Striving for Perfection

    As per the church-wide email I sent out this past week, I need your help this morning as we begin into this sermon.  I asked everyone to consider what a perfect congregation might look like.  What are its character traits?  What are the things it does?  If you would, please share some of your thoughts this morning.  Those of you who did not get this email, please, off the tops of your heads, share your thoughts about what character traits the “perfect” church has and what things such a church would do.

(Other notables from the first service responses: freedom to express one's view without judgement; people pray for each other [response from a 9 year old], people listen to the contributions of youth; outreach oriented; no quarreling)

    O.K. So, these are the character traits and actions that those of us who are gathered here this morning see in a perfect congregation.  There might be a few more that we could add, but let’s say that this indeed represents a perfect congregation.  Now, let me ask you this: if this represents a perfect congregation, are there such things as perfect congregations around?  Has there ever been a congregation which in actuality meets this vision?

    Did you say no?  I’d be flabbergasted if you said yes.  You and I know there is no such thing as a perfect church or a perfect congregation.  You and I know that sin pervades every aspect of our lives here on this planet and is inescapable.  You and I know perfection is an unattainable reality until we pass the threshold of death.  This is something we cognitively know.  And so I must ask, if we know that we cannot reach perfection, why do we have a vision of it?  Why does such a vision even exist?  I mean if we can’t attain it, why even bother to think about it?

    Last Sunday, our Gospel lesson began with these words from Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus then shows what it means to be more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees.  “You have heard it said to those of ancient times, you shall not murder.  But I tell you if you are angry with a brother or sister, you are liable to judgment...You have heard it said to those of ancient times you shall not commit adultery.  But I tell you if you look at a woman with lust in your heart you have committed adultery with her.  You have heard it said you may write a woman a certificate of divorce.  But I tell you if you divorce a woman you cause her to commit adultery and if you marry a woman who has been divorced you commit adultery.  You have heard it said do not swear falsely, but I say do not swear at all, by heaven, by earth, or by Jerusalem.  Let your word be yes, yes or no, no.  Anything else comes from the evil one.”

    Today, Jesus finishes out His sayings about true righteousness.  It doesn’t get any easier.  “You have heard it said an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth, but I say if someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer them your left also.  Give your shirt as well as your cloak.  Go the extra mile.  You have heard it said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say love your enemy and bless those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in Heaven.  Be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

    There you have it.  This is true righteousness.  Perfection.  Just as God is perfect, you be perfect as well.  This concludes Jesus’ vision of what it means to be truly righteous.  As I said last time, true righteousness consists of having one’s heart in complete and total alignment with God’s heart.  True righteousness is a heart condition for out of one’s heart comes anger and lust and failure to commit and fear of saying simply yes, yes or no, no.  Out of the heart comes the desire for revenge and retribution.  Out of the heart comes the desire to hate one’s enemy.  Only a changed heart can defeat such things.  Only a heart that is completely and totally oriented toward God and toward what is good can accomplish what Jesus says in this Sermon on the Mount.

    And as I said last Sunday, so I say again.  We cannot do it.  We cannot willingly make ourselves good.  There is a part of us which seeks our own self-interest.  There is a part of us which continually seeks to take care of our own selves and those closest to us at the expense of others.  There is a part of us which puts our own ego; our own righteousness over others and sees others as less than us.  This part is constantly in rebellion against God and is constantly unleashing all those things Jesus warns us against.

    You know this.  You see it all the time.  You participate in it.  We all do.  None of us can escape it.  So if this is the case...  If we know we continue to have these things come out of our hearts despite our best efforts...  If indeed our righteousness cannot ever exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees and then therefore we cannot ever enter the Kingdom of heaven...then what’s the point?  If we cannot achieve perfection, then why does Jesus set it as the goal?

    I think there are at least two very good reasons for this.  The first reason is one I have articulated before, and it comes from sports.  The record holder for the highest career batting average is held by Ty Cobb.  His career batting average was, get this .366.  This meant, he got a hit generally 1 out of every three times he came to bat.  Mind you, he didn’t hit a home run every time he came to the plate–even though that would be the ideal.  He didn’t get on base every time he came to the plate to bat–even that would have been awesome.  He didn’t even get on base half the time he came to bat.  36% of the time he came to bat, he got on base.  And he’s in the baseball Hall of Fame.  Can you imagine giving a child a pat on the back for making a 36 on a test?  Yet, that’s what folks did with Ty Cobb.  They applauded him for his efforts.

    Now, do you think Ty became disgusted with the way he played by batting .366 for his career?  Do you think he became disgusted with himself because he couldn’t hit a home run every time he came up to bat?  Do you think he thought of quitting baseball because he wasn’t able to get on base every time he went to the plate to face a pitcher?  No.  Of course he didn’t because there was always the chance to hit the home run.  There was always the chance of achieving a little piece of perfection.  There was the goal, dangling out there begging to be reached.  Generally, we can approach humankind in a couple of fashions.  We can set the bar low, and believe me, folks will reach it and then stop.  Or, we can set the bar high and just see how close people come to reaching it.  One of these ways will unlock greater potential.  One of them won’t.  I’ll let you decide.

    The other reason for setting perfection as a goal is a little different.  It isn’t about unleashing potential–it’s about keeping a person humble.  You see, if God is the only one who can be perfect, and perfection is the only way to achieve true righteousness–true holiness, then I can never be holy on my own.  I can never be righteous on my own.  I will never reach the pinnacle of perfection.   Every time I try to reach it, I will fail.  By my own efforts I can never achieve it.  If I realize this, where does this leave me?  Where do I end up if I know I cannot achieve what is required of me?  Well, I will probably give up.  If it is something I want badly enough, I will probably get depressed and angry.  I will probably shake my fist and have tears well up in my eyes because I cannot get what I desire so badly.  And then I resign myself to my failure.  At this point, and only at this point am I willing to acknowledge my need for help.  At this point, God usually reveals to us something wonderful:

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world may be saved through Him.

    My achieving righteousness does not depend upon my work but on God’s work.  My holiness does not come about because I am superhumanly good, but it comes about because Christ is superhumanly good.  My salvation depends not on my righteousness but on Christ’s righteousness.  Only in my humility can I recognize this. 

    When perfection is the goal, when the bar is set high, we reach for it and are challenged by it.  When perfection is the goal, we are humbled by it and recognize our need for grace.  We may never be perfect people.  We may never be a perfect congregation, but we need that vision before us to challenge us, to humble us, and to help us live God’s Word daily. Amen.

Bandaids Versus Systemic Change: God's Work

One of the blogs I follow had an interesting take on this past Sunday's emphasis on God's Work.  Our Hands.  I get what he is saying.  Really.  I do.  But I find some of the theology behind the assertion a bit troubling.  Let's think about these statements in particular:

And we did this all the while knowing that acts of kindness and charity are poor replacements for systemic change and activism.

 Really; that’s just the plain truth.  Systems don’t change because I’ve handed a person a sandwich.  Systems change when I press back against a culture that creates the have-nots in the shadow of the haves.

God’s work would be to flatten those economies in a way that changed life for everyone.

So, God's work--His REAL work--would be to flatten our systems of power and injustice and change life for everyone.  That's the underlying theology, isn't it?  Handing out sandwiches is good work, but it's not quite on a par with something grander--an overhaul of the system that causes people to go hungry.  Well, there is truth in that statement.  It would be nice to come up with some sort of system where there were no hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or imprisoned.

But there is a two-fold problem with this theology.

Problem #1: In reality, this is a modified theology of glory; a theology which seeks the boldest and grandest; a theology which seeks a total remaking of the world and its structures; a theology which focuses on the end times promise of a new heaven and a new earth; a theology which seeks earthly comfort in the way I think it should occur.  Oh, that statement will probably cause a little bit of ire, but there is little difference, at least in my book, between saying, "If I just believe and have enough faith, then I will be blessed with wealth and prosperity." and "If I just push back against a culture that creates the have-nots in the shadow of the haves, then I am really doing God's work [and systems will change so that more will have.]"

Whether we like it or not, our focus as Christians comes in the form of the God made flesh: Jesus.  And Jesus wasn't exactly revealing to us the methodology of bringing about such a theology.  He wasn't one to tell his followers to "do the right things and God will bless you."  He wasn't one that said, "Do the right things and you will bring heaven to earth."  He wasn't one going around saying, "We need to push back against this Roman invasion and those who collaborate with it to produce poor people and stomp on people."  He famously spoke, "My kingdom is not of this world."  And it's not.

It involves the creation of a whole new world.  Why?  Because it is we as humans who build the systems.

That's Problem #2: What is the system that God has built to replace that which He supposedly would/could/is tearing down?  Somehow, there is an assumption built into this whole shebang that some system exists that is indeed perfect where human poverty is eradicated.  Somehow, there is an assumption that some system exists which the distinction between haves and have nots is erased.  Looking at the history of the world, has such a system ever been established?

I am waiting for the answer....

Again, humans build the systems of which we are a part in this world.  And those systems are just like us.  They have their good points.  They have their bad points.  They are saintly in some ways.  They are sinful in others.  What more can you expect out of a system put together by beings such as we? 

Even the Church, in all of its myriads of expressions throughout the world does not come close to reaching perfection.  It does not come close to reaching the vision of heaven as articulated by Jesus and the earliest disciples.  Why?  It is composed of humans.  Plain and simple.  In order to create a perfect system, we must achieve perfection as human beings.   Anyone want to take a guess how long it will take for that to happen?

Which brings us back to God's work.  What is God's work?

Perhaps it is a bit old fashioned, but let's remember what the basics of our faith tell us.  You know, those things called the Creeds. 

1. God is creator.
2. God is salvation bringer.
3. God is sustainer.
4. God is sanctifier.

I think it poignant to recite at this point Luther's explanation of the Third Article of the Creed:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

What is God's work in this day and time:

Calling.  Gathering.  Enlightening.  Sanctifying.

That sanctifying one is pretty important, you know.  That's the one where God comes in and rearranges the furniture deep within us.  Where He makes us holy--more Christ like.  And when we start becoming more Christ like, we start doing the things He asked us to do: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, all those stop gap measures.

Why the stop gap?  Why not something more?  Why not something grand?  Why not something transformational which blew up the imperfect systems of which we are a part?

Well, that would involve blowing us up first.  That would involve eradicating all of our selfishness; all of our desire for more; all of our focus on what we want instead of what we need.  Get rid of all that, and we can have a perfect system.

And that's not going to happen until the parousia--the end of times.  Jesus knew this.  He had the big picture, and He knew sanctification is a life-long process.  He knew the grand things weren't going to happen short of remaking the world, so He taught us to see God's action in places where it hadn't been seen before--like a child and a seed and a prodigal father and a cross.

The grand remaking of the world is still to come.  The trashing of all those imperfect systems is still to come.  In the mean time, God's work continues.  Don't sell it short.

Striving for Perfection

Be perfect, therefore, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.  Matthew 5:48

It is a given that we as humans cannot achieve what Jesus says.  It is an impossibility for us to completely be like God. 

We cannot be all knowing.
We cannot be all powerful.
We cannot love unconditionally--perhaps at moment, but not totally.
We cannot achieve perfection in our relationships.

We simply cannot do it. 

This is why we have the concept of grace.  This is why St. Paul penned the words in Romans 3:

For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.

We are not saved/justified/made right with God by any of our actions.  We are only made right with God by Him through Christ.  Period.  End of story.

Which, of course, then leads to the question: why try to achieve perfection at all?  If perfection doesn't save me and I cannot attain it, why should I even go there?  Why should I even strive for it?  Why apply myself toward something that is an impossibility?  Why try when failure is the outcome?

Many times I have sought a good argument for these questions.  Many times, I have preached arguments, that I believe fell short.  But I think I've got one now--drawn from the world of athletics.

Should a baseball player cease trying to hit the ball because his chances of actually getting a hit are generally less than 1 in 3? 

Should a pitcher cease to pitch because of the rarity of throwing a perfect game?

Should a basketball player stop shooting the ball because the odds of making it are generally less than 1 in 2?

Should a football team's offense cease trying hard every play because the odds are short that they will score a touchdown on that given play? 

Should a bowler cease bowling because of the difficulty in throwing a 300 game?

Should a golfer stop golfing because of the rarity of a hole in one?

Most would say that stopping would be asinine.  You don't play sports because you can achieve perfection! 

You also don't practice Christianity because you can achieve perfection.

You also practice and dedicate yourself and work hard in sports training your body to do better.  The more reps you spend in a batting cage, the better chance you will have to hit the ball.  The more times you practice shooting a basketball, the better you get at making baskets.  The more you practice running a particular play in football, the more you maximize your chances of scoring a touchdown when you run it.  The more you practice golfing and tweaking your swing, the more you maximize your chances of making a hole in one. 

The goal drives what you do.  If your goal is to hit every shot in basketball, you will work hard at achieving it--even though it is a statistical impossibility.  If your goal is to get a hit in every at bat, you will work to achieve it--even though it is very, very unlikely.  And so on, and so forth.

The goal in Christianity drives what we do as well.  Not because we will achieve it.  Not because we will achieve salvation, but because this is what it means to love God and our neighbor.  Perfection is the goal, and it is our desire to achieve it--even though it is an impossibility.

But every once in a while, we hit a home run, score a touchdown, sink a hole in one, and bowl a strike.  It helps us enjoy the game/life/faith, and inspires us to keep trying.