Complete in Christ

Every Christian should understand that God views us as perfect. This will make a great difference in our life. Of course He is looking at us through what Christ did for us. Our Savior became the substitution life and death for each of us. How can we live a disobedient life knowing that the Lord is viewing us as perfect in Christ? We do have a responsibility in our being complete or perfect. Paul speaks of it here: Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Heb 6:1 (KJV) Our job is to continually move forward by listening to the Holy Spirit. We grow into maturity as the Word is revealed to us and we accept it into our life.

It is wonderful that our willingness is all we need to become complete in our spirituality. We can shine for the Lord by simply being faithful. Jesus came to earth so that we could meet God. The Bible says:  For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. Heb 10:14-15 (NLT) This realization that God made us to be perfect will change the way we think about everything. We will begin to hate the pride that is always coming into our life. Our feelings will be for the people that need Jesus. Worldly situations that used to be funny will no longer make us laugh. It will be important to us that we have friends that are faithful to God.

Our life will become a joy of serving the Lord. The happiest times in our life will become the involvement we have in the works of God. Faith is always full of service for our Savior. The Bible says:  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. James 2:22-23 (KJV) Every Christian will begin to feel how that their faith and works are tied together as one. To think of these two subjects as separate in our life will not promote our completeness in Christ. Our integrity and single-minded faith will promote a life that represents the Lord.

Many wonderful gifts have been provided by Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was the greatest turning point in all of eternity.  In addition to saving us from sin and death, Christ wants to provide us with a perfect life that will please the Father. This passage promises the complete life: …the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Col 1:27-28 (KJV) Many times new Christians have a hard time accepting gifts from God. Maybe we consider ourselves unworthy but this is not good thinking. It is our job to receive all the gifts of our new life.

At this point in the discussion some Christians will agree that the individual can be complete or perfect when they are living in the Spirit of Jesus. However, we seem to have a hard time believing that the local church is also perfect in Christ. In this passage we see the truth: Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.  He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Eph 5:25-27 (NLT) This is why we are required to join a church and live our life without fault. The church was given to us as our perfect family and we must work toward that end.

It is true that many people have done things that do not glorify God. Being complete in Jesus is not about our abilities. It is about the perfection of our Savior and we simply desire to be as much like His as possible. The longer we serve the Lord the more we will love Him. Our holy love for Jesus drives us to serve Him in great joy and peace. Jesus prayed this prayer: Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world. John 17:13-14 (NLT) We learn in this verse that Christians are filled with Christ joy. The joy we feel after we are born-again is joy that was given to us.

Every Christian has been separated unto the Lord. Now we see that every Christ centered church has also been separated unto God. Our purpose as a born-again believer is to spread the Gospel but this includes doing what we can to build up our church. Paul certainly spread the Gospel everywhere he went but building up the local church was very important to his perfection. He says to us:  I urge you to imitate me. That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go. 1 Cor 4:16-17 (NLT) Being complete in Jesus includes being a part of the body of Christ. Remember that we are to be more and more like our perfect Savior.