Chapter 4: Going on to Perfection—A Way of Life
Chapter Four
Going on to Perfection— A Way of Life
“The Perfect Body you always wanted.” That was the message header on the email. Perfect bodies are a major industry in the United States. Diets are big business. Even the fast-food industry went to low-carb menus (ignoring the high-fat items that were left). Donut companies lost money at an alarming rate when low-carb became the fad diet. People spend billions of dollars on health club memberships, exercise equipment, and exercise clothing, all in the search for the perfect body (or, at least, a better one than the one they now have). Obesity is now listed as a major health concern, and anorexia continues to be popular among part of the population. All in search of the perfect body!
“I don’t get it. Wesley kept talking about perfection and holiness, and I can’t see he was all that perfect. We’re going to make mistakes. Isn’t it human to err, according to the old saying?”
“I don’t want to have anything to do with holiness. I grew up in a church where there were strict rules about what you could and couldn’t do, and I don’t want anything to do with that kind of holiness. Nor do I want to get involved with shouting and speaking in tongues in the worship service. So when it comes to holiness, you can count me out.”
“Our pastor says that when she was ordained, they asked her, ‘are you going on to perfection?’ and she had to answer ‘yes.’ That’s scary, to have to make that kind of commitment, particularly when you know you probably can’t live up to it. Is that fair for the church to ask that kind of question?”
A Look at Some Words
All the understandings of “perfect” above have nothing to do with what Wesley meant by perfection. They are “perfectionisms,” the kind of dreams that drive advertising. We’re not going to get that “perfect” body by trying fad diets, or achieve complete happiness because we drive a particular kind of car. They are “legalisms,” pushing the idea that if I just try hard enough, I can be perfect.
Wesley used the words “perfection,” “holiness,” and “sanctification” interchangeably. To him, holiness was not so much an impossible goal to be striving for, but a way of life. In some ways, sanctification (and those other words, too) meant, “How does one live as a Christian in a world where it’s often hard to do that?” In both the early church and in Wesley, being perfect meant being complete, whole, becoming everything God has put within us to become. That means, in some ways, perfection is different for each one of us, because each of us has different gifts and for each of us being complete and whole looks different.
We’ve already talked about spirituality and doing good works. For Wesley, these were ways in which we live out what it means to be a Christian. When we practice spiritual disciplines, we deliberately put ourselves in a position where we can grow in faith, draw closer to God and to neighbor, and be open to the voice of God calling us to new directions. For example, as one person said, “Whenever I think I have my life pretty well under control, the next time I pray, God says something like, ‘That’s good. You’re making real progress. Now, there’s this other thing I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.’” When we practice doing good works, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and so on, we live out our faith in real life. Does that make us better than someone who doesn’t do those things? No. But it does help us live as a Christian in the world around us.
Going On
We hear a lot about God accepting us just as we are. That is true. God does love us and accept us “just as we are.” God does not expect us to measure up to some impossible standard of “righteousness” before God loves us. God just loves us. God accepting us just as we are is an expression of what we call “justification.” Sanctification (holiness, perfection) means that God doesn’t leave us where we are. Sanctification is a change that God works in us, through grace. In technical theological terms, sanctification is the cure of sin, which sets us free from the power of sin and restores us to our original nature. To use another metaphor, sanctification is a process of growth, like moving from infancy through adolescence to maturity, in which we come to be more like Christ. Or, back to the metaphor of the house, sanctification (or holiness) is living in a house, making it our own, and exploring all the possibilities of what it means to be in that particular house (in this case, the Christian community of God’s love).
So what does holiness mean in real life?
Holiness means we need to grow in our relationship with God. Remember, in chapter 1, when we talked about spirituality, we talked about “works of piety,” or spiritual disciplines. Those are the “exercises” we do to help us grow in faith. If we want to participate in a sport, we have to practice the disciplines of that sport, whether it’s hitting a baseball or a tennis ball, or improving our backstroke. If we want to play a musical instrument, we keep practicing, over and over, until the exercises help us reach the point where we find joy in what we do. It’s the same with spiritual disciplines. They keep us practicing until we reach the point where we find joy in our relationship with God.
Holiness also means we practice doing good works, as we saw in chapter 2. If spiritual disciplines help us practice our love for God, doing good works help us practice our love for neighbor. We may begin serving meals at the homeless shelter out of a sense of obligation, but if we keep “practicing,” we reach the point where we see homeless persons as children of God, and find joy in our relationship with them. We may agree to teach children out of a sense of obligation, but if we keep practicing, we reach the point where we find real joy in working with those children, and we wouldn’t miss it for anything. And living out our love for neighbor is yet another way we live out our love for God.
Holiness means we live as examples and mentors for others in the church. All of us remember that, when we were children and youth, there were adults in our community that we wanted to be like when we grew up. Who are we, and how do we live, that someone else might want to be like us when he or she grows up? A senior high Sunday School teacher once sent the youth out with the instruction that they had to bring back an adult who was important in helping them become a Christian. They couldn’t bring people who were teaching other classes, though they could tell a story about why they wanted to bring that person. The youth interrupted adult classes and took people back to their room. Then they each talked about how the person they had brought had been important to them in learning what it was to be a Christian. That is a living example of what holiness means.
Holiness also means that we take seriously the church’s ministry of teaching. Too often, we act as if Jesus did not say we were to love God with our minds, as well as heart and soul and strength. It may very well be that we don’t win more people for the church because we’re afraid to deal with tough questions or face difficult issues. Regardless of how one feels about the “answer,” why should the church be afraid to talk about the hard questions in the “war” between creation and evolution? Or abortion? Or economic and social justice? Reading and studying about such issues, struggling with what they mean for Christian faith, are also a part of living a holy life.
But . . . But . . . But . . .
But what about this “going on to perfection” business? Ah, glad you asked, because Wesley did not think that only preachers should be “striving after” perfection, as another ordination question has it. He thought that all Christians should be growing in grace, becoming more like Christ in all aspects of their lives. He even believed that, at some point along this journey, all voluntary sin would disappear. He didn’t believe that we would never make mistakes. (We will always do that, in many ways. We add up a column of numbers and get the wrong answer. We say something to a friend, with the best of intentions, and inadvertently hurt their feelings.) What he did mean was that we can reach a point where we never knowingly and voluntarily violate a “known law” of God. Most of us probably don’t reach that point during our lifetimes, but Wesley insisted that we should be continually working toward it.
We might guess that Wesley looked at the “commandment” of perfection the way he looked at other commandments in the Bible. He referred to them as “God’s covered promises.” That is, he didn’t see them as commandments, as law. Rather he saw them as promises of grace. These were not things for which God was going to hold us to account. Rather, they were promises that God made to those who tried to live as Christians. Scott Jones, in his book, United Methodist Doctrine: the Extreme Center, lists four things in which we trust when it comes to the call to sanctification.
Sanctification is the way we live out our trust in God’s promises, knowing that God would not promise that which God cannot do.
But What if We Can’t?
But what if we can’t live like that? What if we fail? If we make one mistake, are we doomed for life? No, because God’s grace is always at work in our lives. Sanctification is the work of God in us, through the Holy Spirit. We cooperate with that work by being open to God, seeking to grow in love for God and our neighbor, and living out what we understand God is calling us to do.
A great Wesleyan doctrine is about backsliding. Wesley knew we would make mistakes, that we wouldn’t always live the way God wants us to, or even live up to our own expectations of ourselves. There would be times in our journey when it seemed as if we were walking up a sand dune. You know, two steps forward, slide one step back. The important thing to remember is that we don’t give up when we fail, or falter. Rather, we pick ourselves up, with God’s help, ask for and receive God’s forgiveness, and go on with the journey again. There will be times when we are discouraged—times when we feel as if God has forgotten us, when we are “heavy” with doubt or grief or despair. But God is present with us in all those times (whether we are aware of God’s presence or not). Remember the image of the house? There are times when all is not well with the house—the furnace breaks down, the roof leaks, the sewer backs up. But we don’t just throw up our hands and move out (although some days we’d like to!). Rather, we stick it out, make the repairs, keep up the maintenance on the house, improve it in little ways, and find contentment in living there. That’s how it is with the Christian life. Sometimes something breaks down. Sometimes we’d like to just throw up our hands and forget the whole thing. A part of “going on to perfection” is learning to live with the down times and still trust in God.
One of the strengths of the Wesleyan movement was that people came together in society and in class meetings. These small groups helped people go on to perfection. They were a source of encouragement in down times and a source of accountability when people strayed. The power of the United Methodist Church today is not always in how many people we can get into worship, but how those people support each other in small groups, Sunday School classes, and so on.
Put It Another Way
We hear a lot of talk these days about “being born again.” The doctrine of the new birth was an important one for John Wesley—he preached on it regularly and expected that Christians would experience a new birth. He didn’t expect that we would always be able to date the experience of the new birth, as in “Last Tuesday, when I was working at my desk, trying to reconcile lists of figures, God came into my heart and made me a new person.” For some people, that does happen. Unfortunately, we have come to see that type of example as the model for all Christians, when God doesn’t always work that way in every person. Some Christians never have that kind of experience, and yet they know that God loves them, that God through Jesus Christ forgives them and welcomes them into the family of God.
Wesley’s sermon “The Marks of the New Birth” lists some specific changes God works in our lives. One is that we have a renewed faith because God has given us new life. Another mark of the new birth is hope, the assurance that we have found salvation in Jesus Christ. And the third mark is a new love for God and neighbor. In some ways, this is like sanctification. But it is more honest to say this is the beginning of sanctification, the door by which we enter. Read this sermon in its fullness to get the rich flavor of Wesley’s understanding of the new birth.
Or, as Wesley says in another analogy, it’s like human birth. We aren’t mature adults when we are born. We are born in a very short time (relatively). After that, we grow gradually and slowly until we reach puberty, adolescence, and then physical maturity. We also grow emotionally, we grow in social graces, we grow in knowledge. Just so, Wesley says, we are “born again” in God, but we are still babies in the faith. We need time to grow to Christian maturity, to become more like Christ. This process of maturing is what Wesley refers to as “going on to perfection,” “sanctification,” or being “holy.”
It’s A Way of Life
So holiness, for Wesley, is not something that we flout, like a sticker that says, “I gave blood,” or “I voted today,” or whatever other good deed we have done or honor we have received. Rather, holiness is a way of life. It’s the way we go about our daily business trying to be Christians. It’s the way we ask, not just “What Would Jesus Do?” but what would Jesus want me to do about my spiritual growth? What would Jesus want me to do about helping with the food kitchen, or with building that house for Habitat for Humanity? What would Jesus want me to do about the way I discipline my children, or make time to tell them stories about the faith? What would Jesus want me to do as his disciple about the way I do my daily work?
Questions for Reflection
For Further Reading
Scott J. Jones, United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002).
Steve Mansker, A Perfect Love (Nashville: Upper Room, 2004).
John Wesley, Sermon # XVIII, “The Marks of the New Birth,” and XLV, “The New Birth,” from The Works of John Wesley, a multi-volume collection of Wesley’s sermons, journals, diaries, hymns, and letters.
Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996).