From Matthew 5:17 to 5:47, Jesus speaks about the true nature of the Law and how to live rightly by it. Over and over He says, “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” Taken as a whole, we see that He was addressing a legalistic reading of God’s Law. He had seen how the teachers of the Law had misapplied God’s Word and so misdirected His people. So He took time to correct the core misunderstandings. Jesus now makes a declaration that puts the final nail in legalism’s coffin, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Christ’s command to be perfect is a great antithesis to self-justification. God’s standard leaves no room for pride, only humility. For who among us is perfect? Apart from the mentally ill, all of us realize that we are not perfect. We might be OK. We might be good. We might even be very good in our own estimation. But no reasonable person claims to be perfect. Only God is perfect.
John Nolland wrote, “One must go all the way in obeying the will of God; one cannot be content with some circumscribed version of obeying God’s will.” This is the crux of the matter; What use is the half-hearted disciple? Rather like a fair-weather friend, they are only there to capture select blessings of the relationship instead of the whole. The legalist seeks not to fulfill the Law, but to justify themselves independent of character or thought. Focusing only on behavior, they take what was meant to be about God and His purpose, and make it all about themselves. Effectively, they whittle down God’s intention and make it into an unhelpful burden instead of a declaration of His glory.
That was never God’s plan for His disciples. Thousands of years earlier, the Father had said to Abraham, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” Moses had reiterated that same command to the new Israelite nation, “You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” Such statements mandate regular and careful consideration of both one’s ways and one’s thinking. The true disciple makes space in their lives to re-evaluate themselves in light of God’s perfection.
The thing is, every time we do that we find we are falling short in some capacity or another. Our brokenness is exposed. But rather than use the revelation of another gap in our lives as a stepping-stone to self-criticism and despair, the disciple leans into the love of God and repents. Repentance becomes a springboard, launching us into a deeper relationship with the Father. As a result, we find His love more than sufficient to heal us, closing that gap and making more like the risen Christ.
We find that God’s command to be perfect was not to crush us, but to make us stronger. For in humility before Him, we find certain hope that one day He will make us perfect. We will be free from sin forever – literally perfect, and able to perfectly enjoy God in His perfection without fear of being destroyed by His flawless holiness. Amen.
We are not perfect. But we can be consistent. And we can consistently work at becoming perfect as Jesus is perfect.
Anonymous
APPLICATION: Worship
Praise God for His glorious grace to us. Praise God for His patience endurance to us. Praise God for His commitment to us. Praise God for His plans and purposes for us. Praise God for His holy perfection.