Without Getting Too Specific…
feel like there are things I want to say about the latest “fall” in evangelical circles. But I’m not even sure where to start. I have made one decision, however. I’m not going to mention names here or link to any other websites about it. It’s all over the blogosphere and Internet, so you can find it if you want to. But I don’t want to talk about names or specifics here because the points I want to make are not strictly limited to this particular incident. Additionally, I don’t want to mention specifics because I’m not the least bit interested in gaining traffic from search engines with regard to this topic. With that all said…
When are we, as the body of Christ, going to learn that we must stop elevating leaders to pedestals so high that they can’t possibly remain on them? And when are those on those pedestals going to stop accepting the adulation that is foisted upon them? When you have thousands (or possibly even just hundreds) of people calling one man their “pastor”, this is a recipe for disaster.
I would hope that even my friends in more conventional structures of church would recognize that this is a huge danger. Earlier this year, I wrote about multiplication ministry, and how it would minimize the burnout of leaders and the fallout from their “indiscretions”. But rather than follow a reasonable method of discipleship, we continually fall into the world’s thinking that “bigger is better”.
You know the mindset. If our church gets bigger, we can have a bigger impact on our community. If it gets bigger still, we can maybe even impact our nation. Or even the whole world! Wow. Just think what we could accomplish for God with more people, more money, larger ministries. Gather millions of believers together, slap a label on the group, and we can be a political action group. We could get legislation passed that would make our nation better.
Hogwash.
I’m sorry, but I cannot buy into that thinking. The greater impact seems to be the negative one that comes when that leader tumbles from his pedestal. It is a disgrace, and it should not be something that we continue to tolerate in the Church. It runs counter to the words of Jesus and makes us even more vulnerable to attack.
The other thought that continues to run through my mind is the words of Peter when he wrote in 1 Peter 2:
[W]hat credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
When you are accused of doing something, and you immediately point a finger at your accuser and say that they are falsely accusing you (for example, for political gain), and then it is found out that you actually are guilty of at least some of what your accuser said, you have lost the ability to be held up as an example of “patiently endur[ing]” your circumstances. You don’t get a pat on the back and a “Man, I hate that you’re going through this” as one who is suffering for the cause of Christ. And frankly, the motives of your accuser are no longer relevant.
Repentance will bring forgiveness, and ultimately restoration of fellowship. I personally don’t believe anyone is ever fully disqualified from ministry, unless they resist repentance in areas of sin. So far, very sadly, the present case has not shown this kind of repentance. Instead, there have been lies, cover-ups, and crafty Clintonesque language, all with a smile. That is a disgrace.
I pray very deeply that this situation will end in repentance and restoration. So far, I have been deeply concerned with what I have witnessed. And I’m just talking about the very things that this person has said. Not media reports about them.
When any one of us is caught in a sin, we cannot afford to gloss over that and try to make excuses. Trust me. I’ve been there. I know the fear. I know the pride. I know the instinctive defensiveness that comes into play. But we cannot allow ourselves to fall into that. Those things are not of God. And I know that true freedom and peace comes only with true brokenness and repentance.
Praying for the Church,
steve
November 5th, 2006 09:54
Steve,
“I bought it but I didn’t use it” sounds suspiciously like “I smoked but I didn’t inhale.” I stand amazed at how many high profile Christians continue to take their cues from the world. Maybe if we really were walking in the Spirit, living for that audience of One rather than those hundreds or thousands, “falls” would be the exception and not the norm.
Sin is insidious, no respecter of persons, lying in wait at our doors. Gentle innoculations make you more susceptible rather than immunizing you from it. Only a cross will do.
A gracious yet firm address.
Tony
November 5th, 2006 11:02
Tony, that was exactly the phrase that led to my use of the term “Clintonesque”. I’m really disappointed in the way truth has been slow in coming. At the same time, it continues to make me feel such pity for this brother because it just shows how far he has let himself go in that direction.
I have often said that we sometimes try to get real close to the line of sin, thinking we can stop ourselves before going over it. Then one day, we wake up and realize the line is so far behind us, and we don’t even remember crossing it.
Of course, I have also come to learn that the very intent to get close to the line without crossing it is, in itself, sin, because our heart is already on the other side of the line.
Thanks for your response on this post.
steve
November 6th, 2006 00:20
Steve, this is a sober and well-given warning. When we set leaders on a pedestal, we are usually just making them easy targets for Satan’s attacks.
The tragedy is, when one falls, we all suffer.
November 6th, 2006 08:58
Gordon, thanks for the comment. I agree.
November 6th, 2006 13:28
Gordon,
I can attest to your comments. It happened to my wife’s father who/is was a pastor, it happened to several churches in our city, each fall causing splits and divisions among believers and effectively ruining and jading many youth in the process.
It seems to me there is this false idea that isn’t necessarily spoken, but is nontheless embedded in our mentality that a ‘pastor’ somehow is so holy they no longer sin.
Or even scarier, that sin has an evil rating. For example, homosexuality is worse than lying or stealing or even cheating on your wife. In doing so, it makes elevating ‘pastors’ possible. Greg Boyd talks about this in his book, The Myth of a Christian Nation. He writes that we lose our ability to love Calvary-style when we stop looking at our sins as worse than everyone else’s and try to justify our righteousness at the cost of others.
I can understand how it would be hard to admit sins to your audience when you don’t know them in a large chruch setting. There is a loving humbleness among those at our house that comes from knowing we all screw it up pretty well and no one is better than the other. It allows us to introduce others to the love of Christ in a way that I never could when I was attending a regular I.C. I think that came from trying to maintain an image of perfectness in that setting.
November 6th, 2006 14:23
It’s intersting, one church throws out a pastor/leader for sinning (maybe not really thrown out, expelled from his position?). And I agree this is what had to be done.
But in the same time period. Another church organization, as a whole, accepts and ELEVATES someone into the highest position who not only agrees with same sex marriage and homosexuality (she helped vote in their homosexual bishop) but comes right out and says there is more than one way to God!!!????
My head is spinning.
November 6th, 2006 18:18
Saabinmike, your comment reminds me of a story I heard once about Charles Spurgeon.
A lady in his congregation was praising him for being such a “holy man”.
He replied to her, “Dear sister, if you could see what was in my heart you would spit in my face.”
God deliver us from the hubris that so often comes with titles.
November 8th, 2006 12:19
As my momma has always said…the arm of flesh will fail you…she’s right again…
November 8th, 2006 16:25
Wow, great blog. Glad to meet you! Came here via Chery’s Treehouse and glad I did. Allow me to introduce myself by way of http://windowstomysoul.blogspot.com and http://victoriagaines.com
Drop by anytime. Will be back to peruse more of your interesting writings. God bless you!
November 10th, 2006 12:55
Great words of wisdom Steve
November 12th, 2006 23:51
To all who have commented here since my last comment:
Thank you for your contribution to this conversation.
Vicki, thanks for stopping by. I’ll be checking out your blog. Sorry your comment took so long to appear. I didn’t notice that the email notification I got said that your comment was awaiting approval (apparently, two links in a comment flags it as suspicious!), and so it was several days before I logged in and noticed it hadn’t shown up on the site. Nothing personal, I assure you!
steve