Ministering, 26 times

Shortly after General Conference, while looking into the resources at ministering.lds.org, I heard Acting President M. Russel Ballard issue an invitation to the members of the church:

"I invite you to study 3 Nephi by identifying every reference to the word minister in any of its forms and every reference to the phrase one by one. Once you have thoroughly identified these words and phrases, please consider what the Book of Mormon teaches about ministering."

Before taking this challenge, I had been thinking about ministering in terms of offering temporal assistance: answering the phone when someone is in trouble, bringing someone baked goods, helping someone move or clean, etc.

As I studied 3 Nephi, it became clear that ministering is about so much more than that. True ministering is pointing people to Christ. Because, as Elder Eyring taught, "Only God knows hearts, and so only He can say, in truth, 'I know how you feel.'"

To review what I learned (and provide a cheat-sheet for anyone who didn't take the challenge), here are the references to ministering in 3 Nephi, not counting the words used in the chapter headings. My own thoughts are in italics.

1. 3 Nephi 7:15 - Nephi was taught about the ministry of Christ.
2. 3 Nephi 7:17
3. x2- Nephi ministers to the people before the coming of Christ.
   In verse 16, we learn that the people had become wicked again and Nephi was "grieved" because of it. Instead of sitting back and being sad - or staying in his house and judging them, like many of us might do today - he went out "among them in that same year" and ministered "with power and with great authority." His ministering didn't consist of baking them cookies, but of testifying "boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ." In verse 19, we learn that Nephi's ministry included casting out devils and unclean spirits and even raising his brother from the dead.
4. 3 Nephi 7:18 - Angels ministered daily to Nephi.
   Not everyone was happy about Nephi's ministry. In fact, many people "were angry with him" and jealous of his power. Yet his faith was so great that he communicated daily with angels. I bet that was restorative! This tells me that as I busy myself caring for others (especially in ways that aren't instantly gratifying), I ought to make sure to take the necessary time to commune with the Lord and renew my strength in Him.
5. 3 Nephi 7:25 - Nephi ordained men to the ministry to help him baptize the believing.
   He got companions! Certainly there's a reason why missionaries have companions, and why we're assigned to minister in pairs.
6. 3 Nephi 10:19
   x2 - The next chapters contain an account of Christ's ministry, which includes him showing his body to the people.
   I love that Christ shows the wounds in his hands and feet to the Nephites. If I dare to extrapolate a lesson from that sacred encounter into my own life, it's that following the Savior's example may mean being vulnerable with those I serve. Sometimes that may mean humbling myself and being willing to scrub someone's filthy floor - or even to show up and serve someone I wickedly judge to be undeserving. Other times, that may mean opening up and sharing personal details with someone. Who knows what miracles God may work with our shared tears.
7. 3 Nephi 12:1 - Christ tells the Nephites that he chose Nephi and others to minister to them and to be their servants.
   To be their servants. Wow. I better throw away my pride and get down and scrub that floor.
8. 3 Nephi 13:25 - Christ tells the twelve disciples that he has chosen them to minister to the people and, therefore, they should take no thought for their clothes or food because he will provide.
   While being ministering brothers and sisters obviously doesn't exempt all of us from being self-sufficient, I think the spirit of Christ's message still applies, even to those of us who aren't part of the Quorum of the Twelve. The gist of it, for me, is this: We don't need to be so caught up worrying about ourselves. If spending time with or serving someone cuts into our relaxation time or even makes us wonder when we'll finish crossing everything else off our to-do lists...it'll be okay. We can turn those worries over to God. As he manages to clothe the lilies, he can care for us.
9. 3 Nephi 16:1 - Jesus has sheep in places where he hasn't yet ministered.
10. 3 Nephi 16:4 - Jesus ministered in Jerusalem.
    But even being ministered to directly, face-to-face, from the Savior, wasn't enough to teach the people in Jerusalem everything or to make them fully converted. This verse goes on to say that if the people in Jerusalem don't pray to know about the other groups of God's flock, they never will. I think this is an example of another ministering truth: we can't teach everything; even Jesus didn't. As ministers, teaching people everything isn't even our job. The God-individual relationship, built and fortified by prayer, shouldn't be replaced. People have to learn and grow for themselves; that's one of the missions of this mortal life.
11. 3 Nephi 17:24 - Angels minister to the children.
12. 3 Nephi 18:28
13. x2 - The sacrament is "ministered" to the people. 
14. 3 Nephi 18:30
15. & 3 Nephi 18:32 - Members who are unworthy to take the sacrament should be welcomed and ministered to "for ye know not but what they will return and repent."
16. 3 Nephi 19:2 - The people announce to others that Christ has ministered to them.
17. 3 Nephi 19:7 - After praying that Christ will come, the disciples "ar[i]se and minister" to the people.
18. 3 Nephi 19:7 - They minister "the same words that Jesus had spoken."
    Here's another example of ministering consisting of teaching gospel truths. Indeed, might I not teach "nothing varying from the words which Jesus had spoken" to those whom I visit?
19. 3 Nephi 19:14 - Angels come "out of" (not "down from") heaven and minister to the people, who had just been baptized.
20. 3 Nephi 19:15 - The angels continue to minister.
21. x2 - Christ returns and ministers, standing "in the midst" of the people.
    I like that he didn't stand afar off or above them, but right there in the middle of everyone. To me, that says that while a Facebook message or text or letter might be an entirely appropriate method of contacting those I'm assigned to care for, it shouldn't be the only way we communicate. I should visit them in person, even be willing to get in the midst of their lives if they need me to. 
22. 3 Nephi 23:9 
23. & 3 Nephi 23:11 - After the resurrection of Christ, "many saints did arise [from the dead] and appear unto many and did minister unto them," as had been prophesied by Samuel the Lamanite. 
24. 3 Nephi 26:14 - Christ teaches and ministers to the children.
25. 3 Nephi 26:19 - After being baptized, the converted people teach and "minister one to another." 
    
26. 3 Nephi 28:2 - All but three of the disciples wish to return speedily to the kingdom of God after completing their ministries. 

This exercise surprised me in two major ways. First, it taught me how much ministering has to do with teaching the truths of the gospel and not just helping temporally, as I mentioned above.

Second, it made me realize how much all of Christ's children share the responsibility of ministering. I guess I expected to read in 3 Nephi about Christ's ministry and try to extrapolate into my own life what I could from his example. It was surprising - and kind of encouraging - to see how often ministering in 3 Nephi was done by someone other than Christ himself. As if, even then, even when Christ was right there with the people, he trusted them to do his work.

Here's how the references above break down by person or group doing the ministering:
Christ's personally - 8
Angels - 4
Resurrected saints - 2
Nephi (the prophet) - 2
The twelve disciples (sometimes including Nephi) - 8
The people - 2

I especially love the two instances in which the people are called on to be ministers. The first is when members of the flock are instructed to be kind, pray for, and minister to any people who may not be worthy to take the sacrament (#14 & #15). It's as if all the ministering from the prophet and church leaders wouldn't quite be enough (even if they could be there to minister to every person); sometimes people need to know that their peers care about them. And, certainly, these verses are reminders to all of us that we need to be inclusive and loving, not restrictive. The gospel is for sharing.

The final instance in which ministering is discussed as a responsibility of the people is almost the last reference to ministering in the book of 3 Nephi (#25). It's at the end, after Christ has come and the angels are gone and when, you could say, the dust of all the spiritual wonders they've seen is finally settling. The verses that include the account of their ministering are a teaser to the peace and prosperity of the first part of 4 Nephi, for the people "were baptized in the name of Jesus and were filled with the Holy Ghost...and many of them saw and heard unspeakable things...and they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things in common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another...and they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them...and they....were called the church of Christ" (3 Nephi 26:17-21).

I'm taking that as a promise: As I become fully converted to the gospel of Christ, my desire to minister will increase. And, as all of us more diligently fulfill our ministering responsibilities, the peace and joy and unity we feel in the church will increase.

May we all press on in the work of the Lord. 

The Man [who visited] Earth

I can't identify how many times I've doubted the Savior. Not just whether he would be there for me, but whether the whole religion thing is necessary and, if so, whether Christianity is the "right" belief system in a world with so many views and experiences.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago, though, that I ever doubted the reality of Christ's resurrection. And, this time, the doubts were different. Not logical like before, when I'd safely considered Bible stories in the context of the things I was learning about atheism, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism, etc. All of a sudden, because of an interesting idea I heard expressed in a movie, it felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Like, what if all the Bible witnesses were wrong? What if Christ didn't actually come out of that tomb on the third day? What if his miracles were all just stories, myths?

The thoughts didn't keep me up at night. I wasn't seriously doubting my faith, I thought. It was just a poorly-made movie, I told myself. Yet, the doubt persisted, and I didn't do anything my religious training has taught me to do. I didn't pray about it, search (any) scriptures about it, or even really acknowledge the doubt outright. As if, in ignoring it, it would just go away and I would magically return to being as sure about Christ's existence as I was when I preached His gospel in the streets of Guatemala or felt his healing power guide me to relief from a health problem as a young wife.

Thankfully, I also didn't do anything my religious training has taught me not to do in times of trials or uncertainty. I kept going to church, reading the scriptures, serving others, and talking to (sometimes, at) God in prayer. That was how my answer came.

One day - I think I was doing dishes or something, while a part of my brain passively reviewed those doubts about Christ's resurrection that had come from the movie - when, BAM, all of a sudden all of my brain jerked to alertness. I stood up straight and almost said aloud, "But Joseph Smith saw him!"

And, suddenly, I was filled with an exuberant gratitude for Joseph Smith for reasons I'd never considered before. That feeling came alongside with gratitude to God, for keeping his word: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (2 Corinthians 13:1).

That movie had made me question the accuracy of the Bible, and with it the testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, Stephen, and the hundreds at Pentecost who saw the Risen Lord. Had I faced the doubts it introduced head-on, I might have remembered Nephi, Jacob, Moroni, the brother of Jared, and the other Book of Mormon prophets who testified of, and in some cases gave their lives for, the Savior.

I didn't face my doubts head-on, though, and who knows where they would have taken me had the Holy Ghost not caused me to remember what I have worked hard to know is true: that God's true church began to be restored to the Earth in 1830. That 14-year-old Joseph Smith walked out into nature 10 years before that to say a prayer and came away with way more than he ever bargained for: an in-person answer from the Father and the Son. Say what people may about him, criticize his character though they might, no one can convince me that a farm boy in nineteenth-century New York wrote the Book of Mormon on his own. That book was translated. It contains scripture, and it comes from God. I know it.

I came to know it because I believed in Christ and I knew the Book of Mormon contained the Savior's words (2 Nephi 33:10-11). If anything, my testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration had been weak throughout my life, buoyed up by my faith in Christ. Never before that moment in the kitchen had I felt that the later depended on the former.

But when it did, I was so grateful for both. For Christ coming to Earth at a time when his teachings, miracles, and resurrection could be recorded in a record that would be passed on to people for centuries, regardless of the number of translations that may have diluted the message. And for Christ coming back to Earth after a long apostasy to reorganize his Church and proclaim his testimony in the modern world, in civilization as we know it, at a time and in a place so much closer to my own, and for giving us access to another record, another testimony of his life and another account of his ministry.

Christ lives. If you doubt it, read the Bible. If you doubt that, read the Book of Mormon. If you doubt that, pray.