Sacrament Talk - 20 Dec 2009

This is the talk that I gave in Sacrament Meeting today - I RARELY write my talks out, but was inspired to do so this time, and got a TON of compliments for it - including from the Stake President, Stake Relief Society President, and High Council. Feel free to read it everyone:

Shortly after leading them from bondage, the Lord commanded the Israelite men to ascend Mount Sinai and receive those blessings which the Lord had to bestow upon them for a blessing of their righteousness. Though these same men had seen the power of the Lord in the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding of their families, and the deliverance of their people from Egypt, these men held not the faith in their hearts that would allow them to speak face to face with the Lord to receive those additional blessings that He had for them. The Lord’s response to their unwillingness to climb to meet him was to give to Moses what was known as the Ten Commandments.

While we are all familiar with this set of commandments, and many of us can still recite them in order from our days as young Seminary students, most of us probably have not looked in depth as to the meaning and symbolism of these commandments. I had the opportunity to do this during the previous semester as a student in Biblical Hebrew class. During the last half of the semester we translated Deuteronomy 5 at approximately a rate of 2 verses per class period. As we translated these verses, we came to understand the differences of wording between what we have in English as opposed to what was written in the Hebrew manuscript, but we also came to more fully understand this set of commandments and how they are applicable as guidance to our lives today.

Keeping that in mind, we look forward from the time of the Israelites to the mortal ministry of Christ. Hoping to catch him in a lie and cause him to contradict himself, or rather, hoping to cause him to alienate an individual or group of people, a group of Pharisees approached the Living Christ and inquired of him as to what the greatest commandment was. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus reminds them that the two greatest commandments are to “love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”; and to love our neighbors as ourselves. During his Sermon on the Mount, Christ reminded us that he had not come to “destroy the law, or the prophets; but to fulfill.”

The law and the prophets of course refer back to the Ten Commandments. Why then are they referenced to so frequently? It is because these commandments are of the most importance to an individual’s life, the following of which will not only bring upon one great blessings, but rather will help an individual to prepare to receive further light and knowledge, strengthen their knowledge of Heavenly parents, and continue to build their faith in Jesus Christ, the Beloved Son of our Heavenly Father and one who came to fulfill the ends of that law.

When examining the first four commandments that were delivered to Moses on the stone tablets, one will read that they are to have no other Gods before God, that they are to not idly bear the name of God (note, that the true terminology of the commandment is to “bear”, not “to take” as is perhaps not accurately rendered in the King James Version of the Bible), that they are to have no other false images of “God” in their lives, and that they are to remember the day of God and to treat it with its proper respect. Each of these four commandments relate to the central ideal of placing God in His proper light, and honoring him accordingly.

In order to effectively worship God, one must understand His nature, and concurrently exercise their belief, or in other words faith, to show that proper respect to His name and His will. The application of faith allows men to more fully understand the attributes of our Heavenly Parents, and to supplicate ourselves to a loving God who seeks to pour out His blessings upon our heads when we honor Him righteously and carry out His will.

In fact, it is of no coincidence that the very first question in the temple recommend interview questions our testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we cannot faithfully and accurately say “yes” to this first question, then we cannot honestly, and faithfully answer any other question in that interview, as all other questions are dependent on our faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith is not simply just a principle of the gospel, but rather is eternal law itself. When applied with other doctrines of the gospel, faith is transactional medium for blessings and knowledge which come through its exercise. It is a law that must be actively administered in order to reap the full effect of its potential. It is the basis for the first set of commandments given to the Israelites and to each and every people upon the earth that have had cause to worship God.

The adversary would have many believe that faith is not only miniscule in value, but instead a show of weakness and wholly unnecessary to have in order to obtain one’s greatest desires. Additionally, he has lead many astray and has encouraged them to mock and torture those that exercise faith in those things that are prophesied to come.

As we approach this Christmas holiday, we are reminded of the various scriptural accounts of the birth of the Savior to this mortal realm. In each account, there was some test of faith that took place in order to come to a knowledge that the Son of God truly had begun his mortal ministry. In many cases this was simply just the recognition of the new star in the evening sky, but there were also the accounts of the shepherds watching over their flocks that were reminded to “fear not, for I bring you good tidings (or in other words the gospel) of great joy, which shall be unto all nations”; to the wise men that followed the star across the countryside to visit the young baby Jesus; to the supplication of the Nephites and Nephites to God to protect them and their families as the non-believers around them threatened them with their lives.

I believe that it is no coincidence that Christ’s birthplace was in a manager in the small town of Bethlehem. The name “Bethlehem” is from the Hebrew derivative of the conjunctive words “Bet” and “Lehem” which is to mean “the house of bread.” Not only is Christ known throughout the standard works as being the “bread of life” but we also partake of bread emblems each week as a reminder to us of not only the sacrifice of our Savior on our behalf, but of His entire mortal ministry which provided us a template for living our own lives and returning back to our Father in Heaven.

The environment in which Jesus Christ came into this world and the manger upon which his head was placed are both symbolic of the humility that is represented in the life of Christ, and also the humility that we must have in our exercise of belief and allegiance to Him. We are reminded of this as we prepare for the sacrament each week with the musical prayer that we deliver from our hearts and mouths as we prepare for this sacred ordinance. We sing hymns that are slow-paced and meaningful in order to invite a spirit of humility into our hearts, so that we can partake of the emblems of the sacrament in full faith that we will be blessed with those promises that the Lord has covenanted to exercise on our behalf. If we are partaking of the sacrament without faith in our hearts, then we cannot expect to be fully blessed according to the promises that are made.

In our modern day, we do not have the privilege of witnessing the birth of Christ to the world, nor do we have many that will hold our lives in the balance as we exercise our faith in the Lord, or in those prophecies that are given. We do not participate in crusades, nor do we find ourselves having to rent our garments in allegiance to a commander and cause to protect our freedom, lives, and families. Rather, we face a much more dangerous challenge to our faith in Christ and allegiance to the gospel in an ongoing battle with the adversary, his followers, and the world that he has taken upon himself to lead to destruction.

In deference to the trials that we face in our lives in the world today, in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the prophet is quoted as saying “A man can bear a heavy burden by practice and continuing to increase it. The inhabitants of this continent anciently were so constituted, and were so determined and preserving, either in righteousness or wickedness, that God visited them immediately either with great judgments or blessings. But the present generation, if they were going to battle, if they got any assistance from God, they would have to obtain it by faith.” (Pg 308)

In his April 2007 General Conference address, Elder Richard G. Scott addresses the delay we sometimes feel when we have exercised our faith in God and have prayed for an answer that we hoped to receive, but feel that have not yet. He said:

“Some misunderstandings about prayer can be clarified by realizing that the scriptures define principles for effective prayer, but they do not assure when a response will be given. Actually, He will reply in one of three ways. First, you can feel the peace, comfort, and assurance that confirm that your decision is right. Or second, you can sense that unsettled feeling, the stupor of thought, indicating that your choice is wrong. Or third—and this is the difficult one—you can feel no response.

What do you do when you have prepared carefully, have prayed fervently, waited a reasonable time for a response, and still do not feel an answer? You may want to express thanks when that occurs, for it is an evidence of His trust. When you are living worthily and your choice is consistent with the Savior’s teachings and you need to act, proceed with trust. As you are sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, one of two things will certainly occur at the appropriate time: either the stupor of thought will come, indicating an improper choice, or the peace or the burning in the bosom will be felt, confirming that your choice was correct. When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision.” (Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer, April 2007)

Prayer is one of the most effective ways that we can communicate our faith to the Lord. Like Adam, Abraham, Samuel, Nephi, Joseph Smith, and a host of other prophets and saints alike, we will be called upon to exercise our faith in ways that may not require us to go to war against our brethren, but rather go to war with ourselves and with Satan as we seek to understand the Lord’s will for us. Sometimes our exercise of faith alone will bring us the blessings that we seek, and other times, it will be the catalyst for our discovery of other answers that we are seeking. In all instances, humility is the accompanying emotion that must be applied with faith in order to enjoy the Lord’s highest blessings. Put it other terms to the prophet Joseph, the Lord reminded him that “many are called but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one lesson. That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven…” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:34-36)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell put this to the Church in another way when he reminded us to “establish our residence in Zion, and give up the summer cottage in Babylon” (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, October 2008 General Conference, Come to Zion.) In either case, if we have our hearts and minds set upon the things of the world, and upon the honors of men, we cannot fully exercise our faith in Jesus Christ that will allow us those blessings that we seek, nor can we become a fully converted disciple that will be willing to do His will.

We have all faced perilous times in our lives. According the apostle Paul, we are living in perilous times right now. The symptoms that he describes are that “Men will be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)

These are all traits that we see prevalent in the world around us. Much of the economic crisis’s that the world faces today are the result of these pitfalls prophesied by Paul in his address to Timothy. Much greater the crisis however is the economic turmoil that we bring upon ourselves in the spiritual sense. As previously mentioned, faith is the spiritual medium of monetary exchange and it is the refiner’s fire that will change ordinary things into much more valuable things. We are promised that we one day will receive our own Urim and Thumum in the form of a glorified earth, which again, derived from Hebrew, teaches us that we will one day have our own Lights and Perfections. (Bible Dictionary). Our exercise of faith will allow this progression to take place, otherwise, we become as Paul states – and have a form of godliness within, but we deny that power.

We are all inherently blessed with the light of Christ in our lives. That is given to every man upon their birth in this world. As a gift we are also given the ability to have faith, especially that faith which is in Jesus Christ to refine us into better people. Though the definition of faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things, our exercise thereof will lead to a perfect knowledge of many things over the course of our lives.

Economically though, many of us struggle with the understanding of the proper exercise of faith. Too many times we view faith as a medium that can be stored up and used for later, or we view it as a form of spiritual bailout offered by another that will “help us get through the trial that faces us.” Too often, we rely solely on the faith of another much as we would a loan would be granted for purchases of temporal nature. Ever grateful should we be for the Lord’s requirement of an honest tithe, and for sacrifices made in our lives that continually tax our faith and keep that account active. Though the economic plans of men may promise immediate relief, or stimulation, or a means of escaping the obligations that one has agreed to, the Lord’s spiritual economic plan will never leave us with a deficit, nor will it require the borrowing of goods and services that we have not yet produced to carry us through the trials we presently face. In fact, the Lord promises that if we buy into his economic plan for us, that we will equally share the burden with others, we will learn greater knowledge, and we will be able to find rest in the Lord’s haven.

As we approach the Christmas holiday, and carry forward into the new year, may we find ourselves more willing to trust in the Lord, more recognizant of His hand in our lives, and more aware of the need to exercise faith towards our progression to return back to our Father in Heaven. [Testimony]

A Better Understanding of The Ten Commandments

I promise these will become more frequent once I'm out of classes for the semester and have a ton more time to work with on things!

As I've mentioned previously, during our last half of class in Hebrew this semester, we've been studying the 5th Chapter of the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Those of you that are unfamiliar with this Chapter, it is essentially a reiteration of the 20th Chapter of Exodus by Moses to the children of Israel. We're studying this because there are slight variations with it, enough that our understanding (and some of us - memorization) of Exodus 20 does not corrupt or influence our translations too much.

In any case, as we've been translating only two verses a class period, we've come to a much greater understanding of the true meanings of some of these scriptures. There are some key points that I'd like to bring up from what I've learned that I think others may find insightful.

1. Credit the King James translators for their accuracy in translation. They are pretty dang good with most of their translations...but at the same time there are a few spots that they gave themselves a much greater latitude than perhaps they should have. One of these spots is in Deuteronomy 5:11 - which is the commandment that "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain..."

...The only problem is that in the original Hebrew manuscript, the term "take" is not used...or even really implied. In fact, the Hebrew word that is used in the manuscript at that spot is "תִשּׂא" which is actually the Hebrew verb form of the word "to bear" or even "to hold" but the Hebrew term for the word "to take" is completely different. When you consider this, you gain a new insight into this scripture - because it then reads "Thou shalt not bear the name of the Lord, they God, in vain..."

What does this mean to us? It means that for those that go on their missions and mess around - they are breaking this commandment. Those that go out drinking on a Saturday night and carousing and then show up to bless the Sacrament - they are breaking the commandment. Basically every time we do something in the name of the Lord and we represent it inappropriately, we are in violation of this commandment.

2. If you take the Ten Commandments and put them in terms of "God" then you will come to a greater understanding of not only the commandments themselves, but the progression of the commandments themselves.

In summary, the Ten Commandments are as follows:

- No other Gods before God
- No graven images
- No bearing the name of God in vain
- Keep the Sabbath Day holy
- Honor parents
- Do not kill
- Do not commit adultery
- Do not steal
- No false witnesses
- No coveting neighbors house, family, possessions, etc.

Now - place this in terms of God and you come to an even greater understanding of this:

- God above everything
- Nothing coming before God or misrepresenting HIS image
- Take not upon yourself the image of God inappropriately
- Keep the day of God in proper perspective and do not desecrate His day
- Honor those that are put in proxy of God on earth
- Do not destroy the living creations of God
- Do not destroy the family unit of God
- Do not take for yourself the blessings of God which are not yours
- Do not cause another creature of God to be portrayed in a false / bad light
- Do not even THINK about harming another creature of God or inappropriately acquiring their blessings.

When you look at it that way, I think it offers a great deal more insight into these commandments. I'll explain how this fits into Latter-Day theology in my next post!