Real Life Community Church Sermons
Real Life Community Church, is a church located in Richmond, Kentucky. Our fellowship is comprised of authentic followers of Jesus Christ who aim to glorify God in all that we do. We have a desire to reach our community, meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of those who are hurting.What to Expect in a ServiceOur Sunday Morning services include a time of dynamic, contemporary worship. We have a full praise band, consisting of real Christ-followers who are committed to worshiping God, not just through song, but in every area of their lives. Each service will include a relevant, Bible-based message, that will inspire and challenge those who hear it, in their walk with the Lord. Come casually or formally dressed… however you are most comfortable. We hope to see you soon!
Real Life Community Church Sermons
Abide | Part 3 | Abiding in Jesus Through Persecution | John 15:18-27 - John 16:1-4
Can you imagine navigating a world where your faith is increasingly met with hostility? Join us as we explore the challenges Christians face today, guided by Pastor Chris May, who unpacks John 15 to illustrate how societal attitudes have shifted from acceptance to antagonism. We'll discuss how this change impacts various aspects of life such as employment and social standing, all while emphasizing the importance of remaining connected to Jesus, the true vine, and bearing spiritual fruit despite these hurdles.
The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2:John 15,. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before. It hated you. 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. 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. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 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.
Speaker 2:Whoever hates me hates my father also. 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. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the father nor me. But I have said these things to you that, when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. Bless the reading of your word, lord.
Speaker 3:Amen. Thank you, brother Ron. Good morning, good morning. Good morning.
Speaker 3:As we all know, it is becoming more and more difficult by the day to live as a Christian in the Western world. Author Aaron Wren described the rapid change that we're experiencing as Christians as the transition into the negative world, and he identifies three environments that Christians in the West have recently navigated, namely positive, neutral and then to negative. So let me just take a moment and break that down. When you think about the positive many of you who are perhaps a little bit older, been around a little bit longer, or, let me say, you're a little bit wiser you remember a day when Christianity was celebrated in our culture. Like people prefer to hire Christians, it might, if you were a Christian, it might help you land a job or get a promotion, and it certainly led to social respectability. Well then, sometime, probably in my generation, the culture moved from a response of positivity to kind of a neutral posture when it comes to Christianity. So at some point in my life I'm not sure exactly what moment, but there was a transition to where no longer were Christians considered, you know, better employees, or you know it wasn't a demand that you were a Christian to have respectability, let's say, but there was certainly no hostility towards Christians. Are you with me? Well, almost overnight, we've gone from positive to neutral, and now this negative response in our culture to Christianity, to where being a Christian is seen by our culture as like an enemy of progress. People are hostile towards us, and it actually and I have found this out personally being a Christian can stop you from getting a job or a promotion. Is this not insane? The hostility was put on full display during the Olympics opening ceremonies just a couple of weeks ago, as performers made a mockery of the Last Supper, a scene that we hold to be sacred and dear. And so the question is what do we do with this? What do we make of it? How do we respond to the increasing hostility towards we Christians?
Speaker 3:Well, I've been unpacking John, chapter 15. We've been walking the last few weeks through that chapter. We've been walking the last few weeks through that chapter, and it's all about abiding in Christ. To abide in Christ, as we've seen, means that, as Christians, we aren't people who just do what Jesus did, like we do that. We should do that, but that doesn't go deep enough as to what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is to be connected to Jesus as the true vine. Jesus is the true vine and we are branches and we are connected to him in such a way that his life organically just flows from us. And thus he says because of that we bear spiritual fruit, continuing his ministry, providing spiritual sustenance To a lost and dying In barren land. What an amazing thought. It's no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives In me.
Speaker 3:You talk about purpose in meaning man. Well, I love the Bible because it just always speaks the right thing at the right time. As we continue through Matthew 15, jesus in our text, he essentially tells his disciples listen. He said you're going to abide to me, you're going to bear the spiritual fruit, which is amazing. But then he says in great honesty and candor it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy.
Speaker 3:So today, when this is so on our minds, fresh on our minds, this hostility that people have towards Christians, persecution, is on our minds. And here the word of God, right where we were headed, speaks right to what we're dealing with. Isn't the word of God amazing? What we see today is that those who abide in Jesus Will experience some level of hostility. Now here's the bottom line, and I hope you can write this down or remember it. It's not too difficult, but I'm going to talk about this for two weeks and here it is.
Speaker 3:I'm going to say this over and over as Christians, we are not of the world, but we are for the world. Think about it. As Christians, we are not of the world, but we are for the world. Now, I love that statement because the first part of it tells us let's say it gives us perspective when it comes to persecution, we are not of the world. That's why we're persecuted. But then? But the second part of the sentence that I'll address next week gives us directive, because it tells us how we are to respond to persecution. As Christians, we are not of the world, but we are for the world. So let's begin Look at verses 18 and 19 with me.
Speaker 3:Jesus says if the world hates, you Know that it hated me before. It hated you. 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. Here's what the New Testament teaches, and I so appreciate it that the New Testament teaches that this is not your best life now. Come on somebody. It's not Christianity, oh, it's great because we're with the Lord, but not in the way the prosperity teachers painted.
Speaker 3:Jesus said to be Christian is to bear your cross. If you love your life, you'll lose it. But if you lose your life for his sake, you'll find it. And he's telling his disciples. Here's what he's saying. He said listen, you're going to abide in me, but it's not going to be your best life now. It is going to cause you great heartache Because persecution is inevitable. And even says it's going to be so bad that I'm telling you. I'm telling you these things so that you don't fall away, so that you don't throw in the towel, because if you're a best life now, christian, you will not be able to handle it when storms and tribulation comes your way.
Speaker 3:Thank God Jesus isn't selling us a false gospel. Thank God he is a God of candor. He doesn't pull punches, he tells us the truth. He actually says you're going to follow me, count the cost. He's not a used car salesman no offense to any used car salesman. He's telling his disciples prepare for persecution. But persecution beloved is nothing new. It's nothing new. We know from the very beginning of the church, the disciples and all the early Christians. They were ridiculed, they were imprisoned, stoned, put to death, martyred. As a matter of fact, the first disciples, the apostles, were all martyred, put to death, executed owing to the faith, except for John, who was exiled from the island of Patmos. Mockery of Christianity is nothing new.
Speaker 3:I want to put a picture up on the screen. This is do we have that? I'm not an artist, I didn't draw this this. Has anybody seen this before? A couple of you. This is the first depiction of Jesus that we have.
Speaker 3:Look at that. It was etched into this marble stone and here's what it is. It was carved sometime between the 1st and 2nd century. It was unearthed in 1857 on the Palatine Hill in Rome and the etching, as you can see, it's kind of hard to make out, but it's a figure on a cross with the head of an ass. Make out, but it's a figure on a cross with the head of an ass, and beside him is another figure and has a hand lifted as in worship, and underneath in that kind of scribble. It's very crude in the original language but it means Alex Ammonis worships God. It's a mockery. What historians believe this was actually found on a building that was used at some point as a school for boys Roman boys and this was one student they believe is etching making fun of Alex whatever his name is because he worshipped Jesus Christ. Suffice to say that what we saw in Paris is nothing new.
Speaker 3:So let's allow our text to give us some perspective. Why are Christians the target of hostility and persecution? Well, there's a few reasons, and I want to start here. Number one people hate us, the world hates us because Satan hates us. The Bible says that we have a real adversary, the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Do you remember when Jesus was with Peter, one of his faithful disciples, and Jesus said to Peter the devil desires to sift you as wheat. We have a real enemy.
Speaker 3:Now look at verse 18 again. Jesus says if the world hates you, know that it's hated me before you. Now I want you to just focus in for a moment on that word world. That is a translation of a Greek word, cosmos, and that word can have many different meanings. It can at times refer to the actual, physical earth itself, creation itself, but one of the other meanings, and clearly the meaning here is the ungodly multitude. And so Jesus is saying if the ungodly multitude hates you, the world understand it hated me first. And that's really important, because Jesus in the book of John says that Satan is the ruler of this world, and Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 says that Satan is the God of this world.
Speaker 3:Now, I'm going to be careful here. What does that mean that Satan is the God of this world? Now, I'm going to be careful here. What does that mean that Satan is the God of this world? It does not mean that we have two gods, yahweh and Satan, who are both gods equal and they're kind of fighting each other like a Marvel movie. Right, it's not that at all. There is but one God, right One God. Three persons Father, son and Holy Spirit. He is the eternal God. He is the only God who has ever existed and ever will exist. He is God alone. He is the great. I am One true God.
Speaker 3:The devil is a created being, but the devil has been given power under God's sovereignty. But the devil is like a junkyard dog. He barks and barks, but eventually he finds the end of that leash. Amen, satan is not a god. But how, then, is he the god of this world? Well, very simply, what it means is that he is the influence. There are dark powers that are in work that manipulate and lead and tempt the people of this world, who are not saved. It's very clear. So the devil is involved in the ideals, he's behind a lot of the ideals and actions of the world, and so I say, number one, that the reason that we are persecuted and hated is because satan hates us.
Speaker 3:And so you, you may ask the question very fairly I've seen this post why don't they target any other religions? Can I tell you why? Because a dead God is no threat to Satan. Satan is the devil, or the father of lies, and he is quite happy for you to follow a false quote. Unquote God, he's quite happy with that, but we serve a risen Savior who is in the world today, hallelujah. We serve a savior who defeated Satan decidedly at the cross, and we serve a savior who is going to come back again. We serve a savior who is alive and working through his church right now, and the devil knows it. We're empowered by the spirit and we are bearing fruit, and the devil does not. We're empowered by the Spirit and we are bearing fruit, and the devil does not want us to bear fruit. A dead God does not threaten Satan. So you ought to rise up and say oh, persecute us. It's just proof that what we have is valid, otherwise you wouldn't need to mock it, amen. So we're persecuted because Satan hates us. Secondly, we're persecuted because the world hates Christ. Verse 20, if they persecuted me, Jesus says they're going to persecute you.
Speaker 3:And we might ask why would anybody hate Jesus? Meek and mild, lowly of heart Jesus, why would anybody hate Jesus, meek and mild, lowly of heart Jesus? Why would anybody hate the one who came to lay his life down as a ransom for many? There's a couple of reasons. Like, people don't mind the forgiveness part, but a lot of people don't like the Lord part. You know, people say we shouldn't be political in church. But you know, you can't preach the gospel without being political. You literally can't, because the gospel is not just. You know, come to Jesus and have your sin forgiven.
Speaker 3:The gospel is the good news. It's actually a battle cry. It's Evangelion. It's this Greek word it was used in. It was a battle cry. It was actually a victory announcement. And the gospel is the good news that through his death, burial and resurrection, christ has been enthroned to king. He has defeated the dark powers, and part of that message is Jesus is Lord and it's not just a Lord. He is the Lord, king of kings, lord of lords.
Speaker 3:And so you might see why a tyrant, an empire, may not like this. Can you see why Caesar might be a little leery of people following Jesus? Because the implication is this If Jesus is Lord, caesar is not. If Jesus is Lord, biden is not. I'm going to step on your toes. If Jesus is Lord, trump is not. If Jesus is Lord, no pastor, no leader, no governing official is Lord.
Speaker 3:Do you know that in North Korea? In North Korea, christians are put into this class of people called hostile. You got little grandmas loving Jesus hostile. And you might say why? Meek and mild Christians giving their lives spending and being spent for the good of others and the glory of God. What threat are they to you? I'll tell you why Because it threatens the ultimate sovereignty of Kim Jong-un. Because if Jesus is Lord in their lives, then he is not their ultimate authority.
Speaker 3:But let's take it a little bit further here. Why do just? Okay, that makes sense for rulers, but what about just individuals Like why do worldly individuals in our culture hate Jesus? It goes back to the lordship thing. Because what's the mantra of our culture? You're your own god. You do you. Boo, right, maybe I shouldn't use that reference. I don't even know what that means, so I just repeat things. Sometimes I try to be more culturally hip than I am. Um, because I see some of the young folk going okay, you can tell me what it means afterwards, okay, but the mantra is let's just leave it here. You do you. Dylan, you can edit out that other part. You do you. That's what they say. Listen, you can be whatever sex you want to be now, whatever gender you want to be. Now you decide. You can sleep with who you want, do what you want, be what you want, anything you want. You do you. But when Jesus, when we come on the scene and say Jesus is Lord, what we're saying is actually no, you get off the throne of your life and you be who Jesus wants you to be.
Speaker 3:That's really hard for modern you know people to to swallow. That makes sense. That's why they hate jesus. Another reason they hate jesus is that he is truth and light. He is truth and light and and you go. That's clear. You can go read john 3, 19 and 20.
Speaker 3:But jesus says I'm the light. But actually people have rejected the light. John says this because they actually like the darkness. And here's why Like. Why would people like the darkness? Well, light reveals things. How many of you ever cleaned your house at night Like you've gone there? You like dust it a little bit after the sun's even starting to go down and you dust and you mop the floors or whatever, and you think, man, the house looks great. And you get up at sunrise and that sun is piercing through the window and just illuminating your whole house and you're like I thought I cleaned last night. Because light reveals things that you would not otherwise see. It reveals the dirt, if you will.
Speaker 3:And so it is with our sin, a lot of people again, in our culture we like to think we're good people and compared to Hitler, maybe we are. But put yourself up to Jesus, put yourself up to the light of the word, and here's what you'll find You're actually more malevolent than you could ever dare imagine, more wicked than you could ever dare dream, and that's actually a really good thing to be able to see that, because then we can deal with it. Christ is brutally honest with us about who we are as sinners, but then he's wonderfully gracious with us as he bestows us with mercy and begins to put the brokenness back together. But see, some people. They don't want the wickedness in their life revealed because they kind of like what they're doing and it's kind of like, let's say, willful oblivion, and they don't like the truth either, because our culture it's all it's relativity, right, it's everything's relative. There's no absolute truth, there's no absolute truth.
Speaker 3:And so another mantra of our culture hopefully this one doesn't mean anything that I don't know, but it's it is speak your truth, stand in your truth. What's that mean? It's either truth or it's not. There's no such thing as my truth, your truth. It's truth or it's false. Nobody knows what truth is anymore because everybody's trying to define it.
Speaker 3:So when you put up to a contemporary person this idea that Jesus is truth, his word is truth and it's objective, they tend to hate him and us for it. So there it is, us for it. So there it is. We are hated because we have a real enemy, the devil, who is behind all of this. What happened at Paris is not just an offense, it's demonic. Let's just be real. By the way, we ought to be mad at the real enemy. Then if we understand that we fight not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities. That's one reason. Second reason is that they hate Jesus Because they hate truth and light, and thus they're going to hate us. And finally, I'll just mention this one the world hates Christians Because they do not know God. That's in verse 21.
Speaker 3:Jesus said start in verse 20. Here, 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. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him. Who sent me?
Speaker 3:Do you know that the first century religious leaders who handed Jesus over to be crucified, do you know that many of them actually thought they were doing God a favor? And that's true of many people who persecute us today and try to shut the mouth, particularly of conservative, bible believing Christians like real followers of Jesus. And some of them think they're doing God a favor because God just loves everybody, which to them means he accepts everything you know, and so they just want us to buy into all that garbage ideology and they think. They think that they're doing God's bidding. But just remember, and I hope this helps you have sympathy on people who are persecuting us. Jesus says they do not know the Father. They are lost. Don't get mad at them. They are confused, they are lost. Don't get mad at them. They are confused, they are lost. They have no idea. They have no idea what's going on.
Speaker 3:Even the smartest of them, elon Musk, who thankfully is standing up against the secular, hyper-liberal agenda. He was told I think it was his, his son, pretty sure it was his son, his oldest child. He was told they were in this liberal school in California and he was told Musk is not a Christian. But he was told that you need to give your son puberty blockers or he's going to kill himself because he identifies as a female, and Musk not knowing this was a while ago. Puberty blockers, or he's going to kill himself because he identifies as a female, and Musk not knowing this was a while ago, before we really knew what all this would do. And he's like he didn't have a lot of information. He just said man, I don't want him to kill himself, I don't want to wear that. And he was manipulated. What he didn't know is that was undoable, there was no going back.
Speaker 3:And he was on an interview the other day with Jordan Peterson. And here's what he said as seriously as he could, and he's standing up against the woke ideology. And here's what he said. He said to Jordan Peterson. He said my son is dead. People are confused and they're hurting. They're hurting. Don't hate on them. Don't hate on them, love them. I need to wrap this up.
Speaker 3:There's a good side to persecution. If you're persecuted, you might be doing something right. Here's what the Bible says In 2nd Timothy 3.12. All who desire to live A godly life in Jesus Will be persecuted. How about that? So you might, you might be doing something. You might be living rightly. I mean, if you're persecuted or negatively, if you're not ever challenged about your faith, you don't ever feel uncomfortable in this world. You're probably going along with its agenda and you're not living distinctly like the Bible calls you to believe.
Speaker 3:Here's something else, another blessing. You know what persecution does. It exposes nominal Christians. See years ago, when it was comfortable just to be a Christian, when it was really easy. Everybody could claim Christianity, but there were a lot of nominal Christians. When I was growing up, everybody called themselves Christians, but many of them were nominal. Looking back, name only and nominal Christianity will not save anyone. All right, very important Persecution is going to separate the real from the fake.
Speaker 3:You go read Matthew 13 and Jesus gives this parable of the sower and essentially he says some will believe for a while but they'll fall away when the persecution comes. It's going to show us who, in whom, the gospel has really taken root. And then it's also such a blessing to be counted. Think about this. It's a blessing to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. Go read later Acts, chapter 5. The apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin. They're beaten and threatened not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus, and the Bible says they walked away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. What a blessing that we're connected enough with Christ that we would be allowed to suffer for his name. And then I'll say one more blessing very quickly. Persecution tends to propel the gospel. It has the opposite effect of what our persecutors want. It's read it throughout scripture and throughout history. So maybe this will send revival. I don't know.
Speaker 3:Now we use in closing we use this word persecution. I'm actually very hesitant to use it. I don't want to diminish the hostility that we feel. It is Mocking is part of persecution Not getting a job because you're a Christian but it's much worse than other places in the world and so I want us to consider this. As I close, in Nigeria listen to me, give me three more minutes. In Nigeria, any year, any given year, the number of Christians killed by extremist groups is not less than 4,000. There's an listen to this. There's an estimated 52,250 Christians who have been killed in the past 14 years. In North Korea, again, christians are considered hostile, which means they are significantly disadvantaged in access to food, education and employment. It's estimated that 70,000 people have been imprisoned for their faith in labor camps, and sources say that some of those camps are comparable. The conditions are comparable to the Nazi death camps. So what do we do with this? Well, as we consider how uncomfortable it is and how much it hurts for what we've experienced, let's remember our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3:This morning, I want to challenge you to do something. Would you take even two minutes daily this week Two minutes morning, noon, night, whenever, and just pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters. Would anybody agree with me to do that this week? Okay, okay, read with me to do that this week. Okay. I want you to just think of one more thing.
Speaker 3:As we prepare our hearts for communion, I want to ask you does your life testify to the fact that you are a real follower of Jesus, like would your friends? It's a corny old saying, but I'm going to say it anyways because it gets the point across. If you were charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Corny, I know, but worth thinking about. So maybe there's something you need to repent of today. Maybe you're going on with the world's ideology supporting the things that God calls abominations. Maybe there's the way you're going on with the world's ideology Supporting the things that God calls abominations. Maybe there's the way you're treating people. Maybe it is not Christ exalting and Christ pleasing. So Christians are persecuted because we are not of the world. But I want you to remember we are for the world. I'm going to talk about it next week. So let us stand together by the power of the Spirit, abiding in Christ, and may we bear spiritual fruit in this barren land.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, Kentucky. We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 1045 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.