Life in This World: You Will Be Hated.
Last week we looked at what Jesus and the Bible tells us about how live in the here and now – which is to live only in Christ, abiding in Him. The Bible has still more to say on this.
Jesus tells us that we, though living now in this world, are actually no more of the world, just like He, when He walked the Earth, was not of this world (Jn 17:16; cf. 17:20). Yet Christ has no intention of removing us from the world but intercedes for us that we be protected from the devil (Jn 17:14-16; Mt 6:13).
So He does want us in this world. There’s no mistake. We’re supposed to be here. In fact, Christ has sent us into the world (Jn 17:18). He wants us to be consecrated in truth (Jn 17:19), to bear witness to the truth (1 Jn 4:14-15), and to preach the Gospel (Mk 14:9, 16:15). At the same time we must guard ourselves from getting contaminated by the world (Jas 1:27), must not love the world (1 Jn 2:15), nor model ourselves on the present age (Ro 12:2). “Model ourselves” – we don’t look at the world as a model for how we think or behave. Christ is our sole model. And we must renounce all the lusts of the world (1 Jn 2:16).
[In the Greek, "were saved" is the aorist verbe tense, and the aorist has the sense of past action continuing on into the future. Some other translations read: "we are saved by hope," or more of a paraphrase, "In hope, we already have salvation." Additionally, Paul's context is that what we hope for, no matter how certain to come, we do not yet see as it is not yet present. So St. Thomas Aquinas says in his Commentary on Romans (which translated from the Latin reads, "for we are saved"): "Hope is concerned with things not seen in the present but awaited in the future. But we have been saved through hope, therefore, we wait for the completion of salvation as something future." Other examples of St. Paul's expression in past, present, and future tense include 2 Cor 5:1-5, Eph 1:13-14, and from St. John, 1 Jn 3:2. See also Heb 11:1.]
Until that day, Christ’s Church is like a field with both wheat and weeds mixed together (Mt 13:38 ff.). Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised at the extent of sinfulness and wickedness that remains in the world (after all, it is ruled by the devil and his agents, Jn 16:11; Eph 6:12) and in the Church, or even in ourselves (who still struggle).
Jesus offers peace to those who accept it (Lk 2:14; 19:42). But for those who reject Him, He serves to bring division (a sign of contradiction, Lk 2:34) because of their rejection. This can happen even within one’s own household (Lk 12:51-53; 14:26; 18:29; Micah 7:6). In fact, Jesus says that the world hates believers (Jn 15:18-19; Mt 10:22; Lk 21:17), and we are assured that the Church will be persecuted (Mt 10:16-25; Mk 13:9-13; Lk 21:12-17). But after time of strife, there will be a time of restoration (Micah 7:12-15); after tribulation, there will be time of restoration at Jesus’ second coming (Ac 1:6; 3:18-21; Ro 11:7, 25-26).
So although believers have tribulation in this world, we can also have peace and cheerfulness because Jesus has overcome the world (Jn 16:33). Our faith in Christ will overcome the world (1 Jn 5:4). Our faith in Christ will actually condemn the world (Heb 11:7; Jn 15:22). By our endurance we will gain our life (Lk 21:19), because the Spirit of God in us, giving us the grace to endure, and endure cheerfully, is far greater than the spirits of this world (1 Jn 4:4). And, of course, the “life” we want to gain and save is our eternal life in Christ Jesus. The bodily life in this world we must, of course respect, but only in third place: first comes love of Christ and testimony to Him, second comes charity towards others.
Remember, the devil has some very good strategies: lying so you are confused (and then paralyzed), temptations to lead you into sin (separating you from God, and then hating yourself), increasing fear as much as possible (so you only want security, and can then be easily manipulated), and subjecting you to the scorn of others (so you seek their approval before God’s – what Catholics call seeking “human respect”). But the Lord reminds us: I have already overcome the world. Don’t let the world overcome you. In Me you will find peace. In Me you will have joy. Abide in Me. I have already overcome the world.
Dibby Allan Green