John 15:18-27
The World Hates the Disciples
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 8:23
Jesus is from Above
23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
Matthew 10:32-42
Jesus Did Not Come to Bring Peace to the Earth
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
I am not sure that I have ever been filled with the Holy Spirit as the Bible describes...I would very much like to be, but I have a hard time explaining how those who are filled with the Holy Spirit feel and what they are able to say, when they are filled with the Holy Spirit...I would like to have a heavy dose of Holy Spirit like the Disciples had on the first Pentecost after Jesus' ascension...
Jesus was certainly filled with the Holy Spirit...And Jesus has always been a controversial figure...He is different from us, because He is from above and we are from below...In knowing this, Jesus told His disciples they would be persecuted...Others who would follow Him, also would be persecuted...He knew that He was going to be persecuted and executed on the cross...He is from above, we are from below...He is from heaven, and we are from this world...He is different from us because He is not from this world...Jesus could knock on anyone's door (even) today, and that listener would be amazed or shocked by Him -and they would listen, and they would want to listen to Him...He had this what I call "Divine Charisma" that made everyone want to listen to Him...Even His opposition wanted to listen to Him, they (His opposition) just could not believe He is the Son of God...
I think the Early Apostles were given a heavy dose of His "Divine Charisma" and that allowed the word to be spread in the near east, and others continued to spread the gospel and it continued to spread around the world...This heavy dose was seen at the first Pentecost after His death and resurrection (Acts 2:4)...The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit...I think it was in the Early Apostles' Holy Spirit that helped them persevere...The Holy Spirit seemed stronger then than it does now (I maybe wrong, but it seems to me to be so)...So God, the Father, and Jesus, His Son did not make it easy for any of the early disciples, nor the ones who would follow the Early Christians later and later on...I do not read much or often about a modern person being filled with the Holy Spirit...
Today, if the average person from this world brings up a conversation about Jesus to one he has just met, or even one he has known for a long time there is or can be this rub...There can be problem to the nonbeliever...You can talk to almost anyone about the weather, or their favorite sports team, but when one brings up Jesus, things change...I think He wants it this way....He tells us that He did not come to bring peace to the earth...You literally can speak to someone and say how beautiful day it is today, they might smile and might comment...And this weather statement is a true statement...You literally can say Jesus is LORD to that same stranger -you will most often get a completely different reaction...And this statement that Jesus is LORD, is also a true statement...I think if both parties or even one party was filled with the Holy Spirit, the conversation and conversations about Jesus would change...
But, we have had many great speakers and teachers of Christ and the Bible for two thousand years now...Yet, His controversy remains...It must be what He wants...This divine mystique, which can divide a son against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -seems still to be there...Jesus can not only divide friend against friend, but He tells us a man's enemies can be the members our His own household...The great academics, the great authors of God and Jesus, have yet to make Jesus as an ease in our conversation as the weather...The Great Commission of the first disciples, and all of the ones that have followed Him and are still His disciples, still have many of the same issues as the first disciples in the speaking and ease of spreading His word...I personally think we are give much more free choice by our Father, than we are given this heavy dose or dose of the Holy Spirit...
After all the time has passed, two thousand years for Jesus and for God who created the earth, the controversy remains...To get the word to the nonbeliever remains as it did when St. Paul went out talking to strangers and people he had never met...He was thrown in jail many times for his teachings of the gospel of Jesus...Today, His disciples may not get thrown into jail, but they sure can get a lot of eye rolling, uncomfortable body language, and hear he or she is a "Bible Thumper."...Do we judge the Jehovah witness going door to door to spread the good news?...Does one judge a new minister in town going door to door handing out information about his new church and offering encouragement through the words of Jesus Christ...
Jesus died for all of us...He just did not die for the ones who read Scripture...He on the cross on the last day, takes a criminal to heaven and paradise with Him (Luke 23:43)...But two thousand years after His resurrection the chasm and division, the divide between believer and nonbeliever remain...The easy conversation between believer and nonbeliever is still not there...The Great Commission is not finished...The ability to get the word and the ease of word into the everyday conversation, as easy as the weather conversations, has not greatly improved in the last hundreds of years...There still is work to do today...The common, ordinary person who needs our Father and His Son needs a feel, a thought, something in them that makes Jesus part of their lives...We need to bring back His "Divine Charisma."...We need our Holy Spirits to get stronger...We need His word as much now as His past disciples...We need more of today's saints to be filled with the Holy Spirit...