Foundational Principles of the Gospel

Foundational Principles of the Gospel

Introduction

When my family moved here, I was sent ahead of the main body as the vanguard company...primarily to secure a place to live. I spent months looking at houses. One in particular stands out in my mind. It was a nice enough house—a foreclosure, so the price was right (even if it did need a little bit of work). Then we went into the basement and saw a crack running across the entire width of the house. It was about ½” wide and was offset by about 1/4”. That's when I looked at my realtor and told her we could leave. It just didn't feel right. The parable Jesus told about the wise and foolish men came to mind. The foolish man built his house on the sand. When the rains came and the winds blew, the house fell. The wise man, however, built his house on the rock. When the rains came and the winds blew, his house stood firm because it was built on a sure foundation. I knew this house had a problem with its foundation—I wasn't willing to establish our home in a house that didn't have a good foundation.

President Uchtdorf said “I think most of us intuitively understand how important the fundamentals are. It is just that we sometimes get distracted by so many things that seem more enticing.

The holy scriptures and the spoken word of the living prophets give emphasis to the fundamental principles and doctrines of the gospel. The reason we return to these foundational principles, to the pure doctrines, is because they are the gateway to truths of profound meaning. They are the door to experiences of sublime importance that would otherwise be beyond our capacity to comprehend. These simple, basic principles are the key to living in harmony with God and man. They are the keys to opening the windows of heaven. They lead us to the peace, joy, and understanding that Heavenly Father has promised to His children who hear and obey Himⁱ.

So what are some foundational principles of the gospel? If I asked the Young Women, they might say: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice & accountability, good works, integrity, virtue.ⁱⁱ The Young Men might say: Trustworthy, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, & reverent.ⁱⁱⁱ The Missionaries might say: faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.^iv The Relief Society might say: Chairty. The Elders Quorom: service. You see, the adults need much short lists because of our shorter attention spans...and let's not forget the High Priests: meditation. President Stroud shared his own list of principles at Stake Conference:

• Keep an eternal perspective

• Keep a prayer in your heart

• Keep studying and pondering the scriptures 

• Keep the sabbath day holy

• Keep the commandments

• Keep smiling

We also find lists of gospel principles in the Proclamation to the World on the Family, In the Come, Follow Me program, For the Strength of Youth, among others. I made my own list of foundational principles of the Gospel. They are:

• Exercise Faith

• Develop Christ-like attributes

• Receive the Saving Ordinances

• Partake of The Atonement of Christ

   

The Foundational Principles

Many of you know that I have a soft spot for music, and particularly for the hymns of the gospel. I love the hymn "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" because it is based on my favorite parable. I spent this week looking at this this hymn and trying to find the foundational principles. Here's what I found:

• Exercise Faith

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  Faith is taught throughout the entire hymn. It takes faith to feed the hungry, shelter the needy. Here's the cool part...you don't have to have a great experience to have faith. You don't have to have visions, move mountains, or part the sea to have faith. Alma compares faith to seed. He tells us that if we no more than desire to believe, that it is sufficient. All we have to do is want to believe, then that faith will begin to grow within us. Even the Articles of Faith tell us that faith is the foundation...“We believe the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are, first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ”^v

  Faith is not only a foundational principle, it is the foundational principle.

   

• Develop Christ-like attributes

  • A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief talks about so many different attributes of Christ. I see charity when the servant invited the guest into his home in the middle of a hurricane. In 1999, my family took shelter in the church because of a hurricane. As the storm started to blow, a stranger came to our door and those in charge of the shelter let him come in. After an interview to be sure he understood the standards expected, he was given a room and remained with us until the storm was over. This sounds like the right thing to do, who wouldn't invite a someone to take shelter? Well, it meant that everyone in the shelter had to give up some of their food, bedding, personal items (because he came with nothing). Amulek taught the Zoramites that after they did everything they'd been taught, they still had to have charity or everything else was in vain.^vi

  • Another christlike attribute we see in the hymn is kindness or friendship. A good friend from my youth once shared with me the definition of friendship he learned from my father. “a true friend” my father said “is one who will hold your place in line for the gallows.” Surely the servant showed kindness and friendship throughout the hymn, but especially in verse 6 when he offered to take the man's place at the gallows. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”.^vii

  • This leads to another Christlike attribute: sacrifice. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said “The law of sacrifice is that we are willing to sacrifice all that we have for the truth’s sake—our character and reputation; our honor and applause; our good name among men; our houses, lands, and families: all things, even our very lives if need be.”^viii We aren't often asked to die for the Savior.

  • In another great hymn comes the phrase “as He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free!”^ix Today we are asked to live for Christ! Our sacrifice comes in different forms. We are asked to live for the Savior. Each time we are called to a position, we are sacrificing a part of ourselves for the Lord.

     

• Receive the Saving Ordinances

  • In his book, The Power to Become, Elder David A. Bednar identifies the saving ordinances as: baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, Priesthood Ordination for men, the Temple Endowment and the sealing of families in the Temple.^x A Poor Wayfaring man of grief touches upon these saving ordinances.

  • I don't think it coincidence that when the servant offers the poor wayfaring man of grief his bread, the first thing he does is “break it and bless it.” To me, this represents the bread in our Sacrament. Immediately after this verse, the servant provides water to the poor wayfaring man of grief who, in return, gives the servant living water. To me this represents the water in the Sacrament. The sacrament is our opportunity to renew the covenants we made at baptism (which is the fist saving ordinance).

  • This hymn also references the ordinances in the Temple. In the book, The Holy Temple, President Packer says “the word temple to the Latter-day Saint suggests a reverence for life”^xi. We are taught to reverence life in verse 5 when the servant found the poor wayfaring man of grief beaten and wounded by the road. He stopped and brought him back to life. He provided oil to wash his wounds. And, in general, took care of him. We accept the same charge as we participate in the Temple endowment. Each time I go the temple, I feel like my life has been renewed.

• Partake of The Atonement of Christ

  • The final verse speaks of the Atonement...in my opinion, the most important principle of the gospel. Everything else we learn about in the gospel hinges upon the Atonement. Moroni taught that “[we] receive no witness until after the trial of [our] faith”.^xii That's why it took 7 verses to get to the Atonement—the most important part. The servant had to show that he had faith, had developed Christlike attributes, and had received the ordinances required. It was only after the servant showed his faith through Christlike attributes that the fullness of the Atonement was made clear to him.

  • Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught: “We understand that the Atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to overcome the spiritual death that results from sin and, through making and keeping sacred covenants, to have the blessings of eternal life.”^xiii

  • These foundational principles really do build upon each other. The culmination of this earth life is the atonement. It is only through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we have hope of eternal life “for,” in the words of Alma, “it is expedient that an atonement should be made; ...or else all mankind must unavoidably perish”.^xiv

Living the Foundational Principles in Our Life

Elder Water F. Gonzalez said “our task...continues to be seeking for the principles found in the scriptures and the teachings of the prophets and writing them 'not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart'”.^xv

How do we write these principles in our heart? One way is to make it personal. The gospel is meant to be personal. The Savior talks about leaving the ninety and nine for the one...not leaving the one for the ninety and nine. A great source for personal revelation regarding gospel principles is your own patriarchal blessing. We know that every blessing is different...unique to the recipient. But I would hazard a guess that each and every blessing talks, at some level, about gospel principles important to that person. I challenge you to read your patriarchal blessing with the goal of recognizing the gospel principles Heavenly Father has revealed to you and then work on magnifying those principles. If you don't yet have your patriarchal blessing, then I challenge you to prepare yourself to receive it.

My patriarchal blessing talks about faith, ordinances & covenants, education, family, missionary & temple work. What does your blessing say to you?

So where do we start? Perhaps more importantly, what should I be working on today? There is no way I focus on every gospel principle at once...it just won't work. President Uchtdorf spoke on this 2 weeks ago. He told us to “start where you are.”^xvi

As we walk the path of discipleship, we have to work on the principle that we need to work on. The most important principle for you and I to focus on right now, is the principle that we are struggling with, right now. If tithing is a challenge for you today, then work on paying an honest tithe. If charity is a struggle for you now, then work showing charity. If you have a hard time doing your home or visiting teaching, then work on doing better. We should start where we are. And the starting point is going to be different for everyone.

The other point that President Uchtdorf made in his Conference Talk was to keep it simple. “[Living the gospel] is really straightforward. It could be described like this: Hearing the word of God with earnest intent leads us to believe in God and to trust His promises. The more we trust God, the more our hearts are filled with love for Him and for each other. Because of our love for God, we desire to follow Him and bring our actions in alignment with His word…we want to bless the lives of others and help the poor and the needy. The more we walk in this path of discipleship, the more we desire to learn the word of God.”^xvii

Conclusion

Let me now close by going back to the beginning. Just as a house will fall if it is not built on a foundation of rock, we will fall if we don't have the right foundation. The words of Helaman to his sons, Nephi and Lehi, show us the foundation we should have: “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”^xviii

Brothers and Sisters, build your foundation on Jesus Christ. It starts with a desire to believe—demonstrating faith, which leads us to develop Christlike attributes and receive the saving ordinances. This all leads us to the Atonement. Start where you are, keep it simple.

We have a Father in Heaven who loves us more than we can realize. He sent His Son to live and die and live again for us. The Plan of Salvation will lead us to happiness in this life and joy throughout eternity.