Service to Others: Pure Religion

Recently I read the first chapter of James in the New Testament. The final verse really stood out to me:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Why is visiting the fatherless and widows (or, in other words, serving others) so important? Toward the end of Christ's mortal ministry, He taught the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). The sheep represent those who "inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world" (verse 34). The goats represent those who are cursed and cast "into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (verse 41). According to the parable, what is it that separates the sheep from the goats? Service to our fellowmen. The sheep are those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in strangers, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and the imprisoned. The goats are those who fail to provide these acts of service.

The baptismal covenant, as described by Alma in the eighteenth chapter of Mosiah, also emphasizes the importance of service:

And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are 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 ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

This passage makes it clear that members of Christ's church are under covenant to bear one another's burdens, mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort; or, put simply, to serve others.

Since the parable of the sheep and the goats in the New Testament and the baptismal covenant as explained in the Book of Mormon both teach that service is a requirement for eternal life, "then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?" (Mosiah 2:18).