TEXT: Luke 22:35-38

SUBJECT: Luke #86: Hated for Christ’s Sake

In 1997, Mark Noll, a professor of history at Wheaton College, published a very fine book called Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. As the title indicates, the book studies twelve events that radically changed the history of the Church—for good or bad.

Today’s story is not in the book—but it should be. The change that occurs in the few minutes between the Upper Room and the Garden of Gethsemane is a hundred times more important than the Fall of Jerusalem or the Protestant Reformation, or the Modern Missionary Movement.

What happens? In that decisive moment, the world turns on Christ and His Church. And the world is still against us and will be until the end of time.

This is what today’s story is about. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s go back and have a close look at the story.

The setting you know. The Lord and His eleven true disciples have just finished the Passover and are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane where the Lord is going to pray His heart out and be handed over to His enemies.

On the way there, the Lord looks back on the happy and carefree times He and His friends had had together.

This recalls the short missionary tours the men had taken. Twice in Luke’s Gospel, the Lord sent them to all the villages in Israel to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out devils. They came back from the missions full of joy—"Even the devils are subject to us in Your Name" they said.

If you read the stories in chapters nine and ten, you’ll see that what they would live on never came up. Had the disciples been rich men, they could have taken off as much time as they needed to. But, except for Matthew, they were all poor men—living hand to mouth—paycheck to paycheck. They went on a mission with no money in their wallets, no food in their knapsack, no clothes in their luggage—and no one to support them!

Yet after weeks on the road, they came back with shoes on their feet and probably a few pounds heavier than when they left! How do you explain this?

It wasn’t a miracle. Had the Lord wanted to, He could have sustained them in their work as He had Israel in the wilderness. But He didn’t rain down manna upon them or keep their shoes from wearing out. No, they received their food and lodging and maybe a love offering now and then from the people they served in the ministry of the Word.

But why did whole towns come out to hear Peter or take James and John into their homes or pick up Andrew’s expenses? It’s not because they were impressive men, but because they were servants of the most respected Man in Israel. Their popularity was tied to His.

This is how it had been with the disciples.

But not anymore! From now on, the men who used to be given a king’s welcome will be given the bum’s rush. Doors will be slammed in their faces. Dogs will be sicked on them. They will be ignored, laughed at, and run out of town.

From now on, they’ll have to take care of themselves. Peter, if you’ve got some money, take it with you, because nobody’s going to offer you a room for the night. Thomas, if you want lunch today, make a sandwich and carry it with you. James, if you think the cops are going to look out for you, you better think again: if you want to sleep safely at night, go buy a sword—you’re going to need it!

What a change! The disciples go from the most honored men in Israel to the most despised—in one single night!

What made them fall out of favor so quickly? It’s the very thing that made them honored men in the first place: their connection to Christ.

The people turned on the disciples because they turned on Christ! Peter had his faults, of course, and John wasn’t a perfect man, but the hatred they provoked was not personal. It was all about Christ.

Why did the people turn so viciously on the Lord? The Bible assigns various reasons for that: the Rulers envied Him; Pontius Pilate was a coward; Judas loved money; the crowd was easily manipulated; and, of course the devil was hard at work. All of these things are true. They took Him and "With wicked hands crucified and slew Him".

But this is not the reason given in today’s story. Of course the Lord is aware of all this—He knows the kind of men who are against Him! But, instead of tracing the crucifixion to envy, cowardice, the love of money, and so on…

He traces it to…God.

Why did God permit the crucifixion? He didn’t permit it, He planned it! And, when the time was right, He brought it to pass!

Believers ought to stop apologizing for God’s ways and start praising Him for them! In the mind of Judas and Annas and Pilate, the crucifixion was a wicked thing—and we blame them for it! But, in the plan of God, it is a wonderful thing—and we adore Him for it.

The world turns on the disciples because it turns on Christ. Nothing in the Bible could be plainer than this:

When the Lord was in favor with the public, His disciples were too. When He fell from favor, they fell with Him. That’s how it works: Christ and His people stand and fall together.

Because they can no longer live on the love of other people, the disciples will have to take care of themselves. From now on, they’ll need wallets, knapsacks, and a sword or two. We don’t know if they had the purses and packs, but they did have a couple of swords.

The Lord tells them "It is enough". The blades are defensive weapons, not offensive. With only two, they can fend off a criminal or a madman, but they can’t save Christ and they sure can’t usher in His kingdom! Had the Lord wanted them to save Him or to bring in His kingdom by force of arms, He would have planned better than He did.

But He didn’t do that because He didn’t want that. No, this night the Lord is going to surrender Himself to His enemies and thereby save His disciples—and the world!

That’s the story.

The message is clear: The world cannot love us because it does not love Christ.

Why was the Lord so hated? Some people are hated because they’re hateful: they’re selfish, mean, stingy, and arrogant.

But is the Lord this way? Was He selfish when He put the salvation of sinners over His own life? Was He mean when He took vicious slander and said nothing in return? Was He stingy when He—a poor Man—gave his money to the poor and his time to everyone? Was He arrogant when He took the crown of thorns?

No, the Lord wasn’t a hateful Man. The prophet says "He was hated without a cause". Pontius Pilate said so: "I find no fault in Him". Judas Iscariot agreed: "I have betrayed innocent blood". The Centurion felt it: "Truly this was a righteous Man". The crowd that called for His blood in the morning regretted it by the afternoon: "And the whole crowd who came together to see that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned".

The Lord was not hated because He was a bad man but because He was a good man. "This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil".

If the world hated holiness in Christ, why would it love holiness in us? It does not and it cannot. Without the New Birth, no one can love holiness. He may love it in theory, but in another person he has to hate it because it makes him feel guilty!

The doctrine is illustrated throughout the Bible. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ reminds the people of how the holiest servants of God were treated long before:

The Lord doesn’t say which prophets He has in mind, but He doesn’t need to, because they were all treated like garbage! Jeremiah thrown in a well, Daniel put in a lion’s den, and don’t even start with Moses or Joseph! These men had their faults, but the persecution they suffered in life was not for their sins but for their holiness!

We see the same thing in the New Testament. Think of Stephen stoned to death for…what? His face shining like an angel’s! James cut in half for what? Preaching the Gospel. Paul hounded from city to city for what? Witnessing for Christ. On it goes…to this very day.

Paul finds an allegory in the lives of Isaac and Ishmael. The one born of the flesh persecutes the one born of the Spirit. John sees the same thing in the lives of Cain and Abel. Cain kills his brother because Abel’s works were good and Cain’s were evil.

In short, "All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution". Why? Because they live godly in Christ Jesus!

This means we ought to expect mistreatment from the world—not court it, but expect it. It’s part of the deal: "If we suffer with Him we reign with Him".

This also means we shouldn’t be babies about it! When the disciples were beaten for Christ’s sake, they didn’t wring their hands or sue the court for damages. They went to church and praised the Lord that they were counted worthy to suffer for His name’s sake!

We ought to be extremely thankful when unsaved people treat us well. This will happen at times for Christ is sovereign over all men and not just His people. When the lost give you a polite hearing for the Gospel or when they say positive things about your character, or when they back you up when others mock, you can thank God for that.

One last thing I need to say. Persecution is part of the Christian life, but let’s be sure that we’re hated for Christ’s sake, not for the sake of our religious pride. Nothing is more revolting than a Pharisee! Nagging people all the time or being holier than thou will get you hated, but there’s nothing blessed in that. Peter says there is no credit for being beaten for your own faults—for your pride, your whining, your laziness, your incompetence—even when it’s painted over with Christianity.

This is a turning point in the history of the Church. Before this night, the Church was approved of by the world. But from now on, it isn’t. That’s our lot in life.

And it’s not so bad when you remember they feel the same way about our Savior.