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THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS OF HALLMARK WISDOM

There's a verse in the New Testament — in fact, it's the final statement in the Gospels: John 21:25. And frankly, even the most devoted follower of Jesus Christ would have to take this declaration with a grain of Dead Sea salt. Here it is:

"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

That's a very generous accolade, written by Jesus' closest disciple, John. And I'm sure that this devoted young man witnessed many, many incredible miracles, some unbelievable moments during their three-and-a-half years together. After all, his entire book only runs 21 chapters: a total of 878 brief verses, each running about a sentence or two. So obviously he left out a few choice anecdotes. But it's clearly an exaggeration to say that all the miracles and wondrous deeds one single man does in three-and-a-half years of work, even if he goes pretty much nonstop, would of necessity fill up so many volumes that all the world's libraries couldn't hold them.

Back in the early 1970s, when the United States was in the throes of the Watergate crisis, some of you might recall that in the summer of 1973 an aide named Alexander Butterfield was interrogated by the Watergate Committee staff. They were curious about why lawyers seemed to have such accurate details of meetings people had with President Nixon. Were they memory geniuses? Whole sections of verbatim conversation seemed to be included. How was this possible? Slowly, reluctantly, Butterfield confessed that the White House had installed a taping system. Every single conversation happening in the Oval Office — either in person or in phone conversations — was tape-recorded for posterity. There were records of everybody: Haldeman, Ehrlichman, John Dean, foreign heads of state, visiting athletes and Boy Scouts . . . everybody.

Some of Nixon's aides and cabinet members, who had been taped for posterity without their realizing it, were livid at the news. Henry Kissinger thought it was idiotic, insane. "If you tape eight years of your presidency," he told staff members in disgust, "it would take eight years to listen to it! Who's going to want to wade through all of that?"

Still, here's the point. Eight years of presidential tape is a lot . . . but it IS a manageable crate. Somebody could listen — and many have. All a man's deeds for three-and-a-half years of Christian ministry in old Judea might make an extensive chronicle: but it is a story you could fit into a ten-volume set of books, or a 14-hour documentary miniseries on the A&E network. It's not that much.

Now friend, why am I appearing to minimize the incredible, history-changing ministry of this religious leader named Jesus Christ? To me, and to this radio ministry, the life of Jesus, the religion He founded HAS filled up the entire world. Thousands of books have been written on that "one solitary life" without exhausting the mystery and the miracle of His influence. We've been on the air for 70 years now, every weekend, and daily, Mondays through Fridays, for a good share of those 70 years. That's a lot of sermons, a lot of scripts, a lot of paper, and a whole lot of words.

But here's where I want to go today. If a person were to say: "The teachings of Jesus are the main thing; the wise things He said are why He's revered," then a person could turn to the New Testament and truthfully say, "No, it's really not that much." If Jesus is lifted up as one of the world's great men because we think He was a great teacher, then a statistician among us would have to honestly point out that in most Bibles, the great teachings of Jesus Christ don't even fill up 200 pages. The New International Version, or NIV, Bible that David mainly uses for study in preparing these sermons is filled with commentary notes and maps and charts and study references. And in that particular version, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John fill up exactly 198 pages. TOTAL. Keep in mind, of course, that within those four gospels, there's also a whole lot of repetition. They all have the crucifixion. And many of the same miracles. A lot of parables are told again and again in three or even all four of the Gospels. In other words, all of the recorded great deeds and revolutionary teachings and loving suggestions made by this visionary man might well fit into a total of less than even one hundred pages.

Again, why are we going this direction? Our series title for this two-week study is this: MORE THAN A GOOD TEACHER. And I'd like to share with you a rather sharp argument, or critique, that was made some years ago by one of the great Christian writers: C. S. Lewis. And he poses the thankfully hypothetical question: What if Jesus' main contribution to our world were all the miracles and great teachings? What if He really were just a great teacher? Here's his comment, from the book Mere Christianity:

"It is quite true that if we took Christ's advice we should soon be living in a happier world. You need not even go as far as Christ. If we did all that Plato or Aristotle or Confucius told us, we should get on a great deal better than we do." Which is all true. But his next line is rather shocking. Here it is: "And so what? We have never followed the advice of the great teachers. Why are we likely to begin now? Why are we more likely to follow Christ than any of the others? Because He is the best moral teacher? But that makes it even less likely that we should follow Him. If we cannot take the elementary lessons, is it likely we are going to take the most advanced ones?

Now, friend, notice this next observation Lewis makes, and think as you do so of the crowded shelves in Christian bookstores, weighed down as they are by volumes by Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II, Philip Yancey, Max Lucado, T. D. Jakes, Jan Karon, Frank Peretti, James Dobson, and all the others. Including C. S. Lewis' own row of books. Here's what he says:

"If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance. There has been no lack of good advice for the last four thousand years. A bit more makes no difference."

And I have to say to you here: let's be realistic. If we're Christians because Jesus was a good teacher, then we really don't need to be Christians. Because in that case, He was just one of many, many good teachers. You could sign up with Stephen Covey or Deepak Chopra instead. If we're Christians because Jesus was a great healer, and helped many people turn from sickness to health, then we might as well worship an image of Jonas Salk, or some other visionary doctor who has treated many patients. Or that faith healer who appears each Sunday morning on Channel 40. If we call ourselves Christians because we appreciate the fact that Jesus Christ was a Man of peace, and because He tried to bring warring factions together, and because He commanded His devotees to be peacemakers, then we might as well become cult followers of Desmond Tutu, or Martin Luther King, Jr., or Gandhi, or Jesse Jackson, or Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the U.N.

It's interesting that Jesus Himself never suggested that the reason to follow Him was because He was a great teacher. Or because He could heal the sick. Often, in fact, after He healed people, He minimized the importance of that, and even suggested that they keep quiet about it. But notice here in John 14:6 what He does say:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

And those NIV text notes I mentioned a moment ago add this crucial point:
"Jesus is not one way among many, but THE way."

In other words, there's something about Jesus that makes Him unique. Is He a great teacher? Friend, there are thousands of those. You can spend $500 a week buying just the 2001 bestsellers written by good teachers, people with a new philosophy for well-ordered living. Is it because He healed? No, that's almost a dime-a-dozen phenomenon now too. A man of peace, an emissary for reconciliation? No, there are plenty of those around as well . . . and thank God for them. But something about Jesus Christ, by His own words and testimony, makes Him different. Something about Him which is unique and special means that we can come to the Father, approach God, receive forgiveness and salvation . . . through Jesus and ONLY through Him.

And now the irony. Virtually the entire world acknowledges, at a minimum, that He was a great teacher. "I'll give you that," says even the most diehard skeptic. "I like the things Jesus said." But in these four brief books — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — we find clear evidence, and even plain black-and-white statements from the lips of this great Teacher Himself, about what those unique differences are. He tells us why He is more than a thinker, healer, and prince of peace. And millions who concede that the Teacher is wise and sage and listen-able . . . then proceed to toss out His syllabus and ignore what it says right there on page one.

What does it say? Be sure to stay tuned.