"Not even his brothers believed in him."
"The world ... hates me."
"The Jews were seeking to kill him."
-- John 7
John is the most skillful biblical writer of all when it comes to defining and describing what a Christian is. He is also quite proficient at teaching us what a Christian is not. As we continue to slog through the slough of despond in John's Gospel, describing the final months of Jesus' life when unbelief became militant, we meet a diverse group of anti-Christians.
Jesus Christ was surrounded by anti-Christians in His own home. What little is said about the brothers of Jesus in the Gospels is not good. They joined with their mother to try to have Jesus institutionalized at the beginning of His ministry. As His ministry nears its end, they are seen here making fun of Him. James and Jude were certainly not Christians at this point; therefore, they were anti-Christians.
We who are Christians have members of our families who are not, and it is the saddest fact of life to face. They do not share our faith commitment to Christ. They do not share our time commitment to worship and serve Christ. How are we to respond to anti-Christians in our own families? Jesus will show us the way.
Jesus had to face brothers who did not believe in Him, and a whole world who hated Him. "World" is a word John uses differently according to context. Overall, he makes it clear that while "God so loved the world," the world does not love God, nor His Son Jesus Christ. The world, apart from saving grace, is anti-Christian.
The lost world enjoys its sin and does not want anyone, not the Christ and not some Christ follower, telling them that they are wrong. In these modern times, it seems the only thing a person can do wrong is to tell a person they are doing wrong. The world does not want the church telling them what to do. It does not want the police to tell them what they cannot do. Such moral relativism and criminal nihilism is decidedly anti-Christian.
That the anti-Christians are in the world all around us is no secret. Is there a secret to reaching them? Jesus will show us the way.
"The Jews" (of vs. 1 and vs. 13) were the most religious people on the planet, in ways good and bad. "The Jews" more specifically in the Gospel of John point to the religious rulers of Judea and Jerusalem who were adamantly opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ. They intimidated the people, too, and bullied anyone suspected of belief or even sympathy toward Jesus Christ. They ignored the good news, and they were bad and ugly about it.
If you take into account all the Christians in all of the churches of the world today, most of them are worldly and anti-Christian. They deny the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, pillar the five pillars of the Great Reformation, and live lives untethered from the most basic teachings of Holy Scripture, which they relegate to myth and legend. Most Christians today are actually anti-Christians. So what are the real Christians supposed to do? Jesus will show us the way.
How did Jesus respond to His brothers, to the lost world around Him, and to the religious hypocrites of His day?
Jesus loved His brothers. We must show our families the love of God that saves by loving God in front of them and loving them in front of God. So often, love finds a way and leads people to the way.
Jesus shined a light in the lost world. We must be the light of the world to lost people in the world. We must shine for Jesus in our faith commitment and our moral character, If Christ is alive in us and the Bible is true to us, perhaps the living Word and the written word will find a way to change their hearts the same way He has changed ours.
Jesus rebuked religious charlatans. Liberal theologians and prosperity gospel preachers are the parasites sucking the life out of Christianity today, and we must expose them at every opportunity. They are the anti-Christs that the true Christ just could not stand.
The only antidote for anti-Christians is true Christianity. True Christianity shows itself in love, moral excellence, and courage. This is the reason why we are here, in our families, in the world, and in the church.
Chuck DeVane is the pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church in Hot Springs. He is a graduate of Valdosta State University, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has served churches in Arkansas and Georgia, and preached the gospel across the United States and other countries. Email him at [email protected].