BE THEREFORE PERFECT

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we see that the body of Messiah has been given workers “for the perfecting [Strongs 2677

kat-ar-tis-mos -  perfecting, complete furnishing, thoroughly completing or maturing] of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Messiah; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect [teleios: perfect, of full age, completeness] man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah” (4:12-13).  Just as a side note, the word “katartismos” is sometimes translated as “equip”, which is interpreted by some to mean a method or a technique on “how to do” this, that or the other, depending on what method they devised. These ‘methods’ will not necessarily mature the disciple unto full stature.   

Yeshua also spoke about the “perfect man”:  “Be therefore perfect [5046 teleios - tel'-i-os -  perfect, of full age, completeness, fully mature], even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect [teleios]” (Matt. 5:48).

Recently I have been challenged to believe what Yeshua and the Apostles all taught about the saints (the set apart ones) maturation and ability to express the Father’s life and nature in its fullest sense, measure or stature in this lifetime.  Almost everyone, including myself, has been led to believe that the power of sin is a permanent feature and more influential, powerful or higher ranking than the Spirit of Holiness.  “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9-10).

Paul was emphatic that our victory over the power of sin, the devil, the flesh and the world was only “through” Yeshua our Messiah and Lord (ref Rom. 7:25). The Greek word for lord/master is “kurios” and means “supreme authority or controller”.  Those of us who have lived within a democratic system are under the impression that we have the freedom to decide, “what is right in our own eyes”.  This predisposition got our ancestors into a lot of trouble, as it bred rebellion against the Creator and His Word/Torah.  Satan’s lies and deception led us to believe that we are our own gods and are lords over our life.  By using this little trick Satan actually set himself up on the throne, and we gullibly left him there thus making him our lord or master.   When we cooperate with sin, or anything that is not a part of our new creation life in Messiah, we come under the principalities and powers of Satan’s kingdom, despising the grace of our Heavenly Father and His way of redemption through His Son.

 

Forty years ago, after being filled with the Spirit, I had gone through a seminar called  “Life in the Spirit”. In that teaching we were admonished to “get off the throne of our life” and to “allow Jesus (Yeshua) to get on it”.  This teaching made most of my spiritual walk into an exercise of an “on again/off again” game of proverbial musical chairs with Yeshua, as it implied that I was actually lord over my life. Since I did not succeed in getting off the throne permanently, I had to give up and compromise by “letting” Yeshua become my helper to get me through life’s problems.  He could be Lord when I needed Him, but when things smoothed out a bit I could take over again. 

These past years I found out (not that I wasn’t told at the beginning of my spiritual birth), that when I became a believer in my salvation and redemption, and embraced Yeshua’s death (the cross), I actually died.  If that is the case, then how could I be on any throne ruling over my life?  With a little more teaching from the Holy Spirit and the Word, I found out that there is another spiritual kingdom, rule and authority that are operating in me and making their nature known through my ignorance of the truth of the apostolic Gospel.  If those spirits can make me believe lies or doubt the scriptures, or who I am in Messiah Yeshua, they will sit on the throne of my life and govern my thoughts, words and deeds.  In other words, they will have a ready channel to express the nature of their spiritual kingdom, and because they had a good start before I became a believer (through the “flesh”), it will not be hard for them to continue, as they have already worked their evil nature into my soul.  But there is a way out of this mess.  As stated above, we can be delivered by the power of the Spirit of Holiness as we embrace Yeshua’s authority/Lordship through the obedience to faith. The Word tells us that “anything that is not of faith is sin” (Rom 14:23), which is a pretty sobering statement.   “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

In Hebrew the word for spirit (“ru’ach”) is masculine and for soul (“nefesh”) feminine. As we know from nature, the male provides the potency for life and the female takes it into herself, giving birth to the nature of that which came in from the male.  There are only two spiritual seeds/sperms that impregnate the soul of man, as is seen with Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac and Esau and Jacob. Paul tells us to cast out the bondwoman and her son. In other words, deliverance must be an integral part of our spiritual walk. “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother” (1 John 3:10).  We are a new creation being, and as such any residue of the old nature inherited from Satan’s spirit sperm/nature must be sent away. “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting [epiteleo: perfecting, accomplishing, executing, performing] holiness in the fear of the supreme authority of our Heavenly Father”  (2 Cor 7:1).  We must work out our salvation by cleansing ourselves.  He has already put into us everything pertaining to life and godliness, as well as the power of His Spirit in order to accomplish His purposes, thus we have no excuse except to plead guilty of ignorance from lack of knowledge. The scriptures warn us that, “My people perish” or “are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Isa. 5:13; Hos 4:6).  This cleansing is necessary so that the bride (soul) will be without spot or wrinkle and can be fully merged with the New Spirit Man (Yeshua), who is wooing the soul into a divine love affair with Himself.  He is impregnating my soul with His fruit/nature: “The fruit [“karpos” -fruit of ones’s loins, i.e.his progeny, his posterity] of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance” (Gal. 5:22).

In calling Him Father/Abba we are proclaiming that we are His offspring and are just like Him. “We know that whosoever is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not” (1 John 5:18).

“He is the Rock, His work is “tamiym” [perfect, without blemish, upright, without spot]; for all his ways are judgment; an Elohim of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He” (Deut 32:4).

Ephraim