Be Ye Therefore Perfect

In my next to last post I began talking about Ephraim's other responsibilities and told you that in the New Testament the Greek word translated as “perfect” into English, is the word ‘telios’ and it means ripe, mature, ready, complete or whole. 

I thought about that a lot. Quite frankly, it made sense. Obviously in this life none of us will receive perfection. Enoch's people finally lived so righteously that their whole city was plucked from the earth and removed. So it stands to reason, if we are still here, we ain't so perfect. But, more than that, how discouraging it would be to KNOW we'll never be perfect because right out of the gate we sin. We sin big; we sin small. We repent, fail, repent again. And as we grow older we discover things that we are doing wrong we never dreamed of as wrong or sinful, yet now we become aware of those things. THERE WOULD BE NO HOPE. 

There is a process called perfecting the saints and it is based on learning. Yes, coming into a greater knowledge of truth and God's laws. We learn line upon line, precept upon precept. This is where hope comes in; hope in Christ. But the meaning of telios brings hope.

The word telios and it's meaning of ripe or mature or complete when taken in a spiritual context means that we've gained enough knowledge to go from entering into that gate of baptism and the strait and narrow way, then moving on to receiving our endowment in the temple, next entering into a new and everlasting covenant of marriage there, and finally, returning often to the temple to provide those ordinances for deceased family members. This is what a mature Latter-day Saint does. We then can find hope that when we call upon the Savior He will qualify us and we will receive perfection-in-Christ.

" If They Do the Very Best They Know How"

Brigham Young once explained:

QUOTE: “We all occupy diversified stations in the world and in the Kingdom of God. Those who do right and seek the glory of the Father in heaven, whether their knowledge be little or much, or whether they can do little or much, if they do the very best they know how, they are perfect…Be ye as perfect as ye can, for that is all we can do, though it is written, ‘Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.’ To be as perfect as we possibly can, according to our knowledge, is to be just as perfect as our Father in heaven is. He cannot be anymore perfect that He knows how, anymore than we. When we are doing as well as we know how in the sphere and station we occupy here, we are justified.” –Journal of Discourses 2:129-130.

            What Brigham is saying is that doing the best we know how is being perfect because it fulfills our part of the covenant and as we do this, Jesus Christ fulfills his part of the covenant and makes us perfect through his merit and mercy. The perfection we receive in this manner is perfection-in-Christ.”

            Joseph Smith taught a sense of urgency to those of use who are Ephraimites:

QUOTE: “I would advise all the saints to go with their might and gather together all their living relatives to this place, that they may be sealed and saved, that they may be prepared against a day that the destroying angel goes forth; and if the whole Church should go to with all their might to save their dead, seal their posterity, and gather their living friends, they would hardly get through before night would come, when no man can work.”                –Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44, p 330

            The way to perfection is a path filled with trials and tribulation. How else are we to understand Christ’s suffering and to truly come to know Him so that we might become like Him. These trials and afflictions are for our own sake, our own perfection, so that when we stand before him on that day of judgment, we can say, “I’ve done all that you asked of me, suffered my trials patiently, and served others diligently.”

            In the process of perfecting ourselves we must help others along this same path. Our lives, our example, our testimonies and our service lift others. In our callings within the different organizations in the Church we give expression to this. Within our homes and families we help our children and relatives to receive their temple endowments and become spiritually complete or perfected.

            We must be found serving diligently each day to perfect the Saints

MY SUGGESTION: Find those phrases in your patriarchal blessing where you interface with others to give service, teach, lead or in other ways help to perfect the Saints.

            List each one of these on a separate piece of paper. The specific phrases may be listed at the top of a page so that you can then write with inspiration as you ponder and pray about how you might improve. Perhaps you might even set a specific goal to achieve this year one one of these topics.

 

I pray that we might be found doing the best we know how in our callings, in our home and family, and in our missionary efforts, and in providing temple ordinances for our kindred dead, because as one of Ephraim’s descendants, we know the Lord loves us, and has chosen us as His. Our reward will be “saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” What greater gift can we receive?