Mozart was only 25 years old when he settled in Vienna in 1781.
Ten years later he was dead, but his commitment to perfection made
his mark live on and crown him as one of the princes of music.
Those ten years were years of struggle for survival. He lived in
poverty with little food, and often even without heat in the winter.
His publisher threatened to stop giving him any payment at all if he
did not write in a more popular style. Mozart replied, "Then, my
good sir, I have only to resign and die of starvation. I cannot write
as you demand." He refused to dedicate his gift to the trivial, and he
went on writing his matchless music which made him so famous
after his death. He aimed for perfection, not because it paid well,
but because he do no other. The love for quality was in his blood.
James is informing us that this should be the goal of every Christian,
for God is perfect, and we are to be partakers of the divine nature.
Facing life's trials with joy and patience is not just to prove we
can do it, but that we might be perfect and complete, and lacking in
nothing. Someone will immediately take issue with James and ask,
"Who can be perfect?" We said James was a very practical writer,
but how can he be practical and so soon jump off the deep end, and
write of being perfect?
If there is one thing that almost everyone agrees on, it is the
realistic truth that nobody is perfect. Jesus Christ is the only
candidate for the office of perfection, and James, of all people,
should know that, and not introduce such a concept in his letter. Is
it possible that James was just expressing a sense of humor, for that
is usually the only realm in which we deal with perfection. The poet
writing from a doctor's perspective put it this way,
The perfect patient let us praise:
He's never sick on Saturdays,
In waiting rooms he does not burn.
But gladly sits and waits his turn.
And even, I have heard it said,
Begs other, please go on ahead.
He takes advice, he does as told;
He had a heart of solid gold.
He pays his bills, without a fail,
In cash, or by the same day's mail.
He has but one small fault I'd list:
He doesn't (what a shame!) exist.
This seems to be the major defect in all perfect people-they are
conspicuous by their absence, and just do not exist. Spurgeon wrote,
"He who boasts of being perfect is perfect in folly. I never saw a
perfect man. Every rose has its thorn and everyday its night."
Shakespeare summed it up, "No perfection is so absolute, that some
impurity doth not pollute." But what are we to do with James? Are
we to write off his words as humor, and say he must have been
joking, or should we just skip over such things, and not ask so many
questions? This is often the approach to things we do not
understand, but it is folly and sin. If you do not understand what
the Bible is saying, then you need to search until you do. Bible
reading is not enough. We need to study the Bible until we do
understand what God is saying. So we are going to study the
biblical concept of perfection so that we know what God expects of
us. First let's consider-
I. THE EXPECTATION OF PERFECTION.
James is not alone in expecting Christians to be perfect. Both the
Old Testament and the New Testament have many text that make it
clear that believers are expected to press on to perfection. This
expectation is not hidden away in some obscure corner of the Bible
where scholars have to dig to find it. It is written so often, and so
clearly, that he who runs may read.
James did not set up the standard of perfection. He only echo's
his Lord and brother, who in the Sermon on the Mount, made the
most absolute statement on perfection to be found anywhere. In
Matt. 5:48 Jesus said, "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect." Jesus expected His followers to be
perfect. That may sound impossible; especially to be perfect like
God, but the point is, that is what is expected. Why should Jesus
expect less than the best? The Old Testament saints attained
perfection, and so why not New Testament saints? Listen to these texts:
Gen. 6:9, "Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generation."
Job 1:8, "A perfect and an upright man..."
I Kings 11:4, "The heart of David was perfect with the Lord his
God."
I Kings 15:14, "Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days."
If these men of God of old could be perfect in some sense in spite
of their sins and blunders, how can we expect God to expect less
from us who have his best in Jesus Christ? Anything less than
perfection is not only sub-Christian, it is sub-Judaism. It is below
the ideal of the entire Bible. There are many other references in the
Old Testament, but we must move on to look at the exalted
expectation of the New Testament. Eph. 4:11-13 says, "And he gave
some Apostles, and some prophets; and some evangelists, and some
pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, till we all come
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ."
Paul believed it could be done, for he wrote even to the sinful
saints of Corinth and said in II Cor. 13:11, "Be perfect." In 7:1 he
urges them to be cleansed from sin and perfected in holiness. Some
did attain it, for in I Cor. 2:6 he wrote, "We speak wisdom among
them that are perfect." In Heb. 5 the Christians are being rebuked
for being on milk when they should be eating the meat of the Word.
They are forever on the bottle of the simple Gospel, and they never
go on to the profound heights to which God is calling. After this
rebuke he says in 6:1, "Therefore let us leave the elementary
doctrines of Christ and go on to perfection...." God does not want
His children in elementary school forever, anymore than we want
our children to remain on that level.
One of the most wide spread heresies among Christians is the
idea that all God cares about is getting people saved. The Bible,
however, makes it clear that God is not satisfied until His children
are perfected, and made complete and mature in Christ. We cannot
begin to quote all the evidence, for the entire New Testament was
written for this purpose. The whole concept of Bible study is based
on this assumption that by studying the Word of God we can
become Christlike in character and conduct. God is concerned
about quality. He wants justified sinners, but He wants them to
become sanctified saints. Calvin Coolidge refused to run for a
second term as president of the United States. He said it was
because there was no room for advancement. This is never the case
for the Christian, for there is always room for progress.
The expectation of perfection can be burdensome. It is like the
new bank president being introduced to the employees. One of the
tellers said, "I have worked here for 40 years, and in all that time I
have only made one mistake." "Good," said the new president, "but
hereafter be more careful." He expected perfection, and that is too
much to expect. Sydney Harris wrote, "Nothing is perfect is what
we say when we want to justify our current state of imperfection;
the statement is made not because it is true (which it is) but because
it offers us a plausible defense against improvements, and this is
more dangerous and misleading than a lie." We do not want anyone
to expect perfection from us, but we cannot escape the fact that that
is what is expected of us in Scripture. Let us look next at-
II. THE EXPLANATION OF PERFECTION.
Now that we know that it is expected, we need to know what it is
that is expected. How can we be expected to be what we know that
no one but Christ has ever been? Who can be perfect? Christians
who try and face up to the biblical expectation without an biblical
explanation often make the Scripture a stumbling block, and a basis
for a nervous breakdown. A Christian perfectionist who does not
understand what the Bible means often become a neurotic,
guilt-ridden, self-hating Christian. If they do manage to maintain
some stability, they are a plague to others with their cursed
perfectionism. They become the Felix Ungers of the religious world.
They are tormented in trying to be as spotless as those in heaven.
There is much written on the dangers of perfectionism by both
secular and Christian counselors, but our purpose is not to try and
understand what biblical perfection isn't. Our task is to try and
understand what it is. If we can grasp what it is, we do not have to
worry about the follies of exaggeration. Elimination of the doctrine
of perfection is one extreme, and exaggeration of it is the opposite
extreme. You can only stay on the narrow path of truth by finding a
proper explanation of what the Bible means by perfect.
The Greek word here is the usual Greek word for perfect. It is
teleios, and it means to reach a goal; to accomplish a task and
complete it, and to bring it to perfection. If your goal is to raise
tomatoes which weigh a pound a piece, then when they reach one
pound you have completed your goal, and it is teleios-perfect. You
have created the perfect tomato. Perfection is a matter of
development toward a goal until that goal is reached. If my goal is
to run three miles, and I run those three miles, I have had a perfect
run. It may not be perfect for the one whose goal is to run five miles,
but it is for me because my goal was three.
Growing Christians are constantly reaching new goals, and so
they are constantly being perfected. James is especially concerned
here about a perfected faith. What is a perfected faith? Faith
means trust, and so a perfect faith would be a trust which is
continuous, and which cannot be shaken by circumstances. It is to
be able to say with Job, "Though he slay me yet will I trust him."
That is perfected faith. Paul wrote in I Thess. 3:10, "Night and day
praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect
that which is lacking in your faith." A perfect faith is essential, and
that is why James says be glad when your faith is tested, for an
untested faith can never be perfected, and who wants a weak faith
that might let you down when life gets hard?
A faith that cannot survive trials is not worth having, and if a
crisis makes you lose it, you will never be what God wants you to be.
Testing is essential to perfection. Everything is tested these days. If
the wings on a jet cannot stand the test, the plane is no good. If the
brakes on your car cannot stand the test, the car is no good.
Everything has to be tested to see if it can hold up and reach the goal
for which it is made. If it cannot accomplish the purpose for its
existence, it is of no value to create it.
A Christian can have a perfect faith; a faith that has reached its
goal, and will trust in God no matter what. A faith that only lasts
until the pressure gets to a certain point is like a bridge that goes
half way across a river. It is incomplete and greatly lacking, but just
as a bridge can go all the way and be a perfect bridge because it
accomplishes its goal of getting across the total river, so are faith can
be perfect, and get us all the way through life's trials with complete
trust in Jesus Christ. That is perfection, and it can be done, and has
been done by millions, and will be done by millions more. Who can
be perfect? Every Christian can be, and is expected to be perfect.
A bridge that gets you over the river may be imperfect in many
ways. It may need paint; it may need fixing, and it may have many
rough spots, but if it complete its purpose of getting you over the
river, it is in that aspect perfect. In the Christian life perfection is
relative and will not be absolute until we are transformed to be like
Christ Himself. That is why Paul in the same context says he is not
perfect, and then says that he is perfect. Paul's paradox applies to
all of us. In Phil. 3:12 he says, "Not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect..." He goes on to say that he
presses on toward the mark of perfection, but then in verse 15 he
says, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded."
Paul is saying that the perfect Christian is one who clearly
recognizes that he is not perfect, and must be ever pressing on. Part
of perfection is being aware of your imperfections.
What this means practically is that we must be ever growing, but
that we can be perfect in our present state of growth. Everyone of
us can be right now living fully up to the light that God has given us.
We can be completing all that He wills for us to do, and that is to be
living a perfect Christian life. Everyone can see room for
improvement, and all of us can see the defects in our lives, and so we
all say that no one is perfect. However, if you are constantly
growing, developing, and overcoming as you grow, you are at each
stage of your growth in a state of perfection, for you are living at
that point in complete obedience to God as you understand His will.
That is what God expects of us, and the Bible says it is possible to
live on that level. Only those who believe it is possible will keep
pressing on toward perfection. If you live today in full obedience to
what you understand of God's will, you are living today in
perfection.
This explains how the Old Testament saints, who sinned, could
also have a perfect heart toward God, and walk in perfection before
Him. A perfect Christian today can still fail God tomorrow, and
that is why he must be constantly growing and striving to perfect
every area of his life. It is because perfection is relative that it can
be real. To be perfect is to be all you can be for God. To live in
frustration because you cannot be something or someone you are
not, is to misunderstand what God wants. A perfect piano cannot be
an organ or guitar. Each has its own purpose, and each is perfected
when it fulfills its purpose. So it is with the individual children of
God. To get depressed and disgusted with yourself, and feel guilty
because you can't be something you are not, is to be on the path of
imperfection. Being the best of what you are is what it means to be
perfect.
Someone might remind us, however, that Jesus said we were to be
as perfect as God. That is certainly impossible! No it isn't when you
understand it. God's perfection consists in always doing what He
knows to be good and wise. We can do just the same as His children.
We are not equal with God, for the finite can never be infinite, but
the thimble can be just as full as the swimming pool, and man can be
just as obedient to what he knows as God can. It is likeness to God,
and not equally with God, that is expected. If we act always in a
way consistent with our redeemed nature, we are perfect in the
midst of our many imperfections.
If we sin, and we immediately recognize this to be an offense
against God, and we confess it and seek its forgiveness, this is a part
of the perfect relationship to God. Absolute perfection is still ahead,
but relative perfection is to be attained now. A little girl was asked
by her teacher, "Where is the dot over that i?" The little girl said,
"It is still in the pencil." The final perfection when every i will be
dotted, and every t will be crossed is still in the pencil as God writes
the history of our lives, but God continues to write, and everyday He
writes can be a day in which we live in perfection. If I say that my
goal today is to read three chapters of the Bible, treat everyone I
know in love, and not choose to do anything I know displeasing to
God, that is teleios-perfect. I have fulfilled the purpose of God in my
life for this day.
I once had to fix our vacuum cleaner, and all I had was my rusty
old pliers and bent wrench. I was able to get it apart and back
together with these tools, and it worked. These tools were perfect for
the job. That means they helped me achieve my goal. They had
many defects, but they were still able to get me to my goal, and so
they were perfect. God needs people in the world to get His will done
on earth as it is in heaven. We may have many defects, but if we help
God reach His goal, then we are perfect. This means that every one
of us can be perfect tools to touch some life for His glory. God does
not expect us to be frustrated by the call to perfection, but to be
encouraged because it is possible for any of us, even with all our
imperfections. God does not expect us to be now what we will
eventually be, but He expects us to be what we can be now, and that
is tools that get the job done.
John Wesley was a great believer in Christian perfection, and he
wrote a whole book about it, and he has influenced millions. Many
suggested that he should call it something else other than perfection,
for that leads people to be confused. He responded, "As to the word,
it is scriptural, therefore, neither you nor I can in conscience object
against it, unless we would send the Holy Ghost to school and teach
Him to speak who made the tongue." Perfection is a valid biblical
word and the only problem with it is our lack of understanding what
the Bible means by it. Hopefully we have made that clear so that it
need not be a problem in our minds.
Perfect has to do with purpose. God's purpose in this fallen world
is to redeem the lost, bring good out of evil, and guide His children
to grow in Christlikeness. The primary tool for this task is love, as it
is expressed through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, and
continually through His earthly body-the church. It is the perfect
tool to get the job done. Who can be perfect? We can, for we can be
channels of the tool of Christ's love every day, and help fulfill the
purpose of God in the lives we touch every day.
