I. Things We Should Not Hate A. God and Jesus We might think that no one would hate God, but there are several ways people are guilty. Some people actively resent God and His authority. Romans 1:30 - Those who are worthy of death include haters of God. The context discusses people who ought to believe, but reject the knowledge of God and so end up in false worship and immorality of all kinds. These people may worship idols, etc. (vv 23,24). What they hate is the God of the Bible, who places restrictions on them. John 7:7 - Jesus said the world hated Him, because He testified that its works were evil. Again, they hated Him because He made demands on their lives. Some professed to believe He was not from God, saying He was a sinner, He did miracles by the power of Satan,etc. But the root problem was that He proved they were in sin, and they did not want to change. In that sense we are surrounded by haters of God: people who refuse to have God in their knowledge and resent any effort to remind them of God. [John 15:18,23-25; Isaiah 53:3] Some people are indifferent to God or love something else more than God. Matthew 6:24 - People cannot have two masters. They love one and hate the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches). These people may not actively resent God, but their lives are controlled by material interests instead of God. This is hatred, because it is a lack of love for God. This shows that everyone hates something. It is impossible to love everything, and God does not expect us to love everything. When two things that are antagonistic, the more you love one, the more you hate the other. 1 John 2:15-17 - If you love God, then you must not love the world. If you love the world, then the love of the Father is not in you. God views that as hating Him. Some people show they hate God by disobeying Him. Proverbs 14:2 - One who is perverse in his ways despises the Lord (maybe not intentionally). John 14:15,24 - If we love God, we keep His commands. But he who does not love Jesus does not keep His words. So to disobey is to lack love - God says we hate Him. When people claim that others are guilty of hatred, simply because they warn people they are guilty of sin, those people need to consider who really is guilty of hatred. In Gods view, the person who sins is guilty of hatred, not the person who rebukes the sinner. Matthew 22:37-39 - The greatest command of all is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. There are some things we should hate, but we must make sure we never hate God, either deliberately, by neglect, or by disobedience. [2 Chronicles 19:2; Romans 2:4; Psalms 139:21; Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 7:10; 32:41; 1 Samuel 2:30; 2 Samuel 12:9,10; Psalms 68:1; 81:15; Isaiah 49:7; Jeremiah 23:17]
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 15:44:17 +0000
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