A lion met a tiger as they drank beside the pool. Said the tiger to the lion, “Why are you roaring like a fool?“ “That’s not foolish,“ said the lion, with a twinkle in his eyes. “They call me king of all the beasts because I advertise.“

A rabbit heard them talking, ran homeward like a streak. He thought he’d try the lion’s trick, but his roar was just a squeak. A fox was walking by that way—had luncheon in the woods. Moral: Never advertise unless you have the goods.

There are Christians who for years have tried to witness, tried to reach out and say something concerning their faith. But sometimes it’s possible to become caught in the rabbit’s trap. It doesn’t pay to advertise unless you have the goods.

Some time ago at Pacific Union College, H. M. S. Richards, Sr. was present on Sabbath, and someone got him on the platform during Sabbath School for a little interview. They asked, “Elder Richards, what do you say is the Adventist message?“

His reply was instantaneous: “Jesus only.“

Well, it sounds good. Doesn’t it? I like the sound of that. But I’ve heard Elder Richards talk about many things beside Jesus. So what did he mean by “Jesus only“? There are people today who take that kind of phrase and stretch it way past the limit. There were those of yesteryear who were known as Jesus freaks. They were very great on Jesus only, and that’s all they ever talked about. They had nothing else to go with it. Should we? Is there something else besides talking about Jesus? And how long can you talk about Jesus only?

The apostle Paul was the originator of this idea. He came to the people of Corinth with a certain resolution or determination, on which, I suppose, many new pastors have often joined him.

I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

What does Paul mean when he says, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified“? He didn’t follow that. In these verses he is talking to the Corinthians, and as we go through his two letters to the Corinthian Christians, we discover that he talked about many things. He talked about meat offered to idols, he talked about fornication, he talked about giving and money—he talked about all kinds of things. So apparently he strayed from his original intention. Is that so? What could he mean by “nothing, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified“?

The apostle Paul was a fanatic by statement, and he was a fanatic in practice if you get the right definition of fanatic. You see, most people, if they heard someone say, “I’m not going to talk about anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,“ they’d say, “That’s unbalanced. That’s not the proper mix. This person must be a one-track person. He must be a fanatic.“

Do you know what the word fanatic means? Do you realize that baseball fans are simply victims of the shorter version of fanatic? “Fan“ is short for fanatic. A football fan is one who is preoccupied with football. He’s a fanatic on football.

I’ve heard a number of definitions for fanatic. Here is one: “A fanatic is one who has lost his purpose but doubled his efforts.“ That describes some whom I have met. But the one I like best is, “A fanatic is a person who, whatever subject he starts on, you know the subject he is going to end on.“

As we consider the writings of Paul, this is what actually happened. Whatever subject he begins with, we know what he is going to end with.

I suppose you are aware that news reporters write a lead paragraph which deals with the major questions in the article. They try to hit questions like who, how, what, where, and when.

In the realm of religion, we also deal with these major questions.

When we deal with the question of “what“ in the Christian faith, we tend to become legalists. Young people have been exposed to a great deal of “what“ in the Christian faith—what to do and what not to do. So we come up with the dos and the don’ts. And any young person who has as his primary concern the dos and the don’ts, or the “what“ in the Christian faith, is going to become very discouraged. Sooner or later he will scrap it. Yet I’ve had young people tell me that the “what“ part is 90 percent of their exposure to the Christian faith.

Another segment of the population in the Christian world deals with the newsman’s question “why.“ A person gets a little more intellectual and sophisticated in the process of understanding and discussing “why.“ Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not so good, because there are some things God does and asks us to do that we don’t have to know the reason for, like looking at the snake in the desert. It sounds stupid, looking at a snake. But it wasn’t very profitable to ask why when you were dying.

Then we could join the people who love to ask the question “when.“ And, of course, here we have those who are most interested in eschatology, or last-day events. The one who is preoccupied with “when“ has the colored chart of all the last- day events on his closet door. We find this among some of our own subculture. I’m interested in last-day events, but I’m not interested in becoming preoccupied with them. Are you? We need to watch carefully that we don’t become victims of watching last-day events for the purpose of being sure to get on the last trolley out. Because if my whole intention is to get on the last trolley out, it could be that I’ll miss the trolley entirely.

One could ask the question “which.“ This person is a great student of world religions. His great curiosity is which one? He spends his time going to classes and reading books hours on end trying to analyze and understand which is the best world religion. Some Christians in this country have become very involved in that in recent years, as you well know. “Which?“ It doesn’t take very long to decide that question, because there’s one main difference between most of the world’s religions and the Christian faith. Most of the world’s religions believe that we can in some way save ourselves. The theme of the Christian faith is that we need a Saviour. Isn’t that so? That is the main difference.

Or one could ask the question “how.“ This is a question that has intrigued people in recent years. There has been a great revival of interest in “how,“ not just “what.“ Away from the dos and don’ts and into the nitty-gritty of how to live the Christian life. By asking “how,“ one becomes interested in the theory of righteousness by faith, because that’s what righteousness by faith is all about, in a sense. “How?“ That’s why many young people have become excited about the theology of righteousness by faith, which gives them something besides dos and don’ts to talk about. It tells them how. There’s no point in knowing what to do and what not to do if you don’t know how to do and not do it.

But Paul had the greatest thrust when he said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified“ (1 Corinthians 2:2), because here he is talking about the “who.“ And “who“ is the most important of them all. In fact, some of us have had to learn a little bit the hard way that the “who“ is more important than the “how,“ even though the “how“ is very important.

If you are concerned with the theory of salvation through faith alone, but you miss the personal acquaintance with the Person, then you end up with nothing but a theology that does you no good. So let’s give the apostle Paul good marks when he said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.“

There is one question that I would like to share again and again and again, as long as opportunity exists, and that is: Do you know Him? Are you acquainted with Him? Are you on speaking terms with Him? Do you know Jesus?

I hate to admit the fast one that the devil pulled on me a few years ago. Out in the West we got so involved in some of the theological issues that were troubling the church that some of us spent hours studying the issues and the theories and the truth and the heresy and the theologies. We listened to tapes and read papers and felt pious doing it, when all the time The Desire of Ages and the Gospels sat on the shelf gathering dust. What a clever sidetrack! And it seems that the enemy of God is trying to pull this on people everywhere. It’s a real subtle one. It’s a sly move. There is nothing more important than the “who.“ Can you accept that? Do you know Jesus as your personal Friend?

And somehow, whatever we begin with, in everything we talk about and in every Bible study we give and in every sermon we preach, Jesus must be what we end with. Would that be fair enough? We need to see the Man of the Bible— Jesus, and Him crucified—in all sixty-six books of the Bible.

The apostle Paul had a clear understanding of the gospel. In fact in Romans he gives us a good glimpse of what he“ understood the gospel to be: “I am not ashamed of the gospel“—and by the way, the word gospel means good news—I am not ashamed of the good news of—what’s the next word? The good news of “who.“ Not “what“ or “why“ or “which“ or “when,“ but “who.“ The good news is of Christ.

So the gospel is the good news of Christ, and that has to do with “who.“ Some people say, “The gospel is …“ and then they come with a theological term. I’d like to leave the theological term out for the sake of the boys and girls.

Not long ago I had some meetings in the Northwest. After the meetings a young fellow met me in the narthex of the church and said, “The gospel is the cross and what Jesus did at the cross, and the cross only. That’s the gospel.“

And I said, “I believe that’s good news.“

“Well, that’s all there is to the gospel.“ He was trying to impress me with something he had a burden about.

So I said, “Really? Well, is it good news to you that Jesus wants to do something in your life and transform you by grace, and help you to obey and to become victorious? Is that good news?“

“Yes, that’s good news, but it’s not the gospel. The gospel is the cross only.“

“What does the word gospel mean?“ I asked.

And he replied, ‘Um, well, gospel means good news.“

I would like to remind you, my friend, that the gospel includes all kinds of good news. It is true that the gospel is based upon the cross. There is no question about that. “I delivered unto you first of all [that is, the first thing of the gospel] … how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.“ That’s the basis of the whole thing, absolutely. But from that point, it is the good news of Christ everywhere.

The classic divisions of the gospel of Christ’s salvation according to the theologians include first, what Christ has done for us at the cross; second, what Christ wants to do in us day by day; and third, what Christ wants to do with us when He comes again. Number one is what happens when we first come to Jesus. We accept His salvation at the cross in our behalf. Number two is what happens when we stay with Jesus day by day. And number three is what will happen when we go with Jesus when He comes again. Isn’t all of that good news? Everything else that comes under these headings is good news, but it’s all under the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not acceptable to everybody. In fact, I would like to warn that wherever Jesus Christ is uplifted, whether it’s in your home, in your school, in your church, in your Bible studies—wherever Jesus Christ is uplifted—it’s going to cause people to go one way or the other, because some people want nothing to do with Jesus. In fact, people who are very religious may want nothing to do with Jesus, because religion can become an escape from Jesus. Is that true? Is that possible?

That’s why one man wrote a book, How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious. He was reacting against this idea that it is possible to simply go through the forms, to have a disease called religiosity. It is possible to have a beaten path between your house and the church door. It is possible to go through the habit and the form and the custom of being a religious person.

The greatest example of that is the church in the days of Jesus. They were so busy being religious that they had no time for Jesus. Isn’t this so? They were so busy being religious that they actually turned Him down when He came. It’s fascinating to notice a little comment that was written a long time ago in The Great Controversy: “A religion of externals is attractive to the unrenewed heart“ (p. 567). Analyze that for a moment. An external religion—rules, regulations, dos and don’ts, forms, ceremonies—is attractive to the unrenewed, or the unconverted, heart. The masses will go for it.

“Thousands who have not an experimental knowledge of Christ will be led to accept the forms of godliness without the power. Such a religion is just what the multitudes desire“ (ibid.). Do you know what I would do if I wanted to get a great crowd of people, and if I wanted to get the masses to hang on my word? I would teach a religion of externals, and the masses would follow. That’s what unconverted people like.

Because we are born hopelessly religious, there is a God- shaped vacuum in every heart that has to be filled by something. So if people don’t want Jesus, they will go for being religious. Just leave Jesus out of the picture. But wherever Jesus is uplifted, and talked about and focused on, it causes people to go one way or the other, and it causes the masses to leave.

In Jesus’ day the masses left because Jesus’ message was too sharp. It called for too much self-sacrifice. Finally, only Jesus’ disciples remained, and He said to them, “Are you going to leave too?“ They said, “We don’t know where to go“ (see John 6:66-68).

Wherever the apostle Paul went, determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, there was either a revival or a riot. There was no halfway in between. Nobody remained the same. Either a revival or a riot. So let’s not think that because Jesus is lifted up He will always attract the masses. It can cause trouble as well as attract those who are open.

So far we’ve talked about Jesus in terms of content, in terms of our subject matter. Now I’d like to bridge into a second aspect, and that is, Jesus in the life.

There’s no point in my talking about Jesus if I don’t know Jesus. There’s no point in my getting into the content of Jesus and trying to preach the theory and the theology of Jesus, if I don’t have Jesus in my own life. There is no point in your giving a Bible study or trying to share or witness to anybody about Jesus if you don’t know Jesus yourself. And the truth is that we won’t do it anyway. If we don’t know Jesus, we find it hard to talk about Jesus. Isn’t that so? That’s one of the most difficult things to talk about—about “who.“ If you don’t know Him, you end up talking about “what“ and “why“ and “when“ and “which.“ You go down all kinds of religious avenues, but you never talk about “who“ if you don’t know Him.

During my first three years in the ministry, I had accumulated, from college and other sources, a file of sermons and ideas that I could copy from other preachers. I’m a third- generation Adventist and a second-generation preacher. I had things in my file from my father and uncle and cousin. I also had things from Richards, Fagel, Haines, Vandeman—you name them. I would pull these out, and I would preach them, and the people would cock their heads to one side and say, “I like that. It seems like I heard that before, but I kind of like that.“ I got along pretty well, borrowing from other people.

It reminds me of the preacher our homiletics professor told us about. He borrowed his sermons from others too, but there was a very well-read woman in his congregation who knew all of these sources. As he was preaching she would say out loud, “That’s Vandeman,“ “That’s Richards,“ “That’s Haines,“ or “That’s Bunch,“ and so forth. One day he could take it no longer, and he shouted, “Shut up.“ And she said, “That’s you!“ It was the first original thing he had said.

I found it easy to take from this source, and that source, and the other source. Consider yourself in my shoes. After a while you begin to run out of sources, you know. And you also begin to realize that you have been talking about everything except Jesus, and then you find a little lady waiting for you at the door of the church, a godly woman. You’ve already recognized that she’s a godly woman. She’s kind, nice, and sweet about what she says. But she meets you at the door and says, “Pastor, I liked that sermon. Thank you. It will be wonderful when you get to know Jesus.“

You swallow hard, because you kind of like her and dislike her at the same time. She goes on her way, but she comes by a few weeks later and says, “Thank you, Pastor, for that sermon. It will be wonderful when you get to know Jesus.“ Again you bite your tongue and try to smile, and she goes on her way. She’s always nice about it. She’s always kind and always appreciative. But she stays with it. And the thing that burns you about it is that you know she’s right.

Do you understand the reciprocal effect of parish on pastor and pastor on parish? Do you realize what influence you can have on your pastor—as much as he can have on you? It’s a two-way street. I have been thankful many times for what my congregation has done for me.

Well, this lady did it again and again. “It’ll be wonderful when …“

After three years, you go to your knees and say, “God help me!“ You cry out for power, and gradually you begin to realize that the Christian faith is primarily knowing Jesus. That’s what it’s all about. It is not primarily what to do and what not to do in order to make it, to get to heaven. It is knowing Jesus. And that’s what I need more than anything else. Can I go so far as to say that’s what you need more than anything else?

Yet that’s one of the easiest things to bypass in the Christian faith. Let me demonstrate. Some years ago I became curious as it began to dawn on my mind that the whole basis of the Christian faith is knowing Jesus day by day. I wondered how many of the church members were spending time in personal fellowship with Jesus. So I took some surveys. I had a chance to take surveys in a number of congregations, and several hundreds of church members of my own subculture responded. I asked a number of questions on the survey sheet, and tucked in among them were leading questions that had to do with their own private life with God.

Do you spend time with the Bible every day? Do you pray privately, alone? How much time? etc. To my dismay and to my surprise, I discovered that only one out of four church members spent even five minutes a day with their Bibles and in prayer. Only one out of four! I hoped after that time that my survey was wrong, and that I didn’t get the questions right. But I was surprised to hear from those at the seminary who had taken more extensive surveys. They came up with more like one out of five.

May I propose to you, my friend, that this is the biggest problem in the church today. Because if we have no time for Jesus day by day, we cannot know Him, and we cannot talk about Him, and we won’t. That leaves us dealing with far lesser questions, such as the dos and don’ts, the whys, the whens, and the whiches. And sometimes we do a great deal of that, while the central focus is left out.

My brother taught for several years at the Andrews University Theological Seminary. Each year, in a particular class, he asked a quiz question of the preachers who were returning to study and the new ministerial students preparing to go into the work. It went something like this: “Please, Preacher, tell me how I can have a personal, meaningful, daily devotional life with God.“ They wrote and wrote and wrote. They gave all the answers on their papers—how we need to get into the Word; we need to learn how to pray; how public prayer is not enough, it must be personal and private time with God.

They went down through the list of all the things important for a personal devotional life with God. After they had finished their papers, he said, “Now, you don’t have to put your name on these papers, but turn them over, please, and tell me how you’ve been doing on this yourself lately.“ Things got very quiet. He collected the answers over the years, and many of the answers went something like this: “Sorry, I’ve been awfully busy lately; I haven’t had time. I’ve been swamped.“ It turned out that one out of four was spending time with God day by day!

That’s a problem. Do you agree with me? Like preacher, like people; like people, like preacher.

Our greatest need is to know Jesus as our personal Friend. That’s head and shoulders above everything else.

If you know Jesus as your personal Friend, then sooner or later you will begin to discover that it has a tremendous impact on what you talk about or teach or preach or share. It will make a difference in the Bible studies you give. You’ll also discover that whatever point you begin with, people will always know that you will end with Jesus. Jesus can never be far from your preoccupation and your attention. And really, that’s where the life in the Christian church comes from.

Can you imagine Adolf Hitler giving lectures on love? Can you imagine a dead man giving public presentations of life? Can you imagine a person being called Christian who never talks about Christ because he doesn’t know Christ? He will spend all his time talking about “what,“ “when,“ “which,“ and “why.“ Paul, a true Christian, had it straight when he said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.“ If you know Jesus as your personal Friend, you’ll understand Paul’s single-minded focus on Him.

When I went off to college as a freshman, an older student advised me at the freshman orientation. The upperclassman said, “Take this course.“

And I said, “Why? Is it required?“

“No, take it.“

Upperclassmen have a tremendous influence on freshmen, and so many of them said to take it that I signed up for this course on the life and teachings of Jesus from this particular teacher. The first day of class I was there with the rest of the students with my notebook and my pen, ready to take notes, ready to memorize, ready to draw maps, ready to learn the sequence of events and journeys from here to there. Then the teacher began to talk, and all he talked about was Jesus— about Jesus’ kindness, His love, His compassion, and His friendship. He loved to talk about Jesus. And when he talked about Jesus, there was something else that came through that you couldn’t miss. This man obviously knew the One he was talking about.

The notepaper stayed blank, the pens fell out of our hands, and we just sat there and listened to him talk about his Friend Jesus day after day, day after day. As each class period ended, we found ourselves walking across the campus, strangely quiet, thinking about Jesus. I have never seen it surpassed before or since. Even when this professor wasn’t talking about Jesus, somehow we felt that he was.

Then the class was over, and we went on to other things and forgot about it. Years went by. There was graduation, then several years in the ministry. One day, in a crowded lobby in San Francisco, at a General Conference meeting with thousands of people milling around, I found myself face to face in the crowd with my former teacher. I stopped, and we talked briefly. It was only a few moments, and he was talking about Jesus again.

A flood of memories came back, and I found myself in a dark corner behind a stairwell weeping, because my heart once again was strangely warmed as I recalled what Jesus had meant to me through his words and his life. And then it dawned on me. Where does he get this? He gets this from the same source that I can get it—on his knees, with the Gospels, and with The Desire of Ages, day by day.

And that’s where you can get it too.