At the beginning of November, a pastor from a global megachurch was fired for moral failure. If I’m being honest, my first reaction when my buddy told me was out of complete pride. Since then, I feel like God has revealed to me truth through my repentance for my arrogance. Now, I do not know all the details nor do I truly care to know all of them, but what I do know is this: outside of the grace of God, there’s not a single one of us any different from him. Exact details may be different, but the main issue is the exact same: our heart condition.
Our failings and short-comings occur obviously because we are failed men and all take after our fore-father Adam, however, does this just happen out of no where? I’ll say it as the Apostle Paul says it countless times in the scriptures:
“BY NO MEANS!”
Our running begins somewhere:
Our lack of contentment in Jesus Christ.
I know that I have written about this several times but I feel like in the last month or two of my life God has truly been pressing the button on multiple issues and character flaws in my leadership. I have been through some extreme hardships at work that have spilled over into our home quite a bit. I have been angrier at the world than I ever have been and at times my wife and my children were a metaphorical punching bag.
And why is that? Is that something that just happened and started out of no where? By no means. There was an emergency situation at work that caused a severe amount of stress and the truth is instead of facing it head on, I immediately started looking for other jobs. This is a breeding ground for discontentment because as hard as I try to play God, the simple fact remains — I’m not God and can’t play Him. In all that toiling I grew bitter and cold and a well that seemed to overflow suddenly started drying out.
Through this I have prayed and begged God to mold me through my repentance and acceptance of the Lord’s loving discipline. I feel that He in His grace keeps bringing a word to my mind: consistency. From the time of being a younger man until now, I have always struggled looking at people for examples. I think the truth of that is that we all do. We are constantly comparing ourselves to one another no matter how unhealthy it is and rarely do we stop. When do we do it the most? When everything is going wrong and we are completely discontent. As men, we constantly want the affirmation we are doing it right. Whether we didn’t get it from our earthly fathers or want the affirmation of those around us — we strive to look at how we stack up against others. We become completely discontent with our situations and unless we truly come to an understanding of the harm of which it causes, we won’t stop.
All of this reminds me of the call in 1 Peter 5:
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 ESV
Our former youth pastor used this vivid illustration once when he was talking about sin and related it to the way lions hunt. As he stated they basically lead their prey on until the prey has let down their guard and without even noticing, the lion is now behind them and dinner is about to be served if you know what I mean.
Is that not the way that sin — or moral failures — work in our life? We think we have it all together and then bam we don’t. It’s truly a scary thought because of the fact that when you look at the life of this particular pastor for a second, one minute he’s being used in a mighty way. The next, he has completely compromised his wife and children and more importantly, his own walk with the Lord. What could possibly cause that to happen? I mean one would have to figure that being a pastor of his magnitude, He would’ve had a strong support system?
The answer to that is more likely than not, no. The reason for that is because he, like all of us men, is probably stubborn and doesn’t want to talk about our hard-heart issues. None of us do. We hide in a corner and don’t reach out to anyone when we are dealing with an offense or running from the Lord. And that slow fade, that’s where the devil slowly but surely wrecks us. Whether it’s lust, anger, alcohol, porn, we all sin.
The devil roams around looking to rob, kill, and destroy our lives. He wants us in isolation and out of community. And he would love nothing more than to have us continue to allow the wrong people to influence us and our leadership as men. How many podcasts do we listen to for “life-hacks” or whatever? How many mega-church pastors do we listen to other than our own? I’m a fan of listening to many reformed pastors. However MY pastor, who knows me and cares about me and my family, who takes my phone call on his day off, that is my pastor FIRST. But even he is still a mere man of flesh and just as much of a sinner as me.
Bottom line is this:
While it’s good to look to pastors and leaders to encourage us in our walk in the Lord, why do we continue to put our hope in imperfect men just like us?
We need someone different.
We need something different.
By the grace and to the glory of God there was one man who was different and brought the greatest gift to this earth, His name is Jesus Christ.
In a little under two weeks, we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Born in a manger and placed in an animal’s troth, the majestic Savior took on flesh and came to live a perfect life because before the foundations of the earth, God knew we never would be able to do it and planned to rescue those whom would believe through this spotless babe.
I honestly could just stop there. The truth is that for the vast majority of my life I never paid much attention to the fact that Jesus Christ did not just die for my sins. He also lived for them in a sense. He lived the life that I simply cannot live. In that life that He lived, the Bible clearly shows us that He knew NO sin, unlike us.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 1 Peter 2:22 ESV
I don’t think that it’s possible to be more clear about this. But the best part is that He wasn’t just some perfect robot. He didn’t come to earth as a cheat code and skip all the hard stuff. No, He took on flesh. He walked as we walk, He was tempted — the only difference is His consistency and our lack thereof.
My wife recently started a bible study (which I am so beyond proud of her for), but as she was studying for it, we were discussing in the first chapter of Mark and how IMMEDIATELY after His baptism, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan himself.
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Mark 1:12,13 ESV
Let’s just be real about this. We in our flesh can barely withstand the temptations of a normal day in the life of our mortal bodies. Christ was in the midst of wild animals and as commentators point out, the wilderness was viewed in that time completely as Satan’s realm. Let’s now add in the fact that He also just fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and was completely at his weakest moment. Our weakest moment is forgetting to eat a meal because we throw a fit if we are asked to fast for bloodwork let alone a several day church-wide fast.
R. Kent Hughes says in his Preaching the Word commentary on Mark 1:
“The encounter of Christ and Satan was the greatest combat that has ever taken place on the face of the earth, and by far the most important. If Christ had failed at any point, we would have no hope of resisting temptation or of receiving salvation.”
What’s the good news? As if you didn’t already know, let’s look at Hebrews 4:
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 ESV
In His weakest moment, the point of His highest possible inability — He still didn’t break. He won. He reigned victorious over evil. All the ways that we cannot stay, cannot NOT break — He does. He is the greatest example of what a man should be. Patient, calm, long-suffering, loving, tender, and consistent just to name a few. I could go on and on. This story is just one of the many that we read about in the 66 books of the Bible that point us to God. I have prayed and put on the top of my Christmas list for one present this year:
That more than ever, I would become completely insatiably unsatisfied with any other example of leadership other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even looking at other biblical heroes won’t do. I pray the Lord becomes greater than any other distraction, job, material possession, wealth, whatever. I challenge all of you men to join me in this Christmas wish to come and adore Him, for He is and who we are not.
That we would daily unwrap the greatest present, the true present of peace and contentment. The WORD of the LORD who came and lived for us, died for us, and rose for us. Jesus Christ. Forever and ever, King almighty.
Let Him Reign, now and forever in our hearts.
Merry Christmas and may God bless you and your families,
BMT
P.S. don’t forget to check back the week of Christmas for a special early present!
The Fire & The Flood 