This being "crucified with Christ", is not accomplished merely by being born again. No, not at all. There is but one way to be “crucified with Christ”, and that is to suffer for righteousness as Jesus suffered, after we are born again. Even Jesus's complete death to self was accomplished only by the sufferings that his love for God brought upon him. We are told (Heb. 5:8-9), "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect [by the things which he suffered], he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." If one is ever “crucified with Christ”, it will be the result of enduring with Christ-like grace whatever cruelty men may show us for obeying the Word of God. Being crucified with Christ means learning to respond to suffering as Jesus responded to it. The Apostles labored to persuade the saints of this:

PETER:
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. . . . If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps.” (1Pet. 4:1; 2:20-21)

JAMES:
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:3-4)

The only way for a believer to avoid suffering for Christ is to quench the Spirit. Anyone led by the Spirit of God will be ostracized by the world. Paul, am I correct in saying this? "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Then, Paul, why should we persevere in righteousness and not rather live as does the world, so that they will not treat us as aliens? "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Oh, I see. In other words, we should live with eternity in mind instead of pursuing friendship with the world and the praise of men? "Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.­" But, Paul, doesn't such behavior make a man an "odd ball" and set him apart from ordinary people? How did the righteous men and women of old explain themselves to others? "These all . . . confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Yes, they confessed the truth, knowing that there would be unpleasant repercussions? But how did they do that, Paul? What secret truth about God gave them such faith and boldness? "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him [Jesus], we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him [to avoid persecution], he will deny us. . . . Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." Amen, Paul, and thank you!

There is no such thing as living a holy life and at the same time being highly esteemed by worldly men. And the persecution that surely will come upon those who follow after holiness serves one of two purposes. Either it will drive us deeper into the life of Christ until we are crucified with him, or it will cower us into quenching the Spirit so that men will approve of us. Jesus mentioned the latter kind of believer in the parable of the Four Kinds of Soil (tract #63): "this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet, he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles." But Jesus, is it true, as Paul said, that every single person who obeys God will suffer persecution? "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." But, Jesus . . . "Remember the word that I said unto you, 'The servant is not greater than his Lord.' If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." But Jesus, every single. . . ? "In the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." Yes, Lord. "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of [their places of worship]." Really? "Yea. The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." But why, Lord? "These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.­" Thank you, Lord, and please help me to be faithful.

Their joy was that they looked forward to the reward that will be given to those who obey God to the extent that the world cannot hold back its rage. That rage against God is always there, but is exposed only when someone becomes enough like God to draw it out into the light. All wars are wars against God, but being unable to find or to reach God, men war with one another. All malicious hatred is hatred of God, but being unable to find God, men are cruel to one another. When one grows in the grace of God to become like Christ Jesus, the world turns its hatred toward that person. Pontius Pilate and King Herod, for example, hated one another until their mutual contempt of Jesus brought them together. By their response to Jesus, the true attitude of their hearts toward God was revealed. And by men’s response to God's servants now, they still reveal their true feelings toward God (Mt. 10:40).

Why was Jesus so hated by the world that they could not ignore him? Jesus told us, in John 7:7, "me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." Jesus was compelled to proclaim the truth. It was the very purpose of his coming to earth. With his earthly life on the line, he confessed to the Roman ruler the purpose of his mission to this world, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." The apostle Paul said that all his persecutions would cease if he would only change his message (Gal. 5:11), but he chose to be faithful to God and suffer than to be unfaithful and please men. Satan dreads the day when the body of Christ comes to the knowledge of the truth, and Satan’s ministers persecute with fervor anyone who dares to proclaim it.

The great irony of being “crucified with Christ” is that the harshest persecution that both Jesus and Paul suffered was from God’s own people. In both cases, the children of God guided the world in its hatred of the men whom God chose to send. Ministers in the family of God led the rebellion against Paul, which rebellion spread until, at last, the Gentile saints as a whole forsook that grand old apostle who had brought them to the way of life. "All they [the congregations] which are in Asia be turned away from me" mourned the aged apostle Paul as he neared the end of his life (2Tim. 1:15).

The "congregations in Asia" included, among others, the congregations of Ephesus, Colossae, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. By the time of Paul's death, as he sadly predicted, the whole Gentile congregation had fallen away from the “Gospel of the Uncircumcision”, as Paul called it. And there the congregation remains to this day, guided by men rather than by the Spirit of Truth, attracted by "fair shows in the flesh" instead of by the power and light of the Spirit of God. Now, as then, a man risks his reputation by standing for the right. Where is the courageous prophet, calling the saints back to the ways of the Spirit? The famine for the Word of God, of which the prophet Amos spoke, has turned the living trees of God's vineyard into wilted, thirsty plants. Where is the man who will bear the scorn of men, and bring water to the field? They are all of them afraid of the other. There will none of them suffer for my sake. None of them love my sheep. And they hate those who do, and will drive them away from my sheep.

I want you to picture Annas and Caiaphas, the chief priests who engineered Jesus's arrest and trial, continuing their rituals of prayer and sacrifice the next day. How successful and gratified must they have felt! But what they had really done was to trade their hope of eternal life for the praises of men, "thinking to do God a ser­vice." They hated the light, so they called the light "darkness" and to complete the show they no doubt offered public praises to God that they had saved the nation from another “false prophet”.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.