Why is American culture suddenly so hostile to Christianity? After all, it wasn’t that long ago that parents could drop their kids off at the movies or leave them in front of the television without too many misgivings. But in recent years, the culture around us has moved from support of Biblical morality to indifference to it to outright hostility and hatred of Christ and His teachings.

But we shouldn’t be surprised at such a shift. After all, even before His crucifixion, Jesus predicted that this would happen. For as the Church and the culture drift apart, it only makes sense that the world would not love those who don’t go along with its increasingly sinful ways (15:19). Moreover, we should expect that the unbelieving world wouldn’t want to hear what Jesus has to say about their sin and their need for repentance (15:22).

But the root of this hostility is primarily relational – the unbelieving world doesn’t love God or His truth because the world doesn’t know God (15:21). And because Jesus Himself experienced the scorn and hatred of those who didn’t know or love Him, He said that all His servants should expect the same treatment that their Master received (15:20).

So what should Christians do, when the wider culture tries to cancel out not only Biblical beliefs but our right to express them and to live according to them? Jesus said we should rely on the Holy Spirit. For He is the One Who will convict the world of its sin and convince the world of its need for righteousness to avoid the coming judgment (16:8-11). Moreover, He is the One Who not only will bear witness to us of the truth of God’s Word (15:26), but will also help us bear the same sort of witness to others (15:27), even if that might involve us suffering just as Jesus did (16:2).

So, no matter what the unbelieving world may think of Christ or of us, let us cling to our Helper, the One Who will guide us into all truth (16:13). For even though the world is increasingly dark and confusing, He will never lead us astray.

John 15:18-16:14 (ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;
11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.