"It's Not Personal, Only Business"
John
15:18-19; John
7:7; 2
Timothy 3:12; John
3:20; John
17:14;
1 John
3:13; Matthew
24:9 ; Matthew
5:10-12; 1 John
2:11; Psalm
23:1-6
Quacco
Baptist Church
215
Quacco Road, Savannah GA
Mar.
26, 2023
Introduction -
It's animosity, a strong dislike, even hatred or resentment which tends
toward active hostility, but we can say it’s not personal towards any of us; just remember that Jesus Christ
said...
....
If you were of the
world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the
world but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-19).
“Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds
of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward
is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)
There was what I would call a rather philosophical comment to
John 15:18-19
“Saying that it is a radical supposition & true, but there
are gray areas between the extremes that should be considered. Hate is a strong
word; what about dislike? You can be disliked as a Christian but not hated. If
you’re of the world you will not automatically be loved, or even liked; you may
just be disliked &-or tolerated. Or feelings about you, in either case, may
be neutral or indifferent. At the worst is hate towards Christians but that is
how Jesus worded things: to the extreme for anyone who’s a target of true hate
so they know He understands, having been there himself.
I’ve known this person since high school and I understand what
she is trying to say, trying to walk softly, but then we must remember that this is God Himself speaking and He said we,
believers in Christ, will be hated. The proof is in the pudding. The early
Christians up to this date have been and are being killed because of hate. But
the hate, though taken against the Christian, is not towards the Christian but
is aimed at God Himself through Christ.
A small example to clarify, I hope. When I
worked on the railroad with Conrail, my dad worked in a very good position but
he was disliked by many of the Managers and General Managers. Shortly after he
died, those that really disliked him came after me and would look for the
smallest error I would make to try and get me fired. They succeeded. I was
still a pseudo-Christian coming out of, as Mark would probably say, paganism.
But we all have to deal with man’s heart that, as is written in Jeremiah
17:9-10,
In Nigeria alone, violent
extremist groups like the Fulani militants make the region one of the most
dangerous for Christians. Over the past 20 years, the group, which is made of
Fulani members radicalized by Islam, has killed between 50,000 and 100,000
Christians and displaced over 3 million.
My
friend Dwana Livingston of Monrovia Liberia, right next door, told me last year
before it even was on the news, of a Nigerian college student, Deborah Samuel who, on May 13, 2022, was
beaten and burned to death in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto state after she was accused
of blasphemy by Muslim students. She had
sent a WhatsApp voice note to her classmates that some of them deemed to be
insulting to the Prophet Muhammed.
The
other day I posted from Proverbs, 3:7, “Do
not be wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and shun evil” to which
another friend from HS laughed and I couldn’t resist so I asked why? He
answered “Because I never fear God...peace
— I should have said from James 2:19, So you believe that there is one God? That’s
fine. So do all the devils in hell and shudder in terror!” But instead I gave him a
rather lengthy explanation of the word θεοσεβείας: theosebeian, (fear of God). His
reply was what I expected:
“Give me a break, you
Christians are so into yourself, you cherry-pick between the old and new
testament to try and prove your world order, remember I'm not a believer never been..
His last words are rather funny to me cause, as grandpa McCoy would say
“dag-burn it” we both attended Catechism classes at Annunciation Catholic
elementary school, from the 5th grade to the 8th grade, and received the
Sacrament of Confirmation when in 7th grade.
It’s
sad, and my prayers, along with others to which I include quite a few people I
personally know is that they come and receive the free gift of God, salvation
and that they may or better said, will live in the kingdom eternally.
It
is often said and I’m sure all y’all have heard it that in heaven some of us
will be surprised who we’ll see and not see in heaven.
There’s
a story of John Newton, talking to a man
about Heaven. His listener was an unbeliever and decided that he’d
have a little fun with the poor ignorant preacher. So he asked Newton to
describe something that he thought would surprise
him when he got there. For those listening who don’t know, John
Newton had been an horrible man in his youth – a slave trader an
alcoholic. He replied that the three greatest wonders of
Heaven will be these: The first will be to
see many people there whom I didn’t expect to see. The second will
be not to find many church-goers whom I did expect to see. And the
third and greatest of all will be to find myself there, knowing what I know
of the wickedness of my own heart.
So I repeat from Jeremiah 17: 7-10, “. . .
is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the
LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to
their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
Even
though I’m named after my father, I’ve taken the liberty to use him as my name
sake, being that his feast day is January 25, celebration of his conversion on
the Damascus road, and that happens to be my birthday…… Literary license …. And
in that Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his first letter to them, Be imitators of me,
just as I also am of Christ. (11:1) –
So I’ll try to imitate him, and say with him, I am under obligation both to Greeks and to
barbarians, (that is now, everybody), both to the wise and to the foolish. . .
. I am eager to preach the gospel to for
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes, Romans
1:14-15 –
I close as I do
on my Emails and letters, "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not
warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your
hand"- Ezekiel 3:18
I tell you that today, now,
is the day of salvation …Tomorrow may just be too late.
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I
am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did
not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Acts- 20:26,27
