Mosiah 1-3

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LESSON #1 LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP

ICEBREAKER

I don’t have an object for this first lesson, but I do have an icebreaker. And the icebreaker is a concentration type rebus puzzle. Behind these squares are different colored boxes. You can divide your class into two teams and then have someone on one of the teams select two squares. When they name one of the squares, you click anywhere on that box except in the black circle, and this will turn the card over revealing the color behind it. Then they select another number and if the colors don’t match, you click on the boxes again and they will turn back over. Then it’s the other team’s turn. If the colors do match, then you will click on the black circle which will cause the square to disappear, revealing a part of the word puzzle behind it. The team then gets one chance to guess the word. If they can’t guess the word correctly, it’s the other team’s chance to turn over two more squares. Now, a team does not get a chance to guess what the word is, if it doesn’t make a match first. But you’ll continue going back and forth between the teams as they make matches and reveal more of the puzzle behind it. And then finally, the team that correctly identifies the word from the puzzle, wins.  And what is the word represented by the puzzle? The word is leadership. Right. The arrow is pointing to the lead in the pencil, then you have the word “ear”, and the last picture is off a “ship”. Put it all together, LEADERSHIP.

And that, to me, is one of the great principles taught by these first few chapters of Mosiah, and I’m going to include some verses from the last portion of the Words of Mormon as well that describe the kind of leader that King Benjamin was. He’s a great example of true and effective leadership. Now, are you a leader in some area of your life? Is your current calling in the Church a position of leadership? Or are you a parent? A grandparent? A teacher? A mentor? A sibling even? If you fall into any of these categories, I invite you to learn from one of the greatest leaders of the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin. And I think you’ll find that no, leadership is not about telling people what to do. It’s not about doing it your way, or getting all the accolades or the spotlight.

To cover this idea, we’re going to stick with the Concentration game idea to do this. That first activity was just a warmup. Now we’re going to make it a little more challenging. And here’s how this one works. There are 20 different tiles displayed on the screen. As a teacher, you can use the same two teams your created before and challenge them to find the matches. Behind half of the tiles they’ll find scripture references from Words of Mormon and the first two chapters of Mosiah and behind the other half are descriptions of the leadership qualities that King Benjamin possessed taught by those verses. Your classes are going to use their scriptures to try and determine what verse matches which message. So you have someone on one team select two different tiles, and if they match, they earn two points. If it’s not a match, the cards are flipped back over and it’s the other team’s turn. And you just go back and forth giving each team a chance to find the correct matches. And you’ll find that the teams struggle for a while at first to make matches since it takes a bit of trial and error to become familiar with the content behind each the tiles. But as the game progresses, it gets easier and easier as they begin to remember what is where and fewer options remain on the board as matches are made. There are also two Free Point squares on the board. When one of them is found, that team automatically receives 1 free point, but still gets a chance to select another square to make a match. And then, the team that has the most points at the end wins. A quick note here. If you’ve signed up for the Book of Mormon handout or full subscription, a copy of the game will be available to you there. Just remember, that you will need to have the actual PowerPoint program in order to make it work. If you don’t have the PowerPoint program, but still like the idea, you could always make your own physical copy of this game with pieces of paper covering up sections of a whiteboard or chalkboard with the different descriptions behind them. But here are the answers and hopefully a clearer understanding of what will make us all better leaders.

(8)  Words of Mormon 1:13 (6) They seek to protect those they lead

(1) Words of Mormon 1:17—(9) They are holy, righteous, speak with authority, and use sharpness at times

(15) Words of Mormon 1:18—(11)They labor (work) hard for those they lead

(14) Mosiah 1:6—(2) They believe in and teach from the scriptures

(18) Mosiah 2:4 –(16) They teach that keeping the commandments lead to joy and love

(4)  Mosiah 2:14 (19) They serve those they lead

(3) Mosiah 2:26—(13) They don’t consider themselves to be better than those they lead

(17)Mosiah 2:13—(5) They are willing to confront wickedness

(12)Mosiah 1:1 (7) They establish peace

(10)Free Point (20) Free Point

THE TAKEAWAY

Well we can certainly see what real leadership looks like by observing King Benjamin can’t we. Luckily, we are still led by men like him today in our modern church as well. I see Russell M. Nelson in that description, Dallin H. Oaks, Henry B. Eyring, David A. Bednar, Gerrit W. Gong and all the other leaders we are privileged to have at the head of our Church. I see those qualities in my local Church leaders as well. We are certainly spoiled in the church with great leadership, aren’t we? If only our political arena were filled with the same caliber of people and quality of leadership, wouldn’t that be wonderful! But if WE wish to become great leaders ourselves, in whatever sphere of influence we’re placed in, may we look to King Benjamin as a model and

exemplar.

VIDEO

At some point during a lesson on King Benjamin’s speech, you may consider showing the following video that sets the stage for this masterful address. The Church’s Book of Mormon videos really do an excellent job of visually representing these stories from the scriptures. It’s about 4 minutes long and covers an introduction to the setting with King Benjamin speaking from his tower to the people who have gathered around in their tents with their families and contains a small portion of his teaching from chapter 2. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/collection/mosiah-1-5?lang=eng

LESSON #2 COOKIE PLATES

OBJECT

Continuing on with King Benjamin’s address to his people. For an object to this lesson, bring in a plate of cookies to display at the front. Extra credit if they’re Christmas cookies, because that is the metaphor we’re going to use to better understand a certain aspect of King Benjamin’s discourse. 

ICEBREAKER

As an icebreaker, I like to talk with my classes about what I call the Great Christmas Cookie exchange. Are you familiar with this where you live? Do you make cookies or give out treats to other people in your ward or neighborhood at Christmas? And what has been your experience with that? If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, this is when members of the church put together plates of cookies to deliver to different families in the ward or neighborhood. And depending on the size of your ward, that can end up being a lot of people, and you just can’t give cookies to everybody. And so what do you do? You pare down your list to a number of families that you’re closest to and your nearest neighbors perhaps. So, you might start out with a list of 10 maybe 15 families. But what inevitably happens every year is that your family’s name ends up on the list of another family that you don’t have on your list. And they show up one day and say, Merry Christmas, we’ve made you some cookies! And what do you do? I saw my mother in this situation, and I see my wife in this situation, and they both react the same, they run back in, turn on the oven and start making more cookies, because, if they gave something to you, you almost feel obligated to give something back to them. So you make some cookies for that family and then add them to the list so that you don’t forget them in the future. And sometimes, you know, maybe you’re just tired of making cookies or you don’t have all the ingredients. What do you do in that situation? Well, you grab a cookie from each of the plentiful plates you’ve been given by others and put together a mixed plate of cookies from all the ones you’ve received. And then who knows, maybe other families are doing the same thing and before you know it cookies are being passed from house to house and round and round until, maybe somebody receives a plate of cookies and finds one of their own in the mix on that plate. I’m almost positive that that has happened somewhere in the church. Well, over time, names just keep getting added to the list each year, until finally, it’s so huge and unmanageable the only solution is to move, and then it starts all over again.  Well, I want you to think about the way that you feel when somebody does something nice for you? When somebody does you a favor or gives you a gift. How does it make you feel? King Benjamin gives us a really great word to describe that feeling. So see if you can find it in the following verses: Mosiah 2:23, 24, 34? It’s the same word in each verse. And the word is “indebted.” We feel indebted. And that’s not necessarily in a bad way. We feel a sort of positive obligation or desire to do something back for that person. It’s a very human and natural sort of reaction. So, if you’ll forgive me for the cookie plate analogy as we talk about something far deeper and more meaningful, I’d like to use that as a metaphor to help you understand what I feel King Benjamin is teaching us about our relationship with God. And that’s the first idea we’ll discuss. We are indebted to God. Why? Because of all that He’s given us. We have been given much. And King Benjamin wants HIS people to understand that.

SEARCH

So for a search activity, can you find “God’s Cookie Plate” in Mosiah 2:20-22. What are some of the blessings that he wanted them and all of us to contemplate?

So let’s see, in verse 20 we’ve got King Benjamin reminding them of the “God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another”. So a number of cookies in there. We’ve got Life, (which, if you are even listening to this video or podcast) is a blessing that we can all be grateful for regardless of any other circumstances we may be in.) And then we’ve got preservation, God preserves us from day to day, we continue to live. He’ll expand on this idea in the nest verse. He provides us with joy and peace. Have you experienced either of those things in your current life. I know I have, despite certain challenges. God has given me plenty to rejoice over and feel peace about.

Then  vs. 21

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, (there’s that idea again) and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

So this is an expansion of the preservation idea. We could add to our cookie plate the air that we breathe, (I’m not sure I’ve ever really thanked God for the air that I breathe, maybe I should, I suppose that if I were drowning, that I would truly feel and recognize the importance of that blessing). We are indebted to God for the air that we breathe. If he were to take it away, we would die. He has also given us the ability to move and do according to our own will—agency. We are free to choose what we do and how we act. What a gift agency is. What if we didn’t have that? We would be mere animals or slaves to another power. Remember that agency was a gift and an idea worth fighting for in the pre-mortal world—the war in heaven. Benjamin mentions our ability to move, and just ask the person who has perhaps lost the ability to move through paralysis how grateful we should be for THAT blessing.

Then in verse 22 we could add prosperity which is definitely a subjective term. I don’t think that necessarily has to mean that we are “rich” according to some worldly standard, but a spiritual, familial, communal, or experiential prosperity.

And of course, King Benjamin is just giving us a few brief examples of the kinds of things God has done for us. It’s not an all-inclusive list.

LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES

To liken the scriptures to ourselves, I would ask “What cookies would you add to that plate? What else had God blessed YOU with?” Just have your classes brainstorm that question for a bit and list their answers on the board. Living prophets, the scriptures, the church, temples, families, health, modern conveniences, you name it. Think about your cookie plate from God. My guess is that it’s overflowing. And according to King Benjamin, that should make us feel, in some way, indebted. Indebted to God. So hopefully, we will want to give something back. And do you feel that way? When you contemplate all the ways God has blessed you, does engender a desire to do something back for him. I hope it does. But can we? Can we do something for God? King Benjamin’s answer: Yes, we can. We can and should give some cookies back to God, and he’s going to show us how.

So our next search question is: What cookies should we give to God? There are 3. At least 3 that are taught by King Benjamin here. Can you find what they are in Mosiah 2:19-22. I know, some of the same verses we just looked, but this time we’ll do it from the opposite perspective.

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another

So what’s our first cookie? Gratitude or thanks. We can thank Him for those things. Just like you teach your children when somebody does something nice for them. Now what do we say?  Thank you. Good boy. We should do the same with God. It is good for us to raise a voice of gratitude to Him. And I don’t think he’s asking us to do this out of a Spirit of, “Hey I’ve done all this for you and now you better say thank you.” No, I believe our Heavenly Father knows the good that gratitude can do for us. Gratitude is healthy for the soul and a sibling to happiness. There’s actually a whole mountain of modern research that backs up that idea now. Gratitude is good for us. So, the first cookie that we give is Gratitude.

The second cookie. vs. 21

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

So cookie #2 service. We need to serve God. But some may wonder, wait a second, how do I serve God? I can’t go visit him when he’s lonely or sick, I can’t help him with his yard work, I can’t share the gospel with Him, he already knows it fairly well, I can’t help Him through a trial or a challenge. So how do I serve God? Well King Benjamin has already explained the answer to that question back in vs. 17. And you’ve probably heard this verse before, it’s a very famous one.

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

So I serve Him, by serving others. I’d draw a line in my scriptures to connect those ideas.

Like Jesus taught us in Matthew 25:40

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

So visit a friend when they are lonely, help a neighbor with their yard work, share the gospel with a coworker, help a family member through a trial or a challenge. In all of these cases, we’re serving God. That’s how we repay Him, by paying it forward, instead of paying Him back. That’s how he prefers to be served. God says in effect, “Oh you want to serve me? You want to do something nice for me? The nicest thing you can do for me, is to do something for somebody else—another one of my children. That’s the thing that will make ME happiest.”

And then our 3rd cookie is in vs. 22

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

So the third thing required of us, is obedience. To keep his commandments. He says it three times in one verse. Verse 24 reiterates this idea by saying “And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you.” Require is a strong word, isn’t it. Reminds me of Doctrine and Covenants 82:3 “For of him unto whom, much is given, much is REQUIRED”. Not expected, but required. We’ve got to follow his instructions for effective mortal living. And again, I don’t believe that that is a self-serving kind of requirement. It’s not about Him, it’s about us. He, with his eternal perspective knows what will make us happiest, most fulfilled, most prepared for life’s problems and challenges, and the commandments are simply the guidelines to living that better life. I mean, considering all that God has done for us, the least we could do is follow his life counsel.

So there we have it then. Our three cookies. So God blesses us with all those things that we listed earlier, and we feel indebted. And I do feel that desire and I hope you do too. My Heavenly Father has blessed me so much, he has given me so much, I truly want to repay him in some way. It’s a willing thing, not an obligation. So we whip up a batch of gratitude, service, and obedience and we bring it to Him. And I wonder how it looks to Him sometimes. My cookies are a little lopsided, a little flat, slightly bland, but they’re all I have. Maybe it’s kind of like when my children were young, and they would bring me their homemade Father’s Day cards with their little scribbled drawings and misspelled words. Or their macaroni necklaces or little construction paper projects. In fact, I still remember when I was in elementary school and living in a different state outside of UTAH, that the teachers had us make something out of clay for our parents and then they baked it so it would be hard, kind of like ceramics. And the teacher gave us some ideas as to what we could make and one of those suggestions was an ash tray. Well I didn’t know what an ash tray was or what it was used for but that sounded like a good idea to me. And so I made my Dad, the Church institute teacher, an ashtray for Father’s day. Well, I wonder if that’s what our offerings to God sometimes look like. And we sheepishly hand them over to him.  And are we even then? Have we squared our accounts with God, who has lent us so much, including the air that we breathe? Have we paid him back? Find the answer by reading Mosiah 2:21-24, I know, same verses, again, in their entirety with that question in mind.

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

So are we even with God when we give him our gratitude, service, and obedience? No. Not even close. Because what does God do when we give him those things? He immediately blesses us with more. It’s like he says, “Oh, thank you so much for your gratitude, and your service and your obedience. When my children do these things like that for me, it makes me so happy and so proud. So here, take another plate of cookies for your efforts,” and he hands us another giant plate of blessings. And what do we feel? We feel indebted again, and so we run back and whip up another fresh batch of gratitude, service, and obedience, and bring it to him . . . and he blesses more and more. And we continue to remain indebted to him forever and ever. Therefore, we never break even with God. It’s impossible. That’s why he says in vs. 21 that even if we should serve him with all our whole souls, we would still be unprofitable servants. There’s a lot of financial language in King Benjamin’s address: indebted, paid, lending you, unprofitable. But notice that that’s the word he uses. He doesn’t say that we’re worthless servants, just merely unprofitable, which is ok. He’s not trying to make a profit on us. He’s not into making money, he’s into making Saints, and eventually gods and goddesses. It’s not about the bottom line, it’s about the employees. In fact, it’s not really an employer/employee relationship at all. It’s a parent/child relationship. As a parent myself, I can tell you, I’m not trying to make a profit on my children. And when they bring me their homemade Father’s day cards or their dollar store Christmas gifts, how do I feel? I love those little drawings and gifts. I cherish them and save them. It’s not about their artistic quality or their monetary value. I love them because of the effort they have made, because of the reason they were made. Love.  It’s not about making a profit on my investments of time, love, and money into my children. I believe it’s the same with God. God’s greatest asset, his work, and his glory, is the immortality and eternal life of man. So it’s okay that I can’t ever really repay him, but he appreciates and requires the effort.

And I really do love that principle of God always giving us more back than we give. What I get in return from him far exceeds what was given up by me in the first place. And you know, one of the places where I see that message most beautifully expressed is in the hymn “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief”. In almost each verse, we have the narrator of the hymn describing a sacrifice he makes for the poor wayfaring man, the stranger, the least of these his brethren. In vs. 2 he gives him bread, and in return, he receives manna. In verse 3, he gives the man water, and in return he receives living water—he drank and never thirsted more. In vs. 4 he offers the man shelter from the storm, lets him sleep in his own bed while he goes and sleeps on the floor, but he says it was like sleeping in the Garden in Eden. Vs. 5 he binds up the man’s physical wounds, while in return, peace binds up his broken heart. And then the most beautiful part of the hymn. The man is in prison and asks the narrator to die for him—his flesh was weak, his blood ran chill, but his free spirit cried I will. So I assume that between the 6th verse and the 7th verse, the man does die for his friend, he gives his life, and now he is entering the Spirit World. Then in a moment to my view The stranger started from disguise. The tokens in his hands I knew; The Savior stood before mine eyes. He spake, and my poor name he named, “Of me thou hast not been ashamed. These deeds shall thy memorial be; Fear not, thou didst them unto me.”

So do you see how sacrifice works with God? I give him bread, he gives me manna, I give him water, he gives me living water, I give him shelter, he gives me Eden, I give my life, and he gives me eternal life. A beautiful hymn, no wonder Joseph Smith loved it so much. It actually leads me to conclude that really, in a way, there is no such thing as sacrifice, because God always gives us a greater thing in return. So how can that be sacrifice? Maybe that idea can help us to make those “sacrifices” a little easier.

And, I believe that this is all supposed to lead us to the grand conclusion. King Benjamin is steering us to a certain point. This realization of how God works with his children, how generous he is, and how little he asks in return should make us feel a certain way. This is going to add one more cookie that WE can offer to our plate. Another attitude or attribute that he desires us to possess. Look how he ends vs. 24. “Therefore, of what have ye to boast?”, continuing into vs. 25:

25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.

So this thought, this realization should make us feel what godly quality? Humility. This should keep us humble. We have no reason to boast. I like how he says we’re just dust, and even that dust belongs to God. Now why would King Benjamin want to emphasize this with his people? I think it’s important to keep in mind the audience of this sermon. We learn back in Mosiah 1:11 that they were a diligent people in keeping the commandments of God. They’re living in a time of peace. The worry about people in this situation, when they’re doing what’s right and everything is good, is that it’s very tempting to start to feel prideful, they might feel like they do have something to boast of. “We’re doing good! We keep the commandments. We’re prospering here! Look at all that I have! I’m doing pretty dang good for myself.” We’re going to see this process over and over in the Book of Mormon. A righteous people living in a time of peace beginning to be lifted up unto pride. To start taking personal credit for their blessings. It’s the step from righteousness that begins the downward cycle. So perhaps King Benjamin is hoping to stop that problem before it even starts, to nip it in the bud. Perhaps gratitude, service, obedience, and humility are the great shield to the problem of pride. The exit ramp off the pride cycle.

And before the end of the chapter, King Benjamin is going to add one more cookie to our plate from God. And it’s a big one, and it also starts with an H. Gratitude, Service, Obedience and Humility will lead us to one of the greatest blessings God has to offer us in return. What is it in vs. 41? One of my favorite verses in the entire Book of Mormon, in my top 10 at least.

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

What’s the big cookie? Happiness. Happiness is his promise. And not only does God promise never-ending happiness in the future, but happiness now! In the present. And the path to happiness that King Benjamin emphasizes here is obedience to the commandments. You’ve probably heard a lot of worldly advice out there on how to be happy. The media blasts its message of what THEY feel SHOULD make us happy. Is it through money, success, possessions, power, meditation, freedom from trials and pain, healthy eating, exercise, relationships? As good as some of those things may be, there is only one guaranteed path to happiness. That’s obedience to God’s commandments. Righteousness always was happiness. And since we can control our obedience, therefore, we can also control (in one manner of speaking) our happiness, regardless of the events that surround us or what happens to us.

Joseph Smith once said that:

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God."

(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,256-257)

Hmmm. Now that’s a delicious cookie. The snickerdoodle of spiritual truths.

TAKING IT TO HEART

To wrap this lesson up, you could use the following handout to help your students take this message from King Benjamin’s address to heart. Give them some quiet pondering time to consider and write down their answers to the following questions:

Think of a time when either gratitude, service, obedience, or humility brought you happiness? What happened?

If you had to rank those four cookies in order of how well you do at them, what order would you place them in?

I WILL GO AND DO

Let’s see if we can give God a full plate of cookies this week. One of each variety.

How could you show God more gratitude this week?

Who is somebody you could serve this week?

What commandment do you need to follow more closely?

What reasons do you have to be humble?

THE TAKEAWAY

Well I hope and pray for your happiness. And I believe that King Benjamin has just given us the secret to it. And it’s quite simple. Stay grateful and humble, serve others, be obedient. Do those things, and God can promise us that our story will be one of happiness, now and forever.  And if you don’t mind, I’d like to offer my Father in Heaven a cookie right now. Publicly on this channel. I want to tell him thank you for all he has given me in my life. He has given me so much and I recognize that I am eternally indebted to him. If my life has only taught me one thing thus far, it’s that I have absolutely no right to complain. I have been too deeply and richly blessed to do that.  My cookie plate is full and runneth over. And I hope and pray that he will accept my meager attempts to give something back to him. I am and will forever strive to be his faithful, yet unprofitable, indebted servant.

LESSON #3 TWO FORCES

OBJECT

Continuing on. For an object, see if you can get your hands on two large magnets. I’ll put a link to some that you can buy on Amazon if you’re interested that have big handles on them and work really well for this illustration. (https://amzn.to/3xIvHaw)

ICEBREAKER

Then for an icebreaker I like to use those magnets for an object lesson. I put a paperclip between the two magnets and slowly start to push them towards it. I ask the class to vote on which magnet they think is eventually going to pull the paperclip to it, the right one, or the left on. Which magnet is going to win? Then we see who guessed correctly. Then I ask them to imagine that the paperclip represents their soul, and the two magnets represent two invisible forces in everyone’s lives that are attempting to pull them in opposite directions. What are the names of these two forces that are present in every single one of us according to Mosiah 3:19? And 3:19, for me is kind of the crux verse for this whole section, it’s the hub, or the focal point of King Benjamin’s speech and I’m going to use it as a kind of an anchor verse for the rest of the lesson.

The Natural Man vs. The Holy Spirit

But what are the two forces? They are “The Natural Man” and “The Holy Spirit.” And I then reveal that on the two magnets I’ve taped labels that say, “The Natural Man” and “The Holy Spirit”. Both of these forces are pulling in opposite directions in our lives. Now I think we understand what the Holy Spirit is. It’s that member of the Godhead that guides, warns, comforts, and helps us to recognize all truth. And have you ever felt its promptings? Have you ever felt a desire to help someone in need? Have you ever felt prompted to tell the truth, when telling a lie would have been easier?  Have you ever felt guilty for doing something wrong? Have you ever felt motivated or inspired to do better, or be better in some way? Have you ever had the impression that what somebody else was teaching you was the truth? If you’ve felt those things, that’s evidence of the Holy Spirit working within you-that invisible force pulling in that direction.

But what is the natural man? Or we could say natural woman, as well. It’s that terrestrial part of ourselves that is self-serving and only wants to satisfy its own desires.  Our spirits have been placed into mortal, fallen bodies with impulses and desires and a tendency to be self-interested. And what is natural for a fallen body to do isn’t necessarily natural for our spirits. The two don’t typically agree. Maybe the best way to illustrate the natural man is to give you some scenarios and ask you how the average mortal might act in the following situations. What would come more naturally?

A car cuts you off on the freeway. What comes naturally?

    You get angry, you go and cut them off, you yell at them, shake your fist.

You see somebody unknowingly drop a $20 bill on to the street.

    You pick it up and say to yourself, ha, finders keepers.

You see somebody that doesn’t dress as nicely as you do.

    You feel that you are better than they are. You get prideful.

A coworker offers to show you an inappropriate picture or video on their phone.

    The natural man is tempted to take a look

Does that help? Do you kind of understand the concept of the natural man with those illustrations? And can you relate? Have you felt those two invisible forces pulling within yourself? The natural man and the Holy Spirit locked in combat for the possession of your agency and ultimately your soul. That spiritual struggle has been expressed in a number of different ways in the scriptures.

Jesus said:

41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)

Paul taught:

23 But I see another law in my members (or body), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (Romans 7:23)

That inner war and conflict caused Nephi to lament:

“O wretched man that I am”  (2 Nephi 4:17)

And “Why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul?” (2 Nephi 4:27)

See, even great men like Paul and Nephi felt that conflict within themselves. That inner war between these forces.

Well, chances are that you’ve felt the influence or pull of that natural man or natural woman inside of you. But remember, God doesn’t want us to be natural. We were never meant to be mere mortals for eternity. This state is temporary. We are meant to become god’s and goddesses. And in order for that to happen, we’re going to have to learn how to overcome the natural man, and put him into his place.

This was a central theme of C.S. Lewis’s theology. He spoke of it often and it matches up nicely to what we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ believe. He said:

“Christ says: Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”

Mere Christianity

HANDOUT

Well, that’s going to be quite the process isn’t it. It’s going to take some time and effort as we stand caught in the middle of these two “magnets”. And when they pull, we’ve got to make decisions. King Benjamin is going to help show us how we can make the right ones. Now I’m a very visual person, and it helps me to diagram these things out sometimes. So we’re going to use what I call a “Thinking Map” handout that we can fill out together as we go. This handout will be available in the downloads this week.

So let’s start on the negative side of this equation so that we can end on a positive. In Mosiah 2:32-40, King Benjamin is going to teach us what not to do when we feel the two forces pulling. I want you to read those verses and mark and fill out this side of the diagram with one, any verb phrases that describe what we shouldn’t do and put them in this box. Also, if you can find any descriptions of the results of doing those things, I want you to put them into this box here.  Don’t worry about that middle box quite yet. We’re going to go to a different section for that.

But first, the “don’t’s.” Here's some of the ones that that I found. But there are more, but I’d like to focus on, Don’t . . .

:32 List to obey the evil Spirit

    List is a fascinating verb. It’s a nautical term. It means to tilt, lean, or incline towards. It’s a subtle angling of the ship, not a full capsizing. And perhaps, do we unwittingly list towards unrighteousness sometimes? I think for many, their descent into wickedness is gradual. It starts out slow, with small indiscretions and a blurring of the lines. But over time, that incremental, step down by step down, leads us to a place we never imagined we would get to and before we realize it, we’re in enemy territory. The adversary is patient, he’s got time. So for many, a slow listing is all he needs to accomplish his designs. Maybe it would be good for us to stop and ask ourselves on occasion then, “Am I listing at all?” In my language? In my thoughts? In my actions?

:33 Don’t . . . transgress the law of God

:36  Don’t transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken (by the prophets, by the Lord)

:36 Don’t withdraw yourself from the Spirit of the Lord. I find that interesting there. Notice who is doing the withdrawing. It’s not the Spirit pulling away, he’s in the fixed position. I think we often express it in that way. “The Spirit left me.” But not according to King Benjamin. It’s us that withdraw ourselves from him.

:37 and Don’t come out in open rebellion against God. This tactic works on some too. Listing isn’t for everyone. Some can be persuaded to come out in open rebellion.

Well, what are the consequences of taking those actions? There’s plenty in there. Back to verse 33 and the idea of listing.

:33 For, behold, there is a wo pronounced upon him who listeth to obey that spirit; for if he listeth to obey him, and remaineth and dieth in his sins, the same drinketh damnation to his own soul, for his wages are an everlasting punishment

:37 the Lord has no place in him.

:38 the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascends up forever and ever. (maybe that’s one of the best places to see what the scriptures mean by hell being a place of fire and flames.  It’s not a literal, physical fire, where God tortures people’s souls for eternity. It’s the fire of guilt and anguish. Of lost potential and opportunities. That feeling is LIKE an unquenchable fire)

:39 mercy hath no claim on that man, therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment.

Then :40 speaks of the “awful situation” of those that have fallen into transgression.

Well what about that middle section there. If I choose to list, and transgress, and withdraw, and rebel, what qualities do I begin to develop? I actually get these from Abinadi. I think he describes it best. Go all the way to Mosiah 16:3 for these qualities. I become carnal, devilish, and sensual. Carnal is defined as “relating to physical needs and activities” as opposed to spiritual needs and activities. Sensual means relating to the physical senses. Again, natural man. Basically the devil wants to turn us into animals, solely acting on physical instincts and drives. But we’re not animals, we are souls—spirit and body. As a famous philosopher once said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience”. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

So back to 3:19. What does Benjamin conclude we will become if we list to obey the natural man, or withdraw ourselves from the Spirit, or come out in open rebellion against God?  I become an enemy to God. And I will be forever and ever. I don’t know about you, but that’s not where I want to end up for eternity. But that is my fate, UNLESS, I do something else.  I can avoid that dreadful fate.

Now, let’s fill in the other side of our diagram here. What can I do and what qualities will I develop according to 3:19? Also, what results will that bring according to Mosiah 2:41?

What can I do? I can yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and put off the natural man. Great words. Rather than list, I can yield. When I yield to something, I am giving it the right of way. We often use that word in driving. If I yield to someone on the freeway, I’m letting them go instead of me. Letting them work their will instead of my own. Some synonyms for yield, submit (a word he’s going to use later in that verse) relinquish, bend, and then my favorite, surrender. Isn’t that a wonderful word to describe how we interact with the Spirit. Stop fighting it. Surrender! Give in to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and God’s will. Enticings is an interesting word too. That word is more commonly associated with temptation—Satan entices us to sin—but Benjamin is using it to describe what the Spirit does. One definition of "enticing" is "to persuade with promises of something". Now I like that definition, that seems to make sense. The first principle of righteousness, or of using priesthood authority in D&C 121:41 is persuasion. God doesn’t motivate with force, or fear, or deceit, that’s the adversary’s method. God seeks to motivate us by persuasion, to persuade us with logic, rationality, and love. And then he makes us promises for following his commandments. They may not be as immediate or pleasing to the natural man as sin is, but the promises of the Holy Spirit are far greater, meaningful, and eternal! Happiness, eternal life, grace, forever families, knowledge, priesthood power. God has some very enticing promises for us. Definitely worth putting off the natural man for. And I like that phrase too. Put off could just mean getting rid of the natural man, but it could also mean resisting. Like putting off somebody’s phone call, or putting off a chore. I defer those impulses, or I ignore them as a nuisance until the point that my natural man is starved and weak and powerless. That’s why I think God asks us to make sacrifices. Every sacrifice we make strengthens our spirit and weakens our natural man. Fasting is a good example of this, I resist my desire to eat (a natural desire) in order to strengthen my Spirit. Tithing, I resist my desire to greedily reserve all my resources for myself in order to support God’s kingdom. Service, I resist my inclination to be self-interested in order to serve and help somebody else. Sacrifice is God’s gym or his spiritual training program. It works out and strengthens our spiritual muscles.

Well, according to verse 19, if I yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, what qualities am I going to develop? I become like a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Now, we could spend an hour on each one of those qualities. We’re not going to do that. But I invite you to ponder the significance of each. But I would like to focus for a moment on the idea of submitting. It goes back to that idea of surrender. He compares it to a father-child relationship. Now as a father, I’ve seen this with my little children. They seem to recognize my authority and just follow it, willingly. I tell them that it’s time for bed and they just accept that that is how it’s supposed to be.  That they need to brush their teeth or do their homework. They may not want to do their homework, and they may grumble a little bit, but they do it, because I’ve asked them to and required it of them. And if they do something wrong, I might send them for a time out, and amazingly, even though they may not want to, they go to their room for a while. They are submissive. And why are they submissive? I hope that it’s not out of fear because they also get a huge daily dose of my love, and praise, and encouragement, and quality time as well. I feel that their submissiveness comes from a place of respect, trust, love, and a recognition that I love them and want the best for them. We too need to be submissive to God’s will. There may be things in my life that the Lord sees fit to inflict upon me: challenges, obstacles, pains, difficult commandments to keep, intimidating callings, tragedies. We need to recognize the wisdom of God and accept those too, knowing that God has infinitely more knowledge and perspective than we do. So we submit our will to His. Perhaps the greatest example of this is Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane where he prays:

39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39)

Christ was always submissive to his Father’s will.

And what will be the results of developing these qualities? Mosiah 2:41. Happiness, I am blessed in all things both temporally and spiritually, and eventually, I’ll be received into heaven.

And if I do this, what will be my final destination on this side? What do I become? What do I become as opposed to an enemy to God?

I become a Saint. That’s our goal. We want to be saints—Latter-day Saints, not enemies to God. A saint, according to the 1828 Websters dictionary is “A person sanctified; a holy or Godly person, one eminent for piety and virtue”. In this life, God is constructing saints out of us, not gods yet, but saints. Saints are gods in embryo. They are people who have learned to put off the natural man.

And speaking of Gethsemane, that’s the other element of 3:19 that King Benjamin is going to touch on here. This is a very, very important detail that we’ve got to add here. That process of becoming a Saint is only possible through the power of something. We can’t overcome the natural man on our own. It is only through what? Through the atonement of Christ, the Lord. And that is what a majority of chapter 3 is all about. We learn a lot about the atonement in this chapter. Now, forgive me, but I’m not going to go into great detail on that section since it’s not my focus for this particular lesson. You just can’t go over all the things we just studied together, and then have a big, detailed lesson on the atonement of Christ as well. As a teacher, you have to choose where you’re going to put your emphasis. BUT, that being said,  I want you to understand that this is a critical, vital part of this process. Remember that none of us is going to become a Saint, or exalted, or like god by ourselves. Nobody is going to earn their salvation. It is a gift, provided to us by our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I invite you to read Mosiah 3:5-18 and mark all you learn about the atonement. Some of the things you’ll learn is that it was Christ's anguish for the wickedness of his people that caused blood to come from every pore. You’ll learn that he atoned for the sins of those who sin in ignorance, those who repent, and the sins of little children. You’ll also learn about the relationship between the atonement and the law of Moses. But, in short, the only way we are going to be able to completely defeat the natural man, to shed his corrupting influence, and overcome death and sin, is through the atonement of Christ.

Now King Benjamin has a lot more to say about this side of the equation in his address, but we’ll save that for next week's lesson in Mosiah 4-6. He’ll teach us about having a mighty change of heart if we’re heading the wrong direction, and being born again, and becoming children of Christ. So you’ll have to stay tuned until next week.

LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES

But before we conclude, let’s try to take this message to heart.

Which force (the natural man or the Holy Spirit) would you say has the greater pull in your life right now?

How could you “yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit” more in your life?

CONCLUSION

So I say, be a Saint, and put off the natural man. Allow yourself to be drawn to the right magnet, the correct invisible force. The natural man or woman inside of us is powerful. But, we have far more powerful force on our side to overcome it. God has equipped us well for this struggle. We have the enticings of the Holy Spirit to guide and motivate us with its promises. We have opportunities to sacrifice that give us spiritual strength, and most significantly, we have the atonement of Christ the Lord to help us overcome our natural man mistakes, and transform us into Saints and eventually Gods. But until that day, let’s yield and not list. And when we do, God promises that we will be received into a never-ending state of happiness.