Nuggets
- Even though we are called to be perfect, we won’t accomplish that goal in this life.
- If we could be perfect in this life, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die because we could have saved ourselves.
- The perfect church is not focusing on our needs, desires, biases, and opinions – we focus on God.
- When we ABCD, it is an individual choice; but then we become part of a community – the family of God.
- But love for God alone isn’t enough; we have to love each other.
- The unity of the church is essential.
The Perfection of the Church
Sometimes, worldview people – and even disciples – think that disciples should be perfect. They shouldn’t break any of God’s laws and commandments. While that should be our goal, unfortunately, the church can’t be perfect here in this life. This devotion looks at how all of that works out.
I found a really good sermon by Baker that we are going to as the foundation of this series. It will mostly provide headings and some verses.
Let's Put It into Context
Church, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, is “the term used in the New Testament most frequently to describe a group of persons professing trust in Jesus Christ, meeting together to worship Him, and seeking to enlist others to become His followers.”
Blessedness means we have been perfected. For the disciple, perfection is holy, sanctified, and righteous.
Being Perfect
“Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3: 12 CSB)
We read Matthew 5: 48 and get nervous. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5: 48 NIV). We look at ourselves and say, “No way.”
We take some comfort from what Paul said in Philippians. If he wasn’t perfect yet, we can take heart that we aren’t either.
So, how do we reconcile the two verses? I mean, Jesus said the words in Matthew so that is the expectation.
Price described God as perfectly wise, good, holy, and just. He wrote, “Wisdom implies right use of knowledge, and lies in the will as well as in the understanding He acts wisely whose will is directed by right reason.”
To me, I think that is what perfection here is this life is. We use our knowledge of God to make the decisions to we live in His Will. Our will is directed by our desire to imitate Him.
Do we get it right every time, so we fit into the world’s definition of being without fault? Unfortunately, we don’t.
But God knows we aren’t going to be perfect in this life. If Paul can’t, there is no way we can.
I think this is an instance of the past-present-future meaning. God did make us holy upon conversion. He made us spiritual beings.
The problem is that we are still stuck in these sinful bodies. Our human nature is going to win sometimes, and we are going to sin. Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments.
We are not going to be totally perfect — holy, sanctified, and righteous — until we are called home. There is no way perfection is going to happen in this life.
All the building — The universal Church of Christ (Acts 4:12)
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12 CSB)
Think about it. If we could be perfect in this life, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die because we could have saved ourselves. We can’t so He did.
If we could be perfect in this life, that would be works-based salvation. That can’t happen. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2: 8 NIV).
God’s plan of salvation isn’t about doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts. It is about whether we are spiritually alive or spiritually dead.
Our human nature dictates that we are spiritually dead — until we make the conscious decision to admit our sins, believe in Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord. Only Jesus’ sacrifice could pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus told us He was the only way. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV).
Fitly framed — Is of a spiritual nature (Colossians 2:19)
“He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God” (Col. 2: 19 CSB)
Then we come to this verse. Paul liked using the analogy of Christ being the head and the church being the body.
This one is just confusing. So, let’s back up and take a running start at this.
If we go back to Colossians 2: 16, we see that Paul was talking about our Christian liberty.
Paul was talking in these verses about applying that to certain situations. He talked about eating practices and worship practices. Maclaren clarified that the food and drink referred to “… unclean things, things offered to idols, and perhaps the Nazarite vow.”
Spence reminded us that this reference to the dietary restrictions — and to cleanness — was a throwback to the Mosaic law.
See, that is the point — cleanness. Cleanness in the Bible refers to disciples being holy and pure.
When we are perfect, we are clean.
We get this cleanness through Jesus’ atoning blood. Remember, we said He makes us spiritually alive — and perfect.
Jesus is the Head of the church. We are the body.
Lightfoot reminded us to keep in mind the level of knowledge is Paul’s day. We have a different understanding of the nervous system than they did.
Paul was not talking about an exchange between the head and the body. Davenant reminded us that Jesus provides all necessities to church members. He is Lord and does not need us to be Lord.
We should not use our current knowledge of the nervous system to try to elevate ourselves. Jesus is God; we aren’t. We need to submit; not insist we are equals.
It consists of various parts as a building does (Romans 12:4, 5)
“Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another” (Rom. 12: 4-5 CSB)
Expanding on his analogy of the body and the church, Paul reminded readers that there are many parts to the body. Each part has a different function.
Yep, even the church has conflict. Satan has done a good job of dividing us.
The perfect church is not focusing on our needs and desires. We don’t look to our biases and opinions.
We focus on God. We need to focus on our spiritual life, not our physical life.
That includes working to ensure the church is functioning as God intends. It just be showing worldview people what life as a disciple of God really is like.
Why Perfect
Fitly or closely joined to Christ by living faith (Galatians 2:20)
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20 CSB)
Spurgeon pointed out how many I’s and me’s are in this verse. He brings up a good point.
When we ABCD, it is an individual choice. It isn’t ones our parents make for us. Significant others can’t make it for us.
It is about our faith. We deal with the condition of our spiritual lives.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Still, God never intended for us to be lone wolfs. He wanted a community, a fellowship — a family.
Banded to each other by Christian love (1 John 4:7)
“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (I Jn. 4: 7 CSB)
Beecher wrote that Christianity boils down to one word — love. We need to love God. He cautioned that “there are such loose notions of what religion is, that we cannot too urgently hold attention to the fact that in Christ’s kingdom love is a characteristic element of piety; and that when a man is converted genuinely, he must be converted to the spirit of love.” Piety has been translated fear of the Lord, reverence, righteous, and blameless.
But love for God alone isn’t enough. We have to love each other. That is one of our job duties.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #2
Work Out Our Salvation (Philippians 2: 12)
We’ve talked about it being more than just on our job description. It is the second greatest commandment.
These are all set in the Church in exact symmetry and proportion (1 Corinthians 12:12-31)
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and we were all given one Spirit to drink” (I Cor. 12: 13 CSB)
The unity of the church is essential. Paisley wrote, “All men in their spirits are seeking this oneness, more or less conscious that it is the food of their spirits, the secret of happiness; in fact, eternal life. Without faith in Christ this oneness is not attained at all, and therefore man’s spirit, starved, stinted of its appropriate nourishment, remains unsatisfied, and is tormented.”
Unfortunately, some of us would rather keep things as an acquaintance level. Oh, we say we love our fellow disciples but don’t always mean it. Worse yet is to love our fellow man without really loving God.
We’ve got to love God and one another.
Yep, we are all totally different people. We were made in God’s image but not with a cookie cutter.
We know that Jesus’ church will be called together in the end. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7: 9 ESV).
Making the Connections
“Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Col. 3: 11 NIV)
It doesn’t matter who we are, where we live, what we look like, what job we have. If Christ is in us, we are part of the church and are perfect.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We’ve been asking these questions all along so we can prepare for when we are asked. Here is the worksheet again. What would you say about being perfect?
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
Beecher said that our godliness is determined by how obedient we are in keeping God’s law of love.
We have to find our similarities — the Spirit of God — to help unite us.
As with any relationship, it takes work — on all sides.
Father. You call us to be perfect as You are. We know here in this life we will always fail. From those failures, help us to learn how to grow closer to a You. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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