Scripture: Matthew 5 (page 958); Philippians 3:4-14 (p. 1163)

Title: How to be perfect in one easy lesson

It just doesn't seem fair! We're only human. Yet in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus presents us with an impossible set of demands. He says we must be completely pure (inside and out), completely honest, irrationally loving -- in one word, perfect (5:48). And if we are not completely perfect we have no chance of entering the Kingdom of Heaven. So what hope is there for us, and why is Jesus so (apparently) unreasonable?

Jesus makes uncompromising demands on our lives not to bring us to despair but to bring us to Him. By demanding perfection he drives us to:

1. Face the facts -- we fall hopelessly short of God's standard (5:17-48)

2. Declare moral bankruptcy (5:3)

3. Accept the gift of His righteousness (5:6; Phil. 3:8-9)

4. Press on to perfection by His power (Phil. 3:14)

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I used to do alot of hiking when I was in junior high and highschool.

I remember one particular hike very vividly. I was camping with some high-school buddies in the Kaghan Valley in the far North of Pakistan. The Kaghan Valley is a narrow river gorge with high mountains on either side. To get there at that time you had to make an utterly terrifying drive over one of the narrowest, most treacherous roads I have ever travelled. Once you get there it mostly rains, but the trip has gotten your adrenaline so high you hardly mind. The fishing is supposed to be tremendous, but I can't say much abou that since I have an ability to make fish flee at my mere presence.

Anyway, four of us -- Andrew, John and Pete and I decided we would climb to the top of one of the mountains that loomed up on either side of the river. We set out early -- it beautiful and rare sunny day. And the beginning of the hike was perfect, after the first ascent we came across terraced fields, orchards, walnut trees. We stopped and rested at a crystal clear mountain spring. It was great.

It didn't last. We started to get hot. The trail became narrow and steep. And as we climbed and didn't seem to be noticeably closer to the summit we began to realize that this was a more ambitious climb we had thought. From the valley it had looked so tame.

Then we came upon an almost vertical ascent -- about two hundred feet straight up with a narrow goat path winding across the face and little bits of scrub growing out of it. And we started to argue. Pete and John did not like the look of it . I didn't either, but Andrew was stubbornly unwilling to give up -- after all, we were almost there.

So Andrew and I struggled on -- and we made it, finally stepping to the top of the cliff -- Only to discover that what we thought was the summit was just a small ridge -- and that the true summit loomed thousands of feet beyond. What discouragement -- almost despair. To have worked so hard -- to think you have almost made it -- only to find that the goal is out of reach.

Jesus teaching in Matthew 5 reminds me of that hike.

The passage starts off pleasantly -- poetically -- like a pleasant stroll in the foothills. The goal -- the summit -- is what Jesus calls the Kingdom of Heaven. In Jesus teaching the Kingdom of Heaven is not really a place, of course -- it refers to the reign or dominion of God. Those who are in relationship with God, who are reconciled to God are part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who remain alienated from God are outside the Kingdom of Heaven. Most importantly, in Jesus teaching, those who are in the Kingdom have life -- but those outside the Kingdom face judgment and death. This whole chapter is giving us requirements for being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now as we start off on this passage our destination, the Kingdom of Heaven doesn't seem so distant. The first ten or so verses are challenging enough to be invigorating, but nothing too hard. And they're so familiar we are comforted just hearing them:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It's hard to listen to this without finding it somehow attractive. We may not quite understand what all of it means, but it all sounds so pleasant -- it has such a ring to it -- that it must be good. True there are some puzzling expressions -- what does poor in spirit mean? And the last item persecuted for righteousness -- that's a rough spot on the trail, but hey, even that appeals to our dreams of heroism and self-sacrifice -- You know those fantasies in which you die for a noble cause and thousands weep at your grave.

Most of the rest of it is not bad at all: mourning -- why some of us are really good at that. Meekness? Hey, if the meek will inherit the earth, sure, I can probably manage a little meekness. It's worth a shot. Merciful -- I'm willing to ring a bell for the salvation army or helping out with a soup kitchen. Not too hard. Makes us feel good about ourselves.

And as we go on things just keep getting better.

Verse 13: "You are the Salt of the earth." YES, I like the sound of that.

Verse 14: "You are the Light of the world." Sounds good to me. I think I can accept that position too.

These are things that are really quite pleasant to hear.

It doesn't last. As we continue through this passage, the way starts to get rough.

We hit the first steep place in verse 17. Listen: [Read 17-19]

Uh Oh, the trail is getting more difficult -- all this talk about the Law and commandments and how serious it will be for anyone breaks one of the commandments.

Then in verse 20 we come up against a real cliff -- "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Hmm. It sounded easy when all we had to do was be Mournful and Meek. We pause for a moment -- Should we keep going? But we pull out our rock climbing gear and start up -- after all, the Pharisees weren't so great, were they? It should be possible do better than them. So we struggle up the cliff, trying to be really righteous:
And we when we finally struggle the final few feet and pull ourselves over the top -- when we think we've finally made it -- what do we see?

We discover that we are as far from our goal as ever. Between us and the Kingdom of God there is range after range of towering cliffs. Curiously, each of these cliffs has a verse engraved on it:

verses 21-22 -- "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not Murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.

verses 27-28 -- "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." [This, by the way, is where you men would be wise to lobby for gender neutral language.]

verses 31-32 -- "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife, must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress."

verse 39 -- "do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also."

verse 44 -- "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"

And finally the summary of it all -- the highest cliff of all --
verse 48 -- "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect"

How can we respond to teaching like this except by hanging our heads in shame and collapsing in despair. We are all condemned by it. Don't think I am standing in judgement of you -- I have no right to judge any of you. I myself am condemned and everyone here is condemned by these words of Jesus. Is there anyone here who would deny that you are a murderer? When was the last time you murdered in your thoughts? A month ago? Yesterday? Just before church this morning? And who here can look me in the eye and deny that you are an adulterer. By this standard we are a congregation of murderers and adulterers and liars and theives. And there is no way for the likes of us to reach the kingdom of heaven. The goal is completely out of reach -- we are separated from God by an impassable barrier. God demands perfection and we are morally bankrupt.

1. So, the first thing Jesus asks of us is simply to face the facts -- we fall hopelessly short of God's standard. God is perfect and demands perfection. We are imperfect.

Now why is this such a problem? OK, so we fall short. Does it really matter that much? Why can't God understand that I'm just human and cut me a little slack? After all, I'm alot better than alot of OTHER people I know.

Here's why its a problem. I have three glasses of water. This one has alot of dirt in it -- let's say it also has ___________ of arsenic. [Let's say it represents your typical ax murderer]. This one looks alot better -- and it is -- it just has __________ of arsenic -- still lethal. [That's most of us]. This final one is completely pure [That's God]

Now Imagine I invite you to my home, you're very thirsty, and I offer you this water. How would you react -- would purity matter to you? What would you think if I said, "what's the big deal -- so it's not absolutely pure -- but, hey, its alot better than this other one -- why don't you cut me a little slack and just drink it."

You see purity does matter -- to us, and to God.

So its no good trying to defend ourselves -- trying to excuse our imperfections -- our problem is to figure out how to meet God's standard -- how to be perfect.

Now let's say we wanted to purify this glass of water. How could we do it? Oh you could work at elaborate schemes to try to distill it, to extract the impurities. But that would be a waste of time.

2. Let me suggest an easier and quicker way: Empty the glass. (5:3)

What I mean is pour yourself out to God -- admit that you are hopelessly unable to do what he asks. Come to him spiritually empty. Come to him poor in Spirit.

Remember that little phrase we skipped over because it was puzzling -- "Blessed are the poor in Spirit" -- I have good news. You have just learned what it means to be poor in Spirit.

To be poor in Spirit is to empty the glass. It means to stop claiming that we can make it on our own. It means emptying ourselves of all of our attempts at righteousness. It means looking up at the cliff that says, "Be Perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect" and crying out, "I can't do it! I can never make it on my own. Have mercy on me, Lord."

And then this amazing thing happens! You have come to the foot of these cliffs. You know you can't go any further. You know you can't meet God's standard. All you can do is declare moral bankruptcy and ask for mercy. You have truly become "poor in spirit," and what does Jesus say to you -- that's what I was waiting for! I couldn't help you until you surrendered control! Blessed are you when you admit your moral bankruptcy. Blessed are you when you empty yourself of your own self-righteousness -- that's the way to the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."

Why do we need to be emptied -- poor in spirit -- to come to the Kingdom of Heaven?

3. Once emptied, we are ready to be filled with something new. (5:6; Phil. 3:8-9)

Consider this glass again -- it can never be filled with pure water until it is emptied of the impure. I could add some water to it, but the water would still be contaminated.

So the reason we need to come to Jesus empty is not just to be empty -- that's Buddhism not Christianity -- We come empty so that Jesus can fill us.

Verse 6 says this in another way, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall what? For they shall be filled."

You can't hunger and thirst when you are satiated with food and drink. You can't be hungry for God's righteousness unless you are first emptied of your own self-righteousness.

To illustrate this, I'd like to turn to Philippians 3 (p. 1163).

verse 7: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ [ This is the emptying part] What is more, I consider EVERYTHING a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost ALL things. I consider them RUBBISH,

[Here we're coming to the filling part] that I may gain [what?] that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to KNOW Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

What does Paul empty himself of ? Everything! His Seminary training, His Bible knowledge, all the good things he'd ever done. He considers it all Rubbish -- trash to be thrown out.

What is it replaced with? Christ and his righteousness. The righteousness that comes from God by faith.

So it turns out that the way to be perfect [here's the one easy lesson] -- the way to be perfect is not to seek perfection, but to seek Christ. Seek perfection in your own strength and you will just come up against impossible obstacles. Empty yourself and seek Christ and he will fill you with his righteousness and make you pure in God's sight.

4. Press on to perfection by His power (Phil. 3:14)

We've come to a dangerous place. Some of you are already giving a great sigh of relief -- Phew, I'm off the hook. We don't have to climb that mountain after all. Isn't it a relief to know that All Jesus really wanted was to make us realize that we can't be perfect, and now that we know that we can never be perfect we can leave all this stuff about perfection behind. Now that we know its impossible, we can set more realistic moral standards, right?

Sorry! Accepting Jesus righteousness does not excuse you from the demands of the Kingdom. I repeat: You are not off the hook. God still calls on you to pursue perfection. But there's a big difference in how!

Phil. 3:12 ff. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Conclusions -- tie in to communion.

Communion symbolizes the emptying and filling. We come to communion to be reminded that our righteousness comes only through His blood. But in order to participate we need to empty ourselves first -- through confession & repentance come to God, admit the righteousness of his demands, your own inability to meet them, and thank him.

Then as you take the bread and the cup, let us, through faith, allow him to fill us with his righteousness so that we can press on toward the goal of becoming like him.