2.322 Go Ye Out From Babylon

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's great to have you with me. Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. I've got a challenge for you today.

But as always you can choose whether you're going to take on the challenge. I'm going to take on the challenge. You got this.

Let's dive into it. We're reading this week Doctrine and Covenants Sections 133 and 134 as well as Mormon Chapter 1, verses 3-6. Now we're on this theme of last messages, right?

This idea that Doctrine and Covenants Section 133 was going to be the appendix to the Book of Commandments. So it was kind of this rallying cry at the end of the Book of Commandments. And this has been mentioned by like eight or nine prophets over General Conference talks.

So I think I've got one that's been a common phrase and a common one. And it really got me thinking. Our verse for today is Doctrine and Covenants Section 133, verse 5.

Very short one. It says, "Go ye out from Babylon; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." Now as you go through Doctrine and Covenants Section 133, you're going to see the Lord is very, very much encouraging us to leave Babylon. And what is Babylon?

Well, Babylon is kind of the anti-Zion. So everything that the Lord describes Zion is, Babylon is not. It's the opposite.

Babylon is the world, Zion is the Lord's heaven, the spiritual world of our Heavenly Father. And so Zion is the pure in heart, Babylon is the strife for singularity, the desire to be me and me alone, versus together in one. I don't need to keep going back and forth, but Babylon, this suggestion in verse 5 is really interesting: "Go ye out from Babylon." And this got me thinking about an experience actually that was shared with me back on my mission.

In fact, I know one of my old mission companions—I know he listens to this podcast. So shout out! I won't use your name, I won't call you out here, but I know you're listening, so this is for you.

Your story stuck with me. But this one really got me thinking: this idea of going out of Babylon and being clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. I give you the challenge; then I give you the story.

The challenge is, what do you have in your life right now that represents Babylon? And what is it going to take for you to leave it behind? Now, here's the story from my companion.

He shared with us, I think it may have been the MTC, but it could have been on my mission at some time, so forgive the timing. But he shared with us one time, he was listening to some music and his dad came into his room and his dad opened the lyrics to the music that he was listening to. And he read the lyrics out loud, just sitting right next to his son, right?

He read them word for word and they were not great lyrics. They were very inappropriate lyrics. And as my companion he kind of shared this story.

He talked about the weird feeling that he had listening to his dad say all of those words. Not often—maybe some of you have had an experience like that. But it got me thinking about whether it's lyrics to music, whether it's scenes in a movie or a TV show, whether it's radio shows, podcasts we listen to, whatever it is that represents Babylon in our lives.

The Lord encourages us to get out of Babylon and he does so in Doctrine and Covenants Section 133 over and over again. At least three times, maybe a little bit more than that. My friends, the challenge for you and for me is to get Babylon out of our lives.

What is it going to take? I want you to consider Babylon in your life. Where does it show up?

What does it look like? What is it going to take for you to get out of it? I want you to think about whether it's an experience like my companion with a parent that's going to sit next to you and read the lyrics to a song you listen to.

I don't know. What if the bishop stood up in church and asked you to come up and give a talk and the only thing that was in front of you was the conversation of a movie you just watched or describing the scene you just witnessed, or whatever it is? The thing that came to mind for me that I'll share with you just quickly, and I included it here in the podcast, in the links.

One of my favorite things to do to get Babylon out of my life is to find good music. I like to find uplifting music. And for me growing up as a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to sing "Ye Elders of Israel" in Priesthood Sessions when they used to have those.

So I've included for you just a link to one of the versions of "Ye Elders of Israel." My friends, take the challenge to get Babylon out of your life, whatever it may look like. Do it now. Our prophets have encouraged us to "be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." And now is the time for you and for me to make a choice to be in Zion and out of Babylon.

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