Brooklands
Gospel
Centre
Moral Excellence
"Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, that I should bear witness
to the truth" -
“And if I say the truth why will ye not believe me” -
Frankness, plain open speaking and truthfulness rank high when we come to consider the moral excellence of our Lord Jesus Christ. As He walked amongst people He had no pretence. His candour and truthfulness were an integral part of His every day walk.
Even in the best of people, politeness and expediency take the edge of truthfulness. In all walks of life being economical with the truth is common place. Not so with the Lord Jesus. He was unmercifully candid. He was never rude or crude, but He never varnished his language to please His hearers.
The startling expression in Matthew 21:31, when confronted by the chief priests and
elders, bears witness to this. “The publicans (tax collectors) and harlots go into
the kingdom of God before you”. They believed, you did not! He was not prepared to
say in their absence what He could not say in their presence. On another occasion
he accused the same people; “This people honours me with their lips , but their hearts
are far from me” -
Think, too, on a different level, of the late night discussion with Nicodemus. The
eminence and importance of the visitor did not deter Him from pronouncing words that
shocked the good man to the point of his intellectual mind enquiring, “How can these
things be” -
This is moral excellence.
The Lord’s dealing with the Samaritans, too, caused astonishment among the disciples
and infuriated the Pharisees. He broke all convention by speaking to the Samaritan
woman (John 4:29). But it led to her believing on Him! In Luke 17:16 it was a Samaritan
who returned to thank Him for his cleansing, while nine Jews did not! And all this,
leading up to the Parable of the ‘good Samaritan’ (Luke 10:30-
This brought out into the open what the Pharisees and scribes did not want to hear. It was exposing the darkness of the human soul. No one other than the Lord could have taken such high ground.
This was morality par excellence!
Remarkably, his enemies, recognised his truthfulness, yet graciousness. When they
were sent to arrest him, returned without Him, proclaiming, “Never man spake like
this man” -
The moral glory that shone from the Saviour silenced the most severe critics. It
could not be otherwise for John, the beloved disciple and apostle, writing years
later said “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” -
While we never could attain to this level of excellence, we are nevertheless exhorted
to emulate the Apostle Paul who spoke the “truth in Christ” -
DREW CRAIG