Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 9
“The Only
True and Living Church”
Introduction
Two weeks ago we talked about the first principles and
ordinances of the Gospel, specifically the Gift of the Holy Ghost. A friend
reminded me that when we are baptized and confirmed, we are commanded to
receive the Holy Ghost. That does not mean that we do automatically. In Section
20, the sacrament prayers tell us that if we do all that we covenant to do in
those prayers, then we may “have his Spirit to be with [us].”
Last week Sara led a great journey into our personal
conception and feelings about the Priesthood. I am sure we all have a lot to
think about as a result of her careful probing. But none of this would be
possible unless we had faith, belief, and confidence that this is His True
Church, organized under the power and authority of the Priesthood.
Organization of the
Church
As Sara pointed out last week, this section is probably
well known to the brothers and perhaps not so much to the sisters. Although the
revelations contained therein were received over a period of time, the date of
the organization of the Church, April 6, 1830, was mandated by Jesus Christ,
according to the heading.
President David O McKay said,
[On] April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith
received by the spirit of prophecy and revelation instructions from the Savior “to
organize his Church once more here upon the earth” (D&C 20 Headnote). Thus
was established by direct revelation and divine authority from the Eternal
Father and Jesus Christ who founded the Church in the Meridian of Times, the
Church of Latter-days, which is set up as a forerunner, if you please, to the
establishing of the kingdom of God upon the earth. In the words of President
John Taylor: “with such an organization, there is a chance for the Lord God to
be revealed, there is an opportunity for the law of life to be made manifest,
there is a chance for God to introduce the principles of heaven upon the earth
and for the will of God to be done upon earth as it is done in heaven” Matt.
6:10 (Journal of Discourses 18:140, Oct. 10, 1875).
Pres. Hinckley elucidated:
This day of organization was, in
effect, a day of commencement, the graduation for Joseph from ten years of
remarkable schooling. It had begun with the incomparable vision in the grove in
the spring of 1820, when the Father and the Son appeared to the fourteen-year-old
boy. It had continued with the tutoring from Moroni, with both warnings and
instructions given on multiple occasions. Then there was the translation of the
ancient record, and the inspiration, the knowledge, the revelation that came
from that experience. There was the bestowal of divine authority, the ancient
priesthood again conferred upon men by those who were its rightful
possessors—John the Baptist in the case of the Aaronic Priesthood, and Peter,
James, and John in the case of the Melchizedek. There were revelations, a
number of them, in which the voice of God was heard again, and the channel of
communication opened between man and the Creator. All of these were preliminary
to that historic April 6 (“150-Year Drama: A Personal View of Our History,” Ensign, Apr. 1980, 11–12).
Originally, according to D&C 20:1, the Church was called
the Church of Christ. It wasn’t until April 1838, once the Saints had got to
Far West, that the Lord named His Church “The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints” (D&C 115:4).
Elder Packer bore witness:
Foremost and underpinning all that we
do, anchored throughout the revelations, is the Lord’s name, which is the
authority by which we act in the Church. Every prayer offered, even by little
children, ends in the name of Jesus Christ. Every blessing, every ordinance,
every ordination, every official act is done in the name of Jesus Christ. It is
His Church, and it is named for Him—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.[1]
2. The Lord commands Church members to follow the
prophet.
The Lord’s House/Church is one of order. Logically there
has to be an organization and one voice to permeate down through that
organization. Although Joseph had been prepared for this moment, having
received heavenly visitations and instruction from those who had previously
held the office of Prophet, it must have been daunting to receive D&C
21:1–7. With only a few people in that room with you, but with a knowledge in
your head that Daniel’s prophecy that the Church will fill the whole earth will
be fulfilled, the Lord tells you that yours is the voice. Wilford Woodruff
reported Joseph as later (before Zion's camp) saying
Brethren I have been very much edified
and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you
before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church
and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it. … It is
only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will
fill North and South America—it will fill the world” (in Conference Report,
Apr. 1898, 57).
President Nelson said:
All leaders in the Lord’s Church are
called by proper authority. No prophet or any other leader in this Church, for
that matter, has ever called himself or herself. No prophet has ever been
elected. The Lord made that clear when He said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you, and ordained you.” You and I do not “vote” on Church
leaders at any level. We do, though, have the privilege of sustaining them.[2]
Following the counsel of the living prophet sometimes
takes “all patience and faith” (D&C 21:5). I think that in these times,
perhaps more than in years gone by, the necessity for the Church to stand
against the tide of moral decline, what Pres. Nelson calls a “sin-soaked world,”
will cause some of us to have our patience and faith tried. But remember Elder
Ballard’s bold, but loving direction,
Never abandon the great truths
revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Never stop reading, pondering, and
applying the doctrine of Christ contained in the Book of Mormon. Never fail to
give equal time to the Lord through honest attempts to understand what the Lord
has revealed. As my dear friend and former colleague Elder Neal A. Maxwell
once said, “We should not assume … that just because something is unexplainable
by us it is unexplainable.”[3]
3. The Lord encourages Church members to meet together
often to partake of the sacrament.
For me, one of the great blessings of the emphasis on
making the Sabbath a delight has been a deeper understanding of and commitment
to taking the Sacrament each week. As I gain the strength, for (paradoxically) strength
is needed, to ask the Lord to show me my weaknesses, I rely on the blessings of
the Atonement and the physical ordinance of the Sacrament to help me on my
journey to make those weaknesses strengths. In a footnote in his masterful
discourse on the Doctrine of Christ, Brian K. Ashton said this:
Relying wholly upon Christ’s merits
includes recognizing that Jesus Christ is the only source of redemption (see Mosiah
4:7–8). It also requires that we believe that Christ can save us as
individuals. That is one reason why in Doctrine and Covenants 27:2 we
are commanded that as we partake of the sacrament, we are to remember not just
that Christ suffered but also that He did so for us as individuals.
And then there is that injunction to partake “with an eye
single to [Christ’s] glory. Last Sunday Bishop Black pled with us to think more
about how we are consecrating our lives to Him. Pres. Jaramillo expounded on
that with the analogy of the oil, consecrated and ready for use whenever
needed. Can we think about those two ideas in conjunction with one another? Are
we putting God first?
Postscript:
Justification and Sanctification
Section 20:30–31 brings these two terms in conjunction with the Atonement. Elder Christofferson has given us a great explanation which you can find here.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/06/justification-and-sanctification.p1?lang=eng
Postscript:
Justification and Sanctification
Section 20:30–31 brings these two terms in conjunction with the Atonement. Elder Christofferson has given us a great explanation which you can find here.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/06/justification-and-sanctification.p1?lang=eng
Additional Resources for this lesson
- “Build
Up My Church”: This article discusses preparations that led up to
the formal organization of the Church.
- “The
Articles and Covenants of the Church”: This article gives further
context on earlier documents that influenced Doctrine and
Covenants 20.
- “Peter
Whitmer Home in Fayette, NY”: This article on the Whitmer home
has a section about the meeting on April 6, 1830, at which the Church was
formally organized.
- “Gathering
for Church Organization”: This infographic shows the distances people
traveled to attend the Church’s organizational meeting.
- “Articles
and Covenants, circa April 1830 [D&C 20]”: This page from the
Joseph Smith Papers website gives in-depth information about the Articles
and Covenants of the Church and features an early newspaper reprint of
them.
