It Is Possible To Be Human And Perfect Too – Part Two

Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Mat 5:48.

The LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Gen 17:1.

It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. Psa 18:32 

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me. Psa 138:8

How Adam Blew It

The name Adam in Hebrew means “the man.” It has also connections with red soil, as it is written “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground…”  It is also a generic term for human race, or mankind. Hence it is written: “And God said, Let us make man in our image… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen 1:26-27).

Elsewhere it is written: “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created” (Gen 5:2).  The Latin homo and Greek anthropos are its equivalents. It is also used to denote man in contradistinction to woman.

Man was created in the likeness of God, in intellect, feelings and morals. God declared these to perfect, and intended them to remain so. God had also left man to the freedom of his own will. He was capable of obeying Him or not. Eventually it was through it, our own will that we came to our fall.

So if there are any imperfections in our own works it is primarily due to our own fault and not God’s.

How Not To Be Perfect

Now Adam’s silence while he and his wife took a stroll down the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” avenue is deafening.

Satan visited his wife Eve. And Adam was silent. Satan seduced Eve to disobey God’s instruction. And Adam did not utter a word. Eve put it in her mouth and swallowed. Adam did not even grunt.  Eve then offered it to Adam and Adam opened his mouth wide to receive it. Adam swallowed it silently and Adam did not even say thanks.

They talk of a chip off the old block. And that is what we have become after Adam.

There is one thing that can be said for discretion, and another for lack of it. To keep silent can be indeed a better part of valour. It can also be a better part of a most abhorrent vice, like cowardice. Adam’s behavior at his rendezvous with Eve it is the latter that is most prominent.

Then God came walking “in the garden in the cool of the day” to have fellowship with His people. And Adam and his wife heard Him and they hid behind the trees of the garden. Thus their perfect nature began to wear off immediately. It continues up to today as people hide behind trees to escape God.

Finally God called out to Adam, “Where art thou?” He still makes that strident call to people who are hiding from Him behind the trees. “Where art thou?” Fill in your own name after the question please.

And so it is after things have gone badly wrong that Adam finally struggles to speak. We allow a lot to happen in life that should not because we are afraid to speak. Afterwards we struggle to explain why like Adam did. And mark this, gentlemen, it is not to acknowledge his sin, but to cover it. Adam blamed God for bringing trouble to him.  “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me... and I did eat” (Gen 3:12). Had Eve given Adam a rope Adam should have hanged himself.

Eve of course gets the credit for admitting her fault. “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Unfortunately she still uses that line today.

Too bad but we still follow Adam’s imperfect prognosis to the letter. We cover with leaves. And that is why we can be sure our sin will always find us out. Ladies and gentlemen, leaves don’t last.

It is God who made them clothes that would see another day. Tried to put perfection back in their lives. It is not in vain Christ “boasts” that without Him we “can do nothing” (John 15:5). He means nothing perfect, good or of lasting value.

There are times when to be a perfect man or woman is to put your foot down. To shout out in a distinctly loud and clear voice, “No!”

Else our proclivity for keeping silent will kill us, like it eventually did to Adam and Eve as God had promised them; “thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17b).

Thou shalt not keep silent. For in the day that thou keepest silent….  Silence is like leaves. The sun will burn and it will fade away. Yet the trouble will remain. Truth is a stubborn thing. It does not look the other way.

And so that is how Adam failed the perfection test. I believe on Judgment day many men will sweat it out before God. The fall is the precedent. Eve committed the sin. Adam faced the grilling.

Now in Churches all the good men have sat down and kept silent while Eve delineates to them the things of God. Gentlemen, the grilling is coming tomorrow. 

The Two Premises

But God has decreed a way of getting back to him, of becoming perfect again like Him. That is through the last Adam, which is Jesus Christ.

Roughly there are two premises out there. One is held by natural man, not spiritual.  He believes he is born perfect. He never “fell” like Adam did. Therefore he owes nobody, God or man, anything except himself. These exude confidence throughout their lives until they come to their death beds. Here at last they come face to face with truth.

  

The other premise is held by believers in Christ. These accept that they were not born perfect. This man acknowledges together with David that “I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5).  Even now they acknowledge together with Paul that they have not attained to it yet, but they are following after.

One attitude makes one humble. The other makes one haughty. Therefore it is written: “For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isa 66:2). Again, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (Jam 4:6).

The difference in the two attitudes is remarkable. One is capable of begetting a saint, and thereby a perfect man as Noah or Job was. The other is capable of begetting something worse.

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isa 14:13-14). Count the number of “I’s” Lucifer has used in just two texts.

The one attitude augurs to our intrinsic perfection. The other to our intrinsic imperfections. 

Neither does it take lofty ideals to be perfect in God’s eyes. Do not despise the day of small things.

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Col 3:12-15). See also Mat 25:34-40; Phi 4:8.

From Imperfect Adam To Perfect Adam  

Jesus came to restore us to that perfection with God which Adam once enjoyed in the east of Eden but lost. Christ came to put us back on the road again towards achieving our ultimate perfection. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive... And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1Co 15:22, 45).

Having said that now all things are truly possible.

Perfection is God’s goal for all of us. But God does not force obedience. God does not trample at our free will. He only instructs us as a good parent does of the consequences of our choices. As in following ironical concession by the Preacher to the young ones: “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (Ecc 11:9 ).

Therefore God mentions hell and heaven in the same breath. And He does that all out of love for us.

The whole message of the Bible is about making us perfect. It is about leading us to profitable lives. That only comes by allowing God to be our teacher. Then we become His students throughout our lives. Later we shall receive our “certificates” for our service. Some will receive their A’s going down all the way to F's (1 Co 3:10-15). 

In Christ we have “the wisdom of God,” and in “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

Wisdom then “is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Pro 4:7).

Yes we do fall now and again. But God is able to raise us up again. “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand” (Ps 37:24). “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief” (Pro 24:16). Yea, “He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee” (Job 5:19).

Seven is the mark of perfection. God is even now working towards getting you there, if you will allow Him to. Even death does not extinguish our resolve, or our determination. Because it is Christ that causes us to triumph in all things. Try Him today and see the results.