We are at a point in history that I am nicknaming “the great housecleaning.” Preachers, ministry leaders and Christian pop stars have been crashing morally. Sins from days or decades ago are coming to light. Cover-ups are getting uncovered.
God seems to be cleaning his house, scrubbing out the sin and taking out the trash. As 1 Peter 4:17 reminds us, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household.”
So how should we, as believers in Jesus, respond to the plethora of unholy headlines that seem to be relentlessly plaguing our social media accounts regarding Christian leaders who have morally crashed and burned? Here are four action steps to take:
1. Get Angry (But Don’t Sin).
“Be angry, yet do not sin” (Eph. 4:26).
There is a time for righteous anger and this is it. When those who preach the Word of God or sing praises for God are secretly engaged in sexual immorality or gross sin of any kind, they blaspheme the God they are declaring.
This should make us angry.
The same kind of anger that caused Jesus to make a whip and use it to drive out hundreds of moneychangers from God’s temple, should be, in a sense, picked up and wielded in righteous anger.
2. Pray for the Victims.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed” (Ps. 34:18).
Those who have been abused and misused by Christian leaders must be in a state of crushing pain and constant confusion. We must pray for them, defend them and fight for them.
Whenever I hear about an abuse case I think to myself, “How would I feel if it was my wife, or my daughter or my son who was being abused? How would I feel then?”
Our tempers must flare toward the abusers and our hearts must break for the abused. We must pray for those who have broken hearts and crushed souls to be fully healed.
3. Be Slow to Restore.
“Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled” (1 Tim. 3:1–2).
Those who are in positions of spiritual leadership should be “above reproach.” Sexual immorality and abuse disqualifies them from ministry … many would say permanently.
Here’s what Charles Spurgeon had to say about the restoration of pastors who have fallen:
“I question, gravely question whether a man who has grossly sinned should be very readily restored to the pulpit. As John Angell James remarks, ‘When a preacher of righteousness has stood in the way of sinners, he should never again open his lips in the great congregation until his repentance is as notorious as his sin.’ … Open immorality, in most cases, however deep the repentance, is a fatal sign that ministerial graces were never in the man’s character.”
What a powerful reminder!
4. Look in the Mirror.
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).
Of course, we, as believers in Jesus, should forgive those who are fellow believers, including Christian celebrities when they sin and are genuinely repentant. We should seek to restore them, not to leadership, but to a vibrant Christian faith.
At the same time, when we hear of leaders falling, we must take a look in the mirror and remind ourselves to live holy lives. We must scour our hearts for impurity and deal with secret sins quickly and completely. We must keep ourselves accountable to others.