The Lord miraculously appeared to Solomon on two occasions; the second time when he had completed the temple. In I Kings 9 the Lord said, Solomon “if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.” Think about the fact that God told Solomon that David, his father was to be his standard. That statement is a bit difficult to grasp after we have studied David’s life. David had a sinfully bad temper; he was a murderer and adulterer. He was a poor husband and often a bad Father. In other words, he was a sinner like any other man, but often much more wickedly. And yet the Lord said, “If you are as like your father, Solomon, I will bless you.” David was “a man after God’s own heart,” but there were times when he displayed a grossly evil heart.
These thoughts blend in quite well with the words of Paul in verse 15. “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” How many people in the church at Philippi were there that were “perfect”? About as many as were in David’s palace. How many people are there in this church that are “perfect”? Part of the answer to that question is found in the definition of the Bible word for “perfect.” Literally, this is a reference, not to moral flawlessness, but to physically maturity or completeness. This same word “teleois” is found in Hebrews 5:14 – “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” In another place it is translated: “men in understanding.” In places like these it is talking about being full grown in contrast to being children. And in the same manner it can refer to spiritual maturity in contrast to being a babe in Christ. The “perfection” of Philippians 3:15 is spiritual maturity. And then we notice that Paul says in verse 12 that he was not perfect. He was striving to reach unattained heights, carrying the burden of imperfection. This continual effort after a higher plain of life was part of Paul’s PERFECT MAN. And then finally we notice that as many as be perfect, might be at the same time otherwise minded. This doesn’t mean that these perfect people were fighting and quarreling with each other It means that their minds were not in complete conformity to the mind of the Lord.
All this sounds contradictory and confusing, so lets stir up the pot a bit more.
There are people whom the Bible describes as “perfect.”
And there are people whom we know to be sinners, yet whom the Bible calls “saints.” A saint is literally a sanctified person; someone who has been set apart by God and unto God. And ultimately that means “made holy” – justified and made perfectly holy in God’s sight. But how can someone be holy and a gossip at the same time? How can someone be a pride-filled saint? How can he be a glutton and a saint, or a tyrant and a saint. The answer begins with the realization that true sanctification is not a work of the flesh – but of grace. The distance that someone has traveled is not as important as the direction that he is going. One of the words translated “sin” in the Bible literally means “to miss the mark.” That we are going to often miss the mark is a given, but the question is, are we shooting at God’s target?
What made David a man after God’s own heart and an example for Solomon to follow? It was not that he was 80% successful in his obedience to Lord, but that his heart belonged to Jehovah. This means that the evaluation of perfection in other people, is not the business of you and me. We may look at David and say, “Look at that dirty rotten scoundrel.” But we have been exhorted, “Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature… For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” We might properly interpret verse15 to read: “Let us therefore, as many are where they ought to be in spiritual journey, be thus minded.” What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. David, Abraham and Paul always had, even when they sinned, a desire to glorify and enjoy the Lord. That doesn’t mean they were always successful, but that was the general direction of their hearts. It is an infinitely better life to love and reach out to God, even when we fall flat on our faces, than to be eating up the dirt and sin of the world.
What made David complete before God was the presence of the completing grace of God. The saints of the 21st century are saints because God has declared them to be saints. After their full glorification at the coming of Christ, they shall be saints in the fullest sense of the word. But today they are far short of moral and spiritual impeccabability.
Paul tells us about two very different aspects of this perfection.
Notice how he tells those “perfect” Philippians – and thus he tells us – that we are to be “thus minded.” What minded? Evidently he is talking about the things that he has just said. And in his immediate context, Paul has just confessed that he, himself, was less than perfect. “Be thus minded, think of yourselves as I think of myself.” He said, “I do not think that I have already apprehended the prize for which I have been saved.”
One of the leading characteristics of Christian perfection/maturity is a consciousness of our imperfection. In every area of attainment and education, the more we have, the more we learn that there is to learn. The more powerful the telescope, the more we realize there are worlds we haven’t even imagined. The more powerful the microscope, the more we are able to divide and subdivide our substance. And the more theology and Bible we know, the more ignorant we know that we really are. I used to laugh at my son, Kraig, when he was young, watching a hockey game or a football game. He would say that if he had been in that play, in that man’s shoes or skates, he would have scored. He would have made a great play. But he could say that only because he had never been in that man’s shoes. Only people who have never have done anything think that they can do everything. The measure of our perfection is in the consciousness of our imperfections.
That is what made David the Lord’s best man. Isn’t it interesting that despite his sins, one sin not mentioned about David was PRIDE. That is not to say that David wasn’t proud, because, like us all, he was; but it wasn’t enumerated. The more perfect a man is the more alert and powerful that man’s conscience becomes. And as a result, the more perfect he is the more humble he becomes. Sure David sinned, but when Nathan said, “Thou art the man,” that was all that it took to break David’s heart. And by the way, the more perfect the man, the less he will accuse his neighbor of imperfection. I know Christians that would have been all over Abraham’s nephew Lot, like a vulture on a dying rabbit. But we are not told that Abraham said anything to Lot about his worldiness. And what was David’s opinion about Abner, Ahithophel, and Absalom?
Another characteristic of the perfect men is his constant striving for perfection. How dogmatically Paul says, “Brethren, I count NOT myself to apprehended… I press toward the mark…” “Reaching forth” in verse13 speaks about stretching every limb and muscle. It carries the idea of an Olympic broad-jumper, stretching everything he has to jump farther than he has ever jumped before. As he stretches forward, Paul is not concerned with any of his past accomplishments. He is reaching forth unto things which God has set before him. Have you ever gotten so upset with your failures that you’ve temporarily given up trying? Maybe it is something like memorizing scripture. You’ve failed to retain what your mind once possessed, so you’ve stopped trying. There are laws in the realm of physics which say, “Things always unwind and slow down.” Those laws apply in the spiritual realm too: The slower we progress the more slow we are going to become, until we are standing still.
So it is with any of us who might claim to be “perfect.” None of us are sufficiently perfect not to continue to stretch out to the very limits of our faith and heart. Perfect people are striving to be perfect. Theoretically, there is no limit to the joy we may have in the Lord. There is no cap upon the knowledge which we might have of Christ. There is no reason why our service can’t be more zealous, more spiritual, and more delightful. It is the duty of the perfect man to be discontent with his current imperfect condition. If we ARE content, we prove ourselves to be imperfect – defective, deficient, inferior and faulty.
And the more perfect we are the more God will minister to our imperfection – verse 15.
“Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” Again, this reference to “another mind,” doesn’t refer to bickering between the church members. This is speaking of a failure in our perfection. Often, the more perfect we are, the more the Lord will speak to us about our imperfections.
So David has stayed home from the battle. There may have been no sin in this. When he walked along the edge of the roof of his house there was no sin in that. When he accidentally saw a woman neighbor bathing, there was no sin in this initially. When he lusted after her, he sinned, and when he took her he sinned. When he slept with her, he sinned. When he tried to cover his sin, he sinned. And when he had her husband murdered, he sinned. In those days and months, David was “otherwise minded” – not spiritually-minded. His heart was not in fellowship with his God, although he might not have thought much about it. For nearly a year he was otherwise minded, but then came day when Lord revealed even this unto him. Nathan bold asserted, “Thou art the man, David.”
These interruptions in perfection are NOT insignificant and unimportant. Because it is a “saint” who has sinned, his sin is 10x or 100x more odious than if he hadn’t been a saint. But the Christian’s sin doesn’t nullify his position in Christ Jesus. His general direction is still toward the heart of God.
Sin in a Christian is a despicable thing, but it doesn’t condemn his soul. When a child disobeys his parent, he should be rebuked, and perhaps severely disciplined. But that child remains a member of that family. Our gracious Lord has quite a few Nathans out there to tell us when we have become “otherwise minded.”
The hope contained in these words is that Christian growth is always possible.
The ground of that hope is not in our brains, or strength, or anything else in us. When we strive to reach forth unto those things which God has set before us…. When we have true, Christian, imperfect-perfection, God will not leave us alone. He will reveal even this unto you, because he is God.
What tools will the Lord use to perfect us? Will it be the ministry of joy or of sorrow? Will you respond to the preaching of the Word of God, or will the Lord have to thump you on the head? Will it be an example He gives you to follow, or will it be a whip? Will he guide you with his eye, or will it take his hand or His boot to teach you?
Whichever one it is, you will have what you need, if you desire more of the Lord. You’ve probably heard the little boy’s explanation about Enoch’s translation. His Sunday School class was learning about the ancient prophet Enoch, in the 7th generation from Adam. He was a preacher of righteousness whose message was not well received, yet he remained faithful. Finally the Lord took him home, but it wasn’t in the usual manner. Enoch was one day translated to Heaven without experiencing death. A little boy in the class summarized his life by saying that Enoch got so close to the Lord’s house that it was easier to go to Heaven than to return to his own home. This should be our desire, to be so close to the Saviour, that some day it won’t be worth the effort to come back home.