August 11-17
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I love when the scriptures give us more insights into how the relationship between the atonement of Jesus Christ and our works come together. I think it’s a relationship that needs to be studied thoroughly if we are to understand how to enjoy Celestial Glory. For while we believe in worthiness and the necessity of following after Christ, we also believe that we were given a gift. Here is a verse that can add another layer to our understanding of the relationship between grace and works.
Doctrine and Covenants 88:33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.
Christ gives us a gift, but we have to utilize the gift. That is one way of describing the relationship between grace and works. Gifts are free. There are no strings attached. There are many who argue that we, as Latter-day Saints, do not believe in grace because we believe in the necessity of worthiness. I do not believe that grace and works are mutually exclusive, and this verse helps to describe it.
When someone gives you a gift at Christmas and you open it and utilize it, does that suddenly mean the gift wasn’t free because you had to work to use it? I’ve been accused of not being a Christian because if we believe in the necessity of works then I don’t truly believe that His gift is free. Believing in the concept of worthiness does not negate the fact that Christ gave His gift. If Christ had been unsuccessful in atoning, and I had still worked towards worthiness, I still wouldn’t have made it to the Celestial Kingdom. No one would. Christ gave a gift of atonement.
As for worthiness, this verse also describes it beautifully. When someone places a gift in your lap, you can be grateful and love that person for putting it in your lap. But who is going to be more grateful to the giver: the person who just stares at the beautifully wrapped gift or the person who opens it and utilizes it?
The gift is free, but salvation has multiple parts because heaven has multiple parts. You enjoy heaven because you’re perfectly clean, near the Savior, and you’re enjoying a heavenly society where love abounds.
The cleanliness (and therefore, the ability to be near God and the Savior) comes from Christ. You cannot stand in the presence of God without that cleanliness or you’ll get eaten alive by the fire that He dwells within. This is where the gift of Christ’s atonement comes into play. He just cleans us. Even if we worked and practiced, our works do not cleanse us. It is free.
But salvation is more than cleanliness. Even if Christ is continually cleaning you (because you don’t believe in worthiness; you didn’t have to change or shed natural man tendencies), you won’t experience salvation even if you’re standing in the location of heaven. You have to be perfectly clean (thank you gift of Christ’s atonement), but salvation is also about enjoying eternity. If you want to enjoy eternity, the works part is necessary.
There is innate unhappiness that comes with wickedness. Wickedness never was happiness. So even if Christ cleanses you continually so that you are capable of standing in heaven, you still won’t be able to enjoy heaven because you are still actively pursuing wickedness that brings in innate unhappiness. You didn’t even really touch your gift. You didn’t open it. It was free. It’s sitting in your lap, but it brought you no joy because you didn’t even use it.
There is another aspect of this verse that I think is really important for Latter-day Saints who overemphasize works. While we believe in worthiness, I believe that Christ is much more willing to save than we think He is. He worked so very hard, harder than we can comprehend, to place that gift in our laps. Fewer things bring Him more satisfaction than when we rejoice and trust in that gift.
He does not want us to be leery of that gift. He doesn’t want us to look at His gift and think, “Mmmm I just don’t know if He really wants me to have this.” HE DOES. Use it. Rejoice in it. Trust it. It was a gift. Rejoice in the fact that He has the power to cleanse over and over and over. Rejoice in the fact that if you’re willing to follow Him, He can work with that.
I’m not perfect. I am so not perfect. But I have found salvation. I have opened the gift and got excited about it. I wave it around for everyone to see. Look what Christ gave me. He gave it to me. I didn’t earn it. I’m getting better at using it. He is teaching me to use it, and that’s going to be enough.
I testify of a Savior who loves you and wants you to rejoice in His perfection. I testify that if you’re willing to follow Him, if you’re trying to do as He asks even if you fail repeatedly, He has the power to pull you along anyway. He can cleanse you until you’ve completely changed and figured it out. He can keep you clean, and you can enjoy the happiness that innately comes with striving to love God and love others. You can rejoice in your salvation.
Autumn Dickson 
Oops, I read this last Sunday and intended to comment, but replied to your replies from the week before and then applied my exceptional powers of procrastination until I realized today that I never did.
I love your thoughts on grace vs works. I’m pretty sure I have already mentioned that I was a missionary in the deep South so I had 2 years of hearing that I was going to hell, while others claimed “I’ve accepted Jesus as my Savior, so my eternal salvation is assured, no matter what I do for the rest of my life once I did”.
2 Nephi 5 is an excellent example of the balance between grace and works. In verse 27 Nephi states that “we lived after the manner of happiness”. By reading what led up to that statement, we can see just how that happened to Nephi and the people who followed him. Verse 6 & 7 – separate from the wicked. 10 & 11 – kept judgements, statutes and commandments, sowed seed, raised flocks, herds and were prospered exceedingly. 14 & 15 prepared for those who hated them, built buildings, worked wood, iron, copper, brass, steel and precious ores. 16 – built a temple. 18 – no king. There is more’ but I think you get the idea on what leads to happiness. Hard work and righteousness bring grace into our lives.
The way of instant salvation by accepting Jesus Christ and their Savior doesn’t work in any other aspect of earth life — school, work, sports, marriage, parenting and ESPECIALLY not gardening. We don’t become musicians by accepting the gift of a musical instrument. We must practice, practice, practice. A parent who gives their child everything and requires nothing in return ends up with a child (and adult) who feels entitled, is unthankful, ungrateful, and expects more and more while giving nothing back. We call those people spoiled!
As disciples of Jesus Christ we start learning to do His kind of math. We begin to subtract bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, and all malice (Ephesians 4:31), blasphemy, filthy communication, and lying (Colossians 3:8). We also start learning to add His way — diligence, faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity (2 Peter 1:4). Rather than saving ourselves (by the “work” of the Sinners Prayer), we become losers (Matthew 16:25).
The Savior’s parables have many layers. I like to call Matthew 25:14-29 the parable of grace. 3 servants receive gifts from their Master. None of them earned or deserved their gifts, their gifts were given freely, by grace. Two of them shared the grace they received with others and received more grace in return. The other hid his grace and shared it with no one because he was afraid. Mr. scaredy cat was called a wicked and slothful servant. His grace was given to the servant who had done the most with the grace he had received.
Yes our Heavenly Father definitely wants us to use His grace, rejoice in it, trust in it and share it.. You are exactly right, He can work with that!!
Thank you for another wonderful message. I am feeling very blessed!!
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You wrote an incredible sermon yourself, and I love the added scriptures and ideas and layers of meaning. I had never thought of the parable of the talents from that perspective before. I have also noticed that one of the most powerful ways that we can keep ourselves and our children safe is to share the gospel, to share our grace. We had an exceptional group of youth growing up, and I think that’s partly because we were all involved in missionary work. We had 13 (I think? It’s been a minute) convert baptisms who were teenagers. It’s a big deal to share.
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I hope this reply didn’t get duplicated. I keep forgetting to log into WordPress before I try to reply.
Thanks for the compliment on my “sermon”. I probably spend 1/10 the time you do plus you are a wife and mother. That is super-hero territory!!
Your comment about sharing the gospel as a youth reminded me of my own. There were about 8 of us boys who were friends for many years — elementary, Jr High and High School. One of my friends was raised in the Buddhist tradition. When he was 16 or 17, he went to the visitors center of the Mesa AZ Temple and told them he had “Mormon” friends all his life, but none of us had told him much about their religion and he wanted to know more. Perhaps he didn’t feel comfortable asking us directly & it is very comforting that we didn’t have the opposite effect on him — cause him to not want to know anything about this Church.
Anyway, he meets with the missionaries and wants to be baptized, but his parents won’t give permission so he has to wait until his 18th birthday to be baptized. Later he becomes the Bishop of the same Ward we all grew up in, because he built a house next door to his parents. I see him and his wife in the Temple often and we are still very good friends.
I thankful we planted seeds of wheat as we grew up together.
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That is so incredible! It’s been amazing to watch people I prayed for as a teenager do great as adults. I had one friend who was particularly against joining the church. He eventually joined a long time later after we no longer talked, but I went to my home ward and he was speaking that day. It was awesome.
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