Perfect

“If you want to be perfect…” [1]

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [2]

“Not that I… am already perfect, but I press on…” [3]

Any achievement done perfectly tends to “wow” those who notice it. For example, the wide receiver who makes a one-handed catch while the toes of his shoes are inside the boundary line on the ground and the remainder of his body is hovering above the ground outside the boundary line. That is a near impossible pass to catch and an extremely difficult pass for the defender to block from happening! Then, there are works of art that seem flawless! Foods that taste perfectly made!

Jesus Christ demonstrated God’s love for people perfectly. This is the kind of perfection that God looks for. In God’s economy, He richly rewards those who love as He loves.

In our pursuit of our heavenly Father’s perfection, we rely on His Holy Spirit: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” [4]

In terms of eternal salvation, the perfection that saves us from condemnation is the perfection of Christ. We confess our need for Him, and He declares us righteous. The perfect merits of Christ fill our account with God perfectly. Christ alone saves us. “God made Him [Jesus Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” [5]

So, what is our incentive to be perfected in love?

There’s the incentive of reciprocation.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.” [6]

Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” [7]

There’s the incentive of learning what is expected of us by God and working towards it.

“Whoever keeps His Word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him.” [8]

There’s the incentive of being preoccupied with serving Christ until He returns.

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” [9]

There’s the incentive of growing up and not remaining as a child.

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” [10]

The Greek word translated as “perfect” (teleios) in Matthew’s Gospel signifies “complete” or “whole,” implying maturity in one’s growth towards becoming more like God.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children 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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect [complete or mature], therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [11]

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect [complete or mature], go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” [12]

The Apostle Paul declared that he was not yet perfect, but that he pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He wrote. “Let those of us who are mature think this way...” [13]

There’s the incentive of being with Jesus.

“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” [14]

Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [15]

Jesus said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” [16]

There’s the incentive of better dividends with Jesus.

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal.” [17]

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” [18]

“The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” [19]

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” [20]

“Everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” [21]

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” [22]

There’s the incentive of demonstrating God’s love.

“By this we know love because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” [23]

“He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” [24]

In God’s eyes, to love Him and to love people is to embody perfection.

[1] Matthew 19:21
[2] Matthew 5:48
[3] Philippians 3:12
[4] Zechariah 4:12
[5] 2 Corinthians 5:21
[6] 1 John 4:11-12
[7] John 13:34
[8] 1 John 2:5
[9] Jude 1:21
[10] 1 Corinthians 13:11
[11] Matthew 5:44-48
[12] Matthew 19:21
[13] Philippians 3:12-15
[14] John 12:26
[15] Matthew 4:19
[16] Luke 9:23
[17] John 6:27
[18] Matthew 5:6
[19] Romans 14:17
[20] Matthew 13:44-46
[21] Matthew 19:29
[22] Matthew 6:19-20
[23] 1 John 3:16-17
[24] Luke 3:11