I love the way the following words of Jesus Christ are stated in the Covenant of Christ. This is part of His teaching redirected to the audience following things spoken exclusively to His twelve disciples:
“Or who of you, if your child asks for bread, will give them a stone? Or if your child asks for a fish, will give them a snake? If you then, with all your faults still understand how to respond to your children’s requests, how much more does your Father who is in Heaven know how to respond kindly to things asked of Him? Therefore everything you expect others to do for you, do that for them, for that will satisfy the law and the prophets.
“You should enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is vast that leads to destruction, and many enter through those; because the gate is narrow and the pathway tight leading to life, and very few find it.
“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inside they’re ravenous wolves. You can identify them by their results. Can you gather grapes from thorns? Or figs from thistles? Likewise you know that every good fruit tree produces good fruit, but diseased trees produce diseased fruit. A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, neither does a diseased tree produce good fruit. Every tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by the fruit produced you can identify them.” 3 Ne. 6:8-10.
The language is clear and meaning unmistakable. Even with all our faults, we still know how to respond to our children’s requests. Christ reminds us that Father in Heaven knows how to respond kindly to our requests.
This world does have a wide gate beckoning us to enter through that accommodating entrance. And thereafter we also find the opportunities to walk in harmony with the world is indeed vast. There is no end to the variety of errors we are tempted to accept: our pride, ambition, jealousies, envies, foolishness, lusts, greed, impatience and ego are always eager to lead us astray.
A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things cannot produce the faith necessary for salvation. And so we are required to sacrifice our good name and reputation, to spend money to support our uncompensated efforts, endure the false accusations and continual slander from others, and to continually remember we are nothing but poor servants, and even if we serve well we only are doing our duty.
The Lord accomplishes a great deal through weak things. If we rely on Him then even our weak abilities can nevertheless accomplish His purposes. But it is a very tight pathway. It confines us. We are left with His assurance that it will turn out well in the end, but for us now it is enduring the opposition and criticism of this world.
I think the Lord asks us to walk in that challenging path in order to understand Him. Without sacrificing we cannot understand His life. Even when we sacrifice all things as He asks, we remain unprofitable and serve Him poorly, even with our best efforts. Nevertheless, the Lord still is able to accomplish His will, vindicate His promises, and fulfill His covenants. He has and is doing a marvelous work and a wonder!
Christ provided the marvelous warning for us to beware of false prophets who come to you dressed in sheep’s clothing. So they will be intent on the pretense of harmlessness. We cannot trust appearances because inside they’re ravenous wolves. They’re in it for themselves. They are a threat, even though they attempt to put on a show to appear benign.
So the Lord gives us a key to determine how to identify the wolves: You can identify them by their results. Where does their teaching lead you? Will it cause you to also sacrifice your good name and reputation, or soothe your ego? Does it lead you to help the poor and needy with your tithes and offerings, or is someone benefitting financially who is not in need?
Can you gather grapes from thorns? Or figs from thistles? Likewise you know that every good fruit tree produces good fruit, but diseased trees produce diseased fruit. A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit, neither does a diseased tree produce good fruit. Every tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by the fruit produced you can identify them.
It circles back to the earlier part of His sermon in which we are taught: “[B]lessed are those who believe in your words and come down into the depths of humility and are baptized, since they will be visited with fire and the Holy Ghost and will receive a remission of their sins. Yes, God is with the poor in spirit who come to Me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
And also, God is with all those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
And God remembers the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
And God accompanies all those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And God loves the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.
And God blesses the pure in heart, for they will see God.
And God is with all the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
And God is beside all those who are persecuted for being called by My name, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. And God stands with all of you when people revile, persecute, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, because of following Me, for you should all have great joy and be very glad, because a great reward awaits you in heaven; the prophets who lived before you were persecuted in the same way.”
He is WITH us, He REMEMBERS us, He ACCOMPANIES us, He LOVES us, He BLESSES us, He is BESIDE us, and He STANDS WITH us as we go through this life’s trials and challenges. But we are not spared from passing through the depths of humility, mourning, meekness, hunger, thirst (longing) for righteousness when we see so little evidence of it, showing mercifulness to the unmerciful, making peace with the un-peaceful and bitterly angry, persecution, reviling and evil lies because we do as the Lord asks to be done.
So if you want to harvest the good fruit, it comes at the price of facing the world’s opposition. We do get Him to be with us, to remember us, to accompany us, to feel His love, receive His blessing, know He is beside us, and finally to realize He stands with us. All of these are good fruit. But they are not easily harvested. They are gathered in a tight pathway after entering a narrow gate.
It is almost as if the contradiction between grapes and figs to be gathered seem pleasant and enjoyable, on the one hand. But on the other they are harvested by obedience to His requirements to endure this world’s opposition, and sometimes fierce condemnation.
In the end, however, we must conclude that if our religion does not require the sacrifice of all things it will never have power sufficient to produce the faith necessary for life and salvation. For from the first existence of man, the faith necessary for life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things: it was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained for us to enjoy eternal life, and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all he has for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do His will, he does know most assuredly that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not nor will not seek His face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, we can obtain the faith necessary to lay hold on eternal life. It is absolutely vain for us to fancy ourselves to be heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and who by this means obtained faith in God and favor with Him so as to obtain eternal life, unless we in like manner offer unto Him the same sacrifice, and through that offering obtain the knowledge that we are accepted of Him.
If we follow the Lord’s teaching we can actually, literally, and even physically realize His promise to be with us, and stand beside us. Then all doubts will flee from us and our faith is supplanted by knowledge.
I love the text of Covenant of Christ. It resounds with words of eternal life, because Christ’s words are truth, His words are spirit. They bring with them the power of redemption because, when we recognize them as His, we then have Him speaking directly to and with us.