If the World Hates You

The following study has been copied in part from: In Search of a City by Tom Jones, DPI Press, Nashville TN, 2008. It was originally presented as a class at the 1981 National Campus Ministry Seminar and is used here with permission of the publisher.

The desire for popularity while not found in everyone is something that quite naturally works in most people. Most of us want to be liked. We want people to speak well of us. We want the mention of our names to bring good responses and words of affirmation.

The message of Jesus Christ is an overwhelmingly positive message. It promises positive things and it delivers every time. It promises meaning and direction and relationships and ultimately a place with God forever. But there is one thing that Jesus never promised. He never promised us popularity with the world. In fact the only way to have popularity with the world is to get rid of those very elements of discipleship that make it powerful.