The Religious Department (John 15:18-16:4)
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jeremy_1_04-17-2026_140905: [00:00:00] Did you know I have another podcast? Cabernet and Pray is a podcast for people who still have questions about Jesus, but have complicated feelings about the church and Christianity. Each episode pairs a glass of wine with honest conversations about deconstruction, reconstruction, and what it means to explore faith outside the boundaries of the theological mainstream.
Check out episode 62 with Brian McLaren for a conversation about why following Jesus should make us better at holding tension, not worse.
Welcome to another episode of Rebuilding Faith.
These are 10 minute Bible messages for people with questions and doubts. Today we are going to explore the question, are Christians under attack?
This is a favorite subject of many Christians to talk about, so we're gonna take a look at it. What are some ways of understanding persecution, and why do Christians often experience what they label to be [00:01:00] persecution? I wanna set the stage with a quote from NT Wright.
I love an image that he offers in this. He says this. The church's mission today is to be ambassadors of reconciliation, speaking truth to power, and seeing the powers reconciled to God That does not collapse future hopes into present endeavors, but it does mean that our earthly labors are signs pointing ahead to a renewed creation.
He says this, our mission is not to be the religious department of an empire. It is rather to build for the kingdom. I love the image there of a religious department, and we're gonna explore that. Here's what Jesus says in John chapter 15, beginning in verse 18. If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.
The world would love you as one of its own if you belong to it. But you are no longer part of [00:02:00] the world. I chose you to come out of the world so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? A slave is not greater than the master. Since they persecuted me, naturally, they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me also hates my father. If I hadn't done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty.
But as it is, they have seen everything I did. Yet they still hate me and my father. This fulfills what is written in their scriptures. They hated me with cause. Hmm. So let's explore the elephant in the room. Christians love to play the victim [00:03:00] card, don't we? We love to talk about all of the hate we're getting, but often, let's just set this up.
The reason why the world hates us is because we're doing harmful things and not the things that Jesus is talking about here. For example, Christian Nationalism is an abusive ideology. It involves removing rights and protections for minorities. It makes vulnerable people more vulnerable. It creates more benefits for those who already have the most.
This behavior should get a negative response, and I say that as a Christian. So what we need to understand is that being held accountable to harmful behavior is not persecution, and this is where Christians go wrong. Now, I'll give you an example. There's a gay college volleyball [00:04:00] player named Jordan Lucas, and he recently made the news.
He's a college volleyball player. He is incredible to watch and he plays with so much joy. And passion. And yet recently there is a college volleyball announcer named Charlie Brand who said this during, one of the matches. He said, I'm amazed Jordan Lucas hasn't been popped by someone referring to being punched, the antics he's making under the net.
It's very distasteful. Now, this is someone exercising cultural power against a person in a vulnerable group. For expressing joy, for just being who he is. Now, Charlie later had to issue an apology for what he had said because people rightly had a negative reaction to what he said. But this is what we have to understand.
Charlie brand is not being attacked. He's being held [00:05:00] accountable to harmful behavior, and this is what we see happen in a lot of expressions of Christianity. Right now, Jesus continues. John 15, verse 26 says, but I will send you the advocate, the spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me, and you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.
I have told you these things so that you won't abandon your faith. For you will be expelled from the synagogues and the time is coming. When those who kill you will think that they are doing a holy service for God. This is because they have never known the father or me. Yes. I'm telling you these things now so that when they happen, you will remember my warning.
I didn't tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer. So what we learn here is as Christians, we have the spirit of truth. [00:06:00] To guide us. This is not the spirit to protect us when we harm people. It's to give us the courage to live out our faith for the benefit of others precisely when it's going to cost us something to do so.
So if the spirit of truth is what guides us into the truth, and this same spirit will also help us distinguish genuine persecution from deserved accountability. When we can learn to discern, Hey, this is because of what we are doing, not because we are bringing peace, not because we are standing up for others.
And so I want to say this just really, really bluntly. If your expression of Christianity. Looks like Donald Trump or Franklin Graham or Mark Driscoll, or any other number of Christian leaders right now. In that same vein, you will be held [00:07:00] accountable for it by society, by the culture, by the people collectively.
Who are being hurt because these are all harmful versions of what it looks like to follow Jesus. It does not mean you are being persecuted for your faith. It means you are being held accountable to the harm that you are doing. Now, ironically, when you actually follow the ways of Jesus, what you'll find is that you will come under attack from people like these.
And this is what Jesus is referencing when he says you're gonna be thrown outta the synagogues. It will be the religious people who will come at you when you stand up for those who they are harming. The religious department will work against you if you're not a part of it. And Jesus is encouraging us that it is worth living out your faith even when [00:08:00] you find yourself at odds with the religious department.
When you find yourself at odds with these people who often have the power and have the influence, and they will use it against you. So if we're gonna follow Jesus and we're going to be hated by others, let's make sure we're being hated by the right people. And let's make sure that it's because we are standing up against the religious department, not because we are the ones adding harm.
I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
