Matthew 5:48 – You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
“There is nothing more discouraging than the Sermon on the Mount; it seems to throw us right out, and to damn our every effort before we have started.”1 This quote from Martin Lloyd Jones sums up the overwhelming feeling of reading and preparing to preach this verse. On first look, how does someone preach this passage without sending the congregation away in despair? However, upon digging deeper into the context and the meaning, this verse is an incredible statement of our hope in Christ. His holiness, applied on our behalf, compels the Christian to pursue the perfection promised.
Context
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus shares that He has not come to abolish the standard of the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill it. Jesus sets up the climax of verse forty-eight by laying the foundation that He has met this standard of perfection. In verse twenty, He shares that the most outwardly religious people they know, the Scribes and the Pharisees, are not righteous enough to meet this standard.
In setting up this juxtaposition between Jesus and the Pharisees, He calls the disciples to cast their eyes away from outward morality to the realm of the inward man—the place only God sees. Jesus addresses anger (21-26), lust (27-30), contentment in marriage (31-32), the integrity of the heart evidenced through the tongue (33-37), generosity in responding to demands and wrongdoing by others (38-42), and finally, the most difficult of all, a sacrificial love that includes one’s enemies. Verse forty-seven raises the standard again by asking, “what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” Anyone can love their friends. Many religions emphasize living outward moral lives and treating others with respect. But Jesus is demanding more. The standard is an inward heart that matches the outward response in purity and integrity. The standard is perfection.
Meaning
Verse forty-eight uses the same stative verb “to be” in two different tenses. The first use, with the emphatic “you,” is in the future tense and is directed to the disciples. The second use of the verb in the present tense refers to the heavenly Father. Jesus is comparing the continuous perfection of the Father with the pursuit of a disciple. Not that it has already been attained, but it is the goal. This pursuit is only possible through supernatural transformation. Leon Morris says, “there is a command here. But may we not also see something of a promise?”2 This verse serves as the climax of chapter five because it highlights both the impossibility of man and the empowering promise of God. It reminds us that, because of the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the lives of believers, “we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2 ESV). After lamenting the struggle of the Sermon on the Mount, Lloyd Jones continues, “But at the same time, do we know of anything more encouraging than the Sermon on the Mount? Do we know of anything that pays us a greater compliment? The very fact that we are commanded to do these things carries with it an implicit assertion that it is possible.”3 This text contains both the distress of hopelessness of personal effort and the promise of victory through Christ. It must be the goal and pursuit of every believer to be as perfect as our heavenly Father, not just in outward morality but in inward integrity. That standard has not changed. But we stand in the confidence that Christ has met this standard and is working in us the progressive change to see it become a reality.
Preaching the Text
Consider an inductive sermon format that leads the congregation through the depths of hopelessness in human effort and the hope of the gospel that leads to the promise and pursuit of perfection through Sanctification. Begin with an explanation of “perfect” and the comparison with the heavenly Father. Recount the faithfulness and holiness of God. Capture the human impossibility of Jesus’ claim. Summarize the context of the chapter that leads to this statement while letting the congregation sit in the weightiness of the requirement of perfection in every motivation of the heart and outward action. The second movement of the sermon should pivot on the gospel and the perfect work of Christ on our behalf. Point out the difference in tenses with the focus on the future tense. Remind the congregation of the promise of Sanctification that leads to the future perfection awaiting the Christian when we stand before Christ. Finally, as an application, challenge the congregation that it is still our responsibility to pursue perfection with a wholehearted focus relying on the Holy Spirit’s power. We must never grow weary of this pursuit through every season of life. Preach it with urgency, conviction, and hope.
- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Second edition (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 315. ↩︎
- Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 133. ↩︎
- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Second edition (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 315. ↩︎
