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Lev. 15-16. “Whosoever curses his God shall bear (the consequences of) his sin. And he that “blasphemes” the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall surely stone him”
The sin of blasphemy (defamatory speech against God) in the Old Testament was punishable by death. Note the scriptures don’t say that the guilty one can pray for forgiveness or offer the blood of an innocent lamb or make any other kind of sacrifice. If you “blaspheme” God in the Mosaic Law you are to be punished with death… there is no forgiveness
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Which brings us to the New Testament, in Matthew 12:31 we find Jesus teaching that whoever “blasphemes” against the Holy Spirit cannot be “forgiven in this life or in the world to come (Heaven).” Let me suggest that Jesus affirms by this statement that the prohibition against “blaspheming” the name of God in the Mosaic Law carries over to the Law of Christ, i.e., Christians who “blaspheme”(directly) the name of God (or the Spirit of God) cannot be forgiven… ever.
Consider then the individual in Hebrews 6 (vv. 1-8), he was a Christian, believed in Jesus Christ, etc. but rejected (blasphemed) the name of God by his rejection of God. The text says it is impossible to renew him to repentance (v.6) and he will be “rejected and whose end it is to be burned” (v. 8). He was guilty of the unforgiveable sin of “blasphemy” against God.
Also, 1 John 5:16, “If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death he shall ask and God will give life…” Perhaps the visible sin that we are to evaluate as a “sin unto death” and decide not to pray for is the sin of” blasphemy” against the name of God because as God has instructed… there is no forgiveness for that sin… don’t waste your time praying for it.
The sin of “blasphemy” against God or the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) is unforgiveable in the Old and New Testaments. The only difference is that in the New Testament God does not compel his people to mete out punishment for this specific crime against God… God will take care of that himself.
Of course we have to remember that the father lived under the Mosaic Law but he apparently was faithful to it. What about the two sons? The older brother apparently was a Jew in good standing and certainly faithful to the rule of his father but he had some problems… he lacked compassion. Still, no problem with him as far as his father’s Elder qualifications.
What about the younger son? He too was apparently a Jew in good standing and was faithful to his father’s rule. However like his older brother he too had a problem… he was enamored by what the world had to offer… drunkenness, sex, etc. And given the first opportunity acted upon those desires… although still in a manner respectful (superficially) of his father. He asked for his inheritance and left the country before acting upon his desires.
Get this… the only difference in the two sons was the “visibility” of their chosen sins and the “opportunity” to come up short of God’s word.
So based upon what we know of the father’s leadership in his family he could have qualified to be an Elder in the Lord’s church.
So… based upon the subsequent actions (drunkenness, fornication) of his younger son could he have continued as an Elder in the Lord’s church or would he have to step down?
Many would say he would have to step down because he has to “maintain” the qualifications and when the younger son went wild he was no longer qualified. In my opinion this concept is short sighted. The father exhibited the exact qualities one would want to find in an Elder of the Lord’s church… patience and compassion and the temporary failures of his two sons did not make him less of a servant in the eyes of God.
The father addressed both of his son’s sins as the opportunities presented.
One of my all-time favorite movies is “Ground Hog Day”. I bet I’ve watched it a 100 times. The movie centers on a local weatherman who travels to a city he despises to cover an event he despises… a groundhog who predicts the future weather. Weatherman Phil Collins (played by Bill Murray) is arrogant, condescending, and prideful.
While covering the event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania he wakes up to find he is living the same day over and over again… in the same miserable city covering the same miserable event. At first he takes advantage of the situation and seduces women, steals money, flaunts the law and gets thrown in jail but every morning he wakes up bearing no consequences for his actions… but there is one woman who despite all his efforts he cannot seduce… Rita, his program manager.
Eventually he despairs of taking advantage of people and tries all kinds of methods to kill himself, but he wakes up every morning still alive.
Then one day gives up the futility of trying to seduce Rita and decides to start living to serve other people. He fixes flats for old people, he saves a kid who falls out of a tree everyday, etc. Women (not Rita) start trying to seduce him. Along the way he learns a foreign language and how to play the piano and becomes the type of caring, giving person that Rita falls in love with.
At the complete transformation from being arrogant, condescending and self-serving to being compassionate, caring and humble Phil finally wakes up in a new day… and wins Rita.
That, my friends, is a microcosm of the futility of life and the acceptance of Jesus Christ so that like Phil we can be transformed and find true happiness. The problem with Phil was… Phil.
“And be not drunken with wine… but be filled with the Spirit, speaking one to another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs making melody with your heart to the Lord...” (Eph. 5:18-21)
This verse contains a spiritual imperative… we are to be filled with the Spirit. That filling is our responsibility not Gods. We are filled with the Spirit when we sing, when we give thanks and when we subject ourselves to one another.
These verses and the preceding verses are instructions given to individual Christians, i.e., not assembly instructions. The singing instructions then are not primarily regulating congregational (assembly) singing but are primarily about an individual being “filled with the Spirit” by singing. That can be done as an individual, a group of individuals or the assembly. If we say that these verses concerning singing only regulate congregational singing then by the same reasoning “giving thanks” and “subjecting ourselves one to another” would also have to be exclusively congregational (assembly) related. Simply… not true.
Be filled with the Spirit by actively following the instructions listed in Ephesians 5; Sing, give thanks, and place the needs of others before your own needs. It is your spiritual responsibility.
“So then… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)
Here’s an interesting scripture… we’re supposed to work out our own salvation. Wait a minute, I thought the work was God’s and salvation was given as a free gift (grace) with no strings attached?
First of all the free gift of grace is Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11). We have the spiritual responsibility of becoming Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13). That responsibility requires some work on our part.
So specifically what work is described in Phil. 2? We are to imitate the servitude of Jesus. Jesus served the world and we must be like him. We must serve each other. It starts by developing the attitude that everyone else is better than we are. It’s easy to do things for people that we respect and admire. When we have the attitude that we’re better than everyone else and our things are more important than the things of others, then we tend to just serve ourselves. We’ve got to work out of that kind of selfish living.
“… not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others” (Phil.2:4)
So then we accept the free gift of Jesus Christ who pays the price for our sins and we work to become like him. We work to become servants. We work for our salvation because Heaven will only be populated with servants.
The letter to the churches in Galatia was written to correct a particular false teaching. Namely, that non-Jewish Christians would have to be circumcised to be acceptable to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul identifies their motivations for teaching this soul- damning doctrine.
Galatians 6: 12-13. “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh”
Here it is… first they wanted to escape persecution. The persecutors were Jews who rejected the teachings of Jesus Christ. These false teachers were trying to escape persecution by circumcising Greek Christians so they could make the claim that Christianity was just a type of Judaism. After all, Jews were intensely interested in converting the Greeks to Judaism. Jesus said to the Jews…
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Mt. 23:15)
If these false teachers could convince the Jews that these new Christians were *just* hybrid Jews then they would not only escape persecution but also achieve their second motivation… making a “good impression outwardly” with the Jews and “Boasting about their flesh” to the Jews.
False teachers are no different today. They want to be accepted… not rejected or persecuted and they love the lime-light. A false teaching can be dressed up and made to look good. Examine the teaching to see if there is consistency with the scriptures and look at the teacher’s motivation… otherwise it could cost you your soul.
Galatians 5 describes something called “the work of the flesh”. Really it should probably be called “the work of those who are led by Satan”. Work implies that a wage will be received and those who are led by Satan will indeed be paid a wage.
Those who are working for Satan do things like having sex with whoever might be available... homosexuality, drunkenness, wild partying, animosity, bickering and fighting are all activities associated with Satan. Those engaged in such activities have wages that are paid on earth and in life after earth.
On earth you can expect your life to be characterized by; Isolation, unhappiness, turmoil, impatience, arrogance, etc. (6:22-23). In the afterlife you can expect eternal suffering (5:21).
Choose to “work” for God and experience blessings on earth and in Heaven (5:22-23 & 6:8).
