3/22/2017 - Section 4:1-7

March 22, 2017

Section 4:1-7

Callings How We Should Precede, Great and Marvelous Work, Heart Might Mind and Strength, Commitment Total, Missionaries, Service, Serving, Church Growth Of, Attributes of Christ,

This section was directed to Joseph Smith Senior, who had come to visit Joseph and Emma at a small farm Joseph had just purchased from Emma’s father.

The student manual gives this introduction: “Even though this revelation was given for the Prophet’s father, it is addressed to all people who would serve God. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith pointed out that while only seven verses long, ‘it contains sufficient counsel and instruction for a lifetime of study. No one has yet mastered it. It was not intended as a personal revelation to Joseph Smith, but to be of benefit to all who desired to embark in the service of God. It is a revelation to each member of the Church, especially to all who hold the Priesthood. Perhaps there is no other revelation in all our scriptures that embodies greater instruction pertaining to the manner of qualification of members of the Church for the service of God, and in such condensed form than this revelation. It is as broad , as high and as deep as eternity. No elder of the Church is qualified to teach in the Church, or carry the message of Salvation to the world, until he has absorbed, in part at least this heaven-sent instruction. “ (Church History and Modern Revelation, 1:35)

V 1: Again from the student manual: “If the Lord calls something great and marvelous then it truly is. Though the latter day work had small beginnings, it will yet penetrate the entire world of the living and the dead, until every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Elder John A. Widtsoe declared that this prophecy has literally been fulfilled: “Unknown, untaught, with no reputation, [Joseph Smith] should have been forgotten in the small hamlet, almost nameless, in the backwoods of a great state; but he dared to say that the work that he was doing, under God’s instruction, was to become a marvel and a wonder in the world We know, my brethren and sisters, that whether it be friend or enemy who speaks of us, if he is a sober-thinking, honest man, he will declare that whatever in his opinion the foundations of this work may be – we know the foundations—it is a marvelous work and a wonder, none like it in the long history of the world. The truths set loose by the Prophet Joseph Smith have touched every man of faith throughout the whole civilized world, and measurably changed their beliefs for good.” (Apr 1946 Gen Conf)

V 2: “Serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength”: “This is a way of saying that a person must be totally committed to the work and have no reservation. This commitment involves the emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical energy of the person. Other ways of saying the same thing are “with an eye single to the glory of God” (D&C4:5) and “no man can serve two masters” (Matt 6:24)

V 3: This does not just apply to full time missionaries. People who desire to serve can certainly do so without being full time missionaries. President George Albert Smith, in the Oct 1916 Gen Conf, said: “My understanding is that the most important mission that I have in this life is: first, to keep the commandments of God, as they have been taught to me; and next, to teach them to my Father’s children who do not understand them….It is not necessary for you to be called to go into the mission field in order to proclaim the truth. Begin on the man who lives next door by inspiriting confidence in him, by inspiring love in him for you because of your righteousness, and your missionary work has already begun.”

V4 “The field is white and ready to harvest”. In Kansas there are fields of wheat. When they are no longer green, but a brilliant gold, which almost seems dazzling white in the summer sunshine. Such a sight signals that the time of harvest is at hand. “In the early days of the restoration, thousands were prepared to receive the gospel. So many came into the Church that the enemies of the work were frightened. It was not one of a city or two of a family who joined; whole congregations united themselves with the worked. Wilford Woodruff alone baptized over two thousand converts in less than a year’s ministry in Great Britain. Tens of thousands joined with the church during its first decade of existence. And the harvest continues: The church grew to over 1 million members in 1947, 4 million in 1978, and 11 million in 2000. The statement of the Lord given in 1829 is still being realized. The field is still white and ready for the harvest.  Wasn’t it Joseph’s brother who only placed one Book of Mormon while on his mission: the Book of Mormon that found its way into the hands of Brigham Young. We each contribute differently to the work. As long as we are working our hardest, doing our best, and loving our deepest—(pay close attention to v 5: “And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work” the Lord will be pleased and will be able to use us in the ways He needs.

V 6 adds the attributes of the divine nature of Christ: Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. President David O McKay: “ [Peter] wrote on one occasion: ‘…that we might be partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4-8). He realized what it means to be in touch with the spiritual, to rise above the temporal, the sensual, and partake of the divine Spirit of God…that is the purpose of making us more capable or responding to the Spirit and subduing the sensual….That is why we like to have every young man and every young woman utilize his or her time intelligently, usefully, to being the soul in harmony with the spirit, that we all might be partakers of God’s Spirit, partakers of his divine nature.” (Oct 1961 Gen Conf)

V 7—but after all that we must “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Those are two separate tasks: asking and knocking. Asking, to me, comes in prayers. But knocking…that can be so many things!

1/20/2021 – D&C 4

I read a very interesting two sentences in my study manual that helped me to look at this section in a very different way than ever before: “Section 4 is often applied to full-time missionaries. However, it’s interesting to note that this revelation was given originally to Joseph Smith Sr, who wasn’t being called on a mission but still had ‘desires to serve God’.” (v 3)

The first verse repeats Isaiah 29:14, and certainly gets my attention when I think of the new timing of this statement. 

Joseph’s father (Joseph Smith Sr) had always believed in God and loved the scriptures, but he had also stayed away from organized religion. Being so closely connected with his son’s (Joseph Jr) experiences, changed the father. This section was given when Joseph was living in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Joseph Jr was going through difficult times. He had lost the first 116 pages of the translation, and the in following six months he hadn’t been able to translate very much. It was a sad and discouraging time for him. This is when his father came down to Harmony and asked: How can I help?

When Joseph Jr prayed about this father’s request the answer included a truth for all of us: “…if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to his work;” (v 3) and in v 2: “…O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that he may stand blameless before God at the last day.”

In this time of the Covid pandemic, when the elderly (and at 70 & 77 that’s us now) are in the high risk categories and we stay home much of the time. There is little physical visiting, for that will only spread the virus faster. We attend church only through ZOOM on the internet.  And I find myself asking these same questions of the Lord: “What doest thou want me to do? .... What CAN I do?”  I do have to work on genealogy. And I have some family projects that I feel are important. But I worry that I’m not actively helping or serving others on a face to face basis. 

I read this short section and I realize there IS much to do. In verse 7, the Lord gives me a whole lot to work on. “And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.” Gee, there’s certainly a whole lot of work for me right there! And then there’s v 8: “Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.” And there’s at least another decade full of work for me right now. 

I can do a few things through email and texting and the phone. But I can take the time to really hone myself. And this time of restricted living certainly gives me more than adequate opportunities to work on those amazing attributes that, with practice, I can get better in those areas. 

When I wonder: “Can I really do very much in these directions?” I only have to read the final verse: “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” I will take some time now and contemplate on discovering the most important things I should be asking for. The Lord has told us that if we just “thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul.”  What an opportunity in this time when so much of normal living is dangerous to all and must be avoided! I can grow inward! I’ve got a lot to do!