A talk Rob gave in church.
Knowing my Savior
Good morning brothers and sisters. First I would just like to make a small clarification. There was a football game going on during that first hour when Tamra and I met, so there was no way that I was staring at her for the entire time, though I did think she was pretty cute. Anyway . . .
I am really grateful for this opportunity to speak to you today. I think one of the reasons we chose this topic was because of how impressed I was by the recent talk, in the last General Conference, given by Elder Holland, entitled “the Grandeur of God.” Quoting Joseph Smith he said that “it is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God.” He shared two very powerful illustrations of the love of our Father in Heaven, and therefore of His Son, Jesus Christ. Quoting from the talk, the first is in the Pearl of Great Price, speaking of the vision Enoch had of humankind, “observing the blessings and the challenges of mortality.” Enoch turns “his gaze toward the Father and is stunned to see Him weeping.” Enoch questions how the most powerful being in the universe can weep. “God replies, ‘Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands . . . I gave unto them . . . [a] commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood . . .Wherefore should not the Heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” The second example Elder Holland refers to is the allegory of the olive tree, “when after digging and dunging, watering and weeding, trimming, pruning transplanting, and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard throws down his spade and his pruining shears and weeps, crying out to any who would listen, ‘What could I have done more for my vineyard?” There is no misunderstanding. There is a Father up above who loves us and cries for us, wanting us to return to him. Quoting further, “Jesus did not come to improve God’s view of man nearly so much as He came to improve man’s view of God.” By understanding and knowing our Savior, we will also know God. I hope that our comments today will provide a greater understanding of our Savior, and challenge us all to get to know Him better.
In my preparations I have asked myself how well I know Him. I think unfortunately sometimes my answer to the question of how well I know him really depends on the day. I admit that I pray a lot in the testing center, pleading for divine guidance. I’m sure the Savior knows all the answers to my biochemistry exams, after all he is the Creator. Don’t you think He would make just and incredible study partner? It’s at times like these, when I’m stuck in the testing center wishing for some type of divine intervention, that I realize how relatively unimportant that test score will be in the vast expanse of eternity.
This brings me to a slightly different but highly related topic. While I was on my mission, serving as a Zone Leader, one of the elders in my Zone asked me a peculiar question. The question was simple this, “How should one live?” I really wasn’t sure how to respond to this question. I suppose I could have made up and answer, bumbling through and explanation of why I thought that might be a good answer to the question, but instead I asked the Elder if I could have some time to find the answer. He naturally was willing to give me that time. I searched for awhile, and finally I found my answer. The next time I spoke with the Elder I shared with him what I had found. I told him that one should live “Eternally.” Now let me share with you where I found this answer. It is in Doctrine and Covenants 132:22-24. (Open it and read it.) Let’s look at this a little closer. “Strait is the Gate and Narrow is the way:” I understand this be a reference to baptism, and all the other ordinances that are along that narrow path. Next a clear message us sent that now is the time to do this. Now is the time to get to know our Savior. “And few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me. 23 But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me.” Now verse 24 is really what inspired my answer: “This is eternal lives—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.” How should one live? Eternally. It is only through this perspective that our lives may find true direction, and it is only with this perspective that we can know Christ. Too often we become caught up in the daily rituals that make up our lives, and forget the more important elements designed to prepare for our eternal lives. Our Heavenly Father could care less whether we are a street sweeper or a doctor. He makes no distinction, as long as we do our best and are known for our righteousness. After all, the Savior of the world was a common carpenter.
Now the question arises of, “how do I gain this eternal perspective?” I don’t believe there is any type of formula. As a matter of fact it is a concoction made up of our individual circumstances, hardships, and experiences. Allow me to share a well known story of church history about the Martin Handcart Company. One of my favorite pictures depicts a snowy landscape with nothing but rolling hills, sagebrush, and handcarts being pushed by obviously frozen and exhausted members of the company. The story was told that they remembered looking ahead and seeing the next ridge and thinking, I can only make it to that next ridge, then I must stop. They would toil and labor and make it to the next ridge, and they recall, that at this point in time, just as their strength was gone and they could go no further, that it was then that the carts began to push them. In this picture, at each of their backs was an angel of God, pushing them, blessing them for their love and sacrifice. Many of you have probably also heard how many years later, the topic of the Martin Handcart Company came up, I believe in a Sunday School Class, and how much of a mistake it had been that they had been allowed to leave so late in the season. An older man in the back, and former member of the company of whom they were speaking, stepped forward. Though never saying one way or another as to whether it was a mistake or not he shared the fact that he was grateful for the experiences he had, for it was during those times that he truly got to know his Savior, and that it had been a privilege to pay such a price to know him. Often Christ is found in our tribulations. Elder Maxwell, in the April 1997 Conference, directly following and perhaps still during his conflict with cancer, shared these words about some of his trials. “When we take Jesus’ yoke upon us, this admits us eventually to what Paul called the ‘Fellowship of Christ’s sufferings’ (Philip. 3:10). Whether illness or aloneness, injustice or rejection, etc, our comparatively small-scale suffering if we are meek, will sink into the very marrow of the soul. We then better appreciate not only Jesus’ sufferings for us, but also His matchless character, moving us to greater adoration and even emulation.”
As we recognized the support and understanding Christ has of our pains, it is easier for us to understand, though on a smaller scale His pains for us. It helps us understand the mind of Christ, which is another necessary step in knowing Christ. Elder Maxwell in October of 1995 shared another wonderful talk helping us to achieve this goal. I am going to quite from it quite extensively for a minute. “If one ‘minds the things of the flesh’ (Rom. 8:5), he cannot ‘have the mind of Christ’ (1 Corinthians. 2:16) because his thought patterns are ‘far from’ Jesus . . . Ironically, if the master is a stranger to us, then we will merely end up serving other masters. . . To the extent that we are not willing to be led by the Lord, we will be driven by our appetites, or we will be greatly preoccupied with the lesser things of the day. . . ‘For how knoweth a man that master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?’” (Mosiah 5:13). He goes on to describe how the best service we can provide is to live the gospel and consecrate out lives, giving up the sins of omission, which are just as important as the sins of commission. He further says, “so many of us are kept from eventual consecration because we mistakenly think that, somehow, by letting our will be swallowed up in the will of God, we lose our individuality. What we are really worried about, of course, is not giving up self, but selfish things—like our roles, our time, our preeminence, and our possessions. He is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new self. It is not a question of one’s losing identity but of finding his true identity! Ironically, so many people already lose themselves anyway in their consuming hobbies and preoccupations but with far, far lesser things.” We must submit. We must be willing to consecrate our will to the Father, for “the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give,’. . .are actually [already his]. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to him. It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!”
Isn’t that so true? My will is the only thing that I truly possess. It is only when I can do this that I can know Christ, for isn’t this what he did when he pleaded with his father to remove the cup, but not by his own will, only by the will of the Father. As I was reading this I had a thought. It really made me step back and think. I asked myself what I would be willing to give up if I were given the opportunity to know my Savior personally. My immediate answer was “Well, duh. . . of course I would give up anything required of me! Right?” Yet, this opportunity has already been given to me. It has been given to each of us. Are we taking advantage of it, or are we allowing our daily lives get in the way of our eternal lives?
Christ gave up his will as an act of love. It was done out of the love that Christ possessed. The love our Father in Heaven possesses. In closing I would just like to share one of my favorite scriptures that ties many things together. It is Moroni 7:47-48. We must also possess this Charity to truly know Christ, for as the scripture says if we possess charity we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. I know that we can know and understand our Savior only by living according to his example. And if we shall be like him, we will know him. I hope that we can all gain charity, be like Christ, submit our wills and live eternally. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
