What if truly following Christ meant being hated and rejected by the world?

“Are you trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? If you are trying to please people, you are not a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

You know, they actually used to differentiate the true gospel from a false teaching by whether or not the world listened.

“They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” 1 John 4:5-6

So that means if you are loved by the world then you are of the world (John 15:19). Maybe our goal as Christians isn’t for everyone to like us but quite the opposite. I think it’s interesting that there are three different verses in the bible where Jesus states “everyone will hate you because of Me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13 & Luke 21:17 & Matthew 10:22), if He has to say it three times then it must be important. We are thoroughly warned about the hate we are going to receive because of Jesus, and if we are going to be receiving that hate because of Him, then we know we’re doing something wrong if we are not hated. Jesus tells us “if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18, 1 John 3:13). I think we need to begin to take Him literally.

We are born with a natural desire to be liked and accepted. We seek the approval of others, but seeking acceptance and approval has entered the church and it has resulted in a watered-down gospel. That’s scary. People aren’t hearing the real, pure, gospel. They’re hearing what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. If pastors are only concerned with not offending anyone, they care more about their own image and less about telling the truth. A lot of younger Christians like a sermon or a church that sounds good, looks good, and feels good, but doesn’t necessarily preach the truth. The bible isn’t meant to make you feel good, the bible is controversial, the bible is offensive. We should even expect the world to reject and hate the bible and Jesus (John 17:14). You cannot be politically correct and Biblically correct at the same time because they contradict each other. Our goal should be to please God, not man.

Popularity isn’t the goal. False prophets seek the world and the world listens to them. They try to please the world by appealing to them and appealing to the flesh..

“How terrible it will be for you when everyone says nice things about you, because that’s the way their ancestors used to treat the false prophets.” Luke 6:26

I think sometimes we forget who our savior is. We’re following a man who was crucified, murdered, assassinated, and hated. So if everyone loves us, we must be doing something wrong. God’s word, and God Himself, will be rejected and hated by the world. If we’re doing it right, we will be too.

[re-blogged from http://kingcohl.com/ who titled it “Politically Correct”. I have re-titled it because it coincides so closely with my July 11, 2012 post]