Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 08 – November 1981

 

Our Perfection

 

Sermon by Rev. P.G. van Dam on Matthew 5:48

Scripture Reading: Romans 7:14 – 8:17

Psalter Hymnal: 184:1,2,3; 96:1,2,4,6; 251; 391

 

Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,

“Be perfect, therefore, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  What would you do with a text like this one?  Does the Lord really mean this: “Be perfect…!”?  But how could we?  Don’t we hold to the doctrine of total depravity: that man is evil, sinful, in every part of his being?  For is not that what we read in a place like Romans 3: “There is no one righteous, no not even one…. no one who seeks God…. there is no one who does good, not even one!”?  Who could be perfect, living with a sinful heart in a world full of temptations?

Perfect….?  No, we could not be; not in this life here and now, could we?

Of course, we must be careful in this ‘reaction’ to our text.  For sometimes we go too far in this.  This happens when, instead of knowing and expressing regret to the Lord for our imperfections and failures, we start taking some satisfaction in our understanding that we are sinful ‘anyway’.  In other words, use our imperfection as an excuse for our sins and for our failures to obey the Lord.

But this is wrong.  Before the Lord there never can be any excuse for sin.  To Him there is only one valid ‘reaction’ to sin: that of repentance.

We all know or have used the expression: “We are – or you are – not perfect either.”  Implying by it that we should be careful in pointing others to the their sins, and others should be careful in pointing us to our sins.  We should not speak too harshly of the other’s failures to meet the requirements of the Word of the Lord.  But this kind of excuse is not valid either.  For the standard to live by is not that of human goodness or human failures.  The only valid standard to live by for all of our lives is the Word of God.

However, we must return to our text: “Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect”.  What are we going to do with it?  Shelve it until the life hereafter?  For what else could we do with it?

But no, that suggestion could hardly have been the purpose of our Lord.  Our text comes at the end of that part of the Sermon on the Mount which began with verse 1 of chapter 5.  Quite clearly this part of the sermon speaks to the people of the Lord concerning their lives in this world here.  Commandments which they have to obey now.  For instance, in the veses 13-16 the Lord tells His people, including us here, to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”.

In our text Jesus would seem to say that what I have just told and commanded you amounts to this: “Be perfect just as your Father in heaven.  is perfect.”  It is not in the future; it is to be done now.

But, again, how is this?  It would seem from the text that one of two things must be true.

The Lord is asking something of us which we could not do.  In other words, His commandment here is just not realistic.  But saying this would mean that the Lord is not sincere and honest, would it not….?

The other conclusion is that it must be possible for us to be perfect in this life here and now.  But is not this in conflict with what Scripture itself says?  For instance in Romans 3 to which we turned before: “there is no one who is righteous, no not one…!”  Or in 1John 1.8: “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves…!”  And in Romans 8,7 we read: “…the sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so….!”

In fact, in all of chapter 7 of Romans – of which we read the second part – Paul explains that there is no hope for us at all in the thought that we might be able to do good.  In verse 19 we read: “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing.”

Paul knows too well – more than we do at times – the real influence and strength – of the sinfulness still left in us.

Earlier, too, in his letter to the Romans Paul had explained that there is no hope for us in the way of trying to obey the law of God.  For, in fact, all the law does do is expose our sinfulness (Rom 3.20).

That place, for one, also holds the warning that we better not think that God may be pleased with us because of the ‘good thing’ we think we have done, or because of the ‘good word’ we think we have spoken.  Any such form of self-esteem stands condemned before the Lord, as we remember the word of Isaiah 64.4: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags…!”

Indeed, we better never boast that we have been so good or so right.  For if there was any good at all in what we did or said, it is not from ourselves at all but from the Lord.  Says the Word (in Eph.2.10): “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  And when Paul tells the Philippians to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”, he immediately adds: “for it is God Who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”

And in that awareness the attitude of the true believer is always marked by much.  humility.  He will let the Word of the Lord speak, rather than speak his own mind or do his own thing.

Indeed, if we had been able – through warning and effort – to obey the law perfectly and, in that way, to attain righteousness before God ourselves, there would have been no need for Christ to come and to die in payment for the guilt of our sinfulness and disobedience to God.

Now, where does all of this leave us?  This confession that on account of our sinfulness we cannot hope to obey the Lord.  That even if we would try we would in fact only make our guilt worse.

Yes, with Paul that awareness of the real nature of our sinfulness should lead us to the confession: “Wretched man that I am!  Who shall set me free from this body of death?”

And, indeed, a little more humility before our God in the awareness of our sinfulness would do no harm in our days which only too often are marked by a spirit that we know it.

But we must turn to our text again: “Be perfect…. as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  What about it?  For does not all of Scripture convince us that any notion of being any good at all or that we could be good is utterly sinful in itself?

And yet…. what was this again that Paul said after the confession of his own wretchedness and the despair of how he could ever be rescued from his utter sinfulness and evil nature?  How does he go on from there?  Well, what he said was this: “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

“…through Jesus Christ our Lord…!”  What exactly does he mean by these words?  How, exactly could he be rescued by Jesus Christ from this hopelessness of his sins and failures to do any good at all?

To explain this we could turn to a very meaningful place: Hebrews 10.12-14.  There we read something that would explain to us how – in spite of our own sinfulness which makes it impossible to do any good ourselves at all – we could nevertheless be perfect; in fact are perfect!

Yes, are perfect!  For this is what we read in those verses of Hebrews 10: “….because by one sacrifice He (the priest: Christ) has made perfect forever those who are being made holy”.  Here the same word ‘perfect’ is used as in our text.

Did you hear that: “has made perfect”?  Not: will make, or might make, or could make; no has made!

So, this place speaks of the fact that we have been made perfect.  To be sure, that perfection is not at all anything of our own doing or of our own effort.  No, Christ has made us perfect; our perfection is the perfection Christ has gained for us.

In our own language we would say: “Well…. what do you know!”  Or is this word not really a surprise to us anymore?

 Yes, it is this perfection of which we read in a place like 2Cor.5:21: “God has made Him (Christ) Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”.  Or in 1John 1.9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

That second verse is a remarkable statement!  Our righteousness, our perfection, is not apparently in overcoming our sins, in being good rather than being sinful.  It is in the way of the confession of our sinfulness.

In other words one condition for – and mark – of my perfection is the humility of repentance!

Maybe, there are some who are ready to say at this point: O yes, I know that Christ took all the guilt of my sins away.  And so I am now before God as one who is sinless, as one who is perfect.

Well, however true this is in itself – on account of the sacrifice of Christ which He brought for me on the cross – it is only one half of the truth!  To understand this, we should remember that we all bear the sign and seal of our perfection!  Yes, we do: we received that sign and seal in our baptism!  For the words of Heidelberg Catechism in Lord’s Day 26 explain to me from the Word of God that my baptism is the sign and seal that I have been washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit.  Yes, with His blood and Spirit.

And the Catechism, in answer to the question: “What does this mean to have been washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit” reads: “To be washed with Christ’s blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven my sins” and “To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed me…!”

You know, sometimes we forget that second part of the meaning of our baptism!  We all know and say quite readily that the water of baptism points to the blood of Christ which has washed away all my sins.  And this is good and glorious to confess, and to know for certain.  But too easily we forget that the water of baptism also teaches that we have been ‘washed with the Spirit of Christ.’

With the explanation the Catechism gives of the meaning of our baptism, we should remember that to have been baptized means that we have been forgiven on account of Christ’s sacrifice, and also… that we have been renewed by His Spirit.

This then is my perfection (a) that in God’s sight all the guilt of my sins has been taken away, and (b) that the Spirit of Christ has renewed me.  Put in different words: I have not only been declared perfect (on account of the forgiveness of my sins); I have also been made perfect through the Spirit of Christ Who lives in me.  That is what Paul says in Gal 2.20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.”  That, too, is what our baptism means, and holds true for older and younger members of the church alike!

You may ask the question: where does all this leave me in my everyday life in this world here and now?

This is a good and necessary question.  For that is precisely what Christ is speaking of in our text: “Be perfect….!”  And we would all readily under understand that the perfection Christ speaks of here is not so much the perfection on account of the forgiveness of our sins (the ‘having been declared’ perfect), but – rather – the perfection in terms of the renewal by the Spirit of Christ.

Well, let us listen to Paul once more.  At what he said and writes after he had made that confession of his own wretchedness and the condemnation he deserves.  No, he does not go on by saying anything like: I give up; It does not work, I am not perfect anyway….!  He says nothing of the kind; not at all!

He has a different conclusion altogether!  Because he knows His Lord!  “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Yes: “our Lord”; that is to say through Jesus Christ Who rules me by His Spirit!  The Spirit of His renewal!

But is that what Paul means when he says: “Through Jesus Christ our Lord”?  Well we have read the first part of chapter 8 which follows immediately after this statement of Paul of his hope.  And what else does that part of chapter 8 speak of but this renewal by the Spirit of Christ!?  (Yes, just read that part of chapter 8 for yourself once more).

For he says that (he and we all) “who are in Christ Jesus” (8.1) are “controlled by the Spirit” (vs.9a); that “the Spirit of God lives in you” (vs.9b).  Which, apparently, is just the same as saying that “Christ is in you” (vs.10).  All those who are in Christ are “led by the Spirit” (vs.14).

We have been declared perfect on account of the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.  But also we have been made perfect through the Spirit of Christ who lives in us, controls us and leads us.

Yes, as far as our everyday life in this world is concerned: this is our perfection: that we are led and controlled by the Spirit of Christ.

And knowing this we can then understand also how Paul, after the confession of his own wretchedness (at the end of chap.7), is then led by the Spirit to write that beautiful chapter 8 which ends with those words which teach us that in spite of our sinfulness “we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us” (“Who”, according to v 35, is Christ).

“More than conquerors…!”; yes, because the Spirit of Christ lives in us and controls us.

You know, so often we start at the wrong end.  We use the confession of our total depravity in an almost fatalistic sense, and say: we cannot please God anyway.  And we do not get much further than ask the Lord for forgiveness of our sins.  Well, indeed, as we noted before, repentance is one condition for and mark of our perfection.  But it is only one part of it.  What about the renewal by the Spirit of Christ who lives in you?  Why start and stay with our own sinfulness.  Paul did not!  Why not, instead, start with our victory!?  We have overcome, by the power and guidance of the Spirit of Christ.

For that is the biblical way to become dead to sin; that is to say: to let sin have no influence on us anymore.  That is the way in which those who have been made perfect by Christ are being made holy, in the words of Hebrews 10 which we looked up before.  That is to say: it will in the end appear to be what we already are: perfect.

At times we come across fellow believers, other members of the church perhaps, who have sinful habits with which they do not want to break, or do not want to give themselves fully to the service of the Lord (or both).  Maybe, you are one yourself….!

Out of concern for the glory of the Lord and of His Church, and for their own spiritual wellbeing we will want to open the Word before them time and again, to warn them of the sinfulness and the foolishness of their ways before the Lord.  And you can talk to them in terms of encouragement or warning, you can talk to them till you are ‘blue in the face’, yet nothing happens until they for themselves truly repent and let the Spirit rule in their hearts through the proclamation and the sincere study of the Word.  And in earnest prayer pray the Lord for the power of His Spirit.  A prayer which He will always hear!

Wretched, and yet perfect!  No, not without our own responsibility.  God never bypasses our own responsibility.  We find that in a well-known place like Gal.5.16: “Since we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit”.

Yes, our perfection shows in the desire to become what we are.  What we are in the words of 1Peter 2.9,10: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Indeed, these words of 1 Peter 2 are one of the most beautiful places of Scripture as a definition of our perfection in Christ on account of His blood and Spirit.

Could you ever deny that that is what you are!?  Well then, Peter continues “Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”

Amen.