unselfish service

Dallin H Oaks – Unselfish Service
How to Lose Yourself
Read Matt 16:24-25
“If any man will come after me [He said], let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

“Latter-day Saints are uniquely committed to sacrifice. In partaking of the sacrament each week, we witness our commitment to serve the Lord and our fellowmen. In sacred temple ceremonies we covenant to sacrifice and consecrate our time and talents for the welfare of others.” Dallin H Oaks
We have covenanted to these things and that means we should be doing them.

In the church how do we exercise these covenants of performing service?
“Each year tens of thousands of Latter-Day Saints submit their papers for full time missionary service. Seniors put aside the diversions of retirement, the comforts of home and the loving companionship of children and grandchildren and go forth to serve strangers in unfamiliar places. Young men and women put work and education on hold and make themselves available for to serve wherever they are assigned. Hundreds of thousands of faithful members participate in the unselfish service we call “temple work,” which has no other motive than love and service for our fellowmen, living and dead. The same unselfish service is given by legions of officers and teachers in our stakes and wards and branches. All are uncompensated in worldly terms but committed to Christ-like service to their fellowmen.” Dallin H oaks
1) missionary work
2) temple work
3) church callings
4) parenthood – the world’s longest service project (eternal)
“A familiar example of losing ourselves in the service of others – this one not unique to Latter-day Saints – is the sacrifice parents make for their children. Mothers suffer pain and loss of personal priorities and comforts to bear and rear each child. Fathers adjust their lives and priorities to support a family. The gap between those who are and those who not willing to do this is widening in today’s world…. We rejoice that so many Latter-day Saint Couples are among that unselfish group who are willing to surrender their personal priorities and serve the Lord by bearing and rearing children our heavenly father sends to their care. We also rejoice in those who care for disabled family members and aged parents.”

How do these things help us grow and not doing them make us whither?

Keys to unselfish service:
1) “forget yourself and go to work” (Gordon B Hinckley’s father)
2) “you can never love the Lord until you serve him by serving His people.” (Monson)
3) Rejoice in the service as the one served rejoices in us
“None of this service asks, what’s in it for me? All of it requires setting aside personal convenience for unselfish service. All of it stands in contrast to fame, fortune, and other immediate gratification that are the worldly ways of so many in our day.”

How do these keys change the way that we serve and how do they change us?
Strengths that come from unselfish service:
► Cooperation
► Unity
► Work
► Increase in faith
► Love
► Obedience
“Latter-day Saints are also renowned for their ability to unite in cooperative efforts. The Mormon pioneers who colonized the Intermountain west established our honored tradition of unselfish service cooperation for the common good. Following in this tradition is our modern “helping hands” projects in many nations. In recent elections Latter-day saints have united with other like-minded persons in efforts to defend marriage… Our members’ religious faith and church service has taught them how to work in cooperative efforts top benefit the larger community. Because of his latter-day saint volunteers are in great demand in education, local government charitable causes, and countless other efforts that call for high skills in cooperative efforts and unselfish sacrifice of time and means.”
“Our willingness to sacrifice and our skills in cooperative efforts come from our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, from the inspired teachings of our leaders and from commitments and covenants we knowingly make.”

The Opposition
“We cannot walk as other men, or talk as other men, or do as other men, for we have a different destiny, obligation, and responsibility placed upon us, and we must fit ourselves [to it].” John A Widstoe
Our potential/goal vs Satan’s goal for us
Matt 5:13-14 Luke 22:31/2 Nephi 18:18

What keeps us from “losing our lives”?
► Fear of man
“We do not serve our Savior well if we fear man more than God… we are called to establish the Lord’s standards, not to follow the world’s.”
► Praise
“Those who are caught up in trying to save their lives by seeking the praise of the world are actually rejecting the Savior’s teaching that the only way to save our eternal life is to love one another and lose our lives in service.”
► Ourselves
“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first – wanting to be the centre – wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake… What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’ – could set up on their own as if they had created themselves – be their own as if they had created themselves – be their own masters – invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come… the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”
CS Lewis
“A selfish person is more interested in pleasing man- especially himself- than in pleasing God. He looks only to his own needs and desires. He walks “in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world (D&C 1:16).”
► Gain/gambling
“The worldly aspiration of our day is to get something for nothing… no matter how it is disguised, getting something for nothing is contrary to the gospel law of the harvest: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7).”
► Entitlement
“The ancient evil of greed shows its face in the assertion to this or that because of who I am – a son or a daughter, a citizen, a victim, or member of some other group. Entitlement is generally selfish. It demands much, and it gives little or nothing. Its very concept causes us to seek to elevate ourselves above those around us. This separates us from the divine, evenhanded standard of reward that when anyone obtains any blessing from God, it is by obedience to the law on which that blessing is predicated.”

What are the results of “living” or gaining our lives?
“Such a person becomes disconnected from the covenant promises of God and from the mortal friendship and assistance we all need in these tumultuous times. In contrast, if we love and serve one another as the Savior taught, we remain connected to our covenants and to our associates.”

How does unselfishness change our perspective of the world and others?
Service isn’t about what you give to others but what you give up of yourself.

Chalkboard
Our potential/goal
Satan’s goal
► Cooperation
► Unity
► Work
► Increase in faith
► Love
► Obedience
► Happiness
► activity

► Fear of man
► Praise
► Entitlement
► Gain/gambling
► Ourselves
► Inactivity
► No progress
Service
Keys
1) missionary work
2) temple work
3) church callings
4) parenthood – the world’s longest service project (eternal)

1) forget yourself
2) love
3) Rejoice
4) Work
5) “None of this service asks, what’s in it for me?”