Jehovah’s Servants Are Different

“Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”​—Rom. 12:2.

1, 2. (a) Against what fallen tendency of the human heart must Christians be on guard, and why? (b) What difference was there between Jehovah’s thoughts and ways and those of Israel in Isaiah’s day, and why?

AMONG the tendencies of the imperfect heart against which Christians must guard themselves is that of wanting to be popular, of wanting to be liked by others regardless of who they may be. Because of this tendency the great majority of humankind have come into bondage to the snare of conformity, the snare of complying with or acquiescing to the opinions and behavior of those about them. All who would please Jehovah God and gain everlasting life in his righteous new heavens and new earth must be on guard against yielding or giving in to this pressure to conform. Why so? Because, as Jehovah said to a backsliding people in the days of his prophet Isaiah: “‘The thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”​—Isa. 55:8, 9.

² “As the heavens are higher than the earth”​—what a vast difference that represents! In fact, it might be said to represent the greatest difference imaginable. What accounted for this great difference between Jehovah and his people? Their ceasing to do justly, to love kindness and to be modest in walking with their God. (Mic. 6:8) Instead, they went in the opposite direction, letting themselves be conformed to the nations round about them, both as to their worship and as to their moral conduct.

3. How did the tendency to want to conform to those about them manifest itself early in Israel’s history?

³ Early in the history of the nation of Israel the tendency to follow the godless course of the people round about them manifested itself. While Moses was in the mount of God for forty days the Israelites adopted pagan worship and practiced pagan licentiousness. (1 Cor. 10:7) And no sooner had Joshua and the older men who survived him, and “who had seen all of Jehovah’s great work that he did for Israel,” died than the sons of Israel “abandoned Jehovah and took up serving Baal and the Ashtoreth images.” (Judg. 2:7-13) And in the days of Judge Samuel the Israelites insisted on conforming to the nations round about them in having a visible king: “We must become, we also, like all the nations, and our king must judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” While Jehovah granted their request, he did so with displeasure.​—1 Sam. 8:7, 20; Hos. 13:11.

4, 5. (a) Why can Jehovah’s servants not please him and yet conform to the world about them? (b) What counsel does Paul therefore most fittingly give Christians?

⁴ How could Jehovah’s servants be like the people all about them and still be pleasing to Jehovah? Has it not been true, with but the exception of a few years after the Noachian flood, that from the time that Adam and Eve transgressed and were cast out of Eden down to the present time the whole world has been lying in the power of the wicked one, Satan the Devil, “the god of this system of things”? No question about it! What a snare, then, for any servant of Jehovah God to conform to the world!​—2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19.

⁵ Most fittingly, therefore, we are counseled at Romans 12:2: “Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Or Paul’s words as rendered by less literal or more free translations: “Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world.” (The New English Bible) “Stop living in accordance with the customs of this world.” (The New Testament, C. B. Williams) “You must not adopt the customs of this world.” (An American Translation) “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.”​—The New Testament in Modern English.

JEHOVAH’S PRE-FLOOD WITNESSES DIFFERENT

6, 7. Why should Jehovah’s servants not shrink back from being different, and who gives us the first example in this regard?

⁶ Since the course of the world of mankind from the time of the expulsion of our first parents from Eden until our day has been one of godlessness, it follows that all of Jehovah’s servants from the first must have stood out as different, as conspicuously, strikingly different from all those about them. Let servants of Jehovah today who may timidly shrink from standing out as different from those about them in their style of dress, in their course of conduct or in their form of worship note the record made by the faithful servants of Jehovah in this regard from the very beginning, even as recorded in God’s Word.

⁷ To begin with, there was Abel, the first faithful witness of Jehovah. We do not know how many others were upon the earth at the time he took his bold stand for Jehovah’s pure worship, but we do know that Adam, Eve and Cain, the only others mentioned by name in the divine Record, were under the influence and control of the wicked one, Satan the Devil. Abel’s course certainly was the opposite of that of those three. He had the courage to stand out as different and so proved to be the first faithful witness, the first martyr.​—Gen. 4:3-11; Heb. 11:4; 1 John 3:12.

8. What facts show that Enoch stood out as different from those about him?

⁸ And then there was Enoch. No question about his not conforming himself to the pre-Flood system of things. How can we be so certain about that? Because by his day there was much false worship in the earth, even as can be gathered from the fact that already in the days of Enosh, the grandson of Adam, there evidently was a false, hypocritical calling upon the name of Jehovah. (Gen. 4:26) It is also indicated in Enoch’s being singled out as one who “went on walking with the true God.” (Gen. 5:22) In fact, that Enoch stood out as conspicuously different is clearly indicated by the warning prophecy that Jehovah God caused him to proclaim, even as recorded by the Christian disciple Jude: “Look! Jehovah came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly deeds that they did in an ungodly way, and concerning all the shocking things that ungodly sinners spoke against him.” Surely the tenor of such a message indicates that Enoch was surrounded by ungodly men and therefore must have stood out courageously as different.​—Jude 14, 15.

9. How did Noah and his family prove themselves to be different from their contemporaries?

⁹ The inspired history also tells of Noah, together with his family. While we cannot be dogmatic as to whether Abel and Enoch were the only true worshipers of Jehovah in their day​—for example, Abel may have been married and his wife may have shared his faith—​the Scriptures leave no doubt that in the days of Noah, he and his family were alone in worshiping the one true God Jehovah. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah. . . . Noah was a righteous man. He proved himself faultless among his contemporaries. Noah walked with the true God.” For him to have that testimony borne to him at a time when “Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time” clearly stamps Noah as standing out as different from the world of mankind of his day. What ridicule he and his family must have undergone as he proceeded in building on land that huge barnlike structure for the housing of himself, his family and the representative kinds of brute creation living during the foretold deluge! What courage it took to proceed some forty to fifty years with this project! Different from the world of his day? No question about it!​—Gen. 6:8, 9, 5.

THE PATRIARCHS WERE DIFFERENT

10, 11. How did the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob show that they were aliens and temporary residents?

¹⁰ Then there were the patriarchs or immediate family heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. To begin with, there was Abraham. How conspicuously he stood out as different with his faith in the one true God Jehovah, in the midst of a people saturated with all manner of pagan religious practices, especially the worship of the moon-god Sin, the city god of Ur. In fact, Ur, his native city was a veritable Mecca or Rome as a chief city of Babylonian worship and religion. When Jehovah commanded Abraham: “Go your way out of your country and from your relatives and from the house of your father to the country that I shall show you,” Abraham stood out still more as conspicuously different.​—Gen. 12:1-3.

¹¹ What ridicule Abraham must have endured as his neighbors and his acquaintances saw him pulling out of Ur on what surely must have seemed to them to be a “wild-goose chase”! And the same was true to a large extent of Isaac and Jacob. They all “publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land.” They could have returned to their own land and settled down but they knew that that was not Jehovah’s will for them. It will help Jehovah’s servants today to be courageously different from the world about them if they appreciate that they also are aliens and temporary residents as far as this system of things and its people are concerned.​—Heb. 11:8-15.

12. In what ways was Joseph a fine example in being different, and how was he rewarded?

¹² And there was Joseph, the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob. How his life shines in the Sacred Scriptures! After having been sold into slavery and so isolated from all true worshipers of Jehovah, how easy it would have been for him to have conformed in conduct and worship to the pagan worshipers all about him and let himself be fashioned after that system of things! He held on to his pure worship and godly principles and so became an outstanding example of one who kept his integrity in spite of the strongest temptations. More than that, when his keeping integrity to Jehovah resulted in his being thrown into prison, he continued firm. Being all alone he might have concluded, like so many have before and since his time, “What’s the use?” and followed the example of those about him as to worship and conduct, but no. He refused to let himself be fashioned after that system of things, but continued faithful to Jehovah. And how Jehovah blessed him for it! Joseph became prime minister of Egypt and the savior of it as well as of his father’s family.​—Gen. 37:1-36; 39:1–45:28.

THE EXAMPLES OF THE PROPHETS

13, 14. How did Moses demonstrate that Jehovah’s servants are to be different?

¹³ Among the many other faithful servants of Jehovah God who had the courage to be different, who did not let themselves be fashioned after the faithless example of those about them, were the Hebrew prophets, from the time of Moses to the time of Daniel and beyond. Moses, upon reaching manhood in the court of Pharaoh, could easily have conformed himself to those all about him, forgot about his Hebrew upbringing and religion and continued to enjoy the pleasures, fame and power that were coming to him as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. What advantages lay before him in view of his having been “instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” and being known as one “powerful in his words and deeds”!​—Acts 7:22.

¹⁴ But no, he did not shrink from being different! How his former court acquaintances must have shaken their heads, baffled at how the heir apparent chose “to be ill-treated with the people of God rather than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin, because he esteemed the reproach of the Christ as riches greater than the treasures of Egypt.” (Heb. 11:25, 26) By taking this course he not only assured himself a good name with Jehovah God but was used more mightily by God than any other imperfect human has ever been used. And in particular were the faithful prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel called upon to have the courage to be different from the backsliding Israelites all about them.​—Isa. 20:3; Jer. 16:2; 7:16; Ezekiel, chapters 4 and 5.

15, 16. In what ways did Daniel and his three companions show that they were different from those about them?

¹⁵ There was also the striking example of Daniel and his three companions. How easy it would have been for them to have conformed themselves to the royal Babylonian system of things in the matter of the kind of food they would eat! But no, they did not let themselves be conformed to those all about them but had the courage to stand out as different, as the true worshipers of Jehovah God. And so the record tells us: “But Daniel [and his three companions] determined in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the delicacies of the king and with his drinking wine. And he kept requesting”​—yes, he did not bring up the matter simply once and then salve his conscience that he had tried, but repeatedly kept requesting “of the principal court-official that he might not pollute himself.” Finally the court official “listened to them as regards this matter and to put them to the test for ten days.” And how Jehovah God blessed Daniel and his three companions for their courageous stand! For braving the ridicule and disrespect of those all about them because of refusing to eat the fine royal fare and preferring to eat simple vegetable dishes (which were without fat, blood, etc.) they were found, at the end of their three years’ period of training, to be both healthier and wiser than all other trainees!​—Daniel, chapter 1.

¹⁶ And did not the refusal of Daniel’s three companions to bow down to the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up on the plain of Dura again make them conspicuous, or different? How many thousands of eyes of people high and low must have been fastened upon them as King Nebuchadnezzar summoned them before him because of their refusal to bow down to his image! Similarly when the rivals of Daniel succeeded in having a law passed by which they hoped to get Daniel out of the way, Daniel did not need to keep on praying three times a day before an open window in the direction of Jerusalem and thus let all men see how different he was from everybody else, did he? He could have prayed to God in secret. But he did not want to give anyone the impression that he was, even superficially, complying with the king’s anti-God decree. And how Jehovah rewarded him and his three companions for their courage to stand out as different, by miraculous deliverances and advancement!​—Daniel, chapters 3 and 6.

THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST

17-19. What facts about Jesus’ life show that he did not hesitate to stand out as different?

¹⁷ The need for Jehovah’s servants courageously to stand out as different did not cease with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came to Jehovah’s own people, who were in covenant relationship with God, and who had his Word and his laws, his priesthood and also the benefit of the preparatory work of John the Baptist. Yet what a contrast Jesus presented to their religious leaders and what a contrast his course of action was to their religious customs and practices! Far from compromising or minimizing the difference between the ‘new wine’ of his worship and the ‘old wineskins’ of traditional Judaism he boldly highlighted the difference for all to see.​—Matt. 9:14-17.

¹⁸ On the one hand, Jesus stood out as different both by his manner of teaching, which was with authority, and by his freely intermingling with the common people of the earth. (Matt. 7:29; 9:11) And on the other hand, he was conspicuously different by reason of what he taught. How obvious it was from his words that he was not a man pleaser; that he did not court the popularity of the rulers or the ruled, even though his miracles made him the most popular person in the nation, so that his enemies complained, “See! The world has gone after him.” (John 12:19) Boldly he said, “You heard that it was said . . . But I say to you.” (Matt. 5:27-48) “Break down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.” “Most truly I say to you, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been.” It was as though he wanted to shock and jolt his listeners. No ear-tickling preacher was he!​—John 2:19; 6:53; 8:58.

¹⁹ Even his own disciples at times wondered at his outspokenness, saying on one occasion: “Do you know that the Pharisees stumbled at hearing what you said?” And if those Pharisees were stumbled by Jesus’ telling them that they had made the Word of God of no effect by their traditions, what must have been their reaction when he severely castigated them as hypocrites, serpents, offspring of vipers and sons of the very Devil, Satan himself! Jesus never hesitated for a moment to stand out as different by reason of what he said. Nor by what he did, as can be seen by his chasing the greedy traffickers out of his Father’s temple on two occasions.​—Matt. 15:12; 23:13-39; Mark 11:15-18; John 2:13-17; 8:44.

JESUS’ DISCIPLES LIKEWISE DIFFERENT

20, 21. How did Jesus’ apostles and early disciples prove to be different from those about them?

²⁰ It could but follow that since Jesus’ disciples imitated him, worshiping the same God in the same way, they were equally different from their fellow Jews as was Jesus. Both their unusual message, that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-looked-for Messiah and that Jehovah God had raised him from the dead, and their manner of preaching made them stand out as different. When their opponents noticed the fearlessness of Peter and his companions in testifying to Jesus Christ “and perceived that they were men unlettered and ordinary, they got to wondering,” yes, wondering what made them so different from ordinary unlettered fishermen. “And they began to recognize about them that they used to be with Jesus.”​—Acts 4:13.

²¹ Of Jesus’ early disciples and apostles we know more about the apostle Paul than about any of the others: “circumcised the eighth day, out of the family stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born from Hebrews,” and “as respects law, a [strict, fanatical] Pharisee.” Upon his becoming a Christian how different Paul had to be from all his former associates! So different was he now that the Jews at Thessalonica charged that Paul and his colaborers had “overturned the inhabited earth.” No wonder that, when Paul was making his defense before King Agrippa II, Festus exclaimed: “You are going mad, Paul! Great learning is driving you into madness!” Paul not only taught other Christians not to be conformed to this system of things, but he certainly lived what he taught.​—Phil. 3:5, 6; Acts 17:6; 26:24; Rom. 12:2.

CHRISTIANS DIFFERENT IN POSTAPOSTOLIC TIMES

22-25. (a) How did the Christians of postapostolic times stand out as different in regard to their religion? (b) In regard to their relationship to Caesar? (c) In regard to their morals? (d) In regard to their love for one another?

²² Although shortly after the apostles fell asleep in death, “while men were sleeping,” an enemy, Satan the Devil, came and sowed weeds in the wheat field, the wheat field did not immediately become a field of weeds. (Matt. 13:25) And so early church historians tell us that in those early centuries Christians still stood out as different from those about them. This difference was apparent in at least four distinct respects. For one thing, they stood out as different from all the rest in the matter of religion. Not only were their beliefs and form of worship distinctive but they uniquely claimed that they alone were the true religion and all the others were false. It took courage to make that claim. As one church historian expressed it: “To the Christian, his God could never be placed in the same category as Isis or Mithras or Augustus.” Roman emperors were tolerant of different religions but not of one that taught “that the gods of Rome and of all other religions were alike false, and which strove to win over all mankind to that belief.”

²³ Those early Christians also stood out as different in their relationship with other parts of that system of things. On the one hand they refused to hold office in the government and to serve in the armies of Caesar, and, on the other hand, they ceased being materialists. Material riches were no longer the goal of their endeavors but merely a means used in furthering their preaching activity.

²⁴ Similarly the early Christians stood out as different in regard to morals. All manner of immorality was rampant in the Roman and Greek civilizations of that time, sexual immorality even being a part of their worship, and sexual perversions, such as homosexuality, were rife. Historians record how different the early Christians were from those about them also in this respect: “We have the testimony to their blameless lives, to their irreproachable morals, to their good citizenship, and to their Christian graces.”

²⁵ And finally, these early Christians stood out as different in their great unselfish love for one another, even as Jesus said would be the case: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”​—John 13:34, 35.

26. What facts stand out in regard to Jehovah’s servants from Abel to postapostolic times, and what about our time?

²⁶ No question about it. The record, both inspired and otherwise, testifies to the fact that Jehovah’s servants were different from those about them, from the time of Abel to the early postapostolic centuries. But what about our day? Is this still the case? It is, even as the next article will show.

Is the World Puzzled at Your Course?​—It Should Be!

“Because you do not continue running with them in this course to the same low sink of debauchery, they are puzzled and go on speaking abusively of you.”​—1 Pet. 4:4.

1, 2. What Scriptural testimony stamps as foolish the course of those who would please God and also be friends of the world?

HOW foolish are those professed Christians who would serve God and Christ and who would at the same time be friends of the world! To try to mix the two is like trying to mix oil with water. It just cannot be done! Why not? Because, as the apostle John tells us, “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”​—1 John 5:19.

² That is why the world hates us, even as Jesus warned: “Because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.” Well did the apostle John counsel us: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”​—John 15:19; 1 John 2:15-17.

3. What do Paul and James show regarding pleasing God and the world at the same time?

³ How can it be otherwise, since the world minds the things of the flesh, concerning which we are told: “The minding of the flesh means enmity with God, for it is not under subjection to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it be. So those who are in harmony with the flesh cannot please God.” No wonder, then, that James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote: “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: . . . to keep oneself without spot from the world.” And again: “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.”​—Rom. 8:7, 8; Jas. 1:27; 4:4.

4, 5. What course of action does the world pursue, as seen from the Scriptures and the physical facts?

⁴ Lying as it does in the power of Satan the Devil, no wonder this world is so wicked, well described by Paul’s words at Ephesians 4:17-19: “No longer go on walking just as the nations also walk in the unprofitableness of their minds, while they are in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts. Having come to be past all moral sense, they gave themselves over to loose conduct to work uncleanness of every sort with greediness.” What plain language! And, let it be noted, those words are even more true of the world today, even as foretold at 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

⁵ Yes, look where we will, we see moral degeneracy on every hand. The motion pictures, the television shows, the stage plays, the novels, the newspapers and the popular magazines peddle moral filth and pander to depraved appetites. Motion pictures filled with lascivious scenes and abounding in obscenities are advertised as “mature,” or only for adults, but the theaters where these are shown are filled with young and old persons out to enjoy lustful scenes. No wonder that venereal disease has reached epidemic proportions and illegitimate births are increasing by leaps and bounds. There was a time when the prurient-minded had to go out of their way to find lewd, obscene, pornographic entertainment and reading matter, but today it is the other way around; it is thrust at one from every angle, and the one who would enjoy clean, wholesome, upbuilding entertainment and reading matter must be very careful and circumspect so as not inadvertently to soil his heart and mind. Popular songs veer ever more and more in the same direction, being filled with sexually suggestive lines, and so do dance music and women’s styles. The world again is worshiping sex, only its modern-day phallicism is not done in the name of religion, although it is a form of idolatry, being greedily covetous.​—Col. 3:5.

6. Why do people want to conform to this world, and who in particular are susceptible to its pressures?

⁶ In view of how morally degenerate this old world is, as well as being distressed and doomed, lying under the control of Satan the Devil, why do people still want to conform to it? Why does everyone want to be thought well of by everyone else? Why are people mortally afraid of standing out conspicuously as different, especially in the matter of principle? Why are they ensnared because of “trembling at men”? (Prov. 29:25) Because of lack of a firm foundation for their rules of conduct, because of their being mentally, morally, emotionally, religiously and philosophically insecure, uncertain. Having rejected the authority of the Word of God, they have no fixed point and so are like “babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error.” (Eph. 4:14) And in particular are young folks in danger of being ensnared by this fear of man, by the deceptive desire to be popular, to be understood, to be well thought of, to be appreciated. Because of their immaturity they especially tend to shrink back, yes, even to rebel at the thought of standing out as different from their schoolmates. They dread being labeled “a square.”

7. If we would prove faithful to Jehovah, with what fact must we reconcile ourselves?

⁷ But in view of all the facts we should be proud to stand out as different from the world. Unless we reconcile ourselves to the fact that this is simply the way it has to be, we will not be able to prove faithful to Jehovah, for discontent, frustration or the fear of man will ensnare us. We must keep in mind Jesus’ warning: “Woe, whenever all men speak well of you, for things like these are what their forefathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) On the contrary, we want to be, we must be, like the apostles, concerning whom we read that, after having been publicly disgraced and flogged, they went their way “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of his name.” Yes, we should rejoice that we are different, we should be proud of the fact that the world is puzzled at our course, that it cannot ‘make us out’ or understand us and thinks us a lot of fools; like the apostle Paul, “fools because of Christ.”​—Acts 5:41; 1 Cor. 4:10.

PUZZLED AT YOUR WORSHIP OF JEHOVAH

8, 9. What aspects regarding the basis for our faith and name puzzle the world?

⁸ The world will be puzzled at your course of action if you prove yourself to be a fine disciple-making minister of the good news. It just cannot comprehend how you can prefer the Bible to the false worldly knowledge, as the apostle Paul counsels you to do at 1 Timothy 6:20. It will think you queer, foolish because you take the position that “it is impossible for God to lie,” and you “let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.” You can hear them ask incredulously: “You mean you really believe the Bible? All of it? How can you? How old-fashioned you are! How simple!”​—Heb. 6:18; Rom. 3:4.

⁹ The world will also be puzzled at your course if you take the name of Jehovah and let it be known that you are one of his witnesses. The world thinks it a strange name, ridicules the God of the Hebrew Scriptures and refers to Jehovah as a bloodthirsty God of war, as the tribal God of the Jews. But your name is no mere nickname, as are so many of the denominational names in Christendom, such as “Lutheran,” “Methodist,” “Baptist” and “Quaker.” No, but Jehovah God himself designated his servants in this way, even as we read at Isaiah 43:10-12: “‘You are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘even my servant whom I have chosen, . . . and I am God.’”

10. What puzzles the world as to our form of worship?

¹⁰ The world will also be puzzled at your course if you regularly and diligently attend the five weekly congregation meetings, and that regardless of the weather. It will stamp you as a religious fanatic because you prefer a Bible meeting to such attractions as sports events or other forms of entertainment. It cannot grasp how you can get “fun” out of faithfully heeding the apostle’s counsel not to forsake assembling with fellow Christians. Even among the most religious of this world, going to meeting once a week is thought to be all that God could ask for!​—Heb. 10:24, 25.

11, 12. What theocratic activities of ours cause the world to be puzzled?

¹¹ Your worldly acquaintances will also be puzzled at you if you manifest the consuming zeal that Jesus displayed, as mentioned at John 2:17. Because in order to preach the good news and make disciples you stand on street corners offering the magazines, go from house to house in all kinds of weather, risk rebuffs by incidental witnessing, they wonder what has come over you. They just cannot understand it, since they themselves want to do so little, if anything, for God and Jesus Christ!

¹² And in particular will the world be puzzled at your course when you literally leave all behind for the sake of the good news, and follow your Model, Jesus Christ, into the pioneer service, the missionary service, the Bethel headquarters service. The world just cannot understand why you should be like Jesus’ apostles and leave behind family and friends, houses and lands, financial security and a promising career, for the sake of the Christian ministry. The world thinks it is a fine thing to have a religion, but ‘goodness me, don’t take it that seriously!’ But we know, even as Jesus told Peter, as recorded at Mark 10:28-30, this full-time ministry is the most rewarding career anyone could engage in, for those in it receive a hundredfold now in this life and system of things, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers, and have the hope of everlasting life in the new system of things so near at hand. No question about it, to the extent that you zealously engage in the Christian ministry to that extent the world will be puzzled at your course of action.

PUZZLED AT YOUR NEUTRAL STAND

13, 14. What attitude of Christians toward government affairs seems puzzling to many?

¹³ The world will also be puzzled at your course of action if you adhere strictly to the Christian position of neutrality as regards the politics and wars of the nations of the world, if you take the position that Christ’s kingdom is no part of the world and that a Christian’s citizenship is in the heavens. (John 18:36; Phil. 3:20) It feels that all well-meaning persons should support civil-rights movements and get behind the most worthy political candidates, parties and platforms, and, in particular, support the United Nations as man’s only hope for lasting peace. Since nearly all the clergy, of both Christendom and pagandom, are deeply involved in politics, it cannot understand why you should not be also.

¹⁴ The world will also be puzzled at your course if you do not give obvious display of your patriotism by saluting the flag and by standing when the national anthem is being played. It is likely to charge ulterior motives to your course of sharing in beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning shears and refusing to don a uniform and go forth to kill your fellowmen. It asks, ‘What would happen to us if everybody believed and acted the way you do?’ If everyone did, then obviously there would not be any wars, and that certainly would be a very good thing!​—Isa. 2:4.

PUZZLED AT YOUR ADHERING TO BIBLE PRINCIPLES

15. What caused the world to be puzzled at Christians in Peter’s day?

¹⁵ Likewise the world will be puzzled at you if you adhere to Christian principles as to personal conduct. As the apostle Peter wrote to early Christians: “For the time that has passed by is sufficient for you to have worked out the will of the nations when you proceeded in deeds of loose conduct, lusts, excesses with wine, revelries, drinking matches, and illegal idolatries. Because you do not continue running with them in this course to the same low sink of debauchery, they are puzzled and go on speaking abusively of you.” (1 Pet. 4:3, 4) With the world’s sexual morals being as low as they were before the Flood and as low as they were in old Sodom and Gomorrah, the world cannot understand why you should heed the wise counsel: “Let fornication and uncleanness of every sort or greediness not even be mentioned among you, just as it befits holy people; neither shameful conduct nor foolish talking nor obscene jesting, things which are not becoming, but rather the giving of thanks.”​—Eph. 5:3, 4.

16, 17. How do Jehovah’s servants stand out as different from the world (a) In regard to employee honesty? (b) In regard to giving Caesar his due?

¹⁶ The world is also puzzled if you adhere to right principles in business matters, such as in the employer-employee relationship. The world believes in doing as little as possible for one’s salary or wages, loafing on the job, taking long coffee breaks and shirking responsibility. It finds it incomprehensible that Christians should heed the counsel at Colossians 3:22, 23 and work whole-souled at whatever they are given to do. In fact, the world thinks nothing of robbing one’s employer. For example, out at New York city’s leading airport a car-renting agency noticed that it was losing a great deal of gasoline and so it secretly installed a TV camera to discover who was stealing the gasoline. It found that eighteen out of twenty of their employees were helping themselves to gasoline for their own autos, and so all eighteen were discharged. Only two were not. The management was puzzled, and asked, Why is it that you did not also help yourselves to the company’s gasoline? They explained, “You see, we are Jehovah’s witnesses!” One of these was offered the position as manager of the agency, but he declined, again puzzling his employers. Preaching the good news of the Kingdom, making disciples of others, did not leave him the time and energy to be a manager. On the other hand, no doubt those eighteen employees who helped themselves to the company’s gasoline were puzzled because the Witnesses did not likewise help themselves. You do what is right today and you puzzle people!

¹⁷ The world is also puzzled if you obey all the laws of the land, if you give back Caesar’s things to Caesar, as we read at Matthew 22:21. Also, in its relations with governments the world believes in getting away with all they can, in the matter of taxes, traffic regulations and everything else. That Jehovah’s witnesses do not do likewise is a cause of surprise to them. Thus in the spring of 1967 two New York city housing inspectors checked on the Brooklyn Bethel home and were simply amazed at what they found. They said that their superiors would not believe them if they turned in such a good report, and, sure enough, the next day their superiors came to see for themselves how conscientious those in charge of the Brooklyn Bethel home were in keeping it safe and clean and free from fire hazards. They had no violations to report and eagerly listened to the witness given to them by those who showed them around.

18, 19. What Christian attitude toward material things puzzles many?

¹⁸ The world is composed of materialists. They appreciate only what they can grasp and enjoy with their natural senses. They are puzzled when you show you are not materialistic but heed Jesus’ words not to store up treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for oneself treasures in heaven that last. They are puzzled because you keep seeking first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. They cannot understand how we can put first in our lives something they do not even believe exists, the heavenly kingdom of Jehovah God with Christ ruling as King since 1914.​—Matt. 6:33; Rev. 11:15-18.

¹⁹ The world is concerned with getting ahead in the race for wealth, distinction and popularity and in keeping up with one’s neighbors. It is puzzled when it sees you heeding the wise counsel: “To be sure, it is a means of great gain, this godly devotion along with self-sufficiency. For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.” Yes, it seems strange to the world that we are devoid of selfish ambition. Yet how foolish is “the love of money . . . a root of all sorts of injurious things.”​—1 Tim. 6:6-10.

20. What condition among Christians is the world unable to understand?

²⁰ Being steeped in selfishness, with each man or family out for self, the world is puzzled because Christians manifest love, unselfish, agápē love. It thinks it strange that you should heed the words of Paul at 1 Corinthians 13, about love as not looking out for its own interests, not keeping account of the injury, and bearing, hoping and enduring all things. It cannot understand how Christians can keep an eye, not only in personal interest upon their own interests, but also in personal interest upon those of the others, and have the love that Jesus displayed to his followers.​—John 13:34, 35; Phil. 2:4.

PUZZLED AT CHRISTIAN YOUTHS

21. Who are especially tried by being different from their associates and why?

²¹ Even more than all the rest is the youth of the world puzzled at the course of you Christian youths. And it might be said that youths have a very difficult role to play, for it is the youth of today that is taking the lead in rebellion, in violence and in crime. Being “disobedient to parents,” even as was foretold, it sneers, mocks and ridicules you Christian youths because you honor your father and mother, show respect to your elders, and obey your parents in union with the Lord in everything. It takes courage for you who are Christian boys not to imitate your schoolmates in the matter of haircuts and for you who are Christian girls not to imitate your companions in wearing miniskirts.​—2 Tim. 3:2; Eph. 6:1-3; Col. 3:20.

22, 23. How has a firm stand for pure worship at times been rewarded?

²² Your companions at school may be puzzled because you make issues of so many things: You refuse to go along with birthday and Halloween parties, with Christmas and other Babylonian celebrations, and with saluting the flag and singing patriotic songs. But you may be surprised how things turn out when Christian youths take a firm stand. Not long ago one such youth whose conduct was most exemplary and who had refused to sing any of these religious and patriotic songs was asked by his teacher to bring to school one of the songs that he liked to sing. So he brought along the songbook “Singing and Accompanying Yourselves with Music in Your Hearts,” and pointed to song No. 109, “Here I Am! Send Me” as his favorite. The teacher had mimeographed copies made of it and the whole class had to learn to sing that song at one of their school entertainments, the teacher explaining that this was one of the youth’s favorite songs. What a witness that was for the words of that song contain a fine statement of Jehovah’s purposes!

²³ So, you who are Christian youths, let your schoolmates sneer, mock or ignore you because you choose to be different, because you do not have the time nor do you care for the associations that go with extracurricular activities such as sports, parties and outings. You just cannot afford to get involved in such things! You have far wiser goals than they have! Begin working toward them now by personal study, meeting attendance and the field ministry. Share in the vacation pioneer activity! It will be a safeguard to you as well as a source of many rich blessings.

24. What wise counsel does the apostle Paul give Christians, underscoring their need to be different?

²⁴ In view of all the foregoing, how fitting is the wise Scriptural counsel: “Let no man deceive you with empty words, for . . . the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them; for you were once darkness, but you are now light in connection with the Lord. Go on walking as children of light, for the fruitage of the light consists of every sort of goodness and righteousness and truth. Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord; and quit sharing with them in the unfruitful works that belong to the darkness, but, rather, even be reproving them. So keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked . . . go on perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.”​—Eph. 5:6-11, 15-17.

25. What has been the course of Jehovah’s servants from Abel’s time to our day, and when will it be vindicated and rewarded?

²⁵ God’s Word tells how, from Abel to the apostles of Christ, Jehovah’s faithful servants stood out as different. The world could not understand them. It was puzzled at them, for they engaged in the pure worship of Jehovah God, they kept separate from the world and they conducted their lives in harmony with Jehovah’s righteous principles. Is the world puzzled at your course? It should be, and it will be if you follow the example of those faithful servants of Jehovah, if you have the courage not to conform to this system of things. The world says that God is dead, and acts as if it were so, but soon, in the approaching “great tribulation,” when ‘the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience,’ it will find that Jehovah God is very much alive as the almighty universal Sovereign. (Rev. 7:14) And at that time the course of Jehovah’s servants in being different from the world will be fully vindicated and rewarded.