Apparently, Jesus placed some pretty ‘unrealistic expectations’ on those who heard Him preach, as some today would suggest. I mean...after all, do we not hear Him tell others to ‘go and sin more’? (John 5:14; 8:11)

I will be the first one to admit that reading through much of that Sermon on the Mount, found in Matt. 5-7, there are some tough things to digest there, especially that portion found in 5:21-48, where He caps it off by saying: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (48)

I read the other day where someone was sharing how they had recently accomplished something they were proud of, while adding the reminder they were ‘not perfect’. Now I totally understand the spirit in which that statement was made, but it was a comment made by someone else in response that caught my attention. It was something to the effect that anyone who ‘expects perfection has unrealistic expectations’ and ‘all we can do is try’. And again, I understand the thought process being expressed here; but professing believers might want to be careful if applying that to their personal ‘theology’.

It's one thing to express that sentiment if you are teaching/coaching someone how to golf, or shoot arrows at a target range, or bowl, etc. But Jesus did not come to teach us how to shoot three-pointers; He came teaching us to be His ‘followers and disciples’ in order to ‘flee from the wrath to come’. (Rom. 5:9;Matt. 3:7; Luke 9:23; 14:27,33)

The other day, we were studying this topic of ‘grace’ and read in Titus 2:11-14 how this ‘grace had appeared to all men...teaching us to deny ALL ungodliness and worldly lusts’, adding that Christ came to redeem us from ‘EVERY lawless deed’. Please note how that does not read ‘most...lawless deeds’, or ‘many of those bigger lawless deeds’. He says ‘every lawless deed’. Sounds like ‘perfection’ to me, does it not to you? Friends...our faulty understanding of what God’s word has made clear is leading multitudes down a wide path of destruction. (Matt. 7:14). And I don’t say that lightly.

Hang with me here on this illustration and see how it sits with you. A man who has been in prison for 15+ years is released on early parole, given his remarkable transformation having become a ‘Christian’ in prison. The crime in which he was convicted of? He was a pedophile who abused young children. But now...he has started attending church regularly; your church in fact. And he has volunteered to work in the children’s ministry and nursery, helping with the young kids.

Let us now apply... a popular ‘theological belief’ – (the one that insists nobody can be ‘perfect’ or ‘free from sin’ and that we are always going to ‘sin on this side of heaven’) ... to a potentially unfortunate scenario that could unfold here. This ‘born again convict’...’makes a mistake’, and ‘stumbles’ and takes advantage of a young child at the church; your child, in fact. It’s his first ‘mistake’ in two years since being released from prison, which is pretty good given his record that put him in prison. Do you see where I am going with this?

Why is it that we expect ‘perfection’ from some ‘sins’ that others commit, but not...when it comes to our own sins, although they might seem smaller in comparison to those really ‘big ones’? You know...like murder and rape and homosexuality and fornicators, etc. (1 Tim. 1:9-10). Might we be guilty here of ‘seeking to establish our own standard of righteousness...and not submitting to the righteousness of God”? (Rom. 10:3)

Please note where Paul lists some of those more grievous lifestyles in 1 Cor. 6:9-11, pointing out that people who live like this will 'not inherit the kingdom of God', while reminding those in his audience...some of you 'were'... like this [past tense] but no longer are!  Something supernatural and miraculous happened to them.  No where does scripture suggest we are 'saints who continue to sin' or that 'Christians still fornicate, murder, rape, etc... but by golly they sure try their best to not do those things anymore!' 

You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s message.