Those of us who attended Primary as children sang “I love to see the temple. I’m going there someday To feel the Holy Spirit, To listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, A place of love and beauty. I’ll prepare myself while I am young; This is my sacred duty.
I love to see the temple. I’ll go inside someday. I’ll cov’nant with my Father;
I’ll promise to obey. For the temple is a holy place Where we are sealed together. As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth: A fam’ly is forever.
Later in our youth we pledged that we would “Make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.”
And that pledge that we made in our youth is the recipe for joy in this life and in the life to come, the way for us to receive all that the Father has – we make and keep sacred covenants, we attend the temple and receive more ordinances and make more covenants, and as we keep all the covenants, we are promised that we will enjoy the blessings of exaltation.
In the “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” we read that “Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.” That is the goal for each of us – to return to our Father's presence and live with Him and our eternal families. And we can obtain that goal by making and keeping sacred ordinances and covenants available in the temple.
Joseph Smith taught that the divine purpose of gathering the people of God is to build temples so His children can receive the highest ordinances and thereby gain eternal life. So the purpose of all that we do in the church is to prepare people for the temple so that families can be sealed for eternity and we can receive eternal life. We are taught from our infancy in the church that we need to get to the temple, and how to do it.
As I speak today I hope to address why the temple is so important, what we can do to be there, once there what we can do to make temple worship meaningful in our lives, and what blessings we are promised in association with the temple. In the April 2009 general conference there were 4 fantastic talks on temples and their importance in our lives. Most of what I will share today comes from those talks.
Why the Temple is So Important
When Elder Bednar was called as a stake president he was talking to a friend of his who had been recently released as a stake president what counsel he would have. His friend soon after his release was called a s a temple worker. He told Elder Bednar:
“I wish I had been a temple worker before I was a stake president. If I had served in the temple before my call to serve as a stake president, I would have been a very different stake president....I believe I was a good stake president. The programs in our stake ran well, and our statistics were above average. But serving in the temple has expanded my vision. If I were called today to serve as a stake president, my primary focus would be on worthiness to receive and honor temple covenants. I would strive to make temple preparation the center of all that we did. I would do a better job of shepherding the Saints to the house of the Lord.”
So why would that be his focus, why is the temple so important? Elder Stevenson recounted a story of a time his dad took his two young sons on a drive. He his grandsons down small Logan roads and to to a place they had never been before, and then stopping the truck asked them if they thought they were lost. After a moment, on of the boys responded “Look”, and with his finger pointed he said, “Grandpa, you are never lost when you can see the temple.” And that is it, when the temple is our focus we are not lost, we recognize our goal and how to achieve it. Elder Stevenson said: "The temple will provide direction for you and your family in a world filled with chaos. It is an eternal guidepost which will help you from getting lost in the “mist of darkness”."
I would bet that all of us at one point or another, or maybe even currently, feel that life is pretty hard. We face trials – that is part of life. But what determines whether trials feel to be more of a curse or a blessing is determined by how we react to them. Elder Christofferson told of a couple in Peru who he talked to after a massive earthquake. Immediately following the earthquake, this couple, the Condes, set about helping people. Elder Nash of the Seventy met the Condes four days after the earthquake. He said that they were smiling as they set about helping those around them. As he asked what the state of their house and other possessions were they said that the house was gone and all their possessions were buried in the house – they had nothing left. He asked them how they were able to smile at such a time and the wife replied “I have prayed and I am at peace. We have all we need. We have each other, we have our children, we are sealed in the temple, we have this marvelous Church, and we have the Lord. We can build again with the Lord’s help.”
He went on to explain that the church needs members like the Condes, those who “can persevere against hardship, who can sustain hope through tragedy, who can lift others by their example and their compassion, and who can consistently overcome temptations. We need strong Christians who can make important things happen by their faith and who can defend the truth of Jesus Christ against moral relativism and militant atheism.” And not only does the church, and God, need these strong members, but we need this strength. And so he explained how we can become that strong, how we can obtain the spiritual power we need to be able to meet all situations with smiles on our faces.
What is the source of such moral and spiritual power, and how do we obtain it? The source is God. Our access to that power is through our covenants with Him. … What is it about making and keeping covenants with God that gives us the power to smile through hardships, to convert tribulation into triumph, to “be anxiously engaged in a good cause, … and bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:27)?
He then discusses three ways that our covenants strengthen us:
First, as we walk in obedience to the principles and commandments of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we enjoy a continual flow of blessings promised by God in His covenant with us. Those blessings provide the resources we need to act rather than simply be acted upon as we go through life.
A second way in which our covenants supply strength—they produce the faith necessary to persevere and to do all things that are expedient in the Lord. Our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ and keep His commandments requires a degree of faith, but as we honor our covenants, that faith expands.
A final aspect of strength through covenants that I will mention is the bestowal of divine power. Our covenant commitment to Him permits our Heavenly Father to let His divine influence, “the power of godliness” (D&C 84:20), flow into our lives. He can do that because by our participation in priesthood ordinances we exercise our agency and elect to receive it. Our participation in those ordinances also demonstrates that we are prepared to accept the additional responsibility that comes with added light and spiritual power.
In all the ordinances, especially those of the temple, we are endowed with power from on high. This “power of godliness” comes in the person and by the influence of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is part of the new and everlasting covenant. It is an essential part of our baptism, the baptism of the Spirit. It is the messenger of grace by which the blood of Christ is applied to take away our sins and sanctify us (see 2 Nephi 31:17). It is the gift by which Adam was “quickened in the inner man” (Moses 6:65). It was by the Holy Ghost that the ancient Apostles endured all that they endured and by their priesthood keys carried the gospel to the known world of their day.
When we have entered into divine covenants, the Holy Ghost is our comforter, our guide, and our companion.
When we talk about going to the temple to receive our endowment we tend to focus on the ordinance of the endowment, which is super important. Through the endowment we are given the gift of all the knowledge we will need to return to our Heavenly Father's presence. But before the endowment there are other super important ordinances that we receive, the initiatory ordinances. These ordinances or washing, annointing, and being clothed in the garments of the priesthood have been given since the beginning and we can read about them in the Old Testament. In these we are given blessings, blessings for our bodies and spirits, that will help us in this life, and in the next, and one of the most important of these blessings is that if we are faithful to our covenants we will be protected from the power of Satan. We are given power to withstand the other powers in the world that would lead us to misery. That is HUGE!
Elder Scott recounted his experiences with not only the eath of his wife, but also of his daughter, and his son. Those would be pretty significant trials. He said that these trials have not been a problem.
When we live righteously and have received the ordinances of the temple, everything else is in the hands of the Lord. We can do the best we can, but the final outcome is up to Him. We should never complain, when we are living worthily, about what happens in our lives.
Fourteen years ago the Lord decided it was not necessary for my wife to live any longer on the earth, and He took her to the other side of the veil. I confess that there are times when it is difficult not to be able to turn and talk to her, but I do not complain. The Lord has allowed me, at important moments in my life, to feel her influence through the veil.
What I am trying to teach is that when we keep the temple covenants we have made and when we live righteously in order to maintain the blessings promised by those ordinances, then come what may, we have no reason to worry or to feel despondent.
I am confident that we all want and need that kind of strength and power in our lives. So what can we do to get to the temple so we can receive it?
What We Can Do to Be There
Well, the first thing that needs to be done is exercising the first principles and ordinances of the gospel – Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by immersion by one having authority, and then receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
Elder Chrstofferson said:
Our foundational covenant, for example, the one in which we first pledge our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ, is confirmed by the ordinance of baptism. It is done individually, by name. By this ordinance, we become part of the covenant people of the Lord and heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.
Elder Maxwell taught: “Clearly, when we baptize, our eyes should gaze beyond the baptismal font to the holy temple.”
Elder Oaks explained that in renewing our baptismal covenants by partaking of the emblems of the sacrament, “we do not witness that we take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. [Rather], we witness that we are willing to do so. (See D&C 20:77.) The fact that we only witness to our willingness suggests that something else must happen before we actually take that sacred name upon us in the [ultimate and] most important sense” (“Taking upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 1985, 81).
Elder Bednar points out then that “the baptismal covenant clearly contemplates a future event or events and looks forward to the temple.” So we begin the process through faith, repentance, baptism,and receiving the Holy Ghost, but we know that there is more. As we partake of the sacrament to renew our covenants we recognize that we need to focus on the temple.
Elder Stevenson said:
In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin directed the Saints of his time and place to gather, “every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple.” As Church members, we have recently received counsel from modern-day prophets which, if followed, will turn the doors of our homes more fully towards the temple.
He went on:
We are blessed to live in a temple-building dispensation in which 146 temples have been dedicated or announced. Under the definition of “Temple” in the Bible Dictionary, we read the following: “It is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth,” followed by this insightful statement: “Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.” For me this suggests a sacred relationship between the temple and the home. Not only can we turn the doors of our homes to the temple, or the house of the Lord; we can make our homes a “house of the Lord.”
Recently, in a stake conference, all present were invited by the visiting authority, Elder Glen Jenson, an Area Seventy, to take a virtual tour of their homes using their spiritual eyes. I would like to invite each of you to do this also. Wherever your home may be and whatever its configuration, the application of eternal gospel principles within its walls is universal. Let’s begin. Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside your home. What do you see, and how do you feel? Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple? Is it clean and orderly? As you walk through the rooms of your home, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior? Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer? Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time? Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together? Can you find your personal gospel study space? Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit? Is the conversation uplifting and without contention? That concludes our tour. Perhaps you, as I, found a few spots that need some “home improvement”—hopefully not an “extreme home makeover.”
Whether our living space is large or small, humble or extravagant, there is a place for each of these gospel priorities in each of our homes.
In order to keep the temple and those who attend it sacred and worthy, the Lord has established standards through His servants, the prophets. We may be well-advised to consider together, in family council, standards for our homes to keep them sacred and to allow them to be a “house of the Lord.” The admonition to “establish … a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” (D&C 109:8) provides divine insight into the type of home the Lord would have us build. Doing such begins the construction of a “spiritual mansion” in which we all may reside regardless of our worldly circumstance—a home filled with treasure that “neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.”
So we can prepare ourselves for the temple by making our homes sacred sanctuaries from the world, places dedicated to the Lord.
In 2003 the First Presidency sent out a later that encouraged “newer members and youth of the Church who are 12 years of age and older to live worthy to assist in this great work by serving as proxies for baptisms and confirmations.” In this ward we are blessed to have scheduled trips to the temple once a month where we can all participate in the saving ordinances of the temple – we can help our fellow brothers and sisters to qualify for celestial glory. But you can go more than once a month - go every week! If you do not currently have a temple recommend I encourage you to do what you need to do to get one. And this is something even our newest members can do, there is no waiting time to be able to perform baptisms and receive the Holy Ghost for those who did not have this privilege. Being in the temple is a great way to prepare for the opportunity to receive all the ordinances there.
So we get to the temple through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, living faithfully to those covenants, and when we fail (which is constantly) we repent and renew our covenants through partaking of the sacrament, and then setting the temple as our goal and being there as much as possible.
Once There What Can We Do to Make Temples Meaningful in Our Lives?
So, we have gotten to the temple. What do we need to do to fully receive the promised power? In that letter from the First Presidency they invited “adult members to have a current temple recommend and visit the temple more often”, “to replace some leisure activities with temple service.” So we remember that the temple is still our goal.
In his talk, Elder Scott told of several things we can do to make our temple worship more meaningful. He said:
I encourage you to establish your own goal of how frequently you will avail yourself of the ordinances offered in our operating temples. What is there that is more important than attending and participating in the ordinances of the temple? What activity could have a greater impact and provide more joy and profound happiness for a couple than worshipping together in the temple?
- Understand the doctrine related to temple ordinances, especially the significance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
- While participating in temple ordinances, consider your relationship to Jesus Christ and His relationship to our Heavenly Father. This simple act will lead to greater understanding of the supernal nature of the temple ordinances.
- Always prayerfully express gratitude for the incomparable blessings that flow from temple ordinances. Live each day so as to give evidence to Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son of how very much those blessings mean to you.
- Schedule regular visits to the temple.
- Leave sufficient time to be unhurried within the temple walls.
- Rotate activities so that you can participate in all of the ordinances of the temple.
- Remove your watch when you enter a house of the Lord.
- Listen carefully to the presentation of each element of the ordinance with an open mind and heart.
- Be mindful of the individual for whom you are performing the vicarious ordinance. At times pray that he or she will recognize the vital importance of the ordinances and be worthy or prepare to be worthy to benefit from them.
- Recognize that much of the majesty of the sealing ordinance cannot be understood and remembered with one live experience. Substantial subsequent vicarious work permits one to understand much more of what is communicated in the live ordinances.
- Realize that a sealing ordinance is not enduring until after it is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Both individuals must be worthy and want the sealing to be eternal.
- Identify your ancestors, qualify them, and come to the house of the Lord to perform the ordinances they are longing to receive.
Helping in the work of our ancestors is actually something all of us can and should be doing. We can all search them out and prepare them to be able to receive the ordinances. We recently had a whole committee called to help us with this, so if you do not know how to do family history on your own I am sure any of them, Stacy, Kayla, or Sarah, would be happy to assist you.
When Elder Bednar was president of BYU Idaho he often had the opportunity to host many emeritus General Authorities at his house, many who had later become temple presidents. He had a common question he would ask all of them. “What have you learned as a temple president that you wish you had better understood when you were a General Authority?” He said their responses were pretty much all the same, and he summarized it as:
“I have come to understand better the protection available through our temple covenants and what it means to make an acceptable offering of temple worship. There is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple.”
Going to the temple is not meant to be something that we check off of our list of things to do, and if we go in that spirit, then what we will receive is far less than the blessings and promised power and protection that we could receive if we were to attend in a spirit of worship, and did so consistently.
Promised Blessings
So what are some of those promised blessings? Well, they are many. For one thing, during the endowment we are taught from on high about the plan of salvation. Last week as I was teaching temple preparation we listed some of the blessings promised in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, which can be found in D&C 109. It was great exercise because in doing so we realized that every blessing we could possibly hope for is promised. For brevity I will read just versus 24-28:
“We ask thee, Holy Father, to establish the people that shall worship, and honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house, to all generations and for eternity;
“That no weapon formed against them shall prosper; that he who diggeth a pit for them shall fall into the same himself;
“That no combination of wickedness shall have power to rise up and prevail over thy people upon whom thy name shall be put in this house;
“And if any people shall rise against this people, that thine anger be kindled against them;
“And if they shall smite this people thou wilt smite them; thou wilt fight for thy people as thou didst in the day of battle, that they may be delivered from the hands of all their enemies”.
Elder Bednar also read these versus and then said:
Please consider these verses in light of the current raging of the adversary and what we have discussed about our willingness to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and the blessing of protection promised to those who honorably hold a name and standing in the holy temple. Significantly, these covenant blessings are to all generations and for all eternity. I invite you to study repeatedly and ponder prayerfully the implications of these scriptures in your life and for your family.
We should not be surprised by Satan’s efforts to thwart or discredit temple worship and work. The devil despises the purity in and the power of the Lord’s house. And the protection available to each of us in and through temple ordinances and covenants stands as a great obstacle to the evil designs of Lucifer.
We need that protection so much! Don't let Satan keep you from receiving it.
When we were baptized we were promised that through our worthiness we could receive celestial glory. Which is fantastic! But through the reception of all the temple ordinances we are also promised exaltation – we are promised that if we are faithful to our covenants we will be heirs not only to the celestial kingdom, but exaltation – and thereby we will obtain all the divine possibilities God can give. That is our goal. And it is our Heavenly Father's and Savior's goal for us - that is the whole reason for the plan of salvation - why the Savior has done all He did for us - because they want us to have all they have. In D&C 132: 19-20 it says:
It shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.
I hope that you all want those blessings as much as I do. Elder Christofferson said:
Divine covenants make strong Christians. I urge each one to qualify for and receive all the priesthood ordinances you can and then faithfully keep the promises you have made by covenant. In times of distress, let your covenants be paramount and let your obedience be exact. Then you can ask in faith, nothing wavering, according to your need, and God will answer. He will sustain you as you work and watch. In His own time and way He will stretch forth his hand to you, saying, “Here am I.”
We have the opportunity to converse with the Lord. We are so blessed to live at this time. A time when not only can we receive these covenants, ordinances, and blessing for ourselves, but we can help others to receive them as well. Although temple ordinances have been performed since the time of Adam, it wasn't until after Christ opened the way for the gospel to be preached in the spirit world that we were able to perform ordinances for those who died without these blessings. That is a great blessing to us, to be able to return to the temple as often as we choose and be reminded of the covenants we made, the ordinances we received, and the blessings we have been promised, and at the same time do for others what they cannot do for themselves, to become saviors on mount zion.
Elder Packer said:
When you come to the temple and receive your endowment, and kneel at the altar to be sealed, you can live an ordinary life and be an ordinary soul - struggling against temptation, failing and repenting, and failing again and repenting, but always determined to keep your covenants.... Then the day will come when you will receive the benediction: 'Well done, though good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many thing; enter thou into the joy of thy lord' (Matthew 25:21)".
