Past, present, perfect?
by
Captain Andrew Bale
Matthew
5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
If I were not called to be a Salvation Army Officer I think I
would have like to have been a field archaeologist. I’ve
always been a little bit obsessed with the past and it never
ceases to amaze me just how much archaeologists can deduce
from the minimum amount of visible evidence. A few lumps and
bumps on the landscape, some geometrical scorch marks on the
grass or the smallest shard of pottery can reveal an enormous
amount to the trained eye.
There is a popular television programme in the UK called ‘Time
Team’ in which a group of specialist archaeologists have just
three days to discover as much as they can about the past of a
particular area. A location is chosen, usually because of
previous archaeological finds or maybe because of an unusual
place name. The possibility of a dramatic discovery together
with the threat of potential disappointment makes an
entertaining mix.
Even back in the nineteenth century when the term ‘Christian
Perfection’ was on the lips of many believers the topic still
managed to cause a great deal of confusion, controversy and
fierce debate. Today, if we are going to understand what
Christ meant when he commanded us to be ‘perfect’ then we are
going to have dig around the text with a great deal of
optimistic care. Care, lest we fall into the various pitfalls
that surround this doctrine and optimism because like the
archaeologist our digging must be motivated by a belief that
something lies beneath the surface.
Charles Finney, whenever he approached a text like this, began
by saying what the text did not mean. Indeed in his ‘Lectures
to Professing Christians’, in the chapter that deals with
‘Christian Perfection’, he does just that. He points out that
Christ did not mean that we should possess the divine powers
of God – his omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence but
that we should (and could, if we desired it) possess his moral
nature – that is his love. Finney also underlines the fact
that although ‘Christian Perfection’ can deliver us from sin
it will never deliver us from temptation and the possibility
of sin.
By changing the emphasis of the commandments from ‘thou shalt
not’ to ‘thou shalt’ Jesus was able to reduce a complex and
confusing legal system down to just two commands. If we obey
the ‘first and greatest commandment’ and love God with
everything we have then we shall naturally obey the ‘second’
and love our neighbour as we love ourselves and thereby fulfil
all the requirements of the ‘law and the prophets’.
The word love, like its counterpart hate, has been watered
down so much in contemporary parlance that these words have
lost a lot of their original passion and fervour. People
‘love’ chocolate or ice cream while they ‘hate’ Manchester
United or marzipan. Love is not simply a more intense way of
saying ‘like’, love is an all encompassing passion that
controls and motivates the individual it affects. The idea
that God is love and that holiness happens when we reflect
that love has over the years lost some of its appeal simply
because our definition of love has been emasculated.
Fighting for social justice, feeding the hungry, freeing the
captives – even dying a martyr’s death might all seem more
exciting and dramatic to us than simply reflecting God’s love,
yet any or all of these heroic acts mean nothing unless they
are motivated and sustained by God’s love.
Paul makes it quite clear when he writes to the Corinthians
that it is indeed possible to live what appears to be the most
radical of Christian lives and yet in God’s eyes achieve
nothing. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus pre-empts Paul’s teaching
when he points out that an apparently anointed ministry is not
enough to disguise our potential allegiance with evil.
The truth is that we dismiss the importance of love at our
eternal peril. Unless we settle this issue in our hearts we
settle nothing, this is the stumbling block that all believers
must circumnavigate if they wish to maximise their usefulness
to God and make their way to heaven.
The problem is how does the ‘Christian’ who can preach and
pray with the ‘tongues of angels’, who has ‘given up all they
have to feed the poor’, who preaches and casts out demons ‘in
the name of Jesus’ and who is quite prepared to die for the
cause of Christ – ensure that their actions are motivated only
by love?
The bible teaches that God is love and therefore any
consecration that we make must be made in response to the
divine love that we experience. A life of apparent action that
has no consistent corresponding experience of intimacy with
the Holy Spirit is a worthless life when measured against the
benchmark set by Christ.
J.B. Philips calls us to true holiness beautifully when he
puts the following words into the mouth of Paul in Romans 12 –
‘With eyes wide open to the mercies of God I plead with your
brothers to offer up your lives as living sacrifices’. It is
our appreciation and intimate experience of God’s love that
must inspire and sustain any sacrifice we make if we are to be
certain that our consecration receives divine approval –
anything less as Paul told the Corinthians amounts to
‘nothing’.
‘Christian perfection’ happens when Christians experience and
respond to the love of God. This response must be what Finney
calls ‘disinterested benevolence’ – that is love which is
naturally given with no thought about what it costs us or what
potential blessing it might deliver. This is proper Christian
love, it is a life naturally focussed on God and his desires
without room for any other consideration. It is only love like
this that can enable us to give up all that is ‘sinful and
doubtful’ and devote all that remains to God.
There is a struggle associated with the attainment of
holiness, as Matthew 11:12 reminds us ‘since the days of John
the Baptist’ it is ‘forceful’ believers who ‘lay hold’ of ‘the
kingdom of heaven’. However this fight should not be with the
minutiae of our consecration – holiness doesn’t begin with a
comprehensive list of those things we must give up. Our
struggle must be the same struggle that Christ encountered in
Gethsemane. This battle must centre on our will and the will
of our Father in heaven.
The ultimate question every believer must answer is who am I
going to serve? Who am I going to obey? This is the issue that
determined whether Calvary went ahead or not and this is the
issue that Paul devotes so much time to in his letter to the
Romans –
“Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to
obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you
obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or
to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)
This was the ‘truth’ that Jesus told the Pharisees could set
them free in John chapter 8. This is the ‘fruit’ that ‘proves
our repentance’ and it is the same today as it was 2000 years
ago. It is when we ‘do the things that Abraham’ did – or for
the Christian, the things that Jesus did that we can rest
assured that we are God’s children. If we need further
scriptural encouragement we need look no further than 1 John
3:10 “This is how we know who the children of God are and who
the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is
right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love
his brother.”
What then does God expect of us? What standard of behaviour is
he hoping to see in our lives? ‘If you love me’ says Jesus
‘you will obey my commandments’. It is loving that matters
most, love involves the heart and it is within our hearts that
our motives and desires are born – “For out of the heart come
evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft,
false testimony, slander.’
How do we know if our love is genuine? The answer is simple -
If we obey then we love, love and obedience are inextricably
linked. Where can we find such love? The answer must always be
in our own Gethsemane. Seekers after holiness are still
required to go ‘beyond the brook’; for it is only here that
‘the whole of love’s demands’ can be resolved. The question is
a relatively simple one – ‘who are we going to obey’? If we
cannot bring ourselves to obey God then we do not love God and
we do not love God because we have not truly settled this
question. It is Gethsemane, quickly followed by Calvary that
alone leads to resurrection – there is no other way.
Some Christians refuse to enter Gethsemane altogether, some
make their homes there – the bible tells us that a few find
and successfully traverse ‘the narrow way’ that is the only
honourable exit. Where do we find ourselves? Are we waiting
outside in fear? Are we dwelling within in indecision? Or are
we faithfully, obediently and most important of all – lovingly
– ‘denying ourselves’, taking up our cross and following
Christ.
Until we resolve this question we will look for Christ both
within ourselves and our Corps in vain for ‘without holiness
none shall see the Lord’.
I am here Lord in that garden fair
Where you struggled hard to conquer your will,
And the trees that shade
Heard the prayers that you prayed
And their leaves gently whisper it still,
"Must I go still further, climbing the distant hill?"
I am here Lord and the flowers bright
Write your answer with their glorious hue,
And the birds that wing
Overhead also sing
Of the things that a saviour must do,
"See he goes still further, climbing the distant hill!"
You are here Lord in the garden fair
Where for many years I've struggled to pray.
And the master’s shout
Tells my soul to come out.
For you've come here to take me away,
And you lead still further, climbing the distant hill.
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