Be Perfect
August 7, 2015
Be Perfect
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
When we read the passage in verse 48 where Jesus tells us, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” what does that mean to you? Are you thinking that is impossible or yeah, maybe when I get to heaven? Why would he tell us this now when we perceive ourselves in such an imperfect state? How could we ever aspire to be perfect, as he is perfect? We are not only to aspire to it, it is our calling. Why would Jesus call us to do what was impossible to do?
Jesus throughout Matthew 5 is calling His disciples and following to a higher order of love than that of the world. He is calling us out of natural reasoning and fairness. He is calling us to a level of love that we have come to know as Agape’ love. It is a love that is not governed by what others do to me, it doesn’t respond to circumstances. It is an action and not a reaction.
The word “perfect” used in verse 48 is the Greek word “telios”. It means brought to its end, consummate human integrity and virtue, full grown, adult, of full age, mature. The purpose of God is to bring us unto perfection, to bring us into His unconditional love and divine nature. This is the reason He gives the five fold ministry in Ephesians 4:11-13, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” The word mature here is that same word for perfect. It is going to take our faith to grasp this concept, because all that we see in us and in the body of Christ around us pretty much testifies against this. What we have to see here is that there is a standard that has been set before us, but what is impossible with men, is not impossible with God. God is the one that has called us to this standard and He alone can be the ability to attain it. It is obvious to us that it is not in our natural ability, so that is our first clue that we need to be walking and living in something that is beyond the natural. We are called up to walk in the supernatural. We are called to walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. It is only in the realm of the Spirit that we can even comprehend the perfection that Christ has called us too.
Listen as 2 Peter 2:2-4 reiterates our calling and where the power comes from, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” We see here that perfection and maturity in Christ is a calling of faith, because it is in laying hold of the promises of God’s Word that we move into this realm. There is no perfection without His power and life working in us, changing us and transforming us. The ability is not in us to change ourselves to perfection, but to position ourselves in Him, by faith and through a broken and contrite heart to yield to the working and moving He is doing in us. What we perceive as trials, hardships and adversities may truly be opportunities to exercise and mature in His divine nature.
Abraham became the friend of God because he had enough faith and vision to move out of the realm of the seen into the realm of the unseen. He counted God faithful to do that which He had promised. Are we counting Him faithful to perfect our lives in love and in all that pertains to godliness? Are we willing to quit looking at our circumstances and our inability’s long enough to see His ability and His promises to us? Are we like-minded with the apostle Paul to press into the high calling we have in Christ Jesus? “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: 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 in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you (Philippians 3:12 –15).”
Blessings,
#kent
The Death that Defiles Us
March 3, 2014
The Death that Defiles Us
Haggai 2: 10-19
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai: 11 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says: 12 If a person carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’ ”
The priests answered, “No.”
13 Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.”
14 Then Haggai said, ” ‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the LORD. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.
15 ” ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD’s temple. 16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the LORD. 18 ‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19 Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.
” ‘From this day on I will bless you.’ ”
The Book of Haggai is written during a time when a remnant of Israel has returned from their Babylonian captivity. They have returned to a devastated Jerusalem and a former glorious temple of Solomon that now lies in ruin. The Spirit of the Lord is stirring up the people through the prophet Haggai to come together and rebuild the temple. Up till this time every one has pretty much been to themselves and only concerned with their own welfare and building back their own houses.
Our scripture today may not make a lot of sense to a lot of us, but I felt compelled to share a few spiritual truths from it. This analogy that the Lord is giving is about those things which sanctify and those things which defile. First He is saying that just because a priest has sanctified meat or meat that had been offered on the altar and it touches some other food or drink does that mean this other substance becomes sanctified. For instance, spiritually speaking, you carry around in you the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He has said, “ except you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood you have not life in you.” Therefore by faith we are partakers of God’s holy sacrifice, Jesus, and as such carry Him in our spiritual garments. Does that mean that every life that we touch becomes sanctified and redeemed because we have touched them? No, they have to come into a personal relationship with Christ by faith and partake of the Christ for themselves. It doesn’t just rub off of us onto someone else.
The same is not true concerning the contact with a dead body. Anyone touching a dead body became defiled by it. Then Haggai reminds the people that before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple when anyone came to a heap of twenty measures there were only ten and whenever they went to the wine vat to draw fifty measures there was only twenty. How many times have we came to lay hold of the life and substance of Christ and His Spirit and we have come up short? We haven’t found the fullness and the substance that we needed. How many times have we experienced want, or need or adversity instead of blessing? “You did not turn to Me, declares the Lord.” The law of sin and death around us has defiled us. So many of us are still trying to live out of that life or else we are allowing it to touch and contaminate us. We are in Christ, but Christ has not been fully formed in us. This is why we must come together in the unity of the body of Christ to rebuild the true temple and tabernacle of God whom we are. Too long we have been contented to abide in our “ceiled houses” our own denominations, doctrines and religious houses, ideologies and thinking. God is calling us to come out of the defilement of flesh and spirit and come together to build His house. What we see in the world today has little to do with His true house. What we see is a fragmented bunch of religious people, many of whom are into it for their own profit and gain. The world is seeing people that call themselves by the name of Christ and yet they are dishonest, unreliable, backbiting, slanderous and many other things that shouldn’t even be named among us. We have become a mockery of His holiness. We are a defiled people. We are defiled by the world and defiled by a dead religion still operating under the principles of sin and death, rather than life and peace in Christ Jesus. Where is Christ really seen and glorified in all of this? His true temple lies in ruin, but He is calling forth a people to build it again. He tells us that when we put His house first there will be blessing. Where you haven’t seen fruit before you will begin to see fruit as the Lord is lifted up and His house is built. How is the house of God built? Christ has to be formed in us. He has to be not only our habitation, but also our expression in this life. It is not just about believing in Jesus; the faith has to become substance and Christ wants to be the substance of your life and of His entire house. The Spirit of God will build the house as we come together in the unity of the Spirit and the love of Christ to join hands and hearts and be ONE in Him. Christ is not divided; He is ONE Man, ONE Lord, ONE Spirit and ONE Baptism. If we will separate ourselves from the defilement of this world, from religion and dead works, if we will consecrate ourselves to His work, we will see blessings in areas that we have never seen them before. He has called us to build HIS HOUSE!
“7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” 9(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:7-13)
Blessings,
kent
The Cream
February 26, 2014
Exodus 22:29
Thou shalt not delay [to offer] the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
The Cream
During the depression my grandfather had a farm and in order to make ends meet they used to sell cream. I never really saw it work, but I remember on the farm was a shed we called the milk house. In that shed was a machine called a separator that would separate the milk from the cream. The cream was the richest and most valuable part of the milk. The cream was never really discerned or seen when it first came from the cow. It was the process of separation that brought it to the top.
I believe God is looking for the cream of His crop. Our world is like a separator that spins us, tries us, and test us. God is looking for those individuals that are laying hold of the fabric of His life through the midst of our life’s tests.
Has it ever struck you that in Revelations 2 and 3 where the Spirit is speaking to the churches, at the end of each exhortation to each church there is a promise to the overcomer? The Spirit is saying to him that gives heed to my correction and exhortation in obedience and faithfulness I have a special promise. Now the promise doesn’t come without a condition and requirement. The Lord is talking about more than just salvation here. He is talking to those who stand the test of separation and who rise to the top.
Paul speaks in Philippians 3 about running the race. He forsook all else in pursuit of the prize, the prize of the high calling that in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 says, “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 in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” The “perfect” used in this scripture refers to maturity in spiritual matters. God has a higher calling that He is calling those who are mature into. There are promises to Him who overcomes. This is a different calling than just a salvation experience, this is a calling into the first fruits, the first ripe of Christ, that will come into His image and likeness.
How great is your vision? Are we content in our spirits with just our salvation or do we hear a trumpet that is calling us to come up higher? The overcomer hears that trumpet and responds to it. Do you hear a higher calling in your life today? It will come through the Separator.
In the Same Way
January 24, 2013
John 14:8-14
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
In the Same Way
When someone would ask us to show them Jesus, could we say, like Jesus did of the Father, “Don’t you know me? When you have seen me, you have seen Jesus. Don’t you believe that I am in Christ and Christ is in me?
Is Christ so evident us that we could make so bold a statement?
Jesus always acknowledged that the Father was greater than Him and yet His life and obedience so exemplified the Father in Him. All that He did, all that He spoke and all that He lived was the expression of the Father.
Would you say that your body is greater than your soul? I can’t see your soul or your spirit directly, but I know them as they are expressed through your body. Your body is the outward manifestation of your inward soul and personality. That likewise should be our relationship with Christ, even as it was with the Father and the Son. We are the body of Christ and outward expression of His glory and life within.
Jesus did have a will outside the Father. He had the ability to make decisions and choices that would not necessarily reflect the mind and will of the Father, but He could have reflected choices influenced by His feelings, His circumstances, His needs, His natural desires and temptations. Before Jesus ever died on that physical cross of Calvary, He was crucified to self will and purpose, His destiny and purpose in life was to manifest the Father to the world, to destroy the works of the devil and give eternal life to all that would believe. His destiny and the expression of who He came to be could never have been realized in Jesus if He had given Himself over to the same passions, lust, desire and self-will that we all have. None of that would have been the Father, because the Father is sinless and holy and Jesus reflected and exemplified all that He is.
I have heard a lot people say, “Will, I am only human, I could never be like Jesus.” That is not a mind that is conformed to the mind of Christ, because that is exactly what Christ has called us too.
Now, is that to say that we never sin? What does 1 John 1:4-9 say? “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”
While John lets us know that we are not yet in a state of sinless character, he also makes it clear that we live in the light as Christ is in the light. In that light we are being transformed into His image from glory to glory. If we stumble or fail or lose our focus along the way we have the blood of Jesus to cleanse us of our sins when we confess them before Him. While we are still in the world and overcoming the world by the power of His life within us, we set our eyes upon the author and the finisher of our faith.
As Paul says in Philippians 3:12 -15, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
As mature Christians, our eyes and hearts are set steadfastly upon the sonship that we have in Christ, pressing into Him and conforming our heart to His in all of our ways. With faith and expectancy, each day we live our lives unto Him a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. It is the way Jesus lived His life before the Father; laying down His personal life, so that He could manifest the Father’s life. It is in that hope that we live our lives pressing into Christ so that one day we might realize the promise of Romans 8:29-30, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” We must comprehend that we also, like Jesus have been called to a destiny and purpose that can only be fully realized as we lose ourselves to Him. Even as 1 John 4:15-17, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”
Beloved, Father has given us each a high and awesome calling that can only be obtained as we live out of the life of Christ and the love of God that indwells us. In the same way that the Father was in Jesus, Christ is in you, to be His expression in the earth.
Blessings,
kent