“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.” – John 15:20-21 (ESV)

Yesterday, we read how Peter urged Faith believers to anticipate suffering. It wasn’t for acting wrongly with justice being a rightful consequence. No, it was suffering that would come simply because of their commitment to Jesus Christ.. In our passage today Jesus explains why His followers should expect the same kind of treatment from the world that the world gives to Him. The fact that Jesus was persecuted to the point of death for rightly claiming to be one with God is the reason we should not be alarmed when the world attacks our proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God. Many, in what we still identify as “evangelical” institutions and denominations have in their leadership those that deny the deity of Jesus Christ as well as his virgin birth and resurrection. Now those who continue to believe in the Christ are finding opposition to their faith. Jesus said it would happen; it’s coming from those that “know not who sent Jesus.” We should expect to be treated like He was treated because those who deny who His is don’t know God; conversely those who listen with faith to Him, hear Him and know He is God.

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