Hearing, Listening and Obedience

One of the first things I learned in higher education is something that I wish had been specifically taught many years before. Maybe they teach it now, I hope so. It is a very simple concept:  hearing is not listening, and listening doesn't necessarily translate into doing.  In today's world very often the words hearing and listening are used interchangeably when they are not actually the same thing.

Hearing is the physical act of hearing someone talk, listening is paying attention to what is being said. This includes comprehension and thinking actively about what is being said. Finally there is the act of doing what is said. In the secular world this is applying the knowledge, when we are talking about Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Spirit this is an act of obedience.

Luke 6:46-49 

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

I don't know if it a change in common usage or a translation aspect (remember these words originally come from Aramaic and Greek). Either way it seems to me that the word hearing here is referring to both aspects hearing and listening.

When we heard the word of the Lord we become responsible for doing what we have been instructed to do. You may recognize these verses as the inspiration for the children's hymn about  The Wise Man and the Foolish Man. It is worth a look again as an adult. We not only have to have a strong faith to build upon our rock but we must act on the knowledge and faith. We are responsible for doing what we have been taught. The rains and the floods will come, if we have acted on what we have been taught we will be the wise man whose house stood firm.

And that leads right back into the first statement Jesus made: "Why do you call me Lord and not do the things I say?"

Wrath of the Rightous

Sin of Wrath versus Righteous Wrath

In the last blog post I covered temptation and sin in the temptation of Jesus in the desert. I also touched on the Seven Deadly Sins which are a teaching of the Catholic church and 3 of those sins were identifiable in the temptation of Jesus.

Jesus teaching is most often identifiable with the themes of love, tolerance, and forgiveness which makes the scene in the second chapter of John versus 13-16 even more shocking to read. 

John 2:13-16

And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

This brings up the question of what does the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Prophets say about anger and wrath? I found a some teachings on anger and I these are the ones that I think answer the question the most.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Wrath is something that God can and will express (see Garden of Eden, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood)

Lynn G. Robbins, General Conference April 1998 

"He damages and often destroys families within the walls of their own homes. His strategy is to stir up anger between family members. Satan is the “father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another” (3 Ne. 11:29; emphasis added). The verb stir sounds like a recipe for disaster: Put tempers on medium heat, stir in a few choice words, and bring to a boil; continue stirring until thick; cool off; let feelings chill for several days; serve cold; lots of leftovers.

A cunning part of his strategy is to dissociate anger from agency, making us believe that we are victims of an emotion that we cannot control. We hear, “I lost my temper.” Losing one’s temper is an interesting choice of words that has become a widely used idiom. To “lose something” implies “not meaning to,” “accidental,” “involuntary,” “not responsible”—careless perhaps but “not responsible.”

“He made me mad.” This is another phrase we hear, also implying lack of control or agency. This is a myth that must be debunked. No one makes us mad. Others don’t make us angry. There is no force involved. Becoming angry is a conscious choice, a decision; therefore, we can make the choice not to become angry. We choose!"

We can choose how we react, we can choose not to react in anger. We can choose to take a deep breath and react in love, we can choose to take a walk, go to the gym or any other way to get control and not say hateful things that we don't mean to people we love...or do even worse.

Matthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

We are commanded to forgive and to be slow to anger. That does not mean being an doormat and as Matthew says we should not be angry without a cause. There must be a valid reason to be angry..and even then we need to control our anger and not let it control us.

Gordon B Hinkley, General Conference October 2007

Anger may be justified in some circumstances. The scriptures tell us that Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).

But even this was spoken more as a rebuke than as an outburst of uncontrolled anger.

Finally, what started this topic. Jesus had a justified anger and the men who had turned his Fathers house into a marketplace populated by thieves. Jesus drove them out of the temple, but he did not chase them down, he did not swear vengeance. He just fixed the situation. He rebuked them.

Anger and wrath must be avoided when possible, controlled when not. I highly recommend reading both of these talks in full. Anger is an emotion, it is not a sin. Sin follows when we don't control it, when we let it control us. 

The Spirit of the Lord and Temptation

Temptation and the Spirit

Here we are and I'm a month behind again. That makes this weeks lesson even more apt.

The week of Feb 4-10th  in Come Follow Me is titled "The Spirit of the Lord is With Me"

Matthew 4 and Luke 4 both contain the account of Jesus being tempted in the desert. Luke 5 contains remarkable accounts of faith, healing, doubt and the Pharisees accusing Jesus of breaking Gods law. I highly encourage not setting aside Luke 5 because there are amazing lessons that we can learn. I however am led to the temptation of Jesus in the desert.

We know from the accounts that Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray - he stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights. I am unable to mentally comprehend the reality of 40 days and nights of fasting.

Luke 4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

 We, I believe can safely assume that He did drink water during that time, which to this day is a common rule for fasting.  I think also that "he hungered" might be the ultimate understatement. In addition let me point out that many of the stories about this time in Jesus life portray the devil showing up at the end of the fasting. Instead its "Being forty days tempted of the devil" he was being tempted the whole time, we are only told of 3 specific temptations.

1) Luke 4:3-4
And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

This is the temptation of the body. We see this prevalent through our culture. It is becoming nearly a worship of food. And do not get me wrong, great food is just that - great. When you have a plate of amazing food that has a fantastic presentation should be appreciated. What it should not be is glorified and essentially worshiped.  The old phrase eat to live, not live to eat comes to mind. Be healthy and nourish your body,  plan meals and enjoy the act of creation that cooking brings. Learn new cooking skills,  but don't place food above all else. 

The way that Jesus answered the temptation with the scripture is remarkable. He acknowledges food is necessary, but so are the scriptures. Both the mind, spirit and body must be nourished.

2) Luke 4:5-8
 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

This is the temptation of power.  In the world we are encourage and even pushed to "try and get to the top". And again moving your career along is not in and of itself evil.  Coveting and worshiping the power and position is the issue. When you worship the power the act and idea of getting to the top over takes every aspect of your life, pushing aside family, charity, and of course God.  Another point is that Satan was offering Jesus that which he already owned. Jesus created the world under the direction of his Father. (Ephesians 3:9)

And again Jesus answered Satan with the scriptures -worship the Lord only and him only shalt thou serve.  If your talents lead you to being in a position of power- fantastic but don't worship the power use it to serve God in all things. Be the light that all around you can see.

3) Luke 4:11-12
 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:  And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

This is the temptation of pride. Pride in who Jesus is - he is the Son of God, His only begotten. Satan is essentially saying "prove it". It is important to note here that Satan knows the word of God just as well or better than anyone on earth. He twists the words here to tempt Jesus.  

Jesus returns the answer with another scripture -don't tempt the Lord.

The sin of pride - beware of being overly proud, beware of false humility. Be proud of the work and effort as you put forth your best effort. However never forget that even your best effort is due to our Heavenly Father. He gave you the talent, He put the people in your life to help you succeed.  All things work to the Glory of God is the shortened form of Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose

The conclusion...

Luke 4:13 

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Jesus passed through temptation and the Spirit was with him as he taught.  There are lesson we need to understand. First and foremost in my mind Jesus answered with scripture and did not debate the devil. To answer temptation with scripture we must of course read and study the scripture. In addition songs based on scripture are fantastic ways to remember scriptures.

Secondly, the temptations are common and widespread.  The Catholic church lists "the Seven Deadly Sins" as lust, gluttony,  greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. Satan tempted Jesus with three of these.

We as children of God will not be perfect, we will succumb to temptation we will falter. What we can do to arm ourselves against temptation is to recognize it, to pray, and to learn our scriptures. Don't debate about it with the tempter, recognize, resist and give it to God.

The Fruits of the Tree

Most of the topics recommended in the Jan 28-Feb 3 Come Follow Me deal with repentance and the baptism of Jesus. Both important topics, but as always I want to talk about what struck me in this chapter as we are instructed to follow the Spirit in our studies. So here we go, please check out these verses. 

Matthew 3: 9-10 and Luke 3: 8-9
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 7:16-19

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.   Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Jacob 5

Grafting and redeeming olive trees- adding new limbs to the old

Mark 1:17 

And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Are you seeing a theme? I did, because as soon as I read Matthew 3 I remembered the story in Jacob. When I read Luke 3 it was reinforced, and remembered Matthew 7 (I remembered the story and had to look up the location) When I read Mark 1 I felt a connection made.

Matthew 3 and Luke 3 both talk about how trees that bear bad or poor fruit are cut down and cast into the fire, and both discuss bringing forth the fruit of repentance. Most of the people who came to John confessed their sins and were baptized. The Pharisees did not.  Matthew 7 talks about how "ye shall know them by their fruits", in the end good works (fruit) don't come from evil/bad people. Things might look temporarily good, but in the end a shiny healthy outside won't matter if the inside of the fruit is rotten. 

Does that mean people who do bad things cannot be redeemed -no it does not. Those who came to be baptized confessed their sins and wanted to change. The Pharisees did not. Jacob 5 illustrates that as well when the owner tended the tree to make is whole and well. 

Jacob 5 also talks about another part that ties in to Mark 1 - grafting new branches to make the tree strong and healthy. Jesus called many apostles to him - not one of them was a Rabbi or teacher of the gospel. He called new people to him, people with different backgrounds who were willing to listen and learn. People who didn't pretend to have all the answers and taught them, and they went out an taught others. Jacob 5 address the why of this, the new branches will go on and become new trees so that even if the original tree dies off the branches will continue. Jesus did die and live again, continued his teaching and ascended into heaven. His branches lived on and continued his work.