Dr. Peter Barnes tells about a radio preacher that he listened to while he was in college named the Rev. Apostle J.R. Chambers, Jr. Quite surprisingly for a radio preacher, Chambers had a decided speech impediment. Each week he recited the verse from the Bible on which his entire ministry was based. It was Matthew 5:48, “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Because of his impediment each week the verse came out like this: “Yyyyou must . . . You mmmmust be . . . You must bbbe . . . You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. See there,” he would say, “proof positive from the Bible!” It always amused Barnes that someone who talked so much about Christian perfection talked about it in such an imperfect fashion! (1)
I hope no one will think I am making fun of persons with speech impediments. Some of the brightest and most productive people who have ever lived had such impediments. It’s just such a perfect illustration (no pun intended) of the misuse of the word “perfect.”
Nobody likes someone who is perfect. Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Russian ballet star, was once asked what he thought of the old Hollywood actor and dancer Fred Astaire. Baryshnikov answered, “What do dancers think of Fred Astaire? It’s no secret. We hate him. He gives us a complex because he’s too perfect. His perfection is an absurdity. It’s too hard to face.” (2)
An interesting remark from one of the world’s premiere dancers. But it’s true nobody likes someone who is perfect. The world crucifies people who are perfect. We are grateful that we are part of a grace-based faith in which perfection is not required.
Pastor Kerry S. Doyal tells about a bumper sticker on an old worn and dented blue pick-up truck. The message on the bumper sticker was, “Honk if something falls off.” The bumper sticker was meant in a humorous vein concerning the condition of the truck, but it caused Doyal to think about that phrase: “Honk if something falls off.”
First, he thought, it is no small matter to know and admit you are not perfect. Whether your life is like that humble truck, or be it a spotless, shiny Lexus or other luxury automobile, none of us is perfect. The sooner we admit that, the better off we all are. That truck owner knew he had a well worn means of transportation one susceptible to falling apart without notice. He didn’t need us to tell him he was not the picture of perfection. He knew it and wanted us to know he knew it.
“Wait a minute,” you say, “if he knew he might lose a part, he shouldn’t be on the road.” Maybe so. But what guarantee do you or I have that we will never lose a piece of truck in our travels?
Let me be clear, says Doyal: living an “I’m not perfect, so get over it” life is not what he is advocating here. Admitting that your imperfections show up on occasion is another matter.
Second, this driver God bless his sweet soul assumes that people will be so kind as to inform him if he drops a chunk of truck on his journeys: a muffler, a bumper, a hubcap, the transmission. With wear and age, the old truck may just accidentally litter the road. This is not something he wants, but knows may happen.
Yet, says Pastor Doyal, he is an optimist. His expectation is that . . . as he travels down the road of life, his fellow travelers are on the same road he is on. If they see him lose something, they will let him know with a friendly, informative honk and maybe even a wave. Much like they would want him to do for them.
“Maybe this dear old driver doesn’t get off the farm much,” says Doyal. “Most honking is not friendly. It may be informative, but what is being conveyed is not usually helpful information. Usually it is angry, critical, judging, shaming. Also, the waves that most often accompany a horn blast are often not full-fingered hand encounters if you catch the drift. Indeed, if something of yours falls off in my lane of life, I’m going to let you hear about it all right. But so much for pity, compassion and understanding. Try condemnation, vilification and humiliation.
“The way we respond to people’s imperfections, one would think their old trucky lives meant to drop pieces in our path . . . ‘Accident?’ [they scream,] ‘No way! That was personal. Don’t try to tell me your humanity is showing. I know better.’
“[What I would give] for the assumption that if my imperfections crop up at an inconvenient time to you and unbeknownst to me, you will let me know, all the while assuming it was nothing personal . . . Such a sweet and humble request: ‘Honk if something falls off.’ It speaks of community, a shared commitment to accept and watch after one another, to cover for one another.
“If one follows me long enough,” writes Pastor Doyal, “they will indeed see something [or some things] fall off. It is just going to happen. Do I want it? No. Can I prevent it? Sometimes, yes, but not all the time. Will it happen at a time and in a way that is inconvenient? Sadly, it probably will, possibly causing pain. Does it mean I wanted it to happen? God forbid!
“But if I mean when it does happen, may I ask a simple favor? One which I will try to return the best I can. Can we count on each other to honk if something falls off? Romans 15:7 ‘Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.’” (NIV) (3)
I love that. No, we’re not perfect. In fact, we are uncomfortable being around people who come across as perfect. And let’s face it our whole theology of grace is based on the notion that we can’t be perfect. That’s the overriding theme of Paul’s writing. He couldn’t live up to the Law. He writes, “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Rom 7:18-20).
Paul is tortured by his inability to be perfect, and yet here is Christ, Paul’s Master, in the Sermon on the Mount saying without any qualification, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” How can this be?
We need to see that Jesus is speaking about a very special kind of perfection being perfect in love. The verse being perfect as God is perfect, causes people a lot of headaches because taken just by itself, it sounds like Jesus is setting a standard we cannot possibly attain that he is telling us to be sinless as he was sinless. That is not the intent of Christ’s words. That’s clear from the original Greek.
The Greek word for “perfect” in this verse is ‘teleios.’ It doesn’t mean ‘sinless perfection.’ However, there is a Greek word that does mean “sinless perfection.” It is the word ‘anamartetos.’ Jesus used it in John 8:7, “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’” It is a different word in the Greek, than “perfect,” ‘teleios.’ (4) Jesus wasn’t speaking about sinless perfection when he told us to be perfect. The word perfect he uses here doesn’t mean sinless it means “complete.”
That’s also clear from the context of this passage. Note the verses just before this one: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, 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, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The perfection that Christ asks us to pursue is perfection in love. This is a critical teaching, and it is one we often ignore. Yet it distinguishes us from every faith and every philosophy in the human family. It is the concept of agape love, the love of God. It is a love that is vastly superior to any human love. Note how Christ describes it.
First of all, he tells us to love our enemies. Think about that. The world, as well as our own sinful natures, tells us to love our family and to love our friends. They do not tell us to love our enemies.
It’s natural to love our family and friends. Even the Godfather of the old Mafia families loved his family and friends. Anybody can do that. Christ says, “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?” Then he says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Christ is calling us to love as God loves.
Let’s put it so that no one is this room can miss it: If you love only those who love you, those who look like you, those who speak the same language you speak and value the same things you value, and vote the same way you vote and ignore everyone else, or even despise everyone else you may be a nice person, you may be in some ways a good person, you may be a responsible person, but you are not a follower of Jesus Christ. If you are going follow Jesus, you are going to need to be complete in your love. You’re going to seek a love that extends to everyone in the world.
That’s agape love, God’s love. Notice how Jesus puts it, “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.”
In other words, God doesn’t play favorites. He doesn’t say, “I’m going to cause tornadoes to fall on the Iranians, but let the U.S. only have beautiful weather.” God doesn’t say, “I’m going to cause a drought in Pakistan, but make certain that the U.S. gets plenty of rain.” God doesn’t bless people according to their political philosophies or even their religious persuasions. Some TV evangelists would send blights on certain cities say Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans but Jesus is absolutely clear that God doesn’t play that way which is one reason why the TV evangelists should have absolutely zero credibility.
This is to say that everyone we meet is to be the object of our love. That is the reason we send missionaries around the world. That is why we are involved in evangelism. That does not mean we do not use common sense in our dealings with people, but it does mean that our basic orientation is to bring God’s love to everyone we meet. This sounds like a radical notion, which in itself should surprise us, since it is at the heart of Jesus’ teachings.
There was a book that was very popular a few years ago titled, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History by Michael Hart. Now I ask you, who do you think ranked #1 of the 100 most influential people in history? According to Hart, #1 was Mohammad based on the fact that he has more followers. #2 was Sir Isaac Newton based on the idea that his discoveries form the basis of all modern technology.
“Jesus doesn’t show up until #3 on list. But here’s what’s interesting. Hart says he would have no trouble at all placing Jesus as #1 especially because of the uniqueness of Jesus’ teaching about loving your enemies. But he doesn’t and here’s why. Hart writes: “Now these ideas [about loving your enemies] which were not a part of the Judaism of Jesus’ day, nor of any other religion are surely among the most remarkable and original ethical ideas ever presented. If they were widely followed, I would have no hesitation in placing Jesus first in this book.
“But the truth is,” Hart continues, “they are not widely followed. In fact, they are not even generally accepted. Most Christians consider the injunction to ‘Love your enemy’ as at most an ideal which might be realized in some perfect world, but one which is not a reasonable guide to conduct in the actual world we live in. We do not normally practice it, do not expect others to practice it, and do not teach our children to practice it. Jesus’ most distinctive teaching, therefore, remains an intriguing but basically untried suggestion.” (5)
Think about that for a moment and it will break your heart. This outside observer is saying to us that the primary reason we are not turning the world upside down is that we have, for all practical purposes, discarded Christ’s most distinctive teaching. We are no better than the world to whom we are seeking to witness. No wonder the world is unimpressed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can do better. Let me tell you about a woman who is trying to do better, though some of you will not agree with her actions.
Go with me back about 18 months ago to the bombs that were planted at the Boston marathon. Hopefully that event is still fresh in your memory. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the older of the two brothers who set those bombs in Boston, the one who died in the process of a police chase. After the tragedy, you may remember, no cemetery was willing to allow Tamerlan’s body to be buried there, due to widespread protest. No one wanted his body buried in their town.
Martha Mullen, a Christian, felt a conviction to respond. As reported on National Public Radio, Martha began contacting Islamic funeral services, eventually locating a Muslim cemetery in Doswell, Virginia that would accept Tamerlan’s body.
NPR reporter Audie Cornish asked Martha, a total stranger to the Tsarnaev family, why she chose to get involved, especially given the risk that she might, herself, be targeted by angry protestors. Martha answered, “It made me think of Jesus’ words, ‘Love your enemies.’ I felt that . . . [Tamerlan] was being maligned probably because he was Muslim, and Jesus tells us to, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ and your neighbor is not just someone who you get along with but someone who is alien to you . . . If I’m going to live my faith then I’m going to do that which is uncomfortable and not necessarily what’s comfortable . . . I feel like it was the right thing and it’s important to be true to the principles of your faith.” (6)
Now, you may not agree with Martha. But I hope you will respect her for standing up for her convictions indeed, for standing up for Christ’s teachings. “Be perfect . . . as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It’s Christ most ignored command. But it’s something for us to seriously ponder. How can we go about showing agape love, the love of God, to the world in which we live?
1. http://www.fpcboulder.org/Sermons/Sermon3 22 98.htm.
2. Gene Shalit, Great Hollywood Wit (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002), p. 188.
3. Used by permission. Kerry S. Doyal, Pastor, Christ Community Fellowship (an EFCA congregation), Sarver, PA, http://www.ccffriends.org/.
4. Ray Scott, http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/words-of-distinction perfect-ray-scott-sermon-on-discipleship-65368.asp.
5. Dr. John Vertefeuille, http://www.cedarpark.org/thechapel/services/2010/0110/notes.pdf.
6. Audie Cornish, “All Things Considered,” National Public Radio (5-10-13).