It’s always hard seeing public figures fall, especially pastors and preachers. It’s frustrating when a politician or business man appears to be hypocritical, because it shows us how jacked up the world is when a person can’t say what they believe to be true and then act on it. We tend to mask our real feelings by saying things like “Well, he/she’s a politician, what do you expect?” It’s much harder of a blow when this happens with a pastor or popular preacher because they are supposed to be the earthly example of how to live authentically and be Christ-like. It’s even a harder hit when the person isn’t a public figure, but is someone you know personally. In situations like this, feelings aren’t so easily masked.
Without getting into details, one of my friends was recently removed as pastor of a church through the process of church discipline. Because he was close to my age, I always considered him more of a peer than my pastor, but when this happened I couldn’t suppress the feelings of shock, anger, and frustration. I realize that these are appropriate emotions for such an event, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I’ve been thinking and praying about this over the past couple days, and God has made a few things clear to me.
Nothing New Under The Sun
This isn’t the first time a leader of God’s people has done something horrible. We see King David in the Old Testament who committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband when he found out she was pregnant. We see Peter in the New Testament deny his relationship with Jesus at the very moment when Jesus is being questioned, beaten, whipped, and crucified to atone for the sin of lying that Peter just committed.
God is Faithful to Pursue His People
In both King David’s and Peter’s case, God was faithful to pursue His people and call them to repentance. With David, it took a prophet exposing David’s sin before David would repent. Jesus himself confronted Peter about his betrayal. In both of these instances, this was done to restore the offender’s relationship with God and with God’s people. King David became known as a man after God’s own heart, and Peter became the leader of the apostles, second in fame only to Paul.
This is All of Us
I believe that history such as this is recorded in the Bible for a couple of reasons. First, so that we’ll see the historic precedent of human leaders messing up, and see God’s faithfulness despite our faithlessness. Second, because this is all of us. The entire message of the gospel is that we betrayed and rebelled against God, and He pursued us to the point of crucifixion for His glory and our ultimate joy.
Our Response
Events like this should also teach us the importance of not idolizing man. There should absolutely be a sense in which a pastor should be able to echo Paul in saying “Follow me as I follow Christ”. This is why it hurts so much when a pastor does something to fall under church discipline and is removed from leadership. There is also a sense in which we must realize that we follow Christ directly, not via a pastor as some type of proxy.
None of this takes away the emotion that we should feel when something like this happens. We shouldn’t be calloused to such tragic events. The proper response is indeed pain and anger. What this does is show us the proper response: looking to God who has shown Himself faithful throughout history when the leaders of His people drop the ball. He is faithful to call us to Himself. He is faithful to call us to repentance. He is faithful to restore His people unto Himself and each other. He is faithful to raise up new leaders when former leaders are removed. He is faithful to stir up our affections for Christ, through means of His own choosing; sometimes that means times of pain and confusion, which drive us toward the gospel to provide healing and clarity.
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