“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.” – John 15:20-21 (ESV)
Yesterday, we read how Peter urged faith believers to
anticipate suffering. It wasn’t for acting wrongly with justice being a rightful
consequence. No, it was suffering that would come simply because of their
commitment to Jesus Christ.. In our passage today Jesus explains why His
followers should expect the same kind of treatment from the world that the
world gives to Him. The fact that Jesus was persecuted to the point of death
for rightly claiming to be one with God is the reason we should not be alarmed
when the world attacks our proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God. Many, in
what we still identify as “evangelical” institutions and denominations have in
their leadership those that deny the deity of Jesus Christ as well as his
virgin birth and resurrection. Now those who continue to believe in the Christ are
finding opposition to their faith. Jesus said it would happen; it’s coming from
those that “know not who sent Jesus.” We should expect to be treated like He
was treated because those who deny who His is don’t know God; conversely those
who listen with faith to Him, hear Him and know He is God.
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