Though The World Hates You, God Loves You
From the age of 8 to 22 Pete thought that he was a Christian. He had been baptized at his home church in Burlington, Alabama when he was a child. But in 1967 playing baseball in Rocky Mount, North Carolina after he had signed a contract for the Detroit Tigers farm team, Pete had a radical change of heart. After reading the book, The Bobby Richardson Story, Pete prayed, Lord, I know I’m not the man you meant for me to be. Please, Lord, make me that man.
The ball players and fraternity brothers that were Pete’s close friends at Auburn enjoyed partying, drinking and carousing. When Pete became a dedicated follower of Christ in 1967 he revisited Auburn to see his old fraternity friends. He discovered they no longer had anything in common. Pete realized that they were no longer friends. They tried to draw him back into the emptiness of worldly pleasures from which God had delivered him.
Jesus said, If you follow me, the world will hate you. If the world hated me, they will hate you also. Jesus said, if you are my disciple, many of your old friends will forsake you. Jesus used the word hate…. Hate is the polar opposite of the agape love of God. Hate is of the world… it is antagonistic to every good thing that God has promised us according to his great love wherewith he loved us.
To follow Christ requires transformation from within. According to Romans 12:1-2, I beseech you therefore brethren, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable act of worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
When we approach God in prayer and expect God to answer our prayer, James 4:3-4 says, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
You can’t serve two gods at the same time. The world perceives the hypocrisy of those who think they are righteous in their deeds but then keep sliding back into worldly sins. People of this world see this double-mindedness and insincere religion. The hypocrisy of double minded so-called Christians is apparent to the world.
In St Augustine’s confessions, he prayed that God would deliver him from the lust of the flesh, but secretly he prayed that God would not deliver him because he still enjoyed the pleasure of lust.
Jesus said, I am the narrow gate and the narrow way. The way of Jesus Christ is narrow because there is a distinct way to follow Christ. We all sin even after having been saved. When a Christian falls, he falls into God’s net of grace. By God’s mercy and grace God makes a way to return to the narrow way…. For if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
James 4:5-7 continues: Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
The world will hate Christians because the world hated Jesus Christ. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. To return to the Lord requires a broken heart to come before God’s throne of grace, forsaking our pride with a heart of humility and meekness. As David prayed in Psalm 51:9-12, Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. try me and know my heart and see if there is any unclean thing in me. Create in me a new heart O Lord…
When a Christian falls, he will hate it when he falls. Whom the lord loves, he chastises…. He corrects. To correct means to return to an upright position. The good news of the gospel is that our righteousness is not in our sinful flesh…. Righteousness is in the spirit of God in Christ in us.
Therefore Peter says, Casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
James 4:8-10 continues: Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you,
Fight the good fight…. The battlefield is in the mind, for We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high. To resist the devil, we need to put on the whole armor of God…. Our loins protected by the belt of truth, our Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of Christ, putting on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness, and taking the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.
We may not be able to change the nation or the world, but through the spirit of God in Christ, we can change our own hearts through God’s love, mercy and grace.
That even though the world will oppose us, we may live to the praise of the glory of God’s grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
