Faithful Disciples ≠ Sinless Perfectionists

In March this year, I wrote an article in Principally Thinking, titled “We Are …”. I provide a shortened (italicised) version here, as an introduction to my weekly comment that follows.

We are ...

A Community of Believers

A Community of Believers in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, each of us created by God, filled with the Holy Spirit

A Community gathered around the Bible

A Community gathered around the Bible, the Word of God to us, always supremely suitable for guiding and directing our activities together, above all else

A Community seeking to bring glory to God our Father

A Community seeking to bring glory to God our Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, in all we do with each other, and to those beyond our gates

I believe, if we understand our part in God’s continual mission on earth, that we are also -

A Community seeking to be the sweet aroma of witness to all around us who don’t have a personal and eternal relationship with the God of the universe, God’s beacon for all to see.

To do this, we need to be faithful disciples of Jesus. We are followers of Him. One of the incredibly helpful pieces of advice we often hear as disciples is that we ask – in circumstances we are facing – “What would Jesus do?”  

We acknowledge that Jesus’ life is a perfect example for us, in terms of how we serve God, others, how we steward – how we express our humanity in line with God’s plan for order and wholeness. He was without sin. And, as a result, His life was a perfect response to what it is to worship God.

But seeking sinless perfectionism is not faithful discipleship. We are not Jesus, and we cannot – in this life – ever achieve this. As Jesus’ followers, the bonds of sin are released fully on the other side – when our earthly life is over and we are in eternal fellowship in God’s presence.

Seeking perfection by calling others to sinlessness becomes a legalistic experience. Calling one another to faithful discipleship is a deeply relational experience – it acknowledges that we get things wrong, we have different opinions, we may even support different causes. It deals with the reality that we will disagree about what is important today. But it deals with these things in partnership, seeking clarity, seeking a desire to extend grace, honour and respect to our fellow believer.  

If I am wrong, I trust you will tell me. Not through an email chain that might get to me, but in relationship. I trust that if you bring something to me, you do it in fellowship. That we, first, have the opportunity to resolve it in the privacy of our relationship. That we can understand one another better.

I value it when I receive correction – when my mistakes are pointed out – in an environment where generous graciousness surrounds the interactions. If I am beholden to a set of rules or expectations that someone is putting on me, where pre-judgement has already happened – that doesn’t feel like a call to better fellowship or more faithful discipleship. Typically, we humans need to feel that there is room to improve, not relentless correction, if change is to be lasting and intentional.

Can we step back into calling one another to faithful discipleship? Our scripture gives us lots of guidance, Jesus lived a completely faithful and faith-filled life. Seeking sinless perfectionism in another person diminishes them to servitude and removes the possibility of a liberating and healthy relationship with the person bringing the concern.

I’d rather we circle back to relationships that build a community like the one I described at the beginning of this article. If I have wronged you, please call me back to faithful discipleship. I’d like to apologise properly and make amends. I will seek to do the same, when I feel as though I may have been wronged and need to bring it to you.

Shalom.