What is Grace? By Anthony Sweat

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What is Grace?

Not Something That Only Comes “After All We Can Do”

by Anthony Sweat

A few years ago I had a pre-arranged meeting with an evangelical group

who was interested in learning more about Mormonism. Part of our Q&A session went something like this: The leader of the group asked me, “Do you believe in being saved by grace?” Without hesitation I said, “Of course we do. Without question. Amen. Hallelujah!” Somewhat surprised, he countered, “But you have to keep the commandments to get to heaven, right? It comes by your works.” I responded with something like, “Listen. It doesn’t matter how much good I do, I cannot save myself. I can pay 50% tithing, help every old lady I see across every road, feed all the homeless in the city, pray ten times daily, and read the scriptures until my retinas burn, and none of those works will save me. My works cannot save me. It is only the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ that can save me.” He then said something that has since stuck with me: “You are the first Mormon I have heard that hasn’t hesitated to say they believe in being saved by grace.” I told him all faithful Mormons believe in being saved by the Lord’s grace, not just me, and if they say they don’t then they either don’t know, understand, or believe our doctrine.

So what is our doctrine on grace?

Being saved by grace simply means salvation by “the divine help and strength we receive through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ” (“Grace,” True to the Faith, (2004), 77–78). That heavenly help comes in countless ways, including answers to prayers, inspiration from heaven, forgiveness of sins, healing of the soul, strength to do good works, overcoming sin and temptation, transforming the natural man, and one day being resurrected. Any aid we receive from heaven in our quest for exaltation can appropriately be qualified as “grace,”—divine means of help and strength, all of which come as a gift from Christ.

The word “grace” is wonderfully rich in LDS theology.

Even though “Amazing Grace” isn’t included in our current hymn book, 35 different titles in the LDS hymnal include lines about the “grace” of God. The word “grace” appears 61 times in latter-day scripture (28 times in the Book of Mormon, 26 times in the Doctrine and Covenants, and 7 times in the Pearl of Great Price). Being saved by grace is one of the central themes of the Book of Mormon. Lehi taught, “There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). Jacob taught, “it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved” (2 Nephi 10:24). And Moroni closed the Book of Mormon by saying, “by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32). Latter-day Saint theology is definitive in being saved by Jesus’ grace.

Even though grace is rich in our doctrine,

I don’t fault some of our evangelical friends for thinking that Mormons don’t believe in being saved by grace because, to be honest, as Latter-day Saints we tend to focus a lot on good “works,” and rightly so (see John 14:15, 21, 23, 24; John 15:9-11 for some good reasons to focus on commandment keeping). Sometimes we are fearful that an admission of grace sends the untrue message that everyone will freely go to the highest heaven if you confess Jesus, no matter what kind of life they lived, which isn’t scriptural (see Matthew 7:21-23, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 for example). The new LDS youth curriculum on this topic for this month even says, “Effort is required on our part to receive the fulness of the Lord’s grace.” But don’t ignore or miss the deliberate word “fulness” in that statement. There is a difference between receiving a fulness of the Lord’s grace and receiving of his grace. A “fulness” of the Lord’s grace comes by making covenants with him (see Mark 16:16 for example), but we can enjoy various gifts of Christ’s grace every day, whether we are righteous or not. After all, both the saint who is trying to resist sin and the sinner who is trying to overcome it need the Lord’s help to do so.

It’s not uncommon to hear church members occasionally teach something like,

“We need to do everything we can, and then the Lord’s grace will kick in.” Some will cite Nephi’s wonderful verse, “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23) to qualify this thought. However, none of us ever do all that we can do. Do we? Is it possible for any of us live up to all the light and truth we have? Do any of us fully keep all the truths we know? If we do, we are without sin, and I only know of one person who accomplished that, and he was Divine. Two years ago at BYU education week I taught a class on grace and when I sent my teaching outline to the Church’s correlation department to be cleared for approval they sent me back a note in regard to 2 Nephi 25:23 and doing all we can do. This is what it said, “The Book of Mormon adds ‘all that we could do [was to] repent of all our sins’ (Alma 24:11).” Mormon.org says the exact same thing (see http://mormon.org/faq/beliefs-on-grace/). It’s an enlightening and, quite frankly, a liberating thought to think that “all we can do” is more about repenting than righteousness.

Additionally, to teach that the Lord’s grace only kicks in at after all we can do

denies the constant kind grace we receive from the Lord all along. Grace is NOT like a runner getting a heavenly boost of energy for the last 3 miles of the marathon after she has physically spent all her available energy and done “all that she can do.” This thought denies the truth that it is by the Lord’s grace that we have the breath to live, the muscles to work, the food to energize, the passion to train, and the fortitude to push on in the race. The Lord gives us grace—divine means of help and strength—all along the way, every step we run in the race of life. Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, “The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 155). It is my testimony that we can enjoy the Lord’s grace each day, every hour, every step, as we seek for his divine means of help and strength, and that by his grace, and his grace alone, we can be saved in the kingdom of heaven.

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Here are some teaching ideas and the pamphlets for the March Come Follow Me young men and young women lessons!

You can find all of the pamphlets at the end of the post.  🙂

  LDS Young Women "Come Follow Me" lesson helps for March "The Atonement of Jesus Christ". This package is for the lesson "What is the Atonement of Jesus Christ?"

MARCH COME FOLLOW ME LESSON IDEAS

What does atonement mean? 

This is a fantastic introductory lesson for the entire month. AND it is a great lesson for Easter.  One thing you can see in the package above, is we used the symbol of the olive tree.  This is something I often do when teaching about this topic.  Years and years ago I read an article by Truman G. Madsen called, “The Allegory of the Olive Tree – The Olive Press:  A Symbol of Christ” – you can find it HERE.   That was such a powerful talk for me and gives such a reverent perspective of the Atonement, using the olive press as a symbol.  I suggest you take a look at that talk and see if it gives you any teaching ideas.  There is also an a version that was put into the Ensign, you can find that HERE.

Another talk I would recommend, is the classic talk by Bruce R. McConkie called, “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane“.  This talk is often called “The Final Testimony” because he passed away a couple of weeks after this talk was given.  In fact, you should watch some of the videos available (you can find it on You Tube). You would never know how sick he was.  What a man he was.

Teaching about this topic always feels like a heavy assignment to me.  I never feel like I can do the topic proper justice.  So that is why I would recommend looking up some talks like that, it gives a fresh, new perspective and helps put you in the place to receive inspiration.

If you are interested in the teaching package above, you can find it HERE.

Or you can find a combo pack of the March lessons HERE.

LDS Young Women "Come Follow Me" lesson helps for March "The Atonement of Jesus Christ". This package is for the lesson, "What does it mean to have faith in Jesus Christ?"

What does it mean to have faith in Jesus Christ? 

THIS is one of my favorite topics to teach about.  And in fact, in this package I included some of the visuals I always use to teach about faith.

One of my favorite quotes about faith is this one:

“Each child in each generation chooses faith or disbelief. Faith is not an inheritance; it is a choice” (President Henry B. Eyring, (“Inquire of the Lord” [remarks at an evening with Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Feb. 2, 2001]).

I would probably write that on the board and talk about it at the beginning of the lesson.  The scriptures are full of examples of this quote.  And then I would continually refer back to that quote throughout all of the learning activities.

Another, really great follow up with that quote is this one, also by President Eyring.  It is a rather alarming quote, and I was there in this meeting when he gave it.  It was at a CES meeting in 2001 and I remember wondering what he meant  – but now I can look back and see how prophetic it was.

You can find it HERE.

I also want to add that the definition for “Faith” in the Bible Dictionary is really good.  You could take it line-by-line and have some great conversations about it.

If you are interested in the above teaching package you can find it HERE.

Or you can find a combo pack of the March lessons HERE.

 

LDS Young Women "Come Follow Me" lesson helps for March "The Atonement of Jesus Christ". This teaching package is for the lesson "how can repentance help me every day"?

How can repentance help me every day?

One of my favorite quote on repentance is this one by President Boyd K. Packer:

“I readily confess that I would find no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a world without repentance.  I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes.  The agony would be more than I could bear.”

One thing I always to try to really enforce when I teach about repentance is that it is an amazing thing to have!  Through the years I noticed that whenever I taught about this topic, heads would go down and my students would stop making eye contact.  This topic would often bring on feelings of guilt and they would be uncomfortable – it was as though they viewed repentance as a bad thing because it meant they did something wrong.  So I would always try to teach (with much clarity) that in order to become a saint, you learn to love and embrace repentance.  Repentance is a beautiful thing!  That is what the Celestial Kingdom will be full of – people who understood and embraced repentance!  They will be ultimate realists – when they saw un-Christlike behavior, they changed it!

I wrote an article about this awhile back, you can find it HERE.

I think this is an important principle to teach at the beginning of the lesson, because then, the rest of the lesson can be viewed as great information and tools to help them become increasingly Christ-like every day.  Otherwise, they may view it as something they hope they don’t have to use, because they don’t have a full understanding of repentance.

If you are interested in the teaching package for this, you can find it HERE.

Or you can find a combo pack of the March lessons HERE.

LDS Young Women "Come Follow Me" lesson helps for March "The Atonement of Jesus Christ". This teaching package is for the lesson "what is grace?"

What is grace? 

I LOVE this lesson.  I have to admit that “grace” is a topic I couldn’t fully wrap my mind around until I found Elder Bednar’s talk, In the Strength of the Lord (the pamphlet is at the end of the lesson).  Originally, I read the BYU devotional talk, and since then he gave a shorter version in General Conference.  The General Conference version is the one cited in the lesson, but I have also included the BYU devotional version in the pamphlets below – although it was too long to put in a pamphlet format.

When we made this teaching package I gave you options for both talks (the General Conference version or the BYU devotional version).  In the BYU one he had time to give some really amazing and impactful examples and stories that have, personally, made a huge impact on my life.  So, in the package we gave you some illustrations to use as you teach those stories as well as an illustrated note page to study the talk with.  There are questions with a picture and then you would search the talk to find the answer to that question.

I have no other teaching suggestions for “grace” other than that talk by Elder Bednar.  It is all you need.  All scriptures you look up after that will make much more sense once you have studied that talk.

If you are interested in the teaching package on grace, you can find it HERE

Or you can find a combo pack of six March lessons HERE.

 LDS Young Women "Come Follow Me" lesson helps for March "The Atonement of Jesus Christ". This teaching package is for the lesson "why do I need to forgive others?"

Why do I need to forgive others? 

I LOVE, love, love this lesson.  This lesson centers around the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.  There is a really great study sheet included that helps you go through, and discuss, each verse of this parable.  We have given you tips here and there as well in order to grasp the important principles and have a really great discussion as you study together.

This parable is about a servant who owed the king 10,000 talents, and another man who owed that same servant 100 pence.  The 10,000 talents is meant to be an impossible number to repay, while the 100 pence is very repayable.  We have given you visuals that can help those you are teaching grasp the difference between these two debts, and therefore understand the principles meant to be applied to our lives in this parable.

You can find this package HERE.

Or it is part of the March combo package which you can find HERE.

 

LDS Young Women "Come Follow Me" lesson helps for March "The Atonement of Jesus Christ". This teaching package teaches the lesson "What is the resurrection?"

What is the resurrection? 

I love this lesson, and it is especially good to give this time of year as we approach Easter.

I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of teaching this topic.  I’ve always been impressed that when Alma was counseling his wayward son Corianton, this is the doctrine he chose to talk to him about (Alma 40-41).  Alma wanted to leave an impression on Corianton of the true and everlasting consequences of his sins.  He didn’t say you shouldn’t be doing this or that because statistically this or that may happen to you…. he simply taught about the resurrection, and the finality of it.  It is a pretty powerful thing to contemplate.

Those chapters always remind me of President Boyd K. Packer’s quote:  ”  True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.  The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel.”  (Little Children, October 1986 General Conference).

This lesson teaches a lot of doctrine which I think is great – not only because it teaches doctrine, but it helps those you are teaching feel more and more capable of finding answers like this on their own.

If you are interested in this teaching package you can find it HERE.  One thing that is part of this package is a study sheet that is very detailed with questions about the resurrection with a scripture to find the answer with – so those you are teaching will be digging and finding the answers.

Or you can find a combo pack of six March lessons HERE.

LDS Come Follow Me. This study flip book is titled, "How can the Atonement help me during my trials?". You can study the scriptures included, fill with quotes, fill in the study pages, etc. then when during a difficult time you can pull this out and read these important principles.

How can the Atonement help me during my trials?

How can the Atonement help me during my trials?

We have done something really different with this teaching tool. Looking at this lesson, it occurred to me it’s perfect it is to make something everyone can take home and pull out when needed.

how can the Atonement help me during my trials booklet

So we have created a booklet filled with scriptures and pages to write down quotes about the power of the Atonement during difficult times.

Four booklet pages fit on one 8 1/2 x 11 paper and there are 20 total booklet pages (so 5 pieces of paper per person).  Just cut them out, punch a hole in the corner and attach with a string or a binder ring.  Then spend the entire class preparing your booklets for difficult times.  Spread out the suggested general conference talks, other talks you may find, books, etc. and let everyone find great quotes to write in their books.   Divide up the scriptures and look for definitions and insights into why that scripture is so powerful.  Then let everyone share what they find as everyone fills up their books with quotes, insights, etc.

This could also make a really great youth activity or family home evening.

You can find this booklet HERE.

Or it is a part of the March combo package HERE.

Note:  We have updated this flip book with new graphics and the title:  “How Can the Savior Help Me During My Trials?”  You can find this new flip book HERE.

LESSON TALKS:

And here are all of the PDF files for the pamphlet formats of the General Conference talks.  You will need to print them back-to-back and then fold it over.  When you open the files the “front” page of the pamphlet will be in the lower right corner.  This is correct and will fold over correctly once you print it back-to-back.

In most printers, in order to print back-to-back, you will print one side and then lay the paper back into the paper tray JUST AS IT CAME OUT.  So you do not turn it in any way.

yw lesson 1 He is Risen Monson

yw lesson 1 Is Faith in the Atonement Burton

yw lesson 2 In Tune with Music of Faith Q.Cook

yw lesson 2 By Faith Things Are Fulfilled M. Nash

yw lesson 3 Repent That I May Heal You Andersen

yw lesson 4 In the Strength of the Lord Bednar

yw lesson 4 In the Strength of the Lord BYU DEVOTIONAL VERSION Bednar (not a pamphlet)

yw lesson 5 forgiveness hinckley

yw lesson 5 the merciful obtain mercy uchtdorf

yw lesson 6 He is Risen Monson

yw lesson 6 Mrs. Patton – the story continues Monson

yw lesson 6 Resurrection

yw lesson 7 personal peace the reward of righteousness cook

yw lesson 7 The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality

yw lesson 7 because i live ye shall live also bowen

yw lesson 3 The Divine Gift of Repentance Christofferson

10 comments

  1. Fantastic article! I have been very excited to have this discussion with our youth. I have often found that most LDS members don’t quiet understand the significance of grace in our salvation. So important for us to know the difference between “his grace” and the “fullness of his grace.” I also love that he pointed out that the “all we can do” part is not just doing good things. His grace can be felt every day as we fully participate in the atonement by repenting and utilizing the purification of the holy ghost.

  2. Great summary of an important subject that sometimes confuses people. The best line was “Sometimes we are fearful that an admission of grace sends the untrue message that everyone will freely go to the highest heaven if you confess Jesus, no matter what kind of life they lived.” I think this is the root of the problem—mistakenly thinking there are only two options (salvation involves some degree of effort, or salvation comes cheaply) and that “grace” refers to the second option. It’d be interesting to figure out how that false impression has become so prevalent.

    The quote from Elder Hafen regarding 2 Ne. 25:23 is great because it points out that “after” does not just mean “temporally later than.” It’s similar to our word “before.” If I say, “I stand before you today,” that doesn’t mean, “First I stood up, then a moment later, you stood up.” Rather, it means, “I stand in front of you.” The word “before” doesn’t just mean “temporally earlier than.”

    Likewise, if I say, “After all my efforts to save for college, it was my Grandma’s bond that she bought the day I was born which really paid for my education,” that doesn’t mean, “First I saved, then a moment later, Grandma bought my birthday bond.”

  3. Great article, I have been enjoying Mr. Sweat’s articles and look forward to each one when they are posted. (BTW – love your book “Why.” With 5 kids, the oldest turning 12 this year, we are regularly opening it up and reading chapters. When questions come and she doesn’t appreciate her parents answers it is great resource and entertaining as well.)

    Thanks to Nathan000000 as well, you comments clarified some of my thoughts.

  4. Thank you for the article! I am teaching the youth in my church class about grace on Sunday. This article really shed some light on the subject. It is important for people to understand that grace is a gift. It already has been given to us through the Savior’s Atonement. Since we already have the gift it is up to us whether we enjoy the fullness of the gift. That “strengthening” or “enabling” power is what has and will save us!

  5. Our family has lived in the southern U.S. for a few years now and one of the first things we had to get straight was our doctrine on grace because it was constantly brought up. In the last few months there was a great article in the BYU Alumni Magazine that talked about grace. I made copies to give to many of our friends and unfortunately forgot to keep one for myself. I will be tracking that down:)

  6. Brother Sweat, 8 years after having you in seminary and you STILL continue to inspire and teach me :). THANK YOU for this amazing lesson. I am sure my Beehive group will be enriched because I read this.

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