The Sacrament: Keep His Commandments

Each week when we take the sacrament, we covenant that we will “keep his commandments which he has given” us.¹ The covenant to keep God’s commandments is the first covenant we make when we are baptized.² It is a fairly simple concept: we promise that we will keep God’s commandments.

What more can be said about keeping the commandments? It is a fairly straight-forward covenant, one that we should be able to understand and ponder on a daily basis. As I have studied the ordinance of the sacrament, and the covenants we make as we take the sacrament, there are several things I have learned that have given me a greater appreciation for this covenant.

They are “His” commandments

It is significant that the wording of the sacrament prayer is that we covenant to keep “His” commandments which “He” has given us. This pronoun obviously refers to Jesus Christ.

The entire purpose of the sacrament is to point our minds and hearts to Christ. When the Savior instituted the sacrament, he said simply, “this do in remembrance of me.”³

The entire focus of sacrament meeting should be centered on Christ. President Dallin H. Oaks has taught that “[t]he ordinance of the sacrament makes the sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the Church. . . . Its content in addition to the sacrament should always be planned and presented to focus our attention on the Atonement and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”⁴

It is no wonder then that the wording specifies that we are to keep “His” commandments, which “He” has given us. Even the reference to the commandments helps us think of Christ.

Thinking of the commandments as being given by Christ can increase their significance. If we think of the commandments as being given by old men, they could carry little weight. But if we think of them as being given by Christ, we might have a greater desire to be obedient. This example is shown in the Book of Mormon when Nephi said, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.”⁵ When Lehi, a prophet of the Lord, had asked Nephi and his brothers to return to Jerusalem and obtain the brass plates, Laman and Lemuel murmured, saying it was a hard thing that Lehi required of them.⁶ But it was not Lehi’s commandment: he testified that it was a commandment of the Lord.⁷

It can sometimes be challenging to see “through” our leaders and recognize the voice of the Lord in their teachings. But as we take the sacrament, we are reminded that they are “His” commandments. As we reflect on the plan of salvation, and try to understand how the commandments help us to come closer to Christ, we will be more willing to live them day by day.

Obedience requires faith

As we ponder obedience to God’s commandments, we must exercise faith. The classic example is when Adam and Eve were commanded to offer sacrifice after they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. “And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.”⁸

This demonstrates that Adam and Eve were faithful, even when they did not understand why. Their trust in God gave them the faith to obey. Many criticize this as “blind” obedience, but there is a significant difference between exercising faith in God, and obeying without thinking.

Do we sometimes obey blindly? Of course, but I don’t believe this is pleasing to God. It is blind obedience to live commandments without thinking about them, but God wants us to understand. He wants us to know why he gives us commandments, and he expects us to learn as we obey. During his mortal ministry, he said simply, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”⁹ It always has been, and always will be, that God asks us to live by faith, and as we exercise faitih and obey God’s commandments, we will gain knowledge and understanding line upon line.

In the example of Adam and Eve, after “many days” of their obedience, an angel appeared to them and taught them the significance of what they were doing: “This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”¹⁰

In a beautiful talk given in general conference in 2002, Elder R. Conrad Schultz spoke of “faith obedience”:

“One of the sneaky ploys of the adversary is to have us believe that unquestioning obedience to the principles and commandments of God is blind obedience. His goal is to have us believe that we should be following our own worldly ways and selfish ambitions. This he does by persuading us that ‘blindly’ following the prophets and obeying the commandments is not thinking for ourselves. He teaches that it is not intelligent to do something just because we are told to do so by a living prophet or by prophets who speak to us from the scriptures.

“Our unquestioning obedience to the Lord’s commandments is not blind obedience. President Boyd K. Packer in the April conference of 1983 taught us about this: ‘Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God. … We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see’ (‘Agency and Control,’ Ensign, May 1983, 66). We might call this ‘faith obedience.'”¹¹

Yes, it requires faith to be obedient to God’s commandments. But we covenant to do that each week as we partake of the sacrament. How can we partake of the emblems of Christ’s body and blood each week, covenanting that we will obey “His” commandments, then willingly refuse to keep commandments that are given by God’s prophets and apostles?

Obedience requires study

When we covenant to keep “His” commandments, what exactly are we promising to do? What are “His” commandments?

If we want to know God’s commandments, we have to strive to discover them. We have to study the scriptures and the words of the prophets. How can we keep God’s commandments if we don’t know what they are?

As we work to keep God’s commandments, we must put them in the context of the Plan of Salvation. Significantly, Joseph Smith taught that “[t]here is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.”¹² The commandments are not just whims of a prophet, or even random whims of God. There are laws that are “irrevocably decreed.” By giving us commandments, God is teaching us about those laws. He is teaching us how to live the life that he lives. Essentially, God is giving us celestial laws that are obeyed in the celestial kingdom, and if we want to live where he lives, we must learn to not only obey those laws, but recognize their power.

In my post, “A Covenant Relationship with God,” I compared the commandments of God to the natural laws pertaining to flight. This may be a bit pretentious, but I’m going to quote myself:

“Gravity makes things fall, but airplanes can fly. That flight does not violate the natural law of gravity. But by understanding other laws, scientists were able to develop a way to take advantage of those laws and create a device that can fly.

“Flight is an example of how gaining a greater knowledge of laws can give us greater power. Gravity could be seen as a restriction, and many talk about the commandments as restrictions. But as we learn about the laws of God, we gain greater power. As we make covenants with God, and as he teaches us about his laws, we have a greater capacity to grow, develop, progress, and move closer to becoming like him.”¹³

Commandments are not restrictive. They are liberating. But if we only have a limited view, we might not see or understand their power. Therefore, we must study. We must live the commandments in faith, we must study, and live other commandments that we might discover. And as we learn and discover more, we will realize that we will be blessed with “commandments not a few.”¹⁴ In other words, as we grow closer to God, he will give us more commandments. The more we live God’s commandments, and feel the power that comes from righteous living, the more we will see the commandments as blessings from a loving Father in Heaven.

How does he give us commandments?

The covenant to keep “His” commandments is qualified with the statement, “which he has given us.” What does that mean? How might it impact the covenant to keep his commandments?

A significant question is how God gives us commandments. A beautiful doctrine about the salvation of little children can help us understand this. In a letter to his son Moroni, the prophet Mormon taught that those without the law are alive in Christ:

“For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing.”¹⁵

Clearly, little children have not had any law given to them. They are “without” the law. In his infinite mercy and grace, and because of his atonement, Jesus Christ has chosen to not impose a law upon little children. As I have pondered this, I believe that this reveals, at least in part, how God “gives” laws to us.

To receive God’s laws, we have to be accountable before God. I believe only God knows when we become accountable, but currently, children who reach the age of eight are eligible to be baptized. And it is by being baptized that they then “receive” the law. By being baptized, we make covenants, and in our covenant relationship with God, we are given commandments.

In my prior post, “A Covenant Relationship with God,” I discussed various ordinances, and the covenants we make in those ordinances. The first, and most simple, is that when we are baptized, we covenant that we will follow Jesus Christ and keep his commandments. And so, baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are under covenant to keep God’s commandments. In other words, they have received a law, and they are under covenant to obey that law.

This is shown in an invitation given by the prophet Alma. After giving a beautiful sermon about experiencing a mighty change of heart (Alma 5), Alma makes the following invitation:

“I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.”¹⁶

Why did Alma “command” the members of the church, but he only “invited” those who are not members? The simple answer is that the members of the church who had been baptized had made a covenant to keep God’s commandments, so as God’s authorized representative, Alma had the authority to speak on behalf of the Lord and “give” commandments to God’s people. But those who had not yet been baptized were under no such covenant, so they were instead invited to enter into that covenant relationship.

I believe that the language “which he has given us” is significant, in that it should recall to our mind each and every covenant we have made with God, and the commandments that he has given us in those ordinances.

For example, when members of the Church receive their endowment, they make covenants in which they are given commandments. On the Church’s website pertaining to temples, it explains:

“During the endowment ordinance, you will be invited to make certain covenants with God. These covenants are:

• Law of Obedience, which includes striving to keep God’s commandments.
• Law of Sacrifice, which means doing all we can to support the Lord’s work and repenting with a broken heart and contrite spirit.
• Law of the Gospel, which is the higher law that He taught while He was on the earth.
• Law of Chastity, which means that we have sexual relations only with the person to whom we are legally and lawfully wedded according to God’s law.
• Law of Consecration, which means dedicating our time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed us to building up Jesus Christ’s Church on the earth.”¹⁷

These are clearly commandments, and they are given to members during the endowment. It could be said that these are commandments which God has given to members of the church who have received their endowment. Yes, these are laws and commandments that all people should live, but only those who have received their endowment are under covenant to live these laws. With this understanding, we can find greater meaning in the Lord’s parable of the servants who are waiting for their lord’s return: “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. . . . And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”¹⁸

Thinking of these commandments as being given to us in the endowment, I believe that when we take the sacrament, and covenant that we are willing to “keep his commandments which he has given” us, we are effectively renewing the covenants we made in the temple. We are once again promising to keep those commandments which we were given when we received our endowment. Those temple ordinances are not repeated in sacrament meeting, as they are only appropriately performed in the temple, but we are making a covenant to keep God’s commandments, which is all-encompasing and could include each and every covenant that we have made with God.

Keep his commandments which he has given us

The covenant to keep God’s commandments should be on our minds day by day. With every decision we make, we should ponder whether that choice is aligned with God’s commandments.

But what are the commandments? God gives us simple, basic principles as we make covenants. He wants us to ponder, to think, to study, and follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost to learn for ourselves. As we ponder what is a “commandment” from God, we must consider that inspiration from the Holy Ghost reveals God’s will to us, and so any inspiration from the Spirit could also be considered a “commandment which he has given” us. We can see that as we compare the experiences of Jonah and Alma.

Jonah was commanded to go to Ninevah and preach the gospel, but he refused.¹⁹ His trials and the consequences of his disobedience are chronicled in the book of Jonah. But Alma had a different experience. After being rejected in Ammonihah, he was comanded to return.²⁰ Alma, unlike Jonah, obeyed: “Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah.”²¹ The following chapters demonstrate the blessings that Alma received for his obedience.

The covenant to obey God’s commandments does not pertain to just the ten commandments, although it does include that. Rather, the covenant to “keep his commandments” which “he has given” us includes invitations from God’s chosen representatives, and it includes the direction and guidance we receive through the Holy Ghost.

This covenant may seem circular: as we live the covenant to keep his commandments, we may always have the Holy Ghost with us. And as we have the Holy Ghost with us, we will receive direction and guidance which we are under covenant to obey. This is all modified by the covenant that we are “willing.” We just have to try, and as we willingly strive, the Holy Ghost will continue to guide us, and we can repent when we fall short. Day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute, as we strive to keep God’s commandments, we can have the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

References

1. Doctrine and Covenants 20:77. ↩︎
2. Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel, “The Invitation to Be Baptized and Confirmed,” 28-29, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/preach-my-gospel-2023/04-chapter-3/07-chapter-3-invite?lang=eng&id=p6-p7#p6. ↩︎
3. Luke 22:19. ↩︎
4. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament,” Ensign, November 2008, 17, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2008/11/sacrament-meeting-and-the-sacrament?lang=eng&id=p8#p8. ↩︎
5. 1 Nephi 3:7. ↩︎
6. 1 Nephi 3:5. ↩︎
7. 1 Nephi 3:5. ↩︎
8. Moses 5:6. ↩︎
9. John 7:17. ↩︎
10. Moses 5:7-8. ↩︎
11. Elder R. Conrad Schultz, “Faith Obedience,” Ensign, May 2002, 29-30, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/05/faith-obedience?lang=eng&id=p7-p9#p7. ↩︎
12. Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21. ↩︎
13. A Covenant Relationship with God. ↩︎
14. Doctrine and Covenants 59:4. ↩︎
15. Moroni 8:22. ↩︎
16. Alma 5:62. ↩︎
17. Temples.churchofjesuschrist.org, “About the Temple Endowment,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/what-is-temple-endowment?lang=eng. ↩︎
18. Luke 12:43-48. ↩︎
19. Jonah 1:1-3. ↩︎
20. Alma 8:8-17. ↩︎
21. Alma 8:18. ↩︎