The Gospel of John: John 15.18-27

Read and meditate on John 15.18-277.
When we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are being Jesus to the people around us, we can expect that they will respond to us as they did to Him. And that’s always a good thing.

                                      ¹⁸“You must understand,
that if the world hates you, it hated Me
before it hated you. ¹⁹Because, you see,
if you were of the world, the world would love
its own. And yet because you are not of
the world, since I have chosen you, therefore
the world hates you. ²⁰Remember then the word
I spoke: ‘A servant will not greater be
than is his lord.’ They persecuted Me,
and they will persecute you also. And
if they obey My Word, then understand,
they will obey yours, too. ²¹But they will do
these things for My Name’s sake to all of you,
because they do not know the One Who sent
Me. ²²If I had not called them to repent,
then they would have no sin; however, they
have no excuse for sinning now. ²³I say
that he who hates Me, hates My Father, too.
²⁴If I had not among them come to do
the works which no one else could do, then they
would have no sin. But as it is, though they
have seen the works, they nonetheless hate Me,
and hate My Father, too. ²⁵But this, you see,
has happened to fulfill the word which was
recorded in their Law, ‘Without a cause
they hated Me.’ ²⁶But when the Helper comes,
Whom I will surely send unto you from
the Father, He Who is the Spirit of
all truth, Who from the Father, by His love
proceeds, then He will testify of Me.
²⁷And you will like witness unto Me,
because you have been with Me from the start.”

- John 15.18-27

Reflect
1. Why did some of the people of Jesus’ day hate Him? Why did someof the people of Jesus’ day hear His words and believe in Him? How should we be guided by Jesus’ experience, as we think about our own calling to follow Him? Complete this prayer: Whatever You experienced, Lord, let me be ready to experience, too, so that…

2.  The word Jesus used to refer to the Holy Spirit can be variously translated Helper, Comforter, or even Encourager. Looking at Acts 1.8 (cf. Jn. 15.27), and what the Holy Spirit empowers us to be, why do we need to know Him in these terms? Thank You for Your Spirit, Lord, to Whom I can look for…

3.  It’s clear from this passage that Jesus’ coming to earth entailed a direct confrontation with sin. Why? How? With what results? Can we be true followers of Jesus and not deal with sin as He did? Explain. I know there’s sin in my life, Lord, and that You would confront and deal with it. Help me to…

4.  Jesus came to the world, from beyond the world, because of God’s love for the world, so that we might live not of this world. What does it mean for a Christian to live in the world without being part of the world? What are the greatest obstacles we need to overcome in doing this? Lord, You have left us in this world to…

5. Christians are neither put off nor impeded in their discipleship by the fact that some people may take offense, get angry, and hate or even persecute us. How do we rise above such challenges? How would you explain this aspect of the Christian life to a new believer? Bring together into one prayer the prayers you composed for questions 1-4.

Summary
“Jesus indicates to his disciples that they will encounter every kind of disgrace, saying, ‘The slave is not above his lord.’ ‘For,’ he says, ‘wicked people attacked me with their unbridled tongues. And leaving no kind of insult untried, they called me a man possessed of a devil and a drunkard and the fruit of fornication. Yet I did not immediately seek their punishment, but not being cut to the heart by their insults, I granted to my hearers the word of salvation.’ Do not, then, seek out of reason your own aggrandizement or scorn the limits within which your Lord was bound, who lowered himself to such humiliation for us to benefit all.” Cyril of Alexandria (375-444 AD)

Where do you most need to improve as a follower and friend of Jesus, and His witness in your world?

Closing Prayer
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from Him;
But when He cried to Him, He heard.
My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;
I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
For the kingdom is the LORD’s,
And He rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth
Shall eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust
Shall bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep himself alive.
A posterity shall serve Him.
It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,
That He has done this.

Psalm 22.23-31

Psalm 22.29-31 (Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
All the prosp’rous of the earth shall before His mercy fall;
Bending low before His worth, hear them humbly on Him call.
Even those low in the grave He will by His mercy save.

Let the generations all witness to His saving grace;
Let them to all nations call, “Bow before His holy face!”
Let the children of the earth hear of Jesus’ saving worth!

T. M. Moore
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.