約翰 15:18 世人若恨你們，你們要知道，他們在恨你們以前已經恨我了。 ¹⁹ 你們若屬世界，世界會愛屬自己的；只因你們不屬世界，而是我從世界中揀選了你們，所以世界就恨你們。

John 15:¹⁸ “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. 

我們都渴望被愛，而不是被恨，但是耶穌警告我們，如果我們愛他，世界就會恨我們，因為世界恨耶穌。長期以來，教會一直希望被世界所愛或至少被喜歡。我們一直害怕冒犯世界，所以我們改變或淡化了上帝的信息。Seeker-driven 慕道友導向的運動雖然是出於善意開始的，但卻導致教會對世界失去了先知預言的聲音。 “凡立志在基督耶穌裏敬虔度日的，也都將受迫害。” （提摩太後書3：12）我們忘記了“這個世界的統治者”（約翰福音14：30）是魔鬼，我們被選擇與世界分離。教會早就應該用愛心說出真理（以弗所書4:15），即使我們在教會內部也可能受到仇恨。

馬丁·路德（Martin Luther）在沃木斯會議回應使他沉默的龐大壓力的著名回應說，：“除非聖經證明我錯了，我的良心持守神的話，昧良心的行為既不誠實，也不安全。我站在此，神啊，幫助我，我無其它選擇.”

我們愛耶穌嗎？我們準備好被世界所恨嗎？

We all long to be loved, not be hated, but Jesus has warned us that if we love Him, the world will hate us, because the world hates Jesus. For too long churches have wanted to be loved, or at least to be liked, by the world. We have been afraid to offend the world so we have altered or diluted the message of God. The seeker-driven movement, while begun with good intentions, has resulted in the Church losing its voice of prophecy to the world. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) We forget that “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30) is the Devil and that we have been chosen to be separate from the world. It has been long overdue for the Church to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) even though we may be hated even within our churches. 

Martin Luther demonstrated in his famous response at the Diet of Worms in front of mounting pressure which attempted to silence him: “My conscience is a prisoner of God’s Word. I cannot and will not recant, for to disobey one’s conscience is neither just nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God. Amen.”

Do we love Jesus? Are we ready to be hated by the world!