Charity and the Apostles 1 Corinthians 11-16

1 Corinthians 11-16

In the past few months I have taken the challenge to read and reread the words of our modern day Apostles.  For a few of the prized quotes I used some of my photos to create image meme’s that help to share the deep emotion their words bring.

My quest began with the April 2015 General Conference addresses. As I pondered the varied topics and realized that not one of these men are assigned the topic of their talks but rather speak from their own hearts, my love for these men began to grow. For the first time I saw them as men whose lives have not been without tribulation but rather have been given in service, sacrifice and as examples to the rest of us as how to live in this dispensation of gospel time, how to live midst the trial and difficulties we must all face. 

 

The Apostle Paul who lived almost two thousand years ago said it best,

            

 “ Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

These men have chosen to be followers of Christ. Their actions, their service, their leadership of family, and their lives of integrity reflect their high moral characters and the true desires of their hearts.  While many of the topics of their talks are universally pertinent, a few could not be found in the indexes of our sacred scripture. Topics such as social media or “The Proclamation on the Family” are distinct to our social time.   As I read their words, my hope returned and I saw that if they could learn to serve our Savior through all of their trials then I could, in this time and place, do the same. While I revere the testimony of the many ancient prophets and their words will forever ring true, the words of the modern day prophets give needed direction for the choices we face in our day and time.

When Paul spoke to the Corinthians, it was if he was speaking at a General Conference. He spoke on the topics that were pertinent to the church during his time. He spoke of the need to preserve marriage (11:3-15), of the accepted length of a woman's hair, reverencing the sacrament ( 11:20-30), of Spiritual gifts (12-14) and of the resurrection.

This past weekend we had the privilege of visiting our daughter’s congregation where she, as the Sunday School Teacher, taught a beautiful lesson. She grabbed the class’s attention by asking what topics of discussion had been covered at the last General Conference of the church and comparing Paul's teachings in Corinthians to a General Conference.  As the class responded I pondered all of the topics I had studied. The list was long and varied.

And I began to marvel at how the Lord in his infinite wisdom has drawn on the diversity of the church to feed and reach those members who seek his love. I thought if only the Prophet had spoken, we would have only learned about temples and the priesthood. No doubt these are pertinent subjects but how many more souls were lifted up by being able to hear about the Young Adults, or integrity, or Elder Teixeira’s talk on  "Seeking the Lord" amidst the myriads of social media distractions. I am always amazed at how at least one or two talks seem to be directed at my life and serve to answer to the  difficulties I am facing.

My daughter’s genuine smile is large and contagious. As she led our class through the many lessons of Paul she kept reminding us of the upcoming October conference and how once again we will have the privilege of hearing wise words of our Apostles meant for our day. As she taught I felt her joy for the gospel and I felt gratitude for the grace of God that we have such a church which gives us not only instruction for our day, but opportunities for growth and learning. 

I truly felt God’s charity for me and my family. As I enjoyed the lengthy class discussion on charity and the many other gifts of the spirit, I found a renewal of my faith to seek charity within myself and share it with others in my family and social circles.

Paul’s words on charity remind us that of all the gifts this is the most prized. Why?

It has to do with how charity changes both the giver and the receiver. While the gift of tongues bridges cultural communication gaps, it cannot change hearts the way charity can. And while some are given to wisdom and others knowledge, miracles, or prophecy all of these call attention to the bearer of the gift, but charity alone gives back what it receives and bonds the giver to the receiver. Still, all gifts, like all parts of the body are needed.

I love to think about how charity brings us closer to God, for we truly cannot have charity without having a relationship with God. We need God’s love to help us suffer long, to be kind, especially in difficult or negative relationships, to find contentment in our possessions and social situations, to not puff ourselves up. Charity teaches us to be humble and to be strong in the midst of provocation. It teaches us to think only good, even when evil is present. We may recognize the evil, but we choose to think only good.

Charity rejoices in truth and through the power of he atonement learns to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.

Paul goes on to say that prophecies and tongues, and knowledge may cease but charity never faileth. 

And that is when I realized that from the Apostles at General Conference I found charity. Charity for my weakness for they have had to live through their own. Charity for my lack of knowledge for I am still a toddler in the gospel. Charity for my wisdom for I err in my judgment often. Charity is the gift that the Lord Jesus Christ gives us when he instructs and nurtures us. 

 

Now as we begin to prepare for yet another conference of topics that come from the heart of these chosen men of God, I will look for answers to my prayers that these men will speak to our day yet again. And that they will borrow from the wisdom of the ages and the experience of this day and age and give me the guidance to help me follow them, even as they follow Christ.

Search, Ponder, Study the Scripture 1 Nephi 5, 19, 22; 2 Nephi 9, Omni, Jacob 4

 The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord:

 the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, 

a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.  

A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.Zephaniah 1:14-16

The two towers fell and the destruction was great. I remember this day like no other because it had personal ramifications for my life. And afterwards while everyone was trying to figure out what it meant I remember my father’s words that this great event had been foretold by the prophets Isaiah and  Zephaniah. I remember picking my mouth up off the floor and not really understanding what he was trying to tell me? It was a defining moment for me - one when I knew I had to know for myself what it meant.  I had to have my own interpretation.  I had reached the point in my life, like Nephi, when prophesied destruction would not convince me.  I had to study it- for myself. (1 Nephi 11-16)

The scriptures are not just predictions of man’s doom, nor are they stories about his most unsavory mistakes. I have heard the Old Testament described as a lurid script for a common day soap opera. And while the descriptive sagas captivate our imaginations and help us to see the uglier side of mankind, their intended purpose is to warn and teach us of man’s need to reverence God and His commandments. They are meant to admonish us to live a holier more refined life filled with charity.

God's charity toward us can be found in the preservation of his word through scripture. The Bible is God's word that teaches us through story about man's past errs and triumphs. We have it because men of God obeyed his counsel and wrote it down.  The entire purpose of the Book of Mormon was to keep a record of Lehi’s family’s journey and relevance as a branch of the Israelites. It's testimony acts as a second witness to the Bible in declaring the sacred mission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Its entire purpose is to teach us the importance of studying the scriptures of God so that we might learn to work out our own salvation.

Every Book of Mormon prophet writes to not only record the truth of God’s love, but to also leave a witness to the divinity of Christ.  This divinity can best be learned through the study of the prophets written word; their purpose was to teach us to learn for ourselves through our own personal scripture study.

After sending his sons back to Jerusalem to retrieve the brass plates which contained the 1^st five books of what we now know as the Old Testament, Lehi searches them and rejoices. In them he found his genealogy, the prophecies of all the prophets through to Jeremiah, Adam and Eve’s story, and the commandments of Moses.  Lehi prophesied that the plates would go forth to all nations, never perish or be dimmed by time, and rejoiced when he realized their worth:

  And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.
1 Nephi 5:21

In 1 Nephi 19 Nephi has begun to read the “1^st five books of Moses” and begins to share some of what he learns. He is instructed to become like the scribes of ancient Jerusalem and preserve his civilizations’ most precious truths upon plates of ore. He shares his readings with his brethren and in hopes of helping them understand Isaiah’s writings he teaches them that the best way to understand scripture is to liken it unto ourselves.  (1 N 19:23)

Like Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Omni, King Benjamin, Alma the Elder, Zeezrom, Ether, Mormon, and Moroni all encourage the personal reading and study of the scriptures.  From Abinadi we learn what happens to a culture that puts aside the commandments of Moses and do not teach them. Of all of these many examples my favorite comes from Omni and Mosiah 25.

Omni first tells us of people who settled and built up the land of Zarahemla. Mosiah had discovered the Mulekites when he heeded the counsel of the Lord and fleed to the land northward where he discovers the land of Zarahemla. This people had come, like Lehi’s people, from Jerusalem – only their saga began at the time King Zedekiah was carried away into Babylon. They too had traveled across the waters but they had not brought with them historical records of their people. Nor had they kept any records. 

Great was their rejoicing at their discovery of Mosiah’s people. They rejoiced because of the record of the Jews, the history that the people of Mosiah brought with them.

And they discovered a people, who were called the people of Zarahemla. Now, there was great rejoicing among the people of Zarahemla; and also Zarahemla did rejoice exceedingly, because the Lord had sent the people of Mosiah with the plates of brass which contained the record of the Jews.
Omni 1:14

And they rejoiced because of the interpreters they carried. While they had traveled in the wilderness they had come across another group of people who had, not withstanding their obedience in keeping a record, had not lived the word of God and had self destructed. The interpreters proved helpful in the translation of the Jaredite record and the understanding of how people who do not reverence the commandments of God make their own demise.

These Mulekites relished history. I guess it’s because they had lived without it. I call it the lesson of opposites. We value most what we do not have.

Mosiah 25 helps us understand how those who have been without the written word of history are affected by the written word. King Mosiah had caused that the Mulekites join with the Nephites and that a record of the people of Zeniff be read.  Zeniff was the father of King Noah. He had left Mosiah’s people and traveled down to his land of inheritance, the land of Nephi where the Lamanites dwelled. Mosiah had the account of Zeniff’s people, the martyrdom of Abinadi and Alma’s escape back to Zarahemla read to them:

And now, when Mosiah had made an end of reading the records, his people who tarried in the land were struck with wonder and amazement.
For they knew not what to think; for when they beheld those that had been delivered out of bondage they were filled with exceedingly great joy.
And again, when they thought of their brethren who had been slain by the Lamanites they were filled with sorrow, and even shed many tears of sorrow.
And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.
And again, when they thought upon the Lamanites, who were their brethren, of their sinful and polluted state, they were filled with pain and anguish for the welfare of their souls.

Mosiah 25:7-11

In reading this I was struck with the powerful words of emotion used to describe their reactions: wonder, amazement, "they knew not what to think", many tears of sorrow, and pain and anguish for the welfare of their souls.

I think of how the two burning towers of New York City brought such great emotion. I thought how I too did not know what to think? For at this time I had not read nor had I understood the scriptures. I was filled with great joy for those of our countrymen who were delivered that day, and with great pain and anguish for those who perished and suffered.

And I want to always to be able to say that when I think of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering me and my family out of the hands of those who would destroy my life and put me into bondage, that I will like the people of Mosiah and the Mulekites raise my voice and give thanks to God. For as I study God's word I learn of his love and dealings with man. I learn to recognize his hand in my life and I am amazed.

Nephi and Lehi study the words of Isaiah which testify of Jesus Christ

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Isaiah 30:25

Concerning the prophecies 2 Nephi 4:1-4

It's two a.m. and I am wide awake. My eldest son called me at 1 a.m. with a bit of news and I have not been able to go back to sleep. Not because I'm not tired but because I've had something stirring inside of me that only scriptural truths can cure. When my future becomes unsettled I like to find peace through understanding the prophecies of the past.

In these verses Lehi is about to pass through the veil that mortals call "death." I wonder what those who are not yet born call it? birth? I ask because the other reason I'm up with the owls has to do with my grandson, who is as I type, is working his way through the veil we call birth. By this time tomorrow morning he should have taken his first breath, his first look at the world. What will his life bring us? What can we give him to bless his sojourn on earth with God's love?

Lehi must have had similar thoughts concerning his grandchildren.

Birth and death seem to be the times of our lives when we think most about the past and the future. It's when we search for prophecies and when we consider our history. How grateful I am for the scriptures - for they provide perspective on our past and future. How grateful I am for prophets that put aside the things of this world to write the scriptures and listen to the spirit of revelation as it moves upon their hearts. And for the prophets that have the strength and courage to do God's will. It is what protects us.

And I had to think about these men we call prophets. When they wrote what God shared with them was there someone to read what they wrote? Did they know they were not writing for their time? Did they know that their words would shape nations? How many of the people they wrote for could read? Surely it takes great faith to write for people who do not understand much of what you write. No matter how great the prophecies are.

Nephi tells us that the prophecies of which Lehi spoke. He says, "there are not many greater." What were they? They were from the plates of brass and contained the first 5 books of Moses (1N5:11). (i.e. Old Testament .. ie Bible), a record of the Jews(1N5:12), a genealogy (1N5:14) and the prophecies "of the holy prophets", especially "of Jeremiah.

These prophecies were more important to Lehi than all of his gold and silver.  These prophecies gave Lehi a hope for the future of his people. I have to consider that he has only recently left Jerusalem, the land of his birth. He has left all of his wealth, social ties, and put all of his hope for the future of his family into the power of the brass plates.

What is amazing is that he was not young when he did this. So he knew that he would not be around to control the situations of his children's lives. They would be ...without the brass plates...   alone in the wilderness. Lost.

But with the brass plates they had stories to tell about their family and their history. These stories would be used to bring hope to the daily lives and inspire them and spur their imaginations. And with these plates they had prophecies that helped them see beyond their daily circumstances and exercise faith.

My daughter was asked to speak extemporaneously at church the other Sunday. She chose to speak about her love of prophets and of their guidance in our lives. She chose to bear witness to the power of hope and truth they bring to our lives. I join my daughter in gratitude for the role prophets play in safeguarding the prophecies of the past and helping us to understand our eternal nature by giving us prophetic counsel for our day.

And I join Lehi in studying the prophecies so that my children will know "give ear to"  and find prosperity through the love of the Lord's prophecies. His greatest being that obedience brings prosperity .. not wealth but prosperity. For Lehi had left his wealth behind so that his children might have the commandments and find true prosperity through the "consideration of the prophecies."