Pure Religion, this term is used in the epistle of James. Small book just 6 pages, within those few pages we have
James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
James 1:19-20 "Wherefore, my beloved brethern, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."
James 1:27 the very scripture he wished to share with us that day, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
Two aspects of pure religion-
1-Selfless Service
2-Personal purity or being unspotted from the world
Bishop asked: What do we mean by the world? many answers were given, among them, those things that are not of the Lord, things that are from Satan. How do we become spotted by the world? Matthew 4:1-10 These scriptures are about Satan's attempts to tempt the Savior in the wilderness..
verses 3-4 Satan said turn a stone to bread, trying to appeal to the Lords appetite. How does Satan try to appeal to our appetites today? Movies, TV, Video Games, Pornography.
Verses 5-7 Satan says to Christ cast thyself down, what was Satan trying to appeal to? The pride and vanity of those who are alienated from the things of God. How does he do it now? Having us worry about what others might think of us?
Verses 8-10 What was Satan trying to appeal to? The desire for riches and power. How does he do it now? Advertising, news, media
David O McKay: "Now, nearly every temptation that comes to you and me comes in one of those forms, classify them, and you will find that under of one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted, ever so little may be, comes to us as 1) a temptation of the appetite; 2) a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; or 3) a gratifying of the passion, or a desire for the riches of the world, or power among men...
Spotted a little a bit at a time till it becomes a huge mess!
How do we avoid becoming spotted: of course the answers are in the scriptures!
1) D&C 121:45 Let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly
2) 2 Nephi 9:52 Pray unto him continually by day
3) 2 Nephi 32:5 The Holy Ghost will show unto you all the things ye should do
4) D&C 59:9 Go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day-We talked about this last Sunday
Remember that clean white towel at the beginning of the lesson? We came into the world like that clean white towel and it is our job to do our very best to stay that way.
It is hard to do because Satan is abroad in the world and he will attempt to cause us to become unclean as he is, spotted by the world, be appealing to:
v Our appetites
v Our pride, fashion, and vanity of those alienate from God,
v Our desire for riches and power
As we discussed the challenges of staying unspotted from the world the Bishop said "Life is like trying to dance between the rain drops-you can't help but get a little wet." So do you wait until you are a little damp to deal with the issues or like the towel do you leave it sit for weeks to set the stain in or do we deal with the challenges right away.
Another quote from the Bishop was one he had heard from his boss..."When you put sour milk in the refrigerator it doesn't make it fresh just colder." (Just like putting ourselves in church doesn't take away the spots.)
We cannot take the atonement for granted and take advantage of the Savior's sacrifice. The priests can bless the bread and water, and the deacons can pass it to us, but only we can do the hard work of repentance and prayerful and reverent thought necessary to take advantage of it. Are we doing this by arriving on time, listening reverently to the prelude music to prepare ourselves to take advantage of the Savior's sacrifice? If we are not, we may not be doing the hard work necessary to remove the stains, like the ones we obtain in the course of the week.
He closed by baring a sweet testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the blessing that await us if we do our part...you know our Bishop...and have heard him share his testimony with us...He shared the scriptures and council and love...doesn't get better than that...
