Sean's Sacrament Meeting Talk - May 2015

Christ like Charity

Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters. I am grateful for this opportunity to share some thoughts. When you move into a new Ward, you know it is just a matter of time before you will be asked to give a talk. So I am not surprised to be standing here today. I am always grateful to hear my wife speak. Sam is an inspiration to me, and she truly is a choice spirit.  I hope I can have the spirit with me, and that the spirit can speak to your hearts. I have prepared the best I can, and at this point I hope the spirit can do the rest and testify of the truthfulness of what I say.

The best lessons I have learned on being Christ like, I learned as young boy.  I have always had a special place in my heart for Primary Songs, because they teach truth in a simple way.  Also, I am really just a 30 year old sun beam at heart. I really enjoyed being in primary, and that is why I am guessing I was just called to be a primary teacher. I think about primary songs often. I guess, because I have small primary children at home. I think of songs like, “I am trying to be like Jesus”. The song says,

"Love one another as Jesus loves you.

Try to show kindness in all that you do.

Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,

For these are the things Jesus taught.”

 

The hymn “I’ll Walk with You” says,

 

“Jesus walked away from none.

He gave His love to ev’ryone.

So I will! I will!

Jesus blessed all He could see,

Then turned and said, “Come follow me.”

And I will! I will! I will! I will!

I’ll walk with you. I’ll talk with you.

That’s how I’ll show my love for you.”

 

Christ was the perfect example on how to have charity. He served and loved those who were the less desirable members of society. He showed compassion to the sinner. He spent time with the sick and afflicted. He wept with those who wept, and comforted those who were going through trials. Christ went about his life doing good and blessing the lives of others. 

One of my favorite parables in the New Testament was the story of the Good Samaritan. We read in Luke 10:

 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

 34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

I love this parable. It truly demonstrates that we are to serve, love, and have charity for everyone. It doesn’t matter if they are of our faith or not. It doesn’t matter if it is inconvenient. It doesn’t matter if they smoke, drink, cuss, or are covered in tattoos. It doesn’t even matter if we like the other person. The Lord commanded “Go, and do thou likewise”.  We are expected to learn and develop Christ like charity.

In the book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 2:26 we read:

“…. they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon.”

To have charity, we need demonstrate we have Christ like love through action. The Lord expects us to act. We are the Lord’s hands.

Before living in the Eastland Ward, we lived in a small branch in West Jordan. I never expected to live in a Branch while living in Utah, but it was the experience of a life time. Our Branch President, President Dumouchel, determined that our motto or theme would be, “The Branch that Reaches Out”. At first I rolled my eyes, and thought this is extremely cheesy. In our Branch Presidents office the young women made a paper tree. The young women had the task to pick out a painting for his office. This is the painting the young women picked out. His copy was much larger, and hung behind his disk. I spent hours looking at this painting during meetings. This painting now has special place in my heart. On our last day before moving, President Dumouchel gave me this framed copy of it. We made every effort to constantly bring up the need to reach out and be the Lord’s hands.

We developed a culture of reaching out to members and those not of our faith. I think in that period of time, we all developed greater charity and love for our brothers and sisters.  Our Brothers and Sisters; who before felt like they didn’t fit in or fit the mold of a perfect LDS family felt at home.  They felt love and felt included. They themselves became more charitable and loving. I really felt like our little Branch became Zion, a people of one heart and mind. Our little branch never ceased to amaze me. We were like the little engine that could. We could do anything, and it always seemed to work out barely. Just like that little train, it took a lot of effort.  We saw miracles happen; many of which seemed impossible. I really think all the success came from faithful members truly loving their neighbor and reaching out.

Ward Members:

As members of the Lord’s church, we have plenty of opportunities to develop the Christ like attribute of Charity. We have the opportunity to fulfill a variety of callings. We have the opportunity to be home and visiting teachers. All these opportunities provide the chance to learn to love and grow. The church is organized perfectly to provide us with situations where we can become more charitable and loving. The Lords wants us to reach and leave our comfort zone at times. Just like a violin string that can only play music when stretched, we can only reach our full potential when stretching.

 

I would like to share with you one of my favorite poems:

 

Revelation

I knelt to pray when day was done.

And Prayed, “O Lord, bless everyone;

Lift from each saddened heart the pain

And let the sick be well again.”

And then I woke another day

And carelessly went on my way.

The whole day long I did not try

To wipe a tear from any eye;

I did not try to share the load

Of any brother on my road;

I did not even go to see

The sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done

I prayed, “O Lord, bless everyone.”

But as I prayed, into my ear

There came a voice that whispered clear;

“Pause, hypocrite, before you pray,

Whom have you tried to bless today?

God’s sweetest blessings always go

By hands that serve Him here below.”

And then I hid my face, and cried,

“Forgive me, God, for I have lied;

Let me but see another day

And I will live the way I pray.”

-Whitney Montgomery

Brothers and Sisters, we have opportunities all around to bless God’s children here on earth. My biggest fear is to be a hypocrite. I want to be able to pray and ask the Lord to bless others. And when I ask the Lord to feed the hungry, bless the missionaries, comfort those going through trials and etc; I want the Lord to know that he can depend on me. I want him to know I will act on the spirits promptings and be the one to bless others’ lives.

My own life has been touched by charitable members of the church. Some things have been very large acts, and some have been very simple.

When I was in high school, my Mom had cancer 3 different times. It was a time of much trial, pain and suffering for my family. It was also a time of many tender mercies from the Lord, most of which came at the hands of our Ward family.

When news came of my Mom having cancer the third time; I will never ever forget the actions of my Bishop. He was at work and as soon as he heard he left immediately to seek out my younger brother and I at school. We both had release time seminary, and he came and took us out of class. He wanted to make sure we were OK, but most importantly he just wanted to be there for us. Now that I am older I realize how big of sacrifice it was for him. He did not work close. He probably spent well over an hour and a half in his car round trip. This one act of love and charity has stuck with me, and will never leave me. I always felt a great love for Bishop Schwartz, because I had no doubt he had Christ like charity. He comforted those who mourn, and did it completely out of love for his fellow man.

Another experience I had is when Sam and I were moving to Albuquerque, NM from Rexburg, Idaho. I had received a job offer, and we felt like it was a good opportunity. We did not know a single person in the whole state. The only two people I had talked to prior were the Elders Quorum President and his wife.

The move did not go well for us. Our car broke down in Green River, UT. It was a total lost. We were stranded with 2 kids, Avery was just a small baby. There are no rental cars in Green River, and even if there were some; available funds were limited being recently graduated college students. Luckily, our moving truck was big enough for us all to squeeze into. Due to the car issues, we were to arrive a lot later than planned.

 

I kept trying to give the Elders Quorum President an out, because I knew we wouldn’t get there until late. He insisted that they would be there. When we arrived; it was 10:00 or later. The members in our new Ward stayed and helped us move in until after midnight. Most had jobs to go to early the next morning. I will never forget the feeling I had. Our day was one of the worst we have ever had. In the end the experience turned to be one the best in my life. We had our Ward brothers and sisters there to show charity. Our relief society president was there. I remember her taking little baby Avery and just being a comforting force (She also carried a lot of things). It may have been just moving boxes, but to us it was the Lord’s way of reaching out. We felt an instant love to our fellow Ward members and  we knew we had family in a state where had previously known no one.

 

This next experience may not seem as big, but I think it illustrates the point charity doesn’t have to be a big act. A year or so ago Sam had her wisdom teeth removed. The procedure had quite a few complications, which included the dentist not being able to remove her teeth the first day, then having to go to an oral surgeon the next day, and then Sam having dry socket two different times. We were having a very rough week. Our Relief Society President showed up and just said let me do something for you. She saw our messy kitchen and did the dishes and cleaned up. We were not in dire situation, but at the time it was a blessing. Our spirits were lifted, and I knew as the poem stated, “God’s sweetest blessings always go. By hands that serve Him here below.” It really was a sweet blessing. No one knew about it except us. She was there no longer than 45 minutes. I just loved the fact she was seeking ways to serve. It was once again an example to me what Christ like charity looks like.

People not of our faith:

We also have duty to those not of our faith to show charity and love. The Lord expects us to serve all.

Have you ever found yourself saying, “Oh they deserve their consequences, because of their choices? The Lord does not have qualifications of who receives charity and love. Our job is to provide charity regardless of why it is needed. Christ was never one to judge. He never cast the proverbial first stone, but instead showed compassion. This included those in the worse kind of sin.

In a recent conference address, President Uchdorf shared a bumper sticker he recently saw. The bumper sticker said:

“Don’t judge me, because I sin differently than you”

President Monson once said:

“Never let a problem to be solved, become more important than a person to be loved.”

Elder Holland recently said in a conference talk, “You may not be your brother’s keeper, but you are your brother’s brother”.

We have a duty and responsibility to help others not of our faith to bless their lives spiritually and temporally. The greatest charitable work we can do is that of missionary work.

Joseph Smith said, “A man filled with the Love of God is not content with blessing his family alone but ranges through the whole world anxious to bless the whole human race”.

Brothers and Sisters, we must find that love. To desire to serve others and share the gospel.

I believe missionary efforts bless our own lives. When you help someone up a hill, you are a little nearer the top yourself. Your testimony will grow as you try share the gospel.

One of my favorite foods is pie. Specifically, Pumpkin pie. The Gospel is like pie, because it is delicious and will make you happy. The difference is when you share pie you have less, but when you share the gospel your joy and happiness grows. The gospel is pie that gets bigger the more you share it. That is my kind of dessert.

 We preach the gospel because we love our fellowman, and understand we are all children of God. We also understand the gospel blesses lives, and will benefit all who receive it.

I have found the best way to do missionary work doesn’t even feel like missionary work. It is to have charity and grow genuine relationships with people. Often we live side by side but not heart to heart. It is very hard to love someone we don’t know.

Many people will not want the gospel or our friendship in their lives. They will shut us out. Another poems I really like says:

“He drew a circle that shut me out-

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout

But Love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in.”

Our job is to include people who may not want to be included. If we show love and understanding, we can make inroads. We can be the difference. We should always be inviting others to come to church or activities. We should invite others into our homes.  In our society of technological convenience, many of us have forgotten how to invite someone over for something as simple as a meal. I believe our homes are only second in sacredness to the temple. Inviting someone over can provide an opportunity to feel the spirit, even if gospel subjects aren’t discussed. Like I mentioned before, we should have others over to our home. We can invite neighbors for dinner or to family home evening. Even inviting your neighbor over to watch a sporting event isn’t a bad start. I believe you really don’t know someone until you have been in each other’s homes.

All people have a need to be needed. We should not look upon others self righteously, but instead with love and compassion. Our heavenly father doesn’t need self serving nobles, but instead selfless noble servants. If we see a neighbor doing yard work, we should offer our help.

Growing up, I was usually the only member of the church in my school classes. Members of the church were definitely in the minority in my high school. Many peoples’ only interaction with the LDS church was through me. I tried to live my life in a way they would have positive feeling towards the church and ultimately our savior. I challenge each of you to take the same approach. If a person knew nothing about the church, and only knew you; what would be their impression? If you can’t answer that in a positive way, change may be needed.

I am on a little bit of a poem kick today. You may think I spend a lot of my free time reading poems, but I don’t. This Poem is entitled, “I Know Something Good About You”. It says,

Wouldn't this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say -
"I know something good about you!"
And treat us just that way?

Wouldn't it be fine and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true,
Carried with it this assurance -
"I know something good about you!"

Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If the good that's in us all
Were the only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall?

Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see?
For there's such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me!

Wouldn't it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking, too?

You know something good about me;
I know something good about you.

I truly believe that for the most part people are good. We should focus on the positive. If we learn to love others, we can learn to have charity. I promise you will find you have more in common with most people than you realize. We should not shut ourselves in, but we should expand our sphere of influence and be the good in the world.

I would like to close with my favorite scripture Mathew 25:35-40.

 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

There will be times when we will be the least, and receive charity and service. Other times we will have to look out for those in need from both temporal and spiritual hunger.

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