Nothing Less Than Perfection
Book Club | Mere Christianity: Book 4 (chap. 8-11)
“Christ’s work of making New Men… is not mere improvement but Transformation.” (p. 218)
We pick right back up where we left off last week: the aim of God is to turn tin soldiers into real Men. He does this through becoming a Man, dying, and rising to establish a new kind of Man — a New Humanity.
But incase anyone is tempted to believe otherwise, Lewis repeatedly (and sometimes sharply) reminds us that what Christ is doing is not “mere improvement” of men.
“For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine.
God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.” (p. 216)
I’m afraid that if any of us reading this were to come away without understanding what Lewis just said, he’d roll over in his grave. It is absolutely imperative that we, as Christians, understand what it is that Christ is doing in us now, and what the end of that work is: namely, our Transformation.
Not slowly making us more happy and pleasant. Not helping us to behave more properly in society. Not giving us tips for a more peaceful, productive, and prosperous life.
He’s Transforming us — changing us into something else, making us new, re-creating us after the Image of our Creator.
As he says in his chapter titled “Good Infection,”
“Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.” (p. 177)
The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is not merely to improve morally, it is to be Transformed into a whole new kind of being — to become a son of God like The Son of God.
Okay, I feel like I have sufficiently emphasized the importance of this idea by my numerous uses of bolded words and italics, so I’ll move on.
But, if you are still fuzzy on what these things mean and why they are so important — or if they don’t absolutely blow you away, knock your socks off, wake you up like a glass of cold water poured on your face in the middle of the night — go meditate on those passages of Scripture Lewis alludes to on (p. 191) and pray for God to open your eyes and mind to the beauty and the glory of God’s work in us: Transformation into the Image of His Son.
Lewis goes on to explain that this work of God in us, and our participation in it through practice of Christlikeness, “is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity.” (p. 195)
The daily task and eternal destiny for every Christian is to become and be like Christ. This is not a task reserved for the pastors, ministry leaders, missionaries, and so-called super-Christians. It is for everyday, normal Christians (if you can call sons and daughters adopted by the King and Creator of the universe, “normal”) like you and me. It is simply for all Christians.
Then he connects this idea to the purpose of the Church:
“the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.” (p. 199)
The purpose of Christians is to become like Christ.
The purpose of the Church is to make Christians like Christ.
Period.
The Church can lose sight of this. They can become focused on things that are not making men into little Christs. They can sometimes take the very things which are used to make men like Christ—Communion, God’s Word, Worship—and twist them into something that does the opposite.
So, the Church must guard against these corruptions through continual, honest corporate reflection. They must be humbly walking with their God, earnestly asking Him to open their eyes to their shortcomings, so that they might repent and realign themselves with His Kingdom and Will.
The Church must recognize her purpose, and faithfully submit to that glorious purpose.
Jesus gives us quite a shock in his Sermon on the Mount:
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Perfection is what we must attain.
Nothing shatters a sense of self-sufficiency or moral apathy quite like the standard of Perfection.
“Some people seem to think this means ‘Unless you are perfect, I will not help you’; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant ‘The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.’” (p. 201)
Sometimes we don’t want to be perfect: Christ-like in all ways.
Sometimes we want to be loving, but not love our enemies.
Sometimes we want to pray for people, but not for those who persecute us.
Sometimes we want to follow Jesus, but not pick up our cross.
Sometimes we just want to settle for being kind of like Jesus.
But Jesus isn’t satisfied with kind of perfect, and neither should we.
“The command be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words.” (p. 205)
There’s the great relief you may have been waiting for: God is going to make us into these perfect creatures. The task is not on our shoulders — Jesus has taken it upon His and will carry it all the way to completion.
But sometimes God making us perfect kind of hurts, like a broken bone being set or a decaying tooth being pulled.
Sometimes fiery trials take us by surprise. Suffering strikes. Someone dies. Jobs are lost. Feelings are hurt.
But when a person finds themselves amidst the fiery flames, they must not despair:
“Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us.” (p. 205)
You need not work to make yourself good enough for God to save you. You have only to do “the terrible thing, the almost impossible thing… to hand over your whole self— all your wishes and precautions — to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead.” (p. 197)
In short: Repent and believe the gospel.
Give up your life, and you will find Eternal Life. Forsake all control, and you will receive Freedom. Lose all hope in yourself, and you will find Real Hope. Lose your self, and you will find your True Self.
But don’t go looking for your Self.
“Look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” (p. 227)
Phew. What a ride.
The first iteration of Book Club comes to a close.
I’d only read about half of Mere Christianity years ago; and I’m honestly stunned by the beauty hidden within the pages that I missed out on all these years.
I hope it was a blessing to you. I hope most deeply that through it you were formed more into the image and likeness of Christ. That’s what all this is for: that the Body of Christ (you) would more completely fulfill that glorious purpose given to humanity — to bear the Image of God.
I got to share so much meaningful dialogue with many of you (both online and in person), and felt like this first run of Book Club was a great success.
I would be so grateful for your feedback on what you thought went well and was good, and also ways you think this whole thing could be improved!! Throw your feedback in the comments below or to me privately, whichever seems best to you.
I’ve got a plan for the next Book Club that is super exciting to me, and I hope for you as well. Stay tuned and thanks for being apart of this, friends. It’s been a joy.
This last section elicited an interesting conversation on "purpose" in our household. I had questions about God's plan for any of us and how we can even start to figure out what He intends our individual purposes to be if we are constantly struggling to balance human desires and Godly plans. How do you discern between the two? Austen made a great point and challenged me to think of purpose as being "micro" instead of "macro" and encouraged me to look for the reasons in each day that God directs my path in any given direction. This was a perspective shift for me, but I think it opens up "purpose" to contain many more possibilities than just one single thing or idea.
Thank you, Ty, for hosting book club! This was a great read and a lot of fun to discuss both at home and online.
“The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is not merely to improve morally, it is to be Transformed into a whole new kind of being — to become a son of God like The Son of God.”
You put to words exactly what people need to hear. The whole purpose of Christ arrival was for this exact reason.
Keep shouting it
Keep bolding it
Keep italicizing it
Thank you for this article it’s a great one.
Peace be with your spirit.