1. Christ has just explained to us how God the Father is the vinedresser, how Christ is the vine, and the Spirit the one who helps us to keep Christ's commandment: to love one another. 1. We are the branches who bear fruit in obeying Christ's command to love. 1. The world hates us because we represent the Son, as the Son represents the Father 1. John now proceeds to Christ's words on the hatred we will receive from the world. 1. The world does not only hate the believer, it hated Christ before it was aware of the believer. 1. He explains that we are hated because we are chosen by Him. 1. In John 14:20 we see Christ say that He is in the father, Christ is in us, and we are in Christ. 1. So as part of the choosing, Christ brings us into this described relationship and this is why the world hates us, because we represent the Son. 1. In representing the Son, we do not equate ourselves with Christ, 1. for even Christ says that "the Father is greater than I" only a chapter before, for a servant is not greater than his master. (John 15:20) 1. Christ explains that we should expect the things that happen to Him to happen to us, for that which happens to Him is only happening because of the hatred the world harbors for the Father. 1. The world hates the Father, hates the Son He sent, and hates the church He has saved. 1. Think about situations where your allegiance to Christ may be contrary to the world. Maybe your manager is asking you to falsify information to make a business deal look more attractive than it really is, and in this case you would need to represent Christ well by obeying Christ before this manager. 1. Do not fall away, for you have a great Helper and are a representative of Christ 1. Even though the world hates us and the God we serve, our God has not left us to our own strengths. 1. Instead Jesus gives prophecy about the coming of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father, and bearing witness to Jesus Christ. 1. Christ tells us plainly how the world will view us because of Him, and explains His plan for the church accompanied by the Holy Spirit. 1. And so that we may finish the race and not fall away, (John 16:1; 2 Timothy 4:7) 1. Christ warns us of these coming trials from the world 1. Christ gives his apostles something to look for in the sending of the Spirit, later fulfilled at Pentecost 1. He promises this Spirit to all believers