Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From a testimony by Brother Jerry Durham.
There are several statements Jesus made that, whenever put into practice, enrage ungodly men. One is the comment he made concerning who his relatives are. When his mother, Mary, came with his siblings to take him away because they thought he was “beside himself”, they could not get through the crowd to get to him. So, they sent a message to him by someone who was small enough to squeeze through the crowd. Managing to get to Jesus, the messenger told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?” Then, looking around at the humble souls gathered in the house, he answered his own question. “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
Whoever dares to put that one comment of Jesus into practice, whoever dares truly to believe it and live according to it, will be hated by the world and called insane, just as Jesus was hated and thought insane by his earthly relatives. There are no exceptions.
There are a number of other simple, holy things for which children of God will be (and in some cases are now) cruelly treated in this life. Brother Jerry recently touched on one when he testified to what the Spirit said to him as he was praying. The Spirit said to him, “Stop talking about God and start talking like Him!”
The world praises those who seek God but damns those who find Him. You can talk about God every day of your life and live in perfect favor with the world. There are many examples; just take a look around. Seeking God is popular; finding Him, in the eyes of the world, is insanity. You are free to talk about God and be friends with the world at the same time; but friendship with the world will be lost by any man who dares to speak like God. “He that is of God speaks the words of God,” wrote John. But he also wrote that only those who are of God hear God’s word, and the world, is not “of God”; it will not hear God’s word; it will not tolerate it. Worldly indignation is the price a man pays for speaking the words of God.
The world’s attitude toward saints who walk in holiness has always been “How dare they act like that!” Sister Judy Mellick summarized this worldly attitude of indignation well. When I mentioned some parents we know who are angry because their son has turned from sin, she described perfectly the absurdity that is in the hearts of fools: “Darn that gettin’ right with God stuff!” That pretty much sums up what one feels from such people.
Sister Donna Nelson has just finished a satirical song about the hatred that one of Brother Rob’s relatives still feels toward him after almost ten years because he “ceased from sin”! That relative sarcastically blamed Donna for “finally getting him” to repent and serve God. The name of Donna’s wonderful song is “It’s Not My Fault!” But the world works hard at finding someone to blame and to hate for one of its own being washed by the blood of Jesus. Rob stopped talking about God and started talking (and living) like God, and he became a disgusting figure to those who are still talking about God – and hiding behind their words.
I have seen saints turn from righteousness and gain the world’s favor by ceasing to do His will and starting to just talk about God. They no longer spoke God’s words; they merely talked about Him. And to the world, that is just fine.