Perfection -- Expectation or Invitation?

Not everyone reading my blog is interested in christian doctrinal musings, but hey -- it's my blog. And if you're interested in learning about a profound Truth that I've discovered, then read on -- lengthy though it may be... :)

My Sunday School lesson last week was on perfection, and I've been meaning to write something on it, as the insights I had in preparing the lesson have remained in my mind ever since. The lesson -- and the concept from a Christian perspective -- revolves around the 48th verse in Matthew, chapter 5, which reads, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I think a lot of people wonder about this verse; in fact, for many years I had concerns about this as well. How can Christ ask us to be perfect when he is the only perfect person who has ever walked the Earth? Combine this with 3 Nephi 27:19 ("And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom...") and you have the possibility of a serious misperception of the meaning of life. Could it be that Heavenly Father expects us to be perfect and that everyone who isn't is bound for eternal damnation? Well... we know that's not what this life is all about. We know that Jesus died and was resurrected to bring us physical life again through the resurrection. And we know that he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane to take upon him our sins so that we can each repent and come back into the presence of God as clean as he is.

So, back to the scripture... Is this Jesus' way of telling us, once again, to repent and be clean of our sins? Well, yes and no. You see, there's more to the commandment to be perfect than repentence alone. In fact, as I see it, this is more than a commandment alone. It's an invitation, just like a parent who sends his child overseas for a study abroad experience and tells her -- commands her -- to be safe and come back home. This is Christ's invitation to us to come back home to him and to our Heavenly Father. Let me explain how I get to this conclusion...

Jesus' commandment to "be perfect" appears another time in the scriptures -- in the Book of Mormon, actually. In 3 Nephi 12:48, he is speaking to the Nephites and says something very similar, albeit with a slight but profound difference: "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Notice the difference? This time, he includes himself as an example of perfection, whereas in the Biblical reference, he did not. Why is that? The answer to that question, in fact, holds the answer to the larger question of what Christ meant with the commandment to "be perfect."

To understand the answer to the latter question (i.e., why Jesus included himself in his commandment to the Nephites), you have to understand the circumstances of his appearance to the Nephites. When he walked in Jerusalem with his apostles, Jesus said, "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one voice, and one shephard." (John 10: 16) Those other sheep included, among others, the people who lived on the American continent at the time -- people who decended from Lehi, also of the House of Israel through the tribe of Joseph. Lehi left Jerusalem with his family in 600 BC after having a vision about the city's destruction and receiving a commandment from God to leave the city and lead his family to a "promised land" for him and his decendants. To make a long story short, he did that, and over the next 600 years, his family and a few others populated much of the American continent (don't ask me which part -- that's all conjecture). These people had the early scriptures (i.e., books of Moses, Isaiah, etc.) and heard prophecies about the coming of Christ from prophets who lived among them and wrote their experiences and prophecies on plates of gold and brass, which were later translated into the Book of Mormon, by Joseph Smith. (See the Introduction to the Book of Mormon for a more detailed description of what the Book of Mormon is.)

And visit the Nephites he did. Shortly after his ascention in Jerusalem, he came to visit the Nephites in America as the resurrected Christ. He spent days with them and taught them much of what he'd taught his apostles in the "old world," and -- you guessed it -- he commanded them to "be perfect." So now we come to it... The only difference between the commandment to his apostles in Jerusalem and to the people of Nephi in America was the inclusion of himself as an example of the perfection he was commanding. But if the commandment were to be without flaw, then why wouldn't he have included himself in the original statement? After all, he was already a flawless man, right? The answer is simple -- it's because it's not about being perfect, without flaw. Rather, it's about being "complete" or "finished." Indeed, the Greek translation of the original word is "complete, finished or wholly development."

With this additional information, we can see that what Jesus really meant by his commandment to "be perfect" was to become whole and finished -- like him, in the sense that he became "finished" after he died and took up life again as a resurrected, glorified being... The kind of being who could live in the presence of God because he is clean and pure. And this gift he gave to us through his death (i.e., resurrection, which is a free gift to all who are born into this life) and atonement (i.e., suffering for our sins, which created the possibility for repentence and forgiveness).

To wrap up the discussion of the scripture, then, rather than commanding us to do something that's impossible for us to achieve, he's actually extending his mercy to us and inviting us to come home to him. "Be perfect. Be safe. Come back to me and your Father by accepting my gifts of repentence and resurrection." Just like the child going on study abroad.

With this understanding, what once was a source of consternation for me has become one of my favorite scriptures... :)

Old Friends...

Wow... What an afternoon! Several of us from KR and KW high schools who went to seminary together met up after 17 years at the church building we all used to go to. It was incredible to see these great people after so long -- Shauna, Christy, Julie, Ryan, Jill, Jana, Carrie, Jessica, Todd, Mike and, of course most of their families. For those who know them, can you still tell who they all are in the photo below? I'll give you a hint. None of these are Jill and Jana, who weren't able to make it until after we took the photos. I'll drop one of them in below. ;)

I took photos of each family as well, but I'm going to set up a photo album somewhere to post those, rather than put them all into my blog. Watch for the link...

And here's Jana and Jill (and Sis. Simpson):

Improvement and Perfection

I teach what I think is the greatest group of 12-13 year old boys and girls in Sunday School every other week (i.e., I team teach with a friend of mine). They're so full of energy and excitement about life that sometimes it's hard to get them to settle down long enough to have an atmosphere that resembles reverence. That said, I think it's a lot easier to invite the Spirit to be present when I prepare in advance to set up the right atmosphere.

Today, I set up the classroom in advance so that reverent music was playing and wrote a scripture on the chalkboard for them to think about, along with a note that said, "Please sit silently and listen to the music." The scripture was 1 Corinthians 2:9, which reads:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

I then related a personal story about repentence when I was a teenager. How I had worried and had to build the courage to talk to my bishop and then been relieved and surprised to find that he was loving and supportive and encouraging of my efforts. He ensured me that Heavenly Father loved me and was pleased with my desire to be closer to Him. And once I took that step, a flood of blessings poored out that He (God) had been anxious to give me. One simple (or maybe not to so simple) decision was all it took. And, as I reveled in the moment, I noticed a printed out quote on my bishop's wall that has stuck with me ever since. It said:

Gradual improvement is better than postponed perfection.

That saying has been an inspiration to me many times over throughout my life since that day. As many mistakes as I make from day to day, I've never felt like I was forsaken, as I know that if I'm trying every day to be better than the last -- even if I sometimes slip backward a step or two -- repentence and forgiveness is one decision away, and I can be on my way to moving forward again toward my goal of eternal life and eternal joy.

I'm grateful for the blessing I have of a testimony of the living and true gospel of Jesus Christ.

New First Presidency Photo

Thanks to Greg for pointing out that the LDS Church recently released the official photo of the new First Presidency. (The First Presidency is the foremost leadership body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and includes the current prophet and president of the Church and his two counselors, from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.)