The Supreme Command
Greetings and good morning brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series
where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years,
the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them
with you. This morning we will ponder our lives as we seek to understand the meaning of the supreme
command.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Supreme Command
Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 48.
Brothers and sisters, it is written: "Be you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Jesus
brought this command from heaven to earth. It was given to him by his heavenly Father to give to us.
Jesus said, "Believest not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto
you I speak not of myself: But my Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." When we respond
to this command, we become complete. We become unified with the Father, and the Father can flow
through us to our brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters, this command has meant various things in different times in our lives, depending
upon the degree of spiritual insight and spiritual growth. Because the Father "visits" us, it is possible
for us to obey this command. How? We obey this command by choosing to do the Father's will as
revealed in His Son, Jesus. This spirit creates an urge of unselfishness and a consciousness of the
truth, beauty, and goodness of the Father's love.
Brothers and sisters, this urge of unselfishness and consciousness of the Father's love is a spiritual
urge; so too are the consciousness of truth, beauty, and goodness. Since we are almost wholly
material, our concepts of truth, beauty, and goodness are likely to be almost wholly material. During
the first stage of our spiritual development, we learn about the power, judgement and love of God,
but our concepts are material. We believe in God but do not know Him. We believe if we live by the
golden rule, that is, if we treat others the way we want to be treated, God will give us the material
desires of our immature hearts.
We work hard and diligently; we keep the faith, suffering all sorts of hardships and sacrifices. As we
watch our precious dreams destroyed one after another, one or two things will happen to us. We will
grow into the next level of spiritual development, that is, knowledge of the Father's will, or we will
sink into a darkness of selfishness, bitterness, and disillusion and there we will stay until Jesus finds
us and puts us back on the path of light.
During this second stage, the knowledge of the Father is greater than the preceding one. We still
suffer disappointments in our attempts to gain material goals by spiritual methods. But we have
developed spiritually to the point where our trust in the Father's goodness causes us to continue to
believe. We feel that if we wait patiently and continue to serve God, God will replace our material
losses, tenfold, even a hundredfold, depending on the degree of our faithfulness. And this is the stage
of spiritual development that most of us die in, vainly hoping for a material reward that never comes,
but utterly failing to grasp the spiritual treasures that the Father has given us all along.
But there is yet a third stage of development. A few, but not many, of us will go on to enter this third
stage of spiritual development. A few of us will pass through the stages of despair, vanquish the stage
of false material hopes, and go on to conquer the plateau of true spiritual insight. A few of us will
learn that the true goals of living are spiritual.
During this stage, we learn that the purpose of living an unselfish life is not to acquire material
rewards but to acquire a spiritual character like Jesus. Living a truly unselfish life is an indicator and
measure of the soul's ability and the dedication of our will to obey the Father's mandate to be perfect.
For us to obey that command, we must become spiritual. We must fall in love with the ways of the
spirit Father. We must be willing to be weaned from subsisting on material energies while learning
to thrive on spiritual energies.
Our main reason for living must be the desire to do the Father's will as manifested in our outward
lives by unselfish living for others. We must learn to love unselfishly, to show mercy, and to love
patience while we delight in bestowing forgiveness for those who have wronged us. We must learn
to love truth over error. But most of all, we must learn to love divinely.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of the supreme command. We hope
you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day. Until next
time, this is Dr. James Perry.
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By Dr. James Perry
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The Supreme Command
