What does God Expect of Us and What will we Receive?

In virtually every life there are undesirable things that are caused by accidents or illness or human relations or misunderstanding. We hope to avoid those things and if we can’t avoid them, to try to help others and ourselves recover.

It is most important to remember how much God really loves us. It causes him pain when people suffer. He would probably love to help remove the cause of the unhappiness. But he knows things might happen, as with the weak little chick that someone helps remove from its shell. It can lead to tragic death. Nevertheless God has given guidance so the perceptive person can prepare to be able to withstand sad times and crises.

The Church of Jesus Christ has experienced remarkable growth. In less than 60 years, it has grown from a million members to 12.5 million. The Church is now the fourth largest religion in the U.S. However, most members live outside the US or in small congregations where their faith is tested nearly every day. Where or when you live doesn’t make you immune from serious problems. There are the same concerns and there are the same strong people and aids in the Church whether you live in a huge ward in Utah or in a small branch in Germany. The Gospel, when properly understood with the guidance of living prophets, offers a way to eternal happiness without threats or force, if you merely try earnestly to follow the path and exercise faith in God.

Now, I wouldn’t lead you to believe that you can always have fun when you follow this guidance. The warning is clear: do not confuse fun with joy. The World would have you believe that having fun will make you happy. People who pursue paths of pleasure probably have fun and feel good for a few hours. Then afterwards they want to repeat it all. That’s how the promoter of such fun earns his keep. Because pleasure is so often tied up with an addiction.

Unhappiness has many causes. It can be caused by failure to meet personal expectations or goals or by the failure of others. There is unhappiness when someone believes things will never get better. It can also come for us personally when our loved ones reject our well-intended advice. Unhappiness comes when we stumble and fall into transgression. People despair when they cannot take criticism or are offended.

A little while ago, Dr. Vorwaller taught members of the Stake about how people need to keep their spirits, bodies and minds in balance and harmony. His lectures were remarkable. If you weren’t there, you missed something really interesting. I can’t do any better. He explained how we can develop the ability to endure trials through the Gospel and solve 80% of all personal problems.

Let me summarize:

Love is the Motive.

Faith is the Power.

Obedience is the Price.

The Spirit is the Key.

Christ is the Reason.

Work is the Way.

Joy is the Reward.

YOU can control YOUR life.

I’d like to say something more on this subject in hopes of explaining a little more about you can obtain this true joy that you are looking for and are trying to achieve.

There is a so-called “Home Run” answer, that is, the answer that is absolutely conclusive.

We have been commanded—right in the first of the Ten Commandments—to put God before everything.

That’s a tall order. Not everyone understands or internalizes this commandment. Most people live for the present. However, the Gospel teaches the process of Consequential Thinking.

Therefore there are steps that you can take to practice Consequential Thinking.

Thou shalt love the Lord they God. Thou shalt love thy neighbor. That is how Christ summarized it. But what does that mean?

In John 13:34-34 where the Last Supper is described, Christ administers the bread and wine and other holy ordinances and then gives his apostles this well-known admonition:

“A new commandment I give unto you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also shall ye love one another. Then shall you know that ye are my disciples: If you had love one to another.”

The love that is mention here is pure charity, the pure love of Christ. Zion cannot be built upon a lower form of love. It is necessary that all who accept the power of the atonement be possessed with the pure love of Christ. (Moroni 7:44-48).

There is also the spiritual nourishment that comes from the proper worship of God. You go to Church. But according to Elder David A. Bednar, it is not enough just to go to Church to worship God in order to receive the advantages of blessings..

According to Elder Bednar: “It isn’t about going to Church, rather it’s about worshipping God and renewing our covenants when we go to meetings. It’s not about going to or through the temple; rather it’s about carrying the spirit, the covenants and the ordinances in our hearts.”

I believe we must understand how and why we worship God in order to be able to partake of and digest this spiritual nourishment.

Let me list what I call the four principles of the worship of God:

1. Prayer or conversations with God.
2. Singing with attention to the meaning of the words of the hymns.
3. The making and renewing of covenants through the Sacrament and visiting the temple.
4. The placement of God in the right place in our personal lives.

First, prayer.

Prayer is the means by which we build a direct relationship with God. You address him in the name of his son Jesus Christ and articulate clearly your desires and thoughts of your heart. You are often the voice of a congregation or group. But by yourself you have opportunity to say and do more. In fact, you can listen for and to the still, small voice. Sometimes the prayers last many minutes for you to be in the right mood to hear the voice. But the voice is there if you will only listen.

In most prayers you hear only thanksgiving and pleadings. However it is also fitting to give praise to God. You don’t hear that much in talks in church. Most praising occur in songs. Therefore a second principle of worship is singing.

As Latter-day Saints we have a rich tradition of music. We have an outstanding hymnbook. The music comes from almost 500 years of Christian historical tradition. The words of the hymns are beautiful poetry, in fact they are poetry with testimony, praise and doctrine. You can actually feel the Spirit by worshipping through singing—especially when you pay attention to the language. There are songs that I cannot sing all the way through because they touch me so deeply. I know of several people who have been converted through the hymns of the Church and the Spirit that they bear. So enjoy the power of music in praise and devotion and worship. And don’t let your prayes and songs sound as tinkling brass and empty ringing.

The third principle of worship is the making and renewing of sacred covenants.

We are Children of the Covenant. We make a covenant with God through baptism. We make a multi-faceted covenant with God through the temple endowment. We worship God as we renew our baptismal covenant and we do it every time, every Sunday, as we take the Sacrament in accordance with the commandment to gather together to worship.

We have the opportunity to enter into an eternal priesthood covenant through the endowment. It is the New and Everlasting Covenant that we call marriage.

The Sacrament is the only reason we hold a worship service. It is so important that the priesthood holders take it to the shut-ins when they cannot come. Our son on a mission in South America told us how all meetings were banned because of national elections on Sunday. So members of the Priesthood took the Sacrament around to ward members in their homes.

The rite of the Sacrament, as with other processes of self-discovery, gives us an opportunity to take part in the Atonement. For the Atonement and the resurrection are not remote events in history but present-day experiences where we are touched by the free love of Christ to have the power to accept ourselves and to turn toward him in repentance in order to obtain peace.

It takes great humility and discipline to achieve that. Christ does not expect us to hole up in a monastery and meditate. Rather we are admonished to seek after this power at all times, especially when it is most difficult.

As Alma the Younger exhorted: (Alma 13:28-29)

“ …Watch and pray continually that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering.

“Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that you shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.

The fourth principle of worship consists of putting God in the right place in our personal lives. The most wonderful worship comes through the understanding that we experience through the temple endowment and the power of the Priesthood. That is where we receive an overview of the great plan our Heavenly Father has for us. For example, it occurred to me after I had been through the temple many times that we worship God by replenishing the earth through multiplying. That is the New and Everlasting Covenant of the Priesthood that we make in a sealing. When we place God in the right place in our lives, we thus conclude how we will live our lives with children and career and wealth and lifestyle and what we do with them. If we are in a position to raise children, when natural-born, adopted or foster children, we should do so. It is then up to us to raise them in such a way that they also understand the Gospel so they can exercise true freedom of choice. We should not expect the world – or even allow – to our children exclusively.

As you see, worship is not only that which we practice in a church service. For the purpose of worship is to build a Zion society.

A fundamental principle of daily worship is service. In order to serve, as President Spencer W. Kimball taught according to the Book of Mormon, you have to humble yourselves to help those who need help, to give to them of your self and possessions and to feed the hungry, even when you are suffering all sorts of deprivations for Christ’s sake. (Alma 4:13)

Service is the central point of the workings of the Kingdom of God and a key to the mystery of true happiness. You bless others and thereby bless yourselves. You bless yourself only when you serve others.

It is revealed to us that in the temple ceremony that the Law of Consecration encompasses the Law of Sacrifice. It is also revealed that we will be expected to live according to the Law of Consecration. That means we should prepare ourselves to live to make it possible to build up a Zion Society.

You might think it is impossible to live according to the Law of Consecration today. But you have to agree that there are people who live it. They don’t live in a monastery where there are no temptations. According to Elder David Evans in the last General Conference we all occasionally need to build spiritual envelopes or a noise barrier around ourselves to block out the noises of the world to keep all of its temptations at bay and to be able to enjoy peace and quiet. Maybe you know such people. They have families. They have jobs. They make contributions that are hardly noticeable. They aren’t looking for the praise of the world. Maybe you are even one of those people and don’t even know it.

We don’t always understand how important the Law of Consecration is in everyday life. It is not the United Order but the natural extension of the Law of Tithing and the Law of Moses. Under the lower laws a person was expected to give up some physical property as a symbol of sacrifice. But with the fulfillment of the lower laws a person was expected not only to surrender physical things but also something of our own selves. That means service. Living according to the Law of Consecration is an attitude. What is it that the Lord expects of us? The answer: Charity, the pure love of Christ.

We need to recognize that everything that we possess—our wealth, our time and our mental gifts—come from God and belong to the Lord. This principle applies not only under the Law of Consecration. It also applies to our relations, our callings, our priesthood responsibilities, our health and our good thoughts.

We have been asked to live exemplary lives. A single person can make a difference. Even my severely handicapped mother who could hardly get out of bed still wanted to fulfill her assignment as a visiting teacher even to her dying day. So she invited her sisters to visit her in her sickbed so she could give them a message. She passed away shortly after the beginning of our mission. As she lay in her casket, she held according to her own wishes, her valid temple recommend in her hand.

Now let me tell you a secret from the scriptures. Christ is coming again. He is not going to wait for us, but he has called upon us to prepare for the Second Coming. He could come tomorrow, especially if we wanted him to. In other words, the way we live today has a direct influence on the future of the world. So we should feel both great hope and great urgency to seek after the principles of Zion. Someday, Zion will and must be built in preparation for the Second Coming, according to D&C 105:5.

These are the words of the Lord: (D&C 64:33-34)

33 Wherefore, be not ^{aweary in bwell-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of csmall things proceedeth that which is great.}

34 Behold, the Lord ^{arequireth the bheart and a cwilling mind; and the willing and dobedient shall eeat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.}

Every time that we have the chance to go through the holy temple where we perform ordinances on behalf of the dead, and every time that we partake of the sacrament, and every time we pray, and every time we sing, we are given the opportunity to ask God important personal questions. It is then the time, during worship, to keep thoughts in our hearts and listen for answers.

When we are in a position where we can hear the voice of God, we can then understand the true meaning of the pure love of Christ and then we can really understand God’s purpose and goal for us.

Moses 1:39. “Then this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.