Church Talks
MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK
[Talk by John E. Enslen at a sacrament meeting of the Wetumpka Ward on April 28, 2013.]
June of 1829 was a remarkable month in the history of the Church. The authority of the Melchizedek priesthood had been returned to the earth by former-day apostles Peter, James, and John. In June of 1829, at the Peter Whitmer farm in Fayette, NY, where Joseph Smith was residing for his safety, he completed the translation of the Book of Mormon. The translation work for the 588-page original edition had taken less than 80 days from start to finish.
That same month at the same farm, the resurrected angel Moroni appeared and showed the gold plates to three witnesses, and Joseph dictated what are now five sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. (14;15;16;17; and 18) Baptisms were beginning to be performed, notwithstanding the Church was still 10 months away from its formal organization that would take place in the Whitmer log home.
I want to present for our consideration today some of what the Lord had to say during those special days in June of 1829 to three of the sons of Peter Whitmer—David, John, and Peter, Jr. The Lord has asked us to “liken all scriptures unto [ourselves].” (1 Ne. 19:23) In other words, let the Lord’s words to David, John, and Peter, Jr., be his words to us.
To David the Lord said: “[B]ehold, thou art David.” So insert your first name. The Lord knows each of us on a first name basis and that’s a gross understatement of his familiarity with us. He knows us much better than we know ourselves. He opened this entire dispensation with a first name—”Joseph.” “Behold, thou art Meredith (Smith); Behold, thou art Joshua (Cook); Behold, thou art Missy (Howell); Behold, thou art Scott (Decker), and thou art called to assist; which thing if ye do, and are faithful, ye shall be blessed both spiritually and temporally, and great shall be your reward.” (D & C 14:11)
Notice that David was only called to “assist.” He was not requested to carry the whole burden alone. The Lord was not looking for a one man show. “[W]hy should we desire more than to perform the [simple] works to which [we] have been called?” (Alma 29:6) There is never a reason for any of us to be puffed up about the magnitude of our calling or our missionary successes. The only indispensable earth-bound actor in the great plan of redemption is Jesus Christ, and the only way a person is truly converted is through the Holy Ghost. Christ and the Holy Ghost convert. It is merely our privilege to “assist.” But assistants are absolutely essential because without assistants, the crucial saving messages do not get delivered to those who need them.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you would persuade, you must appeal to [personal] interest rather than intellect.” Today I want to persuade us to become genuine, full-fledged, authentic, valiant, hard-working, determined member missionaries, so I am going to appeal first to your personal interest.
Did you notice in the words to David Whitmer that we will be blessed “temporally” if we assist in the work? Temporal blessings include food, clothing, shelter, utilities, transportation, medical services, and recreation. I bear my solemn witness from my own personal experiences multiplied over and over again throughout my LDS life that we can and do receive “temporal” blessings when we “assist” in the effort to share the restored gospel with our friends and neighbors. The Lord is faithful and true in his promise to bless member missionaries temporally.
Do you feel like you are merely enduring day to day in drudgery, hand to mouth, so to speak, in economic survival mode? Do you want a plan for coping with the economic downturn? You will not find a more successful plan than immersing yourself in the building of the Kingdom of God on the earth. Do yourself a big favor and diligently seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and then “stand still, with the utmost assurance” (D & C 123:17) and see what He adds to your meager lot.
Notice also that member missionaries will be blessed “spiritually.” That is the greater blessing. Indescribable joy and peace, unlike the temporal, cannot be purchased, not even with a Mastercard. We cannot get any closer to the presence of God in this earth life than having the priceless influence of the Holy Ghost burning within us.
John and Peter, Jr., had many times wanted to know from the Lord that which would be of the most worth unto them. (D & C 15:4; 16:4) Isn’t that a wonderful personal question to ask the Lord? But we must be careful when making inquiries of the Lord.
The answer, which came through Joseph’s use of a Biblical instrument known as the Urim and Thummim, was prefaced with “I speak unto you with sharpness and with power….” (D & C 15:2; 16:2) Obtaining sacred knowledge from the Lord comes with a heavy price tag of serious responsibility. After providing David Whitmer with instruction on another occasion that month, the Lord said: “And after that you have received this, if you keep not my commandments you cannot be saved in the kingdom of my Father.” (D & C 18:46) The Lord does not play with us and he evidently did not want any of the Whitmer brothers overestimating his mercy.
Here is what John and Peter, Jr., were told in response to their desire to know that which would be of the most worth unto them. I suggest they were told the same thing we will be told if we ask the same question: “[D]eclare repentance…that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the Kingdom of my Father.” (D & C 15:6; 16:6)
In my simple mind, there is no other reasonable conclusion but that the thing which would be of the most worth to us would be to bring souls unto Christ, especially our own soul. Bringing souls to Christ puts us in the Kingdom of our Father with those we bring to him. In other words, “we [bring] salvation to our own souls.” (D & C 4:4) Every faithful member missionary will have at least one convert for sure—himself or herself.
We learn something else from the encounters that these three Whitmer sons had with the Lord. Members do not need a formal calling to be missionaries. There existed no organized Church to extend an official calling, and four months earlier, the Lord had said, “[I]f ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work. Yea, whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, the same is called of God.” (D & C 4:3-4)
As baptized members, we are under an additional sacred covenant “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death, that [we] may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that [we] may have eternal life—.” (Mosiah 18:9) Did we older members notice the built-in release date—”even until death.” There is no retirement age for member missionaries. The Lord has issued a “commandment,” and that is his word, “every…member go to with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish” his work. (D & C 38:40)
There were some powerful one-liners that were revealed to David Whitmer by Christ that remain a core part of our missionary scripture repertoire today. Here are only a couple:
“Remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.” (D & C 18:10)
“[H]ow great is his joy in the soul that repenteth.” (D & D 18:13)
This oft-quoted missionary scripture was also revealed to David that month:
“And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father.” (D & C 18:15) John and Peter, Jr., were also told with respect to their converts, that they would “rest with them in the Kingdom of [our] Father.” (D & C 15:6; 16:6) We should not be too surprised if we find in the hereafter that our associations based on relationships centered in conversions are as important and enjoyable to us as our genealogical connections based on blood lines.
To the Whitmer brothers, the Lord described the condition of the world in June of 1829 as follows: “Behold, the world is ripening in iniquity, and it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto repentance….” (D & C 18:6) If the world was ripening in iniquity in 1829, then it must be nearly fully rotten by now. If repentance was needed then, a double dose seems needed now.
Seven times in the Doctrine and Covenants, including once to David Whitmer (D & C 14:3), the Lord reminds us that “the field is white already to harvest….” The ever ripening-in-iniquity field produces a concurrent supply of those who are ripening in the opposite direction towards conversion. Within any geographic area, like Wetumpka, the great number already prepared to receive the gospel exceeds the few laborers who are willing to labor in the work of the harvest.
The Lord prepares the elect for the receipt of the gospel in an individually appropriate way, one by one, just as He prepared each of us, or is preparing us now, to accept the reality of the restoration.
In New Testament times, “the Lord…sent them two and two before his face into every city and place. *** [S]aid he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: Pray ye therefore [to] the Lord of the Harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harverst.” (Luke 10:1-2) In modern times, the Lord has identified his laborers: “[T]herefore, whoso desireth to reap let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his [own] soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God.” (D & C 14:3) The time is now to allow the desire to reap to work within us.
I close with these thoughts. There can never be enough gratitude to my personal Savior Jesus Christ for his atoning sacrifice in my behalf. There can never be enough appreciation for the two faithful member missionaries who in their own loving way declared repentance unto Sister Enslen and me. There can never be enough thanksgiving for the two dedicated young elders who shared with us the full message of our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. My gratitude, appreciation, and thanksgiving will never find a more meaningful expression than in my faithful service as a member missionary.
May each of us become the very best member missionary that we can be is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.