SERVANT LEADERSHIP - The Blue Letter Bible Institute

Servant Leadership – Lesson 28 8
Our Identification with Christ by Skip Heitzig
And we can sort of do that, can’t we? We can be like David trying to wear Saul’s armor. It does
not fit quite right, but we are out there. This friendship with the Lord changes all of those things.
“God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He pleased” (1 Corinthians
12:18). He did not make a mistake. Let Him work through you.
Finally, this changes the make up of our ministry. In verse 18, Jesus begins something that almost
sounds like He is off on another track now with a whole different theme and context. He says, “If
the 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.”
Now remember in this section of Scripture in John 15, love is used eight times and hate is used
seven times. All of them are used in the context of this friendship. In other words, when you are
Jesus’ friend, you are going to have Jesus’ enemies. That’s part of the package. You know, we
would love to ride into Jerusalem with Jesus on the donkey with the hail of the crowd. But after
that was the cross. And it was Paul who said in Philippians—“The fellowship of His sufferings,
that I might know Him.” The fellowship of His sufferings and the glory of His resurrection, all of
those things together make the ministry. We cannot separate one without having the other. If you
are Jesus’ friends, you are going to have some of Jesus’ enemies.
We learned that on September 11 th . We learned on September 11 th that if you are going to be
Israel’s friend you are going to have Israel’s enemies. A lot of us did not know that until that
point. And we have slowly, as a nation, been discovering that.
Well in the ministry, one relationship requires the other. Those who love God and love God’s
truth will love you if you speak God’s truth. Those who hate God and hate God’s truth will hate
you and hate the truth that you speak. Great persecution is the result of the Great Commission—
always. In fact, you can plant this in your mind. If you are doing Acts 1:8 you will have Acts 8:1.
Acts 1:8, “Go into all the world,” Jesus said. You will go into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the
uttermost parts of the earth and be witnesses for Him. If that happens, you will have Acts 8:1
which says: “And at that time a great persecution arose in the church that was at Jerusalem.” The
Great Commission results in great persecution. If you are My friends, you are going to have My
enemies.
I found a news article called, “Not in My Backyard,” concerning the percentages of Americans
who would not like the following minorities, as their neighbors. And it starts with Catholics. One
percent of Americans say they do not want Catholics as their neighbors. Two percent say they do
not want Protestants as their neighbors. Three percent say they do not want Jews as their
neighbors. Nine percent do not want Hispanics. Twelve percent do not want unmarried couples.
Thirteen percent do not want blacks. And last and greatest on the list, over thirteen percent do not
want religious fundamentalists as their next door neighbors. This by the way was before
September 11, when there was a new casting on the word fundamentalism. They do not want you
living next to them, man.
“The world would love its own,” Jesus said, “If you were of the world.” So it changes the whole
make-up of our ministry.
Now when you and I are just faithful to the Word, preaching the truth and going through the
Bible—that is going to bring enemies. Because the Bible will say certain things that people do not
want to hear. You do not have to go out of your way to make enemies. You do not have to go out