2.122 Why The Church?

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends.

It is so great to have you with me. Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. I got to be honest with you.

I have such a great time putting you, the listeners, into my mind as I go through the scriptures. And it's interesting because I don't know all of you that listen to this, but I know some of you. And so sometimes I'm thinking about a specific person here or a specific family there or a specific couple over here or someone in this life situation there.

And I really try to lean in to promptings or revelation, if we even say it that far, as to what I should share. And I was about to move on from Doctrine and Covenants, our reading this week of sections 41–44, and move into Mosiah 8–11. And I came across a verse with the family, and it struck me, and I said, 'I've got to—we've got to dive into this one.' So our verse for today comes off of Doctrine and Covenants section 42, but it runs off an interesting assumption.

We call it the law, but that assumption runs off of a few questions that we answer, at least as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and say yes to. Is God even real? Was Jesus Christ even a real person?

Did he really literally resurrect? Are the heavens truly open? Is there such a thing as a prophet today?

These are core questions that I know even members of the Church have experienced faith challenges and struggles in saying yes to. And then ultimately all of those questions, if they are yeses, still lead to the question of why a church? Why one church?

There's so many with so many different options that teach doctrines and teachings of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. And so why one? Why the Church?

These are the questions that have gone through my mind as I've thought about our verse for today. It's in Doctrine and Covenants 42:69. And I love this.

If all of these are yeses, then the Lord really is speaking this. And he says, 'Lift up your hearts and rejoice, for unto you the kingdom, or in other words, the keys of the Church, have been given; even so. Amen.' What a great reason to rejoice!

There are keys from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that are keys to the Church of Christ. Where have those keys gone? And here the Lord says they have been given to you.

Now, what is it about these Church keys that makes it so important? D. Todd Christofferson, Elder Christofferson, gave a talk in 2015.

I'll put the link in the podcast episode in October. He says this about the keys of the kingdom: "'With the keys of the kingdom, the Lord's servants can identify both truth and falsehood, and once again authoritatively state, "Thus saith the Lord." Regrettably, some resent the Church because they want to define their own truth, but in reality, it is a surpassing blessing to receive a knowledge of things as they truly are, and as they were, and as they are to come, insofar as the Lord wills to reveal it. The Church safeguards and publishes God's revelations, the canon of Scripture.'" My friends, the Church gives us an opportunity to hear the phrase, 'to receive a knowledge of things as they truly are, and as they were, and as they are to come, insofar as the Lord wills to reveal it.' What a wonderful lens we can have when we have the Spirit of the Lord with us and work through the keys of the kingdom!

Because it allows us to see truth, to find truth, and to see it in a world that is full of disillusionment, that is full of falsehood, and that is full of struggle and confusion and chaos. Here is an opportunity for us to rejoice, to lift up our hearts, and know that the Lord is here and can direct us in all that we do going forward. What an amazing blessing!

That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave to the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.