The purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not to make it possible for you to “be happy”.

We equate heaven with happiness,  and we equate living the gospel of Jesus Christ with happiness.   

Certainly, living in the presence of God, when all is said and done, is a state of light and love. And surely, our lives, when we understand and live His gospel, are better in terms of inner peace and moments of joy than when we don’t understand it or live it.  But the purpose or result of the gospel of Jesus Christ is definitely not to make you happy every day as you work with Him.  If we believe that happiness to supposed to be the ongoing, predictable result of our earnest discipleship we will be disappointed, because, frankly, it isn’t.

Witness:

Jesus was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” and suffered hunger, thirst, fatigue, temptations and pain. (a)

Ammon was “depressed” in spirit and “suffered many things”. (b)

Alma was “weighed down with sorrow”. (c)

Nephi was “much cast down”. (d)

Paul experienced “distress” and “anguish of heart”. (e)

The purpose of the gospel of Jesus is not to make us happy now and every day (though there are moments of happiness in discipleship).  The purpose of the gospel in this life, and beyond, is to change us from a natural man or woman to a saint. (f)

And that change is unlikely if we do not have the opportunity to become people who respond with faith in Christ and love of God, repentance, and openhearted charity towards others, even while simultaneously experiencing all of the above feelings and challenges as we engage in the work of disciples of Christ.

References:  

a. Isaiah 53:3, Mosiah 3:7, Mosiah 14:3

b. Alma 26:27, Mosiah 7:16

c. Alma 8:14

d. Helaman 10:3

e. 2nd Corinthians 12:7-10, 1st Corinthians 2:4

f. Mosiah 3:19

The purpose of the set up...

The purpose of sacrament meeting is to worship the Father and the Son and renew our covenants with them.  If we do not speak of them, and just speak only of their commandments or of the church without reference to them, or if we speak of of our experience with their commandments without reference to our experience of seeking Them, in the talks we give there, we have failed.  Our speech here is to worship them, to speak of them, to renew covenants with them, and to rejoice in their hand in our lives as we  seek to be their disciples and follow them.

The purpose of our Relief Society, Priesthood Quorums, Young Women classes and Primary classes are to turn our hearts to the Father and the Son and to empower us to work more lovingly, more wisely, more unitedly, with greater vision, with less anxiety and self-doubt, with more confidence, and with greater focus, with them, in their work of blessing and assisting and lifting all of his children.

Our ministry, that which we accept by invitation, as well as that which we do as we care for and interact with family members, and that which we do free-lance by inspiration, is a God-given opportunity to get farther out of our comfort zones (2 Ne. all is well in Zion) and work more carefully with the Father and the Son and with each other to do and be and understand who the Father sent us here to learn to do, and be, and understand.

Feed my sheep.  What does that mean?   To minister...to be aware of....to love, wisely,  in spite of their, and our, sins and flaws and imperfection

In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these...Matthew 25:31-40.

Who are the sheep the Father has given to me?
Have I made holy promises to someone before God?  That is one of the sheep He wants me to feed in my interactions with him or her.   Has the Father ever sent children to my family (nuclear or extended)?  Those are some of the sheep He wants me to feed in my interactions with them.  Have I accepted an invitation to be a ministering brother or ministering sister to members of my ward?  Those are some of the sheep He wants me to feed in my interactions with them.  Are there people in need in my neighborhood or community?  Those are some of the sheep He wants me to feed in my interactions with them.

Frankly, that sounds absolutely overwhelming and impossible at first glance.  But notice that Jesus did not say “for I had problems and difficulties and you made it so that they were all solved and I became everything you hoped I would become”,  but He did say, “feed”, which is to “love” and to “nourish and strengthen” to use a familiar church phrase in our interactions with them.

Some of the sheep the Father has given us to care for we see and speak to as a matter of course every day.  So it’s easier, once we understand His hope that we will love, nourish and strengthen them, for us to find time to do that.

Others of the sheep that the Father has given us to care for we will never see or speak to unless we actually, purposefully, make the time to do that.  And many of us are afraid, or too overwhelmed, or shy, or feel too lonely, or we love our little kingdoms too much to leave them.  Or we tend to expect that we are incapable,  or that the sheep is trying to avoid us.  And so we don’t make time to care for them.  Or if we attempt to do so, we feel totally inadequate and discouraged and feel guilty and unhappy.

That’s normal.  It’s also one of the reasons why we meet together each week: so that we can encourage, empower, and assist each other to overcome that discouragement, resistance, and sense of overwhelm as we rejoice in the power of the God we worship who gives us the strength and vision we need to work together to feed His sheep.  

Being Prepared and Moving Forward, Doctrine and Covenants 38:29-35, 39-41, some main points.

 Received in 1831

Main points:

You have heard of wars going on in other countries, and you expect that there will even bigger wars between countries.  But you underestimate the results that will come from what is going on in the minds and hearts of people in your own country.

 

You have been praying, so now I will counsel you: Seek wisdom and embrace what it teaches you.  If you do so, you will be prepared for what wicked people do.  If you do not do so their actions will surprise you in awful, frightening, alarming ways, and you will be unprepared to respond.

 

If you have sought wisdom and then prepared accordingly, you will not fear.

 

Being prepared needs to include creating a community of believers and receiving an endowment of priesthood power from God.

 

It also includes going out beyond your community, following the promptings of the Holy Spirit as you interact with others.

 

And it includes caring for the poor and needy, administering to their relief, and welcoming them into the community that you have created.

 

Speaking of poverty and riches: the riches you should seek are the riches of eternity.  

 

Also, beware of pride. (Otherwise you run a good risk of becoming the kind of people that the Nephites became.)

 

And work hard to accomplish the things that the Lord has commanded you to do.

 

And, remember, when you speak of the above, or teach any other part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to anyone, that it is essential that you do so in mildness and in meekness. 

One of the pitfalls of "loving those you serve". Doctrine and Covenants 34-37

 We sometimes hear the sentiment expressed that if you want to learn to love someone, serve that person.  And certainly, if you are a person who values the quality of being loving or of being motivated by love, that is often true.

And in most cases, that is helpful.

However, as a leader or teacher, that can create a problem, particularly in a church which values "sustaining" leaders.  If others are participating in and helping you in the church work for which you, as a leader or teacher, are responsible, and you are appreciative, the result might be that they will feel greater love for you, and be more inclined to help in the future.

So what's wrong with that?

I've been reading passages in the Doctrine and Covenants in which various individuals are called to the work of preaching and writing, joining Joseph Smith in the work of spreading the good news of the restored gospel.  Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, etc. etc. all called to join in the work, alongside the man who had also been called and who was the one who invited and called them.

In a situation like that, in an organization that is young, and fledgling, and has, by it's resultant nature, a primary leader, the good-hearted individuals who join in the work often feel an increase of affection for and commitment to the person who leads the work and works alongside them. That's normal.

And that's the rub.  When we love the leader because we have been assisting/sustaining him or her in the work, it is very easy to see the work more as an extension of our affection for the leader, and, because we are enjoying that brotherly love, we miss the opportunity to understand that experience or create it as service to a real, present, divine Lord.  

And thus, in the magnification of and focus on the 2nd great commandment, we fail to fully experience the 1st.

I wonder if this early church experience, at a time when so much of the calling to the work was done through one man, and at a time when so much of the work involved interacting with that one man and with others who were interacting with that man, didn't create an era where those involved were highly susceptible to the experience of the work being felt as an increase of the 2nd commandment. 

And that's not bad.  Except that the 2nd commandment is the 2nd commandment.  And when my decision to engage in God's work is motivated primarily by the 2nd commandment type love that I have experienced while engaged in that work, then I cheat myself out of increasing my engagement and comprehension of the 1st.  And it is the 1st that is absolutely necessary, especially when, suddenly, you discover that your leader is less than completely loveable.

This process makes me think that I am understanding a little better the "love for Joseph Smith" that was felt by some early members of the church, which they, naturally, tended to pass on to their descendants; vestiges of which are still found in discourse within the church today, and certainly linger in our hymn book.

So I think that one of the biggest challenges a church leader or teacher has is the process of moving the focus of others onto serving, and thereby coming to love, the Lord as they work with you to try to do his work.  And one of the biggest challenges that the rest of us have, is to maintain that focus on who we are really, first and foremost, learning to serve and learning to love.

Creating opportunities for lasting change and strength

 The comments of a fellow laborer have caused me to review what I have learned about engaging others in moving forward the work of the Lord.

What is that work?  It is the work of empowering, blessing, and aiding progress in goodness and discipleship in the lives of those involved and those they seek to assist.

I have seen multiple ways of attempting to engage fellow saints in the work of the Lord.

Encouraging, cheerleading, advertising, talking up, pontificating, making it fun, testifying, socializing, including delicious food, involving competition, forming teams, adding energetic music, persuading, debating, setting goals, providing rewards, tracking and celebrating progress, dramatic performances, expert (or non expert) media, athletics, clean humor, games; any one of them, and more, can be and have been utilized in efforts to increase engagement.

These are not intrinsically bad things. They are often enjoyable and inviting to at least some of the participants we invite. And people of all ages enjoy them and benefit from having them in their lives. However, no matter how engaging and fun they might be, they are, essentially, the equivalent of beach  sand.  They are not, and will never be, what is needed for a lasting foundation for finding, long-term, the peace, hope and vision that the Lord's work offers.   And as we consider employing the ways of involving listed above, we need to remember that.

Employing them as a "way to get people to come or to participate" so that you can "teach them what you want them to know and engage them in the good work" may well get them involved.  But it will never be enough to help them see what is possible. That method of engagement does not, ultimately, work long term.  And sometimes it even distracts or distresses, actually hindering progress.

Our work is to be like Jesus, and in his manner, speak, love and invite to a place where, whatever we are doing, what we create there will help them to feel His love and understand better what is possible.

The only thing I have seen work long-term in our efforts to create lasting fundamental change in the lives of others who we hope to engage in the work of the Lord is this: to make the following combination of elements, listed below, the essence of our work and the essence of every activity we create in our efforts to invite others to experience and engage in that work.

The list:  Loving others honestly, loving the Lord, treating others with dignity, speaking truth with soberness and kindness, listening respectfully and carefully, consecrating what we have to the Lord, living in gratitude, being fully aware of and responding to needs, and following the promptings we are gently given through the Holy Ghost.

That's a tall order. Yet, without those elements (however imperfectly) being at the heart of, and the essence of, every aspect of our work, those we seek to engage will find that they have been invited to build houses, but that too much of what they have been given to build upon is just sand.