The Perfect Man Is After God’s Heart
Text: Acts 13:22-23, Psa.1:1-3, ISam.13:14
Introduction
Today, the kingdom of God is desperately short of perfect and godly men. These are men who know God. They are men who are imbibed with God’s heavenly wisdom. Men who has the heart of God. Men who are spiritual. Men to whom God can commit precious things. Men that is dependable and reliable. Men who will fulfill God’s will even if it hurts them. Men that is complete and perfect for God to use and boast of like Job. God’s heart is thirsting towards such men and He keeps looking and scanning the earth if He can found such men. If there are such men, God will deposit resources into their lives. He is delighted when such men shows up in the midst of a decadent society.
Alas, God in Ezek.22:30 lamented and said, “I sought for a man among them…. To make up the hedge, to stand in the gap….but I found none.” However, in our text, we read something heart-warming, for God in Acts 13:22 said “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart…..which shall fulfil ALL my will.” Halleluyah.
Man was created and designed to fulfil the will of God. Beloved, what is the will of God for man? It is “to establish the kingdom of Godin every spheres of life – home, church, work-place and in the larger community.” In other words, God wants a man who has vision [eyes] of what He can do with him. There are two agendas for this vision for such men: They are to:
a. Reproduce the image of God on the earth
b. Take up leadership in the church and lead as man under God’s authority.
We read also in Jer.4:25, the lamentation of God is that ‘there is no man’ who could be found faithful to do this for the Lord. If God is looking a man to use in this meeting, do you think you will be His choice? May you be found faithful and be chosen in Jesus name. Amen.
The Perfect Man Is A Spiritual Man
ICor.3:1-3. The perfect of whom Paul speaks of are the spiritual. And who are the spiritual? Those in whom not only the gifts, but the graces of the Spirit have obtained supremacy and are made manifest. God's love is His perfection (Matt. v. 40-46); Christ's humility is His perfection. The self-sacrificing love of Christ, His humility, and meekness, and gentleness, manifested in daily life, are the most perfect fruit of the Spirit, the true proof that a man is spiritual.
A man may have great zeal in God's service, he may be used to influence many for good, and yet, when weighed in the balance of love, be found sadly wanting. In the heat of controversy, or under unjust criticism, haste of temper, slowness to forgive and forget, quick words and sharp judgments, often reveal an easily wounded sensitiveness, which proves how little the Spirit of Christ has full possession or real mastery. The spiritual man is the man who is clothed with the spirit of the suffering, crucified Jesus.
And it is only the spiritual man who can understand 'the wisdom among the perfect,' 'even the mystery which now hath been manifested to the holy ones, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you.' A Christian teacher may be a man of wonderful sagacity and insight, may have the power of opening the truth, of mightily stimulating and helping others, and may yet have so much of the carnal that 'the deeper mystery of Christ in us remains hidden. It is only as we yield ourselves wholly to the power of God's Holy Spirit, as the question of being made free from all that is carnal, of attaining the utmost possible likeness to Jesus in His humiliation, of being filled with the Spirit, rules heart and life, that the Christian, be he scholar or teacher, can fully enter into the wisdom among the perfect.
Understanding Perfection
It’s imperative that must define our terms to alleviate any confusion. Webster’s gives us many aspects of the word ‘perfect’ as a noun and a verb (with slightly different pronunciations). I won’t give all definitions, but the ones that apply to our study.
Perfect, as a noun means any of the following: 1. Expert, proficient. 2a. being entirely without fault or defect, flawless. 2b. satisfying all requirements, accurate [as in 100% accuracy]. 2c. corresponding to an ideal standard. 2d. faithfully reproducing the original. 3. Pure, complete, sane. 4. Maturity [“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour” - II Peter 3:18; having grace brings the believer to the highest relationship with God possible, to impart and perfect in him the corresponding blessings]. Perfect implies the soundness or excellence of something unattainable or theoretical, but something implied doesn’t mean that it can’t be attained, sought or gained.
Perfect as a Verb means: 1. Improve, refine. 2. To bring to final form, complete.
Furthermore, one of the definitions of perfection is saintliness, an example of supreme excellence. Adam was made in the image of God, by God sharing His own breath or Spirit, to not only give us life, but perfect health and immortality, to resemble Him mentally, morally and socially. It enabled Adam to commune with His Creator. It set Adam apart from the animals and other races to have dominion of the entire earth. Our conscience is a vestige of that original state. Today we still bear the image of God, but we also bear the scars of sin. The Good News is that God redeems His people, He begins to restore the original image of God. That redemption is only available to one race of people by grace through faith. “Therefore if any man [Adam] be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” II Cor. 5:17.
The first mention of the word ‘perfect’ in the Bible is in Gen. 6:9 where, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Why? Because, he was, “Perfect in his generations.” The Hebrew word for ‘perfect’ is tamiym (taw-meem) and means without blemish, undefiled, sound and whole. Noah and his family were racially pure Adamites. Later in Gen. 17:1 God told Abraham, “Walk before Me and be thou perfect.” Another Hebrew word for ‘perfect’ is shalem (shaw-lame) and means complete, especially friendly; just, peaceable, quiet and whole – it comes from ‘to be safe, completed, to reciprocate, make amends and restitution, to make good.’ We see this word in Deut. 25:15 having “perfect just weights and measures.” And it’s also applied to our heart-attitude; in I Kings 15:3 Abijam’s heart was not perfect, but in verse 14, Asa, the king of Judah, his heart was perfect with the Lord.
If you don’t want to be perfect, what do you want to be? The flipside is imperfection, a bad attitude, and anything in between is lukewarm.
An Example Illustrating Perfection
The Perfect Story: There was a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.
One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone at the roadside in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. Who was the survivor?
Answer: The perfect woman. She's the only one that really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.
A Male's Response: So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the perfect woman must have been driving. This explains why there was a car accident.
Men who think like God Are Perfect – Pro.23:7
To know the mind of God we must have the mind of Christ. To think like God, we must have the mind of Christ. And the mind of Christ is this, that He emptied and humbled Himself, and became obedient to death. This His humility was His capacity, His fitness for rising to the throne of God. This mind must be in us if the hidden wisdom of God is to be revealed to us in its power. It is this is the mark of the spiritual, the perfect man.
Adam was created perfectly as God gave him all that he needed and told him everything he needed to know to live a good life. So Adam had the mind of God, i.e. God has put His thoughts inside of him, but the tragedy was that Adam chose not to use what he was given. He refused to think the mind of Christ (ICor.2:16) when the occasion arises, even though he has it.
Friends, if you’re a man, since we have the full revelation of Christ’s mind in the Bible, if you don’t read and study your Bible regularly, you won’t be able to think biblically. You’ll think wrongly like the Pharisee’s in Matt.19:4. Hence, every Christian men must submit himself to the Word of God – for it is the Word that make God to seek after any man and help him.
Becoming the Men after the God’s Heart.
Beloved brethren, you can become real man after God’s heart if you’ll follow the examples laid down by two great men in the scriptures – father Abraham and David. Let’s look at who is David:
He is the great:
Musician [Give joy to others]
Worshipper [Respect and honour]
Warrior [Fight for others]
Prophet [Minister to others]
King [Leader of others]
Giver [Sharing with others]
Giant killers [Problem-solver]
What of Father Abraham? His life illustrated the kingdom agenda for today’s men:
A. Kingdom Love: Everyman must love God first, then himself because there’s nothing wrong with self-love. Love spouse – Eph.5:25. Biblical love involves the sacrifice you made for the one you love. You measure true love by sacrifice, not by enjoyment. We can measure this love when:
1. The Husband Become The Saviour For His Wife: This is what Jesus did for the church. Loving your wife means carrying the cross like Christ did. No cross, no Calvary. No Calvary, no saviour. Jesus loved the church to the extent that He died for her.
In Gen.2:21-22, God opened Adam’s side and took out a rib to create Eve, Adam had to bleed to get Eve. Jesus Christ had to bleed to birth the church. If your wife is to become great, every husband has to travel to Golgotha. We are not saying you will die now, but we are talking of everyman’s willingness to pay any price to bring their wife to fulfilment – so that she is where she should be spiritually and otherwise.
Even in Gen.29:20, 30 Jacob loved Rachael that he served for 14years to get her – that’s the kind of love we are talking about. You’re the saviour, the deliverer and Mr. Fix-It for your wife. Please remember, if there’s no sacrifice, there’s no love.
2. The Husband Must Be The Sanctifier Of His Wife: Eph.5:26-27. When you get married, you marry the woman and all her problem, shortcomings and innuendos. Even her past you inherited through marriage. It is after marriage that you’ll start seeing the bad part of her. For example, if your woman snores, you won’t know until you start sleeping together. You need to love the sound and help her get healed, because you’re the sanctifier – i.e. ‘the one to take her from where she is now to where she ought to be.’
Whenever you discover not-too-good things in your wife, it is time to sanctify her – i.e. clean her up like a clogged sink, you call in the professional plumber which are in this case. Your love is a sanctifying love – i.e. love that cleanses and heals things in her.
Your love as a sanctifier removes every spots [defilement from outside], and wrinkles [which is internal defilement like aging]. The job of the man is to wash off the spots and removes the wrinkles. What does this mean? It means the following:
When your wife needs strength, you’re her strength
When she need encouragement, you’re there for her.
When she need joy, you are her joy.
When she need peace, you’re her peace.
The result is that no matter how old she gets, your wife is kept eternally young because she has a sanctifier in the home.
3. The Husband Must Be A Satisfier To His Wife: Eph.5:28-29. Friends, we are looking for the men who know how to satisfy their wives. We aren’t talking here about sex, though it is part of it. However, to satisfy a woman is to have a steady commitment to her and the wife can say after 30-40 years in the marriage that she is a satisfied woman.
Everyman, real man must help his wife to look good so that she is fulfilled and satisfied. There are too many dissatisfied wives out there because there are too many unsatisfying men. We are called to provide satisfying love for our wives even if that met with unequal love. The onus lies much with the husband to extend his hands of love always no matter what the wife does or doesn’t do. That is the duty of the man who thinks like God, and that is spiritual and perfect!
B. Kingdom Impartation: Men who think like God [perfect] are loaded with values that they can pass on to others especially their children. Today, many of our children are suffering from spiritual leprosy. Leprosy as a disease that makes the leper to lose the ability to feel and sense pain, hence a leper can burn or injure himself without feeling it. We have generation of young people who are like spiritual lepers. They have lost their ability to feel anything for God, for themselves and for others because there’s no man to pass the kingdom value to them.
Men are to be seriously involved in the transference and impartation of kingdom values to our children. This must start from homes, then to church before the larger society. In Gen.18:19, we read of what God said about the man- Abraham. There are four things that everymen should know/learn from here:
1. This Man Has A Destiny: “For I know him, or I have chosen him.” God has chosen you and has put His hand upon him. Hence, you have something to pass on to others. Such men must be in close contact with God so that He can reveal Himself to them often.
2. This Man Has Discipline: He has the authority to command his children and household to do what is right and follow the Lord. Joshua said, “For me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.” Jos.24:15. Never ask your children whether they feel like going to church or run an errand for you. Just command them and no negotiation. Nowadays, we have many children who tell their parents what they want to do and refuse to do what their parents wants.
3. This Man Has Dignity: What is dignity? This is the result of life of righteousness and justice. The opposite is indignity, profane language and shameful living. Many of todays’ children have wrong vocabulary and languages and we are all rejoicing in this undignifying acts. Men, you think the children are a lost generation. No, I think that those children are a product of a lost generation. You can take a stand for God, and take care of your home, the church, society and the world would be a better place.
4. This Man Has A Dominion: God said because Abraham has chosen the will to command his children and household to do what is right and just, He will expand his sphere of influence and bring what He has promised him to pass or fulfilment. God needs men who would serve as fathers to their children, mentor to boys without fathers, role-models/advisers to friends in the world, leaders in their community and workplaces.
C. Kingdom Leadership & Management: The plan of God is that man will lead in the church and the society. However, the idea of God is that man should have practised how to lead 1-4 people at home before aspiring to lead 100’s in churches and workplaces. [ITim.3:4-5]. If a man temper runs haywire when his wife or children get on his nerves, such would have problem working with people and children in the church and society.
As a man, if you can’t call 1-4 people to gather with you in prayer, you’ll find it difficult to call larger men for meetings. The call is that “men in every place is to pray lifting up holy hands…” ITim.2:8.
As a man, how do I start leading? Start from your home, then mix and join with other in church, don’t be a lone ranger. When Moses was on the mount as Joshua and Israel was fighting in the valley, he had with him two brothers [Aaron and Hur] who helped to hold up his hands to win the war [Exo.17:10-13]. I believe we should find a way to relate together, so that we shall prevail – Pro.27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron” and Pro17:17 says, “A brother is born for adversity.” So a perfect or spiritual man has destiny, dignity, discipline and dominion.
The Marks of Men after God’s Heart – The Perfect Man
The following set these men apart:
A man of his word
Spiritually growing man
Doesn’t joke with his family
Independent of his parents
Purposeful and passionate
Makes good investment of his 3T’s – Time, Treasure and Talent.
Not overwhelmed or awed by problems
Possess a great attitude no matter what happens.
Takes risk for himself and others
Desires to contribute positively to life.
Conclusion
We will end this meeting with the summary of Brother Job’s story in the Bible. A perfect and an upright man was the testimony of Job 2:3 for him. Even God spoke of Job as perfect. Not that he was absolutely so, as judged by the perfect standard of eternity, but as judged by the standard of his own light and knowledge. He was living up to all the requirements of God and man, so far as he understood them. His whole being was open and obedient to the Divine impulses. So far as he knew there was no cause of controversy in heart or life. Probably he could have adopted the words of the Apostle, "I know nothing against myself." He exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and man.
Satan suggested that his goodness was pure selfishness; that it paid him well to be as he was, because God had hedged him around and blessed his substance. This malignant suggestion was at once dealt with by the Almighty Vindicator of the saints. It was as if God said, "I give thee permission to deprive him of all those favouring conditions, for the sake of which thou sayest he is bribed to goodness; and it shall be seen that his integrity is rooted deep down in the work of my grace upon his heart."
But the book goes on to show that God desired to teach Job that there were flaws and blemishes in his character which could only be seen by comparing it with the more perfect glory of his own Divine nature. His friends sought to prove him faulty, and failed; God revealed himself, and he cried, "Behold, I am vile, and abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
How often God takes away our consolations that we may only love Him for Himself; and reveals our sinfulness, that we may better appreciate the completeness of his salvation! God dwells in the stature of a man, reflecting His glory through the character of our being when we live life a pleasing sacrifice to Him. That is perfect worship whereby we become the Word in our flesh, written epistles of faith read and known of all men, "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory".
The man after God’s heart is the real and perfect man for the kingdom. They command respect, they are effective, full of action and love, they are matured, elegant and nurturing. Please let’s all stand up for real man in our midst. The perfect man. The spiritual man. The man who thinks like God. The man after God’s heart. May the Lord make our men in this pace such men that the world is waiting for. Shall we pray together!
Prayers
1. Father, I receive grace to be holy.
2. Lord, give me grace to love what you love and hate what you hate.
3. Oh Lord, help me to be fully obedient to you all my life.
4. Father, meet all my needs henceforth.
5. As from today, let me begin to do your will.
6. I receive grace to be fully complete in you.
7. Let your word heal me today Oh Lord
8. Father, you’ve seen my agony/struggle, please restore me back to comfort.
9. Father Lord, this year will soon end, let there be rapid fulfilment of all your prophecies/promises concerning me.
10. Father, wherever I am and you’re looking for a man, make me and choose me Oh Lord.
11. Father, please work on me and make me a kingdom man.
12. A man after the heart of God, think like God, help me to think like you.
13. Let not our children become spiritual lepers Oh Lord.
14. A man of value impact others positively, Father make me impactful in my generation.
15. Oh Lord, make me a real man after your heart.
16. Father Abraham had destiny, dignity, discipline and dominion, my father, give me all of these IJN.
