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WisconsinChristianNews.com
Volume 26, Issue 6
Bible Teaching Opening up the Word of God
Our Response To Those Who Hate Christ
By Rev. Christopher B. Cain October 2025
down our life for another?
We cannot censor the truth to make it more appealing, because apart from Christ we can do nothing. John 15:5
We must accept that a lost world will hate us because it hates Christ. “If the
In this article, I want to
address some lessons we, as believers, can learn from John 15 con-
world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19 NKJV). The message that we bring is offensive because it causes people to have to grapple with their own sin and wickedness. People often do not want to give up the pleasures that sin has for a season. However, we know that James 1:5 says when sin gives birth, it brings death. James 4:4
cerning how a believer must respond to a culture that hates Christ. Jesus opens this passage with a fasci- nating illustration of the de- pendence of the believer upon Christ. Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.” As Christians, Jesus Christ is not only the source of our forgiveness and redemption, but He is the source of our new life. He is the One Who has transformed us, and grafted us into the vine, so that as the branches we can bear fruit in this new life we have been given.
teaches us an important lesson for our time using this analogy of the vine and
says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever there- fore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Enmity means warfare. We can either be a friend of Christ, or a friend of the world, an enemy of God or an enemy of the world, but we cannot do both. We must expose the darkness by being the light of the world. As friends of God, we must stand firm as a beacon of hope, a light shining into the darkness of this present age bringing people to Christ through the illumination of His Word and the transformation of His power in us. However, to do this we must stand in con- trast to the darkness and to have no part in it. Ephesians 5:11 says, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but in- stead expose them.” How will anything in darkness become visible if we, the light of the world, remain hidden? Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV). For far too long, we have been a nation of lit candles hidden under a basket called “church.” We must shine bright for Christ. The proper response to a culture that hates Christ and hates us is to expose the darkness by being the light of the world.
the branches. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” It is my con- tention that the American Church has tried to disconnect itself from the Vine and bear their own fruit. Why do we think we can disconnect ourselves, our families, and society from the Word of God and remain un- stained by this world? The Gospel is the cure, not the disease, though far too many who claim to be in Christ would have the Gospel censored, even silenced, because they do not like what it says. The silent de- scent of compromise has only brought us chaos; it has only cost us the power of the Gospel to transform lives because with- out the truth there can be no transformation. Jesus said we must demon- strate true love. “This is My com- mandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). We must stop telling ourselves that our silence is rooted in love because we do not want to of- fend someone. True love de- mands the truth, and it demands action. If we are the servants and friends of Christ, if we know the power of the Gospel, true love demands we be willing to overcome — even to the point of death. Jesus laid down His life for us; will we lay
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