Laboring with the Lord in His Vineyard

By Elder Christophe Giraud-Carrier

Second Counselor, Africa Central Area Presidency

In the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees in Jacob 5, the Lord compares the world to a vineyard whose fruits are His children and in which He and His servants labor to ensure that the vineyard produces good fruits, or in other words, faithful children. Towards the end of the allegory, we read in verse 71, “And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh.”

When the Lord says that the end is nigh at hand, He’s talking about our day—the time we are living in right now. It is now, in our day, the last time the Lord is sending His servants to labor in His vineyard.

And who are these servants? The answer is in Doctrine and Covenants 4:3: “Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.” All of us who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ have this desire. As Alma teaches, we indeed demonstrated it at our baptism when, through this sacred ordinance, we showed the Lord that we “[were] desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and [were] willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light ; yea, and [were] willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in” (Mosiah 18:8–9).

So all of us are servants in the Lord’s vineyard who labor to bring back souls unto Him. It is heartening that He does not send us out alone. Indeed, in Jacob 5:72, we read: “And the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them.” The Lord is with His laborers, with us, as He promised again through Joseph Smith, in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88: “For I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” We are not alone; we have the best and most powerful allies!

In the Africa Central Area, we are witnesses to the Lord’s power to move forward His work whatever the circumstances. Verily, as Jacob 5:73 assures us, “And there began to be natural fruit again in the vineyard; and the natural branches began to grow and thrive exceedingly.” The natural branches—the faithful children, the converts to the gospel, our returning brothers and sisters, all those who choose to let God prevail in their lives—all these will prosper exceedingly. Prosper exceedingly, not just a little bit! In other words, this is the last time the Lord and His servants are laboring in the vineyard, but not the least!

On the contrary, as President Russell M. Nelson reminded the youth of the Church in June 2018, “This gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it. You can be a big part of something grand, something majestic!” (Worldwide Youth Devotional, June 3, 2018).

We are all children of our Heavenly Father. We all chose, in that great council in the premortal life, to stand up for truth and justice and to accept Christ as our Savior and Redeemer! Every human being on earth made this choice and therefore has within them the spark of faith, the Light of Christ. Life’s circumstances and experiences, however, sometimes cast a shadow over this light and even threaten to extinguish this spark, making them forget who they are. In this context, Elder Gary Sabin of the Seventy told me that “people get into trouble when they forget who they are.”

It is up to us who, through the kindness of the Lord, have the flame of faith burning within us to rekindle and keep the flame burning in the hearts of others and help them not to forget that they are children of a loving Father, who has created a perfect plan enabling them to return to Him.

Lehi reminds us in 2 Nephi 2:8, “How great the importance to make these things known to the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know [or remember, one might say] that 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.”

What can we do? What must we do? It is simple: we simply have to help our friends, both members and others, to access the love of their Heavenly Father through the love we show them.

And contrary to what we sometimes imagine, it’s not the time we spend with someone but the sincerity of our feelings and the spirit within us, that show our love and touch the heart. Jesus’s ministry lasted only three years. That is a short time. Sister Giraud-Carrier and I know something about that! So it was not the time He spent with people that allowed them to feel His love but the quality of His interactions with them such as:

The woman having an issue of blood (see Luke 8:43–48)
The woman of Samaria at the well (see John 4:6–29)
The woman taken in adultery (see John 8:3–11)

Of course, we are not Jesus; but we can follow His example. Indeed, Moroni 7:48 teaches us that this love is a gift: “Pray unto the Father with all the energy of your heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which He hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” Through prayer and striving to be better disciples, we can try to ensure that every interaction we have with our friends, with the people assigned to us through ministering, and with the people we meet is sincere and reflects God’s love. Acts such as a word of encouragement, a small service, a phone call, a smile, an invitation to sit next to us at church, an answer to a pressing issue, and so on show our love and reflect God’s love.

And the miracle in all this is that we and others will be blessed. Indeed, the Lord says in Jacob 5:75: “And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit . . , behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard.”

I rejoice to serve with you in this part of the Lord’s vineyard in this last season when we can help so many of our brothers and sisters come unto Christ. I testify that God is Our Heavenly Father; that Jesus Christ is His Son, our Savior and Redeemer; that we belong to His true Church; and that we are guided by His prophet, President Nelson.