Of Rams and Oil
Tonight I would like to speak to you of
“thousands of rams and 10,000 rivers of oil.”
First, though, I would like to start by
discussing Heavenly Father’s plan from its basic, most fundamental
understanding.
The Lord has declared his own mission statement
in the first chapter of Moses 1 where he declares:
“For
behold, this is my work and glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal
life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Similarly, we have a vision statement as well,
set forth by our North American Central Area Presidency:
“With
faith in Jesus Christ, we joyfully walk the covenant path that leads to life
eternal, inviting all God’s children to join us in the journey.”
Our leaders have outlined priorities and goals
which consist of
·
Member missionary work
·
Temple and family history
work
·
Ministering one by one
·
Sabbath Day observance
On top of these responsibilities we are now
asked by our prophet to engage in home-centered, church supported, gospel
learning. More and more responsibility is being squarely placed on our
shoulders. It can be frankly
overwhelming. We are asked to not
only save ourselves and our families but also all of our brothers and sisters,
those who have made sacred covenants in the church and those who have not-on
both sides of the veil. Have you ever felt the Lord’s expectations of us
to assist him in his work as a burden on your shoulders?
To add yet another layer, not only do we help
the Lord do his work He has declared that we have our own work to do as well.
“Behold,
this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and
strength” (D&C 11:20).
Of these commandments, the most daunting one of
all is given by the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount,
“Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt
5:48).
At a recent Stake Council meeting we discussed
the layers of burden that we carry as we strive to juggle demands from taking
care of our families, of our duties at work, fulfilling our callings at church
and somehow finding time to care for ourselves. We have all felt
overwhelmed at times. This brings
me to the title of my talk. In the Old Testament the Prophet Micah asks:
“Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul?”
He is referencing the sacrifices offered at the
temple to access the atonement. In our day we may ask, will the Lord be
pleased with 5,000 batches of cookies, 3,000 meals, the folding up of 30,000
metal chairs and thousands of lessons to prepare?
Of such tasks, Elder Bednar in this session of
conference warned:
“We must
be careful because Pharisaical focus on checklists can divert us from drawing
closer to the Lord. The purpose and purification, the happiness and joy
and the continuing conversion and protection that come from yielding our hearts
unto God and receiving his image in our countenances cannot be obtained merely
by performing and checking off all the spiritual things that we are supposed to
do” (Oct Conf 2018).
How then do we go forward with confidence and
not with trepidation, with strength, not weakness? The apostle Paul provides the
way simply and succinctly when he testified”
“I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
To take that a step further, I would like to
revisit Christ’s command to be perfect. When he visited the nephites he
gave the same address to them that he gave to the Israelites. There were
slight variations this time around and it reads”
“Therefore,
I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is
perfect” (3 Nephi 12:48).
He is not asking us to do this on our own.
He is telling us it is his will that it be so. This principle is
also described in the closing chapter of the Book of Mormon, the parting words
of the prophet Moroni speaking directly to us in our day.
“Come
unto Christ and be perfected in him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and
if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love god with all your
might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his
grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in
Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
And
again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power,
then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of
the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission
of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:32-33).
We are not asked to be perfect. We are
asked to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. None of us has sunk so
low that when combined with his infinite goodness, we cannot be made perfect in
him. If we allow it, He takes each of us where we are and makes us whole,
not because he is satisfied with our current state but because he knows what we
can become with his help.
As some of you know, my hobby is wood carving.
This block of wood comes from a holly tree.
It is not much to look at in this form but when I start a carving I don’t
start until I can carry in my mind an image of what I want it to become.
Likewise, the Savior knows our divine potential because he is our
divine potential.
So how do we come unto Christ and let him do his
work? We do so by being obedient.
Obedience unlocks the ability of the Lord to bless us and allows his
grace to fully function in our lives. In our busy, hectic lives, if we
will but listen to the voice of the spirit, it is the “small and simple things”
that he asks us to do that bring about the greatest blessings. Consider these
examples from the scriptures where a simple request from Jesus lead to
miraculous manifestations of his power.
To the fisherman on the shores of Galilee he
called out, “cast the net on the right side of the ship” (John 21:6).
They obeyed and their nets were filled. From this came the call to the original twelve apostles to
carry his gospel to all the world.
To the woman at the well he simply asked, “give
me to drink” (John 4:7). She did and was given to understand his role as
the promised Messiah. She gladly
testified of him to those in the town and multitudes were brought to be taught
at the feet of Jesus.
Faced with the enormous task of feeding 4,000
hungry followers, Jesus simply instructed his apostles, “make the men sit down”
(John 6:10). They obeyed and witnessed the miracle of the never failing
loaves of bread given from him who is the bread of life.
At the end of the Lord’s life, Jesus turned to
his chief apostles, Peter, James and John and asked them to “tarry ye here and
watch with me” (Matthew 26:37). Their spirits were willing but their
flesh was weak. They slept while
nearby Jesus became the Savior of the world, having entered the Garden of
Gethsemane and enduring the atonement for each one of us.
Days later, now a resurrected being, he appeared
to the Nephites gathered at the temple in Bountiful. He descended from
heaven, spread forth his hands and asked the people to “arise and come forth
unto me” (3 Nephi 11:14). Each one of them were able to feel with their
hands and testify with their hearts that they were ministered unto by the King
of Kings.
These same people were instructed by the Lord
himself. As he finished what must have been the greatest Sunday School
lesson ever taught he commanded them, “Go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon
the things which I have said” (3 Nephi 17:3). Before leaving he healed
their sick and kneeling with them in prayer, gathered their little children
together and blessed them one by one.
They were encircled and ministered unto by angels. So great was
their experience with the Savior that their civilization lived in peace for
over 200 years.
Is this not the same request made of us from our
living prophet? After worshipping at church for two hours we are asked to
go unto our homes and ponder together the things which we have learned. “Come
follow me,” (the gospel home study
manual) the Savior asks. As we kneel together in prayer, Jesus himself
will be with us. He will bind our broken hearts and touch the lives of
our children. We will be both ministered unto and be ministers to our
fellow brothers and sisters, one by one.
Remember that it was at the temple where the
nephites experienced this singular event. We, too, must make the temple the
focal point of our worship which will center us on Christ, bring holiness to
our homes and bind together our families.
As we ponder how best to feed our families the
word of God, remember that Nephi went to the top of the mountain, the
scriptural equivalent to the temple, to know how to obtain food for his family
(1 Nephi 16). As he sought the Lord’s direction in how to take them to
the promised land he was told, “Arise, and get thee into the mountain” (1 Nephi
17:7). He did not build a ship
after the manner of men but he did so after “the manner which the Lord had
shown unto [him]” (1 Nephi 18:2). “And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and
I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things”
(verse 3).
If we are to reach our promised land, we must let
the Lord work on us. He will mold us as the master carver, one cut, one
slice, one chip at a time. He will give unto us line upon line, precept
upon precept. President Nelson
warned that “It will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding,
directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost” (Pres. Russell
M. Nelson, Apr Conf 2018).
So what is my next step on this path with the
Savior? Going back to Micah, it is not his thousands of rams and 10,000
rivers of oil that is required, but to “walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8).
“Come
unto me,” Jesus implores, “all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.
Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall
find rest unto your souls.
For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30).
I bear testimony that as we choose to come unto
Jesus he will make our weaknesses strengths (Ether 12:27), our whole bodies
will be filled with light (D&C 88:67) and his image will be in our
countenance (Alma 5:14). We will see him as he is for we will be like him
(Moroni 7:47).
We live in the glorious dispensation of the
fullness of times which has been prophesied from ancient days. We are
blessed to be instruments in the hand of the Lord to prepare the world for his
Second Coming. Nephi saw our very
day in vision and recorded:
“And it
came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it
descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant
people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they
were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1
Nephi 14:14).
We are the saints of the Church of Jesus Christ.
If we act in obedience, He will arm us with righteousness and power.
I testify that He lives and knows and loves each one of us.
