Chosen out of the world
May 8, 2021
15:18 – 16:33 Sent into the world, just as Jesus was sent
Read John 15:18-21
Having emphasised to the disciples that the nature of their mission must be love (13:1-38), and that the enabling of their mission would be through their union with him (14:1 - 15:17), in this final part of the teaching at the last supper, Jesus now told them clearly the place where that mission would be carried out (15:18 – 16:33). They were to go out into the world, in order that Jesus might be made known there.
It’s delightful to know that Jesus wants us to experience love and joy and fruitfulness (15:8-17). But the context for putting that into practice is not yet in heaven but in this world, in which to be a follower of Jesus is far from easy. This is what Jesus next went on to make clear to his disciples, that though they will know his love they will also know the world’s hatred and opposition, just as he himself had experienced (18). World (kosmos in Greek) is used in the New Testament both for our planet and also for the people who live on it. But it is also often used distinctively for humanity in opposition to God (all three aspects can be seen in John 1:10).
So, just as the world, in general, is opposed to God, then being chosen to bear fruit for God (15:16) means being “chosen out of the world” and therefore no longer belonging to it (19; 17:14). The world’s reaction to those who follow Jesus will be the same as their reaction to Jesus (20-21). And the saying, “No servant is greater than his master” will apply in two ways for Christians. It refers to voluntary humble service (13:14-16) and also to involuntary rejection by the world, for both of these are the way of the cross which Jesus himself trod (Mark 8:34-35).