In Matthew 5:48 Jesus said, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
What's your reaction? Do you laugh? Yeah, right, I'm supposed to be perfect like God!
Or do you feel guilt? I'm so not perfect…but I should be.
Do you try to rationalize it? He doesn't really meant that?
It's not a mistake. This idea comes up elsewhere in the Bible.
i.e. Be holy as I am holy. Leviticus 11:44
Holiness is God's quality. Good, perfect, godly.
Is Jesus really asking us to be like God in some way?
If people were trying to redefine holy to get around this passage from Leviticus, Jesus makes it clear. I really mean I want you to be perfect and holy.
By our usual definitions, it seems overly idealistic.
Something for young, dreamy-eyed people.
But have you ever tried to follow all God’s laws to the letter?
The Sermon on the Mount can be discouraging if we treat it this way, and this line is the cherry on top.
We'll see tomorrow what this means.
Question: Jesus seems to expect the impossible of his followers. How do you react to this?
There is some teaching, especially when it’s unoriginal and shallow, that you can take under advisement. You can simply say, “That’s interesting” and then move on with your life.
We read stuff like this all the time. Magazine articles. Newspaper. Blogs. Facebook posts. Some people are very skilled at rehashing other people’s research in entertaining and interesting ways.
I often read things that are of little value to me. They’re just interesting, and not going to change my life.
I hope the Sermon on the Mount we’ve been studying is not that way for you.
We saw last week – hearing and living these words is like building upon a stone foundation for life. Hearing and ignoring these words is like building on a sand
foundation that washes away.
How you hear the Sermon on the Mount is like the difference between a wedding announcement and invitation.
With a wedding announcement in the newspaper or on Facebook, you say, “Oh, look, they’re getting married, how nice”.
An invitation is quite different, since it has your name on it. It’s for you. We want you to come.
The Kingdom of heaven is often described as a party, and it would be a party with the most original, profound teacher ever at its centre. The very source of truth, wisdom is the attraction.
His way of life would now be the only reality. The kingdom he’s been describing, would be there in living colour.
He’s issued that invitation to you. Come to my kingdom, my celebration, my party. And this is not just a future reality, somewhere else. It’s something we are called to start practicing now, really living it out, to be ready for the full production .
Life on earth is meant to be a practice party, and you’re invited.
We’re establishing a new church, or Christian community, in Ajax – and it will be built on the model of a party with Jesus at the center.
It will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. We’re planning our first party for this fall.
Challenge: We’re running a poll right now, that you can find in our app or here on our web site: bit.ly/15B2yry Tell us what kind of party you could RSVP to!
