How should we deal with fallen pastors?

“But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!” – Galatians 2:17 ESV

I came across James Whites’s podcast, The Dividing Line, yesterday. He was still commenting on the whole Steve Lawson travesty. If you are reading this blog, then you know about the fall of pastor and evangelist Steven Lawson. He had an affair with a much younger woman. This has the reformed community up in arms recently and the outcry is perplexing. I have to say, as a faithful Christian, I am a tad bit exacerbated. The pearl-clutching and hopelessness of the Christian right in response to this amplifies my feelings.

I am not writing this to critique anything Dr. White was saying. Still, it has been months now. Somehow, the religious right is still coping with this. I am passionately responding to the outcries of the faithful on this point. I also note the indignation of leaders like Justin Peters. They have taken a hard stance on whether Lawson would grace a pulpit anytime soon. At over seventy years old, the question remains. Does he have any more lives to give to the ministry? He does not.

Over a month ago, I watched a long speech by Albert Mohler. He addressed his seminary students on how saints should cope with this scenario. It was well thought out and relevant. He did not want to give this response. However, he felt it was necessary when he encountered some students who were struggling with the fall of Dr. Lawson. I found this disconcerting. These are future pastors, preachers, and teachers. They are studying at an advanced seminary in America. They did not understand how to handle one of their icons falling into sexual immorality. This, to me, is more disappointing than the actions of Pastor Lawson.

Now let me enlighten all who still might be struggling with the fall of a mentor, pastor, friend, father, etc… man up! Aside from Lawson’s leadership, legacy, and reputation, his betrayal is to God and his family. He is an old man and will go into obscurity to face his shame in fear and trembling. I feel sorry for his wife and kids, and that poor young woman he took advantage of. How this affects the everyday Christian is baffling to me, as if we have no idea of the betrayal in both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus Christ was betrayed by His own disciples, more than one! Betrayal and the fallen are the by-products of the Christian way of life, it is something we should not even be shocked by but accustomed to.

Many of us were shocked by the fall of Ravi Zacharias several years ago but my parents were shocked by Jim and Tammy Bakker (some moron let Jim back on the air) in the eighties, followed by Jimmy Swaggart several years later. Over a decade ago, millions were shocked by Ted Haggard’s weird sexual issues and so on. This is part and parcel of the Christian way of life, unfortunately. Good people fall, and life goes on.

The apostle Paul warns of this all throughout his letters; 2 Timothy 3:1-9 is just an easy example:

Godlessness in the Last Days
“But understand this, that yin the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be zlovers of self, alovers of money, bproud, barrogant, abusive, bdisobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, cheartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, dnot loving good, treacherous, reckless, eswollen with conceit, flovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but gdenying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.” – The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Ti 3:1–9.

Your leaders will sometimes fail, your mentors will disappoint you, and your fathers are not perfect. This is why the Bible teaches you to constantly look to Christ and His work on the cross. Sacrificial love and forgiveness is a great message to think about when good men fall. Steve Lawson’s public life is done. His ministry is over. Now he has to seek forgiveness from God. He also needs forgiveness from his family and wife (Matthew 5:24). We, as the global community of saints, should pray for this reconciliation. We need to move on as it is not the end of the world. Nor does it discredit Christ. The only shame is on the perpetrator, and because he was in ministry leadership, his judgment before the Lord is far more severe than anything we could impose (James 3:1). In the meantime keep praying for your local church, the global church, and for church leadership.

For the Mission of the Church
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth,
and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far
off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere
may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your
fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming
of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.