Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 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. 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. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 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. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 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. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
(ESV)
—John 15:18-25
by: Dale Rood.
“They hated me without a cause” (v.25). What sad words. Perhaps something to keep in mind is that our being loving and serving with love does not mean we will be loved. Love is not glossing over sin and patting people on the head and saying like some old grandpa, “Oh, that’s all right.” Love is presenting the truth in an honest and respectful way and allowing opportunity to respond to it. Let us also recognize that love is specific. It acknowledges the truth that Messiah Jesus is God come in the flesh and that only through Him can we overcome sin.