Why do many Christians choose to live their lives in Christ different than the world only in degree but not by nature? A stranger meeting them for the first time would see them as another predator, not the man escaping uphill on the bike. Cutting through all the excuses and justifications, the real reason is that the one who died with his Savior in baptism to live for his Savior in new life doesn’t want to be hated like Jesus was (John 15:18-21).
I. Philippians 2:5-8. Just before the cross, Jesus tells His followers that because He was hated they will be too. Why? Because their very nature will no longer be like the world’s but be like His. Because we obeyed the gospel, we died with Christ to live our new lives for Christ (Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Set apart from the world, we will face persecution (Matthew 5:11-12) for living sanctified, just like the prophets (Hebrews 11:37-38). The world is not worthy of us, yet we often live like we’re not worthy of it.
II. John 13:12-15. But, can we blend in with the world and still be Christians? Jesus told the servants to serve as we saw the Master do. When persecuted, early Christians rejoiced because they were considered worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name (Acts 5:40-42). Yet, often we strive to avoid persecution at all costs that we might somehow be spared the world’s rejection and scorn. We change the church to become more like the world rather than shining the light of the gospel to change the world (John 3:19-21).
III. Matthew 5:43-48. The apostle speaks of an upward spiral in John 14:15 and 1 John 2:3-5. If we love, we’ll obey; if we obey, we’ll know God; if we know God, our love will be perfected. But, while seeking to live the minimum to still be considered Christians (although God has spoken about those who are lukewarm in Revelation 3:16), these chameleons are really in a downward spiral: they don’t obey His words, so don’t love; they don’t love, so they don’t know God; they don’t know God, so they don’t obey Him.
One popular slogan today says, “Stop trying to fit in when you were born to stand out.” From a spiritual perspective, we should stop trying to blend in with the world to avoid being hated when we were born again at a terrible cost to our Savior to live sanctified.