30 Aug Avoid the Christian Perfection Trap

Even casual baseball fans know the answer to this question: how long was Joe DiMaggio’s record-setting hit streak? It was 85 years ago this summer that DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games. No one has come close to reaching that mark in the past eight and a half decades. Now, here’s something most people don’t know: The very next day after the streak ended, DiMaggio started another 16-game hitting streak. Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 72 of 73 games! If DiMaggio had registered a hit on July 17, 1941, at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, his record would be 73 games. But he didn’t and it isn’t. It’s as though game 57 erased the next 16. We as Christ-followers can fall into the same trap that we need to be perfect every day.

In his letter to believers in Phillipi, the Apostle Paul is concerned that some of his words will lead his readers to believe he has already reached spiritual perfection. He moves quickly to dispel them of that notion:

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:8-11 (NIV)

In the NIV Application Commentary for Philippians, Frank Thielman explains:

Paul was aware that at least in Corinth some would have drawn that conclusion from his words (1 Cor. 4:8; 15:12). He did not intend to allow such notions to take root in Philippi, however, and so in Philippians 3:12 – 16 he affirms the incompleteness of his own journey toward the final day stating that, paradoxically, only those who understand their lack of perfection (teteleiomai) have reached spiritual maturity (teleios)… In verses 12 – 14 Paul reveals the intensity of his concern that the Philippians not misunderstand verses 8 – 11 as a claim to spiritual perfection in two ways. (1) He repeatedly states that he is imperfect… (2) The effect of this is to focus the reader’s attention fully on the notion that Paul knows he is not perfect.

It’s clear that Paul wanted his readers, both in the 1^st and 21st centuries, to understand that he continued to battle his fleshy self, even though he had surrendered his life to Christ:

17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Romans 7:17-20 (NIV)

Paul’s words in Romans 7 can be confusing, so let’s get back to baseball. Even if you’ve surrendered your heart to God, there will be days you hit spiritual home runs and days you will spiritually strike out. Isn’t it reassuring to know that God doesn’t keep score when He has your heart? His grace is sufficient to cover your missteps. So, every day you walk with Christ, your streak in His perfection remains intact!

Pastor Jerry Bader