I’m picking up again on Sunday’s sermon, last week going into this week on living by what is normally considered to be an impossible standard.  At the end of Matthew 5, in a verse, Jesus summarizes what it means to follow him in terms of what he has prescribed.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

Anytime someone expects “perfect” for doing anything, there is an inherent problem.  We are not perfect so how can you expect it.  Parents always try to relieve pressure from their kids, whether in academics or sports, saying, “…just do the best you can because nobody’s perfect” right?  So, what do we do with Jesus’ expectation for us?  Bible scholars relegate a statement like this one to being hypothetical but unrealistic.  Others will take this to be an Old Covenant standard targeting moral behavior rendering it impractical and non-applicable to Christians now living in an age of grace.  That teaching must be dated right?    

Actually, what Jesus is doing by raising the bar so high is moving spiritually minded people right into the center of His grace.  When you have ears to hear what Jesus has been talking about, you quickly see that the only way to live what Jesus requires is by grace alone.  You can never score a perfect 100% on an exam saying, no anger, no lust, perfect marriage, promise keeper, non-retaliation, and loving your enemies.  Our sin nature’s protest any claim to personal perfection in these areas. 

Someone, will be quick to swing the pendulum to the complete opposite side, saying, “Well since we can never be perfect, Jesus must be alluding to his perfect righteousness given to us by his death on the Cross.”  This is not a complete miss in terms of how we understand our sin and need for grace because the grace to become a Christian and live as a Christian begins and ends with the Cross.  Still, I do not believe Jesus here in verse 48 is talking about our foundation to being perfect but our access to being perfect.  Remember, Jesus is pushing believers to God’s Law in light of grace and faith.  He makes this point by showing the true intent of the Law was to bring people to the end of themselves.  Rabbi’s of old were claiming that keeping the Law is what made you right with God, similar to a parent chiding his or her child, saying, “behave…and if you behave you are in good standing with me as your parent!”  Behavior-based religion is always a dead-end street leading people to despair.  Every false-religion and cult is based on behaving just enough to get right and stay right with their higher-power.

Jesus, implodes the Rabbi’s Satanic contortion of God’s Law by simply recasting obedience from “Behave!” to “Believe!”  How are you “perfect” in God’s sight?  By faith.  Truly our foundation for being perfect or being made right with God is by faith in the Cross but then how do we then live out Christ’s moral standards?  Again, by faith.  Look again to Jesus’ Beatitudes listed Matthew 5:1-11, verse 3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Believers or those who are counted by Christ as “inside” his kingdom are those who take this posture, a posture of helplessness.  You know you cannot save yourself and only Christ can and does.  Now, back to verse 48, what Jesus is saying is that truly following him takes this same posture.  When the Law acts like a mirror, showing my sin, I am reduced to say, “I cannot live what Jesus requires but by grace and through faith.  What Jesus means by being perfect.  Being perfect is synonymous with living by faith in the only One who ever lived the Law perfectly!  “Be perfect” means casting yourself into a state of complete dependence on Jesus who is perfect. 

In terms of anger, it is never enough to say, “Well, I haven’t murdered anyone so, I’m good” (cf. Matt. 5:21).  “Well, I have crossed lines before, but I’ve never fully committed adultery” (cf. Matt. 5:27).  “Well, my marriage fell apart, but we really weren’t compatible in the first place, so this was all for the good” (cf. Matt. 5:31).  “Well, my word is my bond, unless I need to fudge on it, when nobody will really ever know” (cf. Matt. 5:33).  “Well, that person deserved what they coming, because they started it!” (cf. Matt. 5:38-39).  “Well, I don’t have to love that person and in fact, I’m pretty bitter because he attacked me” (cf. Matt. 5:44). 

Chapter 5 could be summarized as Jesus’ mission to expose people using the Law as cover for their sins.  Genuine believers both see and embrace what Jesus is doing here.  It is often a painful process to take Jesus and what he says, at face value but this is what Jesus demands.  This is what it looks like to follow Jesus by faith.  To be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.  This is Doing the Impossible by grace, through faith alone.