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?
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