Pilot Lesson: Obedience and Sacrifice

We are Piloting the New Adult Curriculum!

Last Sunday I attended a training meeting for the pilot of the new adult curriculum. The Kennewick stake was one of ten chosen from over 3000 stakes all over the world, and one of four stakes from North America (Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Greenland and the Carribean).
So, yeah, we're feelin' kinda special.
The pilot will last for about two months, during which time we'll give the Church feedback on our experiences. In fact, every adult member of the stake will be asked to log in weekly to post their comments.
It all starts this Sunday with a survey at the beginning of our Gospel Doctrine Class; a survey that will be repeated at the end of the pilot as well.
What's different?

• Teachers should focus on preparing themselves rather than preparing lessons. 
• Classes are to be more interactive, with the freedom to follow gospel conversations as guided by the Spirit. (Gone are the days when the teacher can say, "One more comment and then we need to move on.") As a result, there is more responsibility on the class members to come prepared to discuss and less responsibility on the teacher to "present a lesson." I'm not sure how PowerPoints fit in to all this less structured format. That will have to be determined. 
• The Ward Council gets involved in choosing lesson topics so the leaders can use gospel instruction to help meet the spiritual needs of their ward members. Sounds like a great idea! And definitely more in line with the way the Savior taught.
• The teacher encourages "personal and family" gospel study by asking questions about ways to teach the gospel in the home (including using the Media Library at lds.org); asking class members how they've acted on impressions they've received during scripture study; and asking class members to share or explain especially meaningful scriptures that pertain to the lesson topic.

Obedience and Sacrifice

Genesis 4; 22; Moses 5: 1-11, 16-26

The Definition of Sacrifice

Have you ever heard anyone say, "A sacrifice isn't really a sacrifice because we are so blessed as a result!" 
Let's review the definition of sacrifice: "to give up something important or valued for the sake of other considerations." In other words, even when we are blessed as a result, we should be careful not to trivialize the actual sacrifice people make to be obedient. I don't believe the Lord does.
What do we sacrifice to be obedient to God's commandments?
A better question might be: What will I sacrifice today to be obedient to God's commandments?
Right now, I guess I'm sacrificing my time. I could be cleaning my house, doing laundry, figuring out my budget, watching lame TV, or working on my PornProofKids blog. (Notice how I make a shameful plug for my very worthy cause every chance I get?) But I digress...
The point is that sacrifice often means choosing priorities for your TIME. But there's so much more to sacrifice.
You can sacrifice money, social status, pride (or how people will view you). You can sacrifice a job you love, a house you adore because the Lord prompts you to move elsewhere.
People sacrifice appetites, bad habits, even friends in order to be obedient to the Lord. The list goes on and on. Of course, the best thing to sacrifice is sin.

Animal Sacrifices

The only place we get the clear story on why Adam began to perform animal sacrifices is in the book of Moses. (By the way, the Bible Dictionary has an excellent article on Sacrifices.) It's important to understand that animal sacrifices were "instructive as well as worshipful. They were accompanied by prayer, devotion, and dedication, and represented an acknowledgment on the part of the individual of his duty toward God, and also a thankfulness to the Lord for his life and blessings upon the earth."

An angel explained to Adam the purpose and symbolism behind offering animal sacrifices. Note that Adam was obedient for "many days" before he was given an understanding of why he was being obedient, hence the true principle--if you want to know if something is true, live it. Moses 5: 5-8

5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
 6 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.
 7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
 8 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.

Comparing Three OT Stories

It's really interesting to compare these three stories from the beginning of the Old Testament and the book of Moses involving Adam & Eve, Cain and Abel and Abraham and Isaac. Here's the chart I showed in class. Note that only in the book of Moses do we get the full story of why Adam and Eve began to offer animal sacrifices.

The Sacrifice of Reason

Sometimes in order to be obedient to a commandment or a prompting (which is the same thing, right?) from God, we have to sacrifice our reason or logic (what makes sense to us). We have to take a step in the darkness; to obey without fully understanding why. (Keep reading for why this is so essential to developing faith.)

Adam

Adam had no idea why he was sacrificing the most perfect firstling of his flock. It probably didn't make any sense to him. "Why did God ask me to take and kill a perfectly good lamb? A lamb that could go on to improve my flock with its genetic perfection. A lamb that could help to feed and cloth my family if it were allowed to grow to maturity." Adam sacrificed his reason, his "why?" in order to be obedient.

Cain

Conversely, Cain didn't understand the importance of sacrificing an unblemished, firstling lamb. His reason said, "Hey, my fruit and crops are just as good as Abel's lamb. Why should it make any difference? I'll make an offering in a way that makes sense to me." That led to pride, anger, to gross sin,  and then  to being cast out. It started, in part, because Cain would not abandon his own logic, to trust in God. For Cain, it was his way AND the highway, as he became a "fugitive and a vagabond" after he murdered Abel. (See Genesis 4: 12-14)

Abraham

And again, as a stark contrast to Cain's story, Abraham received a commandment that made absolutely no sense at all. Issac was this miracle son, born to Sarah in her old age. He was supposed to bring Abraham posterity more numerous than the sands of the sea or the stars in the heavens. So why was God asking him to sacrifice Isaac? And think about what Abraham went through as a young man—he too was about to be offered up as a human sacrifice by the wicked priests until an angel saved him. Imagine how difficult it would be for him to do the same thing to his only son? Think about Sarah—what was he going to tell her when he returned without Isaac? None of this stopped Abraham from trusting God and obeying his commandment. Amazing faith, amazing blessings that followed, too.

Living Intentionally

What does making a sacrifice cause us to do? It causes us to actively make a choice; to give up one thing in order to choose another thing we have decided is more valuable. It causes us to prioritize; to act instead of be acted upon. In short, to live intentionally. 

It's easy to talk about living the gospel. We do that all the time in our Sunday School class. And talk has its place in communicating ideas and helping to build faith. But only by action are we truly committed to living the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Action which causes us to make a choice; to give up one thing to actively choose something better.

I think one of the reasons sacrifice is such an important partner to obedience is that sacrifice ratifies, validates and sanctifies our obedience. 

People can be forced to obey; but what happens when a person sacrifices to obey? It can change their character and soften their heart. It brings obedience to a higher level of discipleship. 

God's Sacrifice

Up to this point, I've been focusing on the sacrifice we make to be obedient. But the sacrifice that makes our sacrifice valid is the one made by Our Heavenly Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father sacrificed his Son for us. Jesus Christ sacrificed by suffering for every sin ever committed, every loss, and every wrong thing. And why? Because they love us and want to give us the way to come back and live with them eternally. 

When we think of becoming more like them, we must also think about learning to sacrifice like they did.

Where Does Faith Come In?

I think it all comes down to faith. If you have faith in the eventual, if not immediate, blessings of God for keeping his commandments, you'll make the required sacrifice. At some point, and probably at many points, in your life, you'll have to make a choice: my way or God's way? Reason or faith? (As a missionary, we used to teach that "you pay tithing with faith, not money.")
As my friend Claudine pointed out, in order to develop faith we have to be confronted with some situations where God's way is illogical or doesn't make sense. If every time we obeyed God, it made perfect, logical, reasonable sense--where's the test in that? If God's ways truly are higher than ours, and he can see the big picture where we can't, it makes sense that some decisions to follow him are not going to make sense to us. (Does that make sense?)
All that we have is God's, except for the one thing he gave to us: our agency: our ability to choose to be obedient and to sacrifice. But if we give that back to Him by obeying him, he blesses us with redemption and life eternal. Sounds like a good plan to me.
Here's what the Prophet Joseph Smith had to say:

 “By faith in this atonement or plan of redemption, Abel offered to God a sacrifice that was accepted, which was the firstlings of the flock. Cain offered of the fruit of the ground, and was not accepted, because he could not do it in faith; he could have no faith, or could not exercise faith contrary to the plan of heaven. It must be shedding the blood of the Only Begotten to atone for man, for this was the plan of redemption, and without the shedding of blood was no remission. And as the sacrifice was instituted for a type by which man was to discern the great Sacrifice which God had prepared, to offer a sacrifice contrary to that, no faith could be exercised, because redemption was not purchased in that way, nor the power of atonement instituted after that order; consequently Cain could have no faith; and whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. But Abel offered an acceptable sacrifice, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God Himself testifying of his gifts."

The ChallengeThink of ONE blessing you want to have or ONE character trait you want to develop. Then identify the requisite law you need to obey (and the sacrifice you need to make) in order to receive this blessing. 

Some questions to ponder:

• What sacrifices have I made to keep the Lord's commandments? How have I been blessed as a result?
• Why is it important to obey God's commandments even when we don't know all the reasons for them?
• How can we make offerings that are acceptable to the Lord?
• What can we learn from Abraham about obedience and sacrifice? (For that matter, what can we learn from Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel about obedience and sacrifice?
• Why is obedience paired with sacrifice?
• How can we better appreciate the sacrifice God and His Only Begotten Son made for us?
• How do we gain a better understanding of any particular commandment or doctrine? (John 7:17) Why do we have to live it before we fully understand it? (See D&C 130: 20-22)

Group Discussion Questions 

(We broke into 9 groups, with three groups assigned to discuss each set.)

Set A

Why is it important to obey God’s commandments even when we don’t know all of the reasons for them?

What do the scriptural accounts of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel teach us about going forward with obedience (or not) despite not fully understanding the reasons why? What are the differences between Adam & Eve’s and Abel’s obedience and Cain’s “obedience” to the commandment to offer sacrifices?

Have you ever obeyed a commandment or a prompting without fully understanding why? What happened?

Set B

Why is obedience paired with sacrifice? How do they strengthen one another?

Can a person obey without choosing to sacrifice?

How does making a sacrifice change our hearts? What effect do you think it had on Adam, Abel and Abraham?

How is our obedience tied to the Lord’s sacrifice for us, his Atonement?

  

Set C

Why do you think the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his only, beloved son Isaac?

What are all the reasons why this commandment would be especially confusing and gut-wrenchingly difficult for Abraham?

What gave Abraham the strength to be obedient?

Why do you think Isaac was compliant?

How can we develop greater levels of obedience and greater ability to sacrifice? (John 7:17; D&C 130: 20-21)

Videos

Akedah (The Binding): A video of Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice unto the Lord. 12:57
Strengthened in the Lord: This is a video geared for youth, but with messages of inspiration for all of us. I was especially inspired by the final young woman's story of sacrifice. She wanted to be obedient and she paid a price. How do you think her sacrifice affected her?

Articles

A Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit by Elder Bruce D. Porter
Sacrifice by Elder Dallin H. Oaks
Obedience Brings Blessings Pres. Thomas S. Monson