Jesus, The Perfect Man
THERE IS no other character in history like that of Jesus.
As a preacher, as a doer of things, and as a philosopher, no man ever had the sweep and the vision of Jesus. A human analysis of the human actions of Jesus brings to view a rule of life that.is amazing in its perfect detail. The system of ethics Jesus taught during' his Earthly sojourn 2,000 years ago was true then, has been true in every century since and will be true forever.
Plato was a great thinker and learned in his age, but his teachings did not stand the test of time. In big things and in little things time and human experience have shown that he erred.
Marcus Aurelius touched the reflective mind of the world, but he was as cold and austere as brown marble.
The doctrine of Confucius gave a great nation moral and mental dry rot.
The teachings of Buddha resulted in mental and moral chaos that makes India derelict.
Mohammed offered a system of ethics which was adopted by millions of people. Now their children live in deserts where once there were cities, along dry rivers where once there was moisture, and in the shadows of gray, barren hills where once there was greenness.
Thomas Aquinas was a profound philosopher, but parts of his system have been abandoned.
Francis of Assisi was Christ like in his saintliness, but in some things he was childish.
Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ" is a thing of rare beauty and sympathy, but it is, as its name implies, only an imitation.
Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" is yet a dream that cannot be realized.
Lord Bacon writing on chemistry and medicine under the glasses of the man working in a 20th - century laboratory is puerile.
The world's most learned doctors until a hundred and fifty years ago gave dragon's blood and ground tails of lizards and shells of eggs for certain ailments. The great surgeons a hundred years ago bled a man if he were wounded. Napoleon had the world at his feet for four years, and when he died the world was going on its way as if he had never lived.
JESUS TAUGHT little as to property because He knew there were things of more importance than property. He measured property and life, the body, and soul, at their exact relative value. He taught much more as to character, because character is of more importance than dollars. Other men taught us to develop systems of government. Jesus taught so as to perfect the minds of men. Jesus looked to the soul, while other men dwelled on material things. After the experience of 2,000 years no man can find a flaw in the governmental system outlined by Jesus. Czar and kaiser, president and Socialist, give to its complete merit their admiration. No man today, no matter whether he follows the doctrine of Mills, Marx or George as to property, can find a false principle in Jesus' theory of property.
In the duty of a man to his fellow no sociologist has ever approximated the perfection of the doctrine laid down by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. Not all the investigations of chemists, not all the discoveries of explorers, not all the experiences of rulers, not all the historical facts that go to make up the sum of human knowledge on this day in 1912 are in contradiction to one word uttered or one principle laid down by Jesus. The human experiences of 2,000 years show that Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never uttered a doctrine that was true at that time and then became obsolete. Jesus spoke the truth; He lived the truth, and the truth is eternal. History has no record of any other man leading a perfect life or doing everything in logical order. Jesus is the only person whose every action and whose every utterance strike a true note in the heart and mind of every man born of woman. He never said if foolish thing, never did a foolish act and never dissembled. No poet, no dreamer, no philosopher loved humanity with the love that Jesus bore toward all men.
WHO, THEN, was Jesus?
He could not have been merely a man, for there never was a man who had two consecutive thoughts absolute in truthful perfection.
Jesus must have been what Christendom proclaims Him to be - a divine being - or He could not have been what He was. No mind but an infinite mind could have left behind those things which Jesus gave to the world as a heritage.
[Reprinted (December 16, 1979) in response to numerous requests, as written by the late C. P. J. Mooney for The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) in 1912.]
WHAT WOULD’VE HAVE HAPPENED IF...
...Noah had decided not built the ark to the saving of his family? Would his family have been saved or would they have perished in the flood?
...Abraham just didn’t “feel like” leaving Ur with his family? Would he have become the “father of many nations?
...Moses had decided that leading the children of Israel out of Egypt was going to be too big a job for him to handle? Would he have gone back to the “pleasures of sin?”
...Elijah had not challenged the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel? Would he have been considered a faithful prophet of God?
...Naaman had not followed Elisha’s instructions to dip seven times in Jordan? Would he have been healed of his leprosy?
...Paul had resisted the call of God to be an apostle? How long would it have taken to get the gospel “into all of the world?”
...21st Century Christians refused to get involved in the work of the church? Would anything ever get done? Would our children grow up to be strong Christians taking their place in the leadership and work of the church? Would the gospel be taken into local communities so the lost could believe and obey?
One of the leading factors in the success or failure of any congregation is the level of membership involvement. We cannot put the burden of work on the elders, deacons, preacher or Bible School teachers. We cannot sit back and believe that “someone else will do it.” If the church is to grow, mature, gain strength, and be strong in the future, all of us MUST be involved in its work.
What would happen if...the work of the church depended solely on you?
—Gary Knuckles
