JAC Online

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.
 

 

 

 

   

 

 

your shopping is guaranteed safe using SSL

eStore account - Sign Up Now! Contact Us - General. Technical Support. Sales Jesus is amazing!  If you see this image tag you should know that He is THE way... not a way!  Grace!
Home Terms of Use Privacy Policy Sitemap Contact Us
copyright ARMYBARMY
armybarmy