So I preached this earlier this afternoon and didn’t get the climactic ending I wanted when I shared about Matthew 8:1-3.
Nevertheless, I did drive the point home regarding how we never had a chance to hit God’s perfect standards, and how we needed Christ, perfection born into time and space to redeem the unclean and the weary.
Not sure where to head to from here, but I will just say, that God is good.
Before I work on next Sunday’s message, I’d like to share 2 things:
First, I took some pressure off of myself by giving the worship team the directive to stay meditating on Psalm 20, and to stay within the theme of trusting in the Lord, at least for the rest of the quarter. Besides this achieving the additional breathing space I mentioned, this also gives me a chance to observe how they tackle their part of the Sunday service, with the resources they have.
I am confident that they will succeed. After all, they ARE who I’m calling, the ‘Waymaker’ team.
Second, the discussion we had with the team after the service was a reminder of why we persist in celebrating Holy Communion every Sunday, and why we also insist on exhorting for giving and making a financial offering.
Of course, the reason goes beyond our paying homage to our late Senior Pastor, who in the past had us go from doing Holy Communion once a month, to now in every service. He had his reasons, of course – with at least one of them being our being brought to physical healing and other supernatural miracles when we observe it.
For us, I believe the core reason why we celebrate Holy Communion is for us to recognize the ‘reactive’ Christ – that is to say that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior by way of (1) taking the wages of sin in His body, and (2) reconciling us and proclaiming our reconciliation by way of His blood.
In other words, in Holy Communion we remember in detail the salvation that Christ paid a great price for us to have – a salvation that we enjoy, one that keeps us together no matter what happens to us.
Consequently, what I would have us exhort in Giving and Offertory would have us recognize the ‘proactive’ Christ – that is to say that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has us celebrating the everlasting and eternal life that He gave us – quite naturally, by giving to others. It’s a call for us to love as we are loved, forgive as we have been forgiven, and to give as we have been given to.
In Giving are reminded of the righteousness and union that Christ paid a great price for us to have – a righteousness independent of our works, but one firmly and absolutely established by His finished work… one that keeps us together no matter what we make happen.
This will work into the general Playbook that I’m setting up for our Ministry.
From here I’ve wanted to just go into Psalm 50 (as today, February 19, 2024 is the 50th day of the year)… But as it is, if I do that, I don’t think I’ll ever get back into what I have in ‘reserve’ here.
And what did I have in reserve? Well, as we’re coming from the Sermon on the Mount, remember I said that one part we could take from Christ’s choice words is that we could never hope to follow God’s perfect law – not that our actions or inactions couldn’t count towards said perfection, but because we were imperfect to begin with.
And while we’re talking about perfection, I suppose that other part of the Sermon on the Mount came to my mind – where Christ said “Be perfect, even as God is perfect”.
It’s as if to say that if you want to follow what is said in the Sermon on the Mount, or if you want a one-verse summary of the entire 3 Chapters, it’s right there.
And, actually, I think that was my entire point in bringing it up. Compare Christ’s words.
To the multitudes who were there for all sorts of reasons, Christ says: “Be perfect, even as God is perfect.”
To the leper, who directly asked Christ, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean’, Christ says: “I am willing; Be cleansed.”
I could imagine that a possible response to Christ’s words on the Sermon would be in the lines of, ‘Who CAN be perfect?!’
And that’s a gentle response, because I’m pretty sure a good portion of me has the propensity to react in the lines of, ‘Who is THIS clown who lectures on perfection!?’
To be honest, I was about to say that maybe we could approach Him the same way that the leper did, only with different verbiage – I was about to point out, we can say, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me perfect’… But I’m not so sure about that. I think Christ said that Sermon, fully aware that everyone would be confounded by what He had to share, but not necessarily brought to the realization of coming to Him for help.
Knowing that our Christ does not leave anything to chance, I think it wasn’t about our being made perfect, more than through His finished work, HE who was perfect became our sin (imperfection) that we would become His righteousness (perfection).
And I think this is further backed by what Andrew Farley loves to point out in Hebrews 10:
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near… But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.Hebrews 10:1, 12-14
Did you notice the same mention of perfection? What I’m trying to say here is that, again: Christ didn’t leave anything to chance. He did not wait for us to call out to Him for ‘perfection’, but through His finished work, all who would believe in Him would not only BE ‘perfect’, but ‘perfected for all time’!
And I venture to ask, what does this mean to be perfect, and to be perfected for all time? I think we can go back to the words of God to the Israelites, before the Ten Commandments were even given to Moses:
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Exodus 19:4-6
Friends, let me just cut to the chase. Read through Malachi and you would see just how weary the Israelites were with following the Law after the rollercoaster of obedience and disobedience, and the volatility of blessing and curse that spanned over generations – it was shown in their complacency, and in their utter disregard for the sacrifices they offered.
I see this as a call for all of us, Jew or Gentile – If we find ourselves weary in obeying the voice of Perfection, or if we’re exhausted in trying to meet and maintain the standards of Perfection, may we, in our humility, give ear to the Holy Spirit…
For it is the Holy Spirit who points us to Christ, who obeyed the voice of God when we couldn’t, and who kept the Covenant of the Lord, when we never had a chance.
Through Christ, we have been perfected for all time – meaning, we have been made God’s treasured possession among all peoples, part of His kingdom of priests, part of His holy nation.
Sound familiar? Peter said the same thing in His epistle! The first part of 1 Peter 2:9 states, ‘to the elect’ (1:1), and to those of us who would read:
“…you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,”
…with a particular purpose. Read the rest of the verse, “that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”
Through Christ we have been perfected for all time, and this article serves our purpose of proclaiming and testifying this salvation (Salvation, who is Christ Himself)… But seeing as we’ve been made new creations, and not mere servants in the Temple, but we ourselves have been made literal temples of the Holy Spirit, I’d say that everything we do “proclaim(s) the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
So on top of all we’ve been made into – “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” – By Christ, we have been perfected, by Christ, we have been made His praises.
With all this I’m led to pray, not FOR the light of Christ to be seen in us (because that’s what’s shining through us by default), but for the light of Christ to be seen in us MORE.
May the Light who is Christ be seen, even when we find ourselves in problems or setbacks, or circumstances that the world may view was undesirable or detrimental.
May Christ be seen, as we strive to do what we set out to do, according to how unique each and every one of us have been made, shining Christ before, during, and after all of our plans resolve.
And may we minister to ourselves, by way of intentional awareness of this Light that we shine – both to the darkness that our old mindsets insist we still bear from within, or to the clear and present darkness of this reality we still exist in.
I’ll end with these verses that I’ve had here in reserve:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”Matthew 5:17
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:4
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17
To be honest, I still have something else to add to this – something we’ve already talked about a lot concerning Christ and the said leper in Matthew 8. It is something I’m sure I’d like to discuss, most probably next Sunday, after maybe sharing on what I wrote down here.
I thought I’d close this here and now but it appears I will be closing all of this, right on time for the last Sunday of February. Maybe we could move to a new nuance to trusting in the Lord by this coming March.
So much going on… and it’s just Monday. Amazing.
God bless us all.
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