Would Jesus Go to College? (Part 2)

Last week I asked the question, "Would Jesus go to college?" If he were alive today, where would he focus his efforts? Where would he spend his time? Would he consider the college campus as a critical place?

I would like to propose that the answer is a resounding - YES! First, Jesus would go to where people are responsive to the gospel. College students, away from home for the first time, are at that point in their lives where they are really searching for what they believe. Coming to grips with our own beliefs almost seems a right of passage for the college days. Many of you know of the significant role your college days played in your spiritual development.

My wife and I are living proof - we came to Christ in college. Although we had nominal church backgrounds, we both came to college as skeptics. Both of our lives were changed as we met people who's lives had been transformed by Christ and who were willing to share that with us. Almost 30 years later we are still investing our lives on the college campuses of America and around the world.

Would Jesus go to college? Yes because students are spiritually responsive. But there is a second reason. You see, Jesus is very interested in truth. If you remember, he said, "I am the truth." Many universities still have engraved on their buildings, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Of course they've forgotten where this came from, but Jesus is very interested in people knowing the truth.

Probably the one place today where truth is least welcomed is in the university. And it has trickled down to our entire culture. Have you noticed that people aren't all that interested in talking about what is true anymore? (You know, if it's true for you that's fine, but it's not true for me). Try and share the gospel with many today and they just look at you with a blank stare and say, "so what?" What has happened is that the gospel has almost become implausible. And if your views are implausible, then why should someone even entertain the possibility that it might be true.

Gresham Machen said, "False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion."

The accepted belief systems in our culture today are: 1) We can explain the entire world by only referring to the natural world, there is no need for a creator. 2) Anyone who claims to know the truth or even to be objective is deluding themselves. And 3) All moral judgements are subjective. There is no real moral right or wrong. If the above three are actually true, then the Christian faith is indeed a harmless delusion.

Let me give you an example. If members of the Flat Earth Society wanted to come to the university and proclaim that the earth is indeed flat, no one would give them the time of day because it is absolutely implausible that it is true. Christians are often regarded the same way.

Jesus would stand in the middle of the university today and state - "Ideas are very important. The Christian faith is true. I'm willing to answer the toughest questions because I'm not afraid of the truth. I'm not only willing to answer your questions, I have a few of my own."

Would Jesus go to college? Yes, because it is a critical time for people to hear the gospel and because Jesus knows that ideas matter. Tune in next week for two additional reasons I think he would.

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