Nobody's Perfect: Does God Expect Perfection

Nobody’s Perfect

$53 CASA has a case with a 7-month-old baby who is living with grandma after substance use struggles by mom, drug use while pregnant and ongoing mental health concerns. Grandma loves caring for her granddaughter but is struggling financially and could really use assistance acquiring a convertible car seat for this little girl who is quickly outgrowing the infant car seat that was donated to grandma when the baby was born. Community member can order this item from Walmart.com and ship straight to grandma if they prefer.

$79 Mother has been living in a shelter with her child working to get back on her feet after leaving a dangerous relationship with the child's father. Mother is working to secure documents, income, and childcare so that she can be independent and care for her child on her own. The mother has not yet secured housing due to shortage of resources in the area for a variety of reasons but has been successful in becoming self-sufficient. While the Department will focus on ensuring she has what she needs upon securing her own housing, in the mean time, the mother could use some winter clothing for her youngster. Her daughter is 2 years old and wears a 24 months clothing. She is in need of winter coats, winter boots, possibly other warm weather clothing needs. Mother may have other minor needs such as phone bill, vehicle deposit, that the worker is not currently aware of and would invite the church assisting to meet with mom and discuss other possible needs. At this time, mother has only mentioned the need for warm-weather, winter clothing including winter coat and winter boots. Child is female size 24 months.

Help Prevent a Child From Entering Foster Care

$211 This family is needing the back windshield of their car replaced, to ensure the safety of the family. This would help three children in the family by safely being transported in their vehicle.

Is perfectionism good or bad … right or wrong … what does God require? He calls you to be a pursuer of excellence, not a prisoner of perfectionism.” —June Hunt

How many times have you been in a situation where someone said, “I though you were a Christian?”

The world has an expectation, perhaps it has changed over the years, but non the less there is a perception of what it means to be a Christian.

The Challenge is this:

Not to understand what others think being a Christian means

Not to impose your own standards of what being a Christian means

But to seek out what God’s expectations are for those that are his.

Being perfect is not being Justified (Salvation).

Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

“Aren’t Christians called to be perfect?”

What is Perfection?

Perfection has two different meanings.

The “contemporary” connotation

Perfection is being sinless, flawless, free from fault or defect

2 Sam 22:31 “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

The “biblical” connotation

Perfection is being mature, complete and whole

Ezekiel 28:12 ““Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”

In Hebrew the word kalil means “completeness, wholeness. - Ezekiel 28:12

Satan, who was called “perfect in beauty” was created perfect and without sin. Later, he chose to sin.

Complete, but not sinless

Ezekiel 28:15 “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.”

In Hebrew the word tamim means “entire and complete,” and in a moral sense, righteous - Ezekiel 28:15

Before sin, Satan was full of wisdom, integrity, and his life was consistent with truth.

God calls us to maturity, not perfection.

Ephesians 4:13 “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,”

In Greek the word teleios means “complete or mature” in the sense of full grown. Jesus states that you are to fulfill your potential to become “spiritually mature.. - Ephesians 4:13

Christians are to aim for maturity, wholeness and completeness.

Wrong: Christians are expected to be perfect—faultless and flawless.

Right: Christians are expected to be perfect—mature and whole.

Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

2 Corinthians 13:11 “Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

Aim for restoration: Making my own what Christ has obtained for us.

Here’s where things can get off the rails quickly.

As we aim for restoration and maturity, we often focus on the wrong standards of what it means to be a mature follower of Jesus.

As fallen broken people: we often focus on the outwards measurements of maturity and equate them with being spiritual.

Grace is not opposed to effort, but it is oppsed to merrit.

We fall into patters of perfectionism

2 Peter 1:8 “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Knoweldge of our Lord Jesus Christ

An intimate and through knolwedge of the person of Jesus.

There’s a difference in knowing Jesus and knowing about Jesus

Characteristics of Perfectionism

Legalsim:

A strict adherence to religous rules and regulations with the false hope of earning righteousness

God is not: “Quid pro quo”

We do not earn God’s righteousness or favor, nor should we expect that we can negotiate with God regarding our relationship

Examples of Legalism:

“If I miss being in church, God won’t bless my life.”

Colossians 2:16 “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.”

“I can earn God’s favor financially”

Luke 18:10-14 ““Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The ultimate problem here is this: Keeping external laws without a truly submitted heart.

“R.C. Sproul comments on legalism “obeys the externals while the heart is far removed from any desire to honor God, the intent of His law, or His Christ.” Legalism divorces obedience from our relationship with God.”

We become obedient for the sake of the discipline to calm our troubled souls instead of drawing close the God who created us.

If we aren’t careful, we add human rules to divine laws and then treat them as divine.

Mark 7:7-9 “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!”

“We have no right to heap up restrictions on people where He has no stated restriction.”

In my expereince as a Christian, I have seen legalism in every Christian tradition.

Outward marks of righteousness:

financial blessing.

health.

some spiritual manifestation.

the security of my salvation resting in my own effort.

2. Performance-Based Acceptance:

a belief that acceptance by God and others is based only on how much is achieved and how perfectly actions are performed.

Example:

“I fell I will be accepted based only on how much I do or how well I do.”

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Are you spiritually exhausted?

It’s exhausting emotionally and spiritually to feel as though you have continually live up to an expectation in order to be loved.

In my experience, it was carrying around the doubt that God could or would even want to love someone like me.

I know the thoughts that go through my mind… How could God ever accept me?

Truly, I discovered that being primarly concerned with how others see me, or with being righteous in the eyes of others, or earning God’s favor is a sinister form of Pride and Idol worship.

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

an unhealthy, emotional imbalance that is characterized by persistent, excessive thoughts and inflexible, irrational behavior in a drive for perfection.

Galatians 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

When your desire for excellence becomes a demand for flawlessness, patterns develop that are excessive, detrimental and out of the will of God.

Isaiah 29:13 “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,”

Breaking the patterns of perfectionism.

“We concede that we must also teach about good works and love. But we only teach these at the proper time and place – when the question deals with how we should live, not how we are justified.”- Martin Luther

We have to seperate our acceptance from our expectation

Good works are a fruit of salvation, not the root of salvation

Could you imagine if every day I had to propose to Jennifer and hold a public ceremony to remain married and affirm my love? We did that 23 years ago, the question isn’t whether we are married, but how to live married.

The question here is this:

How do we become justified and receive eternal life?

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Our justification isn’t rooted in anything I do… period.

In relationship with God, we need to surrender.

Romans 12:1-3 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”