We follow Jesus

by Maurice Pujol
Published November 14, 2006

What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? (I Corinthians 1:12-13)

Whenever a prominent evangelical Christian leader gets involved in a scandal, the cynics immediately come out of the woodwork. They start questioning the validity of the faith of all believers, the authority of the Bible and the motives of nearly all pastors and evangelists.

The skeptics play the “guilt by association” card, linking believers to the charge of hypocrisy laid at the feet of a fallen preacher. If one of the “best” among us leads a double life, the reasoning goes, then all of us must be the same.

Of course, this is to be expected from people who look for every opportunity to attack God and His Word. Non-believers who follow worldly lifestyles always react with glee at the news of some preacher who gets caught in a great sin. It makes them feel better about themselves.

Believers shouldn’t fall prey to the same tendency. When a prominent evangelical leader such as Ted Haggard gets caught in a scandal over alleged gay sex and drug use, it’s a great tragedy. Yes, he should be held accountable and removed from his post. But also, he needs our sympathy and our prayers. A man of God has destroyed his ministry by giving himself over to weaknesses that the Holy Spirit would have helped him defeat. Haggard faltered in battle, and he is paying a terrible price.

Similar things happen to those in ministry at the community level. These are the stories that don’t make national headlines, but they are human tragedies nonetheless. They divide churches and sometimes destroy families. A fallen preacher makes noise like a giant redwood crashing down in the forest.

Believers hold ministers to a higher standard of behavior, and rightly so. Being called to the ministry bears with it a serious responsibility. Church elders must be faithful and temperate, not given to any sort of excess. Preachers are supposed to help “ordinary” believers overcome their problems, avoid their own sins. We expect those who lead to be examples to the rest of us, shining lights in the Body of Christ.

We must never forget, however, that preachers are human just like the rest of us. Like Jesus, they are subject to the same temptations as everyone else. Unlike Jesus, however, they are not perfect, not a single one. There was only one sinless Man, the Son of God who died on the cross for all our sins.

Being called to the ministry puts one in a “fish bowl” of sorts, and it also makes a person a prime target of the devil. Though others in the world closely observe all believers, ministers are kept under a magnifying glass, both by the world and by church members alike.

And though all believers automatically become enemies of the devil when they profess faith in Jesus Christ, ministers are an especially tempting prize for the evil one. I believe the devil’s attacks on ministers are more powerful and more frequent because the fall of a preacher carries with it the potential to shake the faith of entire groups of believers. The fall of a big-time preacher can rattle the faith of thousands.

That’s not how it should be, because we are not disciples of Ted Haggard. We weren’t saved by Jimmy Swaggart. We weren’t baptized in the name of Jim Bakker. These are all men called to the ministry who fell into great sin. All have expressed repentance, seeking God’s forgiveness just as any sinner would. Though we can call them into account for their past behavior, only God can judge them.

We may or may not choose to believe their repentance is sincere, but the Bible does call for us to offer our own forgiveness to all who ask for it. This is difficult to do, especially when the repentant sinner is a former spiritual leader. Then again, there are a lot of difficult things that a believer is asked to do.

These men are not gods, and never were. They don’t hold an exclusive lock on the truth, and never did. Their faith is not our faith, and never will be.

What we believe doesn’t change with every wind that blows. What we believe doesn’t depend on the behavior of men, no matter how prominent or charismatic or famous they are.

We believe in Jesus Christ. He is our Lord and Savior. Since He is God, He doesn’t change. Since He was also one of us, His sacrifice counts. Jesus paid a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.

He died on the cross for you and for me. He died for Ted Haggard. He died for Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. He died for Paul and Apollos.

Best of all, Jesus lives to offer us the gift of eternal life, a gift that doesn’t just await us in the sweet by and by, but one we can enjoy in the here and now.

We were saved by Jesus, taught by Jesus and baptized in the name of Jesus. We follow Jesus. What men do, no matter who they are, doesn’t change that.

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