Dec 11th, 2013
And he's off . . . Dec 11th, 2013
“And it came to pass that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer
him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the
burnt offering, and went unto the place of which God had told him. And they came to the
place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and bound Isaac his
son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and
took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven,
and said, Abraham, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him:
for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son from me. By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Today brothers and sisters I have been asked to speak on obedience. What it means to
obey? and why we should obey?
1) What does it mean to obey? Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained obedience as “The first law of heaven, the cornerstone upon which all righteousness and progression rest. To be obedient is to be compliant with divine law, in conformity to the mind and will of deity, in complete subjection to God and His
commandments.”
Obedience to our Father is possible because of 2 things.
1) Laws were ordained by the Lord so as to guide us along the pathways of life and enable us to progress to something greater than we were before and ultimately to become like Him.
2) The Lord gave man agency so that he could choose for himself to obey God’s will or his own.
By Elder McConkie’s definition we can understand that to obey is not only to do the outward appearance of what is right but to bring all that you are into compliance with what the Lord has decreed. It is essential in true obedience however that we do things of our own free will and not because we are made to do it. If we are forced to do what is right we do not learn the true law of obedience because we had no option of
disobedience. The Lord emphasizes this point in D&C 58:26-28: It reads. “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their
reward.” The Lord expects us to know His will and to act always in compliance with His teachings, but not to know the perfect answer in all things. He expects us to learn His will through the scriptures and living prophets but He will never force it upon us. This is true obedience to know the will of God and do it “of your own free will and choice.”
2) Why should I obey? What are the blessings of Obedience?
The Lord revealed the answer to both of these questions in The Doctrine and Covenants. In D&C 82:8-10 It reads - “And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you; or in other words I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say,
ye have no promise.”
Joseph revelation touching on obedience continues in Section 130:20-21: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.”
By both of these teachings given by the Lord it is clear that not only can we obtain blessings through obedience but it is the only way to obtain blessings. Blessings are just the natural byproduct of obedience to our Father and His Son. Any progression in this life is directly in correlation with obedience.
Another point on obedience is given by the Lord to Joseph once again in D&C 105:6 “And my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs be, by the things which they suffer.” The Lord does not promise perfect lives to those who are trying their hardest to be obedient, life is supposed to be a time of testing and trials even for the faithful. A promise is given however to the disobedient that only suffering can come about by transgressing the word of God. Luckily the suffering that is caused by disobedience can lead to good if the unfaithful realize why they are being chastised and they learn to change.
Going back to the story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham loved his son but didn’t even hesitate to obey the Lord. It says that “Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took Isaac his son, and went unto the place of which God had told him.” Abraham of course didn’t want to sacrifice his son to The Lord but didn’t hesitate in obeying God’s command. And as it says also because of his obedience all that are of the Seed of Abraham or are a part of a tribe of Israel are blessed because of his obedience. Israel became God’s chosen people because they had shown to be more obedient than the other nations of the earth. We can all enjoy the same promises and blessings given to Abraham through our own faithfulness and obedience.
As always the perfect example of all good qualities is our Savior Jesus Christ. His entire life was in submission to the will of the Father. His perfect obedience and subjection to divine law culminated in the greatest act of obedience and love – The Atonement.
Luke 22:41-44 – “And Christ was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. . . And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
A pain that caused the Son of God to bleed – an agony that made our Savior tremble was not enough to turn Him away from what was required by the Father for His children’s salvation. The truly amazing aspect of His subjection to the Atonement was the fact He did not require it’s saving power for Himself but submitted His will to the Father to show obedience, even unto death, and on our behalf to show infinite love.
“Not my will but thine be done.” It couldn’t be put any simpler and any more absolute.
We can give talks and discuss it all day but all that can be said about obedience is wrapped up in those 7 words.
I now want to share a story of my own efforts to be obedient and hopefully tie this principle into my mission.
For those that don’t know me I was not exactly an ‘obedient’ kid growing up. I didn’t want to read my scriptures, I didn’t want to go to church, and there was no way I was going on a mission. The older I got the farther away I drifted from the opportunity of a mission and I was fine with that. That all changed when I went up to Utah State last Fall. I got up there thinking sweet now that I live alone I won’t ever have to go to church again. Then I started to look around at all the great people that were going up to school with me. I was meeting all these good Mormon kids. So I started going to church and changing my life around a little bit but still was determined to not go. A couple of months passed this way and I was starting to feel like I wasn’t moving forward in life. Like all my schooling and what I thought of as progression weren’t actually getting me anywhere.
I was so frustrated with this. I worked so hard to get up there and get a place to live and be happy and I WASN’T HAPPY. So one night last November I looked out into Logan and saw the Logan temple all lit up. I decided to walk there and see if I could figure out why I was so miserable. I couldn’t go into the temple at the time so I just strolled around the grounds and looked up to it and started to pray. “What is it Lord? Why am I not happy? What is it I need to do?” and the surest answer I have ever gotten through prayer
came to me. I have never been so sure of divine intervention and the Lord’s will in my life. I needed to go on a mission. I don’t need to tell you that the last thing that came to my mind was “Not my will but thine be done.” I was so angry. But here I am over a year later. And because of that one night and my, at first, reluctant choice to obey what I knew was my Father’s will I am going on a mission. It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done to put everything on hold to do what I know I need to but I know that I have been and will be blessed for my obedience. I am so grateful for this opportunity to share what I know about Jesus Christ and His gospel with the people down in Mexico. This alone is a great blessing.
Testimony.
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