God's Measure of a Man.--What is the standard by which man is to
compare himself? Great things are expected of a man but how is he to
work them out? These are fair questions.
Jesus Christ has two titles in the New Testament, "The Son of God" and
"The Son of Man." If we want to know what God is like we look into the
face of Jesus Christ. If we want to know what man ought to be we look
into the face of Jesus Christ (John 14:5-9; Matthew 5:48).
Jesus Christ is the Perfect Example.
He is the Perfect Example of a Physical Man.--The test here is bodily
endurance and perfect control over the body. Look at Jesus Christ and
note His physical endurance tests. He was forty days without food
(Matthew 4:2); this is not a weakling's task. A man must have a
strong body to endure through such a starvation period. For a man to
be crucified upon a cross, after being scourged, was to undergo the
most terrible agony; yet Christ so had His body under control upon His
cross that He could speak forgiveness for His enemies and commend His
mother to the care of a disciple. "How can I start a religion?" said
one great Frenchman to another. "Go and be crucified," was the
reply. If we want to behold the perfect physical man, who had His body
in complete control and made it do His will, we must look to Jesus
Christ. How many sins come to man through a weak physical control!
He is the Perfect Example of an Intellectual Man.--What man can
compare with Jesus Christ in the power of His intellect? He stands
ready before all to state and defend His precepts and principles. He
so spoke to the people that they listened with growing conviction.
"Never man spake like this man." Difficult questions were brought to
Him, questions which would make the wisest judges hesitate in their
answers, and at once He gave His replies which stand unimpeached
to-day for marvellous wisdom and power. Living in an age long before
modern science had its birth, He handles Nature as her Master and
makes no mistake. His words to-day are a power in the court, in the
senate and the marts of the world, as well as in the pulpit. He is the
perfect intellectual man for our example.
He is the Perfect Example of a Moral Man.--Many intellectual and
physical giants fail upon the moral test; but in Christ we find no
moral flaw. He is the standard of moral perfection. He is the perfect
moral example for all men.
Here is the foundation for physical and intellectual progress, but
without a true moral foundation they will both fail.
No man ever so ministered to men as Jesus Christ.