As are making our way through the nots of Jesus, or the things Jesus told us not to do, and so far, we have looked at the injunction do not doubt, do not fear, do not judge and do not worry, I’m guessing, or really hoping, that as you are hearing the gospel passage that you’re listening for the not that we might be covered today. But while there are a lot of instructions on things we should do, like turn the other cheek and love our enemy and to pray for those who persecute us. But there is only one do not, which is do not resist an evildoer. And perhaps I should have addressed that as a not, and maybe in reconsidering this series for the future I might add that in. But that is not the do not we’re looking at today. Instead the injunction is do not sin. It’s an injunction that’s in there, but not directly, and that is Jesus telling us to be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect, and we’ll come back to why that’s the passage I chose in just a few moments.
And so, it’s not that Jesus never says do not sin, because he does, and some of you I know where that is. But it’s the story of the woman found caught in adultery in the 7th chapter of John. If you remember the story, Jesus is in the Temple teaching when a woman who has been caught in adultery is brought before him. now the first question you should ask is where is the man who was also caught? But they don’t ask it, and he is not there. Instead the ask Jesus what should be done with her, and it’s Jesus response that makes this such a famous story because he says “let those without sin cast the first stone.” And with that statement, all those who brought her, and were expecting a stoning, go away leaving just the woman. Jesus then tells her that, just as those who have left have not condemned her, neither will he condemn her, and then says “Go your way, and, from now on, do not sin again.” And so, we do have an injunction not to sin and for us as Methodists that injunction in inherently tied up with the injunction to be perfect as God is perfect.
And so, I choose to look at this today, through the passage
from Matthew, because today is what is known as Heritage Sunday in the United
Methodist Church. Because as we heard in the introduction to that last hymn, on
May 21, 1738, Charles Wesley had what was known as his conversion experience.
Then three days later his brother John had a similar experience, usually called
the Aldersgate experience in which he famously said, “I felt my heart strangely
warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an
assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me
from the law of sin and death.” Now some of you have heard me say that I think
the Aldersgate experience is a little overblown, not because it wasn’t
significant at the time, because it was, but Wesley came to change his opinion
and understanding of that experience over time as he began to understand that
conversion did not have to be instantaneous, so you could name a time and
place, known as the experience of saving grace, but that it could also be a
gradual thing that happens over time, even over a lifetime. And so, I’m going
to give you an interpretation of this passage, this injunction to be perfect,
or not to sin, that is unique to us as Methodist and Wesleyans.
Now when looking at the other nots, I said that I didn’t
think Jesus was saying that we actually shouldn’t doubt or fear or worry at
all, but that we should move through those things, to lean into them, in order
to deepen our faith and relationship with God. Now a fundamentalist might argue
that I was wrong and we should take Jesus at his word and work to eliminate
these things all together. But then they will also take this injunction to be
perfect and say that Jesus is merely using hyperbolic language, which he does a
lot, to make a point of us striving to be better, but that we can never
actually be perfect, because humanity is totally depraved and there is nothing
redeeming with us. Now this is a Calvinist perspective and theology. But as
Wesleyans we believe that what has become known as Christian Perfection, or
sometimes called entire sanctification is not only possible, but it’s what we
should be working to attain. Which is why you will hear me, and others, say, we
are moving on to perfection.
But, before we get into what perfection is, let’s understand
first what perfection is not, at least from this sense of Christian perfection.
When we think about perfection, it’s about being without a flaw, right?
Thinking Simeon Biles of Nadia Comaniche scoring perfect tens in gymnastics.
Without parallel, and nothing could be better. That’s an English understanding,
but in the Greek it implies an ongoing search. That is perfection is not
static. We are constantly striving for more, that there is always room to do a
little bit better. It’s sort of like if
we always go half the distance towards something that we will never really get
there, so it’s a different understanding of perfection than what we normally
have. The second is that it does not
free us from ignorance or from making mistakes.
Meaning that we can still spell words wrong, still make mistakes, or if
we have been have been taught something wrong or are ignorant of something,
nothing changes. Christian Perfection will not solve you of that problem, made
either from ignorance and wrong teaching, and these issues are not really sins,
even if they might lead you to an unhappy life. It also does not free us from
temptation, but it means we have the grace to overcome those temptations. And,
it definitely does not free us from not having to engage in the world, that is
we can’t lock ourselves up in a room in order to protect ourselves. Nor does it
give us license to stop seeking to do good. In fact, the opposite is true that
it should push us even more to be engaging with and in the world. And finally is that it does not mean that we
are without sin, as Wesley never used the term “sinless perfection.”
And so then, what is perfection? First it’s about what I
just briefly mentioned, about striving to be better and better, to live each
moment in the faith more than what we did before, and that’s all about love.
When Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment, what does he say? It’s to
love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, strength and body,
and the second is just like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. This is what
Wesley believed that it meant to seek after perfection, as well as what he said
was at the heart of being a Methodist. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about
this, but Wesley developed what were originally known as the general rules, but
which Bishop Job called the three simple rules. Does anyone remember the three
simply rules for Methodism? 1 do no harm. 2 do good. Three is to stay in love
with God. Love God and love your neighbor. That is what Wesley saw in Jesus’
teaching, and how he saw Jesus’ understanding of perfection. That love is not
just present but that love is so in control so that “all thoughts, words and actions are governed
by pure love.” And when our heart are so full of God’s love that we could no
longer willfully sin So it’s not about
saying “today I’m going to try not to sin,” but instead every day to try and
love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor. So, so, simple right?
Of course not, that’s why we are moving onto perfection,
we’re not there yet. We’re striving after it. But the bigger piece, the key to
understanding this is to remember that it’s not entirely up to us, that we have
to rely on God and be willing to turn our lives over to God and to understand
God’s will for our lives and to try and live in a distinctly different way. And
it’s to trust in the power we receive through the Spirit as we heard from the
Acts passage to be able to do the work we are called to do. Because before
Jesus says that we are to be perfect, he gives a series of teachings about how
we are to live that I think show of what that looks like, which includes things
like turning the other cheek, or not striking out in retaliation, giving above
and beyond what people have requested from you, and to love and pray for your
enemies. That means that to live into God’s love we have to live differently
than we are taught to live, than society tells us to live, and maybe even
differently than we are inclined to live, and that’s why this thing that we are
called to do is so incredibly hard. GK Chesterton said “Christianity has not been tried
and found wanting; it has been found difficult and
not tried."
But that’s where we must come back again to realizing that
we cannot do this alone. That’s why we pray to God, “thy will be done,” and
either we mean that or we don’t. When
Wesley was challenged on his idea of Christian perfection, which happened a
lot, his most common response was that God tells us to love God with all our
heart, which means that there is no part which doesn’t love God, and that God
can accomplish what God intends, which therefore means we can achieve this, not
at our death, which is not what the scripture says, but here and now, in this
life, that we are to be transformed by grace.
And if we believe that sin is too powerful to be overcome to have our hearts
filled with love means that we believe that sin is more powerful than God’s
grace. So which do we believe has more power sin or grace? I’m going with
grace.
So what does this look like when it is achieved, or at least
when we get close? Wesley said that “humility and patience are the surest proof
of an increase in love.” He said that it
looked like the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience,
goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control. And that the love looked like what we find in
1 Corinthians 13 that love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not
arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or
resentful, it does not rejoice in wrong but in the right, and that it bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. So we
have the witness of what this looks like, and what we are striving for, and
every opportunity is a moment to work to do better, to live more like Christ,
and that begins by seeking God’s power and strength to help us through this
process and to continue to ask for God’s forgiveness and to get up every day
seeking to do God’s will and asking that everything that we do might be to
God’s glory.
But here is one more piece of information, and this is for
our graduates that we honored today as a bit of life advice, but this is truly
applicable to everyone. There is an old Jewish story that says that at birth we
are connected to God by a long string.
But every time we sin, that string is broken and we are disconnected
from God. I like this story because I
like that understanding of sin. And so
if we do nothing, then we remain disconnected from God. But if we ask for forgiveness, if we repent,
then God ties the string and we are reconnected. And then we sin, and it’s broken, and seek
forgiveness and it gets tied. But we
find is that the more knots that get tied, the shorter this string gets, which
means the closer we get to God, not because of what we have done, but because
of what God has done for us, (these are the knots of Jesus) reminding us that
our goal is to be in relationship with God, and most importantly that we cannot
do this alone.
Jesus tells us to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, which happens when we not just say that we are to love God and our neighbor, but when we genuinely seek to love God with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our minds and all of our strength, with everything we have so that there is nothing available for anything else but God’s love, and to love the world and our neighbor through that love and to remember that it’s not up to us, but that we are reliant upon being empowered by the Spirit and transformed by Christ, so that we will remember as Paul says in Galatians, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” I pray that it will be so. Amen.
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