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Are We Hated Inough?
John 15:18-6:5
May 23, 1971

John M. Buchanan

In 1967 the United Presbyterian Church in the U, S. A. adopted a Book of
Confessions. Rather than one theological statement or creed, it is a collec~
tion of statements from different points in history, all the way from the
fourth century Nicene Creed to the Confession of 1967, a document written
for our own age. History is important in understanding the nine components
of the Book of Confessions. Social, political and economic forces surround-
ing the church at any given point in time have always determined what the
church felt needed to be said. 3

There are a total of nine entries in the Book of Confessions, and number
eight is a very interesting story all by itself. Shortly after the Nazis
gained power in Germany, they consolidated their grip on the nation by taking
over every established institution. Party ai were put in charge of education,
communications or propaganda, and of course, every normal governmental depart—
ment; police, courts, the military and so on, Hitler knew that the suctcess
of his totalitarian ideal depended on every German institution being : anae
into the service of Nazism, particularly those institutions which saw them-
selves guided by something greater than loyalty to the state. Two in particu-~
lar, needed to be quickly subjugated - education and religion. So it was that
German churchmen discovered in 1933, that the state had effectively taken over
religion by establishing a state church, with men friendly to Nazism at its
head. It was a very astute move: quite popular with a lot, if not the
majority, of people, In fact, it was so adroitly disguised that to many
people it looked like a very positive step.

There were, however, perceptive people who saw exactly what was bappen—
ing. They gathered in the city of Barmen on May 29), 1934, and called them
selves the Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church. For three

short days thoy discussed their dilemma; they wrote a brief document called

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the Theological Declaration of Barmen and went home. Over the next fifteen

years they were persecuted: Gestapo agents watched them very closely: they
were imprisoned, tortured and executed. Among them was Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
who was hanged several days before the end of the war.

Listen to some of the things they said: anticipating the official response
from the state controlled church they warned: "Be not deceived by loose talk,
as if we meant to oppose the unity of the German nation! Do not listen to the
seducers who pervert our intentions, as if we wanted to break up the unity of
the German Ivangelical Church . . e »

‘Try the spirits whether they are of God. .. If you find that we are
speaking contrary to Scripture, then do not listen to us!"

The statement then lists the ways the "German Christians", meaning the
Nazi Church leaders", were systematically undercutting the integrity of the
church, Tho fifth article is the one that did it; "We reject the false
doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should
and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life, thus
fulfilling the church's vocation as well.

We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church, over and above its
special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the
tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of tho
State,"

And finally: "We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in
human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of
any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes and plans." [Art. 6]

The Theological Declaration of Barmen is undistinguished, theologically.
But it stands as a contemporary witness to a very important New Testament
truth. It stands as a mgnument to courageous Christians who would not com
promise their convictions even in the face of persecution and death.

The historic and biblical truth that informs the Declaration is simply

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that the followers of Jesus Christ have in the past, and always will have in
the future, a built-in problem living in the world. In simpler terms still,
the followers of Jesus are called to play the game by a different set of rules
from everybody else. And it is to be expected that misunderstanding and
conflict and suffering will result.

Jesus, himself, called it living in the world but not of the world. It
is the theme which nine from the New Testament lesson this morning.

We thought, last week, about the matter of Friendship. In the 15th
chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus is talking with his disciples on the night of
the betrayal and arrest. New Testament scholars call this section the "Fare-
well Discourses". He told them he was the vine and they the branches. He
commanded them to love each other, and made it clear that their ability to
survive would depend on the degree to which they became a loving, accepting,
forgiving and serving fellowship.

Then he turned his attention to what appropriately could be called
"warnings". And here we take up our lesson for today « The flow of ideas is
as follows: the world will hate you, just as it hated me. It will hate you
because you belong to me: i.e, your ultimate allegience is to me and to no
other man, institution or state. The world hates me because as the revela-
tion of God's truth, justice and merey, my very presence convicts the ways
of men in the world. That is to say, I — and you — by our very being -
reveal the nature and depth of the sin of man.

Men of good will and good intentions will hate you and the reason is
ignorance. They do not know that your way is the way of God. But I promise
you that you will not be alone. The Spirit of God himself will be on your
gide. He, the Spirit of God, will be an advocate for truth and justice: and
the advocate will never stop pursuing the mind and spirit of man.

Nevertheless, you can expect to be hated. And the cruelest and most

ironic part of all is that your greatest problem will be with religious men.

—4=

The day is coming when you will be "persona nor grata" in your own Synagogue.
And some men will so misunderstand what you are about that they will actually
kill you out of their misguided religious fervor.

Up until then the disciples had not really experienced hostility and
hatred. Jesus, the charismatic prophet, had been the natural lightening rod.
People either loved or hated him. But very soon, they would come into focus.
His followers would be in the same position he’was in. That, by the way, is
precisely what happened. They were, in fact, expelled from the Synagogues and
stoned, flogged, imprisioned executed - for religious reasons.

What do you make of that? First, some observations. We are, obviously,
in a different kind of historical situation. They were a tiny, tiny minority.
Wie are a majority. They looked out on a world that was hostile to thea.

We look out on a world that is, generally speaking, friendly to us. They
had in their possession a new idea, a new Gospel, news that was really nows.
We live in a civilization that has existed with that idea for two thousand
years; a culture that is impossible to contemplate apart from the continuing
insput of Christian Faith.

Is it possible, therefore, to conclude that the words of Jesus are a bit
out-of-date? That the world's hatred: the fundamental conflict between the
Faith and the World; the whole business of living in but not of the world:
was real for them but passe' for us? I think not. In fact, I think our
situation is, in many ways, more difficult than theirs. The historic fact
is that no amount of overt persecution ever hurt the church. On the contrary,
the Church of Jesus Christ has been strongest whenever the going gets tough.
And so, for us, the problem is very complex, and very subtle, and very
seductive. The problem is, in my mind, that we are in danger of being loved
to death. It is a problem that goes all the way back to the founding principles
of our nation.

The founding fathers were deists: that is, they believed in God, but

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they were not, by and large, interested in the particularitics of Christian.
Faith. Thus thoy did a remarkable thing, They saw to it that the state
would not officially sponsor a particular religion, but at the same time they
arranged for the state to encourage religion in general, which in many ways
4g ‘elinply unofficial sponsoraitp. 12 think’ weonsed. 40-06 Gaeta} end vers Alene
in our thinking here. The separation of Church and State, and the freedom of
religion guaranteed in the First Amendment, are principles that are essential
and good and worth dying for. But the attitude toward religion in general
that is part of the American psyche makes it extremely difficult for the Church
to be the Church. The founding fathers regarded the funetion of religion in
terms of teaching morality and that is all. And that, I would suggest is
precisely the role assigned to religion by the vast majority of Americans to
this day.

Let us not be deceived by the phrase separation of Church and State. We
are, in fact, supported by Tippecanoe County and the City of Lafayette in
that we pay no taxes for the use of this property. We are, in fact, supported
by the Federal government because the tana we don't pay on the money we give
to the church are paid, corporately, by all the people. Again, I'm not
suggesting that this is bad — nor do I feel that we provide no services that
are helpful and valuable to all of the people. I simply feel that we need to
understand our situation, and more importantly, the attitudes that result
from it. gs

Partially because we are in a favored position in our society, and partially
because of this general desire built into our system, namely "In God we trust",
"one nation under God", everybody can feel a certain religiosity quite apart
from a particular religion. - Christianity by osmosis. It's interesting that
twonty million more Americans claim they are Protestants than the ‘total
constituency of all tho Protestant Churches. That is to say, if you're not

a Catholic, Jew or Mosleum, you mst be a Protestant - because everybody is

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religious. Bringing it closer to home when people designate their religion
when they are admitted to the hospital it is on the same basis. Not belonging
anywhere, professing nothing in particular, is all the qualifications you
need to be designated a Protestant. In America very few people hate the
church - very few people hate religion.

What then, of those disturbing words of our Lord? It comes down finally,
I believe, to the matter of ultimate loyalties. Jesus knew that the world -
the sstablished institutions of the world - are always inclined to demand that
loyalty. He kmew that individual men and women are always inclined to be
ultimately loyal to their own needs, preferences, goals, prejudices. - i.c.
to themselves. There is the conflict. Christian Faith demands a kind of
loyalty, or commitment, that transcends all of these, and at times may run
head long into them. That's what happened in Germany: but it happens to us,
less dramatically of course, in a hundred ways everyday.

Where ig your ultimate loyalty? On what basis do you make your decisions,
and style your life and set your goals and structure your relationships? I
was in a discussion recently where the question of welfare came up. One
individual came on very strongly with what I am learning to identify as the
Litany of Central Indiana. "Im not for any give-aways. If they don't want
to work — let tem rot!" It was a church meeting and I asked what I considered
a very appropriate question: "Where did you get that idea? Is there some-
thing in Christian experience, theology, the Bible, the life of Christ maybe,
that dictates that position?" His answer — which was a kind of unanswer —
was that we have to be practical and look out for people who are lazy. I
could translate that to mean that he was, at that moment, speaking out of
his loyalty to a certain political/economic ideology, and not out of his
loyalty to Jesus Christ.

Or consider the whole problem of human relations. Is there really any
question about the mind of Christ and the will of God when it comes to your”

attitude and behavior toward minority groups? I think not. I think, rather,

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that a lot of us simply respond and behave out of loyalty to something else -
our prejudices, for instance, rather than our Christian Faith. :
Thus the conflict, and the power of Jesus' own prophecy. One man put it
sharply: "Perhaps we ought to ask ourselves, ‘are we hated enough?' To be
hated is uncomfortable. But even that is better than to be blandly ignored
and overlooked, contemptuously dismissed as a set of children playing their
futile and childish games - doing no good of enna! but not moch harm, and
so left to amuse themsclves with their innocuous pastimes." [A. J. Gossip,
IB vol. 8 p 726]
It is not easy thing to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and it never has
been. The moment it gets too comfortable, we need to be careful. Those of
us who are committed to trying to be faithful in the world have, I believe,
three options: three alternative courses to choose from. -
We can, first of all, solve the conflict by withdrawing from the world.
The monks did that literally. And a lot of people try to do it today. Certain
segments of the sub-culture are saying that the good life is out of reach in
the framework of society and may be found only on a farm commune, or an urban
ghetto living day to day in pursuit of drugs. Essentially the same position
is taken by the very pious whoge concept of the Christian life is to be
undefiled by the things of the world. ‘That can be a wall just as thick as
any monastery. And to refute that option we need only observe that the
disciples did not go throughout the ancient world establishing retreat centers,
nor were they thrown to the lions for holding prayer meetings.
The second option is to work out a kind of compromise: to affirm one
thing on Sunday and then live out of some other system the rest of the wock.
It's not too difficult to pull off: it simply requires that the Sunday =
affirmations not be taken too seriously. It is, obviously, a cop-out.
The third option is to give ones loyalty to Jesus Christ and then be

faithful to that loyalty in the framework of whatever life you are living.

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But it is sie the kind of life that will be blessed by the spirit of God
himgel?: ‘the Kind of life that will be sustained by a sense ‘that what I am —
"doing may be costly and difficult, but it is right - it is God's will.
That was Jcsus' cata ee. In loyalty and commi tment to him wo have an
advocate, the Spirit of God. We will nigt be alone. It is to this life that

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Our father, we confess that in the middle of our complex and hurricd

lives, it is not always casy to be faithful. Forgive us when we fail, when
we make compromises of convenience. Strengthen our resolve and undorgird
us with the power of goodness and truth: ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord.