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.