June 21, 2024
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:22, emphasis added.
Sign me up! Who doesn’t want to be hated by everyone? What kind of message is that? I guess Jesus didn’t take marketing and public relations 101 in school or graduate from Dale Carnegie training. Jesus not only told His aspiring followers that they would be hated, but also that they would be persecuted and even killed. Why would anyone want to sign up for that?
The truth of the gospel and knowing God are both attractive and compelling. As history shows us, countless people have joyfully committed themselves, even to the point of being persecuted, hated, and killed. Many have purchased the pearl of great price with their own blood.
If this word did not come from the lips of Jesus Christ, most people would call it a doom-and-gloom message and avoid it. We have all heard it said, “We need positive messages that uplift our spirits and fragile egos, not judgmental messages about sin, death, and eternal punishment.” It is remarkable how often Jesus delivered a ‘doom and gloom message’ to lead His listeners to the truth of the gospel of salvation. Did you know that Jesus preached more about hell than any other spiritual shepherd? Few churches today talk about a literal eternal hell.
Our secular world would say that this message from Jesus is not the way to win friends and influence people. Telling those who wish to follow Him that everyone will hate them is not the way to attract a following, according to the blind guides, even in Christianity today. It is certainly not what the secular world will tell you. Even many who profess to be Christians say that this harsh message is not the way to win people to Jesus Christ. According to Jesus, this is the truth and the way. In addition, His followers must understand and agree to it. But Jesus didn’t you know that you will get better results using honey rather than vinegar? Jesus didn’t think so.
Too many ‘Christians’ seek out prophets, teachers, and pastors who will tell them ‘smooth things’ or things they want to hear. These blind guides will say to them that God loves them unconditionally and that God will always be there for them, no matter how wicked they remain. They will tell them that once they are a child of God, they can never cease being a child of God, even if they sin like the devil.
The sheep want shepherds who will tell them they are special and the apple of God’s eye, no matter how they live. These false shepherds will say to them that their problem isn’t sin, but that they do not love themselves enough. It is not their wicked behavior. It is not their sin that is ruining their life and the lives of others depending on them. It is that they do not love themselves enough! But Jesus said that if you do not deny yourself and take up your cross, you can’t be His follower.
In addition, Jesus said if you save your life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for His sake, you will find it. To the spiritually minded, this makes perfect sense, but to the worldly minded, it is offensive.
Many Churches and Christians want to be loved. At a minimum, they want to be liked. They want to appear to be winsome and seeker sensitive, to be more attractive to the lost. How do they accomplish that? They compromise the truth to avoid offending. They focus on the benefits of the Christian life, not the requirements, nor the downsides. No doom and gloom! They want to focus on good works and leave the proclamation of the hard truth to others. They want to appear kind, tolerant, and reasonable. Compromise helps. Instead of rebuking sin and evil in others, our government and our institutions focus mainly on saying positive and uplifting things. To save the lost, the lost must like us, is their thinking. And they won’t like us if we are too harsh, honest, and candid. A doom and gloom message will drive people away from the gospel (and more importantly, church membership), which is their fear.
Jesus told His disciples that all would hate them. I think some Christians today believe they have figured out a better way to reach the target audience. I think they feel they can improve on Jesus’s methodology and message delivery. Why else would they refrain from delivering a candid message of the truth? By selectively speaking some truth in small doses, it seems that they believe the world will love them and not hate them. And they are correct, but very lost at the same time. Jesus never commanded us to make friends of sinners. He commanded us to love and save the lost and make disciples.
Elsewhere, Jesus said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you”. If everyone speaks well of you, then you are not doing your job as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Is that too harsh? Maybe you are not a genuine disciple, is that possible? Sounds pretty blunt to our soft Christian mind.
In this chapter, Jesus sent his apostles out to heal the sick and cast out demons. Those good deeds will gain approval from all, not hate. No one will be offended by receiving healing or a blessing. Might this explain why so many Christian events today focus on signs, wonders, gifts, blessings, healing, prosperity, and encouragement? In addition to healing the sick and casting out demons, the disciples were also told to preach the truth, and that is where the offense comes. The preaching of the truth is the reason all men will hate them. The truth that we must repent of our sins is never popular and most definitely offends when the lost understand that their sins are being addressed. Jesus said Whatever is hidden will be revealed. Our sin will find us out. Makes sense to me to take care of that now so it will be buried forever.
Most people, and that includes Christians, aspire to have everyone speak well of them, like them, and admire them. They go out of their way to make this a reality. Therefore, they rarely talk about the truth and confront error, sin, and unrighteousness. They end up standing for nothing of real and lasting significance out of fear of disapproval from others. They will tell sinners that they will still go to heaven even if they do not repent of any of their sins. They will tell homosexuals that God loves them no matter how they live and that God doesn’t expect them to repent of their homosexuality. They will tell “Christian” sinners that sinning is normal for Christians and that Christians can expect to sin in thought, word, and deed daily. They will tell “Christians” that repentance from sin is not a condition of salvation. They will tell “Christians” anything but the truth.
Christians should never seek to be offensive just for the sake of being offensive. But at the same time, Christians must speak the truth in love, even knowing that it will offend and cause others to reject and hate them. It might even result in persecution. If we lust after the approval of mankind, we will never have God’s approval.
“It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, that speak ye in the light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:25-28
Jesus proclaimed that we should fear Him who can send both body and soul to hell. In other words, we must fear God and not man. If we do fear God, we will be hated by others because we speak the truth in love. The world hates the truth, “because its deeds are evil”. Some professing Christians hate the truth, “because their deeds are evil”. Way too many Christians fear man and not God.
And this is the message of compromise preached from many evangelical pulpits in the USA. We are either with Jesus or against Him; there is no neutral ground. To be hated by all because of loyalty to the truth (Jesus Christ) is to be loved by God. Is that not the best choice?
