The Overflowing Love of the Father: What "Be Perfect" Really Means

Years ago, a kid in my youth group named Zack called me on the last day of school in a panic. I'd agreed to sign off on his senior project, a website for our youth group, and after a whole year of "almost done," he needed my signature in fifteen minutes or he wouldn't graduate. So I drove to my old high school, and on the way I may have slipped his geometry teacher a note to read aloud: "Zack, your brother's here. He brought your underwear. He says everything's going to be okay." The class roared. Zack went bright red and blurted, "I don't have a brother!" Then I tapped on the window. That day, I was his brother.

Here's what you wouldn't know about Zack just by looking at him. He wore a McDonald's manager shirt by senior year because he worked nearly every day to help his single mom pay the bills. He was working to help his sister and mom survive. Suddenly his unfinished project made a lot more sense. When you understand someone's story, you stop judging how they carry it and start caring.

This week we looked at one of the most misread verses in the Bible: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We hear "perfect" and think flawless, mistake-free, anxious to measure up. But the Greek word is telios, and it means whole or complete. It's about your inside matching your outside, your heart and your actions lining up, instead of the divided, whitewashed life Jesus warned the Pharisees about.

And wholeness, it turns out, looks like overflowing love. Jesus said don't just love your neighbor, love your enemy, because the Father sends sun and rain on the good and the evil alike. He keeps stretching us outward in widening circles, from family to friends to strangers to the people we'd rather avoid, always asking for one more step. The golden rule is the key: treat others the way you'd want to be treated. Love is an act of imagination. Picture that person as your own family, and act accordingly.

So this Father's Day, the invitation is twofold. Receive the Father's overflowing love, and then let it overflow out of you to someone who needs it.

We'd love to have you join us. Garden City Church meets every Sunday at 10:00 AM in Tacoma. Come as you are, whether you've walked with Jesus for years or you're just curious and checking things out. This is a place you can belong before you believe. Find us at gardencitynw.com for directions and what to expect.

- Pastor George

Eyes to See: How the Beatitudes Change the Way We View People

Eyes to See: How the Beatitudes Change the Way We View People

This week's message started with a trip to the eye doctor and a pair of Costco sunglasses that turned out to be pink. Nobody warned the color blind guy buying them, so he preached a whole sermon before finding out. It got a good laugh, but it set up a real question. What if our problem isn't our eyes, but the way we see people?

There's a moment in Matthew where two blind men shout for Jesus while a busy crowd pushes past them. The crowd noticed them. Jesus actually saw them. He stopped, asked what they wanted, and healed them out of compassion. That gap between being noticed and being truly seen runs through the whole story. Matthew holds onto that question all the way to the cross. The religious and political leaders, the people who should have recognized God, end up mocking Jesus as he dies. Then a Roman soldier, an outsider with no reason to care, looks up and says, "This was certainly God's Son." The least likely person in the crowd is the one who finally sees clearly.

That's the lens. When you read the Beatitudes through the cross, you start to notice that Jesus was the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the persecuted one. The blessed life often looks broken to the world.

Father Gregory Boyle spent thirty years at Homeboy Industries learning this from former gang members most people had given up on. One of them put it this way after years of hiding his scars: "My wounds are my friends. How can I help heal the wounded if I don't welcome my own?"

So here's something to sit with this week. When you look at the people around you, do you see someone to judge, or someone to love and learn from?

Jesus, would you open our eyes.

We'd love to have you join us. Garden City Church meets every Sunday at 10:00 AM here in Tacoma. Come as you are, whether you've been following Jesus for years or you're just curious and checking things out. This is a place you can belong before you believe. You can find this full sermon on our podcast or YouTube page

- George Bedlion