The Unforgivable Sin

1 Samuel 8:4-20, 11:14-15; Psalm 138; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Over the last fifty years or so, I’ve seen several church controversies that occurred in the Body of Christ. I’ve seen arguments that, in each case, were presented as a battle which would determine once-and-for-all whether the church of Jesus Christ would continue to exist upon this earth. Of course, what was most amusing was that BOTH sides claimed that this was the Most Important Thing in the history of the church, and BOTH sides claimed to represent Christ’s settled opinion about the matter at hand. What were some of those controversies?

The first one I remember was whether or not it was ok for men to wear long hair or beards in church. For those of you who were not around at the time, the Beatles had come to America and brought a longer style of hairdo for men. Most men still wore their hair in the style they learned during World War II or the Korean War – most men had served in war or peacetime, because we had a peacetime draft in those days. So the standard haircuts were either the buzzcut – or the flattop if you wanted to be stylish. But now, young men were letting their hair grow out to maybe an inch and a half or more in length, and it was the end of Western Civilization. And so, these long haired types were not allowed in some churches. And they left.

Quick to follow were the controversies about women’s dress lengths. Mini-skirts, it was argued, should not be worn in church – ankle-length, or at the shortest calf-length dresses were expected. The survival of Western Civilization and the church was once more at stake. Those who wore shorter dresses were asked to leave, and they mostly did.

The next controversy, though, was slightly different. The question was whether or not a woman could wear a pants suit in church, and since an older group of women liked those suits and they did much of the work in the church the decision in most churches was that pants suits were grudgingly accepted, and once again Western Civilization survived.

Soon, the issue was Christian rock and electric guitars in the church. Two churches in my home town held a 6-week long formal debate on this issue. The established church was against it and the upstart church was for it. Interestingly enough – both churches held to women wearing long dresses. Once again Western Civilization barely survived and both churches are still going strong in that town today, though the rocking church has grown while the conservative church has dwindled.

Over the years, the church has had many controversies and hyperbole is always used. Hyperbole, if you don’t know the word, means “excessively excessive exaggeration”. And yet – the church always survives and Western Civilization won over godless Communism.

And over the years, we have also been treated to a list of sins that are “The Worst Sin.” It seems like everyone has a pet sin that is the worst possible sin. For example, a hundred years ago, the worst sin was drinking alcohol. Then, the worst sin was being a Nazi supporter, then a Communist, an anti-war protester, then wearing long hair, short skirts or pants suits. It was a terrible sin for a woman to preach, it was a horrible sin to do drugs, it was unforgivable to be a single mother, and just as bad to be divorced, and it was almost as bad to be on welfare. And through it all, the more-accepting people also began to label those who were less accepting as "sinners" (or worse), simply because they had trouble accepting people who were doing things they had been taught were terrible sins. And some churches continue to fight the fight against cultural norms: I know churches today who will not let anyone who has been divorced lead a study group, let alone preach. Another church tolerates divorce, but not remarriage.

Everyone has a “worst sin” list – it usually only includes the sins which do not affect us. After all, who would include on their list of sins today “eating an apple?”, which I have on good authority was one of the first sins, if not the most critical sin.

And so the church constantly argues about what to do with sin. Do we accept the sinner? Do we reject the sinner? Do we welcome the sinner if they will stop sinning immediately or do we give a “grace period” before we reject them?

Do we let sinning people into leadership? What exactly is leadership in the church? Is it eldership, leading a local church, leading a Sunday School class, or simply singing a solo during worship? How long before a person is forgiven of their sin and allowed to lead or return to leadership?

Our fights over these issues are complicated because everyone brings to the fight their own personal background, which changes from generation to generation, from state to state, and between different church backgrounds. Sixty years ago, adultery was still a crime in many states and seen as a horrible sin, motels could not legally allow unmarried couples to stay in the same room, and divorce was looked at as a terrible sin. Today, attitudes are different – we have many pastors who have been divorced, some repeatedly, but that doesn’t necessarily make the traditional views wrong – or right.

Throughout time, our churches must be careful to deeply understand that the Word of God is always relevant, and let that guide us in our acceptance – or rejection - of things the culture tells us are good and wholesome. Those new ideas may be just what we need – such as when churches began using microphones - did I mention that microphones were controversial at first? – or those ideas may cause terrible harm when a good idea is applied in the wrong place - the church - such as two hundred years ago when many churches adopted the democratic idea that the congregation should vote on every decision, an idea which has split more churches than any other idea.

But there are some times when the church and the people of God must learn hard lessons because they choose to follow what their neighbors tell them, rather than read and listen to Holy Scripture to find out what the Word of God tells them.

In our first reading, the time is around 1100 BC, about 500 years after Moses and the Exodus from Egypt. Joshua has conquered the Promised Land for the nation of Israel, and the country has been ruled by the elders of the tribes and occasionally by judges, special people appointed by God for the duration of an emergency. In effect, the nation – although not every person – the nation as a whole looked to God directly as their overlord.

Samuel is the High Priest of Israel. He’s getting old and the elders of Israel meet with him and tell him, “Look, Samuel, we like you and you’ve done a good job, but your sons aren’t up to the job, we don’t want to follow them because they’re not very godly, and so we’ve decided that this High Priest and God stuff is old-fashioned, and we want a king, a human king to follow. That’s what we want. It’s the style of the times, and our families are telling us we’re old-fashioned, so give us a king. That’s what we want.”

Samuel looks at them and thinks. “Hmmmm. I don’t think they understand what they’re looking for.” And then he goes and talks to God.

But God is resigned to the situation. He says something like: “Samuel, do you remember when your Mom told you not to eat all those dates, that too many dates would upset your digestion, and you ate them anyway and you learned for yourself? It’s kinda of the same situation here. These people aren’t upset with you – they’re doing the same thing they’ve done since they got away from Pharoah – they look to me when things are bad and then ignore me when things are good. They always think the next god is the best god, and now they think that having a king must be the best government because the Egyptians and the Phoenicians and the Assyrians are all doing it. So listen to them, but warn them of the problems with kings first.”

Samuel said “Are you sure?” and God says, “Yes, I’ve seen it dozens of times before already. They just won’t listen to Me. Now go and tell them.”

So Samuel goes back before the elders and he says, “I went and talked to God and he told me to tell you this:

“This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[b] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the elders and people said, “You’re making that up and you’re old fashioned. Nothing bad is going to happen. Instead, we’ll have a great-looking king who will lead us like everybody else has and he’ll win our battles for us just like all the other nations. We want a king over us. Could you go get us one now?”

Did you notice that they thought "the king" would win the battles? Instead, it was the ordinary soldier who fought and died in those battles, win or lose.

And you know, the people of Israel were ruled by kings – either their own kings or outsiders – until the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, over 1100 years later. And then, they lived in other countries, without even a country of their own until 1948 when the State of Israel was established as a parliamentary democracy after World War II and they stopped being ruled by kings. The people of Israel were ruled by kings for 3000 years and were never completely free during all that time.

Sometimes God lets a people learn a lesson the hard way. The really hard way.

And so we come to our Gospel reading.

Jesus is driving demons out of people. Now you may have never seen demon-possession – I have a friend who was a missionary in Jamaica and has seen it. Despite what some people will tell you, it is not epilepsy, and it is not an ordinary mental problem. It is something much worse. But Jesus was driving demons out of people.

Some of the busybodies from Jerusalem came to a conclusion: Jesus must be using the dark powers to drive the demons out of people.

Jesus points out the flaw in their logic. Demons are part of the evil kingdom. If Jesus is using demons to drive out demons, then the evil kingdom of Satan is ready fall because it is destroying itself. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

And then He lays into them…

He tells them that it is true that every blasphemy and slander and sin is forgivable, except one. Everything, no matter how heinous is forgivable except for that one sin. Absolutely every practice, every mistake, every intentional deed is something that God can forgive you of except one thing. Nothing is too bad for God – if you are willing to apologize to God and throw yourself on the mercy of God’s judgment, God will accept you and give you a new, fresh start. Everything, that is, except for the one unforgivable sin.

And that one unforgivable sin is to call the Holy Spirit evil. If someone continues to call the Holy Spirit evil, then that sin will never be forgiven. Why the harsh judgment on this one sin?

Because it is completely denying the goodness of God. When a person sees good as evil, then there is little hope. Why do I say little hope?

Because there are people who are so twisted in their moral ideas that they have decided that anything to do with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit is evil. You see, most non-Christians simply do not understand Christianity, or else deep down understand deeply that they will need to give up their favorite sin if they are to follow Christ, listen to the Holy Spirit, and become close to God. Most non-believers are in this position and can find their way home if someone will help them understand or lead them past their fear of losing their sin into the house of God.

But there are some people who have confused their sense of morality to the point where they have declared Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit to be evil of themselves. This is a position which is virtually impossible to return from.

But it can be done. God dispenses grace, and ultimately all judgments are God’s decision. God can choose to forgive even the unforgivable sin – if God chooses. It is within God's power - but is not something promised, unlike God's promises to forgive other sins.

You know – there is absolutely nothing we can do to compel God to forgive us of the least sin – whether it be a word which hurt someone, an accidental injury, a theft, a murder, or something much worse. God, though, has chosen to forgive us solely because God does not wish any of us to perish. And we would perish forever if left to our own devices.

When you begin to think that there are some people who have committed terrible sins which disqualify them from our fellowship, keep in mind this: There is no one here who has not committed a sin which is on someone else’s list of terrible sins. None of us deserves or has a right to be here.

Yet there are many sins which other people commit and we look down upon those people. Unfortunately, every time we fail to show grace to others and forgive them, we commit a sin against them and against God ourselves, for we harm others. After all, wouldn’t we want OUR sins to be forgiven?

We are only here because God took sins which we considered unforgivable – and forgave them. Now, we are to go and forgive the other people we know of their sins against God and against us. For a permanent failure to forgive others is truly the only unforgivable sin, for it goes directly against what the Holy Spirit is asking you to do. When you do not do what the Holy Spirit asks but follow the ways of the world, you are denying the divinity of the Holy Spirit. And what else can blasphemy be except denying that God is God and making what is not God into God?

As Jesus said to the teachers of the law, “28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

Listen to the commands of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is God. Do not blaspheme that Spirit, lest you lose your immortal soul.

From our Third Reading:

13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

Will you speak of what you believe? Will you listen to the Holy Spirit, do what the Spirit commands, and not deny that Spirit?

Graduation Sunday

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Familiar words, aren’t they? How many times have you seen John 3:16 put on a poster at a ball park or at a basketball game? How often have you seen it on a bumper sticker? How many times have you told this to someone who is hurting and desperate, needing hope?

Too often, we look at our church as an exclusive club. We’re glad to belong to it, and we use special code words and phrases between each other to prove that we are members of the club. “Bless you”, we say. “I feel blessed.” Or perhaps we say, “He arose”. For a while last year, we said to each other “Shake your salt”.

We talk about communion and baptism and charge conference and confirmation. We speak about sermons and altar calls and hymns and psalms. Do you realize that none of these things are known in the outside world, that the only reason people know of them is because Christians have explained them, but that no one will run into any of these things unless they walk into a church?

We speak of being “saved by grace” and assume everyone knows what we mean. What we fall to realize is that most people aren’t even sure what they’re being saved from!

And most of all, we say “I was saved by Jesus Christ” and that just bounces off of people, because they really have no idea what we are talking about unless they, too, have been saved by Jesus Christ. And then, we talk about becoming holy and that can really be confusing, for holy means something pure and churchy to most people, but those same people look at you and listen to your speech and wonder what it has to do with you!

Isaiah was a man like any other. He cussed and spoke evilly of other people. He wasn’t a particularly holy man when he began his trip with God. Instead, he was a pretty ordinary guy who God chose to do extraordinary things. Isaiah had a dream that he was standing before God in the heavenly temple and saw God, with the seraphim, six-winged angels flying around, angels whose name means “those who kindle fire or make hot” Their name is associated with ardor or passion. (see Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in his Celestial Hierarchy (vii) and Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica)

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
And so Isaiah steps forward to speak on behalf of God to the people of Israel.

Notice one important thing. The Seraph, the “one who kindles fire” came forth and removed Isaiah’s excuse with a hot coal, removing Isaiah’s guilt for the words he had previously spoken and atoning for his sin. Isaiah was made clean when he developed a passion for God and God acknowledged this passion through the heavenly seraphim, God’s representative. Isaiah graduated to become a prophet that day. For the rest of his life, he spoke for God.

Today we honor graduates. You’ve worked hard at whatever schooling you’ve gone through, you’ve worked and studied and done work which seemed meaningless at times, you’ve worked and studied and sometimes the hardest work was to simply get out of bed and make it to class. And so, a tradition has developed that we honor those who have completed the course, a tradition that we give these people a piece of paper called a diploma, and we give them a new title: graduate.

Over the years, people complete different courses. We now recognize those who graduated from kindergarten, from elementary school, from middle school, from high school, and from college. We recognize those who graduate from the advanced schools we call “graduate schools”. And it is not only in those schools where we recognize the graduates – we recognize them in this church as well, for we understand that this is an important point on your way to becoming full-fledged members of our society. Those who graduate from high school and college – you’ve made it into the club of adults.

But God did not institute the twelve-grade system and God did not institute the Bachelor of Arts programs around the country. It is true that our first colleges were all founded primarily to teach ministers about the Word of God and to teach them the ancient languages needed to fully understand the Word. Oxford in England and Harvard in America were both founded to train pastors. Questions of faith were the key questions on the entrance applications. But unfortunately, that mission has slid into simply preparing people for the workplace. Today, the key questions are “Have you passed algebra?” and “Have you taken the SAT?”

But I think that we can assume that God’s plan has not changed, despite what has changed at our colleges, universities, and employers. And what is God’s plan of education? Let us look at our Gospel reading to find out.

Nicodemus is an elder of Israel. He is a member of the Sanhedrin, the council of seventy elders who ruled Israel at this time together with the High Priest and subject only to the veto power of the Roman governor. Nicodemus was the equivalent of an American Senator, and he comes by night, sneaking over to talk with Jesus.

Did you notice he came by night? Why do you think he came by night?

It could have been that he was afraid of being seen by other members of the ruling council. After all, it wouldn’t be the last time that someone was afraid to let people know he thought that Jesus was cool.

Another possibility is that Nicodemus was simply a busy man during the day, and he decided to take some of his leisure time to visit this new teacher, taking advantage of his position to arrange a private audience with the Rabbi. There are many people today who must learn their religion during the evening hours after the workday. Isn’t it interesting that the single most important thing you can do in your life is thought so unimportant that you pay attention to it only on your “day off”? Why is it that people do not take time off from work specifically to ask pastors important questions, such as “Will I go to heaven?”

The third possibility is that Nicodemus was a genuinely polite man, who understood that Jesus was tied up with the public during the day and wished to approach Jesus during a quiet evening when he could get some personal questions answered. Many people over the centuries have found that they have some private questions, and they need to approach a pastor when he is less busy than on Sunday mornings. Following Jesus’ pattern of making time for Nicodemus, most of us will be happy to answer those questions in the living room or on the back porch during the evenings.

Whatever the reason he visited at night, Nicodemus pays Jesus a complement: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Then Jesus responds with one of those responses which is completely within character for Him, but which doesn’t seem to be the next step in the conversation at all. Jesus says: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Now what did THAT have to do with what Nicodemus said?

Did you notice that Nicodemus admits that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God? Therefore, Jesus’ answer is either a rebuke to Nicodemus, or a straight-forward answer to the question implied in the complement. Let’s look at these possibilities.

Perhaps what Jesus is saying is that recognizing Jesus to be a teacher sent from God is not enough. He accepts Nicodemus’ complement, but with His answer, He is telling Nicodemus that the complement is not enough for Nicodemus to do. And there is truth in this. Those people who recognize the wise teachings of Jesus and even recognize that Jesus was sent by God are still falling short of the entire Gospel. For it is not enough to look to another, but there must be a change made in your own heart. You may be proud of your birth, your family, your accomplishments – Nicodemus was at the very top of the social structure in Jerusalem – but even your earthly successes are not very important. In modern context, you could be a billionaire Kennedy or Bush or a Bill Gates, known for giving billions to solve the world’s problems, born to a family with a great history – but ultimately neither of those are important. What is important is if you are reborn through water and Spirit.

The Greek word here often translated as “again” – “you must be born again” is a word with two possible meanings. The word can mean “again” – or it can mean “from above”, as in “you must be born from above”. Either way, the result is much the same – something about you must be restarted, you need a reboot, you need an upgrade from what you started with. You need new software, a new spirit, a new heart which has been cleaned and regenerated free from the defects of sin.

The water cleans the outside and the spirit cleans the heart.

Jesus says that the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Have you let the Holy Spirit truly come into your heart, cleaning up your heart like a group of Merry Maids, straightening up the clutter in your life, removing the dirt and filth from your thoughts, burning out the garbage which is rotting and making your life such a mess?

My son Andrew is a very good son, but he is a teen-age boy. And one of the problems that Andrew has fought has been the tendency to simply drop his clothes on the floor of his room – both clean clothes, and dirty clothes. He also tends to leave dishes and glasses sitting in odd places in his room, and he dusts once a year whether his room needs it or not. And so a few weeks ago, his mother attacked the room, removing the papers and dishes and glasses, washing and folding all the clothes, vacuuming the floor and dusting all the surfaces. Some boxes that had not been opened since we arrived were disposed of – others went to the basement, and some items were burned. And by the end of the weekend, the place was spotless. Andrew’s room had been given the equivalent of a baptism!

But now came the difficult part. Although the place had been cleaned by the baptism, Andrew now had to keep the room clean. And he mostly has. For Andrew had been so deep in clutter since we moved in that he really didn’t know before what a delight a clutter-free room is. Now he does and his room shows it.

And this is the way our heart is. Our baptism cleans out our messy heart. But after that point, the Holy Spirit, given to us by God, leads us and guides us to keep our heart clean and motivates us to want our heart to be clean.

Some people do a passable job of cleaning up their hearts without God’s help. But there are always certain items that are left in the heart that darken it and keep it from being as clutter-free as it could. For example, there may be old grudges that are held and not forgiven, like an old trunk that sits in the middle of the room to trip over daily. There may be just one or two bad habits that dirty up the floor in the corner of the heart. Or there may be a lack of total surrender to God’s will, like a burned out light bulb in the closet that keeps us from seeing the cobwebs in the corner of the closet. We cannot completely clean our hearts without God’s help.That’s why we are to be baptized and let the cleansing water of baptism and the flaming Spirit of the second birth give us a completely new start to our life, our relationships to each other, and to our friendship with God.

Writing twenty years later, the Apostle Paul understood our reluctance to give ourselves up totally to the Holy Spirit. He understood our fear that we would move from being slaves to our sins and instead become slaves to God. But Paul, prompted by the Holy Spirit wrote in the 8th Chapter of his letter to the Romans:

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory

The reason we are able to call God “Father” or even “Daddy” – the literal translation of “Abba”, is because the Holy Spirit which possesses us speaks inside our heart and we know that God is our deeply loving Father, who sent part of Himself – Jesus Christ – to earth to sacrifice Himself on our behalf that we might live as children of God.

You know, we just had Memorial Day, which was started back after the Civil War to honor the dead men who sacrificed themselves for their wives and children so that they would be able to live in freedom. Those men understood. They understood the sacrifice that God made, that desire to free His children from the lack of freedom that sin presents. And so they shared in Christ’s sufferings and today they also share in His glory. And not only the soldiers of the Civil War, but those of World War I and II and Korea and Vietnam and the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan and Iraq and all those small conflicts around the globe.

For you see, part of being a child of God means that we are to act as a child of God, being willing to sacrifice for others in love. Sometimes that sacrifice means dying a bloody death, as with the men and women who have died proclaiming their Christianity in the face of ISIS terror.

More often, that sacrifice means using valuable time to teach children about Jesus, to donate tens and twenties and hundreds of dollars to support missions and the church, to spend an hour each week practicing with the choir, to show up a meeting in the hope that your experience with cancer may help someone else who is fighting the disease. That sacrifice may mean that you take an hour every Monday night to call several people who missed church to see if they are ok. That sacrifice may mean that you take a minute to share announcements of upcoming church events or a sermon link on Facebook. That sacrifice may mean that you buy your friend lunch and have a heart-to-heart talk with them about what you have seen Jesus and God do in your life and explain to your friend that you have been worried about their eternal soul. That is what Paul means when he says, “17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Christianity is not cheap nor is it easy. There is hard work involved and studying involved. But there are three points of graduation along the path.

The first time you graduate as a Christian is when you declare your baptismal vows to God as a Christian believer, and promised the church to “faithfully participate in its ministries, by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.” The church responded by welcoming you as a full member. You became a full Christian, baptized or confirmed, fully aware of your promises. You have become born again and start a new life.

The second time you graduate as a Christian is when you bring your first friend, family member, or neighbor to the altar and declare that you are sponsoring this person for baptism. This graduation means you probably had a lot to do with your friend coming to know Jesus and your friend’s soul will be saved because you stepped forward.

The third time you graduate as a Christian is when you stand in front of the throne of God, and God says to you: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And that, my friends, will be worth more than any home or car or iPhone or diploma will ever be worth to you.

The Lord God has need of willing servants. When God asked, Isaiah said, “Here I am. Send me. “ Have you considered what God is calling you to do in your life? It is difficult to be too old – or too young to answer the call. I have a friend who was 60 years old when he went into the ministry. I know another who knew he would go into ministry when he was a teenager. I have seen people become ministers who have three degrees already, and I have seen people go into ministry with barely a high school diploma. God calls all those who will follow, truly follow Him. Has God been talking to you over the last year or so about your life? Have you been hearing a call to ministry of some sort?

For, you see, some of you are ready to graduate to ministry. Will you graduate – or will you remain here in school for several more years?

Pentecost

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 104:24-35; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

When we talk to people in the community at large, we often run into people who will say, “I believe in God”, but do not mention Jesus Christ. There are many people in our country who “believe in God”, but don’t have any real understanding of how Jesus Christ fits into the picture. For them, they often understand that Jesus was a boy born in a manger at Christmas, a man who taught some good ideas about not judging anyone, about treating the poor well, and He ended up dying upon a cross. Perhaps they even understand that Jesus loves you and He was resurrected. But they do not tie Jesus Christ and God together, except to note that they both have to do with “religion”.

I say we often run into people who have a very weak understanding of Who Jesus Christ is. In fact, polls show that about three to four times as many people in America “believe in God” as accept that Jesus was God walking upon this earth, which is the answer that the leaders of the Christian Churches have given for 2000 years.

And still less understand this mysterious third Person of the Trinity that we call the Holy Spirit. Many people in our modern society are completely unaware of the Spirit’s presence – and most of those who are vaguely aware of the Spirit make one of two opposite mistakes: They either become overly focused upon the Spirit’s doings, declaring that only those people who have shown the overt possession of the Spirit through speaking in tongues, being “slain by the Spirit”, or who have received or given miraculous healing can possibly be saved Christians – or they avoid learning about the Holy Spirit, equating talk of the Spirit as Pentecostal belief only, and essentially declaring knowledge of the Holy Spirit to be a devilish heresy, a dangerous thing akin to magic, demonic possession, or consulting with fortune tellers.

The Holy Spirit is the third personality in the Holy Trinity, the complex person that includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The truth of the matter is that the Holy Spirit has been the recognized third leg of standard Christian belief by all regular Christians since the days of the Apostles – and is even mentioned in the Old Testament.

Saul, the first king of Israel, is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to prophesy with a group of prophets even before he becomes king of Israel. The Holy Spirit spoke through King David. The Holy Spirit comes upon various prophets and leaders of Israel throughout the ages, even as early as the time of Moses, when two men received the Spirit and began speaking about God. Moses wished at that time that all the people of Israel would receive the Spirit.

And we have the valley of dry bones from our first reading.

To understand this fully, we need to understand one key fact about the ancient Hebrew and Greek words that are translated into modern English as “spirit”. The very same words that we translate as “spirit” in the ancient languages had three meanings: First, it meant spirit. Second, it meant breath. Third, it means wind.

Thus, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we are talking about the breath of God, the holy wind that flows from God and wraps around us, the very presence of God that whips around us. After fashioning Adam from the clay, God breathed into the nostrils of Adam and Adam came alive. God sent His Spirit into Adam and gave life to Adam.

You may remember that during one of the visits to the eleven disciples on Easter evening, Jesus breathed upon them and they received the Holy Spirit. Of course they did! They had received the Holy Breath of God from God Himself, Jesus Christ!

So let’s go back to Ezekiel’s prophecy of the dry bones. I’ve included this on a sheet with your bulletin today so you can follow along. The Reading begins:

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.

Notice that the Lord brings Ezekiel to a vision by the Spirit.

2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

The valley is filled with bones, very old, dry bones that have lain here in the desert for a long, long time. God speaks to Ezekiel and asks him if the bones can live. At least that is what it appears at first glance. But Jesus, during His ministry on earth, repeatedly refers to Himself as “the Son of man”. Perhaps Ezekiel, through the Holy Spirit, is witnessing a conversation between God the Father and God the Son – Jesus Christ – the One who is also the Son of man? But who are the bones? Most theologians think that these dry bones represent people who have either walked away from God totally – or who have become so focused upon the regular rituals of religion that they have lost their passion for God – and the purposes of God.

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

God tells Ezekiel – or Jesus – that He should speak to these old, dry bones and tell them that God will “make breath enter” them – God will send His Spirit into these bones and they will come to life. God will send His Spirit to people and give them a beautiful, joy-filled life!

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Life is given by the breath of God.

Did you notice how the Psalm writer also mentions how God’s breath and Spirit are tied to life?

when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.

We live only due to the life given to us by God’s breath. And when we give God permission to pour out God’s Spirit upon us, and ask for that Spirit to come into us, When we breath deeply of the Spirit-breath of God, wonderful things happen.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus made a promise. It was during His last talk with the disciples at their Passover Supper that evening, a couple of hours before His arrest, that Jesus began to talk about the Holy Spirit – the Advocate who would lead the disciples into all truth. The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, would lead us into all truth.

But when would this Holy Spirit arrive?

Look at our third reading.

Jesus has ascended to Heaven. It has been about ten days since He returned to Heaven outside of Jerusalem, leaving them alone. But the disciples did not give up. For the next ten days, they assembled together daily to study scripture and to pray. And then, on the day of Pentecost, Shavuot, the festival of Weeks, the festival of First Fruits, the day when tradition said that God made his rainbow covenant with Noah after he came forth from the ark, the day Moses brought down the Ten Commandments from Mt Sinai, the night Boaz chose Ruth, King David’s birthday and the day of his death, the day when everyone brought to Jerusalem the first part of their harvest to give to God at the great Temple – on that morning, something wild and amazing happened.

They were gathered together in a room probably about the size of the Quiet Dell fellowship hall. There were about a hundred and twenty believers gathered together that morning, men and women, teenagers and children. You can hear the faint hum of men talking and reading scripture, the sound and smell of breakfast being made downstairs, the laughter of children from time to time. And then, suddenly, it happened.

There was a mighty sound like a rush of wind and it filled the entire room. God’s breath had hit the room! Then tongues of fire came into the room, split up, and settled upon each person. And then, then, the Holy Spirit took possession of each person there and they began to praise God. They praised God – Halleluyah! They praised God – Praise God! They praised God – Gloria Deus! They praised God in different languages! Gloria Deus Patri! Glory to God the Father! They praised God in Hebrew – Hallelujah! They praised God in Latin – Gloria Deus Patri! – They praised God in Greek - doxázoun ton Theó ! They praised God in Egyptian and Persian and Aramaic and many other languages that don’t even exist today!

And a bunch of people came running to see what was happening.

Someone yelled, “What’s happening?” and some smart aleck replied: “They’re drunk – they’ve drank too much wine!”

And then, Peter stood up.

Peter, the big fisherman who had captained a boat on the lake in Galilee. Peter, the brash young man who was always ready to speak up and take action, even when it was dangerous or would get him into trouble. Peter, the man who just seven weeks earlier had hid and snuck around and denied that he even knew Jesus three times on that horrible night when Jesus had been arrested. Peter, the man who had seen the risen Christ and been restored by Christ’s forgiveness. Peter, the man who was always quick to understand. Peter, the man who had had enough! Peter stood up with his fishing captain’s voice and said, “

“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy…
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
And Peter continued onward to speak, standing in front of the other Eleven witnesses, the chosen men who had been with Jesus from the beginning in Galilee, who had followed Him for three years and heard and seen all that Jesus had done, these men who had seen Him arrested, seen Him die, and then seen and talked and ate with Jesus after Jesus came back to life and who had been taught by Jesus for forty days and who had seen Jesus go back to Heaven. Peter spoke in front of the Eleven witnesses, for under Jewish law, the testimony of two or three was needed to establish a fact in a court of law, but here were twelve men standing tall that morning, speaking to the crowd when Peter finished his sermon, and people believed.

Over three thousand people were baptized and joined the newborn church on that day. Imagine how God’s breath magnified Peter’s voice so he could be heard in that busy city by over three thousand people! God’s Spirit, God’s breath, God’s wind…

About twenty years later, the Apostle Paul wrote more about the Spirit in the 8th chapter of Romans:

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Paul tells us that Christian believers “have the firstfruits of the Spirit”. This turn of phrase is important, because to have the firstfruits meant that you had the best of the harvest, but only a small portion of the harvest. The implication is that there are even more aspects of the Holy Spirit to come to believers than what we have already seen.

Do you remember the dial-up modems that your Internet used before high-speed Internet was available? I had to use a dial-up modem 19 years ago when I first put our company’s website on the Internet – It was painfully slow, we lost connections a lot of times, and the data was sometimes garbled. It could take a minute for a single photo to download on a website! But now we have high-speed cable Internet, which is much, much better and faster, and allows us to even watch movies over the Internet.

My friends, the Holy Spirit we have today may be like the dial-up modems. One day, we shall be upgraded and then we will be completely amazed at how the Spirit can connect us to God.

But even today, the Holy Spirit guides us in ways you may not understand, for the working of the Spirit depends upon how much attention you pay the Spirit.

In early 1945, my friend Jim Webb was a young Marine who had just landed on a Japanese-held island in the Pacific. Jim was a very god-focused young man, who had been raised in a godly family – he later became a pastor, and had served churches for 55 years when I met him about 15 years ago. The island Jim had landed on was called Iwo Jima – you may have heard of it.

About 8 o’clock that evening, there was some rifle fire and Jim was hit in the leg by a bullet.

At that very moment, it was still the breakfast hour in Jim’s parents’ home in Kentucky. Jim’s mother was serving breakfast to Jim’s father. Suddenly, she stopped, and turned pale. “Jim’s been hurt”, she said, as the Holy Spirit gave her the news.

Jim later mostly recovered, and he still had a bit of a limp in his 80’s when I knew him. But Jim was filled with the Spirit and wisdom, with more and more stories of the Spirit’s work.

The Spirit communicates with God – and can help us communicate with each other when the Spirit deems it to be important. In fact, the Spirit also helps us in times of trouble, praying FOR us when we cannot. As Paul wrote:

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

As we travel through life, we often feel that we are in a valley of despair. Things go wrong, bad things happen, people are mean and nasty to us. We may feel terrible and desperate. Our friends and neighbors and family often feel even worse, for they may not have the Rock that we call Jesus Christ to stand upon. We may feel like we are dead people walking, that we have been in the desert for years, or that our bodies have been roasted in a fire. We – or your friends – may have lost all hope. Do you feel like your bones are dry?

At times like these, it does us well to remember the last paragraph of our reading from Ezekiel:

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Are you filled with the Spirit? Do you have the Holy Spirit within you? Most baptized Christians do, but perhaps you have doubts. If you have doubts, visit a local pastor, ask him to lay hands on you that you may receive the Holy Spirit. And be filled with the Spirit!