Opposed… like our Master

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

Matthew 10:24-25

It is a good thing when Christians get a bad rap in the world. Indeed, we are probably NOT following Jesus well if a sinful world speaks well of us. The world hates Jesus. Those who opposed Jesus in the gospels went so far as to attribute His undeniable spiritual power to Satan himself. So it would seem that the more Christians look and act like Jesus, the more persecution we should expect.

Jesus has already spoken of this in Matthew at the Sermon on the Mount, pronouncing blessing upon all those who are persecuted for the sake of His name (Matthew 5:10-12). On another occasion (Luke 6:26), Jesus warned His followers to see warm acceptance by the world as a danger sign… when people are well spoken of by sinners, they are more than likely false prophets. Followers of Jesus should never expect the acclaim of the world. You stand with Jesus, you stand with truth, life, and righteousness. A sin-filled world will always hate that.

I think we should get nervous when we hear Christians opine that the values of scripture are hated by the world. Jesus told us to expect to be hated. I wonder about kingdom confusion and misplaced priorities when a stated Christian objective among many is to make civil and political change (not kingdom change, not personal repentance, not gospel proclamation) a high vision of the church’s role in the world. It seems completely backwards to scripture for Christians to complain about being marginalized and then try to use the world’s own methods to be “liked”. 

Jesus made it clear: The world will seek to cancel His followers when they are following Him correctly! God help us to be living in such a way that this sinful, evil world, under the control of the evil one, wants to wipe us out! We live this way not because we are spoiling for a fight (we aren’t), but because we want to be like our Master! They tried (unsuccessfully) to cancel Jesus on a cross, but instead an empty tomb now resounds loudly with the echoes of a glorious transforming gospel. And even when we are opposed, and we should be opposed, God will make His truth victoriously known.