Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Lesson 16: "Thou Shalt Offer Up Thy Sacraments Upon My Holy Day"

A friend once commented that whoever said the Sabbath was a day of rest was not a Mormon. His tongue was firmly in his cheek when he said it, but he was not wide of the mark by very much. We who have the placed the Gospel of Christ at the center of our lives know that completing Sabbath assignments and duties can be labor—work—of the most demanding kind. But when the Lord set apart a day of the week as a day of rest, he seems to have done so with the intent that we should rest from all our weekly labors (D&C 59:10), and from the work that demands our attention on the non-Sabbath days.

If we do the same things on the Sabbath that we do on Tuesday and Friday, when do we make the necessary preparations and reparations to keep ourselves unspotted from the world? We must have a time to immerse ourselves in the things of the Spirit just as we must have a time to immerse our clothing in the waters that clean and refresh.

“Let us not be like the Church member who partakes of the sacrament in the morning, then defiles the Sabbath that afternoon by cleaning the house or by watching television or by choosing an afternoon of sleep over an afternoon of service” (Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, “The Example of Abraham,” Ensign, June 1975, 6).

I think I understand that house cleaning or television watching or excessive sleeping defile the Sabbath. They pervert the purpose and spirit of the Sabbath by making it more difficult for us separate ourselves from the world and to sanctify ourselves. It is hard not to believe that the pervasive presence of sporting events on the Sabbath is one additional satanic endeavor to keep us from the spiritual maturity that can come from righteous living.

In the Lord’s most significant modern sermon on the Sabbath, D&C 59, he teaches powerful lessons about what we ought to do on his holy day. In D&C 59:13, after providing a meaningful list of appropriate activities, he declares, “And on this day thou shalt do none other thing . . .”

Come out of the world, he invites and commands us. Partake of the sanctifying power of the Sabbath day.

Part of the process of being spiritually cleansed and refreshed happens as we attend the Sabbath meetings designed to teach and edify and renew us. The Lord commanded us to “go to the house of prayer” on his day (D&C 59:9). In that place, we can “pay [our] devotions to the most high . . .” Of course, we can and ought to do that on other days and at other times (see D&C 59:11), but sheltered safely in the walls of a dedicated building, the chances for intrusions from the distractions of worldliness are greatly minimized. Phones do not ring (hopefully); doorbells do not chime; children do not ask for rides or loans . . . . Ecclesiastes gave some wonderful counsel about reverence in the house of the Lord and about things we can do to maximize the disinfecting influences of the Lord’s Day:

I suspect that the author (Solomon? See Eccl. 1:1) is thinking of the Temple when he speaks of “the house of God,” but his teachings have worthwhile implications for worship at any dedicated building.

- “Keep thy foot” Find a place to sit and stay there. Don’t dilute the influence of prelude music or preaching by moving about.

- “Be more ready to hear, than . . . to be . . . rash with thy mouth” We are invited to share feelings and experiences in our classes and our testimony meetings. But almost always we will learn more from listening than from speaking. I have a feeling that our ears are closer to our hearts than our mouths. Solomon suggests that to speak too readily or frequently is to “give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.” Would this not be particularly true in our Sacrament meetings? How often have you been distracted from the sweetness of the sacrament or the whisperings of the Spirit by conversations—even quiet conversations—being conducted around you?

- “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God.” This is the same concept cited in the previous paragraph, but the explanation of this counsel in verse 2 suggests one more reason for putting the emphasis on listening rather than speaking. “For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Another way to say this might be: “Be more ready to be taught (by the Spirit) than to teach.” After all, “a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.”

- “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business . . .” I do not pretend to know what the exact meaning of this phrase is. Other translations of the Bible suggest that the ‘dream’ mentioned above is a preoccupation (or a nightmare) caused by too much concern with business or busyness. While waiting for Sacrament meeting to begin I have watched members in my ward (and I have done this myself) such as quorum leaders and home teachers scurry about talking to members in an effort to get church business completed. Such commotion may cause the spiritual dimensions of the meeting to seem unreal or unproductive, like a dream.

You might ask yourself what benefit you derive from sacrament meetings. Be brutally honest. This would not be an evaluation of what you ought to get out of them, but what you do in fact get out of them.

Part of the worship service of our meetings is the singing of hymns. Do you sing with your heart? Alma asked the people of Zarahemla if they had “felt to sing the song of redeeming love” (Alma 5:26). Have you felt that way as you have raised your voice in praise and prayer to the Almighty?

I attended today the funeral of a dear friend and neighbor who passed away after an extended bout with stomach cancer. At the funeral, we sang “Because I Have Been Given Much” (Hymn #219) and “How Great Thou Art” (Hymn #86). The daughters and grandchildren of the deceased sang “I Am a Child of God.” I was deeply moved by these musical sermons. I felt to sing the song of redeeming love.

We must not allow ourselves to think that the song of the vocal cords is the music of real significance. The Lord’s instructions about singing relate to the heart and to the feelings. He has little if anything to say about vocal quality.

The praying in our congregations is also an important time of growth and regeneration. There are things we can to do make them more meaningful.

The language of D&C 59:9 with regard to the Sacrament in most interesting. We are commanded to “offer up” our sacraments. The same language appears in 59:12. D&C 62:4 is a revelation given to a group of elders traveling to Zion. The Lord said:

“And now continue your journey. Assemble yourselves upon the land of Zion; and hold a meeting and rejoice together, and offer a sacrament unto the Most High.”

What is the significance of these commands to offer, rather than partake of, a sacrament? Are we really supposed to offer something? 3 Nephi 9:19, 20 suggests what offering might be expected of us.

As we covenant to take his name and keep his commandments and always remember his sacrifices for us, we do offer our hearts to him. We find ourselves in a situation very much like the ancient Israelites, who came to offer sacrifice at a place where the priests officiated and where the flesh and blood (of animals) was placed upon an altar.

This experience with the sacrament is one more purifying element of the Sabbath day.

Years ago I spent a week at Uncle Sam’s expense playing military games in the woods and swamps of eastern Alabama and western Georgia. The closest I came to water was what was in my canteen and what hit me falling from cloudy skies. I wore the same uniform the entire week. I wore it to crawl through the weeds and the mud. I wore it to march from location to location. I wore it to eat. As I brought my clothes into continual contact with the world, parts of it kept rubbing off on me. By the end of that miserable week, those fatigues were revolting. They were so filthy and so foul I thought I could walk down a dirt road and topple trees on both sides. A trip to the laundry would have solved all my problems, but I did not have that opportunity during that week.

What happens to our spirits in a week of rubbing up against the world? How much of evil and iniquity and filth is transferred to the sensitive surfaces of our souls in a week of being in the world? Even when we are determined to live above the carnality about us, life has a way of throwing itself in our pathways and splattering us with unexpected and undesired contaminants.

Thus the Lord tells us that one of the great purposes of the Sabbath is to enable us to wash away the filth of a week in Babylon. It is on the Sabbath that we clean our spirits. We remove them from the world and wash them in preparation for another week. “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world,” he says, “thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day” (D&C 59:9).

The Lord commands us to offer our “oblations . . . unto the Most High” on the Sabbath. Oblations is a wonderful word. My dictionary defines it as “an offering of a sacrifice, thanksgiving, etc. to God . . . [or] the thing or things offered.” Footnote 12b tells us the word refers to: “offerings, whether of time, talents, or means, in service of God and fellowman.”

Thus we find a powerful definition of the kinds of work acceptable to the Lord on the Sabbath day. We seem to be free to do anything that can be called an oblation. Perhaps it was this concept to which the Savior had referenced in the account in which he healed a man in spite of the objections of his enemies: “Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9).

The Lord’s command to offer our oblations is clear evidence that it is lawful to do good on Sunday. In Matthew 12:12 the Savior taught, “Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.”

Our observance of this commandment to keep the day holy (as with all other commandments) is evidence or our commitment to our covenants. The choices we make on the Sabbath reflect clearly to others the things we value most. Read and ponder the promises of D&C 59:16-20. All the necessary things to sustain and enrich life are promised to those who keep this day holy as God has commanded. These promises could well be brought in as testimony on the day of judgment when people at the bar of God declare that they had to work on the Sabbath in order to make ends meet or keep a roof over their heads or keep food on the table.

If we do this (the things specified in this revelation about the Sabbath)

- The fullness of the earth is ours.

- The beasts and fowls are ours.

- The herbs and the good things of the earth are ours.

- These things will provide us with food, clothing, shelter, orchards, gardens, vineyards.

- All things of the earth will be for our use and benefit

These things will

- Please the eye

- Gladden the heart

- Strengthen the body

- Enliven the soul

What additional things are there that we might want enough to disregard this commandment about the Sabbath day. Should we do it for a better car? A larger house? More exciting entertainment?

Perhaps no commandment in the scriptures is designed to bless us more consistently and significantly than this one. If we go to the house of prayer and offer up our sacraments, we will certainly be less contaminated by the evils of the world.

Lead photo from mormonnewsroom.org.