The following is the transcript of a talk I gave in church on 7-12-2015.
In the spring of 1836, my great grandfather (4 x removed),
having been a convert to the restored gospel, sold his farm, settled his
business and moved multiple times to temporary locations in order to move his
family to Kirtland, Ohio to be with the saints.
One of the first items of business was to take an axe and cut a hole in
the ice big enough for his friend, Wilford Woodruff, to get down and baptize
his oldest son, my direct line ancestor, and several other children. He later recounted that being baptized in ice
water, froze him into the church, and he never would leave it.
At that time, it was common for new male converts to be sent
on missions directly after their ordination to the priesthood. It was less common to be sent in pairs but
always without purse or script. However
my ancestor, Jonathan Harriman Hale was sent in company of Elder Wilford
Woodruff to the northeast and they relied on the kindness of the persons they
met to lodge and feed them.
In Canton, Connecticut, Jonathan recalled that as soon as a
meeting to preach the gospel commenced in the evening, “the drums began to beat
at the door and continued during most of the meeting. After the meeting was closed with prayer, the
people gathered around us and began to ‘gnash upon us with their teeth.” After they were able to escape they retired
to a grove and gave thanks to God for their deliverance.
As with other wives in Kirtland whose husbands were gone on
missions, Olive Hale and Phebe Woodruff were lonely, prayed for their husbands
morning and night, provided for themselves and their children, took care of
business matters, procured and prepared food, planted crops, raised the
children in the ways of the Lord, occasionally attended lectures and “sings” in
the evenings, and coped with frequent illnesses.
Jonathon went on and filled a total of eight special missions
for the church. In Nauvoo he filled
positions as bishop of one of the wards, colonel in the Nauvoo Legion, director
of schools, collector of donations and tithing for the Nauvoo Temple, and
recorder of baptisms for the dead. When
the saints were driven from Nauvoo, he was appointed to assist the saints from
Nauvoo to Winter Quarters.
While in a tent at Winter Quarters, a new child was born
into the Hale family. The next day,
Jonathan Harriman Hale died (probably from Typhoid), and only four days later,
his faithful wife, Olive, sick and weak from childbirth and malaria joined her
husband. The next week their 2 ½ year old
daughter died from malaria and finally the new baby, only 22 days old. So father, mother, and two daughters all died
within a few week’s time and buried in Council bluffs in an unmarked grave,
leaving four orphaned children alone and homeless and needing to cross the
plains by themselves.
WHY – Meaning and Define
One might ask – Why?
Why was it necessary to sacrifice so much? Why is sacrifice even necessary? Or is it
necessary at all? Are we just making things
harder than they have to be?
Like most things that pertain to “Why” – both its creation
and its understanding, it is best to start at the beginning – at the purpose or
the master plan.
(Abraham 3:25)
We will prove
them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever
the Lord their God shall
command them.
Proof requires evidence. Part of that evidence can come as obedience
or doing what we are asked to do.
Another aspect of that evidence is Sacrifice – what one is willing to
give up in order to keep God’s commands.
We know that Obedience is the first law of Heaven and “To OBEY is better
than SACRIFICE” but the very nature of obedience and sacrifice are
interdependent. It’s almost impossible to obey without sacrifice. And to sacrifice just for the means of
sacrifice alone, doesn’t prove where our allegiance lies.
For instance: For everything there is an opportunity cost,
or in other words, for everything that is seen there is also something that is
not seen. In order to obey, it involves
an action. That is what is seen. What is not seen is the loss of or
deprivation of what could have been chosen instead. When one chooses to keep
the law of tithing (that is what is seen), that choice also has the opportunity
cost of not being able to use that money on something else (what is not
seen). If you look closely at all of
God’s commands, obedience requires some type of sacrifice.
Fasting – Sacrifice of physical
needs
Sabbath
– Sacrifice of time (1/7 of our earthly time)
Word of
Wisdom – Sacrifice of worldly pleasures
Chastity
– Sacrifice of worldly pleasures
We could take that one step
further and find that for every sacrifice made or command obeyed, there is the
unseen aspect attached to it. A kind of
cause and effect or consequence for our choices. What the world sees as deprivation has the
unseen results of blessings or refinement, preparation, added power.
If we reverse that and look at the blessings as the seen,
the sacrifice which is necessary to bring that blessing about is the
unseen. Make no mistake about it, All
blessings require sacrifice of some type.
Even if we aren’t the ones who paid the price, it was purchased by proxy. The freedom of this nation was paid by the
blood of our founding fathers. The
opportunity to go to the temple was paid for in the blood, sweat, and tears of
our forefathers. And the greatest price
paid for the greatest blessing available to all is that great and last
Sacrifice – the atonement. All blessings require a sacrifice of some type.
History of Sacrifice – Acceptable or Not
So back to the beginning of time. We know Adam and Eve and their posterity, were
commanded to make blood sacrifices to the Lord in order to point toward or
remember the ultimate sacrifice that would be made by the Lord.
Those sacrifices on the alter - the burnt offering, the sin
offering, the peace offering – were both symbolic of the Saviors atonement as
well as evidence/proof of our obedience.
Can we make a sacrifice and it not be acceptable to the
Lord? You bet we can. Cain was the first who, comparably speaking,
went through the motions of saying his prayers or reading his scriptures, or
keeping the Sabbath Day holy, without his heart in the right place. The appearance of sacrifice is not the
evidence the Lord is looking for.
*There’s also the sacrifice which
the sons of Aaron made that was not acceptable.
*Saul performing the sacrificial
ritual rather than waiting for the authorized servant of the Lord.
*Many ancient cultures made human
sacrifices in an attempt to appease God – Abraham was being offered in this
manner – but it is going through the motions without the sanction or counsel of
the Lord.
*What about the Rich man – we know
when he was told to sell all his things, he went away sorrowing. Even if he had gone through the “motions” of
obedience he would have done it begrudgingly.
So what makes a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord?
D&C 97:8
Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken,
and their spirits
contrite, and are willing to observe
their covenants by sacrifice –
yea, every sacrifice
which I the Lord, shall command – they are accepted of me.
Did you catch the current definition of sacrifice of a
broken heart and a contrite spirit in there? The humble and teachable are the
ones who go through the seen motions of obedience and it is their offering that
is acceptable.
-Lectures on Faith
A religion that does not require
the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith
necessary unto life and salvation. …It was through this sacrifice, and this
only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life. …When a man has
offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding
his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this
sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that
God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor
will not seek his face in vain. Under
these circumstances, then he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold
on eternal life.
See the reason we’re providing
evidence to the Lord or proving that
we are willing to submit to all that he inflicts upon us – It’s not about being
like puppets for his masterpiece. It’s
not about bringing glory or giving homage to God because we recognize that he
is greater than we are. It’s not even
about earning brownie points in order to receive the reward of the Celestial
Kingdom.
It’s about us “BECOMING”. It’s about us "BECOMING” It’s about us
progressing and growing and changing into something more and it can’t happen
without the sacrifice. It is proving
ourselves to ourselves.
The ancient definition of
Sacrifice is: To make something or someone holy
We all understand that what
doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
Opposition develops appreciation.
And trials, tribulations, and hardships are the refining fire to remove
the impurities from our character. But
those things are circumstantial in nature and automatically a by-product of
mortal life. However, the law of
sacrifice is self-imposed, voluntarily turning up the heat in order to
discipline ourselves, mold our character, and push us beyond the point that we
could do on our own. We choose it.
We have to choose covenants over comforts and remember
that Pain provides purpose.
We have to choose covenants over comforts and remember
that Pain provides purpose.
The ancient sacrifice was a blood
sacrifice. And prophecy tells us that
the sons of Levi will once again offer a blood sacrifice in righteousness. But the ancient sacrifice took a life. Our blood sacrifice of today is giving a
life. It is a ‘living’ sacrifice, holy
and acceptable unto God. Elder
Christofferson outlined it beautifully in his talk on living a consecrated
life.
Modern Day Pioneers
But we live in the last days. The world has got some pretty big problems
and spiritual darkness is rampant across the land. You and I have been reserved for these last
days so that we will either face and change those problems or be a contributing
factor to amplifying them. I believe we were born to change them or at best to
resist the spread of them.
We are the modern pioneers, laying the groundwork necessary,
not only for future generations, but for the Lord himself to come and reign in
righteousness. No longer can good exist
in regular circumstances, we have to fight for it. And we won’t be enough to fulfill that
measure of our creation without being willing to sacrifice. Greatness is purchased with the price of
sacrifice.
And the Lord will be testing each one of us to see where our
heart and our allegiance truly lies.
Just as Abraham was required to sacrifice his only beloved son, as a
test, each one of us will be tested in some way, geared toward our weakest
point, to see if the Lord can depend on us to carry out his work.
I’ve outlined a few ideas or characteristics that I feel are
part of the modern pioneer.
.
Modern
Day pioneers serve – We can’t be
selfish, self-serving, shallow, or even temporal. But instead be a force for good and touch the
life of someone
2 Modern Day pioneers are bold – That means we have
the courage to walk away from that which can wear us down and keep us from our
destination. Testifying boldly in person
or on social media while standing firm when the torrents of rage, name calling,
logic and warped perspective attack.
Bringing children into this corrupt world and raising them in
righteousness.
3 Modern Day pioneers are governed by principles –
not by popularity. There is the example
of the one brother who sacrificed his job because he refused to work on
Sunday. There is a huge pressure in the
Mormon culture to keep up appearances of righteousness, without necessarily
living all of the underlying principles.
Rest assured that will be tested.
4 Modern Day pioneers have not only private virtue
but also public virtue. That means that
the needs of the many or the needs of the nation outweigh the needs of their
personal interest. I’ve heard it said
that a person’s morals are determined by their pocketbook. We may have to sacrifice what is in our self-
interest for a greater, more important cause.
5 Modern Day pioneers lead – Recognizing what
leadership needs to take place and going about setting into place those needs
rather than simply complaining or waiting until someone else creates it. Listening to the call-out from the Lord to fulfill
whatever is required for our personal mission.
It is my hope with clarity of the history, purpose, and
vision of the law of sacrifice that we will be able to prepare ourselves to
become those modern day pioneers.
