the Fruit of the Spirit. How will we -reach the world for God's kingdom if there is no difference? The kingdom of God is growing each day, but it will not be fully complete until Christ returns. (Already, but not yet) The world system is in opposition to God's kingdom (Galatians 5:19-21). Yes, many higher education institutions and many in the political spectrum attempt to influence and control the world mindset. They are antithetical to God. They would like to have Him removed from the modern narrative. However, we should not be shocked by this. Jesus said, have chosen you out of the world. He chose us to be citizens of God's kingdom. So we should not be surprised if we do face persecution. As long as we live free, we can work to make a difference and stop persecution. If there are legal, non-violent methods to combat this persecution, we should avail ourselves of them, but in the Spirit of God. 15:20-24 The Fruit of the Spirit is Love. The fruit of the world is hatred and persecution. Jesus promised His closest followers that persecution would be their reward in the world. The Greek term translated "persecute" means "to put to flight," or "to pursue." In persecution, hatred becomes deliberate, not merely coincidental. The world will pursue Christians for the sake of venting its hatred. It is interesting, though, that persecution in Jesus's day was first concentrated in the house of God under the guise of true devotion and religion. From there, it spread throughout the government of Rome. Before Jesus came to earth, the world's hatred had little opportunity for expression. It had killed the Lord's prophets, polluted His words, ignored His warnings, and turned His house into a den of robbers, but a case could be made-however thin, for doubt or misunderstanding. But when God presented Himself in person, in the flesh of humanity, and fulfilled every messianic expectation, He left all of humanity no excuse for rejecting Him. The flesh of God's Son became the occasion for "the world" - those who reject Christ-to expose their hatred for their Creator and, thus, consummate their sin. 15:25 Jesus explained the reason for the world's war on the kingdom of God: because believers are not of the world and the world hates what is not of it (15:19), and because the world does not acknowledge (or "know") God as its sovereign (15:21) and therefore rejects Christ as His emissary. Furthermore, the world persecutes believers to fulfill its destiny (15:25). The world is constitutionally predisposed to hate anything associated with God; therefore, it cannot behave any other way. The earthly ministry of Jesus is one grand illustration of this truth, which John foreshadowed in the prologue of his narrative (1:5, 8-11). 15:26-27 The Lord's abrupt mention of the Holy Spirit was purposeful. The Spirit's role in the believer's life is to provide supernatural courage in the face of persecution. Suffering often brings doubt. The Holy Spirit will testify to the truth of Jesus Christ within believers and through believers to their persecutors and others who witness their persecution. Jesus explained the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers and the plan of God to proclaim the truth in the world. But speaking of the Father and Son as separate beings concerning the Spirit is inappropriate. The Father, Son, and Spirit are three persons and one God. 16:1-3 John 16:1-4 narrative belongs with chapter 15, but unfortunately, it was split when chapter and verse designation centuries later were added. "All this I have told you" refers to everything Jesus had to say about the believer's relationship with the world, which is strained at best, hostile at other times, and can become deadly. Jesus revealed this to the disciples so they would not be startled and stumble in their spiritual walk. However, as with many of Jesus' lessons, they did not take heed, and all stumbled and fell. Upon His arrest, they fled. During His crucifixion, most hid. Before His resurrection, all despaired. After His resurrection, they doubted. And before the coming of the Holy Spirit, they faltered. Only after receiving the Holy Spirit did they act decisively and speak boldly. Jesus predicted the scourge of religion upon the backs of genuine believers. Indeed, religious people would kill believers thinking they were pleasing the Lord. An example is Paul, who later became an apostle: He was among the crowd of religious authorities who murdered the first Christian martyr, Stephen (Acts 7:54- 8:1). 16:4 This verse concludes the Lord's teaching in this section. It also transitions the conversation away from the inevitable persecution after Jesus' departure, toward the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The Lord recognized that His words would have little meaning at the time; the disciples still did not understand what was about to happen or why. But at the appropriate time, His words would come to mind and help them make sense of the tribulation they faced. They wouldn't have to wonder. Are we struggling through persecution because of some failure on our part? No, persecution was expected, a normal consequence of living in hostile territory during the great conflict between good and evil, between the Lord representing the Kingdom of God and the ruler of this world, Satan. Although Christ may return without persecution to all sectors of Christianity worldwide, we should spiritually prepare that it may happen. Because of the 24/7 news cycles and the social media platforms, it is more evident today, than it has been for many decades. The line between satire and spite is surprisingly thin. Humor at the expense of any particular group invites hatred, and hatred blazes a trail for persecution. Unfortunately, we see it on both fringes of the political spectrum. As citizens of God's kingdom, we must be careful not to get swept up in the melee of the political rhetoric that is so prevalent today. We should not be surprised if we are again headed for a time of persecution. It has happened repeatedly throughout all of recorded history. Jesus warns us in today's passage. Application: John 15:18-16:4 Spiritual Preparation for Persecution Christians in the Western world have enjoyed a long period of relative peace and remarkable authority founded on Biblical precepts, particularly in the United States. But we must accept that this has been in the greater scheme of world history. Our summer in the sun could give way to the dark of winter. Yet, if the Church lives as citizens of God's Kingdom worldwide and our lives show forth the Fruit of the Spirit in all our interactions with the world, we can still have a powerful impact and stave off some persecution. In either scenario, it should not change who we are and how we should live. We must prepare ourselves either way. Jesus explained how He prepared His disciples for the problematic hours before them. First, rely upon the Holy Spirit to supply wisdom, abilities, and courage. "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father­ the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father-he will testify about me.” He promised the Spirit would provide all believers what they need to bear witness of Jesus Christ faithfully. Second, faithfully proclaim divine truth and stand firm (15:27). While battling immorality and pursuing social justice is commendable, our primary mission is to "testify." And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. The only effective weapon against evil is truth. The Holy Spirit will bring knowledge of Jesus Christ to mind and enable us to communicate His truth while still displaying the Fruit of the Spirit. Standing for truth may bring persecution. The Holy Spirit will supply supernatural courage to endure evil with dignity. Third, keep from being trapped by evil (16:1). The Greek verb translated as "fall away" is skandalizo. The main idea carried by the term is "closing on something," like a spring-loaded rabbit trap. It later became the word of choice for deliberately placing a trip hazard in the path of another to cause a fall. I like the NLT of 16:1,"I have told you these things so that you won't abandon your faith.” Jesus urged His disciples to abide (remain), that is, obey His command to love one another, to avoid falling into the world's trap. When we fail to love one another, we behave like the world, which serves ourselves at the expense of others. Fourth, never forget that persecution may come, and the rise of evil is likely (16:4). Jesus warned His disciples that evil would appear to enjoy victory upon His death and burial. Still, His suffering was part of the divine plan to redeem humanity from the beginning. He suffered and died to atone for humanity's sin, not because of any specific failure by the remaining eleven disciples. We must never forget that evil will enjoy short-term victories, but Christ has already conquered evil, sin, disease, suffering, death, and decay. Persecution may come, and even if it becomes fatal, death is not the end of life. The resurrection awaits, and we will exist beyond the world's reach and affliction. We must never forget that, one day, Christ will return to defeat all evil and restore His kingdom, that Global Eden. He was vindicated through His resurrection; we will be vindicated through resurrection. As citizens of God's kingdom, we are asked to endure persecution for proclaiming Christ. At times it does appear that we have to live in a world and culture that is becoming increasingly upside down, and at odds with