Jesus the teacher beyond Compare

 

The world has many teachers today, and throughout time those who have stood out have had their teachings preserved for you I and to read.  For instance we can learn many things from the early philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Socrates who wrote over 2000 years ago. Who comes to your mind when you think of a great teacher of the past? Perhaps you had an outstanding teacher in school that really impressed you or someone else you knew. Some of these teachers have made a difference in people’s life but  you can take all the great teachers in the world from the past to the present and you will not find a teacher who has even came close to the influence and impact that Jesus Christ has  had on mankind. In the 4 gospels Jesus is referred to as a teacher 45 times. In John 13 Jesus was teaching a lesson on being humble and serving one another by washing his disciples feet but, then he makes this statement in John 13:13 "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.  Jesus truly is the greatest teacher that ever lived but as great as he was not even he could teach those who were unwilling to be taught.

 

One of Jesus biggest opposition in the 1st century was the scribes and Pharisees. You see they had it in their mind that the Messiah would be like Moses and be a national leader one who would  be of great power and would lead the Jews to overthrow the Romans.  However, Jesus did not fit that mold because he was just a carpenter and had not been to any formal schools and to top it all off he lived in the despised city of Nazareth. Do you remember what  Nathanael said? "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Jn 1:46. Since Jesus didn’t fit their idea of the Messiah they refused to be taught by him. The scribes and the Pharisees were not only ones who were thought the Messiah would usher in a physical kingdom because even Jesus disciples thought this as well. They did not understand at that time that Jesus kingdom was a spiritual one. When Jesus was being questioned by Pilate about him being a king Jesus answered him in:

 

John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."

 

You see Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom, instead he came to call mankind to repentance and to save them by breaking the bond of sin and destroying death. He fulfilled his goal by obeying the perfect will of God and fulfilling the Law. Jesus says this very thing to his disciples after had risen from the dead in Luke 24:44.

 

Luke 24:44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."

 

Jesus is the most important teacher we could listen to because his words are spirit and life Jn. 6:63 and they teach us the truth which able to set us free from sin and lead us to eternal life in heaven Jn8:32; 14:6

 

So what we are going to do this morning is to look at several reasons why Jesus is the teacher beyond compare.

 

  1. He was a teacher who came from God.

 

Now there were many teachers who God commissioned in the past. He had his message delivered through prophets and angels. He used men like Moses to mediate the old covenant and he used John the Baptist the last prophet under the old covenant to prepare the way for the highest messenger God could ever send his only begotten son Jesus Christ. While it is true that these prophets before Jesus were inspired by God but none them were deity like Jesus.

 

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,  2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

 

We learn several things about Jesus in these verses staring in verse 4 we see that he in now better than the angles and is verse 3 that by himself he purged our sins. But notice verse. Vrs 2 Jesus is heir of all things and he made the worlds.  This means that  he was there in the very beginning creating the world because he is a part of the GodHead.

 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 He was in the beginning with God.  3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

 

John 1:14   14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

This is why Jesus is the teacher of all teachers because he came from God he was the son of God and he was with God from the very beginning. Jesus had abilities that others did not. For instance he could read the hearts of men and could tell what they needed hear to persuade them to believe. He also could tell when people were being dishonest and trying to trap him in his words. We have an example of this in:

 

Matthew 22: 16 And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  17 "Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?

 

 

This is why Jesus was teacher beyond compare.

 

  1. Why he is a teacher beyond compare because his words are eternal

 

Whenever Jesus would speak he always spoke with authority and told the truth it ever situation and did not give mere opinions or theories as man does. Men and women throughout time have had many opinions, theories and philosophies but they are always constantly changing. Our text books we have in schools have to be constantly updated and changed because the perceived truth at the time has changed. Our opinions are like armpits we all have them and they all stink.  But you see that simply is not the case when it comes to Jesus’ words because they do not change because they are eternal. Lets take a look a couple of passage that describe how important Jesus words are.

 

John 6:63   63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

 

John 8:31-32   31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

 

Jesus is teaching us if you want to learn about eternal life and how to be set free from sin we have to listen and live by his words. Now look at

 

Matthew 24:  35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

 

No other words have such power as Jesus words that is why Paul said Romans 1:16   16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

 

Now lets Jesus teach why we should pay close attention to his words.

 

John 12:48-50   48 "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."  

 

Jesus is telling you and that if we reject his words we are rejecting him and that when the day of Judgment comes which will determine weather we go to heaven or hell we will be judged by his words. God has given a free will and it is up to you and I to choose how we will live our lives. But if we want find ourselves in heaven we need to do our best to follow the teachings of Jesus. Since Jesus words are eternal and make the difference of were we will spend eternity this makes him a teacher beyond compare.

 

  1. Jesus lived what he taught.

 

Its one thing to teach what is right but living by what you teach is something else. I wish I could stand up and tell you that everything I teach I do it perfectly but that simply is not the case. I’m human I fail from time to time. Even the apostle Peter struggled with practicing what he preached. Noticed what he taught in

 

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.  35 "But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

 

Now take a look at Gal. 2:11 and will we see that Peter was not living up to what he taught.

 

Galatians 2:11-14   11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;  12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.  13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.  14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?  

 

So you see even faithful Christians like Peter didn’t always live up to what they taught and this is what make Jesus stand out from the crowd because he always lived the way he taught. Not one time did he fail to live a righteous life. That’s exactly what

 

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

 

So you see Jesus never failed to live what he preached. Let’s look at 2 examples.

 

1. Matthew 5:39 "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

 

I believe Jesus demonstrated this very well in the last hours of his life. We all know that he was falsely accused, he was scourged, and beaten and even was mocked while hanging on the cross. In this whole ordeal that he went through he did not resist evil or try to return evil for evil instead with some of his last bit energy he said Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."Lk 23:34.

 

2. Our second examples is one the hardest teachings that Jesus ever spoke.

Matthew 5:43  43 " You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, While I know that we find this difficult to do today Jesus demonstrated this kind of love by dieing on the cross for everyone.

 

Romans 5:6-8  6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

Again this makes Jesus a teacher beyond compare

 

4 Our final reason why Jesus was a teacher beyond compare comes from his unique teaching style.

 

First of all Jesus never made a mistake in his teaching despite the many attempts of the scribes and Pharisees trying to trap in his words.

 

Luke 11:53 the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things,  54 lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

 

No matter how many times they tried to catch him making a mistake they never could in fact Mat. 22:46 tells us that they finally gave up and didn’t ask him anymore questions.

 

Second of all Jesus spoke without hesitation or without having to consult with someone. The wisest people we have today hesitate or consult with an expert before answer some difficult question but not Jesus. Lets look at one example

 

Matthew 22:35-40  35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,  36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

 

This  Lawyer thought he had asked a question that could not be answered because there were over 600 commandments given under the Old Law But watch how Jesus answer his question with ease. 37 Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  38 "This is the first and great commandment.  39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

 

Jesus wrapped the entire law up with these 2 commands and I can just see that lawyer jaw drop and him walking shaking his is amazement.

 

The 3rd thing unique about his teaching is he never expressed doubt. There have been many wise men of the past but all of them have expressed doubt is parts of their the teaching but not Jesus because he spoke as one have authority.

 

John 14:1"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 

Did you notice any doubting on Jesus part as he made these statements? Absolutely not!

 

Finally even though Jesus spoke on difficult topics he would teach them is such away the common person could understand his teaching. There are many great lessons he taught from his parables. He would use something the 1st century person could relate to such as sowing seed or shepherding sheep and use them to teach about spiritual things such as heaven and Gods love. No wonder why the Bible tells us that the common people received him gladly Mk. 12:37.

 

In conclusion we have learned that Jesus was teacher beyond compare because he came from God, his words are eternal, he lived by what he taught and he had unique way of teaching. We have also learned how important it is that we take heed to what Jesus teaches us in the Bible because we will be judged by those words. With this in mind lets us close this lesson with some of the last words Jesus spoke before he ascended into heaven.

 Matthew 28:18-20  18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."