Made perfect in Christ

 

People used to call me a perfectionist. I resented it because in my mind, every person should do the best they can. Not only that, it seemed to me that most folks could excel or at least improve if they tried harder.

Then one pastor said, “If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly.” That made me think about my motivations. Was I restricting my activities to only the tasks that I could do well? Was I unwilling to attempt anything that I knew would not turn out well? Was ‘doing poorly’ a threat to me?

I still think that doing the best we can is a virtue, but have changed my mind about picking and choosing. Some things are impossible or not a good idea because of my health and physical well-being, but I’m far more willing to try new things and not worry too much about how I rate.

As for being a perfectionist, Jesus did say this: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) While perfectionism can be a sin, I wondered why tell us that when the Bible is clear that no one is perfect except God?

Today’s reading says this word is used in four ways. Job 1:8 points to one of them.

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8)

According to this writer, God uses this term to describe someone who is ‘sincere’ and says that God’s people are not deceitful, hypocritical or pretentious. While this is true of Job, the Hebrew word in other versions is translated blameless, free from guilt. This indicate that perfection is about keeping short accounts with God and trusting Jesus who bore our guilt. In other words, it is about being forgiven and knowing it to the degree that all of life is affected.

The next verse about perfection says: “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” (James 3:2)

This word in Greek is about maturity or completeness. Those who are in control of what they say are mature. It seems that perfection in this verse refers to Christians who are walking in the Spirit and not so much in the flesh. It isn’t so much about who they are all the time, but how they let God control their words as they obey Him.

The third use refers to the believer’s positional holiness, sinlessness, and blamelessness before God by the atonement of Christ and the imputation of his righteousness. The author used this verse to illustrate this meaning:

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 16:14)

While perfect is used in this example, the context is a description of a sinful use of the physical perfections. The perfections of Christ imputed to us are not about the appearance of our physical bodies. Our imputed holiness is better described in the NT rather than this verse that uses the word ‘perfect’ to describe what He has given us. Not every Christian could be considered renown because of their outward comeliness, but all are perfect in holiness in Christ. 

Of course another use of the word ‘perfect’ is in describing  the ultimate glorification of all believers when we shall be made entirely conformed to the image of Christ in heaven. This verse is used:

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12)

Another author says that this use of ‘perfect’ should be understood in the sense of a functional stage of religious attainment, to be completely successful, to succeed fully. For this, I’m often drawn to this verse that describes what God is doing in my life:

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

In this life, I see Jesus in reading about Him, in experiencing and responding to His grace. This is the route to perfection, yet He does it. On my own I can do nothing.

PRAY: Lord, as I confess my sins, You forgive and cleanse me. As I keep my focus on You, You transform me into what I see in You, yet this task is not done and will never be until You take me to be with You forever. If perfectionism means to be a fan of the One who is perfect, then I’m all for it.

A judge or a lover?

Exodus 3; Job 20; Luke 6; 1 Corinthians 7

God reminds me again of the contrast between His way and the way of sinful human thinking. Obviously, it shows up in the how He treats those who are His children and what the Bible describes as the fate of the wicked. One description is in a speech by a ‘friend’ of Job:

Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him. His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth. His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. (Job 20:4–11)

He goes on for the rest of the chapter in a tirade about the wrath of God, only he errs in that he is applying this to Job. Does he not realize that God has said of him, “There is none like (Job) on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” (Job 1:8)

From Abraham to the NT believers, God says that those who have faith are considered righteous and their sin is not counted against them. This is the wonderful good news of the Gospel and it applied also to Job. However, his ‘friends’ were not treating him like a child of God but judging him as if he was a wicked and evil man.

Luke 6 provides the contrast. Jesus condemned the Pharisees who practiced judgment against all who do not keep the Law. They ignored the gospel that ‘righteousness comes by faith’ and treated everyone with their ‘keep the rules or you are condemned’ attitude. Like Job’s friends, they applied this to the righteous — even to the greatest and most righteous One of all, their Messiah Jesus Christ.

In contrast, Jesus fed the crowds, healed the sick and cast out demons regardless of the spiritual state of those receiving those blessings. He said His people are not to be like Job’s friends:

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:37–38)

I wonder what those ‘friends’ would have done had they heard God saying those words to them. Or saying that they should “love their enemies” never mind this person who was their friend? Would they stop their tirade against this suffering man and begin doing what the Son of God would have done had He been there?

Then I think of the times I’ve ‘judged’ other Christians in a spirit of condemnation, as if they had to keep my set of ‘rules’ to be acceptable, or as if they were not believers. How easily the sinful flesh can pridefully look down its nose.

God is incredibly kind. I already told the story of an angry man who got a ‘note’ from God right at the height of his wrath. The note said, “You are cherished.” That man was a Christian and with that touch from God, his anger dissolved. God’s grace is blessing his life with increased transformation. Knowing God’s love also increases our love for others.

Application is simple. The next time I think judgmental thoughts about the way a Christian is talking or acting, I need to bite my tongue. Or if I speak, it must be “truth in love” not harsh and critical condemnation. I’m not to be like a friend of Job but like Jesus, a friend of sinners and a lover of all God’s people.

Feeding the right nature . . .

Chinese Christian Watchman Nee described the Christian experience of flesh vs. spirit as like having two dogs fighting inside of him. When asked which one was winning, he replied, “The one that I feed the most.”

Christian people ought to avoid certain activities when we know they will feed the wrong dog. Sometimes this is easy to figure out. If I had been an alcoholic (I wasn’t’) I would avoid bars and liquor cabinets. If I had once idolized particular sports or certain people, I would stay away, at least until that was no longer a problem, or in other words, until those activities stopped feeding that dog.

Another person described sin and temptation like having a wolf on a tether. It was always there, but stay beyond the length of the tether and for goodness’ sake, don’t pet the wolf!

Paul wrote about the battle of trying to do the will of God and how our sinful nature resists that. He knew that sin has been defeated by faith in Christ, but he also knew that it stubbornly does not go away and leave us alone. (Read these verses slowly!) . . .

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

I can especially echo the middle part of this passage: I also desire to do what is right, but in myself have no ability to carry it out. I cannot do the good I want to, but find sin very easy to do. Yet the Bible says that by faith in God I have been made a new creature. So if I am a new creature, why then am I plagued by that old sinful nature? Paul says, “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

In the beginning, it was easy to see those areas of “feeding the wrong dog” and turn away from them. However, as time goes by, the Holy Spirit reveals to me how easily I can toss a few crumbs that way and often not realize it, but always wind up in trouble. Sin is like standing on that proverbial slippery slope. Just desiring to go that direction puts me at the top of the slope and if I don’t cry out to Jesus, I’m certain to slide into trouble. To use the wolf metaphor, I cannot pet the beast without getting bitten.

It seems to me that when the Bible talks about maturity such as the way God spoke of Job, it may include the ability to ‘feed the right dog’ but perfection isn’t the same as being sinless . . .

“And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?’” (Job 1:8)

Job hated evil, but his story reveals he was not sinless (no one is). He experienced calamity after calamity and did not curse God, but he also said that had he sinned to deserve all this, he would have known it. In other words, this man was in touch with his own spiritual life. If he fed the wrong dog and fell into sin, he knew it, but he also knew what to do about it. This is the secret of being mature. It is summed up in one short New Testament verse:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

******************

Jesus, until my sin nature is eradicated, the possibility and danger of sin remains. Yet You are faithful in teaching me how to do battle. Every day I’m becoming more aware of Your power and protection, but also how to wear spiritual armor and fight evil distractions. Some days, particularly when I am tired or experience set-backs and disappointments, that wrong dog begs to be fed, as if petting it will put him away from me. But that is not true. My only defense is clear in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Bless me today with the Spirit of submission to You so I am feeding that new nature that You gave me.