| HATERS BE HATIN'It wasn't prostitutes, partiers or homosexuals that hated Jesus. It was the religious crowd. The established religious crowd of the day consistently hated, opposed and ultimately killed him.There are no people meaner than mean religious people!The same was true of the early church. It was the established religious crowd that consistently persecuted believers. Before Paul's conversion, he was one of those hunting believers to have them put to death or jailed.After Paul's conversion, it was the same established religious crowd that opposed Paul from town to town, had him jailed and repeatedly beaten. In his letter to the Galatians, it was so-called Christians who wanted to add rule-keeping to faith as a means of righteousness that came to spy out their freedom and bring them into bondage. Gal. 2:4; 4:29Why was the religious crowd so hostile?Because for 1,500 year they'd being working for righteousness and blessing by trying to keep the 10 commandments, being circumcised and observing all kinds of dietary and other rules. Now the Gospel comes along and announces that no one gets right with God by keeping those rules - that righteousness comes by faith!The Gospel announces that the grace of God has come - that God's unearned favor toward us GIVES AWAY righteousness and blessing as a FREE GIFT to all those who believe that Jesus took away the sin of the whole world and redeemed us from the Law and the wrath, judgment and punishment the Law produced!Yes, Jesus said for us not to be surprised if the world hates us because it hated Him first. John 15:18-20But the world that hate Jesus was the church world, not the party people.The party people loved Him, welcomed Him and embraced Him.Even now, religious people are not happy if the message you preach doesn't make the party people miserable, upset, uncomfortable and even angry! Jesus' message didn't make the party people upset, it made religion upset.I get 20 times more PLEASE SELECT ANOTHER WORD from mean religious people who still want to add rule-keeping to faith.I'll stick with the Gospel message of righteousness by faith even if makes the legalistic, hyper-religious crowd angry. Even if the haters hate.Let's give the world the Gospel (the almost too-good-to-be-true-news) that Jesus died to bring. If they hate us...whatever...they hated Him first I'm not saved because I'm good. I'm saved because He's good!My website: www.bradfreeman.comMy blog: bradcfreeman.tumblr.com/ |