Good Enough or Complete?

Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48 [NASB])

I’ve been in a few cars with flat tires. They happen. The challenge is changing them with the spare. Think about this. If the last time you had a flat, you took your flat tire to the mechanic for repair and he/she filled it with air and gave it back to you. What would happen when you replaced your newest flat tire with that old flat tire filled with air? If the mechanic didn’t find the cause for the hole and repair it, your replacement tire would be no better than your current flat tire. For the mechanic, the refilled tire was good enough. For your purposes, you didn’t need good enough. You needed perfect, a job done completely. Jesus spoke about lives lived completely instead of in a “good enough” way. Consider what He taught in Matthew 5.

In Matthew 5, Jesus began preaching His Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes. He began this famous sermon by proclaiming certain people are blessed, people who may not have ever considered themselves blessed. Jesus said these groups of people are blessed: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the gentle, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and the people who are insulted, persecuted, and have false things said about them because of their relationship to Him.

We look at this list of people, and we may see one of more of these attitudes to which we can identify and say, “Yes, that happened to me!” If we consider these attitudes closer, we realize, Jesus described His experience on earth with each one of them. This should make us consider again, has what we experienced been like what Jesus experienced? Are we really that much like Jesus?

Jesus, next, in verses thirteen through sixteen, told His disciples what they would be if they closely aligned themselves with Him. They will be salt of the earth. His disciples are to bring flavor back to life by telling people about Him. While Jesus has not returned to earth to claim it for Himself and cast Satan into the pit, Satan roams free in the world. Life is flavorless; no distinction exists between Satan and another way to live. It’s a bland existence. When Jesus came to earth the first time, He called, and continues to call, people to be His disciples. His disciples bring a new flavor, a freshness, to life. Jesus’ disciples are salt in the world. Blandness gets cast away by the new flavor, new Life. Jesus also told His disciples they would be the light of the world. Blandness comes from having just one influence, Satan.  When a new leader enters, new light illumines the darkness of what life was really like before the Light, Jesus, came into the world. Disciples are to be the light, which the Light of the world ignited so the city, the people of the world, can see the things Satan hid in the dark. When the disciples show their light, people will glorify the Father in heaven who sent the Light.

After Jesus taught about the Beatitudes and who would receive the reward of heaven and after He explained the role of His disciples, He made a stunning statement to the Jews. He said He did not come to abolish the Law or Prophets, but to fulfill them. The Jews expected the Messiah to come as their warrior King defeating their enemy, the Romans, and re-establishing the kingdom of David. The Pharisees would have sat straighter at this statement. Yet, Jesus continued by saying, “Whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:19 [NASB]) Maybe it went over the heads of the Pharisees, maybe it didn’t. The Pharisees often required more of the Jews than the Laws of God required. They changed the Laws to make it harder on the people and to show their own holiness as greater than others. What Jesus said next, He stated plainly. The Pharisees could not have missed His meaning in verse twenty. Jesus said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” [NASB] Can you imagine the shock on the faces of the Pharisees who listened that day and on the faces of the Pharisees who heard about it? Can you imagine the rage that would have engulfed them for a man born in small Nazareth as a carpenter’s son, to teach the people they had to have righteousness greater than the Pharisees? The hidden meaning of Jesus’ statement was that the Pharisees were not righteous. They were not poor in spirit, gentle, merciful, and all the other descriptors Jesus used of those who would inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount describing those who would inherit the kingdom of heaven. He then taught what His disciples must be in the world. By speaking next on the Law and Prophets, righteousness, and the Pharisees, He contrasted the people of the opening attitudes and disciples with the Pharisees. The people might have wondered, if the Pharisees are not to be our standard or goal in life, then who is? What must I do to be perfect? Jesus answered this with verses twenty-one through forty-seven. He teaches the people listening to Him on the mount about going beyond the Law and Prophets. Jesus taught them about loving their neighbor as themselves, as He would in Matthew 22:39. Then He reminded these Jews, even the Gentiles did these things, and they did not believe in Yahweh. So, if the people are no better than the Gentiles and they are to be better than the Pharisees, who are they to be like then? Who is their standard?

With verse forty-eight, Jesus explained to the people who they were to be like. He said, “Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus contrasted His statement from verse twenty when He said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” with verse forty-eight. Jesus gave the people a new standard, their heavenly Father, the One who gave them life and gives new life through regeneration, being born again. Our heavenly Father is the standard not only because He’s our Creator, but because He is perfect, the definer of perfect. “Perfect” comes from the Greek word, teleios. Teleios means being complete as in maturity, a going through stages to reach the end goal, like a spiritual journey. For God, He has always been perfect. Our goal is to be made in His image, to be like Christ. That is our spiritual journey; it is having the mind and character of Christ, as Paul said in Philippians 2:5-8. When our spiritual journey is complete, which will only occur when we are in the kingdom of God, then we will be like Christ. We will be perfect, and our journey will be complete.

Just as Jesus gave the attitudes of the people who were like Him, gentle, meek, merciful, etc. in verses one through eleven, and so He was on earth and is in heaven, and just as His disciples are the salt of the earth and a light to the world telling of Him, we, as those whose righteousness surpasses the scribes and Pharisees in our world, will become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus told the people what their lives will be like on earth as His followers and told them who should be their standard. Today, as people living on the earth as Jesus lived and taught on earth need to realize Jesus teaches us this same message. We will have difficulties and hardships. People will persecute us because of our relationship with Him. But we can rejoice and be glad, for our reward is in heaven and it is great. (Matt. 5:12) When God is our standard, we will suffer at times, but we can know our Father, the One who created us and is re-creating us in His image, calls us His children and gives us hope and joy knowing we have a reward in His kingdom with Him. Our standard is not the world’s standards, not the standards of the scribes and Pharisees. Our standard is God and we will become perfect as He is perfect.

If we choose to live a life according to the world’s standards, it can be good enough according to the world, but it will always fall flat. If we live a complete and perfect life with God as our standard, then our lives will be full of hope and joy. Though we may endure hardships, God will always be there and provide all we need to endure and get through it. He won’t be like the mechanic who just did a good enough job by refilling the tire. He will do a perfect job, fix the problem, and give us all the help we need. Do we want to live by the world’s standards where the answer is good enough and we continue needing air put in our tires because the problem is not remedied? Or, do we want to live by God’s standard, trust God who gives us everything we need for each situation, and live knowing, with God as our Savior, we are complete. We have every good and perfect gift that comes from God above? (James 1:17)

To whose standard do you live?

In whose image do you stand?

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 [NASB])

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. (Philippians 3:13-16 [NASB])

Lord, I am not perfect; I am not yet complete in You. Lord, thank you for wanting me, providing a way for me, and calling me to Yourself. Thank you that You were willing to provide the sin sacrifice for my sins because of Your love and mercy for me. Lead me in Your paths and for Your glory. Help me walk in Your ways and to Your standard, not allowing the morals of the world to be “good enough”, but instead always seeking You. Use me to be salt and light in this world so people will know there is more to life than what they see and to the limited time of earth. Lord, show people Yourself through me so they want to give their lives to You in faith and by confession. Give them Your hope and love. Thank you for what You have done and what You are going to do. Thank you for being the definer perfect and complete. Amen.

Salted and Best

“Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:50b [ESV]

In Matthew 5:27-30 and Mark 9:42-50, Jesus taught His disciples a lesson about intentions and actions. He made the point in the Matthew passage that a person’s thoughts, their intentions, can be as sinful as the sinful act or word. In Matthew 5, Jesus prefaced it with a teaching about adultery and so people often equate the teaching about the eye and hand to adulterous sins. When they do that, they miss the lesson. In these passages, Jesus taught about all sins. He did not intend we denote sexual sins as the greatest sins and so hold our “small” sins as not a big deal. That was not Jesus’ intention with this teaching in both Matthew and Mark.

In Matthew, Jesus made this point very obvious with His Beatitudes. Each of these eight verses of Matthew 5:3-10 speak about a person’s internal life, their emotions, attitudes, and intentions. A follower of Jesus is a follower internally first, then externally with actions and words. For, as Jesus said in Matthew 15:11, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles the person.” [ESV] Paul made a similar distinction when he said in Romans 10:9 that people must confess with their lips Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts God raised Him from the dead to be saved. Internal action, belief, goes along with external action, confession. With Matthew 5:20, Jesus further pointed to the internal motivations of a person when He said, “I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” [ESV] The scribes and Pharisees thought righteousness came from actions. With verse twenty-two, Jesus again highlighted that a person’s internal motivations/intentions are what God will judge. He said in this verse, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” [ESV] Each of these teachings come before Jesus’ teaching about removing an eye (seeing) and hand (doing) to keep one from sinning.

Before his writing about this lesson from Jesus about the hand, eye, and foot, Mark told of Peter, James, and John witnessing Jesus’ transfiguration and talking with Moses and Elijah in Mark 9:2-13. It terrified the three disciples. Peter babbled about setting up three tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, then a voice from a cloud, God’s voice, told them to listen to Jesus. In essence, don’t make plans, but seek the Lord and His purposes and will. Possibly the intentions of Peter to erect three tents was solely for honor of the three men, or maybe he meant he, James, and John were more highly regarded and so felt they should establish themselves by establishing these three tents. Next in this chapter, Mark relayed Jesus healed a boy with an unclean spirit (Mark 9:14-29). The boy’s father asked the disciples to heal him and they couldn’t. They asked Jesus why they could not heal the boy, and Jesus said this healing can only happen with prayer. Were the disciples unable to heal the boy because of an oral action or because of their internal action, little belief? Were they seeking the fame? Jesus spoke about a faithless generation in reference to the disciples being unable to cast out the evil spirit from the boy in verse nineteen. In Mark 9:30-32, Jesus foretold His death and resurrection again and His disciples misunderstood. Was it because they did not believe because they knew people cannot live again after dying? Jesus spoke again about faith, and internal action. In Mark 9:33:37, the disciples were concerned about their status in importance. Who was the most important of Jesus’ followers? Their intentions caused their argument. In Mark 9:38-41, John told Jesus a man was casting out demons in Jesus’ name and he and other disciples tried to stop him because he was not following them. Again, they were seeking fame and greatness among people. Jesus told them if a person is not against Him and them, he is for Him and them. Each of these segments of Mark 9 show us Jesus was teaching the disciples about internal motivations-intentions-and how they can be sinful. Actions and words are not the only ways for sin to occur. Intentions, attitudes, and thoughts can cause a person to sin, too.

What is the lesson Matthew and Mark tell us Jesus taught? Paraphrasing, if your hand, foot, or eye causes another person (be they a child or one less mature in the faith) to stumble in their faith or fall away from faith in Jesus Christ, then remove it. This sounds harsh. Consider some of the passages that preceded Matthew 5:28 and Mark 9:43. If the disciples had convinced the man who cast out demons to follow them, he would have had no power to heal people from demon possession. If one disciple was greater than another in status, only people who followed that one disciple would be right, and it would take away preeminent stature from Jesus. Only by and through Jesus can people be saved. If a disciple had this status, fewer people would be saved. If people could be angry and still worship God, then no necessity would exist for Jesus to bring righteousness. It would mean a wall could exist, a wall of hate. It would be contrary to the Law and mean God would be pleased without sacrifices and heart worship. Finally, with the Pharisees form of righteousness through the Law, the Law would not be fulfilled, people would not be cleansed from sin, and they would be unable to know Yahweh God, the eternal One.  

Understanding this, what did Jesus mean by cutting off a hand or foot or gouging out an eye? Did He mean for us literally to do this? Considering the laws of the nations at that time, such as a thief had his hand removed as a punishment for stealing, stating the lesson this way made sense to the people. Jesus meant whatever causes you to sin in action, word, or thought (intentions, motivations, and attitudes), cast it away from you. Remove it from your life. For one person, being near money makes him or her want to steal it, then don’t work with money. Don’t be a bookkeeper, cashier, or other financial worker. For another person, if talking about other people is a problem for you, when someone begins to talk about someone else, excuse yourself from that conversation or relationship. If that person regularly slanders, backstabs, lies about, or tells gossip about another person, separate yourself from that person entirely. If being with a homeless person makes you prideful that you are “better than them,” then identify at where your pride lies in your life and remove that thing or position or give it to needy people. If you think you know better, have a better education, or your way is always the best, consider Who gave you the gifts to allow you to study, to learn, and to be a more informed and wiser decision-maker. Each gift God gives a person, unless given back to Him daily in recognition of from where it came and for what purpose He wants you to use it, can be used for something less than God intended just like a hand, eye, and foot are good. God, when He created humans, said it was very good. That means hands, feet, and eyes are very good. Yet, if we use any part of ourselves-heart, mind, spirit, and body-separate from God’s purposes and plans, they are not being used for God’s best. Each part of our being, as created by God, is good. All God gives us is good. How we use them and for Whom is what determines if it is merely good, or best. God’s plans and purposes are always best.

Consider this, if God gives a gift of being an exceptional organizer, being efficient, and understanding things quicker than others, that doesn’t mean every plan of that person’s is the best plan. God can use other people also to be organizers, efficient, and wise. Also, if that person to whom God gave these gifts does not submit his or her day and plans to God at the beginning of the day, the plans of that person may not be God’s plans; they may not be the best plans. Just because a person is gifted in a particular area, does not mean what that person says or does is always the best. Each day, each person must submit to God everything He has given to him or her. We must give back to God each gift He gives us-care, love, faith, mercy, humility, home, job, education, car, wisdom, understanding, organization, counting, medicine, teaching, preaching, medical, healing, etc. All gifts from God can be used merely for good by us, or they can be used for the best by God when we submit them back to His purposes each day.

Of what good is salt, if it has lost its saltiness? What good are God’s gifts if they aren’t used by and for Him? (Matthew 5:13)

“Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:7a [ESV])

Lord, I get so caught up in my everyday life, I forget to come to You at the beginning of each day. I forget to give to You all You have given to me. Please forgive me for running headlong into the day without You. Forgive me for considering myself able to take care of everything and forgetting about You. It’s not that I don’t believe in You, but that I don’t give You high enough priority in my life. Without You, I am nothing; I have no existence. Forgive me, Lord. Lead me, Lord, to desire You above all else. Lead me to seek You first. Make my every breath and every heartbeat draw me closer to You, the source of my life, strength, and salvation. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for Your patience, mercy, compassion, and grace. I do not deserve You or Your goodness. You are almighty and all-knowing. Amen.