For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John Chapter 3, verse 16 (NIV)

Sheridan Road Church of Christ

Sheridan Road Church of Christ

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John Chapter 3, verse 16 (NIV)

Be Perfect!  That’s An Order

 

Wouldn’t it be great to be Perfect?  There are many definitions of perfection and many interpretations of what the Bible says about it.  Consider the following:

After being in the military for so many years you learn that when a superior gives you an order no questions asked you do exactly what you are told or else.  Can you imagine the Lord approaching us with such an unrealistic order? Yet this is often the very way we interpret the words of Jesus, during His sermon on the Mount, Jesus had come to the part where He was teaching us about loving our enemies, and closing this part He says; “Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:48) 

 

I can just hear your response… “You’ve got to be kidding? Talk about a guilt trip! How could anybody expect us to be as perfect as God?  No one is hardly capable of that, even on a good day.”   (You think?)

 

Since this verse seems so unrealistic and unattainable, for the most part, let’s look at it from a different perspective. Here is how you may have heard it explained before;  “This is a command to strive for perfection which we will never reach. Yet we are supposed to keep striving.  However, when God looks at us through Christ, He sees us as perfect because of Christ’s perfection.”

 

Whether you have heard this before or not, this teaching is widely accepted, and although this may sound relatively convincing and puts our hearts and minds at ease, it has some, (at least two) major flaws.

 

I.  Our definition of “perfect” does not carry the same meaning as it did in the Greek tongue. 

 

The problem is when we attempt to put our definition of perfect over the text we read a message into the text that was not originally there. 

 

If our desire is to understand the intended message of the Bible, then we must read it with the mind to go beyond merely seeing a reflection of our own ideas and notions in the text.  In order to discover the intended message of the text we must abandon all preconceived ideas and open our minds to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

 

II.  This interpretation ignores the context.

 

NOTICE; that no where, does the text suggest that we will never reach “perfection,” nor, does it even hint at our perfection being a result of Jesus. 

 

However, even though Scripture teaches us that in Christ we are transformed and through Him we are made pure, etc that is not the message of this text.  In fact the previous interpretation ignores entirely how this text defines perfection. 

 

So what does Jesus mean “be perfect” as He uses it in this text? Typically we think of perfection in terms of personal achievement, such as scholastic, professional or moral, etc. We tend to define perfection in terms of mans integrity as one who experiences and displays a flawless character, with which also most consider that no man is capable of such an achievement. 

 

The Greeks defined “perfect” from an entirely different perspective.  For them, the word perfect falls within a family of words that carries the fundamental idea of “end.” For it described the state of someone of something as being complete, total or whole, to be perfect than meant that nothing was missing. Such as; a perfect pie would be a pie which isn’t missing a piece; rather than claiming that the pie would win the blue ribbon at the local fair. 

 

With God we are complete and whole, with nothing missing. For God is PERFECT! And with God we are made PERFECT, whereas without Him we are imperfect, or  incomplete, and fractured.

 

When we allow the Biblical context to define what Jesus meant when He called us to be perfect, we discover that God is our model of perfection because His love is demonstrated toward all mankind. 

 

Unlike the imperfect person who treats the rich man with love but the poor man with disrespect, GOD is not flawed, inconsistent or imperfect in His dealings with mankind. Jesus taught that we are to be like God in loving all men equally. 

 

Some will ask is this possible? YES! It is not only possible it is essential. For one who seeks to be perfect in the eyes of God, must come to love others as God also loves him.  This hinges on the Lord’s teaching of “love you neighbor as yourself.” 

 

Thus, in this text Jesus issues a command which He knows we can achieve if and when we are in Him and He is in us. Therefore Jesus expects us to obey and achieve His command for us to be perfect as God our FATHER is perfect, through imitating how God loves the world and how that love demonstrated makes us complete/perfect.

 

 

Enjoying the Journey..  Tim                 Next Message: The Quiet Sermon