In The Master's Service

LET US GO ON UNTO PERFECTION

Elder R. K. Blackshear (deceased) From "Good Will" June 1956

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection..." - Hebrews 6:1.

We need to consider carefully both of the clauses in the above expression, that we might understand the apostle's admonition, because a wrong understanding would play havoc with our peace of mind, to say nothing about throwing all the Scriptures out of joint.

What do we understand Paul to mean relative to our leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ? Just as surely as there is a right understanding there is also a wrong application, but a wrong appliction would never harmonize with all the Bible. Do we think that Paul meant that we should forsake, forget, ignore the principles of the doctrine; that we should not consider them as important, or as worthy of embracing? We are sure that he did not mean this, but we are also certain that he did mean something important in some way to the welfare of God's children. We would say, however, before we go any further with this lesson, that whether we ignore and disbelieve the principles of the doctrine of Christ or not it would not keep these principles from being true. And so the believing of these principles has nothing to do with our salvation in heaven, but believing them does mean our happiness in this world.

No, Paul did not admonish the Hebrew brethren to forget the principles of the doctrine of Christ, but he was admonishing them to put those principles into practice. We would not get very much pleasure out of our practical religion if we sat down and talked about the foundation all the time. The foundation is great and wonderful, it is true, but instead of our knowledge of it being an incentive to us to sit down on the "stool of do nothing" it should inspire us to put forth every effort to praise God for the sure foundation. The principles of the doctrine of Christ give us the desire and the authority to obey the spiritual commandments given in the gospel. When we know something of these principles we can rightly understand the purpose of baptism, as well as all the other commandments of Christ, and this causes our observance of these mandates to honor and glorify God, whereas our observance of them would be mockery if we did not understand and did them for some other reason rather than the one given us of Christ. In other words, one man might be baptized and the act be honoring to God, while another might be baptized in the same water and God not receive any honor out of the service. It all depends upon our understanding as to why we should be baptized, and we cannot understand this unless we understand the principles of truth.

"Let us go on unto perfection." Can we live perfect in the flesh? Is it possible to live without sin in this life? God's people have not found it so, for they all confess that they feel to be sinners, even after long years of service. Then in what manner can we go unto perfection? We can only go unto perfection to the extent that we follow the commandments of Christ, for He did Himself everything He commanded His children to do, and He only did things that were right. When we do what He did we go unto perfection for nothing could be better. He was baptized, He partook of the communion supper, He washed His disciples' feet, He lived meek and humble; when He was reviled He reviled not again, He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and in His last expiring breath He prayed for those who crucified Him.

These are some of the things we must do if we go unto perfection. There is nothing better than for a child of God to be baptized in the name of Christ. The sweet perfume of His precious body still lingers in the baptismal waters, and that is why His children find joy and peace there today. He chartered the course of His children in the world, mapped out the route, and then gave commandment for us to follow Him. This is right and we can, by His living grace, do all things that He requires of us, but the motive behind our obedience to these commandments is what causes us to either honor or dishonor Him. We must recognize Him in every thing we do, and there is never a time in life when we can righteously take honor unto ourselves, for His grace must uphold and sustain us in every thing we do in His service.

We have no desire to forget the principles of the doctrine of Christ, for they are precious to us, but we don't have to stand by and defend them all the time. No, our better defence of these principles is in striving to follow in His footsteps, and surely we must feel inspired to obey His blessed commandments. If we love God we will love His truths, and we prove that love by the things we do to honor and glorify Him. Then let us put our poor sinful feet in His blessed footprints and walk the path of perfection in a spiritual sense. We are too weak to do this, you say. Well, there is a throne of grace erected for the express purpose of supplying God's children with everything they need in order to run the Christian race. But our efforts are so poor and imperfect! Yes, and so are our prayers, but we are not going to quit trying to pray because we cannot pray perfectly. Let us go on unto perfection by following in the footsteps of Jesus, and He gives us grace to enable us to do this.

---