July 7, 2002 - Lesson: Matthew 5:48

Sermon Title: Mission Impossible??

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INTRODUCTION:

It has been said that the perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing and the lawn mower is broken. (1)

Question: The perfect man, the perfect woman, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus are all in a car accident. Who survives?

Answer: The perfect woman. The other three don't exist. (2)

  1. In today's lesson we appear to be confronted with an Impossible Mission.

Do you remember the program, Mission Impossible?

The TV series ran for 7 years. It always opened with the leader, Mr. Phelps extracting a hidden tape recorder from an unusual place.

The opening segment always included the tape-recorded mission objectives and went as follows:

Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it ...... (Then came the details of each mission) ..... As always, should you or any member of your I. M. Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self destruct in five seconds. And it did!

It though the program was called Mission Impossible the IMF always fulfilled its mission. The bad guy's and gal's were caught or dispatched in some remarkable and exciting way.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. What is our Impossible Mission and How do we achieve it?
    1. We do not have a Mr. Phelps, we have Jesus.
    2. We do not have an I. M. Force we have the Holy Spirit.
    3. We do not have a taped description that self-destructs in five seconds, we have the eternal word of God.
  2. How Can We Be Perfect? In what ways may we understand this statement.
    1. It is in the word, PERFECT.
      1. It has many meanings.
      2. Lets explore a few of them.
    2. IN CHARACTER.
      1. In this life we cannot be flawless, but we can aspire to be as much like Christ as possible.
      2. Look at the passages in the study guide
        1. 1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (Romans 5:1-4, NRSVA)
        2. 1If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1-8, NRSVA)

One day one of Mahatma Gandhi's disillusioned followers came up to him and said,

"You have no integrity. Last week I heard you say one thing, and today you are saying something different. How do you justify such vacillation?"

Gandhi quietly replied, "It is simple, really, my son. I have learned something since last week."

When Gandhi learned new information, he sometimes changed his mind and altered his position.

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      1. This is the mature response to what we learn.
      2. It is the application to our personal lives.
    1. IN HOLINESS. We are to learn to live to please God and ourselves.
      1. This requires a different standard and principles for living.
      2. The word is holy. We cannot, in ourselves, be holy, but we can learn and strive in Christ, with the help of the Holy Spirit to attain the holiness that is exemplified as the goal of the Christian life.
      3. Again examine the texts.
        1. 1Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; 4that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, 5not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, NRSVA)
        2. 17Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20That is not the way you learned Christ! 21For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24, NRSVA)
        3. 1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2, NRSVA)

C. S. Lewis wrote:

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: It would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. (3)

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    1. IN MATURITY.
      1. We can't achieve Christlike character and holy living all at once, but we must grow toward maturity and wholeness.
      2. Just as we expect different behavior from a baby, a child, a teenager, and an adult, so God expects different behavior from us, depending on our stage of spiritual development.
      3. The texts
        1. 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16, NRSVA)
        2. 11About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. 12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; 13for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14, NRSVA)
        3. 2My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. 5If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:2-7, NRSVA)

ANN LANDERS (4)

DEAR ANN: Will you please look in the files and find your definition of maturity? It has been at least 16 years since youve printed it. I want my nieces and nephews to read it in the paper. I believe it will be more effective than if I handed them the old clipping.

Please dont worry about being repetitive. Every 15 years you have a new audience.

Alma Sorenson, Newark, N.J.

Dear Alma: I appreciate your encouragement. Here it is:

MATURITY

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction.

Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of long-term gain.

Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks.

Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without coin-plaint or collapse

Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, "I was wrong." And, when right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying, "I told you so."

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and follow through. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities and then do nothing.

Maturity means dependability, keeping ones word and coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are conflicted and disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business and good intentions that never materialize.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with what we cannot change, the courage to change what we know should be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.

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    1. IN LOVE.
      1. We can seek to love others as completely as God loves us.
      2. The texts.
        1. 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35, NRSVA)
        2. 12"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. John 15:12-15, NRSVA)

CONCLUSION:

  1. Finally, We have room to grow.
    1. We can be perfect if our behavior is appropriate for our maturity level--perfect, yet with much room to grow.
    2. Our tendency to sin must never deter us from striving to be more like Christ.
    3. Christ calls all of his disciples to excel, to rise above mediocrity, and to mature in every area, becoming like him.
    4. Those who strive to become perfect will one day be perfect, even as Christ is perfect.
      1. The text

2:29If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him. 3:1See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 2:29-3:3, NRSVA)

  1. Spotted on a T-shirt:
    1. "Growing Old Is Inevitable; Growing Up Is Optional" (5)
    2. God desires us, even expects us to exercise our options.
    3. All that is needed the Lord has provided.
    4. We use the tools that God has given and move always upward and onward towards the perfection that we have seen and heard and handled in Christ. Amen!

1. HomileticsonLine Build the Perfect Man, 8/6/2000, Used with permission.

2. Ibid

3.C. S. Lewis, quoted in Good News, May/June 1995.

4. © 1991 Creators Syndicate Also read Ann Landers in the Sunday Lifestyle section.

5. Dave Yehudah, "A Gallery of Funniest T-shirts of 1999," The Washington Post, August 4, 1999, C13.

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