Keep Working! Your Faith Depends On It
Before getting into today’s message, I want to mention a couple of interesting things. The converted Lamanites called themselves the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, an interesting name. Maybe it was just me, but I could not figure out why they picked that name. Then, it occurred to me that they wanted to claim lineage through Lehi but not through Nephi. In other words, the people wanted to disassociate themselves from the rebellion of Laman and the traditions of hatred towards the Nephites while maintaining and preserving the blessings promised to Lehi’s posterity. I could be way off base with that idea, but it is something to consider.
Traditional Christian thinking does not accept that Jesus was known by that name prior to his birth, but the Book of Mormon references that name throughout its pages. Because the name Yeshua was common in Old Testament times and means Yahweh saves, there is no doubt that Old Testament prophets knew the Savior by the meaning of that name in their time. However, the thing that remained a mystery in my mind was why the Old Testament prophet is called Joshua, and Jesus is called Jesus when they were both Yeshua in Hebrew. As it turns out, the text of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, which does not have a “sh” sound, so the “sh” in Yeshua became an “s” in Iēsous, which evolved into Jesus in English. So, the name Jesus is sort of a mashup of Aramaic/Hebrew being translated into and written in Greek, then Latin; it wasn’t fully developed until the 16th century when the letter J was invented.
Enough about that.
The sons of Mosiah had tremendous success among the Lamanites. These people, eventually known as Ammonites, were converted Christians. However, they still lived the law of Moses because Christ had not yet come to fulfill the law. As we know, the law of Moses is a works-based system of worship meant to prepare people for the coming Messiah. The Ammonites knew they had been saved by faith in Jesus Christ, as illustrated by the statement of Lamoni’s wife when she exclaimed, “O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people!”
So we arrive again at the faith and works argument. Why did the Ammonites not abandon the works of the Mosaic Law? They understood that salvation did not come by the law, as did the apostle Paul, who declared that the law had become dead to them because of Christ. The answer is found in these verses in Alma 25, “Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them.”
The next verse is the point of my message. It reads, “Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come.” The implication is that the ordinances and performances (works) serve to strengthen faith.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is accused of being a works-based religion by evangelicals. I agree! I cannot see how people strengthen their faith without work. As part of the consequences of the transgression of Adam and Eve, God declared, “By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, until thou shalt return unto the ground.” Was God talking only about the bread we eat? Jesus said, “Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.”
I am convinced we sometimes don’t know when we are spiritually starving. We don’t realize when our faith is waning until we don’t have enough to carry us through tough times. Conscious decisions and effort are requirements for sufficient faith to accept the salvation Jesus offers us. We need the bread of life.
Manna was given to ancient Israelites by the grace of God but also as a means to test their obedience and trust in God. The works by which we demonstrate our obedience come in the form of living the gospel of Jesus Christ, keeping the commandments, and making sacred covenants in temple ordinances. We will lose the faith necessary for salvation if we fail to do these works. It is that simple. Keep working!!