Essential elements of perfection

BQ: We know that God is perfect, but what are some aspects of perfection? What does it mean? This is a very minor overview of the essential elements of perfection. God gives us the goal, and like any assignment, we're to aim for the 100%! "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5:48) The gauntlet has been cast down, so it's up to us to start figuring out what made Christ perfect, so that we can model ourselves after Him.

For today, we'll look at Mt 19:21, which says, "Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” This was a very specific statement in a very specific circumstance, but part of perfection is putting aside self and rendering sacrificial service. That's why God says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1:27)

Want to walk as Christ walked? It'll take some self sacrifice to make that dream complete!

BQ: Looking at the essential elements of perfection, and thus the things which God directs us to strive toward, we've seen that self-sacrifice goes a long way, and is essential in making a person more like Jesus and less like the world. Today we'll look at a simple verse, Col 3:14:

"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity."

I've blown by this a billion times, but it only recently truly struck me that being united comes PERFECTLY, COMPLETELY through love. Love is active,  and so being united must be both a decision and a desire. 

BQ: More on the essential elements of perfection. Today we'll examine faith and works, from James 2:22. 

"You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected."

We know that our faith must be placed correctly, and that faith is indeed a matter of salvation. However, to have perfection of faith requires it to go hand-in-hand with what it naturally produces: loving, sacrificial work. See how it's all tying together? Want perfect faith? Without works, perfect faith doesn't exist, because, " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:26)

BQ: We know we want to be Christ-like. It's the perfect goal, and that picture has to be in our minds for us to soar upward. Today we'll look at another verse on perfection. From James 3:2,

"For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well."

Perhaps the hardest thing to control is the tongue. It's so easy to speak a harsh word, or, even more, to simply be careless with our words, and thus hurt people. However, in order to resemble Christ, we need to make what we say a priority, and not just in avoiding harsh words, but in being active in doing good. Remember the verse on faith being perfected by works? About faith without works being dead? We cannot simply choose to be lazy and say nothing, but instead we must excel in our speech, encouraging, exhorting, and lifting up. (And even at times rebuking—but in love, and with gentleness.)

BQ:  Ultimately, how was Jesus perfect? In the following manner:  "but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him." (1 John 2:5)

The truest love comes by loving God's word, and striving to be like His Son. Not only does it do that, but it allows us to see that we're truly in Christ. It comes when we're striving to be like Christ. It's like pulling hard and, by doing so, opening a floodgate of love. :) There's much more that could be said on all this, but I want to keep it pretty short! 

"As your heavenly father is."

BQ: God undoubtedly challenges us, and He does it in the best way: having us aim for perfection. Every military in the world has its soldiers shoot not for "just ok," but instead for 100% accuracy and excellence, and that's why the motto for the Air Force used to be, "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer."

God throws down the gauntlet with Matthew 5:48, saying, "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  In a world of, "I'm nothing but a black-hearted sinner,"this is a pretty stunning thing to say. How does God modify this, though? We'll see tomorrow. 

BQ: God casts down the gauntlet, saying, "be perfect," but He immediately launches into some application. What's the application when aiming for excellence? Matthew 6, which comes right after God says to be perfect, gives many examples, but starts off by saying,“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven." (Mt 6:1)

He goes on to say in the same chapter that when we give to the poor, we shouldn't brag about our charity, and when we pray, we shouldn't pray to make ourselves noticed. Part of Jesus' perfection was the fact that He didn't do what He did to show off; we need to have the same attitude. 

BQ: We've seen that God threw down the gauntlet in the NT, telling His followers not to just aim for "fair-to-middlin," but to aim for the perfection of Jesus. It makes sense, because if you're never aiming high, you're going to stay pretty low. Is this a new thing for God to do, though? 

Nope! For example, consider Genesis 17:1, which says, "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am God Almighty;

Walk before Me, and be blameless." 

That word "blameless" is better translated, "complete, perfect; or having integrity." God's always had the same desire for us! 

BQ: I'm not looking to do a word study on "perfect" yet, as I don't feel I have the time to do it justice, but I'd still like to look at one cool use of it. Colossians 1:28 mentions perfection, saying, "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ."  That word, "complete," also means perfect. 

How can we be in Christ to receive this completion? As the Bible often mentions, it comes from being immersed: "all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Gal 3:27)

BQ: Another way to describe completion and perfection is that of maturity; having a lack of nothing. Heb 6:1-2 says it well, "Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,  of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment."

The Air Force has a silly saying: "Aim high—fly, fight, win!" Although it's pedantic and trite, it does have some practical application. As Christians, we need to aim high, and we need to grow. We can't stop at the basics and call it good, just like no soldier can grant boot camp and call himself a special forces operator. The basics are just a foundation from which we move on to maturity, so challenge yourself to study by yourself, with others, and to be constantly immersed in a godly environment! :) Grow!!!