How to Respond to Hate According to Sound Doctrine

Shared on October 30, 2024

There is a right and a wrong way to deal with and repsond to hate. Watch this week’s study as Pastor McCrary goes over Joseph’s response to his brothers betrayal. We will see that Joseph’s response follows a pivotal lesson taught by Christ that we must all follow in orer to overcome hate.

Introduction

Over the past few weeks, we have done a lot of studying about envy.  We have seen what gives birth to envy.  We have seen how the envy caused Joseph’s brothers to move wickedly against him.  However, what we haven’t really taken a look at is how Joseph responded to his brothers envy.  So, in this week’s study, we are going to take one more look at envy and hate, but this time we are going to study about dealing with those that envy and hate us.

We will see that we must not be overcome by our fear of hate and what it can do to us. We must treat hate with the understanding that we have the hope to overcome it and will overcome.

The Desire of Hate

Hate has a desire to control. To do that, hate moves in a manner to strip away what has been given by the Lord to all people. What has God given to all people? Liberty- the freedome to choose how you live your life. When such freedom is stripped away, hate can force its way onto others.

So, to be clear, the desire of hate is a desire that is wicked and evil. Hate is anti-love which makes it anti-God and antichrist. Those who move out of hatred, rather than love, move in a spirit that is of the spirit of antichrist. We cannot mince any words when it comes to those that move out of hate as they try to force others to bend to their wishes.

Common Responses to Hate

When it comes to responding to hate, there are two common ways we often respond. What are they?  We will either fight (combat) hate or some of us try to ignore hate. Yes, some do simply ignore hate but is that always the right thing to do?  Some will combat hate but how we choose to fight against hate is incredibly important, right? 

This is why we need such a study as this one especially with the way the environment of our society is today. We are in the thick of having to deal with vile hate and wickedness and we need to make sure we are dealing with it in a way to defeat it.

Joseph’s Response to His Brother’s Hate

There are some who actually believe that Joseph brought on the betrayal of his brothers.  Let’s try to understand what is meant by those who would blame Joseph for his brothers betraying him.

Some suggest that Joseph shouldn’t have flaunted the tunic given to him by Israel (Gen. 37:3).  Some suggest that Joseph shouldn’t have bragged about his dreams to his brothers (Gen. 37:5-11).  Do you think the way Joseph carried himself made his brothers betray him?

I have a problem with this notion.  First problem:  it takes all of the responsibility away from Joseph’s brothers, who did move wickedly against him, and puts all the blame on Joseph.  Second problem:  the notion is a complete mischaracterization of Joseph as he had done no wrong.  

Victim blaming is a major problem that happens a lot nowadays where victims are often blamed for being on the receiving end of hate.  Scripture makes it clear that Joseph’s brothers hated him for nothing that he did. Joseph’s brothers couldn’t even speak peaceably to him because Israel, their dad, favored Joseph more than them (Gen. 37:4).

As for his dreams, those dreams were given to Joseph by God and he spoke about them. Are you going to hate me for some dreams that I told you about? If so, how could that be my fault? Isn’t that “a you problem”? I can’t take accountability away from Joseph’s brothers when they were the ones that moved out of their hatred and envy of him.

Christians Despised by the World

As a child of God, we can liken our position to Joseph’s position.  As Israel loved Joseph more than his brothers, God loves all of those who repent and come to Him more than anything. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you (John 15:13-14).” However, those who choose to live sinfully and will never turn to God are condemned already (John 3:18).

As Israel gave Joseph the tunic of many colors, the Lord has given His children a special tunic of colors.  You see, the faithful believer is covered by Jesus’ shed blood.  By His blood we are sanctified (set apart) and are healed of sin (Is. 53:5).    

In Hebrews 10:10-18, the writer explained the special tunic of sanctification that we wear.  The writer explained, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14).”  Then the writer then quoted scripture from Jeremiah 31:33 where the Lord promised to put His laws into the heart and mind of the faithful (Heb. 10:16). The seal of God has been engraved on our seal through the inner dwelling of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit separates us from the sinner!

Jesus made it very clear that we ought not be shocked when the world hates us.  Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you (John 15:18).” Why was Jesus hated? Becuase He wasn’t of the world— He was holy and righteous. Jesus said to His followers, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:19).”

Jesus asked, “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division (Luke 12:51).” He then said, “Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Luke 12:53).” So, if you are of Christ, prepared to be hated by those who are of the world and sin.

Responding With No Shame

So, should God’s sanctified take off our tunic of many colors and hide the joy of their salvation from those who hate them?  Absolutely not!

Joseph word his tunich of many colors that he received, regardless of the hate he received from his brothers. Do you know why? Becuase he loved and cherished the gift given to him by Israel. Yes, Joseph was happy to share the dreams he had because, again, those dreams were given to him from above!

Paul wrote that he who boasts should boast, or glory, in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17).  Like Paul, we should be proud to be a child of the Lord and saved by His grace.  Jesus warned those who are ashamed of Him today, He will be ashamed of tomorrow when He comes in His glory (Luke 9:26).

Sadly, there are many today who are ashamed of being connected to Christ.  Why?  Certainly because of those who today are putting a bad name on being a Christian.  Yet, we shouldn’t let the devil cause us to be ashamed of our favor from the Lord. The devil wants you to hide your tunic of salvation and he wants you to keep quiet about God blessing you. Yet, we’re living in a time where we should not hide our joy nor should we keep quiet about how God has blessed us!

Fighting against hate the Christian way

I am a big believer that hate should never be ignored.  Keeping quiet to hate, to me, is consenting to hate. When hate is not checked, then it will continue to move in a way that is wrong with no remorse. So, Jesus teaches us a couple of things to do to properly fight against hate.

In Matthew 5:43-48,  Jesus gives us the first set of directions we should follow in order to combat and defeat hate. Jesus tells us, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” 

Now, we need to really break this statement down because many of us are ignoring Jesus’ instructions in this moment we are living in today. Trust me, I understand how difficult it can be to keep Jesus’ instructions but I do believe these instructions to be the key in defeating hate.

Love you enemy

Let’s start off with tackling loving an enemy. Who is an enemy? An enemy is one who opposes you, right? An enemy is one who desires to defeat you – to see you lose. Now, according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we understand that love doesn’t envy, doesn’t behave rudely, and doesn’t think evil. Love, we understand, is patient and kind; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things.

Again, the enemy wants you to bend and fold to its wishes. One of its wishes is for you to stop being righteous and join it in unrighteousness. If hate can get you to budge away from love and joy, it will rejoice. Think about what those of hate are trying to get out of those who seek to move out of love today and you’ll see hate is doing its best to stir hope and love into hatred and hopelesness.

Bless those who curse you

Now, what does Jesus mean by blessing those who curse us? Well, let’s consider what it means to curse. We would say that cursing would be a use of foul language like swear words? Of course each language has its swear words but let’s not get hung up on swear words being the meaning of curse in this statement. However, let’s hold on to the notion of foul language.

You see, foul language can be any kind of derogatory speech that is used to hate, harm, and bring down others. Our society is filled with a lot of this kind of langauge as one man desires to preside over this nation and all he does is spew foul language. The real shame is that part of our society celebrates such speech and uses his example to follow in like its no big deal.

Yet, such speech is indicative of what is within. As Jesus said, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies (Matt. 15:18-19).”

So, in this case, since the enemy will “curse” us we should consider “to bless” being how we greet or speak to other.   Our speech should always come from a place of love and uplifting. When it comes to hate speech, we shouldn’t answer their hateful speech with hateful speech of our own.

Pray for those that hate us

Jesus goes a step further in this teaching and tells us to pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us.  A few weeks ago, we had a Sunday School where Daniel made intercession on behalf of his brothers.  I said then that praying for and making intercession for others is one of the most beautiful aspects of our faith. 

When you can pray for your hater, it is truly a beautiful display of faith for the fact of prayer being one of the greatest weapons we have in our armory. Prayer is able to uplift. Prayer is able to save souls. Prayer can even turn the heart of hate from hate to love. Even more, prayer can shield and protect those in the path of those of hate.

Rebuking those that hate and do wrong

Now, many of us often think that Jesus’ way of dealing with hate is “too soft”.  Yet, Jesus has also taught that when one sins against us, we should rebuke them.  Jesus said to the disciples, “Take heed to yourselves.  If your brother sins against you, rebuke Him (Luke 17:3).”

A rebuke is a sharp criticism with an offer of correction.  For example, Jesus rebuked the world of sin when He preached that living in sin does not please the Lord and one should repent.  I have said it before and I will say it again, when someone does wrong by you, you should let them know right away!

Now, those who are of hate don’t like to be rebuked.   Why?  Because they often believe they are above the rebuke of those they hate and despise.  Yet again I say, you ought not ever roll over to hate.  As Paul wrote to Timothy, “Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2).”

Here is the big takeaway:  we overcome hate by moving by the grace of faith.  We should not succumb to hate by reducing ourselves to moving by hate.  If we are able to take a stand against hate, we should be willing to stand and speak out against it.  Ultimately, the key is remaining discipline in faith and not becoming what it is that the Lord despises.