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The following is a fleshed out outline of the talk I gave last Sunday. A few people asked for a copy after Sacrament Meeting in each ward where I spoke, so I thought I would post it here, as well:
1) Jesus has many titles we use to describe him and his relationship to Heavenly Father and us. Lord, God, Prince of Peace, Master, Judge, Creator, King of Kings, Son of God, Son of Man, Lamb of God, etc. There are two titles that are so common and that are used together so often that they almost blur together and are seen as synonymous. They are “Savior” and “Redeemer” – and sometimes we say them so fluently that it comes out sounding like one title – “saviornredeemer”. However, they actually mean very different things, and it is very important to understand those different meanings if we are to exercise faith in the redemption.
a) To “redeem” means to “recover, purchase, buy back”. (Give example of something of great value that is pawned and must be “redeemed”.) In the Gospel sense, all of us are “fallen” and “lost” when we are born into mortality – where we live in a world influenced to a large degree by Lucifer. In a way, symbolically, it is not inaccurate for him to be referred to as “the god of this world”. We are separated from God, and the very first thing that has to happen in order for us to return from that separation is to be bought back from the one to whom we were sold, so to speak.
b) To “save” means to “keep from being discarded”. (Give example of things we value that we just can’t bear to throw away, often even long after they have any objective worth left.) In combination with “redeem”, we are “saved” by God pledging to not let us be sold (“lost”, “pawned”, “separated”, etc.) again.
c) So, before we can be “saved” BY (meaning not just “through” but also “at the side of”) Christ, we must be “redeemed” from Lucifer.
2) Explain distinction between “being redeemed” and “exercising faith in the redemption”.
a) “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So, “exercising faith” means acting on hope and unseen evidence. In the case of faith in Jesus’ redemption, this means acting in a way that shows we really believe two things: I) God can and has redeemed all mankind; II) All are worth redeeming.
b) First, we MUST admit that all need to be redeemed, including me and all of you. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” “As in Adam ALL die, so even in Christ shall ALL be made alive.” The first step in exercising faith in the redemption is to accept and truly believe that ALL actually have been redeemed, with the exception of the Sons of Perdition – those very few who look God in the face and swing their fists.
I think this generally is accepted intellectually as a given by most active members – that we need to be redeemed and that God has the power to redeem all. The real question is my second one: Are all worth redeeming – and, more pointedly, do we live in such a way that provides “evidence” that we truly believe they are?
c) Am I redeemable? (Discuss issues of self-worth and how our view of ourselves affects how we treat not only ourselves but also others. Explain that it is harder for some to believe this, especially when issues like clinical depression, bi-polar disorder, post-partum depression, etc. are present. Mention the issue of arrogance and pride – believing that we will be redeemed because we deserve to be redeemed.)
d) Are others redeemable? (Discuss idea that it’s easy to believe others are redeemable the further removed from us they are. Start at the furthest from us [the person born in China 1,000 BC] and move up to our own friends, family, fellow congregants, neighbors, etc. – especially those who have hurt or let us down in some way. Mention specifically and by category those within our own church family who struggle to feel of worth, acceptable, redeemable, appreciated and/or loved – the single, the divorced, the gay, the politically different.)
e) How we treat two groups of people reflects most clearly our faith in the redemption of Jesus: I) Those who are most different from us; II) Those who are closest to us – of whom our “natural man” has (often unrealistic) expectations – who are different from us in ways that we deem to be important.
f) Quote from “Where Can I Turn for Peace?” (Hymn #129): “Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only one.” Explain that I believe this is NOT the ideal – that I hope all can pray and find comfort and calm, but that the ideal is that there be someone in the here and now, flesh and blood, who can be, as Pres. Uchtdorf said so eloquently in his General Conference talk, “His hands”.
g) Quote “Lord, I Would Follow Thee” – the entire song without the final repeated phrases at the end of each verse. Emphasize, “In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can’t see.” Explain that over 10% of all our hymns deal directly with consolation and comfort as a major theme and that MANY more include that theme secondarily.
End with a request for each member to consider those in their lives whom they naturally see as lepers, Samaritans, publicans and sinners and ask them to live their lives so that it is obvious they believe that those people are every bit as “worthy” of Jesus’ redemption as they are themselves – that they act as God’s hands in both the redeeming and saving of those people – that they create among themselves as a congregation their own “kingdom of nobodies” as a friend once described Jesus’ earthly ministry.
Ask point blank that they each consider what their initial reaction would be if a man staggered into the chapel in the middle of the administration of the sacrament muttering and reeking of alcohol – or if two men walked in holding hands and sat in a pew with their arms around each other – if a young woman entered in a mini skirt, visible tattoos and a nose or eyebrow ring. Would that immediate reaction be, “Ooooh, get out of here. You’re interrupting our worship service” – or would it be, “Thank God you found us!!” Would they recoil or embrace?
Until we can embrace all, especially those who are rejected and seen as irredeemable by others, we can’t say honestly that we are exercising faith in the redemption of Jesus.
Amen and Amen! A very beautiful message!! Thank you for sharing it with us. What was the reaction to your last paragraph? Any comments from the members?
CG
I am so glad you kept it Christ centered Ray. Great examples you gave. We attended the Port Orange Christian Church this morning with a research scientist friend of my husband’s who is agnostic. Pastor Rogers, always gives excellent sermons with amazing messages and humor. Today’s sermon was about how many people profess to accepting Christ but never grow in the relationship or change themselves. He said it was like getting a membership to a gym, showing off your membership card, walking around the gym, but never working out. The pastor told of a friend who was at work and shared with a co-worker that he was a Christian and invited him to his church. The Co-worker asked him how long ago he had joined this church and accepted Christ. The guy said, “Two years ago.” The co-worker said,” Oh, I never noticed anything different in you.” The pastor gave several examples of new years resolutions. If you make a plan to eat healthy, or excercise, you would start seeing some results in a couple of months. But, how many of us claim to follow Christ and we continue the same old way of life thinking Christ has saved us simply because we filled out a membership card or got baptized.
When we give talks in church, we have a real chance to reach others and you did a great job Ray.
Bridget
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Quote:What was the reaction to your last paragraph? Any comments from the members?
Very good. Both Bishops thanked me for the way I approached the talk, and multiple members said they really appreciated the message.
Just to clarify a bit, this outline is kind of a comprehensive talk that includes elements from both talks, since I generally don’t write this much detail and, instead, just speak from my outline. This means there are things that I ended up sharing in one ward but not the next.
For example, in the first ward, I used the example of the two gay men – but in the second ward I used the example of the tattooed young woman; in both wards, I used the example of the drunk man. It just “felt right” in the moments to do it that way. I had one “negative” reaction expressed directly to me about the example of the gay men, but the person who spoke with me was at least as old as my father – and it wasn’t a mean-spirited comment in any way. On the negativity spectrum, it was quite mild, actually.
On a humorous note (as well as part of a really cool thing), one of my daughters went with me and was sitting alone before the meeting started. Two young women walked up to her and asked if she would mind sitting with them, so she wouldn’t have to be alone the entire meeting. She found out afterward that one of them is the Bishop’s daughter, so she ended up sitting with the Bishop’s family. At the end of my talk, this young woman leaned over to my daughter and said,
“Your dad’s GOOD!”😆 We need this message to be repeated all the time. I read your notes this morning before church and then when I got to church, I spent half an hour in the hallway talking to a sister who is struggling with her teenager. One thing she said just broke my heart. She said “I know because of the choices she’s making that there will always be some people at church who will never fully accept her. She’ll always feel like she’s on the outside.” It would be so wonderful if we created a culture in the church where noone felt unwelcome or unloved and where those who were tempted to judge were inhibited by the overtly gentle and charitable nature of the majority. I’ve been in a couple of wards like this and the members I’ve encountered there stand out as true examples of the believers.
That’s great Ray!! Our SM was on the topic of loving our neighbors, fellowshipping and being Christlike. It was the first time in a very long time that I enjoyed church. One speaker gave the example of a new convert who wore a miniskirt to an activity and was promptly told that her dress was not appropriate. This new convert didn’t attend church again. The speaker went on to teach about seeing people as people and not as their outward appearance, loving them and accepting them where they are and avoiding judgement. It was a very uplifting meeting and had me thinking about how I judge others in different ways. CG
I wish I could have been there to hear the talk, cg. Thanks for sharing it. That sound like a good message Ray. Here is my question for you.
Why do you get to give these kind of talks? Are you not assigned topics from GC and suppose to toot the sound of the “marching orders” that we get from general conference?
The HC talks/messages the last few months in our stake have been terrible disturbing to me. It’s all about the 14 fundamentals and temple attendance and tithing and pornography and two line of communications blah blah blah — and it is all coming from down from the stake leadership.
How is it that you are able to preach pure gospel from the pulpit, when all the HC in this stake, and probably most stakes, are stuck preaching cultural commandments and traditions?
Our stake theme last year was developing Christ-like attributes, and this year it is taken from Alma 5. Each month’s HC talks are related to a part of the stake theme, so this one is from Alma 5:15 – exercising faith in the redemption of him who created you. It’s all about the Stake Presidency, really – and I know how fortunate I am. I don’t see everything the same way as my SP (who is far more traditional and conservative than I am), but he’s a really good man and his focus is on becoming like Christ.
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