I am continuing the subject of my last post on purpose. This subject has come up in conversations on several different occasions with different people over the last couple of weeks, so I wanted to share more of what I mean when I refer to the Gospel in relationship to school.
I have attended four different schools now in my undergrad journey. However, last year, as I attended Greenville Tech I began to realize the similarities between schools. Greenville Tech is the first secular/public school I have attended with the exception of a semester of public school in the fourth grade.
In the midst of last year, I realized that all schools, both Christian and secular, have expectations. For example, Greenville Tech has cultural expectations, social expectations, moral expectations, and academic expectations. These expectations are the product of its people and culture. They may not be as high or as low as the expectations of every individual in that college, but it is a good representation. Consequently, Bob Jones University also has expectations (I pick BJU because it is the university that I will be attending this fall, and it is in the same city as Greenville Tech). It has cultural, social, moral, and academic expectations, also, that match its culture and people. But, like most Christian colleges, BJU has over the years created it own subculture producing it own unique people and expectations. Consequently, the expectation in this institution may seem odd and even burdensome to its students and surrounding community. Most of these rules/expectations are there simply to preserve order and enhance education. They are not meant to be Scripture.
The Gospel of Christ teaches that the law of God couldn’t be met/fulfilled by men. Man’s sin has caused the race of man to fall short of the standard of God’s holiness. We did not meet God’s perfect expectation. Therefore we deserved the full force of God’s righteous wrath. But, by God’s grace alone, Christ, the perfect Son of God stepped in and took God’s infinite wrath upon Himself, so that we my be accepted by God. Consequently, as Christians, the basis with which we accept other people in this world is on the complete work of Christ. We cannot hold anyone to a standard other than God’s holiness which was fulfilled by Christ’s death and recieved through faith.
Having said this, when an institution or people who make up an institution put their own expectations on people without exercising the grace that has come through Christ, they can present a false understanding of the Gospel of Christ. However, institutions have authority to which students submit. And, being human, students also have expectation which infringe upon the authority of the institution. When the expectation of the student and the institution conflict, the student must set aside his expectations so that the grace of God may be clearly seen. Student who demand their rights and their expectations and do not defer do not exhibit the Gospel of Christ. Although it may seem that institutional rules are burdensome, students must defer demonstrating God’s grace.
I know that this is a long post. If you are still reading, I thank you. But as I return to school, I must remind myself of the Gospel of Christ. It is my worship to God to deny myself, my wants, and my desires so that the grace of God may be seen through me. May I say now, I will not do this perfectly, so if any BJ student is reading this, don’t expect perfect submission. But it is my desire to live with this understanding and to exalt the Gospel of Christ by the power of God.
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