UPG 275 - Insider Tour of the LDS Missionary Experience and the Power of Salvation – Matt Wilder – Part 1

Why is salvation by God’s grace so extraordinary a gift for one who has felt the burden of guilt within a rigid, works-based religious system? What is it like to be a Mormon missionary? Matt Wilder of Adam’s Road Piano discusses the weight of the LDS performance-based system as a Mormon missionary in Chapter 3 of the book Responding to the Mormon Missionary Message. When LDS, he felt constantly guilted. Had he sufficiently repented of his sins? Life as an LDS missionary was regimented—rules-based. Missionaries report numbers regularly to mission leaders. With an emphasis on goals and numbers, measured success led to rewards. Matt likens the efficiency of accountability similar to that of a business. For him, the weight of these continual expectations manifested themselves internally—emotionally and physically as he strove to prove himself worthy.

Matt gets emotional as he describes how Jesus transformed his life when he came to understand that Jesus is our substitute, sufficient to deal with his burden of guilt, able and willing to carry him out of the pit. Calling out to Jesus one night, Matt fell asleep and was awakened in the middle of the night to be told, “My kingdom is not of this world.” After which he felt the love of God just pour into him. Matt knew he was loved and his sins were forgiven. What Jesus did on the cross was sufficient to save him. Although in performance-based religion, he had relied on works to save him, he learned that Jesus was enough.

Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Matt recommends that Christians befriend LDS missionaries, have compassion for them, listen to them. Listen for “points of vulnerability” where they might be open to hearing the gospel of grace, things like: struggles with worthiness, struggles with exhaustion from striving toward perfection, and struggles to know they are forgiven and saved. He suggests certain questions to ask LDS, including, “Are you trusting in Jesus or trusting in your own works?” And, “Why is what Jesus did on the cross not enough for you?”

https://www.adamsroadministry.com/piano

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