Church Talks
FAREWELL TALK
[Talk by John E. Enslen at the Wetumpka Ward of the Montgomery Alabama Stake of Zion on March 11, 2007.]
This morning I was in my housecoat, seated at the breakfast table, enjoying a hot biscuit with syrup, and relishing the thought that I still had an hour before I had to be in church. That is when the phone rang. It was my mother. I am so thankful for my mother. [Everyone knew I was late to church because I had failed to set my clock forward an hour as required by the time change that went into effect today.]
May I express my sincere appreciation for your being here today, especially our friends who kindly accepted my and Dianne’s invitation to be our special guests. You are indeed special to us. We gratefully acknowledge the personal sacrifice that you have made by not attending and enjoying your own regular and sacred church services. Your presence here sends a warm and fuzzy message to our hearts. Thank you for being our friends.
I honor my goodly parents and other immediate and extended family members who are here today to lend much-appreciated moral support to Dianne and me. To all of you, both family and friends and fellow Latter-day Saints, we feel your love and pray that you feel ours.
I did not know how the community at large might react to our announcement that we had accepted a call to serve a two-year mission to Cambodia. I was very confident that there were several people in town who would gladly offer to buy me a one-way ticket to Cambodia. But as the news of our leaving spread, Dianne and I were emotionally overwhelmed again and again by the tremendous outpouring of support we received and felt, wherever we happened to be. I know that I have experienced more hugs in the grocery store in the last three months than in all of my prior lifetime.
One of my friends of another faith, who I will call Mike, heard about our mission. He made an unannounced visit to my office and placed $500.00 on my desk. I gave it back to him with these words: “Mike, the power that will come from the prayers of a good man like you will infinitely surpass anything we could purchase with your generous donation. I do appreciate your offer, but I will be fully satisfied to know that you are praying for Dianne and me by name.”
The unconditional love that Dianne and I have felt from many of you has caused a serious, reflective concern about ourselves: Have we been as supportive of others in their righteous Christian endeavors as we should have been? Thank you my friends for your Christ-like example of kindness and acceptance.
Dianne and I have been asked this question: What will you teach the people of a nation that is more than 90% Buddhist? Our reply has consistently been the same. We will attempt to teach them in their own language about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that he is the Great Creator, the Perfect Exemplar, the Prince of Peace.
We will attempt to teach the people about a glorified resurrected being who, as recorded in the 24th chapter of Luke, appeared to his gathered apostles and said as he showed unto them his nail-scarred hands and feet:
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And while they yet believed not..., he said unto them, Have ye any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honey-comb. And he took it, and did eat before them. (Luke 24:39-43)
But as praiseworthy as all of that may be, those attributes of the Savior extend primarily to his identity, that he is who he says he is. I think even more importantly, we will attempt to teach the people of Cambodia that the Savior did what he said he did, drinking from the bitter cup in obedience to his Father’s will, literally suffering beyond our mortal comprehension as a substitute for you and for me when he endured in Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary the incomparable atonement.
As our ransomed mediator with the Father, he provides for us the only opportunity we have for eternal life in the glorious presence of a loving Heavenly Father. Anything else we may teach the people of Cambodia will be but a footnote to the atonement wrought by the only begotten Son of God, with his attendant power to cleanse, and purify, and qualify us for our return to God’s presence.
About 30 years before the birth of Christ, an ancient American prophet named Helaman spoke these words of advice to his two sons, Nephi and Lehi, who were about to depart on a mission to those who knew not Christ:
O remember, remember, my sons, ...yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world. (Helaman 5:9)
It will not be necessary for Dianne and me to be super-talented or super-trained in preaching this gospel or “good news” message. God actually favors the weak and simple things of the world, like unlearned fishermen, to humbly bear his message to the nations. By this means God amply demonstrates that it is his work and not the work of natural men. The truthfulness of the doctrines of Christ cut their own way by the power of the Holy Ghost, independently of either the I. Q. or the financial statement or the outward appearance of the messenger.
Dianne and I wish to echo the words of a servant of Christ in the Book of Mormon who said: I do not “think that I of myself am more than a mortal man. But I am like as yourselves, subject to all manner of infirmities....” (Mosiah 2:10).
Can you picture yourself talking to others in a foreign land who have heard little, if anything, about one Jesus Christ? And perhaps the little they have heard is tainted with inaccuracies.
Dianne and I promise you, that we will, in mildness and meekness, declare unto them that the most important earthly event in all of human history is the atoning sacrifice performed by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His atonement “bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.” (Alma 34:15)
Repentance—that will be a very key word in our teaching. Repentance—that is the real difference between having faith and exercising faith. Having faith is a professed belief, which is certainly commendable, but exercising our faith calls for action and change, which in turn increases and strengthens our faith. How can there be sufficient faith in a Cambodian convert in the absence of repentance and its life changing effects?
We have an obligation to warn our Cambodian neighbors that the incomparable gift of the merciful atonement cannot bring about a cleansing forgiveness for our own sins, nor the peace and happiness we desire, except upon the conditions of repentance. Unless we exercise our faith unto repentance, so far as we are each individually concerned, it is “as though there had been no redemption made.” (Moro. 7:38; see also Mosiah 16:5; Alma 12:18)
So today, I choose to sermonize briefly about the importance of repentance. Repentance is so essential to the gospel plan of happiness that no Christian virtue is disconnected from repentance. Repentance comes into play in the keeping of every teaching that the Savior and his prophets and apostles have taught us.
Last night I looked on an Internet site containing a scripture search capability. I restricted the search to the words “repent” and “repentance” as they appear in the King James Version of the New Testament. There were 52 references—10 in Matthew, 5 in Mark, 9 in Luke, 10 in Acts, 9 in Paul’s letters, 1 in Peter, and 8 in Revelation. They range from warnings like this one in Acts 17:30: “God ... commandeth all men everywhere to repent;” to this one in Luke 13:3: “[E]xcept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
As an additional witness to those same exact warnings, we read these sobering words from a New World missionary whose name was Alma:
Behold, now I say unto you that he commandeth you to repent; and except ye repent, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. (Alma 9:12)
Dianne and I will use both the Bible and the Book of Mormon which jointly testify to the divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon has been translated into the written languages of the world, including Khmer, which is the language of Cambodia.
With regard to the principle of repentance, the Book of Mormon records the visitation of the resurrected Christ who declared in unmistakable terms our need to repent and come unto him in order to return to the presence of God. Said he:
[N]othing entereth into [God’s] rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. (3 Ne. 27:19)
While on the earth, the Savior’s personal ministry was a ministry of calling individuals to repentance. Can we not hear in our minds his merciful words of forgiveness, “Go and sin no more?” (John 8:11)
Perhaps his most challenging commandment to repent came in these somewhat uncomfortable Biblical words spoken by the Savior about 1/3 of the way through his Sermon on the Mount: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
Since we are commanded to be perfect, any thought (Alma 12:14), any word, any deed (Mosiah 4:30), or any non-deed (James 4:17) that is short of perfection constitutes “sin.” (1 John 5:17)
The standard for human conduct we as fellow Christians are under covenant to live is the perfection exemplified by the Savior, regardless of our inability to fully achieve perfection in this life. Paul told the saints in Ephesus that the very purpose of the church organization was for the “perfecting of the saints ... til we all come in the unity of the faith, ... unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4: 11-13)
That is a mighty tall order, but such is the “manner of men [and women we] ought to be,” (3 Ne. 27:27) and to the extent we live below this covenant or standard, we subject ourselves to Satan’s power and the ultimate misery that follows that subjection.
As a start, perhaps we could be perfect for 24 hours, if we took a long nap. Or perhaps we could be perfect in one aspect of our life, say for instance not taking the name of God in vain, or remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Now so far as I can tell from studying the scriptures, repentance is only for those among us who have not yet reached perfection. But can there be a more universal category of humans than the category of sinners? There is not one among us here today who has not heard many times the scripture, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
Similarly, as Amulek explained to the Zoramites in Book of Mormon times: “[Y]ea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement....” (Alma 34:9; see also 1 John 1:8 and Romans 3:23) Just think about it, brothers and sisters, sinners like you and me are all that the Lord has to work with. Is it not ironic that the Lord calls imperfect men and women to lead others toward perfection?
Should we be seeking and finding comfort and complacency in the fact that everyone sins, in other words, “everyone does it.” I don’t think so. Regardless of our acknowledged imperfection, each of us individually still has a serious need to repent. No sin is so small or insignificant that it does not require repentance. Alma taught: “Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point....” (Alma 42:30) “[O]bey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness.” (Alma 57:21) “Yea, I say unto you,... lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction.” (Alma 7:15) “[D]o not risk one more offense against your God....” (Alma 41:9)
In modern scripture the Lord has said: “I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.” (D & C 1:31; see also Alma 45:16)
It is a grave mistake for us not to ask and require more of ourselves. On that point, I have a short story about the Cookie Monster. Lest you be confused, this story does not come from the Book of Mormon.
I am sure you remember the Cookie Monster, a slave to his insatiable appetite for cookies. Well, it seems that Cookie Monster was the winner of a television game show. As the final winner for that day’s program, he was given the privilege to choose one, but only one, of the following three possible prizes: