18 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: 'They hated me without a cause.'
- John 15: 18-25
For anyone who has not been living under a rock for the past 3 weeks in Singapore, you would know of the "AWARE saga" which has been played up dramatically both in the mainstream media as well as over the internet. There is certainly no need for me to go into detail that which could be easily ascertained over the internet nor would I be commenting directly on the episode itself.
However, what is most striking and telling about this entire episode, and what I have observed over the past year or so, is the wild reaction against Christians and Christianity in general. One need only to browse the myriad of internet forums and online discussion groups for a few months to realize that topics with regards to Christianity more often then not receive more derogatory and negative comments rather than positive ones. And no doubt some of these comments are well-deserved and the issues themselves indefensible. How on earth can one justify paying a pastor half a million dollars or spending tens of millions of dollars on a souped-up church cum entertainment complex without feeling a wee bit foolish in the process. How can one justify the invitation and promotion of a "preacher" who has deviated so wildly from the Truth of God's Word that one could indict it as heretical? Is it not true, as the Apostle Paul wrote to his Jewish readers, that "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." (Romans 2:24) Much of what professing Christianity has done in the name of Christ has brought His Name into ill-repute. Men now mock the name of Christ and hold it in derision.
But that is not the main point of this post. While I acknowledge that some of what professing Christianity does deserves the mockings of the World, the lost man will hate true Christianity, as Christ prophesied way before our time. I believe it was Paul Washer who said that the whole world would not be converted if we all lived like Jesus, rather we would all be in prison or crucified. That is because while Jesus never gave Man a cause to hate Him, Man by nature are haters and enemies of God (cf. Rom 1:30, Rom 5:10) because Man is evil while God is Holy. Man recoils at the Holiness of God, and as the Apostle Paul writes in his damning indictment of mankind called Romans chapter 1, suppresses the truth of God his creator.
Throughout human history, Man has sought to deny God His rightful place as Creator and Lord over all creation, whether by raising physical idols to debunking His existence through science and human wisdom (think evolution) and now the latest in this series, the practical denial of any absolute standard of Truth. "All is subjective!" is the mantra of post-modern Man. Who is to say what is right and what is wrong. Judge not lest ye be judged.
The true Church of Jesus Christ has always faced the hatred of the World, whether it be from outside the physical church or from those false teachers/believers within who have "crept in unnoticed" (Jude 4). Therefore it is of little surprise that people should despise Christianity for her stand on homosexuality or for morals in general. There is simply no room for compromise or toleration of a sin that the Lord has explicitly condemned. (cf. Leviticus 18:22, 20:13) Man will continue to rebel against a God who has written His Law upon their hearts (Rom 2:14-15), and apart from a gracious work of the Lord in regeneration, will continue to rebel his way into eternal Hell.
Are we called then to love and minister to homosexuals? Of course, for what then is a homosexual but a sinner in need of grace, just as the adulterer and murderer are, to break free from the bondage of sin. But the Christian who approves of a person in homosexuality as a permissible lifestyle, that is not in need of repentance, is like one who approves the viewing of pornography or dishonesty in business as acceptable.
Will we be labeled as bigots? Will we be called unloving and people who "do not follow the example of Christ's love" even by those within the visible church? Will we be called ignorant, irrelevant, archaic, etc....? Yes, of course and most definitely. Therefore my friends, let us not be surprised or disheartened, as our Lord has predicted we will suffer for bearing His Name. But He who justified us will one day glorify us in Him and indeed let us count the sufferings of this present age unworthy to be compared with the glories to come.
So let us stand firm on Christ, the Rock of our Salvation. Soli Deo Gloria
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