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| Source In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.... The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. |
The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and
teachers were given that we may all attain “the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring
knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must
act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions
of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ
challenges us to become something.
Many Bible and modern scriptures speak of a final judgment
at which all persons will be rewarded according to their deeds or works or the
desires of their hearts. But other scriptures enlarge upon this by referring to
our being judged by the condition we have achieved.
The prophet Nephi describes the Final Judgment in terms of
what we have become: “And if their works have been filthiness they must needs
be filthy; and if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the
kingdom of God” (1 Ne. 15:33; emphasis added). Moroni declares, “He that is
filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous
still” (Morm. 9:14; emphasis added; see also Rev. 22:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:16; D&C
88:35). The same would be true of “selfish” or “disobedient” or any other
personal attribute inconsistent with the requirements of God. Referring to the
“state” of the wicked in the Final Judgment, Alma explains that if we are
condemned by our words, our works, and our thoughts, “we shall not be found
spotless; … and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God”
(Alma 12:14).
From such teachings we conclude that the Final Judgment is
not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done.
It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we
have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The
commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of
deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus
Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires
us to become.
A parable illustrates this understanding. A wealthy father
knew that if he were to bestow his wealth upon a child who had not yet
developed the needed wisdom and stature, the inheritance would probably be
wasted. The father said to his child:
“All that I have I desire to give you—not only my wealth,
but also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily
give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify
for your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have
lived. I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom
and stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will
become as I am, and all that I have will be yours.”
This parable parallels the pattern of heaven. The gospel of
Jesus Christ promises the incomparable inheritance of eternal life, the fulness
of the Father, and reveals the laws and principles by which it can be obtained.
We qualify for eternal life through a process of conversion.
As used here, this word of many meanings signifies not just a convincing but a
profound change of nature. Jesus used this meaning when He taught His chief
Apostle the difference between a testimony and a conversion. Jesus asked His
disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” (Matt. 16:13). Next He
asked, “But whom say ye that I am?
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 16:15–17).
Peter had a testimony. He knew that Jesus was the Christ,
the promised Messiah, and he declared it. To testify is to know and to declare.
Later on, Jesus taught these same men about conversion,
which is far more than testimony. When the disciples asked who was the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven, “Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in
the midst of them,
“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:2–4; emphasis
added).
Later, the Savior confirmed the importance of being
converted, even for those with a testimony of the truth. In the sublime
instructions given at the Last Supper, He told Simon Peter, “I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren” (Luke 22:32).
In order to strengthen his brethren—to nourish and lead the
flock of God—this man who had followed Jesus for three years, who had been
given the authority of the holy apostleship, who had been a valiant teacher and
testifier of the Christian gospel, and whose testimony had caused the Master to
declare him blessed still had to be “converted.”
Jesus’ challenge shows that the conversion He required for
those who would enter the kingdom of heaven (see Matt. 18:3) was far more than
just being converted to testify to the truthfulness of the gospel. To testify
is to know and to declare. The gospel challenges us to be “converted,” which
requires us to do and to become. If any of us relies solely upon our knowledge
and testimony of the gospel, we are in the same position as the blessed but
still unfinished Apostles whom Jesus challenged to be “converted.” We all know
someone who has a strong testimony but does not act upon it so as to be
converted. For example, returned missionaries, are you still seeking to be
converted, or are you caught up in the ways of the world?
The needed conversion by the gospel begins with the
introductory experience the scriptures call being “born again” (e.g., Mosiah
27:25; Alma 5:49; John 3:7; 1 Pet. 1:23). In the waters of baptism and by
receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, we become the spiritual “sons and
daughters” of Jesus Christ, “new creatures” who can “inherit the kingdom of
God” (Mosiah 27:25–26).
In teaching the Nephites, the Savior referred to what they
must become. He challenged them to repent and be baptized and be sanctified by
the reception of the Holy Ghost, “that ye may stand spotless before me at the
last day” (3 Ne. 27:20). He concluded: “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye
to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Ne. 27:27).
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan by which we can
become what children of God are supposed to become. This spotless and perfected
state will result from a steady succession of covenants, ordinances, and
actions, an accumulation of right choices, and from continuing repentance.
“This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32).
Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal
conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As
we do so, we should remember that our family relationships—even more than our
Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that
development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good
husband and father or a good wife and mother. Being a successful Church leader
is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal
family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it.
The Apostle John spoke of what we are challenged to become
when he said: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2; see also Moro. 7:48).
I hope the importance of conversion and becoming will cause
our local leaders to reduce their concentration on statistical measures of
actions and to focus more on what our brothers and sisters are and what they
are striving to become.
Our needed conversions are often achieved more readily by
suffering and adversity than by comfort and tranquillity, as Elder Hales taught
us so beautifully this morning. Father Lehi promised his son Jacob that God
would “consecrate [his] afflictions for [his] gain” (2 Ne. 2:2). The Prophet
Joseph was promised that “thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a
small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high”
(D&C 121:7–8).
Most of us experience some measure of what the scriptures
call “the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10; 1 Ne. 20:10). Some are submerged
in service to a disadvantaged family member. Others suffer the death of a loved
one or the loss or postponement of a righteous goal like marriage or
childbearing. Still others struggle with personal impairments or with feelings
of rejection, inadequacy, or depression. Through the justice and mercy of a
loving Father in Heaven, the refinement and sanctification possible through
such experiences can help us achieve what God desires us to become.
We are challenged to move through a process of conversion
toward that status and condition called eternal life. This is achieved not just
by doing what is right, but by doing it for the right reason—for the pure love
of Christ. The Apostle Paul illustrated this in his famous teaching about the
importance of charity (see 1 Cor. 13). The reason charity never fails and the
reason charity is greater than even the most significant acts of goodness he
cited is that charity, “the pure love of Christ” (Moro. 7:47), is not an act
but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of
acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes. Thus, as
Moroni declared, “except men shall have charity they cannot inherit” the place
prepared for them in the mansions of the Father (Ether 12:34; emphasis added).
All of this helps us understand an important meaning of the
parable of the laborers in the vineyard, which the Savior gave to explain what
the kingdom of heaven is like. As you remember, the owner of the vineyard hired
laborers at different times of the day. Some he sent into the vineyard early in
the morning, others about the third hour, and others in the sixth and ninth
hours. Finally, in the eleventh hour he sent others into the vineyard,
promising that he would also pay them “whatsoever is right” (Matt. 20:7).
At the end of the day the owner of the vineyard gave the
same wage to every worker, even to those who had come in the eleventh hour.
When those who had worked the entire day saw this, “they murmured against the
goodman of the house” (Matt. 20:11). The owner did not yield but merely pointed
out that he had done no one any wrong, since he had paid each man the agreed
amount.
Like other parables, this one can teach several different
and valuable principles. For present purposes its lesson is that the Master’s
reward in the Final Judgment will not be based on how long we have labored in
the vineyard. We do not obtain our heavenly reward by punching a time clock.
What is essential is that our labors in the workplace of the Lord have caused
us to become something. For some of us, this requires a longer time than for
others. What is important in the end is what we have become by our labors. Many
who come in the eleventh hour have been refined and prepared by the Lord in
ways other than formal employment in the vineyard. These workers are like the
prepared dry mix to which it is only necessary to “add water”—the perfecting
ordinance of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. With that addition—even in
the eleventh hour—these workers are in the same state of development and
qualified to receive the same reward as those who have labored long in the
vineyard.
This parable teaches us that we should never give up hope
and loving associations with family members and friends whose fine qualities
(see Moro. 7:5–14) evidence their progress toward what a loving Father would
have them become. Similarly, the power of the Atonement and the principle of
repentance show that we should never give up on loved ones who now seem to be
making many wrong choices.
Instead of being judgmental about others, we should be
concerned about ourselves. We must not give up hope. We must not stop striving.
We are children of God, and it is possible for us to become what our Heavenly
Father would have us become.
How can we measure our progress? The scriptures suggest
various ways. I will mention only two.
After King Benjamin’s great sermon, many of his hearers
cried out that the Spirit of the Lord “has wrought a mighty change in us, or in
our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good
continually” (Mosiah 5:2). If we are losing our desire to do evil, we are
progressing toward our heavenly goal.
The Apostle Paul said that persons who have received the
Spirit of God “have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). I understand this to
mean that persons who are proceeding toward the needed conversion are beginning
to see things as our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, see them. They
are hearing His voice instead of the voice of the world, and they are doing
things in His way instead of by the ways of the world.
I testify of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer,
whose Church this is. I testify with gratitude of the plan of the Father under
which, through the Resurrection and Atonement of our Savior, we have the
assurance of immortality and the opportunity to become what is necessary for
eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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