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MORE THAN A GOOD TEACHER #8

A MISSIONARY TO THE MINISTER

What happens when the people in the pews have more faith than the preacher up in the pulpit? You don't expect that, do you? It's a turnaround of the norm for Christian churches. But for the past seven programs now, we've had to stare into the face of disbelief, of doubt . . . and a lot of it comes from the people who are wearing the clerical collar or teaching in the seminary.

Did Jesus Christ come out of the tomb on Sunday morning, or did His bones rot away in an anonymous Judean grave? Putting it even more bluntly, as we did yesterday, is Jesus the resurrected and risen Lord, or did wild dogs consume the last remains of this visionary but misguided barefoot preacher from Palestine? Today, as has often been the case, the rank-and-file believer still believes in the Resurrection, while the seminary-trained minister who stands before them each weekend is the person with the doubts.

And you know, this has been going on for a rather long while. The so-called "Jesus Seminar" isn't a new phenomenon. An essay by C. S. Lewis, entitled "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism," dating back to 1958, addresses this very dilemma. Lewis, of course, was a deep thinker, a creative, scholarly man. But in terms of the basics of the Christian belief system, or "mere" Christianity, as he put it, his faith was simple and pure, almost childlike . . . and yet honed by careful study. And at the very end of the essay, he has this to say:

"Once the layman was anxious to hide the fact that he believed so much less than the Vicar: he now tends to hide the fact that he believes so much more. Missionary to the priest of one's own church is an embarrassing role."

In fact, in a Q&A session held in 1963 just before he died, he characterizes it as "a form of prostitution" for a preacher to put on the surplice — or clerical outfit — and then say he doesn't believe the basics of the Christian faith.

He then proceeds to share two very telling criticisms. One we mentioned yesterday. In Lewis' words:

"I find in these theologians a constant use of the principle that the miraculous does not occur."

Then he adds a second complaint — he likens himself to a sheep bleating at the shepherd, actually. But these theologians, he writes, casually suggest that so much in the Bible is simply "legend" or "romance." "Aaaah, you can throw that whole part out," they say dismissively. And C. S. Lewis comes back with this rejoinder:

"If [the theologian] tells me that something in a Gospel is legend or romance, I want to know how many legends and romances he has read, how well his palate is trained in detecting them by the flavor; not how many years he has spent on that Gospel. . . . These men ask me to believe that they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read (in any sense worth discussing) the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight."

Well, friend, for each of us the question gets very personal. Will we believe what another person tells us — about elephants in broad daylight or about the risen Savior — or will we study and pray and think for ourselves and then make the right decision? I don't have on a clerical collar here in the studio today, but I AM an ordained Christian minister. Will you simply accept the Voice of Prophecy "line" on this issue, or will you prayerfully weigh the evidence for yourself? Going again to our series title, is Jesus Christ MORE THAN A GOOD TEACHER?

It might be well here to move away from the debate, the play-and-counterplay, of the theologians and the think tanks, and ask one simple question: what is it you and I need? Do you need another philosopher or philosophy in your life? Do you need the Golden Rule? Well, maybe you do. But friend, do you and I need more than that?

Let me share just a short list with you right here of what I think I need today. Think about whether you need these things too.

First of all, I need a Forgiver. I'm a great sinner, and I need someone to forgive my sins. As we've discussed in this series, it was Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus as divine, Jesus as the Messiah sent from God, that gave Him the moral authority to forgive sins. Any misguided nut could e-mail me here at The Voice of Prophecy and say, "Don't worry, Lonnie; I forgive you." We get some of that here in the mail; there are unbalanced people who jot down the address: Box 53055, Los Angeles. But friend, I need forgiveness from Someone who has the authority to give it, from someone whose words are real!

In his wonderful book, The Contemporary Christian, John Stott tells us what we need.

"Without the resurrection," he writes, "we would have to conclude that [Jesus'] death was a failure."

And so? Listen, if Jesus' death was a failure, then He wasn't from God. And Calvary is nothing but a meaningless miscarriage of justice, a bad execution. And I have no forgiveness. But you see, I need forgiveness. I need a Redeemer, and without the Resurrection, Jesus is no redeemer; that's for sure.

Let me ask you this: do you need a risen Jesus in your prayers? True, we pray to God, our heavenly Father. But don't you pray to Him in Jesus' name? As Christ Himself instructed His disciples to do in John 14:14?

"You can ask [the Father] for anything, using My name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. Yes, ask anything, using My name, and I will do it!"

Of course, without the Resurrection, the Father-Son link between God and Jesus is broken, meaningless. It would be ridiculous to pray for anything "in Jesus' name," if Jesus is dead, devoured, not the living Son. And it goes beyond this, really. In Hebrews 7:25, we find that Jesus Christ is a living "Intercessor" for us in heaven today. Here's the complete verse:

"Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them."

Now, does this mean that Jesus is pleading with a reluctant God to let Calvary count on our behalf? No, of course not. That is a completely pagan and heretical suggestion. Jesus and God are alike, always perfectly alike and identical, in their love for us. But when Satan, the great accuser, charges us with sin and rebellion, Jesus — the living Jesus, with nailprints in His hands — stands up and together with God, speaks in our defense. Friend, I need Jesus as a living Intercessor when I sin. I want Him as my Intercessor when I pray. I hunger to have Him as my Intercessor when I need power for daily Christian living, to face challenges and temptations. Just as angels came to strengthen Jesus in His darkest hour, don't you want to believe and know that there is a sympathetic Redeemer and Friend today, right now, August 25, 1999, to come to your rescue and aid?

Tomorrow we'll introduce a certain four-letter word — a spiritual one — that sometimes we shy away from in practice, if not in principle. But let me humbly tell you today that I need someone to be a Lord in my life. I badly need — friend, I desperately need — a Ruler to direct me. Even more, to own me, to possess me in the very best of senses. Like I said, we'll get into that more tomorrow . . . but friend, there would be no point in talking about Jesus being my Lord today if His corpse disintegrated 2000 years ago. I know there are faiths that speak of "Lord Buddha" or "Lord Krishna," but just stop and think about the true, glorious meaning of "Lord." And please don't let the sun go down tonight without getting out your Bible and reading all the way through Philippians 2:5-11:
"At the name of Jesus" — the living Jesus, by the way — "every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."

And finally, one more "need" that I keenly feel today. Friend, I have a hunger in my soul to see Jesus come again. That future event is everything to this ministry; it never would have started, and it wouldn't have continued for 70 days, let alone 70 years, if it weren't for our conviction that Jesus is coming again. And how could He do that unless He were alive? Maybe some of us need to be missionaries to these well-meaning scholars who say, "He lived, He taught, He suffered, He died . . . end of story." And ask them: "Just who is it promising in Revelation 22:12, ‘Behold, I come quickly!'?" Who is it speaking in John 14:1-3:

"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

You talk about a house of cards falling down, and this would be the biggest collapse of all. No Second Coming? No heaven with our Savior and Friend, Jesus? No eternity with our loving God? And it hinges on this truth we need so desperately, that I need today with all of my heart and soul. I need the return of My living Jesus.