Years ago, I was reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). As I meditated through Jesus’ seminal teaching about the kingdom, God smacked me with a 2x4.
Matthew 5:48 – Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
There it is! Do you see it? I bet you got stuck on the word “perfect.” Perfect should not be the focus of this verse! The word “as” is what shocked me. This word, linguistically, is the same as an equal (=) sign in math. This is what I saw:
Your behavior = God’s behavior.
Really?! That’s not right. I am, after all, only human. This concept began to gnaw at my spirit. I know that you can’t build a theology on one verse. I began to re-read the New Testament looking for corroboration. There it was! All over the place! Let me save you some time.
Matthew 5:48 – Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Luke 6:36 – Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
John 13:34 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Ephesians 4:32 -- Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
1 John 2:6 – the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
1 John 3:7 – Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous…
1 Peter 1:14-16 – As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
I am to be perfect, to be merciful, to love, to forgive, to walk, practice Godly righteousness, and to be holy as God is. Wow! That’s ridiculous. I can’t do that! Why would God command (these are not suggestions) me to do the impossible?
Two reasons. First, if you are in Christ, you are no longer human. Ephesians 4:22-24 reads:
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (NIV)
Look at verse 24 again. Your new self has been created to be like God. His Spirit, which He put in you TRANSFORMS you. If all I see is to be reformed (a better version of myself) I never even try to obey these “just as” commands. However, if I truly believe that I am a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), then maybe I can be different. More than human. Like God but not God.
Second, if God set a standard before us that we could attain without Him, we wouldn’t need Him. If God’s standard is “be as nice as you can under the circumstances” or “forgive when you feel like it” or “love those who love you” you wouldn’t need to lean into Him. But God’s standard is that you learn to act like Him. (See my Shop Talk on Pressure to understand how God conforms you into the image of His Son.)
John Wesley once wrote, “If I pursue perfection and fail, I have lost nothing.” What would be possible in your life if you fell into the grace of God and accepted what He’s done to you? What could you do if you unleashed His Spirit to live freely through you? Be what God made you and stop listening to those who tell you, you can’t be or do that this side of heaven.
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