This past week Welch College graduates participated in commencement exercises. It was a time of celebration and excitement. I was deeply appreciative of and honored by the opportunity to issue the charge at the graduate breakfast. What follows is the manuscript of that charge.
Graduates: Thank you for the opportunity to give to you the senior challenge. Through the years, I’ve had most of you in class, I’ve seen many of you in my office for some reason or another, and I’ve even run with some of you on the greenway.
I am astounded by the incredible potential in this room. The graduating class of 2019 is composed of more than 50 graduates in biology and nursing, business, Christian ministry and missions, English, exercise science, history, music, psychology, teaching, and others. Some of you will graduate from Welch and attend graduate school or enter into your careers, perhaps to places that are friendly to historic Christianity, or perhaps to places that are not friendly to Christianity andare even hostile to it.
I don’t know what your future holds, but whatever it is, here is the charge I offer you: Have the courage, in your present and in your future, to be regarded as fools for Christ’s sake. I repeat: Have the courage to be regarded as fools for Christ.
We Are Fools for Christ
This is what the apostle Paul tells us in the book of 1 Corinthians. The Corinthians were, among other things, a troubled lot, and yet Paul believed in them.
Like those in the world, they were tempted to follow human leaders rather than following Jesus. Like those in the world, they were tempted by cleverness of speech, by the (so-called) wisdom of the world, rather than the preaching of the cross of Christ. Like those in the world, they were tempted to think of themselves as superior to others rather than as servants of others.
Graduates, as you go into the world, which views itself as sophisticated and wise, you will be tempted away from Christ, just like the Corinthians. You will be tempted away from Biblical integrity in your beliefs and in your lifestyle. Please understand: The world does not, will not, cannot understand your Christian beliefs and ethic. The world will mock you and ridicule you. And here’s the thing: We don’t like people treating us like we’re fools. And we, naturally, seek to avoid that perception. But if that means being unfaithful to Jesus, our lot must be with our Lord.
Recall the apostle Paul: We are fools for Christ. Whatever your calling, do not be ashamed of who you are as a Christian. Do not shrink away from your true identity.
What the world calls foolishness is actually wisdom: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing . . . [But] we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away . . . the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood. . . . For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1:18a; 2:6, 8a, 19a).
Here’s the point: What the world calls foolishness, the heavens call wisdom. For the world to view you as fools for Christ is for God to view you as wise in Christ. We see a similar theme in the book of James, which contrasts worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom.
Don’t Forsake the World
Some people’s way of dealing with the world is to neglect the world, forsake the world. However, my charge—Paul’s charge—to be fools for Christ is by no means an invitation to retreat from the world, as though it were the sinking Titanic. Instead, God calls us to go into the world, realizing that it will ridicule us, as we seek its renewal in the power and in the wisdom of Jesus
When Adam sinned, the whole cosmos was cursed. When Christ was incarnated, was crucified, and was resurrected, He inaugurated God’s work in renewing the cosmos. The point is that God is redeeming this world, just as He is redeeming you and me. God is buying back this world and is purifying it of its impurities. As Bruce Ashford, our commencement speaker tomorrow, has explained, God is making all things new, not all new things.[1] And God’s doing that through His children—through you—as you go into all the world.
Graduates: Whatever you do, in whatever location and in whatever vocation—whatever you do matters in the hand and plan of the sovereign Lord of space and time. But as you go, remember that the world will view you as fools because of what you believe and how you live. . . . And that’s okay, for as Paul says, “We are fools for Christ’s sake.”
To illustrate, the day was April 9, and the year was 1996, and the late Antonin Scalia addressed a group of Christian lawyers and law students at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. If you’ll recall, Scalia was a Ronald Reagan appointee to the Supreme Court who served on the bench for some twenty-nine years before his untimely death in 2016. Scalia, among the most brilliant legal minds of his time, encouraged his audience not to lose heart when the worldderides them for their beliefs.
He stated:
God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools, and He has not been disappointed. Devout Christians are destined to be regarded as fools in modern society. We are fools for Christ’s sake. We must pray for courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world. If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.[2]
And that from a Supreme Court Justice. Scalia encourages you, and he encourages me, to be willing and ready if necessary to suffer the scorn of an unbelieving world.
Words of Advice
What might being a fool for Christ look like in light of the wisdom of Scripture as you think about post-graduation life? First, maintain integrity in your beliefs and in your ethic, in your faith and in your practice, whether with regard to the fundamentals of the faith—such as belief in the inerrancy of the Scriptures or belief in the resurrection of Jesus—or with regard to the ethical issues of our day concerning life, or sexuality, or whatsoever.
As you think about how to shape your character and your personality in your day-to-day life, don’t complain about things you’ve agreed to do. Better yet, don’t complain, period. As the apostle Paul states, do all things without grumbling. Take responsibility for your decisions; avoid blaming others for your problems, even if it’s their fault.
Perhaps you don’t know what’s next for you, whether a career or graduate school or . . . well, a break: rest. Don’t permit fear to paralyze you with indecision. Realize that each of you is a vessel in the hands of God but that you cannot and should not do everything. Know you limits and establish boundaries in your life.
Be forewarned that you will fail. No one likes failure, but it is one of life’s best teachers. Learn how to fail with grace and with honor and let it build your character like nothing else can. At the same time, believe that your future can be bright. Realize your full potential that we have seen in you—that I have seen in you—during your matriculation at Welch College.
But don’t heap praise on yourself. Don’t put others down in order to lift yourself up. Practice humility. Practice deference and respect of others, especially toward your elders. Don’t rack yourself with false guilt for past misdeeds. Know that you’re forgiven in Christ. Find encouragement in what God has accomplished in your life thus far and know that He can and will continue to work through you. Stay close unto the Lord. Daily seek His face. Daily locate yourself in His will.
Conclusion
In closing, graduates, go forth boldly into all the world, into your various vocations, all the while knowing that the world will regard you as foolish. Be okay with that; accept that; wear it as a badge of honor. Remember that the wisdom of this world is but foolishness before God.
Don’t forget your roots—your roots in
Christ and your roots at Welch College. Don’t be ashamed of you who are. You
are a child of God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Praise God that
you are a fool for Christ. Thank you for letting us invest in you these past
two or four (or more) years. Congratulations on this important milestone.
[1]Bruce Ashford and Chris Pappalardo, One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2015), 16.
[2]Antonin Scalia; quoted in Andrew Geisler, “Justice Scalia: The Tom Wolfe of Law,” The Federalist, February 18, 2016, accessed April 5, 2016, http://thefederalist.com/2016/02/18/justice-scalia-the-tom-wolfe-of-law/; see also Michael Stokes Paulsen and Steffen N. Johnson, Scalia’s Sermonette, 72 Notre Dame Law Review 863 (1997), http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1838&context=ndlr.
May 13, 2019
Great job Matthew! I really appreciate you and your work!
May 13, 2019
Thanks Brother Wayne. It was great to see you!