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Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection (Jesus Christ) we can catch EXCELLENCE.
This is a quote I recently came across. I have seen this same sentiment expressed many times before; and whenever I do I get this pang of regret, because every time I read a well-meaning expression like this I know that the truth is being hidden from view.
I took the time to look up the word perfect (which is the Greek word telios) everywhere it is used in the New Testament (19 times). In doing so, it became quite apparent that perfection is not only attainable, but is expected and made possible by God in the here and now. In short, that we walk perfectly is God’s will for our lives.
The problem lies in people’s perception of perfection. They think it is some undefined (and thus always unattainable) standard of physical and/or mental behavior. They cannot grasp, cannot get a picture of, perfect behavior, and so they think it cannot exist. The real challenge then is to define perfection, for until it is defined, how can we ever pursue it, much less attain unto it? And as in all things spiritual, it behooves us to allow God to define His own terms.
Matthew 5:48 Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect.
At the time Jesus made this statement, he was the only son of God, the only one who could refer to God as his Father. Jesus tells us where the perfection he is talking about exists …. in heaven (the spiritual realm). He is telling people that the standard of perfection is God Himself, and is telling others to be like his father, God. Either that command is impossible (like the statement in blue at the beginning of this study indicates) or it is possible.
Here in this verse is perfection defined. God is perfection. No, rather, God as Father is perfection, and knowing that God as Father is perfection, it must be perfectly obvious that the way to become perfect is to become like God as Father. That is exactly what God’s Son Jesus the Christ did, what he was, why he came.
Philippians 2:5,6a Let this thinking be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; Who, being in the form of God thought……
The Christ, Jesus, was like his Father ….. is like his Father even today. And how did he happen to be, or become like God?
John 1:14 And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus was fathered by God. And what was his part in “attaining” unto the perfection that was his from birth? Nothing at all. It was done by God, and with the intention that Jesus, the Christ, would be the first of many perfect children fathered by God.
Romans 8:29 For whom He (God) did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His son, that he (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren.
We who have accepted the spirit of Christ to be birthed within us, are not only thus fathered by God, but are fathered in the very image, the likeness, of the Christ, Jesus, who is the image of God, the Father. If you consider Jesus to have been perfect, then you must also consider that you yourself are also perfectly formed in the image of God. And not by your own works, your own efforts, your own behavior, but by the choice, the will and decision and working of God Himself.
Well this is all so wonderfully theoretical, this perfection which God has fathered us into, but certainly we have to do something to see this perfection manifest in our lives? Hey, God’s got it covered!
Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
God has fathered us in the perfection of Christ, and our Father will do the work required to bring that perfection into glorious reality. For one, He has provided that certain services be provided to all the body of Christ, for the purpose of bringing about His will regarding perfection.
Ephesians 4:11,12 And he (Jesus, after he left the earth) gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (to the body of Christ); For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Have your heart open to what these ministries have to offer. Look for those who have been sent to bring new light (apostles), for those who see into and then declare the spiritual (prophets), for those who inspire faith (evangelists), for those who help remove that which hinders (pastors), and for those who build the understanding (teachers). God is making sure these necessary services are available to those who hunger. We become perfected as we allow the working of Christ through these men and women of God to become our own.
Galatians 4:18, 19 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I (as a minister of Christ) am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
This Christ being formed in the believers is the perfecting of the saints of Ephesians 4:12. This is something that is happening now! The new birth of the spirit of Christ within is not something that merely saves us from the coming wrath, not something that only does its job after death and resurrection, but is something that is at work within us to will and to do of God’s good pleasure now!
And our part in it all? Simply allow it to happen. God does the work, but cannot go against your will. Allow God your Father to do what He desires for you and in you and through you, and walk in the perfection of the Christ within. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Colossians 1:28 Whom (Christ in you, the hope of glory) we preach, warning (exhorting) every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present (help cause to stand) every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
Perfection is not an arrival point, but an eternal journey. Continue to be open to the working of God your spiritual Father as He continuously invites you into the perfection of His presence.
Phillipians 3:13 Brethren, I reckon (logizomai – logically reason) not myself to have arrived, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
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Other New Testament verses using the same Greek word for perfection …. telios.
Romans 12:2 …. that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
I Corinthisns 2:6 …. we speak wisdom among them that are perfect
I Corinthians 14:20 …. in understanding be perfect (KJV says “… be men”)
Ephesians 4:13 …. unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ
Colossians 4:12 …. that you may stand perfect and complete
Hebrews 5:12 …. But strong meat (of the Word) belongs to them who are perfect
James 3:2 …. the same is a perfect man
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Pruned by God.
Flavored by Christ
Bearing Spiritual Fruit
