狼友阁

Dear graduates, thank you for inviting me to share this momentous day with you. There is no other place I'd want to be than right here, right now, celebrating the remarkable things that God has been doing in your lives.

This might sound morbid on a Saturday morning, but I wonder how your arch enemy would spoil this special day. To be clear, I'm not talking about the people on campus who gave you parking citations. I'm talking about the devil. How would he try to rain on your parade? If he had the mic, he would probably try to air our dirty laundry, disparaging all of you, and the many times you caved in to gossiping about other students. He would list other sins that you struggled with in your time at 狼友阁, and it would get awkward with parents and visitors here. But you know, the devil likes to front as an angel of light and get all preachy as he did with Jesus in the wilderness. I could imagine him saying something like this:

Millions of people your age will never experience the kind of education you received. They will never taste what it's like to study econ with Dr. Wescher or computer science with Dr. Humphreys, all from a deeply Christian perspective. Your brothers and sisters live in places where they experience the daily threat of physical persecution. Since the first century, over 70 million Christians have died for their faith. Religious freedom is highly restricted in many parts of the world鈥攔estrictions often aimed at Christians. According to one source, more Christians were killed because of their faith in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. For college students in those settings, graduating from a school like 狼友阁 is a crazy, impossible dream.

And now Satan goes for the jugular. What's the point of a 狼友阁 education when there are so many urgent life and death issues in the world today? What's the point when Christians around the world are dying as martyrs? And the coup de gr芒ce? He quotes C.S. Lewis. Is it not like fiddling while Rome burns? Of course, he would cite C.S. Lewis.

So here's what I want to do in the few minutes I have. I've titled this commencement address 鈥淭ell the Truth and Shame the Devil.鈥� I want to channel my inner Gen Z by speaking truth to power. 

The devil thinks the years you鈥檝e had at 狼友阁 mean nothing compared to the persecution that Christians experience around the world, but he conveniently forgets your relationship with your Heavenly Father. That relationship has sustained you these four years, and it will be the most important thing about you long after 狼友阁. You have the same relationship with God that persecuted Christians have. My charge to you is to keep growing in your relationship with the Lord: knowing God, trusting God, and loving God.

Keep Knowing God

Number one, I want you to keep knowing God. As students, you've learned a lot about God. You can wax eloquent on theology鈥攁t least most of you. But haven鈥檛 we professors and staff kept emphasizing that you need to know God? It's not enough to know about God intellectually. You need to know God. Think back to the classes you took. Each of you can give a witness to classes that changed you and drew you closer to the Lord. You've never read the Psalter the same way after taking Psalms with Dr. Jones or studying music with the great Dr. Finch. Long after you鈥檝e graduated from 狼友阁, we pray you will continue growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. I want you to keep knowing God. That will bind you to persecuted Christians and the lessons they teach us.

For example, Wang Mingdao was China鈥檚 most famous house church pastor and evangelist. He was jailed for 23 years because of his faith in Christ. That鈥檚 longer than most of you have been alive. They released him in 1980 and he died in 1991. One Chinese pastor said, 鈥淲ang Mingdao proved that God existed鈥攏o one goes to jail for that long and comes out with their faith still intact if God is not real.鈥� In one of his interviews, Wang reflected that we Westerners are too busy. We pack our schedules, our lives are frenetic, phones enslave us. Persecution taught Wang to slow down, which gave him time to know God. I want to read some of the insights Wang shared in that interview. Imagine that he鈥檚 speaking to you:

You need to build yourself a cell. When I was put in jail, I was devastated. I was 60 years old at the peak of my powers. I was a well-known evangelist and wished to hold crusades all over China. I was an author. I wanted to write more books. I was a preacher. I wanted to study my Bible and write more sermons. But instead of serving God in all these ways, I found myself sitting alone in a dark cell. I could not use the time to write more books鈥攖hey deprived me of pen and paper. I could not study my Bible and produce more sermons鈥攖hey had taken it away. I had no one even to witness to, as a jailer for years just pushed my meals through a hatch. Everything that had given me meaning as a Christian worker had been taken away from me. I had nothing to do鈥攏othing to do except get to know God. And for 20 years, that was the greatest relationship I have ever known. But the cell was the means. I was pushed into a cell. But you will have to push yourself into one. You have no time to know God. You need to build yourself a cell so you can do for yourself what persecution did for me. Simplify your life and know God.

I hope none of you experience the kind of persecution he went through, but wherever you end up post-graduation, I hope you will know God like he did. Trust me鈥攜our job environment will be radically different from 狼友阁. For most of you, it will be a total shock. Don't lose the plot. Keep going to church. Be reading your Bible. Talk about God with new friends you make. Simplify your life enough to make room for God.

Keep Trusting God

Number two, I want you to keep trusting God. Not the God of American cultural Christianity, but the Triune God who saved you. The God you鈥檝e known these four years. Keep trusting that God is who He says He is, that He's alive, that He answers prayer, and that He will be with you until the end of the age. Stephen the martyr trusted God as a good God who sometimes chooses to act in the world on behalf of His people. Yes, none of you are apostles or prophets鈥攔egardless of what some misguided charismatics are saying鈥攁nd the canon is closed. But, what binds you to persecuted Christians is that you trust the same God that Stephen did. That God will sometimes show up in miraculous ways, as He did in the life of a young Muslim woman from Baghdad in Iraq. 

As a teenager, she had questions about the Christian God and how He compares to Allah. Her father ridiculed Christians, but she eventually put her faith in Jesus. Things became tense with her dad, who was angry at her newfound faith. Eventually, he locked her inside a room with nothing to eat for ten days. She testifies: 鈥淓ven though my situation seemed helpless and impossible, I still had hope and faith in Christ.鈥� Finally, when her dad opened the door, he told her she would be marrying his stepmother's son the very next day. He said, 鈥淚 did not raise you right. Maybe he will.鈥� Then he locked her back in the room. I want to quote what happened next, as reported by a missions organization called Open Doors:

That night, Sarah went to bed with the hope of not waking up the next morning. But instead, she got the miracle she prayed for. In her own words, she shares a series of events that began the next morning: 鈥淪omeone came like a light, held my hand, and dragged me out of the locked room. I felt like I was in a trance. It was like a dream. He put me in a silver car. That morning, I woke up in a hotel room in a city in north Iraq, hours away from where I lived. I felt really scared. When I found out where I was, I thought I was still in a dream. But then a hotel worker came in, gave me food, and walked out. A security officer came and took me to a room. The officer told me, 鈥楿sually a girl leaves home because she runs away from her father out of fear or runs away with a man. What鈥檚 your story?鈥�
鈥榊es, I ran away with someone,鈥� I said.
鈥榃ho is he and why isn鈥檛 he here?鈥� the officer asked.

At that moment, I got courage and said to the officer, 鈥楬e is here with me. He is always with me.鈥�
鈥榃ho is he?鈥� he asked.
鈥楪od,鈥� I told him my story. Then he said he had to confirm my story with my dad. I felt scared and worried to face my dad. But at the same time, I also felt courageous and stronger than ever.鈥欌��

After two days, Sarah鈥檚 father arrived. He questioned her, and she began telling him her story. Finally, she told her father: 鈥淎ll this happened because you challenged God. You said, 鈥楲et your God get you out of here.鈥� And He did.鈥�

Christians who are persecuted often report such miracles. And Sarah's God is the same God that we talk to every day. God doesn't care about our skepticism in the West. He does what He pleases. Blind people are healed. Crippled people made whole. People are raised from the dead. And if you don't believe me, read the New Testament scholar Craig Keener鈥檚 two volume book titled Miracles.

But, let's keep it real, even for persecuted Christians miracles are not happening all the time. That's not how God normally operates. Our Father allows us to go through trials. He lets us experience suffering and pain and hardship. He doesn't pull us out of it, but guides us through it. You've experienced that in your own personal lives.

For instance, you're the last cohort affected by Covid, and this year we lost our dear brother, Dr. David Washburn. God could have healed him, but He didn't. Many persecuted Christians have spent years imprisoned unjustly. Many have been martyrs. But through it all, they trusted the Lord. After 狼友阁, a small number of you will see God answering prayers miraculously. But this won't be the norm. You will have loved ones diagnosed with incurable disease, and you will face health challenges. Despite praying for a miracle, God will allow you to experience suffering. But whatever happens, whatever lies ahead for you, I want you to keep trusting God. 

Keep Loving God

Number three, I want you to keep loving God. I know that some American Christians like to see themselves as martyrs or being persecuted, but let's not cheapen the meaning of words. We live in a liberal democracy. We can freely worship on Sundays. The physical persecution of believers is rare in this part of the world. And we're not saved by persecution, but by grace through faith in Christ. That's what the devil forgets. He wants you to feel guilty about your time at 狼友阁.

He wants you to feel guilty about all the Mountain Affairs you enjoyed鈥攚ith cool band names like Uncle Grips鈥攖he family picnics on Carter Lawn, the joy you felt when Brad Voyles was named the new president, and then all the wonderful events around his inauguration. The faculty and staff felt that joy too: the frisbee golf tournaments, the soccer team winning the conference finals three years in a row. Mistletoe Mingle. Pranks. Pranks, pranks. The list goes on. There's nothing to be ashamed of or to feel guilty about鈥� Okay, maybe one or two pranks went too far鈥攂ut God is good. He has blessed you lavishly. I hope none of you will be jailed because of your faith. I hope none of you will be martyrs. But the thing that binds you to persecuted Christians is the undaunted resolve to follow Christ鈥攃ome what may.

I hope that devotion to the Lord, that love of God, will animate you all your life. Jesus said, 鈥淚n this world you will have trouble.鈥� You will face challenges, and sometimes they will feel insurmountable. Some of you will face tension in your marriages. Some of you will be tempted to abandon the church because Christian institutions have let you down. Some of you will consider leaving Christianity at those times. I pray that your instinct will be the same as your persecuted brothers and sisters. That your love for God will cause you to weather those storms. His love will hold you fast and allow you to survive tough times. Remember, Jesus also said, 鈥淭ake heart; I have overcome the world.鈥�

Most of you will not experience physical persecution, but in 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul does say, 鈥淎ll who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.鈥� If you love God, you will experience resistance because of your faith. Your life will be patterned by the cross of Christ. You will suffer. I pray for each of you the same prayer as Paul: that you may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death. 

Be Grateful and Shame the Devil

So as you look back on your time at 狼友阁, you don't need to feel guilty or ambivalent about what you've achieved in college. Be grateful for what the Lord has given you. The reality is, every part of your lives鈥攖he ordinary things that take up your time鈥攁ll of it happens before the face of God. All of it matters, including your time at 狼友阁. Dr. Bill Davis wrote the book on it, which you read as freshmen: In All Things Christ Preeminent. 狼友阁 is the only school on a holy mountain. Of course, it's the best. You had great professors like Dr. Weichbrodt, Dr. Green, Dr. Kapic, Dr. Bagby, Dr. Barham. What more is there to say?

The devil? Shame on him. Whatever is good, whatever is true, and whatever is beautiful that you experienced at 狼友阁, let it grow and flourish in the coming years. Let all of it find its deepest meaning in your identity as God's people, united with your brothers and sisters all over the world. Knowing God, trusting God, and loving God all the rest of your days, soon and very soon we will see the King, like Stephen. We will see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. That will be a glorious day indeed.

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