Grace and Works

Here is the transcript of the talk I gave in sacrament meeting yesterday:
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A couple months ago I had a really hard time falling asleep. Instead of visions of sugar-plums dancing in my head, I had the words of a sacrament meeting talk streaming through my brain like they were on an electronic marquee.  As the hours passed, my mind continued to spin and sleep remained elusive. Eventually, I gave up. I pulled out my phone, and thumb-typed all the thoughts I could recall. When I got it all recorded, my mind finally quieted, and I thought, “Hurrah! Next time I’m asked to speak, I’ll have a brilliant talk all ready to go!” And here I am!

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my brilliant 2am insights, when examined by the light of day, were largely nonsensical drivel, but they were at least a starting point for the thoughts I want to share today.

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First some back story.

When I was a senior in high school, I got in an argument with one of my good friends, a devout Christian, about whether we are saved by grace or works. The next day at church I skipped Sunday School and spent the hour poring through my scriptures. It wasn’t long before a member of our Stake Presidency noticed me and stopped to ask what I was up to. I explained about the argument I’d had with my friend and asked him to please help me find more scriptures that proved we were saved by works.

He looked at me for a moment before answering, “Erin, we aren’t saved by works. We’re saved by grace.”

I was floored. I had attended church every Sunday since my birth. I had completed over 3 years of seminary. How could I have misunderstood such a fundamental doctine?

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I wish I could say that this bombshell revelation led me to explore, research, or study the concept of grace more in depth, but it didn’t. I mentally filed the information away, but continued on with my regular life.

It wasn’t until many, many years later, when I was doing dishes late at night listening to a podcast of a BYU devotional by Brad Wilcox that my thoughts turned back to the topic of Grace in a major way. Brother Wilcox’s devotional, entitled “His Grace is Sufficient” was so fundamentally paradigm-shifting, that I finished washing no dishes that night. I stood motionless, transfixed by his message and it’s implications in my life. When the podcast ended, I immediately started it over and listened through again. 

That started a long and deliberate study of the doctrine of grace. 

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I understand everything about the concept of grace (that's the task of a lifetime), but what I have learned so far and come to understand has lifted a tremendous burden. 

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Growing up, I was a kid who cared a lot about getting good grades.  I imagined the Celestial Kingdom as a place for the “A” students. I knew what it takes to earn an “A.” I understood that it involved a lot of work. I knew that there’s not a lot of room to make mistakes if you’re aiming for an “A.” 

I lived with a constant fear of falling short, of not measuring up. 

Even worse, I had a subconscious belief that life was graded on a curve, and therefore, what really mattered was being better than everyone else. 

So there I was, caught between a desperate fear of failure and a constant need to compare and prove myself better than others. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was terrifying. It was alienating. It destroyed relationships. 

 It also wasn’t doctrinal. I fundamentally misunderstood the way and means from which salvation comes. I had no practical understanding of Grace. 

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You see, it is not possible for me to earn or work my way into heaven.

Certainly, the scriptures make frequent reference to the “merits” necessary to get into heaven. But here’s the not-so-secret fact I missed; every single time merits are mentioned, they refer to the merits of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I’m probably a bit on the slow side. The scriptures are filled to the brim with reminders of our total dependence on Christ, but I would not or could not have ears to hear and a heart to understand.

The Book of Mormon says over and over again, in no uncertain terms, “there is no other way nor means whereby salvation comes except through Jesus Christ.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard expands upon this concept saying:

“No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we obey, no matter how many good things we do in this life, it would not be enough were it not for Jesus Christ and His loving grace. On our own we cannot earn the kingdom of God, no matter what we do. Unfortunately, there are some within the Church who have become so preoccupied with performing good works that they forget that those works—as good as they may be—are hollow unless they are accompanied by a complete dependence on Christ.”

Elder Ballard could have been speaking those words directly to me.

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Now, some of you who are still awake out there might be thinking, “This talk of grace is all well and good. I can get behind the necesity of our Savior. I get that we need Him, but what about works!? The scriptures say we will be judged by our works! Surely you’re not discounting those scriptures, right!?”

I had the same question, and in some ways I still do. 

After all, most of us are more than familiar with the scripture, “it is by grace that we are saved after all that we can do.” In our faith tradition, we tend to place the emphasis on “after all that we can do.”

I think there are a number of aspects to consider when discussing grace and works. When CS Lewis was asked his opinion on the grace vs. works debate, he responded, “I have no right really to speak on such a difficult question, but it does seem to me like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most necessary.”

Elder Uchtdorf also addressed this paradox, saying,:

I wonder if sometimes we misinterpret the phrase “after all we can do.” We must understand that “after” does not equal “because.”

We are not saved “because” of all that we can do. Have any of us done all that we can do? Does God wait until we’ve expended every effort before He will intervene in our lives with His saving grace?

Many people feel discouraged because they constantly fall short.

I am certain Nephi knew that the Savior’s grace allows and enables us to overcome sin. This is why Nephi labored so diligently to persuade his children and brethren “to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God.”

After all, that is what we can do! And that is our task in mortality!

I once heard a podcast of BYU professors discussing the “after all we can do” scripture and it’s doctrinal paradox. One of the professors drew a parallel between the wording found in this scripture and the wording found in another scripture in Alma, chapter 24. In this chapter the King of the Anti-Nephi Lehi’s (remember them?  The murderous and blood-thirsty Lamanites who were converted?). Their King explains the role of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in the lives of his people.  Looking in verse 11:

 11 And now behold, my brethren, … it has been all that we could do (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—

And so, the professor concluded, “ALL WE CAN DO” means repenting and take advantage of Christ’s Atonement.

Of course, I don’t want to follow or preach the gospel according to some random and now anonymous BYU professor, so I spent extra time studying this idea. As I read through the Book of Mormon as part of President Nelson’s challenge last fall, I specifically zeroed in and marked every instance where the prophets discussed being judged by our works. Then I went back and examined the passages together and in context looking for the specific works mentioned.

What I found was remarkable. Almost every scriptural reference to judgment for our works was tied to repentence. These passages weren’t long lists of all our to-do’s, rubrics with required assignments and subsequent grading evaluations. No. They suggested we would be judged primarily by how well we repent and turn to Christ. Or, as Elder Uctdorf already said, “to believe in Christ and be reconciled to God.”

Given this slightly altered perspective of the interplay between grace and works, Elder Uchtdorf asked the obvious question:

If grace is a gift of God, why then is obedience to God’s commandments so important? Why bother with God’s commandments—or repentance, for that matter? Why not just admit we’re sinful and let God save us?

Or, to put the question in Paul’s words, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Paul’s answer is simple and clear: “God forbid.”

Brothers and sisters, we obey the commandments of God—out of love for Him!

Our obedience, our repentence, and our works are important. They are evidence of our love for our Savior who has done so much for us.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen elaborated:

The Great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a saintly character.

Not only are we saved by grace, but we are also changed by grace.

Fundamentally, our job is to follow Christ. To turn our hearts over to him and be reborn in his image. As we do so, our works should naturally follow. Not as a checklist to earn our way into heaven or prove we are more righteous than those around us, but because we have experienced that “mighty change of heart” and “have no more desire to do evil but to do good continually.” In other words, perhaps we are not so much judged by the merit of our works, but rather our works become an evidence of what we are “becoming.”

As Brad Wilcox puts it, “we aren’t earning heaven, we are learning heaven.” As we learn more of Christ and develop a personal relationship with him, we become more like him. HIS image shines from our countenance. We make choices from a position of love and security and identity and belonging. We don’t see heaven and the Celestial Kingdom as unattainable and exclusive (a place only for the “A” students), but rather, as Home.  And we believe that our Father wants us home and provided a tender, personal, perfect way for us to return there into His loving arms. 

So today, I offer an invitation to all of us - to trust Christ when he says that He is the way, the truth, and the light. 

Let go of the fear. Let go of the comparisons. He wants each of us to return to Him. He has ALREADY paid the price for you and for me. His Grace IS Sufficient.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. The plan of our Heavenly Father is personal, merciful, and loving. At the judgement seat, as Christ advocates for me with our Father, what I hope He can say is, “She’s with me.”