Quest for Perfection
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
What does it mean to be perfect? By answering this question from a biblical perspective will help direct how our discussion about this subject matter will evolve this morning.
What is my relationship or responsibility towards this subject matter?
How will it affect my Christian life?
What should my attitude be towards it?
Should I care or not care about it?
Is it attainable?
What should be perfect in this world or in my life?
Who is the judge of perfection?
Biblical Definition of Perfection
Biblical Definition of Perfection
To put it simply, the meaning of perfection in the Bible refers to our being, in reference to its state of completeness or absolute wholeness (morally).
All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
According to GOTQUESTIONS.ORG, perfection involves freedom from
FAULT
DEFECT
SHORTCOMING
In the NT, perfection has something to do with maturity. With regards to the different offices that God has formulated to build the church Paul said:
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
Eph 4:
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
We are to equip believers with the idea of building the church. How long are we to do it?
Ephesians 4:13
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
ATTAIN WHAT:
Unity of the faith
Knowledge of the Son of God
Mature man
As measured against the standard of perfection which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
so that:
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
Ephesians 4:
Was Jesus ever swayed to sin? See the story found in .
Just as Eve was tempted with all three, Jesus was also:
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Lust of the flesh - physical pleasure
Lust of the eyes. - casting our eyes upon something with desire or pleasure, even though God has told us not to look upon those things.
Pride of life. - The pride of life is that sinful temptation for excess greatness or power that we all feel the temptation to attain. Pride itself is one of the sins that God hates most.
15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
THE STANDARD OF PERFECTION - JESUS CHRIST!
THE STANDARD OF PERFECTION - JESUS CHRIST!
Absolute perfection is a nature that belongs to the triune God alone.
Because He’s perfect, His ways are perfect.
All His ways are just, He is the perfect, flawless Holy God.
He is never lacking in nothing, He is always complete.
His knowledge is perfect , . Referring to God he said:
16 “Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,
17 “But you were full of judgment on the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you.
The Psalmist also said in
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.
30 As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
So how should we respond to this truth? Remember, to whom is God revealing this?
GOD’s DIRECTIVE, OUR RESPONSE
GOD’s DIRECTIVE, OUR RESPONSE
48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
What does Paul have to say as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say about his quest for perfection? How did he stand from being one?
Philippians
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
And then he further clarified and added that:
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Where does Paul get all the help as he work towards it?
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus BEING THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH IS:
THE STANDARD
THE AUTHOR
THE PERFECTER
What you know about Christ has an impact on the development of your faith. What you do with what you know about Christ will produce conclusions that the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ()
If you don’t know about Christ, you won’t move toward Christ. If you don’t move toward Christ, you will not grow in Christ.
What is the road to perfection?
What is the road to perfection?
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
In the NLT is reads like this:
10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
Think about PERFECTION as BEING COMPLETE. God’s purpose to come to Earth would have not been complete (PERFECT) if He did not die on the cross.
In this verse, the author of Hebrews said that : THE PERFECT SON, THE HOLY ONE, THE ONE WHO WALK ON THIS EARTH WITHOUT SIN, had to suffer in order to complete the perfect plan of God for man’s salvation.
Let us not forget that Christ was sent to this Earth to pay for our sins which required suffering leading to death.
By Him being the one to die on the cross, perfected the perfect plan of God.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
Considering what Christ done. Being the perfect sacrifice, has already died and paid for our sins, satisfying the penalty, what has been perfected?
Our identity. Perfection is a gift that we received by faith through the sacrifice of Christ. God’s will was for us to be made Holy, to bring us to glory and Christ made that possible once and for all. All we had to do is believe. Believing is a matter of decision not a work.
In the old covenant, the priest, in behalf of the people, stood before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which never took away the hold of sin in a ones-and-for-all state. But Christ the minister, offered Himself to the Father as payment for the penalty of sin ones and for all.
Where is Jesus now? Currently He is sitting down in the place of honor at right hand side of God. There He waits for the appointed time until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet. For by that ONE offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy” (, NLT).
Heb 10:10
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
Heb 10
What is perfect? Our relationship and our identity with God which is through Christ. We are children of God.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
How about our current life here on Earth? See
9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Here’s a concept that requires maturity. Weakness which is a sign of imperfection is the means by which the power of God is made perfect. WHAT KIND OF WEAKNESS? See v.10---
10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
The sufferings referred to is the kind as a result of our faith in Christ.
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The devil, the enemy will be constantly subjecting us to trials and suffering with the hope that we will give up our faith in God.
Christianity will always be under attack, we will always be tempted to sin ( which is disobedience).
That is why we are to take up the prescribed shield for this spiritual battle called - THE SHIELD OF FAITH. Our faith is a shield agains the attacks of the enemy.
16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Waking up everyday is like waking up to go into battle.
Today’s pandemic is a test of our faith. There has been a lot of criticism, complaining and blaming with regards to how government leaders are handling it. The sudden onslaught of this disease demonstrates that no country is perfect, from the 1st world countries to the 3rd world countries. It was able to penetrate all boundaries.
It did not matter how oceans keeps each continent distant from each other man’s ways is never perfect. It’s funny how we are to maintain 6 feet from each other to stop the spread but even the thousands of miles that we are apart from country to country COVID-19 still became a PANDEMIC.
But what is the perfect thing to do despite all our weakness demonstrated by our failures as demonstrated by the several deaths that have already taken place?
LEARN and GROW from our failures and be prepared for the next wave of viruses that will plague this world.
Let us be steadfast in our faith.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
In our quest to be faithful to God, the enemy will be relentless in his attacks to weaken us. Paul said don’t give up in your faith.
The devil will always try to destroy your faith but every attempt he does this it is also an opportunity for our faith to grow and be strong. This cycle will never stop as long as the devil is here and as long as our faith is not perfected.
Closing: See what Paul said to Timothy about the finish line that we all will cross one day.....
2 Tim.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
None of us believers will know when our course will end, but one thing you can know now is this:
IS YOUR FAITH IN GOD INTACT?
IS YOUR FAITH IN GOD GETTING STRONGER?
IS YOUR FAITH IN GOD GROWING?
IS YOUR FAITH IN GOD GETTING STRONGER?
DO YOU HAVE THE PERFECT FAITH?