We might be looking for a good teacher, but Jesus is God. That is far better.
- We know what God is like
If all we have is another good teacher telling us what God is like, then we are still left with conflicting speculation. Is God angry with us or does he love us? Is he involved in the world or observing from a distance? Is suffering his punishment or is he unable to do anything about it? What happens when we die? Do we listen to Jesus or Mohammed? The Pope or Dawkins? Without Jesus we can never be sure. With Jesus, we know what God is like - He is like Jesus.
- He cares for us
A good teacher may really care for us. All their teaching may have our best interests at heart. But what if they are mistaken? And what if they are not in control? And what if we can’t follow their teaching? Jesus cares for us, He knows what is best for us and everything he does is for our good. Not only that, but he is in control and has done something about our inability to follow his teaching.
- Security is found in Him
There’s absolutely no security if Jesus is only a good teacher because our security rests on us following the teaching. That's why Jesus is so much better than a good teacher, whether you nailed it or screwed it up this week your security is in Him. We tend to come into a Sunday service feeling good if we’ve had a “good” week and we slink in the back if we’ve had a bad one. Or maybe we think we need time away from the christian community because we’re not doing well. We struggle and feel like we're slipping away because we think our security rests on our performance. If you’re in the hand of a teacher, even a good, loving one then your security does rest on your performance - if you keep making the same mistake over and over again, maybe you need to start avoiding him. But you’re not in a teacher’s hands, you're in God’s hands, the loving father, the good shepherd, the light of the world, the bread of life, the resurrection and the life, the source of living water, the one who paid the ultimate cost for us. Our security is in his perfect performance, not ours.