Evangelism Part 35: Hatred of the Kingdom of Heaven
Matthew 10:24-25 April 28, 2024
Introduction
We live in Philadelphia Eagle country – many eagles fans here today – widely known as
the worst fans in American sports.
o 1968 booing and throwing snowballs at Santa Clause, throwing snowballs, beer,
and even batteries at players, coaches, and referees throughout the years,
cheering for injuries to rival players (e.g. Michael Irving 1999), and regularly
cursing out and fighting with rival fans in the stands – and that’s just in the
stadiums – outside the stadium they get even worse.
History of “football hooliganism” in Europe and Latin America is long and infamous
o A study from the university of Munich analyzed violent crime in Germany from
2011 to 2015 and how much of that can be attributed to football. It found that on
the day of the game, violent crime increased by 17% and during major rivalry
games, violent crimes increased to 63%. (How much violence does football hooliganism
cause? – ScienceDirect)
o Every year hundreds of people are arrested across Europe, Latin, and South
America for hooliganism connected with their radical support for their favorite
team. Tens of millions of dollars in property damage is reported, scores are
injured, and many are even killed over fights between rival fanbases.
o Andres Escobar was a Colombian defender whose own goal error led to the
elimination of Colombia in the 1994 World Cup. Subsequently, he was murdered.
People are made to worship – and in their worship, they can be radicalized to the point
of irrational hate and violence. Lost sheep can be led by false shepherds to believe many
deceptions that lead them to believe lies and do terrible things. And this is exactly what
will happen to those deceived by the prince of this world when they encounter and
reject those following Jesus as this world becomes increasingly radicalized toward Christ
followers.
Matthew 10:16-23 “16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,
so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver
you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before
governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19
When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to
say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who
speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother
over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have
them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who
endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the
next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before
the Son of Man comes. 24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his
master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his
master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they
malign those of his household.””
Hatred of Christ
“Hated” (Gk miseo, from misos = hatred) strong revulsion, animosity, and even hostility
toward a thing, to detest so as to reject any association with.
o Miseo is the opposite of agapao (to love)
John 15:18-25 “18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated
you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you
are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep
yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they
do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would
not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates
me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else
did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my
Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me
without a cause.’” See Psalm 35:19, 69:4 for citation.
o Jesus convicts the world of sin and is therefore hated
John 3:19-21 “19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and
people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For
everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his
works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that
it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.””
o Not only does Jesus convict of sin, but he exposes it and brings it out into the
light…and the light is hated because of it.
Romans 1:28-32 “28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them
up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all
manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless,
heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who
practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those
who practice them.”
o Man wants to be God and therefore hates the one true God
Hatred of Christ-Followers
“teacher” (Gk didaskalos) – one who provides instruction or systematically imparts truth,
in Hebrew would have been rabbi
o Disciple follows the rabbi – emulates them in every way
“master” (Gk kurios) – one who is sovereign and possesses absolute authority, absolute
ownership rights, and uncontested power
o “servant” (Gk doulos) – bondservant, an individual freely choosing to be bound to
another in servitude and conveys the idea of the slave’s close, binding ties with
his master, belonging to him, obligated to and desiring to do his will and in a
permanent relation of servitude. In sum, the will of the bondservant is consumed
in the will of the master. A bondservant is one who freely submitted to a life in
devotion to their master because of the goodness and love that the master
showed them.
The enemy will always seek to discredit truth and the ones who speak it
o Matthew 24:9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death,
and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”
We will be hated, discredited, and persecuted because of who our Master
and Rabbi is – don’t take it personally
o Beelzebul (sometimes “Beelzebub”)(954)(Gk beelzeboul) = Lord of the House
Note the variant reading Beelzebub after an error in the Latin Vulgate.
Transliterated from Hebrew Ba’al Zebub, originally referred to a Philistine
deity which in Hebrew meant “Baal (lord) of flies” (see 2 Ki 1:2, 6), the “fly-
baal,” or “fly-god,” whose office was to protect his worshippers from the
torment of the gnats and flies with which that region was infested.
Matthew 12:22-26 “22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and
mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and
saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of
David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by
Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25
Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against
itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26
And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his
kingdom stand?”
Matthew 9:34 “But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the
prince of demons.””
Hated by “all”
o How is “all” used throughout the gospels? Mark 1:5: “All Jerusalem were going
out to him and were being baptized by [John] in the river Jordan, confessing their
sins.” Mark 1:37: “They found [Jesus] and said to him, ‘Everyone is looking for
you.’” In Mark 5:20, the cleansed demoniac testified to Jesus’s power and healing,
and “everyone marveled.” Mark 11:32, “…all held that John really was a prophet.”
John 3:26: “[John] is baptizing, and all are going to him.
o John Piper “Okay, in all these uses and more, the word all [or everyone] does not
mean every single individual in the group. It means that this is the general,
widespread response. And in the case of “hated by all” in Matthew 10:22, we
have the parallel text in Matthew 24:9, “hated by all nations.” So we can conclude
that hatred will be a widespread, general response to Christian evangelism, and
that it will hold true wherever you go among the nations….Being hated for Christ’s
sake is a normal, widespread, general experience among all peoples, but it’s not
so constant. It’s not so uniform as to rule out that many unbelievers [will see] …
the good lives of Christians and [admit] … that they are reputable contributors to
society…”
Charles Spurgeon “Thank God, they may call us what they like, but they cannot make us
evil…God was slandered in Paradise, and Christ on Calvary; how can we hope to
escape?”
o Sadly, there are times when Christians, because of their own sin, have been hated
for good reason. However, no one who is filled with Holy Spirit and walking in the
power and presence of Jesus living as He did, should be hated for good reason.
o In fact, most regularly culture will invent reasons to hate followers of Christ
Rome at time of Nero as they persecuted early church, claimed the
following of Christians:
Revolutionaries – disloyal to Caesar because wouldn’t worship him as
lord.
No respect for Family – divided marriages, families, and households
Cannibals – claimed they ate human flesh
Sexual Deviants – love feasts were characterized as orgies
Fear Mongers – their claims of the coming judgment was disruptive
to society
o Sounds a lot like many of the claims today made of us
followers of Jesus – intolerant, conspiracy theorist, bigots, who
want the liberties and freedoms of America to be taken away.
o By god’s grace, we must seek to walk by the Spirit so that we live godly lives that
bring glory to our father
Matthew 5:14-16 “14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill
cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let
your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and
give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening “When our Lord was on earth, what was the
treatment he received? Were his claims acknowledged, his instructions followed, his
perfections worshipped, by those whom he came to bless? No; “He was despised and
rejected of men.” Outside the camp was his place: cross-bearing was his occupation. Did
the world yield him solace and rest? “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have
nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” This inhospitable country
afforded him no shelter: it cast him out and crucified him. Such—if you are a follower of
Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation—you must expect
that to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life which, in its outward development,
comes under the observation of men. They will treat it as they treated the
Saviour—they will despise it. Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the
more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards
you. They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough?
“If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call
them of his household?” If we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by his
enemies. It were a sad dishonour to a child of God to be the world’s favourite. It is a
very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout “Well done” to the
Christian man. He may begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not
been doing wrong, when the unrighteous give him their approbation. Let us be true to
our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base world which scorns and rejects
him. Far be it from us to seek a crown of honour where our Lord found a coronet of
thorn.”
In 1993, Monica Seles was the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player and the most
formidable rival to Steffi Graf. However, in a match against Magdalena Maleeva, an
obsessed Graf fan stabbed Seles while she was sitting in a chair between games. Seles
was stabbed in the neck with a boning knife, and the man was immediately arrested and
taken away. Although the wound was only a half-inch deep and took just a few weeks to
heal, the emotional wounds for Seles were much greater. She didn’t return to
competitive tennis for almost two years.
o Jesus warns us of the hatred we will face – and by inference, as Spurgeon points
out, calls us not to court the affections of the world – so that are prepared to face
the same treatment he did; and when we do face it – we cannot be “taken out” of
the fight mentally. That is precisely what the enemy is trying to do as long as he
cannot kill us. (See Job)
The story is told of an elderly missionary couple who were returning home
on a ship after many years of sacrificial service in Africa. On the same ship
was Theodore Roosevelt, who had just completed a highly successful big
game hunt. As the ship docked in New York harbor, thousands of well-
wishers and dozens of reporters lined the pier to welcome Roosevelt home.
But not a single person was there to welcome the missionaries. As the
couple rode to a hotel in a taxi, the man complained to his wife, “It just
doesn’t seem right. We give forty years of our lives to Jesus Christ to win
souls, and nobody knows or cares. Yet the president goes over there for a
few weeks to kill some animals and the whole world takes notice. Where is
our welcome home parade?” His wise wife gently replied, “Well, we aren’t
home yet. Just wait until we finally make it to our real home.”
John 17:14 “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
Conclusion
Superbowl 57 (LVII) … considered one of the best Superbowl contest of all time. Eagles
and chiefs back and forth the whole game, until the eagles shot themselves in the foot
and lost (38-35). In my section as we were exciting was an Eagles fan…drunk and
belligerently challenging the chiefs fan…after the eagles lost….just like satan trying to
take people down with them when he knows he’s already lost.
In this world, people are passionate about their team, athlete, artist, television show,
and political viewpoint – but in the end, there are only two real camps that everyone fits
into – 1) followers of Jesus and His kingdom of truth, love, and light, and 2) followers of
satan and his kingdom of deception, hatred, and darkness
o The people of the world will hate light, and truth, and the King who reigns over
them; and therefore, will hate those who belong to that kingdom, will hate those
who proclaim that kingdom.
Amen. Amen.