Yesterday I heard about a pastor in Dallas, a well-known figure in evangelical circles, who was removed from his congregation after having what his elders called “an inappropriate relationship with a woman.” I’d never heard of the man, which I attribute to be robustly Lutheran, but many of my social media friends had and were quite gutted by the news.
This is a heartbreaking thing and it happens far too often. So why does it? Why do so many men cast themselves headfirst into the terrain that Paul warns us about, the terrain of reproach, the terrain of drunkenness, adultery, greed, abuse, and the like? Well, there are, of course, many answers to that question. Pastors are sinners, like everybody else. And the devil works especially hard to destroy them, I suppose, because, when you strike the shepherd, the flock will scatter and it becomes easier to devour them and their faith.
But there’s another reason we can consider, namely that there’s often a mutually beneficial arrangement between sheep and shepherd when it comes to status. Whether that status comes from a congregation being the big church in town, or being seen as the happening place for important people, whether that status comes from a certain congregation being more devout and devoted than others, pride attacks both the pastor and the people. The pastor’s pride drives him to become bigger, more unquestionable. And the people’s pride drives them to give him more power, more adulation, and fewer boundaries so that they can belong to someone and something even more glorious. Caution and piety and humility disappear in the search for status and we become easy pickings for the devil.
Love your pastor, but not because he gives you status. Love him because he gives you Christ, the same Christ who gave His life to save you from the condemnation of pride. Love your pastor with the kind of love that all sinners need–constricting love, love that keeps him out of situations that pour gasoline on his pride, his loneliness, his insecurities. And in the same way, expect your pastor to give you the love that sinners need–the love that slaughters your pride with the Word of God, the love that isn’t afraid of offending your pride when speaking the truth, the love that points you to the humility of Christ, the humility that bled for you at Calvary and that clothed you in the eternal favor of God. When shepherds and sheep seek their status in Jesus Christ, and not in the things of this world, the angels rejoice and the devil shrieks in defeat.
It was just in the news that a non-denom pastor in St. Louis is being accused of polygamy. His accountability group tried to bring repentance then they brought it to the church.