their brochures, but in the significant decisions of running
a school, they show where their loyalties lie. They boast that
their graduates can be found at prestigious secular colleges
and universities. They motivate their students to learn by
pointing them toward lucrative careers. They use secular
textbooks—the same textbooks used in public schools. They
turn a blind eye to their students’ unbelief and immorality.
They hire coaches without regard to their spiritual health. In
other words, they demonstrate by their choices that they are
pursuing the same goals unbelievers pursue in education.
Jesus is not at the heart of what they do; He is just the icing
on the cake.
What does Laodicea Christian Academy need? It needs to
wake up and realize that Jesus is not pleased. He is not look-
ing for basketball trophies, for the praise of secular institu-
tions of higher learning, or for Christians who are financial-
ly successful. Jesus is looking for people who love Him, who
are devoted to His will, and who are happy to sacrifice them-
selves for the sake of the gospel. This is why Christian educa-
tion exists—to produce graduates who are faithful follow-
ers of Jesus Christ. Yes, athletic achievement and academic
excellence play a role in producing such people. But these
things are the means to the real end. They are not the end.
But LCA will never produce such graduates until the
leaders and teachers themselves become totally committed
to following Christ. They must open the door and let Jesus
enter their lives. They must learn to value what He values,
hate what He hates. In return, He will fill their hearts with
His love and wisdom. Then they will begin to send gradu-
ates into the world who can bear witness to the coming of
the kingdom of God.
PHILADELPHIA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Things were quite different for the church in Philadelphia.
They were not rich. They were small, oppressed, and weak.
They were everything that the Laodicean church was not.
And that was a good thing.
Jesus, knowing their struggles, told them, “Thou ... hast
kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Rev 3:8).
Unlike the Laodiceans, these believers had been faithful.
Even in the midst of opposition, they continued to uphold
the name of Jesus Christ. They did not deny what the Lord
had revealed about Himself, even though false teachers
pressured them to do so. And they obeyed the teachings of
Jesus. Their lives were holy. They fulfilled their obligations at
home, at church, and in society.
What was Jesus’ response? He rewarded them with a kind
of wealth the Laodiceans had not known: “I have set before
thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (v. 8). Their
opposition may have been strong, but it would not prevail.
Jesus promised to lead them through their trials and give
them the opportunity for greater influence. The false teach-
“It’s imperative that we judge our ministries
not by what others think about us but by
what Jesus knows to be true.”
ers would not win. The Philadelphians would win, and their
righteous testimony would have the last word.
I take courage from the fact that many Christian schools
are Philadelphian. They are easily overlooked because they
tend to be small. They may rarely win a state championship.
But they know what’s important. Athletics is not simply
about winning. More than anything, it’s about disciple-
ship—showing young people how to work hard and sacrifice
to achieve something greater than themselves. And learn-
ing is about more than jumping through hoops so a student
can get into the college of his choice. It’s about seeing God’s
world from the perspective of God’s Word. It’s about prepar-
ing oneself to serve Christ wherever Christ leads.
This is the reason many of these schools remain small.
More than a few parents are not interested in this kind
of education. They want athletic success at any cost. They
don’t want their children distracted by undue devotion to
Christ. They don’t really want a Christian education. They
want secular education in a Christian skin. So, they pres-
sure Philadelphia Christian School to become more like
Laodicea Christian Academy. When PCS insists on remain-
ing true to its principles, these parents pull their children
out of the school.
PCS understands better than most that keeping Christ’s
Word demands sacrifice. For a school to be faithful, it must
be willing to lose students, lose funding, and lose influence.
But will it really lose influence? Faithfulness to Jesus will
have Jesus’ reward: “Behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it” (v. 8). When we take the long
view, we begin to see that the influence of PCS is better
and greater than the influence of LCA. The graduates of
PCS know the Lord. They know what is important in life.
They know how to pray, how to minister, and how to flour-
ish in this world because of their education—rather than
in spite of it. They may be small in number, but God has
never been especially interested in numbers. More than
once, He has turned the world upside down through just
a few followers of Jesus (cf. Acts 17:6). It is time, I believe,
for Him to do that again.
Are your graduates the kind He can use? What kind of
school is your school? ■
Dr. Bryan Smith has worked in Christian education for over twenty years. He has been a
classroom teacher as well as a textbook author. Currently, he serves at BJU Press as the Bible
Integration Senior Manager. In this position, he assists authors and teachers in the work
of integrating faith and learning in the classroom. Bryan holds a Ph.D. in Old Testament
Interpretation. He and his wife, Becky, have six children.
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