Today I gave a talk in my church’s sacrament meeting. In my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t have a preacher/minister who gives sermons on Sundays. Instead 2-3 lay members of the congregation (like me) are asked to give talks or speeches to our congregation every Sunday instead. I would like to share the talk I gave, with you. Please keep in mind it was written with the intent to be read, so inflection and emphasis were added into the text. It was also written with a Latter-day Saint audience in mind. This means the KJV of the Bible was used, the Book of Mormon (when I talk about Nephites) is referred to, as well as a quote from a Latter-day Saint leader, President Uchtdorf used.
Please share your thought with me about how you feel about Jesus Christ and his love. I desperately need more of the love of Christ in my life, and I bet you could use more too. Thanks for reading (and Bravo! to you if you do read the whole thing).
Good afternoon brothers and sisters!
Today I was asked to pick a parable from the New Testament and talk about it. Lucky for me I have been reading the New Testament lately so the parables are fresh in mind. One parable kept sticking out to me, as I retold it to my own children, and then to some of yours in Primary. It’s the parable of the Lost Sheep.
When thinking about this parable, it made me think about two others as well, the parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Prodigal son, so please excuse me for picking more than one to talk about today. But, each of them, to me, have something very common among them – they all teach about love. So, today, I would like to speak about love, because “God is love.” (1 John 4)
The Golden Rule
Jesus is a Master teacher and is well known throughout the world for the concepts of love he embodied and taught. Often no matter which religion, people recognize him as a prophet, as a philosopher, as a teacher, and his most common teaching is that of the “Golden Rule”: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
And clearly he taught that principle when he said (Matthew 5:38-48):
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
44 But 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;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
It was the Nephites who understood this perfect love of Christ and were blessed to live richly, peacefully, and happily for almost 200 years after Christ came to visit them. Two hundred! They were known as a Zion people. As I am diligently working to finish reading the Book of Mormon, I read 4 Nephi this last week, and found this verse to be very interesting:
And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. (4 Nephi 1: 15)
The key to their peace was the love of God that was in their hearts! It changed the people of the American continents so profoundly that they no longer had divisions or classifications. They were one with God and with each other. They loved.
Early Church Zion
It was a great desire of the newly formed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to “Come to Zion” and establish Zion. Many songs were written. Many questions were asked, and a Law of Consecration given. But, just as the early saints failed to create a physical Zion, so we often fail to create a “pure in heart” (D&C 97:21) Zion in our selves, homes, wards, and stakes.
Today I want to apply the lessons taught by our Savior in these three parables for how we, myself (definitely) included, can learn to love like Christ loved and commanded us to love, and start to build a Zion-like atmosphere in our lives.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep – Luke 15:3-7; Matthew 18: 12-14
In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, a great Shepherd, symbolic of Jesus Christ himself, tends to a flock of 100 sheep, by leading them gently, never prodding or poking them from behind. He rounds them up at night and protects them from wolves and other animals. He leads them to green pastures where they can feed freely. A good shepherd loves his sheep and would even lay down his life for them.
In this parable we learn that a sheep has gone missing from this shepherd’s flock. The good shepherd leaves his 99 sheep in a (I assume) safe place and then searches diligently for his lost lamb. When he finds it, it is tangled in brambles and injured. He rescues it, cleans its wounds, and then carries it on his shoulders to safety. And that’s not all! When he returns home he has a party to celebrate the recovery of his lost little lamb.
It is clear in this Parable that the Shepherd loved his lamb and couldn’t bear to lose it or to see it injured. He loved it so dearly, he wanted to rejoice with others over his happiness that even one sheep was recovered and safely.
What I would do in the Lost Sheep Parable
Thinking about this parable makes me ask what I (likely) would have done in this situation and my responses would be much different than this good shepherd. While I would search for my sheep upon learning it was lost, I would likely be heard murmuring about my bad fortune, and begin to worry about the financial implications of losing one of livelihood at the same time. Upon finding my sheep, I would likely be a little angry that my sheep had not listened to me, had not followed me, but had foolishly left my careful watch in search of greener pastures. After cleaning up his wounds, I may have wanted to punish him, making him walk along for a little while, so as to remember his foolish mistake, as well as to not make myself uncomfortable and burdened with a lamb on my shoulders. And throwing a party to celebrate the foolishness of my lamb? That’s just excessive!
Hopefully I am not the only sinner who may, at times, act that way. Often I care more about my own self than that of others. I seek my comfort, my happiness, my ease, before those under my care and supervision. I sometimes feel put-out by having to help and assist those who should have known better.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan – Luke 10:30-35
And such thinking is likely responsible for the actions of the Priest and the Levite who did not assist the injured man on the side of the road in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. How often I hear the phrase,“They had it coming to them.” As if people deserve to be miserable, to have misfortune come to them, and that we, all as sinners with motes in our eyes (Luke 6:42), have to the right to say such a thing. How unkind it is. How judgmental. How not the type of love that Jesus taught. No matter the decisions someone made, the way they dressed, the words they spoke, the sin they committed, the poor way they treated others, or the mistakes they made, it is not our place to write them off, to consider them unfit of our love, or of anyone’s love. Because they, too, are a child of God, a God who still loves them.
MotherTeresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
It often those in the darkest abyss who reach the highest for a helping hand to lift them up. And who are we to ignore that hand? Aren’t we all in some big or small pit of our own, desperately seeking a hand from one another, especially from the hand our Savior who can lift us highest of all? If we want to be like Jesus, we need to extend that hand as well.
The Good Samaritan, on his way somewhere, stopped and helped a naked, robbed, and nearly dead man on the side of the road that he did not know. It was an inconvenience to him, no doubt, to stop his travels and help a stranger. And this Samaritan, who many of the Jews labeled unfit and unclean,
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. (Luke 10:34-35)
That Samaritan showed love, not judgment. He also went above and beyond to assist this man. He could have just taken him to the inn and had them treat him. He could have just addressed his wounds, and still left him in the street. He could have just cast a few pence at him, hoping that if he recovered he could pay for aid. He could have just gave him some clothes or a blanket. He could have helped and then left him in a safer place or alcove. But, he did none of those things. He aided him, put him on his own beast, which meant he had to walk instead of ride, and then paid for all of his additional medical and housing expenses. He didn’t ask the inn keeper to demand that the injured man pay when he recovered, or that his family was called to pay for his care. No. The Good Samaritan took care of it all himself, because he had love and compassion for his fellow man. He had Christ-like love. He was a true neighbor showing true love.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son – Luke 15:11-32
Another parable of love comes from the Prodigal Son. This ungrateful and wasteful child left home and wasted all of the hard-earned money and inheritance his father had saved and given him. He dishonored his father with his riotous living, dirtying the family name, and earned a poor reputation for himself. And once the son had roared through his inheritance, and found that his life was in shambles, he humbled himself, and repented, desiring that he may at the least be a servant to his father, hoping to repay and work hard to earn his father’s love and forgiveness for his serious mistakes. But, upon returning home, his father did not make him a servant, he didn’t even hate him! His father ran out to him, not to give him the scolding of his life, but to hug and kiss him and cry upon his shoulder. His father was happy he had repented and returned. The father was happy he was still alive! And to celebrate he hosted an enormous feast and killed a fatted cow and made merry.
Again, the son was in the abyss of despair, of desperation, of depression and was hoping for a hand to at least pull him off the ground. Instead he received a much better lift. He received the unconditional love of a father for his son. The father showed true love. He didn’t show judgment or care more about his own reputation or poor use of his wealth by his son. He only cared about his son.
His brother on the other hand felt jealousy, anger, and probably desired for him to be punished. He did not understand his father’s actions, nor his freely given forgiveness. His brother clearly saw “things” as more important than a person.
President Uchtdorf Quote – “The Merciful Obtain Mercy”
As PresidentUchtdorf said in the last General Conference of our Church:
We must recognize that we are all imperfect—that we are beggars before God. Haven’t we all, at one time or another, meekly approached the mercy seat and pleaded for grace? Haven’t we wished with all the energy of our souls for mercy—to be forgiven for the mistakes we have made and the sins we have committed?
Because we all depend on the mercy of God, how can we deny to others any measure of the grace we so desperately desire for ourselves? My beloved brothers and sisters, should we not forgive as we wish to be forgiven?
Is this difficult to do?
Yes, of course.
Forgiving ourselves and others is not easy. In fact, for most of us it requires a major change in our attitude and way of thinking—even a change of heart. But there is good news. This “mighty change” of heart is exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to bring into our lives.
How is it done? Through the love of God.
When our hearts are filled with the love of God, something good and pure happens to us. We “keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.”
The more we allow the love of God to govern our minds and emotions—the more we allow our love for our Heavenly Father to swell within our hearts—the easier it is to love others with the pure love of Christ. As we open our hearts to the glowing dawn of the love of God, the darkness and cold of animosity and envy will eventually fade.
Conclusion
As I said in the beginning, the key to the Nephites living peacefully in a Zion-like state for almost 200 years was the love of God. They changed their hearts and attitudes completely. And I believe we can do so too. I believe we too can establish a much-more Zion-like attitude in ourselves, our homes, our wards, and our stakes, and even our communities. I believe we can stop treating service as a surface act, where we often do the bare minimum required to help, and can start showing true love, or charity, towards one another, like the Good Shepherd did to his lamb, like the Samaritan did towards a stranger, and like a father did to his wayward son. They went above and beyond what was necessary because they loved like Jesus loves.
So, may I conclude with reading from 1 John 4:
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
My Testimony and Amen
Leave a Reply