GIFTS: The Lord Did Not Give Us a Social Gospel

The Lord did not give us a social gospel.

The gospel plan restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith is not first and foremost a social or a collective endeavor. It is a plan of individual salvation, made complete and meaningful through the family.

This is well illustrated through the ordinances of salvation. Each ordinance comes to us on an individual basis. We do not baptize groups of people all at the same moment, but one by one. . . . We each receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost individually, separately, one at a time.

We receive the covenants, the tokens, individually. And we go through the veil individually.

When we have in place all that is necessary we meet as a couple at the altar to be sealed together and start a family.

The ordinance of holy matrimony is the crowning ordinance, of course, but it is only meaningful as we cleave to the covenants we have already made. And then we may with full trust cleave to each other, with the Lord as a third partner, since we have by this time made solemn and sacred covenants with Him, separately and individually.

True religion first looks up to God, not sideways to others.

The first and great commandment, as reflected in the first four of the Ten Commandments, centers on God and our love for Him, our duty to Him first and foremost, our sacred obligation to Him. Only when this relationship is fixed and firm and deeply set can we consider our duty and obligation to others.

It is easy to put others---those we can see and hear and feel close to us---first, and the invisible God of our fathers fades into the misty background.

How is it done? How do we put Him first?

In a real sense it is a simple matter, for one thing is needful. . . . We simply learn how to do it from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, our great example in this as in all other things.

Notice:

"Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked," said a certain woman to Him one day, paying honor to Him by praising His mother, Mary, and His upbringing.

"But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." This was His reply. He corrected her, refocused her, realigned her thinking. First things first.

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"Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

"But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

Did Jesus later apologize for those rough words to Peter? He did not. He was first and foremost always loyal and true and fiercely protective of the mission given Him of His Father---the Atonement.

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Again, "While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. . . .

"But he answered and said . . . Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

"And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

"For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Do you see it? In this last example where was His loyalty and first allegiance? To His mother, Mary? To His half-brothers in Joseph and Mary's family? To His disciples, His followers, the "people"? Or was it to Someone Else? It was to Someone Else---again---it was to His Father.

He is our example of how to do it. Of how to put God first, to love God with all our heart, might, mind, will, strength, and soul. This is the path and the pattern that He has given us. And it is not first and foremost a social gospel.

No, we are not teaching a social gospel, nor an ethical gospel. We are teaching a redemptive gospel. Where a law was broken (the Fall) in an ordinance in a Garden long ago, and which can only be fixed and repaired in another ordinance called by us the Atonement---also in a Garden---by Him who alone could perform it. And we remember it all in another ordinance called the sacrament.

And all of this is to redeem us, to ransom us from all of the effects of the Fall. This is the redemptive gospel. This is the reason and purpose of the sacrament, of the gospel, of the Church, of the holy Sabbath day.

But if our time and thoughts and attention are centered on others and not on Him, we will miss the point of the sacrament, and of the Sabbath, and still think we have fulfilled our purpose in being to church because we have seen our friends, the people we know and love, have sung and prayed with them, have greeted them, and left satisfied.

But we have been given not first and foremost a social gospel. Our religion is centered on a redemptive gospel, with Jesus Christ and His exquisite sacrifice, bleeding at every pore, at the center. "Could ye not watch with me one hour?"

It is for us, for our eternal salvation and happiness, but it is not first and foremost about us. It is about Him. That is true religion. That is our context. That is the very point of His doctrine when it comes to our priorities, as He showed us by example in His life and in His death.

"Our affections should be placed upon God and His work more intensely than upon our fellow beings," taught the Prophet Joseph Smith.

And from the thirteenth President of the Church: "The world largely ignores the first and great commandment --- to love God --- but talks a lot about loving their brother. They worship at the altar of man. Would Nephi have slain Laban if he had put the love of neighbor above the love of God? Would Abraham have taken Isaac up for sacrifice if he had put the second commandment first?

"The attitude of the world is reflected in a phrase of falsehood that reads, 'Presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is man.' But only those who know and love God can best love and serve His children, for only God fully understands His children and knows what is best for their welfare. . . .

"When we fail to put the love of God first, we are easily deceived by crafty men who profess a great love of humanity, while advocating programs that are not of the Lord" (President Ezra Taft Benson, CR, Oct 1967, p. 35).

First things first.

"When our priorities are out of order, we lose power."

Our priorities should be, must be, the same as the Lord's. His life and ministry are the great example for us of how to put God first in our lives. It may well come to offending family or friends (see Matthew 19:29). But if we are going to offend anyone, let us not offend the Lord.

If friends or distant family arrive unexpectedly from out of state just as we are leaving for sacrament meeting, we have two choices: "Please come with us to church. We'd love to have you join us." If they prefer not to come with us: "Well, it's good to see you! There's the fridge, help yourselves; make yourselves at home. We'll be back in a couple of hours."

Is there a third option? To stay home from sacrament meeting so as not to offend the visitors who have traveled a long way to see us?

If we are going to offend anyone, let's not offend the Lord.

Righteousness comes before relationships. (Thanks for that, Jack.)

We are not teaching a social gospel, we are teaching and living something that goes far beyond social and temporal considerations.

That same prophet, President Benson, taught: "Social, ethical, cultural, or educational converts will not survive under the heat of the day unless their taproots go down to the fulness of the gospel which the Book of Mormon contains."

Our job is to learn that fulness, and get it so deep into our souls, into our consciousness, that it comes out spontaneously in our every-day thinking and actions and habits. And the Book of Mormon is where we start.

Elder Packer once said, "This is not the Church of the Comfortable Chapel."

You see, we are being tested, proved, to see if we will stay true at all hazards. It is a greater thing to be trusted than it is to be loved. Can you see it from His point of view? We are not the center of it all. . . . He is. That is good doctrine, good religion.

I would love to hear from you who read this. Does it resonate with you? Can you sense something different---something deeper, grander, and finer---than what we usually think of in the Savior's example and habits? Now that we are halfway through our study of the New Testament in Sunday School do you sense yet a different Jesus than the one you thought you knew before?

This Jesus says to us: " . . . If you keep my commandments you shall have power to build . . . .

"If you keep not my commandments, the love of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore you shall walk in darkness."

Let me hear from you.

God bless,

Steve