So what then is this state called perfection?
Perhaps an outline answer would be that it is the state
which the Almighty God, by the working of the power of
His love, calls us to aim for, by being sanctified by every
working of His Holy Spirit, in the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
It is the same state which Jesus encouraged in His disciples
when he told them to be perfect as their heavenly Father is
perfect (Matthew chapter 5 verse 48). Clearly He is not
speaking of something which can only happen on
resurrection morning. In His sermon, Jesus has just told
the people of the way of love and how to live in it. The
culmination is “Be perfect,” something which is quite
obviously attainable on earth.
In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1 the writer says that the law
is only a shadow of what is coming, not reality itself. This
is why the offering of sacrifices year after year can never
make anybody perfect. Then (verse 7) Jesus came with this
declaration, “I am here to do your will O Lord.” At verse
10, “By that will we have been made holy, through the
sacrifice of Jesus made once for all.” Verse 14: “Because
by one sacrifice He has made perfect continually those who
are being sanctified.” If we are being sanctified, putting off
the old for the sake of the new, then God continually
regards us as perfect, so long as the process is taking place.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14 says that Jesus’ sacrifice
gives us the opportunity to be continually made perfect.
Even though God recognises my human imperfections, He
will call me perfect while I am prepared to draw near to be
forgiven.
If I trust myself or my own sacrifice then I am deemed to
be unsanctified, trusting in the law that is a just shadow of
what Jesus brought. However, if by faith I receive the
grace of God then I am deemed to be perfect. He therefore
calls me both perfect and being perfected.
Verse 16 of Hebrews chapter 10 tells us that the covenant
which He has made is that He will put His laws in our
hearts and write them on our minds, and he will remember
our sins and lawless acts no more. This amazing truth is
sometimes difficult for us to grasp because our view of
perfection is not the same as the one of which the Bible
speaks. To believe that we could ever really be like Jesus
seems to denigrate Him and over-exalt ourselves. It
somehow seems wrong even to think it because we are so
aware of our own sin. But God knows about this already
and has made sacrifice to atone for our sin through Jesus,
His Son. We must accept that we can’t make ourselves
better; only He can do this work. The law which God now
recognises is that of His own love perfected in Jesus. We
cannot any longer break this law, since it represents a
covenant made between the Father and the Son. If we fall
upon this law it breaks us, and if it falls upon us we are
smashed to pieces. It has become the very foundation and
capstone of the building of the household of our faith.
Where we must begin is where we continue and where we
end: cast upon this foundation, broken in repentance upon
His love, continuing in that love until we touch its highest
which is love, from faith to faith, from glory to ever
increasing glory. In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22, we are
told that in coming to Jesus,
“We have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly
Jerusalem, the city of the living God. We have
come to thousands upon thousands of angels in
joyful assembly and to the Church of the firstborn
whose names are written in heaven. You have
come to God, the Judge of all men, to the spirits of
righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator
of a new covenant.”
The pure heart of a righteous man is God’s perfection.
Concerning our imperfect humanity, Paul, in Romans 7
verses 14 to 25, recognises that there are forces at work
within our body of flesh. He refers to it as the body of
death. He says that in his fleshly body there is a war going
on. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” he
asks. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is a war going on in the
members of the fleshly body, but in the spiritual body of
Jesus where we dwell, perfection is the love of God which
fills His temple (the body) and strife is at an end. Paul
continues in all of his counsel to the churches to exhort us
to no longer walk according to the flesh, but rather
according to the Spirit. He continues in Romans 8 to
describe the state in which we now live, delivered from the
power of the flesh life.
“There is now therefore no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of
life, (our foundation and capstone, where we now
dwell), has set us free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law was powerless to do in
that it was weakened by our sinful nature, God did,
by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
man to be a sin offering.”
God trusts His Son to be the originator and perfecter of
faith.
In the law is an inherent weakness – the sin of man – which
needed to be dealt with. God therefore deals with our sin
through the cross and now we must continue to be
partakers of the divine nature, and in our Spirit man and in
our flesh, be formed into the character of Him who has
become and is becoming our life. Just a little later in
Romans 8 verse 5 and following, Paul speaks about a mind
controlled by the Spirit being life and peace. When we die,
we have a sure hope that we will be delivered from our
fleshly bodies through bodily resurrection. For this time
however, the victory over death is made real by the Holy
Spirit at work, defeating the works of death and bringing
life to our mortal flesh – winning the battle, so that we can
experience resurrection power at work in our lives while
we still live on this earth.
Horatio Toplady wrote the old hymn, “Rock of ages cleft
for me, let me hide myself in Thee. Let the water and the
blood, from Thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the
double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power.” The
power of the Blood, declares me guiltless of sin, and the
sanctifying water of the Spirit cleanses me from its power
by the ongoing revelation of Jesus in the mind.
When I was a young Christian, I was very conscious of sin
in my life at many different levels. I was told by my
mentors that I needed to feel sorry for my sin. I spent a lot
of time trying to feel sorrier than I did, but feeling sorry
continued to focus my gaze on the problem and not God’s
answer. True repentance is much more than sorrow. The
contrite heart turns, not to the darkness of distress, but to
the brightness of the Glory where forgiveness is found and
where we are again encouraged to walk humbly before the
Lord. 1 John chapter 1 verses 5 to 7 encourages us to walk
in the light and live by the truth, not our human sorrow. If
we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another
and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. We move
closer, not away from the Lord. It is true that sin will drive
us away. Don’t be driven by sin.
In Philippians chapter 3, Paul again speaks of this life in
the Spirit, this moving towards perfection. In verse 4 he
says that he has every reason to be confident in his flesh, as
he recites his huge list of worldly qualifications. However,
at verse 7 he declares that whatever was to his profit, he
now considers loss, even damaging for the sake of knowing
Christ. His intellect, his theology, his middle class status,
did not contribute except to the vileness of his sinful flesh
life which he had to be rid of. Our translation of what Paul
calls his worldly accomplishments is rather polite, but
suffice to say he excreted them from his body and buried
the stench in order to gain Christ and to be found in Him.
This is the thing of surpassing greatness: having a
righteousness which comes, not from the law or from our
own achievements and strife, but freely, from faith in
Christ. Paul continues with these remarkable words,
“I want to know Christ and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His
sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so
somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Did he not yet know Christ? Did he not already have
resurrection life? Yes! And Amen! But he had to
continue in the life, through which God called him
heavenward. He wasn’t afraid of losing his salvation, but
he was so gripped by it that this salvation had to be fully
worked out. He had to work out what God was working in.
As he says in verse 12, Paul knows that he has not already
achieved his aim, or been made perfect (teleioo) but he
declares that he is determined to “press on to grasp that for
which I in Christ have already been grasped.” Grasped by
Jesus, in order that in his mortal life he may take hold of
this perfection, this maturity. “I strain towards it,” he says.
Then at verse 15, this strange remark:
“All of us who are perfect (teleioo) should have
such a view of things, and if on some point you
think differently, God will make it clear, only let us
live up to what we have already attained.”
If we profess to be spiritual then we cannot live by an
assumption based on just one single experience. We must
understand that the life which we have been given causes
us, by faith, to grip it, to move closer to it and to fully
embrace it. Because, as a child, I have it by right, I must
now learn to grasp it in its full Holy Ghost reality. If I
don’t grasp it, I don’t have it. The reality of our having
salvation is that we are dynamically taking hold of it.
Galatians 5 verses 24 to 25 tells us that:
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified
the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
Since then we live by the Spirit, let us keep step
with the Spirit.”
I may find myself often out of step, but if I am honestly
seeking to be in step, and desiring in my heart to please
God and to love Him, and serve Him in His kingdom, then
I am working out my salvation. The perfection for which
God, through Christ, has grasped me, is being grasped by
me.
In Philippians 3 verse 14, Paul refers to us being drawn
heavenward with Jesus ahead of us allowing us to catch up,
then moving on again, leading us heavenward. This is not
just a journey towards death, but our spiritual development
of Christ-like character, where the recognition of an area of
sin causes us to have dealings with God and be cleansed, or
where an opportunity to live by faith presents itself, or
where love and humility in the body of Christ requires that
we step back, allowing another to minister in order that
they too might grow up in the gift. These are not just
incidental occurrences, or momentary doings. These are to
establish us in the place where we ought to be in Christ,
nearer to Him, nearer to our heavenly calling than we were
yesterday. That is why in verse 16 Paul says, “Therefore
let us live up to what we have already attained.”
The congregation with which I worship meets in a building
which was named by those who originated that trust. It is
called Ebenezer, an old fashioned name which causes
people more readily to think of Scrooge rather than of God.
Yet the name was given to a pile of stones in 1 Samuel
chapter 7 verse12, with the words, “Hitherto the Lord has
helped us.” Ebenezer means ‘stone of help’. Built between
Mizpeh and Shen, it was the place where Israel, if they ever
arrived back there, knew that they need not go back any
further, because when they had arrived at this place on their
inward journey, they knew the Lord was with them and
their path was secure. In Genesis 31 verse 49, Laban and
Jacob built a pile of stones at Mizpeh, which means
‘watchtower’. There the Lord watched between the two of
them that they did not deceive each other. Shen, from the
root shanan means a place of a sharp point of diligent
learning.
In our own lives we can build our Ebenezers at the places
of our learning so that we need never go back to an old
futile understanding. Having once learned the ways of the
Lord, if we lose our way a little we can return, like a hiker
on a foggy mountain, to the last cairn of our true
understanding of the Lord’s heart and direction for us. We
can build it near to the place where the Lord watched
between us and the brethren, at the place where last we
were in the way of love. If we have taken a wrong course,
we needn’t in despair give up all hope of finding a way of
restoration, but we can fix our gaze on Him who is the way
and begin again to walk in fellowship. We don’t have to go
down a snake back to square one. We can know that
hitherto the Lord is with me, and continue to live up to
what we have already attained.
It is important then that we keep short accounts and seek to
live the life of the Spirit, not falling back, but keeping step
with the Holy Ghost. In Matthew chapter 19 verse 21,
Jesus is speaking with the rich young ruler, who thus far
had kept the law and yet was lacking something. Jesus
said,
“If you want to be perfect, (teleios) then go, sell
what you have and give to the poor. And you will
have treasure in heaven, then come and follow
me.”
He wasn’t able to give and therefore he wasn’t able to
follow the Lord heavenward. He went away very sad.
Where Jesus calls, then we must follow. This is not just
through answering an altar call, but by living according to
the dynamic, onward call of Jesus, towards that which He
calls perfection.
Again in John chapter 17 verse 23, Jesus is in prayer for the
Church. He prays that we (as the NIV translation records
it) may be in complete unity. The Greek phase here is,
teteleiomenoi eis en, meaning ‘having been perfected in
one’. Here we see perfection in unity being possible
between brethren, even as Jesus is perfectly one with the
Father. How can this perfection be? The preceding verse
gives us the answer: “I have given them the glory that you
gave me, that they may be one as we are one.”
Verse 14 tells us that we are not of this world any more
than Jesus is. In love our heavenly Father has called us to
be His children; a new family, a new household and a new
kingdom. If we look at verse 18 we see that just as the
Father sent Jesus into the world, so He sends us. Whilst I
do not disagree with the interpretation of most that to be
sent like Jesus means to be sent out full of power, the
primary meaning in its context has to be that we don’t
belong to the world any more as we were taken out, and
therefore we have to be sent back in. We were lifted from
its grip, its control and its power. We now have a new life
in the Spirit and have lost our membership, our citizenship
of the world and have become citizens of the Kingdom of
God. As children of God we are members of the body of
Christ and just as Jesus had to be sent from God, so also
must we.
Jesus, the perfect Son of God, was born sinless, and yet
during His life on earth, according to Hebrews chapter 5
verse 7 to 9,
“He offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries, to the one who could save Him from death,
and He was heard because of His reverent
submission. Although He was a Son, He learned
obedience from what He suffered and once made
perfect He became the source of eternal salvation
for those who obey Him.”
We too, as sons of the true and living God, have been made
clean and being perfectly joined, baptised by the Holy
Spirit into Jesus Christ, must now learn to live in reverent
submission to the one who can save us from death and give
to us that resurrection, which Jesus has and Paul strives to
attain. Even though we are sons, it is in our submission
that we are made perfect. According John chapter 17 verse
19, in Christ we are truly sanctified, and therefore,
according to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14, we are made
perfect: “. . . by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever
those who are being made holy.”
In John chapter 17 verse 22, Jesus confirms that we are
given the, “ever increasing glory of God”, which was firstly
given to Him. If we begin to walk according to the Spirit
in obedience to Jesus, then the life of the Spirit which we
manifest is the character of Jesus, not only gifts of power.
We are not dependent on ourselves for perfection in unity,
nor for being made perfect in love, but we are responsible
for continuing to walk in the new and perfect nature which
has been given to us that this nature might mature.
Most Christians readily accept that we are forgiven all of
our sins. So them when in our lives, which are being
brought into submission to the living God in gift ministry,
service and unity, might we be regarded as perfect, mature,
whole, trustworthy adults in the love of God? Is it possible
in our mortal lives that we can grow until we attain to the
full measure of perfection found in Jesus? Ephesians
chapter 4 verse 13 says that we can “reach unity in the faith
and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become
mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.” In his letter to the Colossian Church, Paul writes,
“We proclaim Him, counselling and teaching
everyone with all wisdom so that we may present
everyone ‘perfect’ in Christ. To this end I labour,
struggling with all the energy He so powerfully
works in me. I want you to know how strenuously
I am exerting myself,” (chapter 1 verse 28).
Here he describes what this perfection looks like:
“My purpose is that they may be encouraged in
heart and united in love, so that they might have a
complete understanding, in order that they might
know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.”
Unity in love in which we have full knowledge and wisdom
in Christ is our perfection. Later in Colossians chapter 4
verse 12, we find Epaphras praying that we might, “Stand
firm in the will of God, perfect, (teleioi) and fully assured.”
Let us now look again at James who speaks of “The perfect
gifts” in chapter 1 verse 17, “perfect law”, chapter 1 verse
25 and “perfect man”, chapter 3 verse 2. The things which
God creates have no fault. They are always perfect, always
complete and fit for His purpose. His love gift of Jesus,
His gift of salvation and His grace gifts are all perfect. His
law of love in Jesus, which He upholds and which cannot
be broken, is perfect. His regenerate man, completely
forgiven, already made perfect and yet still being made
perfect in the death of the flesh life, is not just looking
forward to the resurrection, but already being made alive
by the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead. Our
foretaste of eternity is the death and Holy Spirit
resurrection life at work now in our mortal flesh.
Finally, when the perfect comes, that which is in part, (ek
merous) will be rendered powerless. If the body, not the
gift, is from various parts and only a part of the whole, and
immature, then the body, not the gift is being perfected, this
being the aim to which the whole of the New Testament
points. It is the body, the church, that is not yet perfect, not
the gift. If I receive a part of a car, an engine for instance,
and I am told that the whole is on the way, then I would
expect that one day, even if I have to build it myself, I will
eventually have a complete car. If that which is imperfect
is replaced by the perfect, then it will be a perfect body
which replaces the imperfect body, and if the imperfection
is a result of the body being fragmented, then that body will
be united. Could it be that Jesus is looking for a body
which is not fragmented, not infantile and not immature but
mature and joined in love which is the bond of perfection?
Is this the perfection of which Paul speaks? Not the
discord, but the building which will survive to eternity even
through the fire of God. This perfection is that which is
only possible by the love which comes from the throne of
God and without which every gift and action is nothing.
This perfection is members of the Church of Jesus reaching
maturity, having learned the way of love, and holding back
a tongue or a prophecy in order that others might be that
manifestation of the Holy Spirit which causes growth.