The Grace of God

 Prepare yourselves…

Ready?

(in the voice of a Baptist preacher) A preachment, dear friends, you are about to receive, on John Barleycorn, nicotine and the temptations of Eve.

That tribute to Olde Tyme preaching is from a song, Let It All Hang Out by the Hombres, a one-hit wonder from back in 1967. Oddly, the introduction has nothing to do with the song that follows, and probably nothing to do with my talk either!  It’s just a bit of fun (well, I had fun), an attention getter and… I was short on time.

But I do have a real talk.  Shall I read it? Yeah?  Okay.

The following is an excerpt from a talk by Spencer W Kimball, wherein the prophet is meeting with a couple about to marry and is offering them some advice. About achieving a happy marriage, he says:

Happiness is a strange commodity. It cannot be purchased with money, and yet it is bought with a price. You ask, "What is the price to pay for happiness?" You will be surprised with the simplicity of the answer. The treasure house of happiness may be unlocked and remain open to those who use the following keys: First, you must live the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity and simplicity. Second, you must forget yourself and love your companion more than yourself. If you do these things, happiness will be yours in great and never-failing abundance.

When I first heard this talk and he said he was about to give out the secret for happiness, I was all ears. Frankly, I was a bit surprised to hear that keeping the gospel is the direct road to happiness.  I thought we kept it because it was the right thing to do.  But the more I thought about it, the more I thought this must be so.

Righteousness is whatever will lead to man’s happiness and wickedness is whatever leads to man’s misery. But the main difficulty is, it’s so hard to recognize what happiness or wickedness looks like, particularly during times of temptation. There’s only one way to know: we need to be told. Passing along the truth of the gospel is the role of parents, prophets and whatever administering angels the Lord sends. And once we’ve learned the truth about the path of happiness, we must pass it on, especially to our sons and daughters. 

But can we really be sure that the happiness the gospel promises is real? Christianity is a fairly strict discipline, does it really pay off?  To this, all I can do is offer assurances that there is a God, He is both the father of our spirits and the creator of our mortal bodies. He understands what we go through and wants to do everything He can to ease our burdens. To this end, He has revealed the gospel, the discipline we undertake to find happiness.  And He also encourages us to seek Him in private consultation “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

The Savior has fought the same everyday battles that we face and overcame all things.  But we still are “growing in grace” and might need to reassess if we’re being true to our godly nature.  What then? Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.  We don’t always win our battles with temptation.  It’s a lifelong struggle. But we can win if we just never give up. Never give up!

Regardless of how many times we fail, so long as we are willing to acknowledge our sins as weakness, the Savior will be able to heal us.  But we cannot say our weakness is just the way we are, the way He made us.

Alma describes the resurrection as a restoration, that the spirits of both the righteous and wicked are restored according to their desires:

Alma 41:5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil.

Alma 34:34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

Alma 34:32 32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

In this life and in the final day, the Savior can only heal us if that’s what we really want.  This mortal probation is the time to form our eternal spirit and to overcome the sin that leads to misery. 

How are we relieved of the burden of temptation? In this life, we are healed by the Grace of God.  Maybe the term “Grace of God” sounds like something that only a Bible scholar would be interested in but it has a significant meaning. Really, it’s what we’ve all been praying for.  According to the Bible Dictionary, Grace is the divine means of help or strength, given through Jesus Christ. The word translated "grace" in the New Testament means “favor, blessing, or kindness.” Isn’t that what you’ve been praying for, a favor or a blessing or a kindness? 

I have a story, about the Grace of God, a testimonial even of a very wayward son, a Rock ‘n Roll legend from the 70’s: Alice Cooper.  Alice Cooper was brought up in a very religious household, attended church several times a week even.  Just like we do.  Alice Cooper is, of course, a stage name, his birth surname is Furnier, son of Ether Moroni Furnier.  His grandfather was an apostle in the LDS church established by Sidney Rigdon. But he ditched it all to live a life of excess and indulgence and rock n roll stardom.  Alice Cooper was, in his time, a big name, popular, rich and very much committed to the rock n roll lifestyle.  He ran and became weary and grew faint while walking.  Instead of wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, the destroying angel pursued him relentlessly.

After a little less than ten years of this, he woke up in bed barfing blood.  The doctor told him he’d be sharing a grave with all his drinking buddies in about a month.  His wife dragged him off to rehab.  It is here where he began, once more, to feel the divinity within himself we all share.  In his own words, he says “I’m not a cured alcoholic, I’m a healed alcoholic.  God took it away from me.  The doctor said ‘It’s impossible that you don’t fall off the wagon at least 3 or 4 times.  You’re a classic alcoholic.’  And I said, ‘What you don’t understand is God took it away from me. It’s a miracle. God works like that.’”

This is the grace of God. Divine means of help or strength, given through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ.  And I close with the words I left for my wife on a note by the chocolate cake she baked last night:  Pray for the grace of God that you might resist temptation.

Christmas 2023

First off, I’d like to say it’s great to give a sacrament talk on the day of Christmas Eve.  I like to think it wasn’t just because I look so much like Santa Claus.  But it does gives me a chance to say this:

Merry Christmas!  Merry Christmas, Germantown Ward! Peace on earth and goodwill to men!

Not only is Christmas a sacred day, but it’s great fun.  Infact, we make it great fun just because it is so sacred.  It’s a joyous celebration and observance.  Many families have Christmas traditions that cause delight and reflection on the meaning of this great day.

Many of the traditions include choosing and decorating the tree.  Shopping for gifts to give to family or friends. Enjoying Christmas-themed songs and tv specials. Decorating the home with art celebrating that special event.  Did I mention the food?  Soooo many cookies and candies…

Well, I could go on, but I wanted to talk a bit more about the art: one picture in particular that I first saw in the Washington DC temple.

Long ago, when I was a young father, I would visit the temple to do work for my ancestors.  Every time I was there, in between ordinances, I was fascinated by a certain painting that hung in two very prominent places, one outside the endowment rooms and also in the hall by the sealing rooms.  It was a depiction of baby Jesus being blessed at the temple.  Joseph and Mary are holding up the baby for Simeon and Anna to see. I would stare at that picture, my mind pondering the beauty and sacredness of it.

There were two main things that very much struck me about it.  First of all, Jesus as a helpless baby, wholly dependent on his parents for nourishment and protection.  Wasn’t he also the creator of our world and everything in it?  Why did He come here as a helpless baby?  I would think about this and how he came into our world to live like any other man.  He received no special treatment even though it seems to me he could have, maybe even should of.

What struck me in particular was how similar Jesus was to us and us to Him. He lived in a very typical fashion, was brought up in a humble Jewish home, not in the Pharoh’s palace as Moses was.  He wasn’t the son of a great warrior, a leader of nations or a hero of any kind in the eyes of the world. In the home of Joseph and Mary, He set the example of a Man humble before his Heavenly Father.

The other thing I thought of (a lot!) was how his Father, Joseph was going to make it through this…I dunno…certainly a test!  He must have known that this baby was at least…highly favored of the Lord.  He might not have known that this baby was the Lord!  I’d be worried to death! What if I even fed him late or failed to comfort him when He was crying.  That’s a lot of responsibility! How did Joseph manage?  Joseph’s story has never been told.

It also made me ponder the question of who are these souls Heavenly Father was sending me to raise?

Part of Nephi’s vision regarding the Tree of Life and the Iron Rod describes the birth of Christ.  The angel asks Nephi, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” and later, “Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.”

And with one short sentence, the angel confirmed the love of God and the place of the family in the plan of redemption.  The angel continues to describe Christ’s ministry of teaching and healing, His ultimate sacrifice and the apostacy that sadly followed.

I still really love this picture even after its familiarity wore out its initial impact.  It makes me think about my role as a father, my stewardship over the souls I fathered and how not up to the task required we ever are.  Like marriage, the decision to become a parent is a leap of faith.  We enter into it with high hopes but no guarantees.  But for those that overcome all things, the Father has promised us that we will eat of the tree of life, we will not be hurt by the second death, that we will have power over the nations and that we will share His throne.  Promises to be fulfilled by that newborn baby.

My Wife’s Thoughts on her Raincoat

Before she left the door this morning, as she searched for her raincoat, she came across mine and asked why my coat was so much better.  Then she answered her own question by noting mine had flaps but hers did not. She added a few more comments about her raincoat and how much she liked it when it wasn’t too hot and sweaty.  Then she said good bye and whisked out the door.

Some Thoughts on the Sermon on the Mount

One of the unique contributions of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount. No other gospel writer includes it but it was important enough that the resurrected Savior retold it to the Nephites after his resurrection. In many ways, the Sermon on the Mount contains the key teachings of Christian ethics.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

I can get behind all those but I was thrown off a little by 

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

What? It’s good to be meek? I thought it was better to be strong and courageous? I’ll have to think about that. There’s more:

I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Woah, that’s a big jump in difficulty. Love those that hate you? Now that’s tough!

Frankly, it’s hard to reconcile these teachings with the frequent battles recorded in both the Bible and Book of Mormon. The Nephites and Lamanites were often embroiled in battles resulting in many deaths and when the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi refused to go to war, they had to depend on the Nephites for their defense.

So I have to ask the question, how can you love your enemy when he’s about to attack you with a flail and sword? I’ve thought about this a lot and just to fast forward, I think it’s a matter of balance and judgement. Often, you have to make a choice and that affects the path you are on, either towards the love of God or away from it.

Father Lehi had a dream in the desert on the way to the new lands of America. In it he saw a vision of the tree of life, the love of God and he found that it was most sweet, above all that he had ever tasted before. But that’s not the only destination along the many pathways he beheld. One was a great building, the pride of man. And some had left the path all together and wandered in mists of darkness. In that regard, nothing much has changed in the last two and a half thousand years.

We were given our agency in the Garden of Eden and we can use that agency to create or destroy, to please or displease, to oppose one another or to support one another. Each choice we make will push us further towards or away from the love of God. To help us choose, the Lord sent prophets and apostles. They teach both the spirit and the law of gospel of Jesus.

What are the two great commandments? To love God and one another as we love ourselves. We rarely need to be reproven for being too generous or too thoughtful. If we are in the struggle of our lives, it is a struggle against our own greed and selfishness. That’s why it makes a lot of sense for a teacher to tell us

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

The commandments are like guard rails, when we bash into the guard rails we know we’ve gone too far in the pursuit of our own interests. Sometimes, when we are on the precipice of a moral decision, it hard to tell what the right thing to do is, especially when faced with a choice between two bad outcomes. So the commandments will help as they are given as guidelines for those who hearken to the Lord.

Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the light.” When we look to Him, the path becomes clearer. Is that the tree of the Love of God at the end of this path or is it the great and spacious building?

Let’s consider a few of the commandments. Not everyone who strays from the Word of Wisdom is going to end up an alcoholic or addict of some kind, not everyone who strays from this path will follow it to the end but the destinations at the end of the path of abstinence vs the path of indulgence are very different.

I used to watch Drugs Inc when it was on National Geographic TV. One particularly disturbing episode was about heroin use and they focused in on a long time drug user, Pete who lives literally in a cardboard box in the streets. He’s seen both ends of the path. In his own words, he describes his predicament, his addiction which he cannot escape: “I used to sell municipal bonds, the kind of job you’re supposed to want. In reality, being college educated, the whole bit, I should have a house. I mean there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have a house. None whatsoever. It’s not that I’m lazy, anyone I’ve ever worked for will tell you I’m not lazy. The house is in my arms. I used to sail, I used to golf. I was married, had a house, nice cars. They’re all gone. I gave them all up for the drug. It’s my life and it’s my wife. How can you want something that’s killing you more than anything else? I could just stop. If I stop, I’ll get sick for only 3 days. Which isn’t bad, right? You would think that’s the smart thing to do. Then why don’t I do it? I don’t know.”

Look to the direction you are headed and consider the counsel of the Lord.

Two commandments where we as Mormons are a unique and peculiar people are Sabbath observance and the law of chastity. We still observe both. We don’t want to end up like the slaves in Egypt who had to work seven days a week, we want a day of rest. We want time to remember each other and renew the promises we made to our Creator. We want families that are happy, couples that are faithful and to be sealed with eternal vows. That’s the path we are on, the direction where we are headed. We might falter along the way but in our hearts, we long for these things.

We long to be united in spirit and trust with our fellow man. We long for peace. Our vision of a great society is described in the Book of Mormon:

And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

I don’t have to tell you how rare that is to achieve. Until we have heaven on earth, it has to be done on a small scale, at a personal level, setting examples everywhere we go, being ambassadors of Christ with a love of God and all men. It will inspire others. Not everyone I know but it’s the only way.

So we try to keep our covenants despite the recklessness we see around us. Perhaps foolishness in the eyes of man but the Lord is pleased with those who respect Him and keep His commandments. The gospel is the path to peace and happiness, the love of God. The Lord has said

• I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
• How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.
• And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.

We are created in His image, He is the father of our spirits. We can look to Him to find the path to peace.

All Things Obey God

 

God created the earth and all things in it.  All the earth and its creations obey God.  When the Savior calmed the seas the apostles wondered aloud “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him.”  Well, He was their creator.  When Noah needed to fill the Ark with every kind of creature on earth, the Lord commanded them to come and they came.  In Winter, the Lord sends the snow, in spring He sends the rain.  He rules all.  He rules all except for one creature: man.  All creatures and creations on the earth are subject to the will of God.  All except man. 

Not only is man not subject to the will of the Father, but it seems as though many of them actively resist Him.  He has entreated us to come to Him, has promised to “gather us up as a hen would gather her chickens” but we will not.  He sends prophets and apostles to reclaim us from our fallen state.  He sends angels to teach us and administer to those few who will listen.  He sent even His son who ended up paying the ultimate price.  We struggle, make war on one another and on our best days embrace the gospel in fits and starts.  How did this happen?  How did the Lord’s crowning creation, we who are created in His image, end up being so willful and independent?  Well, the truth is, we pretty much insisted on it.  If we are estranged from our Father, it is because it is what we wanted.  It all goes back to the garden of Eden.

In the beginning, there was nothing until God created the earth and everything in it.  He created the earth, created day and night, created the sky and stars, the sun and moon.  He created the oceans and continents and filled them with plants and tree of all sorts, animals of all kinds and finally, his ultimate creation, us.  Man.  And He loved us like crazy and was very much pleased with us and all His creations.  He made a fantastic place with everything we could possibly imagine, a literal garden of Eden.  And we were immortal, we would live forever in a perfect world.  So why did we throw all this away?

In the garden, there were two trees.  One was the Tree of Life and, being immortal, we could eat freely of that tree.  The other tree was the Tree of Knowledge but this one was forbidden to us.  Its full name is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The Lord had said:  thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.  You might want to call it the Tree of Death.

We are used to going to school and studying things by learning from a book.  Let’s say we want to learn to tie a bowline knot.  We’d read about it, look at some diagrams of the knot being tied, watch a few youtube videos and eventually we would be pretty well informed.  But you haven’t really learned it until you can actually tie the knot yourself.  That’s kind of what the knowledge of good and evil is like, you really need to experience evil in order to know it.  And that sort of thing has no place in the garden of Eden.

So what was Adam and Eve’s motivation for wanting to eat from the tree of knowledge?  On this, I can only speculate.  Although motivation is usually multi-faceted, the account given in Genesis suggests it had to do with having children.  Adam and Eve were commanded to go forth and multiply but did not have the power to do so.  Nephi helps out here.  I will read from 2 Nephi 2:

22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

I offer the following only as my personal opinion but I think that the charge and desire to have children was only part of the real reason.  Adam and Eve realized that they could not always be children in the care of Heavenly Father, that they would have to, even should have to, grow up and take on responsibilities.  They wanted to grow and progress beyond the garden and they felt that it was something that they must take on themselves and that maybe Heavenly Father would not ask that of them because it was such a dangerous thing to do.  And, as He said, if they went that way, they would surely die.

I want to mention here that what Adam and Eve were contemplating was not a sin.  LDS speakers and all of the New Testament apostles never refer to what happened in the garden as a sin.  They call it a transgression.  To me, a Sin and a transgression sound like the same thing so let’s see what Neal A. Maxwell has to say about it:

Some acts, like murder, are crimes because they are inherently wrong. Other acts, like operating without a license, are crimes only because they are legally prohibited. Under these distinctions, the act that produced the Fall was not a sin—inherently wrong—but a transgression—wrong because it was formally prohibited. These words are not always used to denote something different, but this distinction seems meaningful in the circumstances of the Fall.

So the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge stood opposed to one another.  Eternal life was ours and we would be sheltered from all evil things but unable to progress.  Or we could choose death and pain and suffering but be free to work our own will. So, what would you do? Is it better to have a sheltered trouble-free life where nothing bad ever happens or is it better to face all the troubles and sorrows the world can offer in the hope of overcoming them?  In the Book of Revelations, Jesus appears to the apostle John and tells him, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame."  That promise applies to us but not Adam.  In their innocent state, there was nothing for Adam and Eve to overcome.

You all know what happened, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and lost their innocence.  They were sent from the garden, cut off from the presence of God and, a curious thing, a guard and a flaming sword was set around the Tree of Life so they would not eat of it.  Cut off from immortality and cut off from the Lord.  Physical and Spiritual death.

To reclaim mankind from death, the plan of salvation went into effect.  I do apologize for waxing kitchy but this little saying from America’s hippie days back in the 60’s seems to almost be appropriate:

If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.

Many of the Adam’s children would go astray but some would choose to follow the Lord and this they would do so willingly.  There had to be a way to reclaim them.  The prophets and apostles and angelic ministers could only teach and ordain, what was needed was a way to reverse spiritual and physical death.  Because we were estranged from the Father, He sent His Son, the Son of God to bring about resurrection and salvation.  While the resurrection is for all mankind, coming back into the presence of the Father is by recommend only.  It is for those who chose to obey the Father because they are like the Father.

Christ is called Redeemer and the Mediator because he pleads our case with the Father.  I wanted to see if I could explain the atonement in as a user friendly way as possible. As stripped down to its core as possible.  Perhaps a retelling of the Prodigal Son? Only in the retelling, the older brother is our older brother, Jesus Christ.

 

The younger of two sons said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  But I have betrayed my Father, disregarded all His teachings and spent my inheritance. I am afraid to return.  And not many days after, his older brother found him and he wept and repented of his foolishness but he was sore afraid to return.

The older brother offered, “I will go inquire of our Father what is his will concerning his lost son.”  And he went and when he returned from his journey home, he again visited the younger brother.  He said, “I have told Father everything and have recommended you to him.”  They then both made the journey home. When they were yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.