The Fundamental Importance of Sacrifice

Adam had already fallen, had made covenants with the Lord, and had received his instructions on the proper way to worship God outside of His presence. The Lord "gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord" (Moses 5:5). Adam obeyed, and offered those sacrifices. The Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price provides the reason for the sacrifices offered from the beginning of man (and woman) on the earth until the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. An angel appeared to instruct Adam:
"This thing (the sacrifices) is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore" (Moses 5:7-8). The LDS Bible Dictionary, written by noted Bible scholar Robert Matthews, says this of those ancient, pre-Atonement sacrifices: "Whenever there were true believers on the earth, with priesthood authority, sacrifices were offered in that manner (the firstlings of the flock) and for that purpose (in a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ)."

The question that follows (and which I had often asked when we learned of this Old Testament stuff) is so what? We don't do sacrifices anymore, so what's the point of knowing this? The answer: though the ordinance of sacrifice by the shedding of blood is no longer practiced, the necessity for our sacrifices has not gone away. They have but changed form.

Any discussion on sacrifice cannot possibly be complete without mentioning and honoring that Great and Infinite Sacrifice that makes it all possible. Amulek of Book of Mormon fame said this of that Great Atonement: "For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice....There can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of the world" (Alma 34:10,12). That infinite sacrifice was made by a perfect being, who willingly took upon Himself not only the consequences of the sins of all humanity, but also its pains and sicknesses and sorrows in the Garden of Gethsemane; who endured scourgings and beatings and being spat upon; who was nailed to a cross with grace and forgiveness ("Forgive them [the Romans], for they know not what they do"); who willingly gave His life as a sacrifice which would allow for the children of God to come to the fold and lean upon His perfection in order to be justified, in order to return to live with the Father and the Son forever. There had never been so great a sacrifice, and there never will be another as great. There was no greater love than that, for Christ gave His life for His friends. 

Tad Callister in his doctrinal masterpiece The Infinite Atonement, said this: "In this spirit, the Savior’s sacrifice was the noblest gift of all because he who possessed all gave all. His spiritual, emotional, psychological, and life-giving powers were all laid on the altar of sacrifice without restraint. He gave until there was nothing left to give, nothing left to do—until he had fully drawn from that vast reservoir of virtues he possessed in order to work out an infinite sacrifice....Of all the acts of love, the atoning sacrifice far exceeds and transcends them all. No one has ever given so much to so many willingly.”

So what's next? Is the work finished? Are we to just sit back and let Christ's grace put us in a bubble of righteousness until He comes again?

Absolutely not. Elder Holland said, "Why would we believe--why would we think--that it would be easy for us when it was never ever easy for Him? In turn, how could we possibly bear any lasting, moving testimony of the Atonement if we've never known or felt anything of such an experience? We're proud to say we're disciples of Christ, and we are. But mark my word: that means you must be prepared to walk something of the path He walked. To feel something--something, a little--of the pain He felt. To at least occasionally, sometime during your [life], shed one of the tears of sorrow that He shed."

I don't know that any church's doctrine teaches directly that life will be easy as a result of that Atonement, but there are certainly some that teach that there is nothing left to do on our part. It is most certainly true that we are saved by grace. It is most certainly true that there is no other name by which we can be saved than that of Jesus the Christ--not by Joseph Smith or Thomas Monson or Ethan Crisp. It is by Christ, and Christ alone. But that same Christ that gave all in love for us does ask a lot of us. Not because He needs us to earn the sacrifice He gave in any way, shape, or form, but because He wants us to be prepared to inherit what He will. As the apostle Paul put it, "Then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17). It is also true that other denominations accuse us Latter-day Saints of believing that we can and attempting to earn our way to salvation. One of the cited scriptures in this accusation (and one also misunderstood by many of us Saints) comes from the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi. The prophet Nephi describes his discipleship--his conviction of Christ, and the purpose for his efforts:

"For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). And so comes the question: we is "all we can do?"

"All we can do" is repent. "All we can do" is sacrifice our will to know God, to please God. As the repentant father of King Lamoni cried, "I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom that I may receive this great joy...and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day" (Alma 22:15,18). "All we can do" is to humbly recognize that the worldly things that we cling to are preventing our ultimate, eternal progression in God's kingdom, and to then lean on the grace of Christ to be justified, and then sanctified through Him. Nothing else can help us earn anything. Acts of service and acts of worship are really only a product of our repentance, and thus earn us nothing but the satisfaction to press on. When we reach the point where we serve selflessly, we have already qualified for that salvation. 

The prescribed way in which we show our Lord that we have truly repented and are willing to sacrifice our will for His is through covenants: baptism, confirmation, and temple covenants, including endowments and sealing. By making and honoring these covenants, His grace begins to have greater place in our lives. "Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice--yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command--they are accepted of me" (D&C 97:8). This means that we sacrifice Sunday pleasure for Sabbath worship; we sacrifice foods and beverages that aren't in line with His established commandments; we sacrifice 10% of our earnings; we sacrifice our free time and pleasure to fulfill our callings and to serve His children in need. We must be willing to sacrifice anything for the greater good of the Kingdom of God and our own eternal progress. As the Lord commanded through Joseph Smith, "Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord they God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (D&C 59:8). That broken heart and contrite spirit drives us to be willing to give up anything, if it means that the will of God will be done in us.

It is the Atonement which naturally allows us to be justified by grace. It is through our covenants and our zeal in keeping them that allow us to be sanctified by grace. Grace through Christ's sacrifice is always the means, but our own sacrifices greatly influence our receptiveness to and qualification for that grace. Of equal relevance is the infinite scope of the Atonement which allows us to continue to repent as we continue to make mistakes. Brother Callister said it like this: “As long as we have the slightest spark of repentance within us, Christ and his Atonement are standing in the wings, anxiously waiting to be summoned. The question is not whether the Savior paid the purchase price for all sins—He did—but whether we are willing to avail ourselves to his sacrifice by repenting."

Returning to Adam, though we no longer perform the same type of sacrifices that he did, the answer to its purpose given to him by the angel remains relevant in our modern types of sacrifices: "This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore."