Lesson 9. If your choice is between perfection and nothing, you will always have nothing. Don’t expect a perfect church, pastor, elder, people, things, or situations in this fallen world in which we live.
Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
Many people look for the perfect church, cannot find one, and then do not attend or participate as members in a church. Others look for the perfect pastor, perfect preacher, or perfect Sunday school teacher, and cannot find one so they flit from church to church. Others find they do not have the perfect wife or the perfect husband or the perfect marriage, so they get a divorce and search for a new spouse. Others find they are pregnant in a way that is not perfect or that they are going to give birth to a child that is not perfect, so they choose to have an abortion. Some cannot find the perfect job, so they do not work at all. In many ways, people refuse to possess something or enjoy a relationship because it is not perfect.
Jesus commanded us to “Be perfect.” That is the goal Jesus has set for us as His followers. Jesus set a high standard for us, the highest standard possible, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is our goal, but we will not be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect each moment of the day in thought, word, and deed. By God’s grace, we can overcome the power of sin and resist temptation (or follow Jesus’ way of escape). However, we will not do so perfectly day after day after day, partly because we still do battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Schaeffer taught that in Christ we can be substantially healed spiritually in this life, spiritually healed enough to know that Christ has made a difference in our lives (and others may see this difference too). If the choice we set before ourselves is perfect spiritual healing day by day without a slip or nothing, we will have nothing.
We can set before ourselves the choice to be perfect with the means of grace that God has given us; such as, the Bible, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the example of other Christians and the Church throughout history, the Bible-believing Church, the sacraments, Bible-believing sermons, Christian counselors, Christian families, and other means of grace that you might think of as you are thanking God for His blessings to you. But if we will be satisfied only with perfection or nothing with regard to our appropriation of the means of grace, we will always have nothing.
You might also like to learn more about Francis Schaeffer from two of his biographies, now online for you to read for free at http://www.labri.net .
Copyright 2009 by L.G. Parkhurst, Jr.
International Bible Lessons
Prayer Steps to Serenity
Serenity Groups
A Psalm and A Prayer
