In D&C 93:19, the Lord makes this statement:
“I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.”
What is worship? Is it simply our expressions of adoration and fealty? The Lord tells us here that understanding both what and how we are to worship serves to bring us to the Father, and in due time receive of the Father’s fulness. Is this accomplished by praising God alone? Does that bring us into the Father’s presence and obtain for us a fulness of Him? Does that definition of worship appear to be what the Lord is using here?
If we read through section 93, looking for instruction on how we are to enter the Father’s presence and receive of His fulness—the stated goal of our understanding how and what to worship—then a better definition of “worship” begins to unfold.
HOW TO WORSHIP
Immediately prior to verse 19 we have a selection from a record of John, which selection constitutes at least some of the “sayings” that the Lord is giving us, as referred to in verse 19.
“And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first. And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son. And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father; And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him.” (D&C 93:12-17)
So what is John telling us, or what is Christ telling us about worship through these words of John?
First, John instructs us that The Lord received incrementally of His Father, grace for grace and from grace to grace, until He received a fulness. And thus, or because of this, he was called the Son of God. This pattern, when followed, brought Him to that status.
Abraham tells us that this is the same pattern he followed to obtain what he sought of God.
“And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.” (Abraham 1:2)
As Abraham increased in his understanding of truth and increasingly patterned his life accordingly, he grew in the same pattern as Christ, line upon line and precept upon precept (2 Nephi 28:30). This is exactly consistent with Christ’s continued teachings on the matter in section 93.
“For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.” (D&C 93:20)
“And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.” (D&C 93:27-28)
Once John established the pattern of Christ’s progression, he notes that the Holy Ghost descended upon Christ (upon the completion of His baptism by water, Matt. 3:16), and a voice from heaven acknowledged Christ’s status as His beloved Son. (Why is this the time that this acknowledgment came? What happened in this event to prompt a voice from heaven to declare “this day have I begotten thee”? (Psalms 2:7) An interesting aside.)
The Holy Ghost serves a number of functions, but one is to inform us of “the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5). The commandments we must keep are written in scripture (1 Nephi 5:21), but we must read them by the power of the Holy Ghost, so that we might understand them in truth (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Holy Ghost is essential to obtaining the knowledge that we are to pattern our lives after (2 Nephi 32:5). As we understand and obey the Lord’s commandments, they become inscribed upon our hearts (Isaiah 51:7). We then become ready to learn more, built upon that knowledge.
Christ followed a pattern for moving from grace to grace, by obtaining greater knowledge and patterning Himself according to that knowledge. He received the Holy Ghost as a necessary tool to enable the process. John concludes this passage with his confirmation that Christ indeed received a fulness of the glory of the Father, and that the Father dwelt with Him. Christ is telling us that this is how we do the same. Or in other words, Christ is telling us that this is how we worship.
WHAT WE WORSHIP
It is interesting to consider Christ’s instruction on “what” we worship in section 93, if for no other reason than because He is speaking here from the assumption that He is in fact what we worship, that He is the focus of our efforts to obtain knowledge and to pattern our lives. And so He is telling us things that we need to understand about Him if we are to successfully worship Him and return to the Father.
But how do we know whether He is in fact what we worship? Can we evaluate that? What if we took our understanding of the pattern for how to worship, and substituted a different object of our worship, to see if we might be worshipping something else?
What do we focus on obtaining knowledge about? What do we pattern our lives after?
What if we spend our time obtaining greater knowledge and understanding of money and business? What if financial matters are the primary factor in the decisions we are making? What if we focus much of our free time on learning from those who teach us about making more money, and pattern our life around what they teach? Are we not worshipping money? Or in other words, Mammon (3 Nephi 13:24)?
What about an institution? Or men of note? Men claiming power, or authority? How much stock do we put in these, without evaluating what they teach and exemplify, measured against what Christ teaches and exemplifies? How often do we make their word the last word on a matter? If they tell us to do something, do we question it? What if they are wrong, and we don't put in the effort to discover it, because we assume that can never be? Is this not worship?
What about an institution? Or men of note? Men claiming power, or authority? How much stock do we put in these, without evaluating what they teach and exemplify, measured against what Christ teaches and exemplifies? How often do we make their word the last word on a matter? If they tell us to do something, do we question it? What if they are wrong, and we don't put in the effort to discover it, because we assume that can never be? Is this not worship?
What if we spend our free time obsessing over physical health? Or politics? How much time do we spend thinking about some hobby? Or celebrity? Or sex? How much of ourselves do we invest in focusing on and learning of these things, which will never bring us to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7)? How much are we patterning our lives and basing our decisions around these or other things? Around anything other than Christ? What are we allowing to most influence our thoughts and actions?
Or in other words, what are we worshipping?
We don’t need to adore, venerate or sing songs of praise to an idol to worship it. That would make idolatry too easy to spot and prevent. We merely need to make something other than Christ the focus of our attention, and the basis for determining how we think and act.
