I’m Not Perfect, But ...

When I announced that, “I’m Not Perfect”, somebody was sharp enough to reply, “Yes,
we’ve noticed, we’ve noticed.” Well, thanks a heap! Don’t you know by now that when I
say something self-deprecating, you are supposed to shower me with compliments and
bathe me in praise?! The correct reply to the statement, “I’m not perfect” should have
been, “Oh, but you’re awfully close.” When I announced, “I’m not perfect,” couldn’t you
have said, “Well, other than being a little overweight, I don’t see anything wrong?”

But, of course, you were right. You were absolutely on target. I’m not perfect. I’m not
flawless, I’m not totally wise, I’m not omniscient. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t
even have movie star looks. You guessed it, I am not perfect.

There I heard it again. Who said that? Somebody back there, “We’ve noticed.”

But that is the common experience of all people. We all know that we are not perfect. We
all know that we have flaws. Even the most egotistical of us know that we are not up to
par all the time, able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. We know that. The issue
is what we do with that realization. The issue is what comes after we acknowledge that
we are not perfect. I’m not perfect, but … what? I’m not perfect, but … how would you
finish that sentence?

Did you know that the Bible never expects us to be perfect in the sense of being flawless?
The Bible is utterly realistic. Nowhere does it suggest that we can get through life without
making mistakes. Nowhere does it teach that by some fluke somebody might get by with
all his t’s crossed and his i’s dotted and her teeth straight and her hair in place. That’s not
going to happen. The Bible doesn’t even suggest that it can. In fact, it runs in exactly the
opposite direction. The Bible says, let’s see, is this it? A few have sinned and come short?
Is that right? Or was that several have sinned? Quite a lot have sinned? Nearly everybody
has sinned? No, you are quite right. Romans 3:23, all have sinned. “All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.” All, without exception. There is no perfection of that
kind.

But while the Bible never suggests that we can be flawless, it does tell us we can become
perfect in another sense of the word. It does tell us we can become mature. Perfection
means becoming what God designed us to be. Becoming all that we can be under God.
The Bible even tells us that we can be made into something glorious and wonderful.

Before we get to that, however, I want to think with you about what you and I do when
we make the statement, “I’m not perfect, but …” How would we finish that sentence?
What things do we tack on that are clues to what we expect? “I’m not perfect, but
…what?

I have tried a couple of answers. I guess I still try them at times. But these answers are
fatally flawed. Here are two ways I have finished the sentence:

“I’m not perfect, but I’m just the same as everyone else.” That’s one option. And, “I’m
not perfect, but I am working on it. I am trying.” That’s another possibility.

I am going to tell you today that neither one of these works! And I’m going to tell you
why.

First, many of us will say, “I’m not perfect, but … I’m just the same as everyone else.
None of us is sinless, we just read it, none of us can get it right all the time, so what’s the
big deal? No, I’m not perfect, I’m just average. I’m like everybody else. Mr. Ordinary
Guy. I just do the best I can.”
But remember that when the Bible speaks of perfection, it means fulfilling God’s
purposes. It means being mature, grown up, developed. Perfection means doing what God
wants us to do, not what somebody else is or does, but what you and I individually are
directed to be.

So when I say, “I’m not any different from anyone else, so I’m not even going to worry
about it,” then what I am doing is setting sail on a sea of sameness. I am assuming that
everybody is designed for the same thing. And I fall into the trap of good-enough-ness.
There’s a word I just made up. Good-enough-ness. When we say, “I’m not perfect, but
nobody else is, so why should I worry about it?” we are settling for good enough. But
good enough is not good enough. When we say, “I’m not perfect, but nobody else is
either,” we are drifting toward disastrous denial. It’s denial because we are not looking at
what God called us to be. We’re settling for good enough. And I tell you, good enough is
not good enough!

Other people are not the measure of our maturity. How well somebody else is doing is
completely irrelevant. The standard of my maturity is how far I have come toward what
God has called me to do. The standard of your completeness is how far you have moved
along the path to which God has summoned you. What God has called each of us to be,
that’s the standard by which we are measured. I cannot be what God has called you to be
and you cannot be what God has called me to be. My perfection is not to be found in
cloning you; and your perfection is not in cloning me. And aren’t you glad? It would be
hard to deal with two perfect people around here, now wouldn’t it?!

The writer of Hebrews warns us in very straightforward language about drifting into the
disaster of denial:

We must pay greater attention to what we have heardand read, so that we do not drift
away from it. … how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

For us to assume that we do not need to find out what God wants each of us to do would
be disastrous neglect. For us to think that just because others around us are also flawed,
we don’t have any work to do, that would be a drift toward disaster. For us to adopt
anybody else’s standard of behavior – whether co-workers or classmates or the person
sitting next to you in your pew, or whoever it is – for us to adopt anybody else’s pattern
of life, just because everybody is more or less a mess and so what’s the difference – that
is to drift into denial and neglect the prize that God has placed in front of us. God wants
each of us to grow to his glory. To glory, maturity and perfection. God wants to use us to
do exactly what each of us was called to do.

What’s wrong with it when we say, “I’m not perfect, but I’m just the same as everybody
else”? What’s wrong it is that, no you are not. No, you are not just the same as everybody
else. Every person in this room is unique, special, called by God to be a part of His plan
and purpose in some way shape or form. No one else can do what you have been called to
do. It is only when you see that, only when you know your own specialness, that
perfection will be in sight.

“I’m not perfect, but I’m no different from anyone else.” Get rid of that thought. Throw it
away. Hebrew 2:3 asks of us “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that
heard [him];” Or else how shall we escape our flawed flesh if we neglect so great a gift?

There’s another way to end the sentence. There’s another way to fill it in. Anybody ever
said something like this? “I’m not perfect, but I’m working on it. I’m trying?” That’s
another possibility. I know I have said that. I’ll bet you have too. I see a lot of
self-sufficient, hard-working people out here, so I’ll wager a month of mowing the lawn
that you have said, “I’m not perfect, but I’m working on it.” I’m trying to do better. I’m
making a list and checking it twice. I really want to do better. Haven’t you said that kind
of thing? I have. I say it about three times a day, “I haven’t finished my list of things to
do, but I’m working on it.” “I’m not perfect, but I’ll just try harder. I’ll just put my nose
to the grindstone, my shoulder to the wheel, my feet on the ground, and my hands on the
plow; I am determined to get it right!”

Now what’s wrong with that? What’s the issue? Well, aside from the fact that it is
anatomically impossible to have one’s nose, shoulder, feet, and hands in all those places
at the same time. But, what is wrong with trying harder to be complete? What’s wrong
with burning the midnight oil, setting the alarm clock early, working harder and faster and
longer, if it’s about doing the right thing? And especially if it’s about doing God’s will?

Oh, but the problem is we’re making it all about ourselves. We’re making it all a matter
of our own accomplishments. Some of us think that if we just do a little more, work a
little harder, push ourselves a little faster, we’ll become what we ought to become. But
then it’s all about us and none of it is about God. Then it’s all what I’ve done and nothing
about what God has done.

To those who thing differently, do I have news for you! You are not going to make it.
You are not going to achieve God’s intention for you just by pressing on all by yourself.
What you are going to get is a bad case of frustration. What you are going to receive is a
terminal case of anxiety.

What does the writer of Hebrews teach us? Listen carefully:

Hebrew 2:10
For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing
many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
New living translation:
And it was only right that God--who made everything and for whom everything was
made--should bring his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God
made him a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation.

Ah, did you catch it? It is God who will bring us to glory. We do not make ourselves
glorious. It is God who will bring us to glory. It is God who works in us through His
Word and the example set before us in Christ Jesus to accomplish His will. We will
arrive at perfection not by working harder and longer, not by trying to be goody-goody or
by spouting pious chatter. We arrive at maturity simply by being open to the Word of
God. We arrive at maturity not by your own prodigious efforts, but just by being utterly
convinced by the Word that we read every day. Because God wants to bring us to glory so
that we may glorify Him.

Everything else is sheer frustration. If we try to do what we think is right just by sheer grit
and effort, our frustration will evolve into spiritual smugness, into serious depression, or
just into the fight-and-flee mentality. I’ve seen it too many times and I’ve felt it. When I
have a day in which I cannot get it all done, when I think I cannot make another calendar
that nobody reads, I think I cannot write another exhortation, I say I can’t mow this lawn
and my own too, I go home and grumble about my Brothers and Sisters, I do, just ask my
wife, ask my mother, they’ll tell you. And sometimes I even mentally compose a letter of
resignation. I’m glad you don’t know how many times I’ve quit this Eccelsia! You might
have sent me packing if you had known! Because when I try to do it all on my own, and
think that I can get to perfection just by rolling up my sleeves, I am asking for trouble. It
is God who will bring us to glory, and not we ourselves. Just as the Psalmist put it in
Psalm 100:3, “We are his people and the sheep of his pasture; it is He that has made us
and not we ourselves.”

If you can find me a sheep who made himself, I’ll forget about this statement, but
otherwise I want you to throw away, “I’m not perfect, but I’m working on it.” Get rid of
that! Unless you want to dissolve in frustration, throw it away! Unless you want to
wallow in depression, junk it! It is not true. You will not be all that God wants you to be
just by putting in more human effort! Believe me I know.

So where does that leave us? We are called to completeness, and not good-enough-ness,
but we can’t do it by working harder and harder. Where does that leave us?

With lyrical prose, with profound passion, and with an eye that sees into the depths of
things, Paul, the writer of Hebrews declares:

Hebrews 2:9
“As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to [ourselves] but we do see Jesus,
who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor
because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for
everyone. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in
bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect
through sufferings.”

Oh, what mystery, but what wonder is in this! Oh, what incredible news, good news! That
in the Word made flesh, in Jesus Christ, all of our incompleteness is gathered up, all of
our immaturity is collected, all of our struggling is captured. In Him, suffering and dying,
a world of possibility opens up for you and for me! In the pain of His suffering, He
becomes the pioneer of our salvation, He forges the way for us, He does the heavy-duty
work. And all that remains is for us to trust Him, love Him, obey Him. It is in Him that
we find the power to become what we want to become. It is in Him that we are able to do
what we know we must do. It is in Him who, perfect as He was, knowing no sin and
following the Father’s will completely, yet made to suffer all the consequences of sin, it is
in Him that our completeness will happen. Our perfection will come. In Him. Through
Him. By Him. And only Him. He has tasted death, for us. He is the pioneer of our
salvation; and when we see this, everything changes. Everything.

We do not yet see how our lives are going to work out, how we are going to get
everything done, but in the Bible and hopefully in our hearts, we do see Jesus, who was
made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering
of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

We do not yet see how we are going to do all that we really ought to do, but we do see
Jesus, hanging on that hilltop, cursed on a piece of wood, accepting the consequences of
our sin. We do see Jesus, all that we could ever want and hope to be, in agony crying out,
“Father, forgive”, singing to the very heavens, “My God, why have you forsaken?”. And
seeing these things, it should change us. It should make us new. Only then can we see
Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, made perfect through sufferings, gathering us up
into His heart and allowing us to become children of God, our one and only purpose,
glorifying Him.

No, I’m not perfect, but … Jesus was. How can we live with ourselves if we neglect so
great a salvation?