So have you ever missed a step? Ever missed a step? You know, like maybe you're you're walking, you know, down the stairs at the mall and and you think you're done, You know, But but there's one more step and and you miss it, you know, and and hopefully as you miss it, you just kinda stumble a little bit like your, you know, dancing awkwardly at the prom instead of actually completely falling down and spilling your pistachio frappuccino all over the mall. Hopefully that's not what happened. You you just stumble or if you're really getting a feel for that, it's like when you get to the bottom of the escalator and you're not really ready for that step, you know, it feels like you're you know, walking off the plank of a pirate ship when you get to the bottom of the escalator? You know, just that that awkward feeling of that step, you know why the pine tree had to walk the plank on the pirate ship, it was convicted of treason all day. You know, sometimes in life we actually miss a step and it's because we don't actually take a step, we actually missed the step we should be taking because we just don't even take the step or as apologetics expert. G L. Costanza would say we're a step skipper, you know, we we just skip the steps, but what if there were a step that could redefine your entire life, what if there was a step that would redefine every relationship in your life, family, friends, Workmates, classmates, schoolmates church mates, whatever kind of mates you have in your life, all the relationships in life. And and what if that one step? That same step would also redefine what happens after you die? I mean at the very least it's worth at least considering and and taking a look at a step like that, right? We finish up our series today higher where we've been looking at this one day in the life of jesus as he was teaching his closest friends and our sermon today is higher step. And we'll be looking at the end of Matthew chapter five and what we'll find here is that there is this step and jesus is going to help us see it And it's this step that if if we take this step it can redefine everything in us and around us. So what is that step? Let's find out. Matthew chapter five verse 48 Jesus says therefore you shall be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. That's right. The step you need to take to redefine your life is you have to be perfect, you have to be perfect. So there you go, Good night, drive safe. That's it, that's all you got right there, be perfect. This is crazy, right? What in the world is jesus talking about be perfect, Nobody's perfect. How in the world can we even think about this word perfect in this calling that that we have to be perfect the word for perfect here in the greek language it means complete or mature and so what jesus is saying is the biggest and best and most defining and most complete step that you can ever take is toward God. The most defining step of life is one that you take toward God and you don't just take that step one time you take it over and over and over again. That's why it's not just a sinner's prayer or it's not just a baptism in, in a baptist re or a lake or a river and it's not just joining a local church that suddenly gives you this eternal get out of hell free card. No, all of those things can be part of the invitation and the initiation to take the biggest and best and most defining and most complete step you can ever take in life and that step is a step toward God and then you keep taking that step and you keep taking that step. On another day, Jesus said this in John 316, it's familiar to all of us for for God, so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son and this is what Jesus said, so that everyone, whoever believes in him will not perish the construction of that phrase in the original languages more aptly put one who is believing in other words, you don't just believe once, jesus is not just a one and done one hit wonder, but you believe and you keep believing and you keep believing and you keep believing as it's been said before, when it comes to a christian, a christian can say I am saved, I am being saved and one day I will be completely and permanently and gloriously saved, it is action, it is movement. So the step toward God, the step that redefines our life, it's not just one step, it's one step and then it's another and another and another. But all of those steps are toward God and therefore if we're taking those steps toward God and we are believing in Jesus Christ, we're trusting in Jesus Christ, we're clinging to Jesus Christ. That means that when our steps are over here that our steps actually begin forever. So when we say that this is a step that redefines what happens after you die, we are saying that your life in christ defines today and defines forever. So have you taken that step, have you taken the step toward christ? Have you truly repented of your sin? If you received this salvation this immediate and eternal salvation that only comes from jesus. If you have not taken that step listen to the call of jesus again for God, so love the world that he gave his one and only begotten son that that everyone whoever believes in him and trust in him and and clings to him will not perish but have everlasting life do you have that life have you taken the first step toward God? If not do now dude, now just just turn to jesus and live and then keep turning and keep turning and keep stepping and keep stepping toward God keep believing and keep believing and keep believing. I think many of us who have been christians for a long time would say that's one of the hardest things to do and when life comes around us, when life gets difficult, it's hard sometimes to keep believing because we get so distracted, but why should we keep believing? Why should we listen to these words from jesus? Because Jesus tells us that we should keep stepping toward God, we should keep believing in God because God is perfect, he's perfect. That's not just something that christian preachers say or christian theologians say, no, we're talking about Jesus of Nazareth, the true only Son of God, the savior of the world, The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And the reason we call him the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is because after every election result is ever finalized, jesus will be in charge forever and ever to infinity and beyond, jesus will be king forever. And that king says to us that his father is perfect, perfect more than 400 years ago, john Owen said it like this, God is absolutely perfect, whatever is of perfection is to be ascribed to him, otherwise he could neither be absolutely self sufficient, all sufficient nor eternally blessed in himself. He is absolutely perfect. Inasmuch as no perfection is wanting to him and comparatively above all that we can conceive or apprehend of perfection. In other words, whatever your concept is of perfection, it doesn't even remotely compare to the perfection of God. In fact, God is the definition of perfection because he's the only one who's perfect. There is nothing and no one in the universe that is perfect except God. And why does that matter? Well, think of it this way. Why do we watch infomercyals? Why do we go on dating sites? Why do we go to boat shows or or hunting expos? Why do we read self help books? Why do we scroll through reels for hours from nine o'clock until midnight at night? Why do we listen to talk radio? Well, here's why you see we we watch those infomercyals because we're thinking, oh man, this will be the perfect product that's going to make cooking dinner so much easier. And we go on dating sites because we say, oh man, this is, this is going to be the perfect opportunity for me to find the perfect person that checks off all of my blanks. We go to boating shows and hunting expos because we're looking for that perfect boat or that perfect rifle scope, whatever it is, it's going to help us to find that, that trophy bass or that trophy deer, we go read those self help books because we're looking for the perfect 12 steps, it's going to give us our, our best life. Now we look at those reels because we're looking for that, that perfect diet, the perfect meat diet or the perfect plant diet to give us the perfect gut. We're looking for the real, that shows us that that perfect iphone hack, that's going to change our life for that perfect organizational hack for our home. That's going to make us all cool and modern and we listen to talk radio because we're looking for that perfect politician that's finally going to come and make everything right again. Here's the problem. It was never right to begin with, the world has always been full of sin. There's never been a good leader, there's only been one savior and his name is jesus so nobody can get anything right again because it's always been bad and full of sin and we need a savior and that savior is the perfect son of God, jesus. So christians let us lift our eyes higher than those that we see on this earth and let us remember that it is the perfect Godwho sent the perfect son to perfectly give us what we need the most and sometimes we miss that. Sometimes it's hard for us to see because see there's not a perfect kitchen product, there's not, we think there is, but there's not and there's not a perfect date, there's not a perfect boat or a perfect rifle scope, there's not a perfect diet, sorry, no matter what we do, we're all still going to die. Okay, sorry. You know, there's no perfect life hack, we're all still going to die. You know there's no perfect politician, there's no perfect spouse, there's no perfect child, there's no perfect pastor. There's, there's no perfect coffee barista, there's no perfect doctor. I mean there is no perfect person but the lord of host, the God of Israel, the creator and owner and sustainer and maintainer of everything in the universe, he is perfect, he's perfect. It's why our choir did not sing. How great is our pastor? That's why they didn't sing. How great is our church? How great is our God? Because our God is is perfect and our perfect Godsent his perfect son to be the perfect substitute for the penalty of our sin. He bore our sins in his own body and he's the only perfect way we can be saved, saved today and saved forever. Josh Squires is a pastor and a counselor across the river in Colombia at first prez and and he said this about our longing for the perfect, our hope is not in finding the perfect spouse or perfect whatever you know, perfect politician, perfect, perfect fill in the blank but our hope is in resting in the perfect savior. See the ways of the world, they're, they're clamoring for us to give ourselves into these things and these things are promising us rest. You know, if we can just get the perfect whatever, you know, the perfect job or the perfect spouse of the perfect family, the perfect car, the perfect house, clamoring us to to to define the perfect sexual orientation or the or the perfect political affiliation and all of those things. They're all lies, they're all a fool's errand, they're convincing us that if we will chase after these perfect things that are completely imperfect, that somehow will find rest, but we will not because the only perfect, the only perfection is in God himself, he is God and there is no other, no other, he is God and there is no other. And that's why Jesus says step toward him, turn toward God, move in the direction of God and keep moving in that direction and keep moving in that direction. Listen to the words of jesus again, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, someone put it this way and said that perfection is the standard and direction is the test, What kind of test, What's what's it testing? Well, right before jesus said this, he gave his disciples a calling that's still the calling for us as christians today. And that calling is this, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Yeah, it's an easy calling, right, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So the test, the way you know, you're passing the test, so to speak of stepping toward God and moving in the direction toward God is how you're doing, not at loving your family and loving your friends, but how you're doing it loving your enemies. And why is that the test? Well, that's the test because God loves his enemies. God loves the atheist that hate him and and hate his ways. God loves the agnostics that are indifferent to him and indifferent to his ways. God loves the good old boys and the sweet old ladies that say they believe in him, but do absolutely nothing with their life that honors him. God believes in the professing christians that do nothing to actually obey the commands of jesus. God loves the church goers that that seem to do nothing but complain and and go out of their way for personal petty preferences. And how do I know that God loves all of those people? Well, I know, because of one simple truth, jesus hasn't returned yet. See I know that God loves all of his people because God's leaving the door open and kindness with mercy and grace and love God is leaving the door open for people outside the church and inside the church to repent, to turn from sin and turn to him. So the question for all of us today, maybe more specifically for some of you is this is that door open just for you today, is God leaving the door open for you to take the step toward him for the first time. Is God leaving the door open for you to start moving in the direction of who he is, The direction of his perfection. Is this the day that you need to take the step? Is this the moment that you need to move in the direction of God? Is God mercyfully opening the door just for you? And if you're already a follower of jesus, is is God opening the door for us to step toward him again to be repentant of our attitude about a million different things. But but maybe more importantly to show evidence that we are actually stepping with him. By the way, we love that we're passing the test because we're able to start asking the questions how am I doing at loving my enemies? How am I doing it? Loving people that I don't like? How am I doing it, loving it? People that don't vote like me? How am I doing it at loving people who annoy me or aggravate me or make me mad. How am I doing it? Loving people that persecute me. It sounds impossible. I mean that that sounds like a test that would just be impossible to pass. But it's not if we are stepping toward God, it's not impossible if we're moving toward God, it's not impossible if we're downloading the truth of the bible more than we're downloading Candy games on our phone? Okay? It's not impossible if we're remembering more of the statements of the truth from the bible than we are the statements of the prosecution from the tv murder trial. Yeah, I'm I'm meddling now. Right. It's not hard to pass the test. If we're praying more for the difficult people in our lives, then we're texting other people nasty things about those difficult people or even on a broader scale that the people we don't like in government or community or school or church or wherever else. We're not posting nasty things about them on social media but we're praying more for the difficult people in our lives. So how are we doing how how we doing at being perfect as our fathers? How are we doing it passing the test of loving our enemies, Charles Spurgeon said this though you cannot be perfect yet you must want to be perfect. So do you want to, I mean that's that's the question right. We can't be perfect. We know that there's there's way too much selfish sin in this room. Okay, there's way too much selfish, selfish sin in this pastor. Okay. There's too much selfish sin in the world. We're not going to be perfect. But do we want to be perfect? Is there a desire to be perfect or put another way? Do we want to truly follow jesus that we want to move in the direction of God or do we just want to casually say yeah I'm a christian and and then do nothing that's connected with that phrase, do we want to be uncomfortable in this world so that we might bring the comfort of the gospel to someone before they leave this world. Do we want to love? Like God loves, here's the deal. If you're a christian, the very purpose of your life is to love like God loves. Are you looking for some purpose in life? Are you are you looking for a counselor? You've been meeting with a counselor, you're you're texting or calling your friends, you're you're trying to figure out what you're going to do with the rest of your life, you know, and that can be whether you're 28 or 88, you know, are you are you looking for purpose? Are you trying to find purpose where you were created to glorify God, to worship God and to love like God loves that's in your spiritual D. N. A. It's it's part of who you are. So as long as you push God away, as long as you don't move in the direction of God, you are actually constantly never going to find the lasting purpose of your life. The reason that you exist, it's all wrapped up in who God is in his perfection and in your purpose in him, It's probably been almost 20 years ago now. I was sitting in my office one day and the exterminator guy came in and he was coming in to spray my office and we just got to talking and and he had only been doing that job for I don't know, maybe six months a year or something like that before he had been a mechanic at a small little shop, you know, they're in town but they had a huge break in and somebody stole his massive, gigantic toolbox of all his tools that he had collected forever and ever and he was like, you know man, it was just, it was just time to do something new. I thought, hey, I'm just going to try something new. But in the course of the conversation, we started talking about his toolbox because I'm fascinated with everything on the planet. So I started asking him questions about his tools and and one of the things he said was because you know, I had this one tool and I think I've got all my details right, It was this one tool, this one wrench And it was a $400 wrench and it only worked on this one part of a 1996 Cadillac yeah, that was it. There's this one wrench that worked on this one part of this one car, this expensive wrench that only did this one thing on this one car barn from an idea from commentator William Barclay, we could say this, that that one wrench fit perfectly in his hand, that one wrench was, was just there just for him and he took that one wrench and he put it on that one part. And when he turned it, everything was fixed. That that wrench had a purpose, dear christian jesus in his own body paid the most expensive price that's ever been paid so that we could go from being a sinful wretch to be in a priceless ranch. Somebody may say, well man, I don't wanna be no wrench. That doesn't sound cool. Who wants the beer wrench? But you don't think about it if you knew that your life had a unique and special purpose because the perfect God had saved you just for that, don't you think that would change how we do life? Don't you think that would kind of redefine how we think about things? Redefine when we start talking about purpose, when we say we don't like our job or we're frustrated with our spouse or our kids are driving us up the wall or are we, we don't like the music or the pain of the color on the walls at the church or or we don't like traffic or we don't like who's in office? Or we don't like how they change the salt on the fries that are fast food place or whatever it is that we don't like, What if we were able to say, well, wait a minute. I have this extreme unique purpose because I've been purchased by God, I've been rescued by God. My purpose is completely wrapped up in the fact that I'm a child of God and that that changes everything because I'm a child of God. That means that my purpose in him will not only change my life, but it will change the world around me. And jesus says part of the way that we change is by loving those that we don't want to love. No, it's not easy. It's really not. It's not easy to to love those stepping in the direction of perfection. I mean, come on, that's not easy. So what's it like in real life? I was reading a story last week, week before last and it was about a christian who had a friend and his friend's whole world just just collapsed his son in a moment of uncontrollable rage, took the life of his girlfriend. Now, now the murder of that young woman at the very least was an act full of sinful anger, if not just an evil act, but the question that was asked and what I was reading was this what would you do with your son? How would you treat your son? Would you go see him in jail and and have a piece of paper that you hold up, you know to the window and on the front of that piece of paper it has that passage from revelation that says that all murderers will burn forever in a fiery fiery hill. That sign you're going to push up for your son? Or will you weep with your son. Will you mercyfully plead that that he might not get what he deserves? That's It's a hard scenario. It's there's not a lot of easy thoughts that come around something that serious. But that father is in those thoughts that fathers in this moment of of having to learn to love when it is extremely difficult and when the circumstances are really hard to. But no matter what circumstance we're in, please know this. God gave his son for what he didn't deserve and he did it to rescue and redeem us from what we do deserve. In other words, God and his perfect love. He took the first step. So he stepped toward us. He moved in the direction of us. And so when we look at how God has stepped, when we look at how God has moved toward us, When we look at the love of God in jesus, christ as christians shouldn't that at least be some kind of fuel for us, as we strive to love our enemies? That that hard and possible thing to do again, These words from Spurgeon are helpful though. You cannot be perfect yet you must want to be perfect. So do we wanna be, do do we want to follow jesus? If so, then let's take the higher step, let's take the higher step and keep stepping towards knowing God keep moving in the direction of God because as we do, we'll keep moving in the direction of passing the test? And what test is that? What's the test of love? Are we passing the test of Love? If Sin's curse has lost its grip on us, then let the world know that we are christians by our love.