Tammy’s Family Home Evening Lesson
November 4, 2018
The Church
Opening song: Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice # 21
Opening prayer: Rex
As I was trying to decide the topic for my lesson this month,
I decided that there was no better topic than what the Prophet taught us in the
last General Conference. So that is what
I’m basing my lesson off of today.
In his talk to all, in the Sunday Afternoon session of the
October 2018 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson, emphasized using
the correct name of the Church.
He said: “Today I feel compelled to discuss with you a matter
of great importance. Some weeks ago, I released a statement regarding a course
correction for the name of the Church.1 I did this because the Lord impressed
upon my mind the importance of the name He decreed for His Church, even The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
“…Let me explain why we care so deeply about this issue. But
first let me state what this effort is not:
“It is not a name change.
“It is not rebranding.
“It is not cosmetic.
“It is not a whim.
“And it is not inconsequential.
“Instead, it is a correction. It is the command of the Lord.
Joseph Smith did not name the Church restored through him; neither did Mormon.
It was the Savior Himself who said, “For thus shall my church be called in the
last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
“Even earlier, in AD 34, our resurrected Lord gave similar
instruction to members of His Church when He visited them in the Americas. At
that time He said:
“Ye shall call the church in my name. …
“And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if
a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called
in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my
name then it is my church.” (3 Nephi 27:7-8)
Thus, the name of the Church is not negotiable. When the
Savior clearly states what the name of His Church should be and even precedes
His declaration with, “Thus shall my church be called,” He is serious. And if
we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames
ourselves, He is offended.
What’s in a name or, in this case, a nickname? When it comes
to nicknames of the Church, such as the “LDS Church,” the “Mormon Church,” or
the “Church of the Latter-day Saints,” the most important thing in those names
is the absence of the Savior’s name. To remove the Lord’s name from the Lord’s
Church is a major victory for Satan. When we discard the Savior’s name, we are
subtly disregarding all that Jesus Christ did for us—even His Atonement.
Consider this from His perspective: Premortally, He was
Jehovah, God of the Old Testament. Under the direction of His Father, He was
the Creator of this and other worlds. He chose to submit to the will of His
Father and do something for all of God’s children that no one else could do!
Condescending to come to earth as the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh,
He was brutally reviled, mocked, spit upon, and scourged. In the Garden of
Gethsemane, our Savior took upon Himself every pain, every sin, and all of the
anguish and suffering ever experienced by you and me and by
everyone who has ever lived or will ever live. Under the weight of that
excruciating burden, He bled from every pore. All of this suffering was
intensified as He was cruelly crucified on Calvary’s cross.
Through these excruciating experiences and His subsequent
Resurrection—His infinite Atonement—He granted immortality to all and ransomed
each one of us from the effects of sin on condition of our repentance.
Following the Savior’s Resurrection and the death of His
Apostles, the world plunged into centuries of darkness. Then in the year 1820,
God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith
to initiate the Restoration of the Lord’s Church.
After all He had endured—and after all He had done for
humankind—I realize with profound regret that we have unwittingly acquiesced in
the Lord’s restored Church being called by other names, each of which expunges
the sacred name of Jesus Christ!
Every Sunday as we worthily partake of the sacrament, we make
anew our sacred promise to our Heavenly Father that we are willing to take upon
us the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.8 We promise to follow Him, repent, keep
His commandments, and always remember Him.
When we omit His name from His Church, we are inadvertently
removing Him as the central focus of our lives.
Taking the Savior’s name upon us includes declaring and
witnessing to others—through our actions and our words—that Jesus is the Christ…”
If we as a people and as individuals are to have access to
the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ—to cleanse and heal us, to
strengthen and magnify us, and ultimately to exalt us—we must clearly
acknowledge Him as the source of that power. We can begin by calling His Church
by the name He decreed.
For much of the world, the Lord’s Church is presently
disguised as the “Mormon Church.” But we as members of the Lord’s Church know
who stands at its head: Jesus Christ Himself. Unfortunately, many who hear the
term Mormon may think that we worship Mormon. Not so! We honor and respect that
great ancient American prophet. But we are not Mormon’s disciples. We are the
Lord’s disciples.
In the early days of the restored Church, terms such as
Mormon Church and Mormons were often used as epithets—as cruel terms, abusive
terms—designed to obliterate God’s hand in restoring the Church of Jesus Christ
in these latter days.
Brothers and sisters, there are many worldly arguments
against restoring the correct name of the Church. Because of the digital world
in which we live and with search engine optimization that helps all of us find
information we need almost instantly—including information about the Lord’s
Church—critics say that a correction at this point is unwise. Others feel that
because we are known so widely as “Mormons” and as the “Mormon Church,” we
should make the best of it.
If this were a discussion about branding a man-made
organization, those arguments might prevail. But in this crucial matter, we look
to Him whose Church this is and acknowledge that the Lord’s ways are not, and
never will be, man’s ways. If we will be patient and if we will do our part
well, the Lord will lead us through this important task.
If someone should ask, “Are you a Mormon?” you could reply,
“If you are asking if I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, yes, I am!”
If someone asks, “Are you a Latter-day Saint?” you might
respond, “Yes, I am. I believe in Jesus Christ and am a member of His restored
Church.”
My dear brothers and sisters, I promise you that if we will
do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord’s Church, He whose Church
this is will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day
Saints, the likes of which we have never seen. We will have the knowledge and
power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus
Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and to prepare the world
for the Second Coming of the Lord.
So, what’s in a name? When it comes to the name of the Lord’s
Church, the answer is “Everything!” Jesus Christ directed us to call the Church
by His name because it is His Church, filled with His power.” -- President Russell M. Nelson, ”The Correct
Name of the Church”, October 2018 General Conference
Now I would like to talk about why we need the Church. Elder
D. Todd Christofferson addressed this very topic in his October 2015 General
conference address, “Why the Church?”
He said: “Throughout my life, general conferences of the
Church have been exhilarating spiritual events, and the Church itself has been
a place to come to know the Lord. I realize that there are those who consider
themselves religious or spiritual and yet reject participation in a church or
even the need for such an institution. Religious practice is for them purely
personal. Yet the Church is the creation of Him in whom our spirituality is
centered—Jesus Christ. It is worth pausing to consider why He chooses to use a
church, His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to carry
out His and His Father’s work “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life
of man.”(Moses 1:39)
Beginning with Adam, the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached,
and the essential ordinances of salvation, such as baptism, were administered
through a family-based priesthood order. As societies grew more complex than
simply extended families, God also called other prophets, messengers, and
teachers. In Moses’s time, we read of a more formal structure, including
elders, priests, and judges. In Book of Mormon history, Alma established a
church with priests and teachers.
Then, in the meridian of time, Jesus organized His work in
such a way that the gospel could be established simultaneously in multiple
nations and among diverse peoples. That organization, the Church of Jesus
Christ, was founded on “apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief corner stone.”(Ephesians 2:20) It included additional officers, such as
seventies, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons. Jesus similarly
established the Church in the Western Hemisphere after His Resurrection.
Following the apostasy and disintegration of the Church He
had organized while on the earth, the Lord reestablished the Church of Jesus
Christ once again through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The ancient purpose
remains: that is, to preach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and
administer the ordinances of salvation—in other words, to bring people to
Christ. And now, through the instrumentality of this restored Church, the
promise of redemption is placed within reach even of the spirits of the dead
who in their mortal lifetime knew little or nothing of the Savior’s grace.
How does His Church accomplish the Lord’s purposes? It is
important to recognize that God’s ultimate purpose is our progress. His desire
is that we continue “from grace to grace, until [we receive] a
fulness”(Doctrine and Covenants 93:13) of all He can give. That requires more
than simply being nice or feeling spiritual. It requires faith in Jesus Christ,
repentance, baptism of water and of the Spirit, and enduring in faith to the
end. One cannot fully achieve this in isolation, so a major reason the Lord has
a church is to create a community of Saints that will sustain one another in
the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.”(2 Nephi 31:18)
“And [Christ] gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
“… For the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ:
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)
Jesus Christ is “the author and the finisher of [our]
faith.”(Moroni 6:4) Uniting ourselves to the body of Christ—the Church—is an
important part of taking His name upon us.(3 Nephi 27:5-7) We are told that the
ancient Church “did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one
with another concerning the welfare of their souls”(Moroni 6:5) “and to hear
the word of the Lord.”(4 Nephi 1:12) So it is in the Church today. Joined in
faith, we teach and edify one another and strive to approach the full measure
of discipleship, “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” We
strive to help one another come to “the knowledge of the Son of God,”(Ephesians
4:13)…
In the Church we not only learn divine doctrine; we also
experience its application. As the body of Christ, the members of the Church
minister to one another in the reality of day-to-day life. All of us are
imperfect; we may offend and be offended. We often test one another with our
personal idiosyncrasies. In the body of Christ, we have to go beyond concepts
and exalted words and have a real “hands-on” experience as we learn to “live
together in love.”
This religion is not concerned only with self; rather, we are
all called to serve. We are the eyes, hands, head, feet, and other members of
the body of Christ, and even “those members … which seem to be more feeble, are
necessary.” We need these callings, and we need to serve.
One of the men in my ward grew up not only without parental
support but with parental opposition to his activity in the Church. He made
this observation in a sacrament meeting: “My father cannot understand why
anyone would go to church when they could go skiing, but I really like going to
church. In the Church, we are all on the same journey, and I am inspired in
that journey by strong youth, pure children, and what I see and learn from
other adults. I am strengthened by the association and excited with the joy of
living the gospel.”
The wards and branches of the Church offer a weekly gathering
of respite and renewal, a time and place to leave the world behind—the Sabbath.
It is a day to “delight thyself in the Lord,” to experience the spiritual
healing that comes with the sacrament, and to receive the renewed promise of
His Spirit to be with us.
…
There is a second major reason the Savior works through a
church, His Church, and that is to achieve needful things that cannot be
accomplished by individuals or smaller groups. One clear example is dealing
with poverty. It is true that as individuals and families we look after the
physical needs of others, “imparting to one another both temporally and
spiritually according to their needs and their wants.” But together in the
Church, the ability to care for the poor and needy is multiplied to meet the
broader need, and hoped-for self-reliance is made a reality for very many.
Further, the Church, its Relief Societies, and its priesthood quorums have the
capacity to provide relief to many people in many places affected by natural
disasters, war, and persecution.
Without the capabilities of His Church in place, the Savior’s
commission to take the gospel to all the world could not be realized. There
would not be the apostolic keys, the structure, the financial means, and the
devotion and sacrifice of thousands upon thousands of missionaries needed to
carry out the work. Remember, “this Gospel of the Kingdom [must] be preached in
all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.”(Matthew
28:19-20)
The Church can build and operate temples, houses of the Lord,
where vital ordinances and covenants may be administered. Joseph Smith stated
that God’s objective in gathering His people in any age is “to build unto the
Lord a house whereby He [can] reveal unto His people the ordinances of His
house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of
salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are
taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose.”
If one believes that all roads lead to heaven or that there
are no particular requirements for salvation, he or she will see no need for
proclaiming the gospel or for ordinances and covenants in redeeming either the
living or the dead. But we speak not just of immortality but also of eternal
life, and for that the gospel path and gospel covenants are essential. And the
Savior needs a church to make them available to all of God’s children—both the
living and the dead.
The final reason I will mention for the Lord to have established
His Church is the most unique—the Church is, after all, the kingdom of God on
the earth.
As The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was being
established in the 1830s, the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “Lift up
your hearts and rejoice, for unto you the kingdom, or in other words, the keys
of the church have been given.”(Doctrine and Covenants 42:69) In the authority
of these keys, the Church’s priesthood officers preserve the purity of the
Savior’s doctrine and the integrity of His saving ordinances. They help prepare
those who wish to receive them, judge the qualification and worthiness of those
who apply, and then perform them.
With the keys of the kingdom, the Lord’s servants can
identify both truth and falsehood and once again authoritatively state, “Thus
saith the Lord.” Regrettably, some resent the Church because they want to
define their own truth, but in reality it is a surpassing blessing to receive a
“knowledge of things as they [truly] are, and as they were, and as they are to
come” (D&C 93:24) insofar as the Lord wills to reveal it. The Church
safeguards and publishes God’s revelations—the canon of scripture.
When Daniel interpreted the dream of Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar, making known to the king “what shall be in the latter days,”(Daniel
2:28) he declared that “the God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall
never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all [other] kingdoms, and it shall stand for
ever.”(Daniel 2:44) The Church is that prophesied latter-day kingdom, not
created by man but set up by the God of heaven and rolling forth as a stone “cut
out of the mountain without hands” to fill the earth.(Daniel 2:45)
Its destiny is to establish Zion in preparation for the
return and millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Before that day, it will not be a
kingdom in any political sense—as the Savior said, “My kingdom is not of this
world.”(John 18:36) Rather, it is the repository of His authority in the earth,
the administrator of His holy covenants, the custodian of His temples, the
protector and proclaimer of His truth, the gathering place for scattered
Israel, and “a defense, and … a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it
shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.” -- Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “Why the
Church?”, October 2015 General Conference
Closing song: How Great Thou Art #86
Closing prayer: Mom
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