SOM 20–Perfection

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/som-20-perfection/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p>"You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).</p><p><strong>On the previous topic, "Enemies:"</strong></p><ul><li>Jesus, Paul, and the early church spoke clearly and definitively about the need to love our enemies—never to assault them (verbally or physically), never to kill them, always love them.</li><li>This understanding was lost when the church made its alliance with the state in the 4th century.</li><li>From that time, and up to our day, nearly all churches are worldly and disobedient to Jesus’ command to love our enemies.</li><li>Making a change in this area would really make the Christian community “pop”—stand out!</li><li>Further: Listen to Mark Twain's <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/warprayer/">War Prayer</a>.</li></ul><p><strong>Be perfect?</strong></p><ul><li>At first, it sounds as though Jesus is saying that we have to be sinless or faultless. As a young Christian I believed this was indeed exactly what he was commanding. Perfect—no compromise—no margin of error!</li><li>This misunderstanding affected how I related to others. It affected me as a leader. It affected my family.</li><li>However, there are two problems with such an interpretation.<ul><li>The Greek word <i>(teleios)</i> means perfected in the sense of completion or maturity—the end of a process—perfected.</li><li>It must be understood in the context of loving enemies—and the rest of the lifestyle teaching in Matt 5. It's not a call to be perfect students or workers, or to be 100% fault-free.</li><li>We are to be like our Father—in how he treats us. God gives grace (sunshine, rain, and much more) to all (the righteous and the wicked).</li></ul></li><li>It has been suggested that perfection here means <i>holiness</i>. We are to be holy, for he is holy (Lev 11:44).</li></ul><p>So, are we behaving like <i>adult</i> children of the