Navigating Life // Being Misunderstood, Canceled, or Hated for your Faith

We had John chapter 15, and we just sang a song about Jesus being our firm foundation.

John 15 · chapter mention

And the reason why we need a firm foundation is because life has challenges and difficulties.

He says amen to that.

In fact, unofficial church survey.

How many of you in the last seven days you faced a challenge or you faced a difficulty?

If that's you, raise up your hand.

Okay.

Some of you, I didn't even finish the question.

And your hand was going up.

Some challenges in life are small, not that big.

But some challenges in life are really big.

And some challenges we expect, but others we're like, where in the world did that one come from?

I didn't see that challenge coming.

In fact, there's a guy right now in Korea that's experiencing a challenge that few of us as Jesus followers ever expect to actually experience.

His name is Hun Bo Sun, and he is a pastor in Korea.

But about a month ago, he was arrested and now sits in a jail cell.

Something you may not be aware of about Korea is recently, in recent years, Christianity has just blossomed.

And it's been amazing.

And all these people are coming to faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

They're understanding the gospel that Jesus died for their sins, that he loves them.

They're putting their faith in Christ, and their lives are being transformed.

But there are some leaders in that country that do not like what's happening.

And from my understanding, they're infringing on some of the Christian beliefs and saying a pastor can say this and a pastor can't say that.

And this man has been outspoken for his Christian faith.

And because of that, he's experiencing persecution for his faith.

Now few of us that follow Jesus really expect to have persecution.

But can I say persecution can take on many different forms?

It doesn't necessarily mean being put in a prison cell cell.

Sometimes what it looks like is being labeled.

Well, you're narrow-minded.

You say that Jesus is the only way.

Sometimes it looks like being called unloving.

Oh, you think that?

Well then you are you are an unloving person.

Sometimes it looks like being canceled.

We hear that term thrown around, but it's real.

Oh, this is what you think?

I'm canceling you.

Jesus says we will be hated at times.

Hated?

We're in this series right now called Navigating Life, Following God's Path in a World Full of Wrong Turns.

And if we're gonna navigate life and follow God's path, this is what we have to expect.

That there will be times where we will experience challenges in our Christian faith in the way of us being misunderstood, labeled, canceled, or as Jesus says, sometimes even hated.

Now, this is hard because I don't know if you're like me, but I like for people to like me.

In fact, who in this room would say, I like when people like me?

Are there any of you that you're like, I don't care if people like me, don't bother me?

Okay, we got some of you too.

I like for people to like me.

But as somebody told me many years ago, if you want everybody to like you, you need to go sell ice cream at Coldstone and make people ice cream and not be a follower of Jesus because not everybody will like what you believe.

And you might say, Man, Nate, are you serious?

Is this really gonna happen?

Well, look what Jesus says in John chapter 15, verse number 18.

John 15 · chapter mention

It says this it says, if the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.

You sure about this, Jesus?

This is what Jesus is doing.

He's about 24 hours from dying, and all of these apostles are gonna be left alone.

Jesus is dying, and this is he's gonna die, this is what he's doing in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

He's preparing them for what they're going to experience when Jesus is off of the scene.

He's preparing them, and he says, I need you to know.

You need to know.

I want to prepare you.

I don't know if you realize this, but this can happen.

And then in the verse 19, the next verse, he tells us why.

Why this will happen.

He says, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

Now, when he says the word world here, he's not talking about the trees and the mountains.

This is what he's talking about.

Jesus is talking about the value system of the world that opposes God, God's values, and God's ways.

How many understand that the value system of the world runs in complete contradiction to the value system of God?

How many understand that?

Right?

Some of y'all are like, I didn't know that.

He does.

And here's another question on a Sunday morning for you.

Who do you think is influencing the value system and the ways of the world?

I'll give you a hint, his name starts with the S.

Who do you think is doing that?

Satan.

That's right.

I'm glad none of you said Santa.

Satan.

And look what Satan is called in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4.

2 Corinthians 4:4

He's called the God of this age.

It also says he's the ruler of the power of the air.

And look what he's done to the world in 1 John chapter 5, verse number 19.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

It says the whole world is under the, what's that word?

Under the sway of the evil one.

The sway.

How does this happen?

I mean, come on.

If the devil came to you with the image of the devil that we all have, most of us have, a pitchfork, red suit, horns, and he said, I am the devil.

Do this.

It'd be like, nah, bro, I'm good.

I'm not doing that.

But he doesn't come to us like that.

In fact, scripture says he comes as an angel of light.

He makes good appear evil and evil appear good.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4, it tells us that he blinds people.

2 Corinthians 4:4

This is what it says.

It says, the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

If you are in this room, if you're watching online and you've never trusted in the gospel, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, the enemy wants to blind you from not seeing the truth of this and the beauty of this.

And when we put our trust in the gospel, we are called out of the world into the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is where God reigns, where God's ways are done and God's purposes are done.

And when we are called out of the world as followers of Jesus, now what happens is we live for God, we live for God's purposes, and we want to follow God's ways.

And because of this, because of this, because we are not of the world, the world, the world number one, our beliefs and our values and convictions will not make sense to the world.

I mean, should this really surprise us?

You think about this?

When you follow Jesus, everything changes in your life, your perspective changes, your desires change, your actual identity changes.

Yeah, man.

It's good.

Like everything changes.

So because everything changes, people that are not of Christ, that are of the world, our life is not gonna make sense to them.

Why would it?

It's gonna confuse them.

What's gonna happen is now we see God's word as the ultimate authority for our lives.

And now, once we follow Jesus, we actually have a desire to get in this book.

It's like I don't understand why, but I want to start reading the Bible.

I don't understand why, but I kind of want to start listening to worship music now.

What?

I don't understand why, but like things are starting to change in me.

Guys, it's Jesus.

Can I also say this?

I'm gonna caution some of you.

Some of you say you follow Jesus, but there's been no change in your life.

There's no desire change, there's no perspective change, there's no priority change, and our lives mirror the exact same thing we see in the world.

And here's what you got to do.

And I'm not coming here as a critic talking down to you.

I'm coming here.

This is what the Apostle Paul says, this is what Peter says.

We need to examine our hearts to see if we truly are a follower of Christ.

If we've truly believed in the gospel for our salvation.

Because when this happens, we are called out of the world.

And the deeper you follow Christ, the more misunderstood you'll be by those who don't.

Why would you go listen to that short stubby preacher on Sunday?

Hey, I love that.

Who said that?

That's my boy right there.

That's right.

Why would you do that?

Why would you serve and volunteer at the church?

You mean they don't pay you for serving?

That's weird.

Why would you wait, wait, wait, hold on.

Let me get this straight.

So you work hard and you get all this money and you're willing to give it away?

Well, actually, my money and my time and my talents, they're not mine.

They're actually God's.

I'm just a steward of them.

Say that to somebody, that ain't gonna make no sense.

I was talking to somebody this week, and they were like, somebody at my work is trying to get me on the reports to sign things that aren't completed and sign things that aren't done.

And they've said, nah, I'm just not gonna do that.

Like, I'm not comfortable with that.

Like, I'm gonna live my life with integrity.

Guess what?

That doesn't make sense.

And here's the reality: you have to be okay with this.

You have to be okay with this.

That sometimes you will be misunderstood by the world because you are not of the world.

And because of this, there will also be times where you won't just be misunderstood, but you can be labeled or even hated for your faith.

No way, Jesus said it.

This is what he said.

Some of you are like, Nate, I don't like this.

Where's the love and grace message?

Hey guys, this is just the red letters.

This is what Jesus says.

This is what he says.

He says, If the world hates you, understand that what did it do first?

It hated me before it hated you.

You're like, people hated Jesus?

Yes, they did.

You don't believe me?

Let me prove it to you.

Look what it says in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

I'm gonna show you all a bunch of scriptures.

I want you to see this.

John 5, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

They expected Jesus to do this and live his life this way, because that's what all the religious people did.

Jesus said, No, I'm not doing it.

I'm not going that way, I'm going this way.

So guess what they did?

They persecuted him.

How about this?

Uh, John chapter 5, verse number 18.

John 5 · chapter mention

This is why the Jews begin trying all the more to kill.

Kill him.

Well, this is escalating quickly.

We get to chapter 7.

He didn't want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him.

How about verse 32 of John 7?

The Pharisees heard the crowd, murmuring these things about him.

And so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent servants to arrest him.

And in John chapter 8 and John chapter 10, they picked up stones to throw at him.

John 8 · chapter mention John 10 · chapter mention

They weren't doing the tossing game here.

They're trying to take out Jesus.

95 mile an hour fastball.

They're trying to knock him out, get rid of him.

Why?

Why?

Because he healed people?

No.

This is why.

Because his teachings challenged their worldview.

Because he showed them their sin.

Because he was calling them out of the world into his kingdom.

And he was misunderstood and hated for it.

And friends, if Jesus faced misunderstanding, rejection, and hatred, we shouldn't expect less.

Can we get that next slide up there?

Thank you.

If Jesus faced misunderstanding, rejection, and hatred, we shouldn't expect less.

If the world misunderstood Jesus and we're his followers, wouldn't it make sense that there will be times we will be misunderstood?

If he was rejected, wouldn't it make sense that we as his followers will be times we'll be rejected?

And in fact, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be, what's that word?

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Oh man.

It's true.

Now I gotta stop for a second and say this.

There are some Christians, some followers of Jesus that will claim persecution when really they're just being a jerk.

So they're like, I'm being persecuted.

Like, nah, dude, you're being like super judgmental and super rude.

There is a difference.

There is a difference between between standing on biblical convictions and also being a jerk.

That's not a fruit of the spirit.

We could say it like this: followers of Jesus should have biblical convictions while maintaining a loving disposition.

You should love well.

You should care about people and at the same time have a biblical conviction.

And there will be times where you can love well and you can have convictions, and not everybody's gonna like you.

Back in the 1980s, there's a gentleman where this happened to him.

In fact, this is the 80s.

So this is like the dark ages.

Dark ages?

All right, watch it.

Okay, watch it.

I was born in the 80s, 89, but I made it.

You got this guy's name is C.

Everett Coop, and he's got a pretty strong beard.

Abe Lincoln would be proud of that right there.

And C.

Everett Coop, he was a he was a devoted follower of Jesus, who was appointed the Surgeon General for the U.S., which is our nation's highest ranking health spokesperson.

It's a big deal.

And as a follower of Jesus, what he did was he looked to scripture to be his guide and what scripture would say.

And upon his nomination, there was a group of people that did not like that he was being nominated.

There was another group of people that absolutely loved that he was being nominated, and it circled around an issue that a lot of people thought were political, but was actually biblical when he studied the scripture.

In fact, you might be here and you might think this is political, but it's actually biblical.

He studied the scripture and he saw what the Bible says about the origin of human life.

And he saw that the Bible says that life begins in the womb.

And so, because of this, there was a group of people that misunderstood him and canceled him and labeled him and said, There's no way he should do this because he's this, he's that.

Well, he went on to be nominated.

And two years into his nomination, he discovered something that there was a group of people that were suffering and going through hardships, and nobody was really trying to help them.

This was people that were suffering with HIV and AIDS.

And he said, as a follower of Jesus, everybody has dignity and deserves care and deserves honor and respect.

So what he did was he said, we are gonna invest resources to try to help these people that are going through this hard time.

We're gonna try to put time and energy and effort into these people and see if we can find a cure in these things.

And what happened is the same people that at one time were cheering him on were like, Man, we got your back.

Now these people were saying, What are you doing, man?

Invest your resources.

So we can't do this.

And he said, No, I want to show people dignity.

I want to help people.

And he worked hard on this and was able to make progress in this area, in this health area.

And it went back to his faith.

But here's the crazy thing that happened is his time as the Surgeon General, his term there ended, and he had aspirations to be nominated to other roles and to serve in different places.

This guy was he was a brilliant, he had an incredible resume, he had high character.

There's no reason why he wouldn't be nominated somewhere.

But he was never nominated to any role the rest of his life.

Because two different groups of people labeled him, misunderstood him, and ultimately canceled him.

And this man made a decision that's very hard that you're gonna have to make.

He decided that for him, it was more important to be a light to the world than to be liked by the world.

He made the decision that he was gonna be a light to the world instead of liked by the world.

Now, sometimes this can be hard.

Because, like I said earlier, I want to be liked.

Most of us want to be liked.

But sometimes we have to make the decision.

Do we want to be a light or do we want to be liked?

And we face pressure.

I have a friend that is a really good dude.

And he's hardworking, cares about people, he's dependable.

We have a mutual connection about health and fitness, and y'all know I nerd out about health and fitness and all that stuff.

We have this mutual connection, and man, we talk about all kinds of stuff.

He's a good guy.

One day we were talking, and he said, Hey Nate, would your church accept me?

And I knew exactly why he said that in that moment.

He said that because he's in a same-sex relationship.

And I said, without even blinking, of course, our church would accept you and love you.

Jesus accepts and loves anybody and everybody, and so do we.

Yeah.

He's my friend.

And he pressed me a little bit.

He was like, Yeah, I like I know you.

Like, I'm sure you got, yeah, I know you guys love people and care about people.

He said, but are you guys okay with people like me?

Because this is, and this is what he said, this is who I am.

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you love somebody and you care about somebody?

You don't want to do anything to hurt that person.

But at the same time, you don't know how exactly how to handle the situation.

That happens to me from time to time, and in this moment, this is what I did.

I said, God help me right now, please.

I said, man.

Fundamentally, a Christian worldview says that we were made in the image of God.

So because we're made in the image of God, what God says about us and who God says we are is what defines us.

So we're not defined by our circumstances, we're not defined by our sexuality.

A Christian worldview says that is not who we are.

And because God is the creator, and because God is the one that loves us, what God wants to do is God gives truth in his word because he loves us.

I said, man, like John, there's a story in John chapter, um, I think it's John John chapter 8, where there was a woman and there was something sexual that was happening, and this is what Jesus did.

John 8 · chapter mention

Jesus loved her and he accepted her.

But what Jesus did is Jesus didn't affirm everything about her.

Just like Jesus doesn't affirm everything about me and my life, man.

And because God's the creator, this is his design for marriage and sexuality.

It's between one man and one woman in a covenant marriage.

Now you know I love you, you know I care about you, and more than that, God loves you and God cares about you, but this is what God's design is.

And you're always welcome at our church, and we will love you and we will be here for you.

And in that moment, I wish that I could say that that conversation went amazing.

Because I wanted it to.

Because I care about him.

And I wish I could say that the conversation was furthered, but if I'm if I'm super honest, our friendship has kind of changed since then.

And I really hope it's not because he felt any type of judgment from me, because I think he's a great dude and I care about him.

And even though it has affected our friendship, and that's been difficult for me, I've had to say that if I love somebody and they come to me asking me if I truly love them, then I have to lovingly speak truth, or I'm no longer being loving.

And if I think I'm gonna speak truth to somebody, but if I'm not speaking truth in a loving way, then I'm not being fully truthful.

And I don't say this for anybody to pat me on the back.

I say this to say that there's gonna be a time in your life and you face it regularly, where you're gonna have to decide that your obedience to God is more important than people's opinion of you.

Where you have to say, I want to be a light to the world more than I want to be liked by the world.

Is this easy?

No.

Is this hard?

Yes.

But continuing on, look what Jesus says more about this verse 20.

This brings things together.

Remember the word I spoke to a servant not greater than his master.

Here it is.

So if our master experienced some of this, we're gonna experience some of this.

If they persecuted me, they'll also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But they will do all these things to you on account of my name.

So you will be misunderstood, you will be hated contextually.

Why?

Not because of you, but because of him.

Why do they do this?

Because they don't know the one who sent me.

If they would know the gospel, it would change them.

Verse 22 I have not come and spoken to them.

If I had not come and spoke to them, they would not be guilty of sin.

Now they have no excuse for their sin.

The one who hates me also hates my father.

If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin.

Now they have seen and hated both me and my father.

So, friends, if you're misunderstood or you're labeled, or you're canceled, or you're hated because of your faith, can I say this number three?

Count it in honor to suffer for Christ's sake.

Count it in honor.

It's it's because of him, not because of you.

Now I want to wrap up and I want to share three imperatives from this text that you have to embrace.

This is super, super important as we go home.

Here's the first one you need to establish and maintain biblical convictions.

Friend, you need to know what you believe and why you believe it.

Well, this is what Pastor Nate thinks, uh, that ain't enough.

Well, this is what my grandma said, uh, that ain't enough.

What do you believe and why do you believe it?

Some of you guys, like, I've said some things in this message, and you've just been totally uncomfortable.

And can I just say, that's okay.

Like, I still love you and care about you.

But this is what you need to do.

You need to search this scripture and don't take my word for anything.

Like, look what scripture says.

There's gonna be sometimes, there's gonna be sometimes where a biblical position is gonna be tough in our culture.

That's okay.

We have to have a strong backbone.

There's gonna be times where things will be very popular in our culture and it lines up right with scripture.

That's great, so be it.

But it won't always be like that.

But our allegiance has to be to Christ, not anything else.

Number two, we need to maintain a loving posture.

If you get misunderstood or labeled or canceled for your position, okay.

But it should not be for your disposition.

Like you should be the most loving, grace-filled, humble person in your circle of influence.

You should be known for your kindness, you should have a loving posture.

And number three, you need to let God use you.

You say, Let God use me.

Yes.

Here's a story.

There's a guy in scripture, pretty popular.

His name's the Apostle Paul.

You guys remember?

Can somebody tell me what was his name before Paul?

Saul.

Before Paul, it was Saul.

And Saul in Acts chapter 7 had a part in a follower of Jesus named Stephen, his death.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He had a part in the execution in the martyrdom of Stephen, like for his faith.

At that time, Paul was just Saul.

Saul misunderstood Stephen, Saul labeled Stephen, Saul hated Stephen, Saul eventually had a part in killing Stephen.

All while Stephen was preaching the gospel in the midst of this.

Think about this.

Stephen's life influenced Saul.

Saul would go on to be Paul, how this Damascus road experience.

Paul would go on and preach the gospel all around the unknown world.

Thousands of people would come to faith in Christ.

In fact, if we were to go back, how we heard about Christ, if we were to go back far enough, it would trace back to the Apostle Paul.

And the Apostle Paul ended up being a mighty missionary, mightily used for God.

And it started because a man named Stephen had influence on Paul's life and was willing to be a light to the world, which influenced.

Saul, who became Paul, who preached the gospel, and now we know the gospel.

Because it goes back to one man saying, I'm willing to be a little bit misunderstood and labeled.

So here's how I end with this morning.

Are you willing to not be liked by the world so you can be a light to the world?

Maybe you're in this room and you're not yet a follower of Jesus.

Friend, can I say today can be the day where you come out of darkness and you come into the glorious light of the gospel and you believe in Jesus, and your life will be forever changed.

Let's do this.

Let's bow our heads and let's close our eyes and let's just take some time to reflect on the message.