I’m sitting here at Caribou coffee on the patio outside. About 20 feet from me is a trio of high-school kids out from school for spring break. Two young women and a man. They’re a noisy bunch, so it’s hard not to overhear their conversation. Though I’m not complaining because it’s really interesting.

They talked about partying for a while. Then, they moved, surprisingly, into spiritual matters. One of the girls entered a verbal competition about who was a more hard-core Christian growing up. The girl insisted that she was more hard-core because she went to church every weekend, while the guy insisted that he was more hardcore because he read his bible every day. After not too long though, the girl said, “But you get to a point when you just realize, it’s all BS.”

The guy didn’t agree. But the three continued in their conversation. The girl argued that Christianity started with Catholics, then protestants came from them. She said that they learn in World History class that Catholicism has been proven wrong and that logically protestants must be wrong too.

I really wanted to join the conversation, but that would have been weird. Nonetheless, I learned (or at least remembered) three things from listening to their conversation.

1. It’s hard to argue against the idea that modern academia has a clear bent against religion.

2. The church hasn’t done a good job with the kids who are in their congregations. All three of these appeared to have been regular attendees, yet none of them had a clear picture of Church history, other than the skewed concepts from public school.

3. The church has lost her credibility in the world. Even including simple matters of historical fact, the Church is full of blind faith, while academia is full of facts. Even though this simply isn’t true, the world’s perception is important and the church isn’t fairing too well.

I’ve heard it often argued that it is unfair for unbelievers today because Jesus and the disciples are not here doing the kinds of signs and wonders that were happening in biblical times. That perhaps if they were, those who will not believe on the testimony of God’s Word would believe. Of course, we know from scripture that those who will not believe the Word, won’t believe miraculous signs either (John 11:11).

Now, some believe that these signs are still happening today somewhere and that we don’t see them here in our country for one reason or another. However, I subscribe to the belief, which I believe to be a biblical one, that we do not see these kinds of signs today for precisely the same reason.

The signs that were performed in the days of the early church were so that we today might believe. If the kinds of signs seen in the early church continued today, it could easily be argued that the bible itself were somewhat null, since there were another God-breathed source of spiritual revelation.

Take a look at a couple of the concluding verses in John.

John 20:30-31:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The signs performed by Jesus and his disciples weren’t a pattern for the way that people would believe the Gospel, rather they were the sign that we should believe the Gospel—even today on the very same testimony and sign.

God’s word in the bible is the sign for believers and unbelievers alike.

Reading this morning I came across this, 1 John 3:12-13:

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

John cites the reason that Cain killed Abel was because Abel’s deeds were “righteous” while his own were wicked. I find this to be an idea abusive to the way most in our culture currently think about and “do” church.

Elsewhere in the same book, and throughout the rest of the New Testament, we find that those who are in Christ will definitely be growing in righteousness (1 John 1:5-10, Romans 8:13). So, by that rational we should have very little reason to believe that unbelievers coming among us will not exhibit some form of hostility or at the very least discomfort.

Yet, in spite of that, we find churches pouring outrageous resources into creating a comfortable environment for unbelievers. It seems that the reality would be, if unbelievers are able to come among us and find and truly find comfort in our presence, we may have to reevaluate our own lifestyles.

I’m reminded of a message delivered by Francis Chan a number of years back where he referenced Luke 6:26: “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you”. While it doesn’t fit the verse’s context perfectly, the point is clear:

The Cross of Christ, and our subsequent righteousness therein, is an offense to the unbeliever seeking is own vein righteousness and we should expect that they would respond as one who’s been offended.

What kind of ramifications does this have for the Church, it seems that it should drive it more deeply into conformity with the Word of God. Rather than consulting our intellect to determine how we should relate to this work, we ought to consult God in his Word.

Many of us say we do. Few really follow through. Just a thought.