What It Means To Be 'Perfect'

The Bible is full of much clarity, but also, confusion.

One confusing text is from the Sermon On The Mount: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect?"  (Matthew 5:48).

What does that mean?  

Why I'm not perfect and never will be perfect.  And so the notion of perfection is perplexing, and frankly -- discouraging.  

Peter Gomes, famed, former pastor of Harvard's Memorial Church agrees:  “Perfection can be annoying.” The perfectly manicured, lush green lawn...makes one long for a heroic dandelion..." (Peter J. Gomes, Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1998), pp. 180-81.)

But before we just settle for dandelions, it's important to 'deep-dive' into the literal meaning of 'perfect.'  As we do, we discover, that literally, 'perfect' (teleioi, in the Greek), means to be whole or mature. 

And the essence of maturity? Total, ‘sold-out’ adoption of Jesus' way of life, as defined by His Father’s Kingdom.  Thus, Eugene Peterson translates Matthew 5:48, as follows:  

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”  (Matthew 5:48, The Message, emphasis added).

Jesus' coda in this verse reminds us, that all He has said thus far in his ministry (summarized in the Sermon On The Mount), is a call to true adulthood.   As Frederick Dale Brunner notes: “…Ever since his Beatitudes, Jesus has been describing adulthood. And in the commands [that follow the Beatitudes] we learn…” what adult disciples do.   

Specifically, we learn, that 

“…Maturity, adulthood…is a whole-souled commitment…to the protection of every other person.  Maturity is looking at every person…and saying, at least to oneself, ‘I will never, God helping me, do anything to hurt you’: neither by angrily lashing out at you, lustfully sidling up to you, faithlessly slipping away from you, verbally oiling you up, protectively hitting back at you, or even justifiably disliking you…”   

That’s how we grow-up, Jesus declares; that’s how mature satisfaction, fulfillment, and wholeness, comes.   

The Apostle Paul strikes a similar theme in Ephesians 4:14ff 

“…Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ.  From him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love…”  (Ephesians 4: 14-16).

And so, rather than 'pulling back' from Jesus (because of an impossible ideal, e.g. perfection), we lean deeper into Jesus, who, in reality, is not asking us to 'be perfect,' but rather, to be whole and mature, by becoming more like Him.

John Claypool tells a story from his early ministry, about church folk who were pulling back -- feeling unworthy -- spooked by the apparent expectation of perfection.  The result:  waning participation in communion.

“As the Supper unfolded...I was dismayed to see that only six people out of a congregation of some seventy-five partook of either the loaf or the cup. I immediately concluded that I must have offended them in some way, saying or doing something improperly...[However]....To my great dismay, I learned that what I had just witnessed was a longstanding tradition in that community. The word was out that to partake of the elements of the Lord’s Supper was to imply that you considered yourself worthy, that you were living an exemplary Christian life and were thus celebrating your victory. I spent the rest of my ministry at that church trying...to show them that being ‘perfect’ is not the way to get God to love us, but rather, God’s love of us is the secret of our becoming full-grown, mature, whole.” (John R. Claypool, The Preaching Event: Lyman Beecher Lectures (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1980), pp. 132-33.

Claypool's words are reminiscent of a mentor's words, Lloyd Ogilvie:  the essence of faith is not us loving God, but, letting God love us.  [Lloyd Ogilvie.  Let God Love You (Waco:  Word Books, 1974) 76.] Frankly, that's the only way you'll every 'grow up' and leverage life.  For growth and momentum are not dependent on our ability to 'get it right' -- but our ability to 'get it wrong,' yet, nevertheless, advance, not because of our perfection, but the perfection of Christ, who forgives us, empowers us, 'graces us,' in spite of our flaws.

Honestly, I find it hard to depend this much on Jesus, because I don't like depending on anyone but myself.  But we never 'scale life's heights,' without leaning on someone other than ourselves.

Most of us, have heard of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit Mt. Everest.  But most of us, have not heard of Tenzing Norgay.  But we need to know Tenzing Norgay, for without Norgay, Hillary would have never conquered Everest.  For Norgay was Hillary’s Sherpa, that is Hillary’s burden-bearer, who literally carried the bulk of Hillary’s gear and supplies up Mt. Everest, to Everest’s summit, 29,000 feet high!  You see Sherpas, like Norgay, are legendary in the vicinity of Mt. Everest, known to carry over 70% of their body weight, as they move through the rocky, fearful hills of Everest.   In fact, they make the rocky, fearful hills of Everest hospitable – doable – because they carry the heaviest weight – literally -- allowing persons to transverse an awesome, but anxious land.

Jesus is our Sherpa, carrying the heaviest weight for us. As we transverse an awesome, but anxious life, Christ lifts our greatest burdens, allowing us to summit incredible heights.  But we must let Jesus carry our burdens, depending on His accompaniment.

For that is the only way we ever 'grow up' -- becoming 'perfectly' whole and mature -- in Him.