No Justice, No Peace

I personally love this slogan, and whenever I have seen it over the years painted on signs and held up at rallies and protests, I have felt glad.  I love seeing it, because this idea -No Peace without Justice, is true. Understanding this reality can drive us to Christ and give us greater passion for the gospel!  

As I write this, our country is full of street protests instigated by the unjust killing of George Floyd. There is a definitive lack of peace in our country right now, and everybody feels it.  If you attend a rally or simply watch the news, you will see somebody holding up these kinds of signs. 

Back when I lived in Spain I witnessed many protests or street "manifestaciones".  The Phrase "No hay Paz Sin Justicia" was common there as well. In Spanish, the word Justice and the word Righteousness are actually the same word: Justicia. This is a fascinating linguistic connection in itself; justice and righteousness are virtually synonyms. True justice is always righteous, and true rightness shines forth in the world as beautiful justice.  Peace and Righteousness are massive Biblical themes and upon studying them I discovered that they typically go together. 

The opposite of righteousness is “sin."  Sin is 'wrongness." Sin is everything that flows from man's self-centered rebellion towards God who is the source of everything right and just and true.  The Bible affirms that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.   Sin is the reason that mankind opposes God and fights with one another.  There is no peace because man is disconnected from the one who is righteous.  This lack of peace infects our world, our homes and our hearts.   We have unjustly mocked God, turned from God and tried to live without God; and now everything is messed up.  
 
Jesus, who is called the Prince of Peace, came to earth to take away the sins of the world.  Jesus  lived a perfect, sinless, righteous life and then after three years of teaching and doing ministry he went to the cross.  At the cross, Jesus took the unrighteousness of man upon himself, and then endured God's holy wrath towards sin.  Because God is just, he could not simply allow evil to go unpunished.  There would not be true justice for God to simply say, "well, it's unfortunate that mankind joined Satan and traded in a world full of life, beauty, truth and love for a world full of hate, murder, exploitation, abuse, lies and death.  I know that that there has been a lot of evil in the world, but let's just try to forget about it and move on."  NO.  God will not just move on because that would be wrong.  God hates evil, and the righteousness of his character compels him to destroy the power of sin.  

The Bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death and because "all have sinned',  every person deserves to die as a result of our rebellion towards God.  (Romans 5 makes it plain that sin is the reason that physical death exists.  And the book of Revelation talks about "the second death" which is a spiritual separation from God.)  Dying on the cross, Jesus took our sin upon himself and paid the death penalty that we deserve.   

The cross was a demonstration of God's mercy; Jesus lovingly died in our place.  And the cross was also a demonstration of God's perfect justice; God doesn't simply ignore sin, he opposes and crushes it.   By dying on the cross, Jesus has demonstrated and vindicated the righteous justice of God.  

A Christian is a person who puts their faith and trust in Christ. The Christian receives God's forgiveness for sin that was purchased by Christ with his blood on the cross.  Christ took our unrighteousness on the cross and now we, through active belief  are credited with his righteousness. The Bible teaches that "in Christ" we are able to be reconnected with God.   In Christ, we are "justified" which means declared innocent or declared righteous. Again, we see this justice/righteous connection!  

Romans 5 summarizes this beautifully: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Peace comes through justification. Now it's very important to notice that the peace referenced here is peace with God.  Again, sin is rooted in our rebellion and separation from God.  Our primary conflict, from which all of our other conflict flows is our pride-fueled contempt for our creator.  Before peace can flow out into any other part of our lives, we need to live at peace with God.  

And again, because of Christ, we can!    There can't be peace without righteousness and Christ who is God is the source of true righteousness. We need Jesus in order to be set free from the power of sin.  Sin is the reason for every conflict, fight and war.   But until we surrender to Christ and cease our conflict with God and experience peaceful reconciliation with Him, we don't have the resources to see peace manifested in the world.  We will continue to be a part of the problem until we are reconciled to the solution!  And so we uphold, that there is no peace without justice and both are found in God.  So we make known and make visible the good news of Christ, the righteous prince of peace.   And living transformed lives marked by the peace and power of Jesus we are able to act in the world to promote right over wrong.  

Jesus and Uncle Drew

This week I came upon the "Uncle Drew" videos that Kyrie Irving made with Pepsi.*  In episode 1, Irving gets made up like an old man (Uncle Drew) and shows up to a city park basketball court in New Jersey.   He looks like an elderly guy who probably isn't able to get anything serious done on the court; he seems frail, and possibly even a bit senile.  No one regards him as any sort of "force to be reckoned with" but as he begins to play with the "youngbloods" he slowly reveals his incredible skills.   Onlookers are "wowed" as he proceeds to warm up and then dazzle the court with authority.

The whole scene is intriguing.  This unlikely, seemingly fragile man steps up and conquers.  It's got some "underdog"  motif, the ordinary Uncle Drew, turns out to be an extraordinary NBA star!  He looks like some regular old guy with absolutely no game at all, but in fact he's a champion of the game!

This narrative that captivates everyone!  The people standing on the side of the court are completely enchanted, and pretty much so is anyone who dials it up on youtube!

I would say there's a certain "glory" to the whole thing.  And I suggest that the reason it's so enthralling, the reason it strikes us being so "cool" is because of the way it essentially "echoes" the gospel story.  What Uncle Drew did was pretty cool; he showed up looking like a nobody and then proceeded to inspire everybody!
Reminds me of that time Jesus left heaven and took on the form of man.  He didn't seem like anything special, but in fact he was supremely so.  He seemed an unlikely champion, but as he lived, died and rose from the grave he revealed himself as the ultimate victor.  Under-estimating him is easy to do, but it is only to our shame and detriment.

Pepsi and Kyrie came up with a cool story.  But Jesus thought of it first.

*I think these were made like 4 years ago or something.  I'm not sure, but I guess I am a bit "late to the party" on these vids.  

"Born Again:" A testimony of "R"

Note: For some students, placing their faith in Christ means tremendous amounts of family strife and even persecution.   "R" is a student in our ministry who has an amazing story.  Because she is still in the process of communicating to her family about her new life in God, I will not be printing her name.  

"R" wears new jewelry now because she is a Christian and all of her old jewelry was Hindu.  She had images and pieces that had all been consecrated and dedicated to false Hindu "gods". She discarded all of her idols and packed her jewelry in a box on April 29th, as she put her faith in Jesus Christ!   Her Community Group leaders, Anna and Margaret went to the store and bought her some new necklaces.  

I love R's story because in it we can see God's grace working through many different people all throughout the school year.  

It all started last summer, when our own Rachel Chuang sent R a facebook message. We love sending welcome messages to incoming students to let them know that the Body of Christ is alive and active on campus.  R was Hindu, and so she wasn't immediately sure what to think of Rachel's hospitality.  But she said: "Rachel is such a sweet person and we connected and messaged each other over the summer."  When R arrived on Campus Rachel invited her to check out Cru.  God also connected R with another Christian girl who is part of a different fellowship.  It's pretty clear that God had plans for R this year!

I met R back in February when she got invited to our winter retreat.  We sat around the table in a small group and studied the book of Jonah.  I didn't know where R was at spiritually, but I could tell she was really interested in the scriptures!  When she was getting dropped off that evening, she said to me "Thank you."  And then, even though it was the first time that I had ever talked to her she said "I'm not a Christian.  I'm just checking it all out."  I said "That's awesome!  I'm glad you came out this weekend!"  R has always been very open and willing to talk about what she is thinking.

After the Winter Retreat, R began to attend Anna Thompson and Margaret Gao's Cru Community Group on Tuesday nights.   Each week they would hang out, eat together and study the Bible.  R relished the chance to ask questions and engage with other women about the truths of the gospel.  The group meeting on Tuesday April 26 was considerably significant in R's life.  She regards the study that night as the "catalyst" for enabling her to surrender fully and joyfully to Christ.

She recalls, "On that day, we read a portion of Mark’s Gospel regarding how Jesus healed a man who was tormented by the demons known as Legion."   Anna talked about the reality of spiritual warfare and the discussion that night focused on Jesus' supremacy over demonic forces.   R said "The lesson that Anna taught us was that God is all powerful and mighty and demons are nothing compared to God. It was comforting, but I was still afraid. Because that discussion gave me an insight into what I was dealing with since I was a little girl."

She continued, "Ever since I was a little girl, whenever I went to bed, I would feel this oppression. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. It felt like some kind of force or pressure was pushing down on me throughout the entire length of my body. It was a heavy, uncomfortable atmosphere. I was always afraid. I always went to bed in fear. And that CG meeting made me realize that what I was facing with was most likely a demonic oppression."

The next day, R met up with a Christian friend to talk more about Jesus and her experience of Spiritual warfare.  She said "Our conversation made me realize that in other religions, there are entities such as demons, who portray themselves as gods or goddesses and these are the things that other people in those religions are giving their love, devotion, and life to. Hinduism is heavily, heavily embedded with idol worship and many 'gods/goddesses'—now I call them entities. I was brought up in this environment of idol worship, performing rituals, having those rituals done to me. Although I wasn’t religious, I still respected and prayed to those entities and consequently made attachments to those things. I basically gave reasons for whatever demon/entity that has been oppressing me to stay attached to me. I also realized that this oppression became more pronounced once I started College, which translates to when I started getting involved in Cru. I started to feel more things that I don’t remember feeling such as fingers stroking my head. It now makes sense because when I first joined Cru, I was starting to learn about the Truth, about Jesus Christ, our one and only God…and this thing does not want to let me go."

The next few days were filled with gospel conversations, a whole lot of prayer and an intense spiritual and emotional journey.  At times R felt very oppressed and scared, but in and through prayer things began to shift!  On April 29th at about 1:00 am, R sat in her room with a friend named Sharon.  She took off her Hindu Jewelry and took her idols and bhagavad gita (Hindu guidebook) off of their shelves and proceeded to pray to Christ.  She repented of any and all idol worship and surrendered to Jesus.

The next night, she came out to our Friday night Large group meeting.  Every time someone would ask her how she was doing, she would excitedly answer, "I've been born again!"  It was awesome. At our last Leadership Meeting of the year, we had R share her story! It was an amazing time of celebration as we looked back on the year through R's testimony. The story of God's faithfulness and grace was and is an encouragement to our faith.

Please pray for R as she continues to grow in Christ. Her witness is already very passionate and overt. This summer, she plans to continue to read the scriptures along with a couple of other books like Tim Keller's Reason For God.

Senior Maggie Wong

Comforted by Grades GRACE!

Maggie Wong sat stressed and anxious pouring over Powerpoint presentations that seemed completely foreign.  How did she get so behind? These "review" notes sure didn’t feel like anything familiar!  She was trying to cram for an upcoming test and it was not working!  Failure loomed inevitable and each click of the mouse felt like a bucket of bricks coming down, crushing and burying her deeper under the pile.   And then there was a phone call!  Could it?.....what?..... oh wow; bad news!  Nothing was going as planned; stress fueled negativity consumed her.  Sadness and hopelessness clouded her already stressed out mind!  

  

Maggie Wong graduated a semester early and is now interning with the International Justice Mission (IJM).   I am excited for her, but we are definitely going to miss her here on campus this spring!  Maggie served as a Community Group leader and she also helped emcee our Friday night meetings.  

Maggie grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. (A fellow south-westerner!)  God blessed Maggie with both a wonderful family and a good home church.  Like many adolescent's 'Mags' had a knowledge of God and some interest in spiritual things.  But it was here in college that Jesus really got a grip on her heart!   This year during our Christmas party, Maggie got the chance to share some of her story with over 250 of her fellow students.

It was during her sophomore year that Maggie began to struggle with the academic intensity of Cornell.  Her grades were slipping.  This was basically a new experience for Maggie.  She said "All throughout middle and high school, I was on top of my work, but somehow I fell totally behind in everything and felt like I was constantly catching up in all my classes.....Cornell is a rigorous academic institution, and the classes are hard, the professors are tough. There’s such a pressure to succeed and to be ambitious, and all of this leads to a huge emphasis on GRADES."

Maggie (right) with Rachel Chuang

It may be hard for outsiders to understand why even a slight dip in GPA can function as such a life altering crisis for some students.  Suffice it to say that "Making the grade"  here at Cornell is about actually getting good grades.   Every sub-culture has it's metrics; for some it's how healthy, "organic" and fit you are, for other's it's about how you dress or what you drive.   But the Ivy league success markers revolve around being academically excellent (and then vocationally good after that).   And most of the students who study at places like Cornell have had their eyes fixed on their report cards for many many years.  

But the reason it can be so dramatic is even deeper; it's about the heart!  Maggie explained: "My identity and my worth and sense of purpose were all tied very closely to my grades, so when this sense of security was suddenly threatened, I was absolutely terrified and had no idea what to do.  It was very unsettling."

Maggie speaking at the Cru Christmas party! 

I'm pretty sure every single student sitting there in the Physical Science Atrium that night could relate to Maggie's feelings.  The question everyone answers with their life choices is this: "What will you look to for peace and stability?  Where will you run for hope?"  

Sitting there freaking out about everything Maggie recalls "I felt like was going to fail this prelim and mess up my GPA, my life was not figured out, everything was going wrong, my mind quickly spiraled down down down, and I was just like, “God, why is this all happening?!” I was getting really worked up about all of this. But then I kind of paused and, -it wasn’t an audible voice, but I just had this thought in my head: “Hey. Stop worrying. God’s got you, everything’s gonna work out, it’s gonna be okay” And in the same way that stress was overwhelming me, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the most powerful comfort and peace I have ever felt.

That moment was a turning point.  God literally blessed Maggie with clarity and perspective. She couldn't stop thinking about it!   Before it had been hard to study because she was preoccupied by stress, and now she was simply overwhelmed with the presence of God!   The next day she feverishly wrote down her thoughts "reflecting on God and what he was doing in my life, and I realized that God was continually giving me opportunities that tested and challenged my trust and my faith in him. I realized that I had never fully placed my trust in God, but I had really put a lot of faith in other things like my grades and in my friends. Yet even when I had the best of those things—incredible friends who really cared about me and spent time with me, top-notch grades and perfect academic record—I wasn’t satisfied. I still felt empty, I still felt lost. I still wanted more. And the first time I ever felt fulfilled and satisfied, the first time I truly felt the peace and comfort I had always desired, was that moment the night before—when I was messy and broken, raw and real, humbled before God.

Maggie's experience was powerfully humbling.  In the face of failure, she was confronted with her humanness!  The main thing hindering most of us from putting real trust in God is the fact that we put so much trust in ourselves!  But in the face of failure, the illusion that we are completely strong and capable and trustworthy begins to fade away.  In and through her struggle, Maggie was able to evaluate more adequately.  And God graciously allowed her to see his incredible strength and her own undeniable weakness.   God took Maggie to the end or herself in order that she might understand her own smallness and comprehend God's bigness.  Through this, God graciously gave her an opportunity to stop trusting in her own efforts and live a life of trust in God.  

Maggie looked out at her classmates and declared: Do you know that God is near to you? He desires for you to know him and believe in him and trust in him. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) God cares for you and he wants you to lift up your troubles to him, he wants us to tell him what we’re doing and feeling, and he wants to give us peace and rest.

I want to encourage all of you to seek him, reach out to Him, and find him. I want to challenge you to rely fully on God and entrust your future to him. Find hope, peace, comfort, security, and meaning to life in God alone.

I dig this shot of Mags on our team in Haiti. 

Of course, Maggie continued to work hard at school.  But she was able to apply herself here at Cornell with a new found confidence.  She actually ended up passing that Astronomy test, and graduating early to boot! But she did a lot more than study during her time here as a student.

Maggie is an ambassador for Jesus.   She was a very helpful and committed servant leader in Cru!   Her life here as a student was a living testimony to the satisfying and life giving power of Jesus!  Walking in close fellowship with some of the other ladies, Maggie labored to walk by faith and help others to encounter the grace of God.   Right now, she is working with the International Justice Mission to rescue thousands of slaves, protect millions of vulnerable people and prove that justice for the poor is possible.

*Maggie is the third student from our ministry here at Cornell to intern with the International Justice Mission. If you are not familiar with IJM, please visit their website here: https://www.ijm.org/

Old School EV (Seniors 2012)

Historically, Campus Crusade for Christ (or Cru as we are now called) has been infamous for walking up to people and intentionally starting a conversation about God, often sharing the short 4 point Gospel outline originally put together by Bill Bright.   It was first titled "the 4 spiritual laws" and that's certainly been the name that stuck, but over the years it's taken on new titles (and colors) including our present rendition which we call the "Knowing God Personally booklet" or the "KGP"

There is great value in learning how to share your faith using a simple outline or pamphlet even though they are limited and nobody has ever written the "perfect" one.  (A common critique is that pamphlets, tracts and illustrations are "reductionistic" and fail to convey the fullness of the gospel.  That's true.  And actually, every time the Gospel is shared it is necessarily "reduced" in some way for the sake of time, intelligibility and application.....in preaching, in Bible study or in pamphlets.)

On the whole Cru doesn't do as much "cold contact" evangelism as we used to.  This is mainly because it doesn't connect with people like it used to.   I think this is because the Biblical presuppositions that most short pamphlets rely on are not as familiar to people and are definitely not as embraced.  With that, our culture is generally more skeptical towards Christians, the Bible and the Christian message than it once was, and when you are initiating conversations with strangers, it's harder to engage in a way that builds adequate trust and addresses the important questions that people are wrestling with.  Therefore, we spend more energy building relationships and fostering a Gospel saturated community on campus.   We move out engaging the people around us lovingly, demonstrating the power of Christ actively and proclaiming the good news conversationally.  In our ministry at Cornell, we rely on our Community Groups to be our primary vehicle for evangelism and discipleship. 


But, that doesn't mean that we don't still get out and do a little "old school" evangelism anymore.  I believe that there is still a place for going out intentionally and starting conversations with people about our glorious God.  As a ministry, we want everyone on campus to hear the good news.  And since the day I got here, there have been at least a few students who wanted to get out every week and share their faith in this formal manner.  We don't necessarily use the booklets every time, but students do go out and intentionally start spiritual conversations with others.  To those who say that doesn't work anymore (especially at a place like Cornell) we simply point to student leaders like Kejing who came to know Christ in large part because of conversations started when some students went out sharing their faith one afternoon.  God works in all sorts of ways!


Over the years we've had "Thursday EV".  It's a pretty simple format.  A group of students will get together about dinner time and spend a few minutes praying and talking about the gospel.  Then they will pair up and head out either to dinner or to another place where students are hanging out and initiate a conversation or two about Jesus.  Then, if time permits, they'll come back together to pray and praise God for the opportunities he provided.

To me, one amazing thing about the "Thursday EV" on campus is the way that it has consistently been led by really quiet people.  You might think that this type of overt conversation starting would be a job for the gregarious, but unbelievably it's been just the opposite.  Over the years, the people who have faithfully carried the leadership mantle, organizing and carrying out these evangelistic efforts on campus each week have been incredibly introverted people.  Guys and girls who are naturally very quiet and reserved get together to proclaim the gospel.  In fact, I would say that the greatest benefit of this ministry outlet is the way it's enabled some of our most reticent students to step out with faith-filled boldness.

Among this years seniors who were a big part of the Thursday EV were Tom Rudelius as well as Albert Chen and  Andrew Ferguson.

Albert Chen actually came to Christ here with us during his freshman year.  Over the years he was a faithful part of our EvMOSGo team as well as our tech team.  In addition to leading out in evangelism, Albert helped our ministry get involved in community service projects like Cornell's "Into the Streets."

Albert is a man of genuine compassion and was a true 'behind the scenes' leader in our ministry.  Next year he'll be at University of Wisconsin Madison continuing his studies in microbiology.

Andrew Ferguson shared at our End of the Year Dessert, and his comments are posted below.

Andrew Ferguson on far right with fellow Cru Seniors Owen Amadasun, Kufre Inyang and Nelson Maldonado

I've been in Cru since my second semester of freshman year. Ever since I came, one of the biggest things that was emphasized was evangelism. At Cru I really gained an understanding of the importance of being missional and helping to lead others to Christ.  The very first time I ever did EV was my freshman year.   That night I was with Daniel Cox and Bezhad and being new to this I sat back and watched at first. Then for the next person we approached, I decided to give it a go and tell a bit about the gospel. At that point I realized that even though I grew up in a Christian home going to church every Sunday, I still wrestled with articulating the gospel clearly. Fortunately, it was late at night in College town and the fellow was drunk and so he may of not took to heart the misleading statements I made that night. 

Last year I started going to the Thursday EV and that really encouraged me in being more bold and realizing that EV is not as intimidating as it might seem. They introduced me to [some different tools] which I found to be a good initiator for gospel centered discussion that made it much less daunting for me since I was still a beginner. Doing EV with some of the guys like Nick, Kufre, Tom, and Regi has challenged me to grow in this area of my faith and it has encouraged me as I saw fruit from it. At  times, I was surprised by how God put words in my mouth while evangelizing to say things in ways I myself had never thought of. 

One time Bryan from the Korean Church and I did EV during Cru's Thursday EV  and we had a good conversation with an agnostic using the Perspective cards, however, it didn't end in any prayer of repentance and acceptance of Jesus so I forgot about it. A semester later I saw this person in one of the on campus prayer meetings and I talked to her and she told me that she had started going to a Chinese fellowship and that she has become more serious about her faith. That really encouraged me and helped me realize that although we can't always see how God is working in peoples hearts, we just need to be faithful laborers and sow the seeds of the gospel and water through prayer and leave God to perform the rest. 

(Mt 28:19) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

-I want to encourage you to step out and EV.

(Mt 13:23) But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

-Inevitably, you will end up sowing on good ground and reaping a harvest.

Tom EvMOSGo (Seniors 2012)

What does EvMOSGo mean?  Though it looks like a word created by my son Titus when he's pretending to send a text message, EvMOSGo is actually the name of one of our student ministry teams.  On campus, we have 4 leadership teams that take care of planning and executing most of our ministry activities.  (These teams operate in cooperation with our Community Groups)  The names pretty much describe what area the team leads in -Prayer, Web/Tech, Community, and EvMOSGo -which means Evangelism, Missions, Outreach, Service, Go!  Truly, the EvMOSGo team could actually be 5 teams, and most likely as we continue to grow, it will spiral out into more specialized leadership teams.  But for now it's a catch-all team that has consistently worked to keep our ministry focused on taking the gospel to the campus and the world.

Next year the EvMOSGo team will be filling in some big holes left by guys like Tom Rudelius.  Tom will be moving on to his next campus mission field; Harvard.  There he'll continue his studies in physics.

Tom gave his life to Jesus just a couple of years ago after his twin brother Steve prompted him to explore the claims of Christ.  Tom's journey to faith was somewhat dramatic as God used a State Department intern application and a series of 6 polygraph tests to help him see his sin with a clarity most of us will never get.  Taking the polygraph was an intense exercise in confession that God used to powerfully show Tom how much he needed grace; to convince him thoroughly that he was not the "good person" he imagined himself to be.  Exploring the gospel in conjunction with taking the polygraph tests was so transformative Tom practically recommends everybody try it.

Tom got to carry a flag for graduation

Tom loves the story of Zacheus in Luke 19 and includes it each time he shares his testimony.  Jesus' grace changed everything for Zacheus and his life did a 180.  Tom, like Zacheus immediately began living differently, expending himself to make right things that his sin had made wrong.

Two summers ago he also went on a Summer Project with Campus Crusade to Haiti where his heart for evangelism grew tremendously.  Over the past couple of years Tom has vehemently championed his class-mates to share their faith every week.

This summer Tom will spend some time in Africa distributing mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria.  After that he'll head to to Boston.

In addition to being a Physics genius, Tom loves sports.  He worked with the Intramural department throughout his time here at Cornell  Someday maybe he'll be a professional referee.....seriously.  

Why we are Here

A couple of weeks ago I was hanging out at the Mott House on North Campus. I met a guy there named Michael. He was a Cornell grad class of 1978. We got to talking and he informed me that he is a missionary in Northern Europe and he’s currently studying in the U.K. When I told him that I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, he cordially said “I have to thank you! It was through Campus Crusade that I came to know the Lord.” We praised God together.

A bit later I learned though, that in fact Michael did not come to know Jesus Christ at Cornell. Though God had used our ministry in his life, it had been in Japan some years later. That’s a cool story, and God gets all the credit for sure, but there was also a sad and tragic part to the tale. While Michael was in school here at Cornell over 30 years ago, no one ever talked to him about God. He studied and lived in Ithaca for 4 years without ever being exposed to the glory of the Gospel!

Compelled by the love of Christ, we labor together so that doesn’t happen! Our hope as CRU is to put the Gospel within arms reach of every student. We want to be a group of people who make Jesus known all over campus. Jesus said plainly that HE is the way, and the truth, and the life and nobody can come to know God except through a relationship with him. (John 14:6) Jesus died on the cross so that we could be reconciled to God and we want everybody to know that. It is our goal that every student at Cornell would know someone who is truly following Jesus.

What would our campus look like if everyone who followed Christ was truly living out their call to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light?” And beyond that, what would the world look like?

Cornell is an extremely strategic place to declare the good news. At the end of his time on earth, Jesus commissioned his followers to go out into the whole world and make disciples. When Bill Bright started Campus Crusade for Christ at UCLA in 1951 he did so because he recognized that the college campus is a place where the leaders of the future are gathered. He said “reach the campus today, reach the world tomorrow”. Over half of all Cornell students are from outside New York and 7% of our undergrad population is from outside of the United States. If more students can come to know Jesus while here at school, we will see the love of Christ leave here and go all over the place!

We want to spread out all over this campus, extending the love of Christ into every corner and culture. As one senior staff shared with me about a year ago; “we want to be like the vendors at Yankee stadium.” We want to be all over campus making the gospel so available, that no one would go four years here never hearing the name of Jesus.

As a ministry, we want to help students live for God make the most of the opportunities that college affords. CRU exists to help students live lives that count for eternity; to help each other to not waste our lives!

This post also available at www.cornellcru.com

Sin Costs More Than Parking

I was dropping Titus and Joe off at preschool this morning and I started talking with my friend Jon. We were talking about snow blowers, 4 wheel drives and eventually the high cost of parking at Cornell. Like us, most people don’t invest in parking permits because they cost around $800! Talking about the exorbitant price of parking on campus triggered a thought in my little man Josiah’s brain and he looked at me and said:

“Dad. Remember that kid who paid for his own sin?”

I said, “Yes Joe, I do remember him. And we are praying for him that he would love Jesus and accept his payment for our sin.”

Recently we’ve been praying for a guy I met in Boston a couple of weeks ago. He was raised a Jainist, and with solid conceptions of personal responsibility and Karma factoring into his worldview he can not believe that Jesus would take the punishment that we deserve. In his religion, every person gets exactly what they deserve, and there is no such thing as amazing grace. When you sin, you suffer your own consequences, and to be “liberated” you would need to live a perfect life in order to earn your own way to heaven –which he would call simply ‘enlightenment’. You are your own savior.

My boys and I were praying for him, because we don’t want him to pay for his own sin! That is an option…. And in fact it is the option that we all deserve! Paul says very clearly in his letter to the Romans that we have all sinned and that “the wages of sin is death.” That had already been made clear in the Old Testament starting in the beginning of Genesis. The price that must be paid for sin, the wage for sin is death. If you sin, you deserve to be paid with death. Because God is Holy, our sin earns one thing; separation from him for eternity. And it is more than just our physical death, it is spiritual death. It is Spiritual exile, spiritual annihilation that goes on forever in Hell. If you want to pay for your own sin, you can. But the price is very high and very painful. Jesus knows exactly how high, because he paid the price, becoming sin and dying on the cross. He paid that death penalty, and when we put our faith in him, his payment is credited to us. He died the death we deserved.

This was the stumbling block for our friend in Boston. And so, presently, he is rejecting Christ as savior, and choosing to try and save himself. To him, it makes more sense to pay for his own sin. It’s a terrible option, and so we pray that The Holy Spirit will open his eyes to glory of the Gospel. We pray that what he presently finds disturbing about God’s grace would turn to amazement and gratitude. Because Jesus died for us, we don’t have to pay our own way.

Everyone Has a Gospel Story

Pastor and Author Tim Chester once said “Everyone has a Gospel Story.”

Here’s what he meant. Everyone has a set of beliefs that shapes their lives, impacts their behavior, affects all of their relationships -and those beliefs are ultimately set within the context of a basic narrative. Now this is not explicit, -you can’t walk up to people and say to them “Hey, tell me your gospel story” because they won’t even know what you are talking about. But in the same way that The Christian Gospel story informs the most important areas of our lives, competing narratives, false gospel stories provide a framework that lends structure and meaning and direction to peoples lives.

Biblical theology outlines the Christian Gospel Story in this order: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation.

The creation account helps us to understand who we are. God is loving, powerful and personal. God is creator, and we are his creatures. We are made in his image that we might Glorify and enjoy him forever.

The fall answers the question “What’s wrong with the world?” or “What’s wrong with me? Mankind is sinful, our hearts are rebellious towards God. We are wicked. We, are ruled by evil desires, and trying to be our own God

Redemption helps us understand “What the solution is”. What will it take to put my life right? What will make the world a better place? Jesus Christ is the savior of the World. He came to earth to die on the cross to free us from sin, and to reconcile us with God.

Consummation points us to our ultimate source of Hope. This World is God’s, and we have messed everything up with sin. But God is redeeming the world, and someday we will be with him and he will make all things new. God is our hope.

Likewise, false Gospel stories can be outlined in this same way. For example, here’s the ‘gospel story’ preached by your typical Men’s magazine.

Creation: You were made to have lots of sex with who ever you want to have sex with! Fall: the problem is…..your pectoral muscles aren’t ‘ripped’ enough, and you look a little pale. Redemption: You need to do all the right work outs and get a tan. Consummation: If you can muster the self discipline, eat right, and tone up your body, you can be the sex-stud you were created to be!

(Women’s magazines preach a similar message.)

Here’s a ‘gospel story’ that is believed by many college students.

Creation: You were made to be rich, successful, and esteemed. Fall: the problem is…..you aren’t quite educated enough, your resume is a little weak, and you don’t know the right people. Redemption: You need to apply yourself to getting a high quality education, a super well-rounded resume and meeting people in high places. Consummation: If you can get into the right school, get the right degree, obtain a high paying prestigious job you will be the happy, rich, successful person you were made to be.

False Gospel stories abound all around us.

What do you believe? What is your Gospel Story?