Mosiah 5:6-15
There are a few thoughts that I had about the “change of heart” we talked about last night, namely my change of heart. I really loved that Elder Bednar described the change of heart as “imperceptible” because when I had my 2008 experience with my friend, I was disgusted at her dirty joke, but that’s only because I had given up my telling and listening of dirty jokes long before. As the people told KB, their “disposition to do evil” was gone, out of their hearts. As we’ve discussed before the Holy Ghost being the refining fire that melts back together the glass of our shattered hearts and burns off the impurities of sin, or the desire to do sin, also known as the natural man. As we begin to act upon the knowledge that we receive from the Holy Ghost, we don’t tell those dirty jokes, we don’t swear, we don’t drink alcohol, and we try to be kind to others and be honest and make good choices, that’s where the change of heart comes in, and it’s beautiful.
5:6-7 – There is a really interesting theme in these verses that I casually wondered about before but have never had any real answers until now, so when I read it in the IM I was pleasantly surprised. In verse 7 KB teaches that “because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his son, and his daughters.” I always wondered how Jesus would be our “father” and “brother” at the same time, and if that was the case, what does that make Heavenly Father in relationship to us. But KB says that Christ is our father because “he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name therefore ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.” The IM quotes President Joseph F. Smith as teaching “if we speak of Jesus Christ as being our Father, we are not making any mistake because, spiritually, he begot us. No question about it – he united spirit and body, providing a resurrection for every living thing. We do not make any mistake in speaking of the Savior as our God, as our Father, and also as the Son of God because he received all authority. Jesus declared the Father conferred all authority upon him, and so he becomes to us a Father. Moreover, he begot us spiritually in the Resurrection… We are his sons and daughters. He is a Father to us because he begot us and saved us from death, uniting spirit and body. What is a father but one who gives life?” When we look at it like that, it makes total sense. So I guess he would be our brother because we spiritually have the same Father, Heavenly Father, but he is also our Father because he gave us life through the Atonement and Resurrection. Also interesting to me is that Jesus said that the Father conferred all authority upon him, I’m going to have to look into that, not because I don’t believe it but because I am interested to know if it was before or after the atonement and resurrection. I was thinking about the concept of Jesus as our Father, because I had read both the scriptures and the IM on these verses last night and I wondered why Heavenly Father gave Jesus all his authority and then called Jesus our Father, and truly we know that Heavenly Father is God and all powerful, but Jesus Christ is the one adorns our hearts and homes, it is his atonement and resurrection that make us whole. Heavenly Father seems to stepped back a little bit and had Jesus run the show. It makes me wonder why? The word “glory” is used a lot to describe God, but it seems that Heavenly Father really isn’t super interested in the “glory” at least not in the way that humans think about it. But today while I was swimming at the gym (that’s right, I think and swim, it’s my quiet time) that this attitude of leadership that is demonstrated by Heavenly Father is very similar to that of Zarahelma the man, king of the people of Zarahemla who stepped aside so that Mosiah could be king. Now I know it’s not the exact same thing but it was similar, a man with every right to be the leader steps aside for whatever reason so that another man can take the lead. It was just an interesting similarity between the two.
5:8-12 – The theme of these verses is taking the name of Christ upon us. This is another one of these things where I’ve always known about it, so it doesn’t really make sense to me. So I thought about being an American, what does the name “American” mean? It means that I am proud to be from America, it means that wherever I go, whatever I do, it’s a reflection of what America is and what it stands for. Now I’m not so arrogant to think that America means “I’m awesome” I used to think that but I’ve been humbled a bit for that, but taking upon me the name of Christ, like I did at baptism and like I do every Sunday when I take the sacrament at church, it means that I love Jesus, it means that I want to be like him and make him proud of me. The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching “we see that we take upon us the name of Christ when we are baptized in his name, when we belong to his church and profess our belief in him, and when we do the work of his kingdom.” We have to keep in mind that our behavior, our words, and our actions reflect upon the Savior and it’s when we strive to be better because we love him is when the idea of “taking upon us the name of Christ” has more meaning in our lives. It’s like the saying “live your life so that people who don’t know Christ but know you, will want to know Christ because they know you.” It will be our greatest desire to live according to his will and to keep him commandments. But something interesting that Elder Oaks says afterward is “it is significant that when we partake of the sacrament we do not witness that we take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We witness that we are willing to do so. The fact that we only witness to our willingness suggest that something else must happen before we actually take that sacred name upon us in the most important sense… Willingness to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ can therefore be understood as willingness to take upon us the authority of Jesus Christ. According to this meaning, by partaking of the sacrament we witness our willingness to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple and to receive the highest blessings available through the name and by the authority of the Savior when he chooses to confer them upon us… Our willingness to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ affirms our commitment to do all that we can to be counted among those whom he will choose to stand at his right hand and be called by his name at the last day. In this sacred sense, our witness that we are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ constitutes our declaration of candidacy for exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Exaltation is eternal life ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God.’” I had never considered the wording in the sacrament prayer “that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son…” willing… So does it mean that we are saying “ok, yeah I’ll do that…?” I like what Elder Oaks says that it “affirms our commitment to do all that we can to be counted among those whom we will choose.” So we aren’t saying that we have taken His name upon us, just that we would like to and we are willing to put forth work to be worthy. And I guess that makes sense in the way that we probably have to demonstrate our deep desire to have the name of Christ, we desire to obey his teachings and we desire the great change of heart. Jesus probably doesn’t just hand out his name, and all the promises and blessings that come with it, to anyone. It’s kind of like he’s the ultimate Kung Fu Master, and we are his students. Our taking the sacrament and being baptized is just our walking into the studio and signing up for training. He will teach all who show up, but it is our job to be there on time, to be prepared, and to work hard to learn the skills and master them so that we can advance. This would be our “spiritual breathing” that we do here, daily scripture study, daily prayer, choosing the right, etc. Then we show that we are serious, and as we put forth effort and dedicate ourselves to our “training” then we give him the opportunity to choose us.
5:13-15 – Then finally comes teaching that we must know the Savior if we are to truly be his servants and students. This has always been a difficult concept for me to grasp, because I’m even now still trying to discover how I “know” Jesus. But the IM quotes Elder M. Russell Ballard as teaching “when my ministry is all over, it will not be any talk that I gave that will be very important in the sight of the Lord; but what will be important to him will be my hearing his voice and responding to his prompting.” So maybe I should concern myself less with finding out who Jesus is and getting to know him that way, but I should focus on just obeying his commandments and letting him show himself to me in a way that only he knows how to do. In an April 2001 general conference address entitled "Plow in Hope," Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught “too many of the partially committed, like Naaman, wait for the Lord to bid them to ‘do some great thing,’ while declining His biddings in small things. When he was humbled and correction, not only did Naaman’s flesh become like that of a little child, but his heart also. Failure to serve the Master in small ways estranges us from Him.” If I continue to do my best, to give 100% effort to keep the commandments then I will truly come to know and serve Jesus Christ and show him that I am desirous to be called forth at the last day to stand on his right hand.
5:6-7 – There is a really interesting theme in these verses that I casually wondered about before but have never had any real answers until now, so when I read it in the IM I was pleasantly surprised. In verse 7 KB teaches that “because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his son, and his daughters.” I always wondered how Jesus would be our “father” and “brother” at the same time, and if that was the case, what does that make Heavenly Father in relationship to us. But KB says that Christ is our father because “he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name therefore ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.” The IM quotes President Joseph F. Smith as teaching “if we speak of Jesus Christ as being our Father, we are not making any mistake because, spiritually, he begot us. No question about it – he united spirit and body, providing a resurrection for every living thing. We do not make any mistake in speaking of the Savior as our God, as our Father, and also as the Son of God because he received all authority. Jesus declared the Father conferred all authority upon him, and so he becomes to us a Father. Moreover, he begot us spiritually in the Resurrection… We are his sons and daughters. He is a Father to us because he begot us and saved us from death, uniting spirit and body. What is a father but one who gives life?” When we look at it like that, it makes total sense. So I guess he would be our brother because we spiritually have the same Father, Heavenly Father, but he is also our Father because he gave us life through the Atonement and Resurrection. Also interesting to me is that Jesus said that the Father conferred all authority upon him, I’m going to have to look into that, not because I don’t believe it but because I am interested to know if it was before or after the atonement and resurrection. I was thinking about the concept of Jesus as our Father, because I had read both the scriptures and the IM on these verses last night and I wondered why Heavenly Father gave Jesus all his authority and then called Jesus our Father, and truly we know that Heavenly Father is God and all powerful, but Jesus Christ is the one adorns our hearts and homes, it is his atonement and resurrection that make us whole. Heavenly Father seems to stepped back a little bit and had Jesus run the show. It makes me wonder why? The word “glory” is used a lot to describe God, but it seems that Heavenly Father really isn’t super interested in the “glory” at least not in the way that humans think about it. But today while I was swimming at the gym (that’s right, I think and swim, it’s my quiet time) that this attitude of leadership that is demonstrated by Heavenly Father is very similar to that of Zarahelma the man, king of the people of Zarahemla who stepped aside so that Mosiah could be king. Now I know it’s not the exact same thing but it was similar, a man with every right to be the leader steps aside for whatever reason so that another man can take the lead. It was just an interesting similarity between the two.
5:8-12 – The theme of these verses is taking the name of Christ upon us. This is another one of these things where I’ve always known about it, so it doesn’t really make sense to me. So I thought about being an American, what does the name “American” mean? It means that I am proud to be from America, it means that wherever I go, whatever I do, it’s a reflection of what America is and what it stands for. Now I’m not so arrogant to think that America means “I’m awesome” I used to think that but I’ve been humbled a bit for that, but taking upon me the name of Christ, like I did at baptism and like I do every Sunday when I take the sacrament at church, it means that I love Jesus, it means that I want to be like him and make him proud of me. The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching “we see that we take upon us the name of Christ when we are baptized in his name, when we belong to his church and profess our belief in him, and when we do the work of his kingdom.” We have to keep in mind that our behavior, our words, and our actions reflect upon the Savior and it’s when we strive to be better because we love him is when the idea of “taking upon us the name of Christ” has more meaning in our lives. It’s like the saying “live your life so that people who don’t know Christ but know you, will want to know Christ because they know you.” It will be our greatest desire to live according to his will and to keep him commandments. But something interesting that Elder Oaks says afterward is “it is significant that when we partake of the sacrament we do not witness that we take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We witness that we are willing to do so. The fact that we only witness to our willingness suggest that something else must happen before we actually take that sacred name upon us in the most important sense… Willingness to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ can therefore be understood as willingness to take upon us the authority of Jesus Christ. According to this meaning, by partaking of the sacrament we witness our willingness to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple and to receive the highest blessings available through the name and by the authority of the Savior when he chooses to confer them upon us… Our willingness to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ affirms our commitment to do all that we can to be counted among those whom he will choose to stand at his right hand and be called by his name at the last day. In this sacred sense, our witness that we are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ constitutes our declaration of candidacy for exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Exaltation is eternal life ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God.’” I had never considered the wording in the sacrament prayer “that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son…” willing… So does it mean that we are saying “ok, yeah I’ll do that…?” I like what Elder Oaks says that it “affirms our commitment to do all that we can to be counted among those whom we will choose.” So we aren’t saying that we have taken His name upon us, just that we would like to and we are willing to put forth work to be worthy. And I guess that makes sense in the way that we probably have to demonstrate our deep desire to have the name of Christ, we desire to obey his teachings and we desire the great change of heart. Jesus probably doesn’t just hand out his name, and all the promises and blessings that come with it, to anyone. It’s kind of like he’s the ultimate Kung Fu Master, and we are his students. Our taking the sacrament and being baptized is just our walking into the studio and signing up for training. He will teach all who show up, but it is our job to be there on time, to be prepared, and to work hard to learn the skills and master them so that we can advance. This would be our “spiritual breathing” that we do here, daily scripture study, daily prayer, choosing the right, etc. Then we show that we are serious, and as we put forth effort and dedicate ourselves to our “training” then we give him the opportunity to choose us.
5:13-15 – Then finally comes teaching that we must know the Savior if we are to truly be his servants and students. This has always been a difficult concept for me to grasp, because I’m even now still trying to discover how I “know” Jesus. But the IM quotes Elder M. Russell Ballard as teaching “when my ministry is all over, it will not be any talk that I gave that will be very important in the sight of the Lord; but what will be important to him will be my hearing his voice and responding to his prompting.” So maybe I should concern myself less with finding out who Jesus is and getting to know him that way, but I should focus on just obeying his commandments and letting him show himself to me in a way that only he knows how to do. In an April 2001 general conference address entitled "Plow in Hope," Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught “too many of the partially committed, like Naaman, wait for the Lord to bid them to ‘do some great thing,’ while declining His biddings in small things. When he was humbled and correction, not only did Naaman’s flesh become like that of a little child, but his heart also. Failure to serve the Master in small ways estranges us from Him.” If I continue to do my best, to give 100% effort to keep the commandments then I will truly come to know and serve Jesus Christ and show him that I am desirous to be called forth at the last day to stand on his right hand.
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