Steve Lawson was a popular evangelical preacher, pastor, and writer with leadership responsibilities at multiple parachurch ministries until it was discovered that he had been engaged in an “inappropriate relationship” with another woman for the last five years. The public details are vague, but the evidence was sufficient to lead his elder team and the various institutions with which he was affiliated to remove him from his leadership posts. This is a sad and confusing turn of events for many who had long followed his teaching and writing ministry.
I don’t desire to dwell on the Lawson situation in particular, but rather use this tragedy as an opportunity to think about how to protect ourselves from the same fate. In this article, I will offer five actions that we can take to remain faithful in our ministries.
(1) Rejoice Over Your Salvation More Than Your Ministry
When the seventy-two disciples came back from their healing and preaching ministry, Luke tells us that they were overjoyed at the authority they wielded over the demonic realm (Luke 10:17). But Jesus quickly re-directs their joy to a different source: they were not to rejoice in their authority—as good and as useful as it was—but rather to rejoice in the fact that their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20). The most important thing about these disciples was not that they had significant spiritual authority—it was the reality that that they had a relationship with the living God. This relationship was to be their most precious possession and the most delightful truth in their lives. The authority that Christ had delegated to them was not to be the deepest source of their joy.
There is much wisdom in this passage for pastors and Bible teachers. When an otherwise faithful and apparently fruitful man falls in the ministry, it is likely that he had already become enamored with the ministry and his great usefulness and less captivated with his salvation.
With faithfulness may come greater opportunities for ministry and greater responsibilities of leadership. But these are never to be the root of our spiritual joy and satisfaction. Rather than rejoicing in our growing authority and usefulness, we are to rejoice in our salvation. The simple, basic, glorious truth that we are children of the living God is to be the anchor of our joy and never play second to any joy we might gain from fruitful ministry. Is there joy to be had in the ministry? Yes (see Phil 4:1; 2 Thess 2:19). Should we desire to be useful to Christ and steward his resources well? Absolutely (see Matt 25:14-31). But the deepest root of our joy is not our ministry or our usefulness, but our salvation. If we keep ourselves rooted in this vital truth, we will do much to guard ourselves from moral failure in the ministry.
(2) Be Content with the Ministry that God has Entrusted to You
Along with this call to rejoice in our salvation more than our ministry is our need for contentment in our ministry. I’m not talking about complacency or indifference. If we are going to minister the Word of God, we must do it with zeal and the utmost diligence (1 Tim 2:15; Titus 2:14). Rather, I am speaking of the temptation to compare ourselves with other ministers becoming envious of what God has entrusted to them, and then allowing this ungodly envy to fuel a pursuit of greater ministry opportunity (see 1 Cor 10:12). Yielding to this temptation may cause us to take on too much ministry, even at the expense of our walk with Christ, our families, and our integrity.
We must come to grips with Jesus’ parable of the talents, particularly the truth that there will be varying amounts of delegated ministry responsibility among Christ’s disciples (Matt 25:14-31; cf. Luke 19:11-27). When the master entrusted a portion of his wealth to his three servants, he gave each of them a different amount. The first servant was given five talents and received his master’s commendation when he produced five more talents. The second servant only received two talents at the initial distribution, but he produced an additional two and heard the same commendation as the first servant. The master did not chide the servant who produced two talents because his return was smaller in number than the servant who produced five talents. The master commended the second servant because he was faithful with what he was given.
We all have different gifts, backgrounds, personalities, and capacities (Rom 12:3). We must labor within the parameters of our gifts and abilities and not, out of envy or discontent, attempt to grasp at more ministry when more ministry would actually be detrimental to our souls and our other responsibilities. Pursuing godly contentment in our ministry will help keep us faithful to Christ and to the work he has entrusted to us.
(3) Labor for the Good of the Church, Not Your Reputation as a Skilled Teacher
When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he had to correct their wrong view of spiritual gifts. Overall, they lacked love, and pride dominated their use of the gifts. Paul wanted them to realize that their gifts were for the good of the body, not their personal glory and aggrandizement (1 Cor 12:7). Importantly, he told them that love must motivate the use of their gifts or else their ministries would be as helpful as clanging cymbals and loud gongs (1 Cor 13:1ff).
It is true that Scripture instructs us to make progress in our teaching abilities so that our growth will be obvious to the people to whom we are ministering (1 Tim 4:15). Woe to the man who is content with mediocrity in his teaching and never strives to improve in his teaching skill! But it is possible to subtly begin making our reputation as an excellent teacher the supreme goal of our ministry efforts. Just because we aren’t seeking praise from people in the world doesn’t mean we are humble. A man may be in love with the glory he receives from people in the church and therefore labor diligently to maintain and increase his reputation among God’s people.
When this motivation begins to overtake a simple, godly desire to serve Christ’s flock with excellent, soul-nourishing food from God’s word, a moral downfall is not far off. Why? Because when we seek the glory that comes from man, we will find it impossible to believe in Jesus. “How can you believe,” Jesus asked the religious leaders of his day, “when you seek the glory that comes from men and not the glory that comes from God” (John 5:44)? The presence of Christ, inward spiritual power, and our ability to fight sin will wane because our pursuit of man’s praise has hindered our faith in Christ. Sin will grow unchecked and eventually lead the proud pastor into ruin. If we are going to persevere in the ministry, we must be wary of the tendency to become overly concerned with our reputation as a skilled expositor of God’s Word and aim our efforts at pleasing God and feeding his sheep.
(4) Treasure Your Time Alone with God and Actively Pursue It
Jesus instructed his disciples to spend time alone with God and modeled this practice throughout this ministry (Matt 6:6; Luke 6:12; 11:1). While we are never to pursue our time with God at the expense of corporate worship and fellowship (Prov 18:1; Heb 3:12-15; see below), we must recognize how vital this personal time with Christ is to our spiritual vitality, character, and growth in holiness.
It is possible to churn out loads of sermons, Bible studies, theology classes, articles, and books without actually enjoying communion with God in the process. This habit slowly hardens the heart and makes us insensitive to the Spirit and the piercing power of Scripture (Heb 4:12). Soon enough, we can find ourselves immersed in biblical study and teaching activity, but easily led into sinful thoughts and routines because our study has become detached from our relationship with Jesus Christ. A man who spends his study in the presence of God and who makes time for devotional reading, personal Bible reading, prayer, and self-reflection will not be easily led into sin, for his heart will remain soft to God’s Spirit and Word.
(5) Let People into Your (Whole) Life
It seems that when men fall in the ministry, it is often the case that they had allowed the doors of their life to slowly close. Their friendships had grown shallow; their home had become shut off from people; and their private life was hidden from their wives, children, and fellow elders. But rarely does a man fall whose friendships are deep, whose home is regularly open to others, and whose family always knows his whereabouts and how he is spending his time.
If you are married, brethren, a basic safeguard to your integrity is to always let your wife know what you are doing and where you are going. Unless we are planning for our wife’s birthday and need to make some top-secret plans, we should always be able to tell her what we are doing on our computer or on our phones if she were to ask. It is wise, also, for men in the ministry to travel together, and not spend a lot of time on the road by themselves. Opening your home and life to God’s people will provide you a built-in channel of accountability and guard you from developing a private life that is different from your public life.
Conclusion
While this is not an exhaustive list of actions we can take to safeguard our lives and ministries from a moral disaster, I believe these five actions are foundational to any others we might take. If we love Christ and our salvation more than our ministries, maintain a grateful, contented heart for the ministry God has entrusted to us, walk in genuine humility, treasure our time alone with God, and open our whole lives to others, we will, by God’s grace, be well guarded from ministry calamity.
