The Law of Consecration

Holding your Soul in Your Own Hands

D&C 42The Lord reveals the Law of

Consecration

In February 1831, soon after the Saints began to gather in Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord revealed that they should begin to live the law of consecration (D&C 42:30).

Consecrate

to set apart or dedicate something to the service of the Lord

What is the law of consecration?

An organized way in which individuals consecrate their time, talents, and possessions to the Church to build the Lord’s kingdom and serve His children

What are the purposes of the law of consecration?

D&C 42:30 To care for the poor and needy

D&C 42:35 To purchase lands, build houses of worship and build the New Jerusalem

D&C 42:40 To help the Lord’s people overcome pride

D&C 42:42 To help the Lord’s people be industrious and avoid idleness

What are the purposes of the law of consecration?

D&C 51:3,9 To help the Lord’s people be one

D&C 78:3-7 To make the Lord’s people equal (XD&C 51:3) in earthly things and help them receive a place in the celestial kingdom

D&C 78:14 To help the Church “stand independent above all other creatures”

D&C 82:17-19 To help the Lord’s people to prove their talents for the good of all, seek the interest of their neighbor and do all things with an eye single to God’s glory

D&C 29:34-35The Law of Consecration

Temporal or Economic Program

Spiritual Law that helps

members grow spiritually and

prepare for eternal life

The Law of Consecration

General Principles

of Law of Consecration

Have not changed

Specific Application

of the principles of Law of

Consecration

Have changed from time to time

The law of consecration is an eternal law.

Moses 7:18.

The people of Enoch

  Acts 4:32, Acts 4:34–35.

The Saints after the Savior’s Resurrection

4 Nephi 1:1–3, 4 Nephi 1:12–13, 4 Nephi 1:15.The Nephites after the Savior’s

visit to them

BISHOP

RESIDUEKept in Bishop’s Storehouse D&C 42:34

STEWARD

We give surplusD&C 42:33

Needs and wants amply supplied. D&C 42:33

Help poor and needyD&C 42:34

Finance church and establish ZionD&C 42:35

How the early saints applied

the Law of consecration

D&C 42

The Lord’s storehouse today

D&C 42:34; 78:3;83:5-6

 “The Lord’s storehouse receives, holds in trust, and dispenses consecrated offerings of the Saints. The storehouse may be as simple or sophisticated as circumstances require. It may be a list of available services, money in an account, food in a pantry, or commodities in a building. A storehouse is established when faithful members consecrate to the bishop their time, talents, skills, compassion, materials, and financial means in caring for the poor and in building up the kingdom of God on the earth.

 How can each of us

contribute to the resources of the Lord’s storehouse in

our ward?

“The Lord’s storehouse, therefore, exists in each ward. The bishop is the agent of the storehouse. Guided by inspiration from the Lord, he distributes the Saints’ offerings to the poor and needy. He is assisted by priesthood quorums and the Relief Society. He is instructed and supported in his responsibilities by stake and area leaders” (Book 2: Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders [1998], 256).

•   

Babylon and ZionTwo beautiful women

Consecrate all our time, talents,

possessions to the building up of the kingdom of God

Enjoy all the dainty, delicious,

delicacies Babylon has to

offer;

Rev 3,7,14

Steward

Rev 18:3-14

BabylonD&C 82:14

Zion

We receive EVERYTHING

from GOD

MoreBuy

ConsumeCaptive

Build upPrepareStore Work

How do we decide?

Today

See Michael Wilcox, Don’t Leap with the Sheep, 202

Count the cost

The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be

exchanged for it,

immediately or in the long run.Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings, 27-28

In what ways can we live the law of consecration in our lives today?

D&C 64:34

“We tend to think of consecration only in

terms of property and money. But there are

so many ways of keeping back part”

Neal A Maxwell, Ensign, Nov. 1992, 66

How do we

keep back part?

Psalm 24:1; D&C 104:13-14 Realize that everything we have

belongs to the Lord It’s My Stuff

My Van

Hauling youth, Camp, activities, conferences, temple trips, Relief Society decorations and food

“For a while I was frustrated with this, until the Lord gently reminded me that it was not my van but His. I don’t mind a bit putting miles on the Lord’s van. When the Lord’s van wears out, He’ll see that there are means to replace it.”

Michael Wilcox, Don’t Leap with the sheep, 205

The Lord’s Van

Unwilling to completely submit to the Lord’s will

 “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give’ … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!”

Neal A Maxwell, Ensign, Nov. 1995, 24 

2 Timothy 1:9An architect’s consecration

We are willing to serve…

in the way that WE have planned or designed

We… offer what a friend of mine calls the “architect’s prayer” – where we pray for the blueprint and ask God to be the general contractor. Rather, instead of doing our work in His name, we must consecrate ourselves to be used by Him, whether or not we will ever know fully how we were used. Indeed, we may never know.

James S Jardine, Learning in the Light of Faith, 69

On the flyleaf it read, “Donated to the Harvard law School Library by John A Widtsoe, 1894”. In that moment I felt a flood of brotherhood, of shared suffering and of common belief. A light shone in on my spirit by an act of Elder Widtsoe’s done decades earlier when he was a college student at Harvard. I doubt he ever imagined that a beneficiary of his act would be another young Latter-day Saint so many years later. But he consecrated that gift without knowing, or needing to know, how God would use his offering.

James Jardine, Learning in the Light of Faith, 70

UnderwhelmedConsecration

I was called to be “choir spy!” It was a time of being underwhelmed, of being underused, or at least of having “more to offer…than (was) being used.”

Jerry Wilson, The Great Plan of Happiness, 78

Overwhelmed?2 Nephi 32:9

On my office wall is a quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.” For me, it is a needed reminder.

Neal A. Maxwell, “Wisdom and Order,”

Ensign, June 1994, 41

D&C 19:26 What warning did

the Lord give to Martin Harris in

this verse? Why must we overcome covetousness if we are to

consecrate our lives to the Lord? How can we overcome covetous feelings?President Brigham Young said: “I am more afraid of

covetousness in our Elders than I am of the hordes of hell. … All our enemies … in the world, and all hell with them marshalled against us, could not do us the injury that covetousness in the hearts of this people could do us; for it is idolatry” (in Journal of Discourses, 5:353).

D&C 107:99-100Serve willingly in the Church

Fulfill Callings

Share the Gospel

Temple work

Strengthen others testimonies

Serve as a full-time missionary

“Going on a mission teaches you to live the law of consecration. It may be the only time in your life when you can give to the Lord all your time, talents, and resources. In return, the Lord will bless you with His Spirit to be with you. He will be close to you and strengthen you”

Robert D Hales, Ensign, May 1996, 36

Make the sacrifices the Lord requires now

 How can we consecrate our time, talents, and possessions to help build the kingdom of God today?

“What prohibits us from giving as much in fast offerings as we would have given in surpluses under the United Order? Nothing but our own limitations”

- Marion G. Romney, CR, Apr. 1966, 100; or Improvement Era, June 1966, 537

Develop Christlike love for others How are we to show our love for others?

D&C 82:19 Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.

Jacob 2:17 Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.

Unwilling to give up selfish things

An unwillingness to give up selfish things, such as “our roles, our time, our preeminence, and our possessions”

Letting hobbies and preoccupations with less important things become too consuming.

Giving commendable civic service but remaining “a comparative stranger to Jesus’ holy temples and His holy scriptures”

Neal A Maxwell, Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 27).

Being dutiful in family responsibilities but not emulating Jesus’ example of gentleness with some family members.

Building up ourselves first rather than the kingdom of God.

Sharing talents publicly while privately retaining a particular pride.

Accepting a Church calling while having a heart more set on maintaining a certain role in the world.

(See Conference Report, Oct. 1992, 88–92; or Ensign, Nov. 1992, 65–67; and Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 27–30; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 22–24.)

Next Week

   What do you think would be some of the blessings of living in a community where people lived the law of consecration?

Bishop Victor L. Brown, former Presiding Bishop of the Church, said that until we “feel in total harmony” with the principle that everything we have belongs to the Lord, “it will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to accept the law of consecration. As we prepare to live this law, we will look forward with great anticipation to the day when the call will come. If, on the other hand, we hope it can be delayed so we can have the pleasure of accumulating material things, we are on the wrong path” (“The Law of Consecration,” 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year [1977], 439).

What does the Lord promise as we are faithful stewards over

what He has given us?

Promises to faithful stewards

D&C 51:19 enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life.

D&C 78:22 shall inherit all things