As I was reading the lesson this week it seemed to have a really strong theme of missionary work or proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, sharing the gospel, etc. Most of us aren’t actual missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ. Most of us are just people. So what relevance do these scriptures have to us? Why do we care about proclaiming the Gospel? Can we proclaim the Gospel of Christ without being an actual missionary? Does it mean we have to be zealous religious people who annoy the crap out of less or non-religious people because we’re pushing our beliefs in their faces all of the time because we feel like we have a mandate to do so? I don’t think so.
There are many ways that we can proclaim the Gospel of Christ, but first, I’d like us to spend a little bit of time on what it is we’re supposed to be proclaiming to the world. What is the Gospel of Christ? This is a huge topic, and I’m sure whole books are written on it, so forgive me for having less depth than the topic deserves. First, we’ll discuss Fatih. The Gospel of Christ is a philosophy that states that there is help and power available to all men if they center their lives in truth. We believe that there is ultimate truth, and that the most primary and basic truth upon which all else is built is that there is a loving God. This Loving Father sent us to experience life to learn, to grow, and to progress. This ideology gives us comfort in knowing we aren’t alone, that we have access to power and help, and that there is ultimately a purpose for all of the things that we experience, especially suffering, injustice, or oppression. Because there is a loving God, with whom we can currently have a relationship with, who orchestrated these events for us (allowing us autonomy and personal choice), then “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. . .” (Romans 8:28). The Gospel of Christ gives all lives meaning and purpose, regardless of your standing in the worlds eyes (asthetically, racially, socially, economically, etc). Christ’s Gospel endows human life with worth, meaning, and purpose.
Second, we believe in man’s ability to change. We believe that as we learn better, we do better and change our behaviors. This is what we mean when we talk about repentance. Repentance is to do better, when you know better. Because changing one’s nature is hard and sometimes feels impossible, it is comforting to know that Christ’s helps us overcome more than just sin with his atonement. He helps us in all of the ways that we need help, including changing our nature. This is the role of Christ’s Atonement. We believe that we have access to literal power that gives us the ability to become better and change, when we rely on Christ. One of the things I dislike most about our current culture in the US is that many don’t seem to believe that there is any redemption for people. Cancel culture is the movement of an ideology that believes that mistakes are irredeemable. One mistake from years ago can taint who you currently are. I think we, as a people, need to work on having grace and patience with ourselves and others, and give people the freedom to change and become better. Who you were in the past doesn’t define who you currently are, if you don’t want it to. You can change. It’s allowed. It’s desirable, and we are not irredeemable, according to Christ. You don't have to do it alone.
These two things, faith and repentance, are the pillars of Christ’s Gospel. In fact, they are so central to everything, that the missionaries in the Book of Mormon were taught that they “should preach nothing save repentance and faith.” If you remove Christ from Christ’s Gospel, it’s still a really nice self-help type ideology. However, removing Christ kind of destroys the pillar of faith. It’s still nice to believe in change and redemption, but without Christ you don’t have access to power or help, and you’re stuck trying to do everything on your own. Having the pillar of faith and the pillar of repentance together give you more meaning, more purpose, and more peace.
Another part of Christ’s Gospel are the Commandments. Throughout scripture we are encouraged to keep the commandments. In Matthew 22, Christ teaches us that the greatest commandment is to, “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” English writer and philosopher G. K. Chesterton said that, “If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments.” The commandments were given as a guide to help us know how to live moral lives. When we stop trying to be moral and ethical, we try to weasel our way around the meaning and intent of the original commandments.
I had a stark and interesting juxtaposition of this commandment that we love one another this week, when I read an article about a book Target is selling called “A Rhythm of Prayer: A collection of Meditations for Renewal.” The irony of the title is not lost. First, I haven’t read the book, but I have read one of the prayers in it. That specific prayer reminded me of a story in the Book of Mormon about a people who would go to a raised platform in public, called a Rameumptom, and publicly pray at the top, reciting an identical prayer, thanking God that they were not as sinful as the other people, and that they were chosen (among other things). Then they would go home and not speak of God all week until the next week when they completed their ritual prayer on the platform.
This specific prayer in the book today (a type of raised, public platform), begs the Lord to help the author hate a specific group of people. Not the blatant sinners of course, but those sinners who are deemed sinners because they haven’t dedicated themselves enough to the fight she deems most worthy and essential. There is so much wrong with praying to have the strength to hate others. It’s thanking the Lord for being his chosen people without saying it in those exact words. What about loving your neighbor? What about the admonition to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”? What about forgiveness? What about forgiving seventy times seven? What about the Lord’s statement that “ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.” Asking for strength to hate someone is rife with hubris. I’ve written before about how pride is considered the universal vice, the greatest sin. If praying to hate others isn’t the ultimate hubris I’m not sure what is.
In addition to faith, repentance, and love, we can preach the Lord’s Gospel best, perhaps, by example. No one wants to try to be converted to anyone else’s ideology or path unless that person has something they want. No one wants you pushing your diet or your exercise regime or your political views on them. The same goes for religion and life philosophy (arguably the same thing). We can best “preach” Christ’s Gospel through example and personal stories showing how living this way has improved our lives. We can be exemplars by our attitude, our happiness, our hope, our optimism, and our peace. When we see something that others have that we want, whether it be a fit body or mental or emotional health, we are more open to what leads to the desirable outcome. Mental, spiritual, emotional health and resilience are desirable outcomes of a good relationship with Jesus Christ.
Knowing what the Gospel of Christ entails is step one. What did Christ even teach? Step two is faith. Faith this putting his words and promises to the test in our lives. Faith is experimentation. Repentance is doing better when we know better. It doesn't have to be on our own. We can have help and power given to us. Christ’s Gospel is keeping his commandments. Among those commandments are loving God and loving our neighbors, even if we think they are our enemies or unworthy. All of us, even those who profess to already follow Christ, continually work to understand more of his teachings and implement them in our lives. To be a disciple, or a personal follower of Christ, is a lifelong pursuit.
