Are you a babe in Christ or a Child Growing in the Grace of God?
Straight into the question: Are you perfect?
In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says “you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Did Jesus really say that?
Did Jesus really mean what he said?
Over the years there have been different reactions to this verse.
Some have glorified it, some have denied it,
some have tried to explain it or rationalise it away, others have just ignored it as being too difficult or costly to their chosen way of life.
Let’s look at the verse in context: Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
We are a work in progress, we are being perfected, we are being changed and transformed by the Stream of Love, Mercy and Grace that flows from Father God.
Right now, when Our Heavenly Father looks as us He sees us through the covering of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
When the Father looks at us His Children He sees perfection!
But, that does not excuse us from living how ever we want to.
It does not excuse us from allowing the Holy Spirit to bring change and transformation to our daily lives.
Perfection may seem like an impossible possibility.
As Christian’s we are called to try to do something that we can never fully accomplish in our own strength.
What does it mean to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect?
It means more than just cleaning up external, visibile, evidence of sin in our lives.
It means more than just saying and doing “the right things” when there are other Christians around you.
It’s about going on with God, growing-up in Grace, doing and saying and living in a way that demonstrates our love of our Lord and Savior.
Striving for perfection in attitude, in service, in love, in Holiness, in Christ-like-ness.
A desire to be perfect as our Father is perfect.
The Greek word translated as “perfect” in Matthew 5:48 is teleios.
The root meaning of teleios is to realize the purpose for which something is planned.
In the Greek language, an animal without spots that was suited for sacrifice was called teleos.
A student who had mastered a subject was called teleos.
It is recorded that Oliver Cromwell once said, “He who stops being better stops being good.”
We should be determined to be better in our daily lives. Our salvation should make us uncomfortable when we sin.
Once we have been saved, we should hunger for perfection.
Jesus words in Matthew 5:6 remind us that
“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied”
Do you hunger and thirst for a righteous life?
It takes effort to live a righteous life,
its not something we can do on autopilot,
we need to be active participants.
We need to be surrenderd to the will of Father God, we need to be surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
We need to be surrended to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We must be willing to give up everything that is holding us back, holding us in sin, holding us in defeat.
We must be willing to give up anything and everything that is stopping us from becoming and being the people God has called us and saved us to be.
In Christ, by God’s Grace and Mercy, we have been forgiven because of what Christ accomplished on the cross.
We need to move on from the sins of our past, focus on our present walk with God and commit our future to Him.
Do you have the desire to be perfect?
Are you willing to follow God’s purpose for your life?
Will you willing surrendered your life Christ?
Willing total surrender to Gods plan and purpose for us is one of the first steps to perfection.
Jesus calls us from the sins, failures, difficulties, and disappointments of the past and the present to a life of service in the future.
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Okay, let me ask you another big question:
Are you a Baby in Christ or a Child Growing in the Grace of God?
Let me clarify the question.
How much have you grown in faith since you first met Jesus?
Is God making more of a difference in your life today than He did then?
Are you spending more time in prayer?
Are you spending more time reading the Word?
Are you spending more time sharing His love with others?
Have you learnt how to serve Him?
Are you seeking Spiritual Growth in your life?
1 Peter 2:1 – 2 says “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.” (1 Peter 2:1 – 2).
When we first come to Christ,
when we first accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we are fully saved but we are not fully mature Christians.
Spiritual birth does not automatically produce spiritual maturity.
We start out like babies in the family of God.
Then we learn to walk with our Lord, to grow in the Grace and knowledge of God.
Some Christians grow quickly, others slowly, and some choose not to grow at all.
They are simply unwilling to put aside attitudes and actions that are against the will of Father God.
They do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in them or the teaching of Christ to change them.
We know on this earth, in this life, we will never be perfect but that should not stop us from trying to live the life we have been saved to live.
We can look at our failures to measure up to what we should be as followers of Jesus,
we can wonder why even though we have been born-again, even though God has placed a new nature within our hearts,
sin and evil can continue to plague us.
Peter affirms the need for us to put off evil and harmful attitudes so that we can grow spiritually.
As children of God, we need to recognize that spiritual growth is both a responsibility and a continuing opportunity.
Those of us who are more mature in our faith also need to face up to our responsibility towards younger Christians, those who the babes in Christ,
we need to do all that we can to help them in their progress toward spiritual maturity.
Peter speaks of the provisions required for spiritual growth.
He speaks of our Father, our food, and our future as the children of God.
OUR Father. We are God’s children.
We have the privilege of being the children of the eternal God.
John rejoiced in the assurance of being a child of God: 1 John 3:1-3 says “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.”
Our Father loves us. We are not what we ought to be. Nor are we now what we can be.
Yet our Heavenly Father loves us and He wants us to grow spiritualy.
So what should our attitude be towards our Heavenly Father?
As His children we should love Him.
As His children we should trust Him - implicitly.
As His children we should obey Him.
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God has provided us with Spiritual food.
Father God has made provision for His children.
In the church God has provided us with the family or God, brothers and sisters in the Lord who can help us grow in our spiritual maturity and effectiveness.
In His Word, in the Bible, God has provided us the milk, the meat, and the bread we need for spiritual fuel.
1 Peter 1:23 says “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”
2 Timothy 3:14-17 says “But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
We purify our souls by obeying the truth of the Word of God. The Word of God has the truth of God in it.
The Word of God endures forever.
Friends for our spiritual growth we must know the truth of God revealed in His Word.
For our Spiritual Growth we must obey the truth of God learned from a study of his Word.
When we read the Bible, when we study and obey the Word of God, our faith grows, our love deepens, and we gain spiritual strength and we draw closer to our Gracious Heavenly Father.
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Do you know your Heavenly Father has a plan for your future?
Peter reveals the destiny God has planned for His children.
It is our Father’s will that we the followers of Christ assume both the privileges and the responsibilities that had once been bestowed upon the nation of Israel.
Let me remind you:
You ARE a chosen generation.
You ARE a royal priesthood.
You ARE a holy nation.
You ARE a people for God’s own possession.
You ARE to show forth the praises of the One who has called you out of darkness into light.
God has a plan and a purpose for each of us that requires our growth in spiritual maturity.
2 Peter 3:18 says “you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
There is a Necessity for our Spiritual Growth
A baby in Christ cannot do the work of a mature Christian.
Spirtual Growth is absolutely essential so that we can serve our Lord.
The writer of the book of Hebrews grieved over the spiritual immaturity of the people he was writing too.
He declared their lack of growth made it impossible for them to understand the things he was trying to communicate to them.
He rebuked them because, at a time when they should have had the capacity to be teachers,
they needed to be taught themselves.
Instead of being able to eat the strong meat of the Word of God, they were still infants on a milk diet.
In Hebrews 5:11-14 he wrote, “There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”
In this country there are laws that forbid the employment of children until they reach an age where work will not be damaging to their growth or education.
When young people are old enough to become employees, because they have little or no experience they usually start at the bottom of the ladder and begin to work their way up.
If we do not grow and develop, we can not become effective servants of the Lord.
When we grow, when we develop, when we train, when we experience, God gives us greater responsibility to help and teach others.
Let’s return to the question:
Are you a Baby in Christ or a Child Growing in the Grace of God?
If you are a baby in Christ, you don’t have to remain that way.
Are you a child of God who is in the process of growing in grace, growing toward spiritual maturity?
Maybe you rejoice in the privilege of being spiritually mature and effective in the Service of the Lord.
Friends, all of us can continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ until He calls us home.
The only way we can grow spiritually is by walking in a conscious awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit who has come to dwell within our hearts.
Our Spiritual Growth is manifest in the fruit of the Spirit evident in our lives:
Galatians 5:22-23 the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
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Let me close with this:
We can experience real joy through our spiritual growth
As Christians we have many things to be joyful for:
We can praise Our Heavenly Father for the joy of having our sins forgiven.
We can rejoice in the blessed assurance that we are children of the Living God.
We can face the future with joy because of the assurance that death has been conquered and the grave will not have the final victory over us.
Our hearts can overflow with joy because we know that the Christ is preparing for us a home at the end of our earthly journey.
We can also be grateful for the joy we experience as we recognize the signs of our daily growth toward spiritual maturity.
We can have joy because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Our spiritual growth brings joy to our heavenly Father.
And as His children we can rejoice in the joy of our heavenly Father.
By God’s grace, may each of us grow toward spiritual maturity for the glory of Father God.
Amen
