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IS "PERFECT" A DIRTY WORD?

Have you ever rolled two strikes in a row in the sport of bowling? I've launched several gutter balls in a row a few times, but to have that ball roll right down the lane and into the sweet spot, the one-three pocket, as they say, and have all ten pins go flying . . . well, it doesn't happen very often. And can you imagine doing that - bowling a strike - five in a row, six, eight, ten, and then the bonus eleventh and twelfth strike? Twelve consecutive strikes for a score of 300?
Of course, that's an athletic accomplishment with a wonderful name: it's a perfect game. A perfect 300.
Well, neighbor, here's the question I want to ask you today: Why is the word "perfect" a wonderful, beautiful, sweet-sounding name in every field, it seems . . . except the field of religion?
Back in 1956, a pitcher named Don Larson went to the mound in the World Series and proceeded to get 27 Dodgers out in a row. No hits, no walks, no errors, not a single Brooklyn hitter getting even 90 feet down the line to first base. And what do we call that? A perfect game. Not just a no-hitter, a perfect game. And is "perfect" a wonderful word? In the pages of Sports Illustrated, you bet it is. When your kid gets a perfect 4.0, good. When your boss tells you the new web page you designed is perfect, good. When your family gets you a birthday present, and you tell them it's perfect, good.
But when Jesus looks around at His disciples, both in the year 31 A.D., and here in the 21st century, and says to us, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," we begin to get nervous. We begin to think about words like "Pharisaism" and "perfectionism." Are we only going to get into heaven if we manage to get our spiritual lives up to the level of "perfect" - a 300 in bowling and a 4.0 at UCLA and 27 straight outs in the Fall Classic?
So friend, this is where we want to wrestle with the words of the Bible this week and next. Should Christians even TRY to be perfect? Should we strive for perfection? Is that the goal? Frankly, trying to be perfect gets bad marks in the Christian faith; the challenge of striving to be completely perfect has turned many would-be believers into atheists, or for sure into discouraged Christians.
There's a tough little story in the Gospels; in fact, it's just about 14 chapters down the Jericho Road from where Jesus told His followers: "Be ye perfect." A man we know as the rich young ruler came to Christ and asked Him, "Uh, excuse me, what good thing do I have to do to get eternal life?" Which is a good question to ask, isn't it? And Jesus tells him, "Keep the commandments." "Which ones," the man asks, maybe thinking that out of the original blueprint, he can get by with just a couple of them. But no - Jesus runs down the whole list. And this wealthy Internet entrepreneur, who bought Amgen at four and sold PriceLine.com at 126½, says to Jesus, "I'm already doing that. What else?" And Jesus tells him:

"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me."

Well, friend, we're going to get back to that poor rich young ruler - who, by the way, didn't go for the trade Jesus suggested. But today I want for us to just think about our series title: TRYING TO BE IMPERFECT. The Bible tells us flat-out that we are going to be imperfect. That's fact. We're told that in the Old Testament, a famous verse: Isaiah 64:6.

"All our righteous acts are like filthy rags."

We're told the same thing in the New Testament: I John 1:8.

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." I like how Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, The Message, puts it: "If we claim that we're free from sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense."

Well, the good news is this. That's I John 1:8. Which is exactly one verse away from one of the greatest statements in the entire Word of God. I mean it. Friend, I'm hugely thankful today that I John 1:8 is followed immediately by I John 1:9. After we're told that we're sinners, and that we have sin in us - gutter balls and C's and D's on our report cards - Jesus makes us this promise:

"If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

That verse tells us a couple of wonderful things. First of all, even though we're not perfect, God has a solution. He's willing to forgive our imperfections. If we get bad grades, spiritually speaking, He forgives us. If we're pitching in the World Series and let runners get on base, and even let them score against us, God has a plan to still win the game. That plan is called Calvary, by the way. In other words, our imperfections do not appear to be a life-and-death issue, the overriding factor in Game Seven of the Series.
What's more - did you notice this? - God promises us that He will cleanse or purify us. Now, that doesn't specifically speak to the issue of perfection, but it seems to be saying that the task of making us from bad into good, from wild pitchers into Cy Young winners . . . is something He is going to do for us. We'll return to that concept all this week - God taking us to perfection - and friend, it's one of the most thrilling truths in the Christian faith.

But that leads me back a second time to our title: TRYING TO BE IMPERFECT. Once we discover verse nine - God is faithful to forgive - should we then stop shooting for a 4.0? Should we toss any old pitch up to the plate, and just laugh if we have an ERA of 22 in the World Series?
I don't want you to laugh at that metaphor, because just a few weeks ago, Pastor Melashenko included on this very radio program a soundbite from one of the keenest evangelical minds in the Christian faith: a good, sincere, dedicated leader. And he talked about the gift of grace, about the reality that Jesus has paid the price for our sins, and how God is faithful to forgive, etc. He was addressing, by the way, this question: Should Christians try to keep the law of God, the Ten Commandments?
And his answer went like this:

"Nobody ever has or ever will live in a perfect obedience to it." Which is true. "Only Jesus Christ."

Also true. But then he went on to say this:
"You don't, by trying to keep it every day, and I can't. So . . . I'm not going to TRY."

And, you know, that's a sobering goal . . . or LACK of a goal, as the case may be. "I'm not even going to TRY." Does perfection save a Christian? No. A million times, no. Does perfection get you into heaven? Another million times, no. A loud, heart-felt, Calvary no to both questions. But - do we then try to be perfect - or IMperfect? To be - or not to be - perfect? That is the question.
Let me close with another baseball anecdote, this one from World Series hero Orel Hershiser. Speaking of perfect, he just about was in 1988, breaking Don Drysdale's so-called unbreakable record with 59 consecutive scoreless innings. Along with a miracle Kirk Gibson homer, his shutout pitching brought the Dodgers the crown in five games against the A's.
In his baseball book, Men at Work, George Will asked Hershiser: "So what's your goal when you go to the mound? A no-hitter?"
And Orel gave this answer, which every Christian should pay attention to.

"No," he said. "A perfect game. If they get a hit, I am throwing a one-hitter. If they get a walk, it's my last walk. I deal with perfection to the point that is logical to conceive it. History is history, the future is perfect."

In other words, starting from now, the goal is never IMperfection - it's always perfection. You go to the mound planning to give up no hits. If someone gets a hit, well, from that point ON, you plan to give up no more hits. You aim for perfection because you love your team and because that's what a dedicated ballplayer does.
It's especially gratifying to take that view when you know there's a Kirk Gibson in the dugout, ready to win the game for you in the bottom of the ninth.