As a missionary, I had that same question put to me—why do we perform ordinances? I heard myself say that they make us like Jesus—take us down the same path he trod. I have since ruminated on the question, and the answer I have so far has fleshed out a bit.
I have heard it said that the “whats” of the Gospel are milk, but the “whys” constitute the meat. Having made that distinction, I would like to try to get into the meatier subject of why God requires us to participate in ordinances.
1. Order and Laws
God
operates within a framework of laws, inside “a house of order.” Brigham Young
taught, “Our religion is nothing more or less than the true order of heaven—the
system of laws by which the gods and the angels are governed….There is no being
in all the eternities but what is governed by law.”
“The
Gospel…that has been revealed is a plan or system of laws and ordinances….The
laws of the Gospel are neither more nor less than a few of the principles of eternity
revealed to the people, by which they can return to heaven from whence they
came.
“Our
religion…is a system of law and order. [God] has instituted laws and ordinances
for the government and benefit of the children of men, to see if they would
obey them and prove themselves worthy of eternal life by the law of the
celestial worlds” (Discourses of Brigham Young, pg. 1). Ordinances govern us
because there are covenants associated with them.
2. Facilitating Spiritual Rebirth
It seems
to me that God is trying to make us into miniature versions of His Son, Jesus
Christ. Part of that process is ordinances—Jesus submitted to all of the
ordinances we also receive. Joseph Smith said, “If a man gets a fullness of the
priesthood of God, he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained
it, and that was by...obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord.”
(Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 244.)
How do
we grow? We cooperate with God, and he cultivates us as we submit ourselves,
all we have, to Him. Jesus is referred to as the Son of God because he received
not the fullness at first, but grew from grace to grace (D&C 93:12-14). How
much more do we need to grow in that same grace? As a youth, I sang “I am a
child of God,” and therefore found confusion in scriptural passages about “becoming”
sons of God (see Moses 6:68, Moses 7:21, Mosiah 27:25, 3 Ne. 9:17, Moroni 7:48,
Moroni 7:26; John 1:12; D&C 11:30, D&C 34:3, D&C 45:8). We are
children of Heavenly Father, but to get back to Him requires overcoming
spiritual and physical death. Christ becomes our new spiritual father in this
process, and so we are still heirs of His Father. Joseph Smith taught, “Being
born again, comes by the Spirit of God through ordinances.” (History of the
Church, 3:392; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith about July 1839 in
Commerce, Illinois; reported by Willard Richards.)
“The
gospel requires baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, which is the
meaning of the word in the original language—namely, to bury or immerse. … I
further believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, [as
evidenced] by Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:38. You might
as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of
sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and
is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. The Savior says, ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:5).” (History of the Church 5:499;
punctuation modernized; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on July 9, 1843,
in Nauvoo, Illinois; reported by Willard Richards).
In the
King Follet Discourse, Joseph also said, “The baptism of water, without the
baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost attending it, is of no use; they are
necessarily and inseparably connected…” (History of the Church,
6:316).
All ordinances essential for salvation include this reception of the Holy Ghost and being more and more reborn, or born again, as part of their ultimate end.
The ordinance of the sacrament is a contract—various parties and their obligations are named, and the reward for compliance on our part is that “we may always have his Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20: 77, 79).
In D&C 109, Joseph Smith is offering the dedicatory prayer, which was given to him by revelation. “And do thou grant, Holy Father, that all those who shall worship in this house...may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost...” The culminating, crowning ordinances offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints still retain that original objective—being born again, becoming the sons and daughters of God, “by the Spirit of God through ordinances.”
“All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead” (D&C 132:7). God operates within a system of order, and ordinances formalize our spiritual progress. Ordinances are like mile markers on our road to salvation. We receive them as we become able to keep the covenants associated with them—baptism is administered after age 8, priesthood responsibilities multiply as ability and maturity accrue, and the endowment is reserved for the spiritually mature.
3. To Formalize Jesus’ Ownership or Adoption of Us
All ordinances essential for salvation include this reception of the Holy Ghost and being more and more reborn, or born again, as part of their ultimate end.
The ordinance of the sacrament is a contract—various parties and their obligations are named, and the reward for compliance on our part is that “we may always have his Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20: 77, 79).
In D&C 109, Joseph Smith is offering the dedicatory prayer, which was given to him by revelation. “And do thou grant, Holy Father, that all those who shall worship in this house...may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost...” The culminating, crowning ordinances offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints still retain that original objective—being born again, becoming the sons and daughters of God, “by the Spirit of God through ordinances.”
“All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead” (D&C 132:7). God operates within a system of order, and ordinances formalize our spiritual progress. Ordinances are like mile markers on our road to salvation. We receive them as we become able to keep the covenants associated with them—baptism is administered after age 8, priesthood responsibilities multiply as ability and maturity accrue, and the endowment is reserved for the spiritually mature.
3. To Formalize Jesus’ Ownership or Adoption of Us
Obedience
is ownership in heaven, according to Brigham Young:
“What
have you to give for life everlasting? You are your Father's. We cannot own
anything, in the strict sense of the word, until we have power to bring into
existence and hold in existence, independent of all other powers. One will say,
“I have given a thousand dollars towards building up the kingdom of God,” when
strictly he did not own a dollar. You take the money you have in your possession
and put it in another place, or to another use; and though you thus use
millions of gold and other property, unless you do so with that spirit of
charity in which the widow cast in her mite, it will avail you nothing.
“We have
received this and that, but it is not ours; it is committed to us as agents. We
have nothing of our own, and will not have until we have power to sustain our
own lives. You have not power to sustain your own lives, and yet you have done
much. You can own nothing until you have filled your missions on earth, and
gained power with the Almighty, when you will be clothed with glory, power, and
dominion. When the Lord says, ‘This is yours, my son; I give you power to
control all under your jurisdiction;’ then you can consider that your own” (JD
8:118 − p.119, Brigham Young, July 8, 1860). “The Holy Ghost shall be thy
constant companion, and thy scepter will be an unchanging scepter of
righteousness and truth, thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and
without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever” (D&C
121:46).
The Lord
frequently refers to us as His throughout the scriptures. If we get into
heaven, it will not be because of our good works; rather, it will be because
everything we have done ads up to a reality that we belong to Jesus, and
therefore he has a claim on us. “…I pray not for the world, but for them which
thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are
mine; and I am glorified in them… Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast
given me…” (John 17:9-10, 24). Ordinances are another way to formalize this
belonging to Him—they demonstrate, witness, show that “[we are] willing to keep
His (Jesus Christ’s) commandments which he has given [us].” All our covenants
have something to do with following His instructions to us, as well as His
example. We belong to Him, we follow Him, and ultimately become Him. Spiritual
rebirth implies inheriting traits from our Parent.
4. Ordinances Are Milestones in
Spiritual Progress
“The
ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single
most important skill that can be acquired in this life.” (Julie B. Beck, “And
upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit” April 2010 General
Conference). Lehi and his family were not sent into the wilderness without
guidance—they received a “ball or director.” Each of us is given the gift of
the Holy Ghost. “Joseph Smith said to Brother John Taylor in his day: ‘Brother
Taylor, you watch the impression of the Spirit of God; you watch the
whisperings of Spirit to you; you carry them out in your life, and [this] will
become a principle of revelation in you, and you will know and understand this
Spirit and power.’ This is the key, the foundation stone of all revelation.” (The
Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, 45–46). Could this life be construed as an
extended exercise in learning to follow the Holy Ghost? And why would we need
the guidance of the Holy Ghost or experience with and an understanding of its
influence in the eternities? This life is a preparation for the next, and I
doubt seriously that the most important skill we can acquire here will be obsolete
as soon as we depart this life. Those who enter the Celestial Kingdom also
receive a tangible source of information—a white stone, or Urim and Thummim of
some kind.
Ordinances,
I believe, are not a series of bizarre rituals thrown at us, devoid of rhyme
and reason. They are steps leading back to God. When Moses came down from the
mountain the first time in Ex. 19, the plan was to have all of Israel come up
the mountain to meet Jehovah. The people fearfully refused, asking that Moses
be a go-between instead. The Melchizedek priesthood was taken away, and they
were given a Tabernacle, then a Temple, focused on outward, symbolic
ordinances. It showed how to prepare to finally get back to that invitation to
ascend the mount, the steps of preparation and worthiness the people lacked the
first time they were called up. Without the ordinances of the Melchizedek
priesthood, we cannot get back to God (D&C 84:19-22).
“When
you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step,
until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you
must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of
exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil
before you will have learned them” (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1976, 348).
Joseph
continues in the King Follet Discourse: “All the minds and spirits that God
ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement. The first principles
of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of
spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute
laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The
relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge.
He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they
may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another,
and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in
order to save them in the world of spirits.”
When we
are ready to take another big step toward God, with the Holy Ghost as our
guide, we qualify for that added knowledge and light through new ordinances.
5. Permanence
If a
contract is not made under the auspices of the priesthood, it is canceled in
the next life. Does it make sense to charge a man with stealing if he dies
before he can repay a loan? God’s eternal time table cannot be held hostage to
the requirements and schedules of this temporal world. How is it that such
feeble and inconstant beings as ourselves are not only expected, but required,
to make promises that we know are currently beyond our capacity to keep? (“Always
remember Him” is a promise I make every week, yet I will later forget where I set
my keys. Does the time when I sleep conflict with “always remember?”) I think
that the nature of our covenants says more about God than us; he is eternal,
and so all contracts we make with him are cast in that framework of permanence
and absoluteness. We keep the covenants as best we can, and the Atonement makes
up the difference when we are humble and penitent, willing to obey and try
again. Ordinances allow the best things in us to become permanent. Words like “seal,”
“bind,” and “confirm” imply that the end results of covenants and ordinances
extend into the eternities.
6. Symbolic Learning Devices
Three
dimensional acts—being immersed backwards in water, having hands laid on one’s
head, eating bread and drinking water each week, the ordinances of the Temple,
are all more vivid and memorable than scratching one’s name on a piece of paper
to sign a contract. Yet ordinances also constitute our signature on a dotted
line, our way of demonstrating willingness to do certain things. And we know
that God will also do certain things in return, when we keep our end of the
deal.
Being
dipped backwards in water is instructive for us—birth, bath, burial and
resurrection are all legitimate interpretations of the symbolism of the
ordinance. The sacrament shows us how dependent we are on Jesus for our physical
and spiritual nourishment. Kneeling at altars show that marriage involves
sacrifice. An altar is not an ATM or slot machine, or bank teller window. We do
not go to altars to make withdrawals, but deposits. Rewards for sacrifices are
determined by God, and we show our kinship and similarity to Jesus only to the
extent that we are willing to sacrifice in the similitude of the Son of God
(D&C 138:13).
Symmetry
Though I
cannot cite examples for every ordinance, I suspect that there is a
corresponding action on Jesus’ part for every covenant we keep and every
ordinance we participate in—a kind of reflexive balance, Newton’s “opposite and
equal reaction.” For instance, we eat bread and drink from a sweet cup
(originally wine) when we partake of the sacrament. By this act, we show we are
willing to take Jesus’ name, His obedience, onto ourselves, to always remember
Him. If we are called by His name, do we not also inherit everything that He
deserves? (All necessary ordinances unite our names with the names of God, His
Son, and the Spirit.)
In the
Garden of Gethsemane, after the first administration of the Lord’s Supper,
Jesus drank a bitter cup. He took our names, our soiled reputations onto
Himself, and suffered immensely. He undoubtedly remembered each of us, and He
still does. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget
thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are
continually before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16). He always remembers us too.
Summary
Ordinances
prepare us to ascend back into God’s presence. They teach through symbolism. Ordinances
create an identity between us and Christ—we adopt his name, behaviors, and characteristics.
They officially bind us to Christ, and make our commitments to obey Him
eternally formal, efficacious beyond the grave. (That is the great power of the
priesthood; it allows contracts, agreements, oaths, bonds, covenants,
relationships, etc., to survive from this world to the next. What you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven (Matt. 16:19).) To go where Jesus goes is to
enter heaven; what greater gift than to be permanently, legally bound to Him?
Ordinances allow us to receive a greater influence or portion of the Spirit.
And the Spirit cleanses us and changes our nature, and guides through the
dangers of life, eventually ushering us back into the arms of our Father in
heaven.
That is
my answer to the “why” of ordinances, though I’m sure there are more reasons
God has us participate in making covenants this way.
President
Lorenzo Snow taught: “There is a way by which persons can keep their
consciences clear before God and man, and that is to preserve within them the
spirit of God, which is the spirit of revelation to every man and woman. It
will reveal to them, even in the simplest of matters, what they shall do, by
making suggestions to them. We should try to learn the nature of this spirit,
that we may understand its suggestions, and then we will always be able to do
right. This is the grand privilege of every Latter-day Saint. We know that it
is our right to have the manifestations of the spirit every day of our lives. .
. . From the time we receive the Gospel, go down into the waters of baptism and
have hands laid upon us afterward for the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have a
friend, if we do not drive it from us by doing wrong. That friend is the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Ghost, which partakes of the things of God and shows them unto
us. This is a grand means that the Lord has provided for us, that we may know
the light, and not be groveling continually in the dark.” (In Conference
Report, Apr. 1899, p. 52.)
That is the
essence of what I have tried to express here.
I'm
sure all that above is bare bones compared to the real answer to the
"whys" that the Spirit could teach me if I were ready for more, but it's
pretty good for now. That's one thing Elder Maxwell expressed; the
"inexhaustible" nature of the Gospel.
