“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”

Therefore

“Therefore” is literally because of this. Because we are God’s aristocracy, the world does not know us. The believer’s likeness to God is the occasion of misunderstanding by non-Christians.

the world does not know us,

The word “know” means to know by experience of observation. Unbelievers did not understand Christ when He was among them. Neither can the world understand Christians when they observe them. The believer’s worldview is so distinct from the world that non-Christians cannot recognize their quality of life.

because it did not know Him

The world did not welcome Christ at His first coming, so it does not understand His followers either.

Jn 1:10, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”

Jn 14:16-17, ¹⁶ “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

PRINCIPLE:

The world does not have the spiritual capacity to know what either God or Christians are about.

APPLICATION:

The world does not recognize us as the children of God. It looks upon us as just another subculture in society. The reason is that non-Christians do not have spiritual perception. They are dead spiritually.

1 Co 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Although the non-Christian world may recognize us as Christians in name, they do not have a clue as to what it truly means. We should not expect that the world would recognize our relationship with the Father. They may even resent that relationship because it reflects on their lack of transcendent values.

The reason non-Christians reject your testimony and the testimony of Christ is that they shut down volitionally. They do not believe, so they cannot see.

1 Co 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

The world tips its hat at the baby Jesus during the Christmas season because it is good business. Many people get a dab of religion around Christmas, but it is just a religious veneer.

Genuine Christians will always be in the minority until Jesus comes. We will never win our entire nation to Jesus Christ. We will receive the kingdom after He comes back and establishes His kingdom.

Lu 12:32, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

1 Co 2:7-8, ⁷ “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, ⁸ which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”