Gospel Learning at Church

Gospel Learning at Church

9/20/15

My topic today is on Gospel Learning today.  My son Beckham, who is 2 years old, turning three in just a month or so, learned something the other day.  Lately he has been into knowing the first letter in different words.  On this particular occasion we were trying to teach him what letter the word “oval” starts with.  We would say, “what letter does the word ‘OOoOO-val’ start with?  After we repeated the question and he considered for a few seconds he came up with an answer.  He smiled and said confidently, “R.”

Today, if you asked him what the first letter in “oval” is he would know that it starts with “o”... I think.  So he learned something right?  Is this the type of learning we are talking about when we talk about Gospel Learning.  Is Gospel Learning about how many scriptures we have memorized or how many Church History facts we have stored away?  I would tend to say that it is not.  There is more to it, but just what is it exactly.

I decided in order to better understand what Gospel Learning really is that I would ask myself the question why is Gospel Learning important.

Why is Gospel Learning Important?

As part of an answer to this question I stumbled upon the well-known scripture: 2 Nephi 28:30.  

“For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.”

There is no standing still in the Gospel: we either grow or shrink.  I loved the story that Elder Ballard shared in our regional conference just last week.  He talked about the sequoias that had been planted around 50 years ago at.  Within the last year one of the sequoias died.  After further investigation it was determined that the addition the new Life Sciences building had shifted an underground reservoir of water.  Even at its massive height the tree eventually dried out and died because this caused a lack of water.

What a lesson this for all of us.  Even the strongest and largest of trees, when its own reservoir of water was gone, could not survive, withered, and died.  When we fail to continue our Gospel Learning that is what we begin to lose: our reservoir.  If we let our own spiritual reservoirs dwindle then we can be in real danger of dying spiritually.

I suggest that it is a consistent focus on Gospel Learning that helps to fill our reservoirs and helps us to grow stronger in the Gospel, and closer to our Savior.  This is why Gospel Learning is so important.  Without it in our lives we will only move farther away from our Heavenly Father and Saviour.  This helps me get a better picture of what Gospel Learning really is.

What is Gospel Learning

It is more than just all the facts that we cram into our heads.  LDS.org has a section called Gospel Topics, and one of these topics is Gospel Learning.  It says:

“We seek [Gospel Learning] because the desire to ask, to seek, and to find answers to life’s questions was planted in our hearts by our Heavenly Father. He wants us to continually seek eternal truth because this is central to how we come to know Him. Through sincere study of the restored gospel, we learn of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We learn who we are, why we are on this earth, and how we should live in order to enjoy happiness and peace in this life and a fulness of joy in the next.”

Gospel Learning is a tool that our Heavenly Father has given us by which we can move closer to Him.  It is a tool by which we can become like Him.  D&C 88:63 says, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Gospel Learning is a constant part of our lives.  We learn moment by moment and in all places.  Obviously, sincere prayer and devoted scripture study are key factors in our Gospel Learning.  Learning in our homes and with our families, at school, where we work, or anywhere else are critical parts to our growth; however, today I will just focus on Gospel Learning at Church.

We are blessed with the Sabbath day which was given to us “for a day of rest; and also that [we] should glorify God.”  As part of that day we get to come here to church, where we can partake of the Sacrament, hear Gospel messages, and participate in Gospel lessons.  Church is an excellent setting for true Gospel Learning.  Which of us hasn’t experienced a great time at church.  One where we came somewhat trodden down spiritually, and yet left uplifted, empowered, and most importantly changed.

However, that doesn’t happen every time.  Why is that?  Isn’t just showing up enough?  I mean, as long as I atleast make it here, sit quietly through Sacrament meeting, and make it through my classes will just minimal sleeping, then I’ve done my part, haven’t I?  Maybe, I get more out of church one week versus the next because the lessons and talks were just better that week.  The speakers and teachers didn’t prepare well enough for me to grow those other weeks.   

Brothers and Sisters, let us remember that when President Kimball was asked what he does when he’s caught in a boring Sacrament Meeting that he replied that he had “never been in one”.   Successful Gospel Learning at church is our responsibility.  If we want to grow at church, then we have work at it.

Let me suggest 3 requirements to successful Gospel Learning at church.  I do not mean to suggest that these are the only ones, or maybe even the most important.  But, in my study I felt like they were the ones I should talk on today.

#1. The Spirit

Requirement number 1: The Spirit

There is no question that we learn by the Spirit.  President Ezra Taft Benson said, “If there is one message I have repeated to my brethren of the Twelve, it is that it’s the Spirit  that counts.  It is the Spirit that matters.  I do not know how often I have said this, but I never tire of saying it—it is the Spirit that matters most.”

D&C 50:17-22 reads like this.

“Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?

 And if it be by some other way it is not of God.

 And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?

 If it be some other way it is not of God.

 Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?

 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.”

When I was in the MTC Elder Richard G. Scott came to speak.  Throughout my entire life I had heard talk by Apostles in General Conference.  But I can remember, as a new young missionary, how excited I was to hear his message.  I sang the opening song with joy and sat there ready and waiting with my pen in hand, a study journal in front of me, ready to write down every word that this man spoke.  

Elder Scott stood up and began his talk in a way that I have since heard many general authorities use.  I think this is because of how important the principle is.  He told us not to write down what he said.  He told us to write down what we felt.  He explained that his words really meant very little.  But that the message we each received personally through the Holy Ghost was what mattered.  I felt shocked.  I was so excited to take the best notes that I had ever taken on an Apostle’s talk, maybe some of the only notes I had ever taken during a talk.

However, I listened to the counsel, and I tried to write down impressions, not quotes.  I used some of those notes throughout my entire mission.  I think I even used them in my homecoming talk and here I am again drawing from that experience for another talk.  The impressions and feelings that I had that evening through the Spirit touched my life and changed me.  

The Spirit is God’s method to teach us all individually.  God cares about each of us deeply.  He is concerned with the “one”.  When we truly learn the Gospel it is by His Spirit.  

I reiterate what President Benson said, “that it’s the Spirit  that counts.”  When the Holy Ghost is our companion at church we can learn and grow every week in miraculous ways.

#2. Desire/Preparedness

Requirement number two: Desire, and I add to that preparedness.

For this I draw back on my experience in the MTC listening to Elder Scott’s talk.  As I a young missionary, hoping to be the best missionary that I could.  Ready to do my best to serve.  I had strong desires to learn from a servant of the Lord.  I was also prepared to hear his message and the messages the Spirit had for me.  In this case that was because I had pen and paper and was ready to record them somewhere special to me.

Many of us experience this kind of desire and preparedness as we approach General Conference.  Some come with notepads, pens, and pencils and others come with  ipads, smart phones and some other new pieces of technology, to record what they learn.  Many of us come to conference with deep questions on our minds looking for an answer.  No wonder God can teach us so effectively during General Conference.  It has a lot to do with our own spiritual desire to learn and our preparedness to hear and to value His message for us.

Do we come to church every week with this same attitude? Maybe sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t.  Let’s be more prepared in the future.  We should come to church desirous and ready receive the messages that God has in store for us.  If we do that we will experience successful Gospel Learning in our lives.  Being changed and drawing nearer to God every week at church has a lot to do with if we truly want and try to.

#3. Humility

My third requirement is humility.

In 2 Nephi 9:28 Jacob says,

“O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.”

Later on in that chapter he says this,

“And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them.”

It is very easy to get caught focusing on the wrong things about church.  I know this because I find myself doing it way too often.  Let me give an example.

Someone asks me, “How was so-and-so’s talk.”  To which I reply, “Oh, it was great, I love this one part.”  That is great, but sometimes the answer can slip into something not as great and I might say something like:

“I just thought it was a little bit dry.”

“He went overtime, how can he expect us to listen when he’s overtime?”

“It wasn’t good, I just don’t think they really prepared at all.”

We can find ourselves talking about how a meeting wasn’t run well, how a class was handled poorly.  We can talk about how it should have been done, how we would have done it.

We heard in a recent general conference of a missionary who was frustrated because of the “difficult” companion he was assigned during his mission.  His desires were good.  He was frustrated because he would not be able to focus as much of his time on the investigators as he wanted to.  After all, that was the purpose of his mission.  As he looked at his companion one day he had the impression that to Heavenly Father, he and his companion were at about the same level.  As he was humbled by this thought, he was able to realize that instead of fighting his companion, he could focus on helping and loving him.

If we are to learn at church, we need to have a similar attitude as this young missionary.  This is a more of hospital, where all of the sick, including ourselves especially can come to be healed.  By being humble we will have much more successful Gospel Learning every week at church.

In a gospel manual on teaching is says,

“Note that what matters most in learning is not the number of years a teacher has been a member of the Church or how much teaching experience a person has or even the teacher’s knowledge of the gospel or teaching techniques. What matters most is the attitude or spirit by which the teacher teaches.” and may I add by which the learner learns.

Gospel Learning is a lifelong task.  But if we continue to make an effort it will bless our lives.

D&C 42:61 says,

“If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”

We are blessed with the opportunity to come and learn at church every week.  If we seek to learn by the Spirit, come prepared and with a desire to learn, and strive to be humble we can leave church each Sunday a better and happier person.  Church can help fill our spiritual reservoirs, helping us to flourish instead of withering.  Let’s use this sacred blessing every week in our lives.