An Introduction to the Question "Why Should I Believe the Gospel is True?" (Apologetics)

Nearly every Sunday morning throughout the school year and for most of the summer, our high school ministry gathers to be equipped on certain topics. This fall semester we are focusing on making a defense of the Christian faith (apologetics). The main reason I’m super excited about this is that the Lord used men who were doing this sort of work to bring me to faith in Jesus. I’d like to share some of the things I’m teaching high school students with you.

I want any high school students before they go off to college to be able to answer two incredibly important questions. First, “Why do I believe the Gospel?” Not only that, but I them to also come up with good reasons for why they actually do. The second question is, “Are my reasons for believing the Gospel any good?”

One day the poor reasons for why many high school students are trusting Jesus might not matter any more. Difficulty may arise, or someone may challenge their faith and they may want to walk away from Jesus, or sin might look really good and they might think, “There are really no good reasons to follow Jesus.”

There are number of poor answers to the question “Why Jesus?” high school students (or you) might have:

i.   “The Bible has only historical places and people” – Correct, but I could certainly write a book with historical people and places, while at the same time lie about everything I am claiming they are doing or saying. Also, many Atheist and Agnostic historians would agree that the Bible is filled with historical people and places. This reason alone is lacking.

ii.   “You just need to have faith” – Mormons, Muslims, Atheists, and Agnostics all display some level of faith. The universe was created on it’s own, without any sort of creator? There was essentially nothing, and now there is this vast cosmos brought about without a creator? Yes, even Atheists display a level of faith, but this doesn’t mean that Atheism is true.

iii.   “The Christian faith is unique” – The flying spaghetti monster is a unique God, yet that doesn’t make it true.

iv.   “Its about trusting Jesus, not earning righteousness” – What is implied by this is once again that the Christian faith is unique from many religions, which at some level teach that what man needs to do is good actions to be right with God (Yes, this is a bit too simplified). But, the argument goes that the Christian faith is unique in that man doesn’t earn a right status with God, as Jesus earned it. But once again, uniqueness doesn’t make it true.

v.   “The Bible has no errors” – I could pull together a fiction book with many historical details that are true, and make the book so that it doesn’t contradict itself, this doesn’t make it true.

vi.   “The Bible is the most popular book of all time” – What if another book superseded the Bible in popularity? Perhaps, Harry Potter. Would this make it true?

vii.   “The Bible says it’s from God” – I could write a book that says it is from God and that you should bow down and worship penguins. Does that make it true?

viii.   “The Gospel fills a void in my heart” – Many religions fill a void in the heart of its followers. Even Atheism fills a void in the heart of its adherents in a sense, does that make it true?

Having bad answers to the question “Why do I believe the Gospel?” is a problem. I want to answer four questions to introduce you to apologetics, which is a solution to the problem:

What is apologetics?

Apologetics is the response of the Christian community to questions that are raised concerning the truth claims of the Christian faith.

Some of those questions include; how do you know God exists? How can you think that God exists when there is so much evil?  What makes you think Jesus really did miracles? Apologetics seeks to responds to questions like those.

Why do we do apologetics?

1 Peter 3, starting in verse 14, provides us with the reason why we engage in apologetics. While talking about the persecution that his readers are undergoing Peter says “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”

The word “defense” here is where our word apologetics is derived from. “Defense” is often connected with legal settings where someone is defending against charges brought against them. Christians are in a way, are called to act like defendants when we are asked about the hope we have in Jesus. But a different type of defendant, take a look at verse 15 again, “…do it with gentleness and respect.”

If someone were to ask you a difficult question about the Christian faith would you know how to answer? Would you? An important question to ask yourself is, “Can I defend the hope I have in Jesus?”

Not only this, but you have a responsibility as a Christian to be ready to respond to challenges with love. Too often when online debates are happening I see stupid, idiot, and other unhelpful words thrown around. Don’t be the Gospel sharing jerk. You don’t need to dominate an opponent; you need to win someone over to be a brother or sister in Christ. 

I would challenge you to learn, read books, think through objections and issues. There are good answers to the questions people around you raise. Teachers, friends, and others may have really good questions, but there are also really good answers to those questions. So go find them and be ready to defend the Gospel in love!

How do we typically organize apologetics?
There are two types of apologetics, offensive apologetics and defensive apologetics.

Defensive apologetics: This is concerned with responding to direct challenges to the truth claims of the 

Christian faith. This is attempting to demonstrate that attacks against the Christian faith are unwarranted. Defensive apologetics responds to questions like these:

 - “Why should I be a Christian when you claim homosexuality is a sin?”

 - “Why should I be a Christian when you are all hypocrites?

Offensive apologetics: This attempts to demonstrate that the unbeliever ought to accept the truth claims of the Christian faith as true. Offensive apologetics attempts to do things like this:

 - Make a case for God’s existence.

 - Make a case that Jesus actually did miracles.

 - Make a case for the resurrection of Jesus.

Is apologetics more important than evangelism?
Not everyone needs apologetics, but everyone needs Jesus. Evangelism always takes priority over apologetics, but apologetics can be an incredible aid in evangelism.

There are some strong barriers to believing the Gospel. “I don’t want to believe the Gospel.” Why? “I don’t think God exists.” Apologetics helps to remove that barrier. Or “There’s too much evil for God to exist.” Apologetics helps to demonstrate why that assumption is wrong. “I believe God exists, but why believe Jesus died for my sins?” Apologetics seeks to remove this barrier and demonstrate why Jesus should be trusted.

Conclusion

I’m excited to give high school students the opportunity this semester to think through why they should believe the truth that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose from death. I’m also excited to be able to share some of this content with you.

I’d challenge you to press in and think through the issues. There’s a ton of resources to help you do this. There are books, podcasts, Youtube videos, blogs, and sermons to equip you in apologetics.

Some of you may be thinking “Books? Learning? Not a chance! I’m not a reader.” I’d challenge you, don’t waste your life by being lazy. Pick up a book and learn to love them above TV, Facebook, and other things you might waste your time with.

The Gospel is true, in Jesus no longer does sin define you, no longer are you stained with guilt, it’s true that the blood of Jesus deals with the problem of sin.

10 Ways the Gospel Changes Everything

This morning in High School Ministry I shared with students about how the Gospel changes everything. Paul talks about how the Gospel is at work in us by "training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives" (Titus 2:11-12). We looked at 10 areas the Gospel changes.1

1.     Discouragement and depression – Both are often brought about when something is more important than God. Fear, loss, hurt, shame, and guilt, which often bring discouragement and depression about, are all radically impacted by Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have nothing to fear in Jesus, every loss is for our good, God has forgiven when we hurt and grieve him, shame is gone in Jesus, guilt is cleansed!

2.     Attitude towards the poor – We were spiritually poor and destitute because we chose sin, but God generously sent His Son for us. Think of it, God who is infinitely rich, gives to us who are desperately poor. We have nothing except sin, death, and the wrath of God to our name. But God gives his Son.

This changes everything when we have the call on 
our life to give to the poor.

3.     Family Relationships – Through the power of the Gospel, God the Father becomes our Father. We no longer need to depend on our parents for their approval, as we have the ultimate approval from God the Father. We no longer need to be hostile when our parents fail, as the Gospel reminds us that we all have failed.

4.     Dating and sexuality – One’s failures in sexuality don’t define you, Jesus’ life does. We no longer need to worship our boyfriends or girlfriends for their approval, love, or acceptance, Jesus gives us what we ultimately need!

5.     Race relations – We no longer look at our race or culture with superiority, as every race, every culture, and every ethnicity has been affected by sin. We no longer look down on other races, as every race is on an equal playing field due to sin and can only be forgiven and transformed by the blood of Jesus.

6.     Individual relationships – we no longer need to relate to others based off of what they can give us, as we have been given ultimately all we need in Jesus. 

7.     Witness and evangelism – We no longer have to share the Gospel in fear, we have eternal life in Jesus. We begin to share out of generosity and love, not guilt. We no longer tell others of Jesus in arrogance, as our insight and intellect have not saved us, God’s grace has. We don’t push or coerce, it’s God’s grace that changes hearts, not our words. 

8.     Human authority – The Gospel is not opposed to human authority, but rightly places God as highest authority and calls us to submit to the proper authorities after God. Following the rules of authorities doesn’t provide us with a right standing, only Jesus provides us with that. Therefore we submit to authorities in submission to Jesus.

9.     Guilt and self-image – We no longer have to believe the lie “I am worthless, I am a failure, I am guilty, I am dirty.” In Jesus we are completely righteous and forgiven, to say that anything else defines the core of who we are is a lie from Satan.

10.  Joy and humor – If we are saved from our sin by God’s grace alone, then we have a constant source of joy and delight. We have hope and all that we ever need, of course we can laugh and enjoy life.

      The Gospel changes everything for the person who is seeking to believe it more and more. Remind yourself continually of it, memorize verses describing it, and seek friends who will encourage you to believe it!

¹Largely borrowed and adapted from Tim Keller's Center Church 2012.

3 Reasons Why HSM’s Upcoming Sunday Morning Series “Why Jesus?” Is A Big Deal

     This fall in High School Ministry we are going to answer the question “Why should I believe the Gospel?” on Sunday mornings, or to put is more succinctly “Why Jesus?” This is going to be an introduction to apologetics, and I think this is a big deal for a few reasons:

1.    Many high school students have poor reasons for why they believe the Gospel

I remember as a high school student thinking that there were probably no good reasons for believing that Jesus died for sins and rose from death. I’m sure a lot of First Free’s high school students have reasons for why they believe the Gospel, but a lot of times they aren’t that good.

“You just need to have faith.” Don’t Muslims have faith that there is one God and Mohammad is his prophet? Don’t Mormons have faith that Jesus is one among many gods and that one day they have the opportunity to be a god? Why should that lead someone to believe the Gospel? “The Christian faith is so different from any other faith, it must be true.” Any faith or religion presents a unique history and set of beliefs, does that make them true? A religious group believing a penguin to be god would be unique, but would that make it true? “Archeologists have never been able to disprove the existence of any Biblical cities, persons, or locations.”  Many fictitious novels take place in factual cities, with factual persons, and surrounding factual locations, but that certainly doesn’t make them true! They are the product of the author’s imagination.

I’d love it if we could see students better equipped to answer the question “Why Jesus?” I’d love it if students would walk away from the fall semester with a greater confidence in the Gospel that they are trusting in. It is my hope and prayer that our fall session would move high school students towards those things.

2.    Many students walk away from Jesus when their poor reasoning isn’t enough

I'm getting some great reading done to give
students some good answers to the question "Why Jesus?"

Often it happens early in college after reading some thought provoking Richard Dawkins or realizing that not following Jesus can be a heck of a lot of fun at times. Many students in similar situations recognize that their poor reasons for following Jesus aren’t enough, and they walk away.

My desire is to treat students intelligently so that we can say that their reasoning for believing the Gospel is no longer poor. My hope is that students will willingly push against college professors, philosophers, authors, friends, or anyone else who would seek to persuade them from following Jesus. Also, that the allure of sin would lose much of its strength as the Gospel goes deeper in them. Perhaps I should put it more succinctly; I want this fall class to help them follow Jesus.

3.    When a student is confident in answering the question “Why Jesus?” it’s going to change everything

           High school students, there are an overwhelming number of good reasons for why you should believe the Gospel. When your faith in the Gospel deepens, it changes everything. Service is more sacrificial, leadership is more humble, evangelism is bolder, love is greater, fear is lessened, laughter is better, relationships are restored, cities are served, and everything changes. Yes, the Gospel changes everything and I hope this fall sessions roots you deeper in the Gospel.