The Problem with Perfection

Steps to Christ Chapter 2—The Sinner’s Need of Christ

Man was originally endowed with noble powers and a well-balanced mind. He was perfect in his being, and in harmony with God. His thoughts were pure, his aims holy.

How should we define perfection? If we look into various dictionaries, it is going to give us something along the lines of “the state of being without flaws or defects.” Basically: Perfection equals being flawless.

How many of you are often feeling perfect or flawless? How about even well-balanced?

What I find is that so many of us, when we are doing one thing great, or near perfect, we are failing miserably in another area. Maybe you have it all down in your job or career, or in school, but your “at home” life is far from perfect. Maybe you have things organized in your financial life, but your personal health is failing. Maybe you are an amazing parent, but struggling to be good spouse, or vias versa.

But when man was created…he and she were flawless, well-balanced, and perfect.

Its hard to imagine right? Its hard to picture because we have never seen it before.

-Flawless looking car story

Many of us ourselves I believe are quite concerned with advertising ourselves as flawless, when in reality, we know we are far from it. When you look at someone’s facebook posts or instagram stories, are we taking a selfie when we have lots of blemishes on our face?

Sometimes we look at what others are up to and are comparing our situations to theirs and idealizing them as closer to perfect than we are. Sometimes I think we say mean things about people to make ourselves feel better, when we ourselves have a low self- esteem.

This morning as we discuss, I want us to be considering a few questions:

Is being flawless something we should be pursuing for ourselves?

What does God expect from us?

What does God desire for us?

Prayer

As I alluded earlier its hard to picture mankind in its perfect state. Because man was seduced into sin. We have become captive to a sin and sinful propensities. Sin is a sickness, that we don’t just simply fight. I used to have a very cynical view of anxiety and depression. I remember thinking, when seeing Someone going through depression. Why doesn’t he/she just suck it up and get over it? I kind of thought, thats all it took. I thought it was just simply laziness was the reason. It’s not just about trying harder and putting in more effort…we will lose everytime. When it comes to sinful behaviors and addictions…does it help to just simply try harder. Very unlikely.

Steps to Christ Chapter 2—The Sinner’s Need of Christ

It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Job 14:4; Romans 8:7.

…kind of a bleak picture without context. The author is making the point that this isn’t just about trying to be better. She points us to the scriptures which allude that sinfulness and holiness don’t mix.

So if we can’t seem to overcome sin, and we can’t be holy while still defiled in sin…what hope do we have?

Let’s add the context to the earlier quotation.

Steps to Christ Chapter 2—The Sinner’s Need of Christ

Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ.

Our hope must be in Christ’s power in us.

Jesus paid the death price for the wages of sin so we wouldn’t have to! Jesus didn’t pay it partially, that old hymn tells it right. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.

In the last 4-5 years I’ve been more exposed to the reality that there are those in the church believing a lie. I had just finished up fine tuning a few details before the church service was to begin at one of my former churches, when I went into the sanctuary to catch the last few minutes of Sabbath School. To my horrer, I was listening to the teacher taking quite a few liberties his lesson was not teaching. He says to everyone there listening.

“The reason Jesus hasn’t come is because we have not reached the perfection He has called us to attain, if we want to be the final generation we need to attain what God needs us to attain.”

Now listen I consider myself a fairly open-minded guy and am no longer to offended at people holding differing opinions in the church…but i was not about to let this person spewing this lie in a church that I pastor. I approached the front, very quickly asked for the mic, and said a few words about how its so wonderful we serve a God who loves us where we are no matter what and that he paid the price on the cross for our sins. I closed sabbath school a little early and began the service a little early. The teacher had been listening to particular speaker on youtube and had really bought into this line of thinking.

The teacher’s main point was that our ultimate pursuit as Christians, was to bring about Christ’s coming by overcoming sin. By becoming flawless.

Before we go on, lets make an attempt at the first question, and I want t hear what you come up with.

Should we be pursuing perfection? why or why not?

(take time to hear answers)

-Sabbath school encounter---also friend who found herself in the LGT camp.

It is not enough to perceive the loving-kindness of God, to see the benevolence, the fatherly tenderness, of His character. It is not enough to discern the wisdom and justice of His law, to see that it is founded upon the eternal principle of love. Paul the apostle saw all this when he exclaimed, “I consent unto the law that it is good.” “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” But he added, in the bitterness of his soul-anguish and despair, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” , , . He longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” , margin. Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all, there is but one answer, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” .

Steps to Christ (p. 19).

Its not the pursuit of upright living that is bad, and its not the pursuit of overcoming personal sin that is bad. It is believing that we can attain perfection and count ourselves worthy on our own.

If perfection can be attained on our own by just simply trying harder working harder or doing something more…why oh why would need a savior? And why oh why would Christ have needed to die?

Just about every person I know who has fallen for any sort of perfectionism theology has either become miserable because they can’t seem to attain their goal and felt so guilty and angry that they have walked away from God altogether....or they have become so mean spirited and hyper-critical that they have driven their loved ones out of their life.

But Pastor Ross… People call me a legalist, when I’m just trying to live for Christ, is it wrong for me to obey the Bible to the letter?

I like how Ty Gibson says it…if you haven’t heard Ty before you should. He’s like an Adventist Andy Stanley.

Ty says:

“Obedience is not legalism.

And legalism is most emphatically not obedience.

Obedience is the love-motivated process of acting in accordance with God’s word because you believe that you are living under His favor and that He only has your best interest at heart. Obedience is trust, fueled by love, in action.

Legalism, by contrast, is the anxious effort to earn God’s favor because you believe, at least on an emotional level, that God’s love is conditional and therefore that He holds you at a distance until you prove yourself worthy. It is a form of religious narcissism, a way of keeping self as one’s center while projecting the illusion of serving God.”

See the beauty of God’s love is not contingent upon our serving Him or even loving Him. God desires you no matter what. And because he loves us so much, the devil hates us. He hates those who desire to be with God. A Satan is the cause of sin and causer of all the pain and suffering in the world.

“in vain are men’s dreams of progress, in vain all efforts for the uplifting of humanity, if they neglect the one Source of hope and help for the fallen race. “Every good gift and every perfect gift” () is from God. There is no true excellence of character apart from Him. And the only way to God is Christ. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” .”

2. So if not perfection, what does God expect from us, if anything?

2. So if not perfection, what does God expect from us, if anything?

(take time to let group answer question).

-a relationship, regard for his mercy

3. What does God desire for us?

-He wants us to accept that he has paid the price and he wants us to see ourselves the same way he sees us. He sees us as worth it.n