PERFECT AS MY FATHER

“Therefore you shall BE PERFECT, just AS YOUR FATHER in heaven IS PERFECT” – Matthew 5:48

God’s Will for me as His child is to be PERFECT AS MY FATHER: ““Therefore you shall BE PERFECT, just AS YOUR FATHER in heaven IS PERFECT” (Mt.5:48). God never demands from us what we cannot produce. Our Perfect Father demands perfection and His Grace makes it possible! There are three significant dimensions to being perfect as our Father in heaven is: The Perfection God Possesses; the Perfection which He requires; and the Perfection which He Provides.

God Possesses Perfection: “…as your Father in heaven is perfect”! His Perfection is an attribute which summarizes all His other attributes: His love is a perfect love; His holiness is a perfect holiness; His grace is a perfect grace; and His wrath is a perfect wrath. God wholly possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any desirable virtue. His Moral Perfection speaks of His holiness or His righteousness. He is the Standard of all morality and righteousness. Prophet Isaiah was overwhelmed by the perfection of God’s holiness (Isa.6:1-6). After seeing the One before Whom the Seraphims worshipped, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts,” Isaiah exclaimed: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isa.6:5). God possesses such degree of perfection that even the holiest of men are awed in His presence!

God Requires Perfection: “…Be perfect…” This command issued by King Jesus echoes Leviticus 11:44, 19:2, and 20:26 and is quoted by Peter (1 Pet. 1:16). God’s required Perfection is not mere external obedience, but inward conformity to His laws. God says in Leviticus 19:2, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Hebrews 12:14 demands: “Follow peace…and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” In the context of His Sermon on the Mount, the degree of righteousness required of Christ’s followers who would be a part of His kingdom must exceed the false, outward righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (v.20).

These carnally-driven scribes and Pharisees showed outward conformity to the law, but no inward obedience, as illustrated in the six antitheses between verses 20 and 48. It is not enough to not murder, we cannot be angry. It is not enough not to commit adultery, we must not lust. It is not enough to love our neighbours, we must also love our enemies. This heaven-bound high standard exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and is nothing less than God’s own perfection!

God Provides Perfection: “…you SHALL be perfect”! We are empowered to be perfect. God graciously provides His Perfection through the Person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is supplied in three ways: positionally, practically, and permanently. God provides the righteousness of Christ to the believing sinner positionally through justification by faith alone: God forgives sin and declares us to be perfect in His eyes, on the basis of our trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross. He credits our sin to Jesus, and His righteousness to us. We are justified as if we were as perfect as Jesus who knew no sin (Rom.5:1; 2Cor.5:21; 1Pet.3:18). Next, we receive the righteousness of Christ practically in sanctification. Having been justified by faith, God begins to work in us to produce a righteousness of heart and action.

Whereas justification is immediate, sanctification is a progressive or gradual divine work of God. It is God’s work of making us in this life into what He has already declared us to be: righteous; hence the Scriptural commands which call the believer to holiness in life (Heb.12:14; 1Pet.1:13-16). Ultimately, God provides perfection permanently in glorification at the return of Christ (Phi.3:20-21). Glorification is the ultimate in the processes of: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, and justification culminate in glorification (Rom.8:28-30). “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1Jh.3:2).

The Perfection which God possesses and requires, He freely provides by faith in Christ to the believer, all for His Glory!