A Christian’s Response to Pastor Lawson’s Moral Failure

Author:

Anne Kennedy

Article ID:

FATTVP1024AK

Updated: 

Oct 10, 2024

Published:

Oct 2, 2024

Theological Trends Column

 

This is also a  Viewpoint articleViewpoint articles address relevant contemporary issues in discernment and apologetics from a particular perspective that is usually not shared by all Christians, with the intended result that Christians’ thinking on that issue will be stimulated and enhanced (whether or not people end up agreeing with the author’s opinion).


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​It’s like the unbuckling of the Bible Belt,” quips Pastor Ed Young to Ruth Graham of the New York Times, cataloging the shocking number of pastors who have been removed in the last couple of years in the Dallas area alone for what so many are calling “moral failures.”1 Some have embezzled money. Others have lied or been abusive. The majority of disgraced pastors, though, have committed some kind of sexual immorality. It has become almost a banal circumstance to click open my phone and discover that a famous pastor or Christian celebrity, not just in Dallas but all over the country, has either denied the faith, deconstructed, or fallen into a notorious and public sin. The tide of apostasy and pastors embarrassing themselves seems always to grow, never to recede. It may be that men sin more frequently in these decadent times. Or it may simply be the fact of social media. When news travels around the world in nanoseconds, it should not shock us that those whose spiritual influence reaches far beyond the walls of their congregations and towns would grip the world’s attention when they fall into sin.

Inappropriate Moral Failings. In September 2024 Pastor Steve Lawson was swiftly removed from his church in Dallas, Texas after it was discovered that he had an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman.2 The details were murky. In the absence of substantive explanations, social media filled up with speculation and gossip. Pastor Lawson was the very last person anyone expected to suffer such a “moral failing.”

The adoption of terms like “moral failing” and “inappropriate relationship” as the go-to descriptors when a public figure is discovered sinning suggests a measurable decline for American Christianity. Biblical words like “sin,” “adultery,” and “fornication” have so fallen out of fashion even in the church that anodyne words like “failing,” “struggle,” and “inappropriate,” more fitting for the peccadillos of Hollywood celebrities, have replaced them. 

But these terms, especially “moral failing,” leave a lot to be desired. One problem is that they don’t come from the Scriptures. The Bible calls us to be holy, to reflect, by following the perfect law, God’s character in the world. This impossible task drives the sinner to the cross for mercy and salvation.

Morality, as it is conceived of now, is more like a personality trait, like being the sort of person who always remembers to recycle. It doesn’t carry the heavy weight of conforming one’s heart, mind, and body to a holy and just God. Breaking the perfect law of God isn’t just a failure. It is a gross act of rebellion.

Likewise, the term “inappropriate” is far too light. Does it mean that the offender is making someone feel uncomfortable? Were they texting embarrassing messages back and forth? Or were they violating the law of God by engaging in sexual activity that, if unrepented of, could set them outside the kingdom of God? Beleaguered Christians showing up on a Sunday morning to find out their pastor violated his ordination vows, broke their trust, and destroyed his family need more of an explanation than “an inappropriate relationship occurred.”

Pillar and Buttress of Truth. The gracious thing is to remove those from ministry who are spiritually injuring their congregations. For the sake of the church and the soul of the pastor, when he abuses his office he should be removed. In the first place, he will be judged so much more strictly for his sins because of the solemn and heavy responsibility he has to protect the flock of God (James 3:1). Secondly, when he embraces error or sin, he teaches false lessons to the people in his care — that the truth doesn’t matter, that some people are indispensable, that adultery is not that bad.

What he is doing is “devouring” the sheep. The Lord, in the book of Ezekiel, has several complaints about those who “fail” to care for His people. They feed themselves rather than the flock (34:2), they clothe themselves with the wool (34:3), they neither strengthen nor heal (34:4), and rule with force and harshness (34:4), they scatter the sheep so that they are a prey to wild beasts (34:8), they muddy the drinking water (34:18), and they push them with “side and shoulder,” thrusting “all the weak” with their horns (34:21).3 The picture painted is one of pitiless leaders, of those with power and authority who cannot remember to look down over the pulpit at the congregants sitting with their Bibles open, heads bowed in anxiety and care.

Pastor and congregation are bound together to reveal the shape of the kingdom of God. Elders and overseers — or priests and bishops in liturgical churches — are charged with properly managing their children, being kind and understanding to their wives, devoted to chaste and sober disciplines of life (1 Timothy 3:1–7), so that they may make known the “mystery of godliness” (3:16). The household of faith, “which is the church of the living God” is a “pillar and buttress of the truth” (3:15). It is the locus of God’s saving work that brings the kingdom of heaven into the world. The godly lives of believers — both shepherds and sheep — display the mysterious and hidden character of God, what He likes, what He cares about, indeed who He is.

And who He is is the faithful head of the church. From sheep abiding in the pasture under the guidance and care of the Shepherd, we discover that the church is a body bound to the Lord Jesus as a bride is joined to a groom (Ephesians 5:32). The pastor’s sin against a particular congregation is so grievous because, besides injuring the sheep, it tells a lie about the faithfulness of Jesus, who went not only to the cross to destroy sin and death forever, but then rose again to bring her into eternal life.

There But for the Grace of God. When contemplating the ruin of a public figure, there is a great temptation to say, “I would never do that,” or “At least I’m not that bad.” The inclinations to harshly judge, to rejoice in another’s wrongdoing, and to unfavorably compare are always lurking in the human breast. Unhappily, we creatures sin because we are sinners. Out of the human heart comes corruption and every evil, Jesus Himself says (Matthew 15:19). The pastor who sins may be judged more strictly, but only because of his position and responsibility, not because he is necessarily more inclined to sin than any of the sheep. It is dangerous to say, “I’m not that kind of person,” or “I would never do that.” It is possible to be so blind and deceived about your motivations and desires that you fall into the very sin you most despise in other people.

It is only by the continual and humble disciplines of repentance, prayer, worship, fellowship, and, however uncomfortable, of opening ourselves up to be known by other people that we may escape the ruin of sin. We may take comfort in the knowledge that those disciplines do work. Joining a local congregation and letting the people — even the pastor — see your anxieties, hopes, and desires is one of the ways the Holy Spirit sanctifies you. Living together with other people who can see you, attending to the preaching and study of your congregation, taking communion together — God gave these as the way to guard and keep your soul. In addition, by devoting yourself to personal daily confession and prayer and Bible study, you should find that your wrong desires fade over time. Though you will never be free of sin or sinful desire, you can in this life see them increasingly replaced by a deep hunger for God’s holy Word, right affections for others, and love for Jesus and His church. If you’re walking in these ways along with the people of God, your opportunities for spiritual shipwreck will be vastly reduced.

What isn’t helpful is pretending that falling into sin is not a big deal. Those who are deeply grieved and angry about the downfall of the pastor they trusted are right, for when one falls, we all partake of the ruin.

Unworthy Servants. The pastoral call runs contrary to the spirit of this social media age. For the pastor is meant to efface himself. Rather than building a platform for his own fame and renown, he must speak, but that other voice — the voice of the True Shepherd of the Sheep — must be heard. It is the narrow path of self-denial, continually decreasing, and enduring the sheep’s anger and rejection without recrimination so that they will turn and hear the gospel. It is the task of serving the feast all through the day, and when night comes, serving some more without being invited to sit down in a place of honor.

In the verses just after Jesus’ familiar, though too often unheeded, warning about the millstone, Jesus speaks of the “unworthy” servant who has to keep the sheep through heat and deprivation and then cook and serve the supper. Does the master thank the servant? Jesus asks. No one answers, and so Jesus fills up the uncomfortable silence. “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:7–10).

This sort of humility may not even be intelligible to many Christians today. All the more reason that the congregation in the care of the pastor should, in turn, consider the spiritual well-being and strength of the person who is serving them so faithfully. This is not just theoretical. Real practical measures are in order.

I frequently come across discussions online about the relative selfishness of pastors who want, for example, to take a sabbatical or who feel a measure of guilt for either spending too much time with their families or not enough, depending on the pressures of the ministry at any given moment. Certainly, there are pastors — most of them famous — who are far too generously remunerated, but that is not the lot of most congregations.

There are a lot of ways a congregation can care for the pastor that aren’t that expensive. Generous yearly vacation time when the pastor can fully unplug from parish life and spend time with his wife and children, trusting elders to actually alert him in case of emergency, but not bother him with every little trouble goes a long way toward mitigating burnout. Likewise, requesting a sabbatical every seven years is not usually a sign of selfishness. 

The best antidote to unfaithfulness, though, is not to set oneself on the path toward temptation. The health of the pastor’s marriage shouldn’t be a matter of judgment and shame but of gracious concern. Pastors should be able to admit to their elders, bishops, deacons — whoever is there as part of the congregational hierarchy — that they need help, that they are in trouble, that things aren’t going well. The delicate balance between keeping your life and marriage together without having to let it all hang out, and yet being able to be open with the congregation, is impossible in human terms; but with God, and His immense grace, all things are possible.

Mercy and Forgiveness. However far a pastor falls, God does not cast off anyone who comes to Him for help. As long as there is life, there is hope. As with man’s first sin, God did not and does not absent Himself from our ruin. He goes Himself to repair what we destroy. “They shall know that I am the Lord,” says God at the end of Ezekiel 34, “when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them” (34:27). He is speaking to the abused and ill-treated sheep, of course, but at the very end it may be hoped that even the wicked shepherds might repent and be caught up in a great and merciful salvation. 

While it is wrong to restore a fallen pastor to his office, every effort must be made to restore him to Christ and the church as a forgiven sinner. Those guilty of the most vile sins have the greatest reason to call on the name of Jesus, to cling to the cross, and to trust the promise of salvation so that, in the end, as God promises in Ezekiel, “they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God” (34:30–31). —Anne Kennedy

Anne Kennedy, MDiv, is the author of Nailed It: 365 Readings for Angry or Worn-Out People, rev. ed. (Square Halo Books, 2020). She blogs about current events and theological trends on her Substack, Demotivations with Anne.

NOTES

  1. Ruth Graham, “Around Dallas, the Church Scandals Seem to Have No End: In This Part of Texas, a Pastor with a Clean Reputation Is Not to Be Taken for Granted,” New York Times, October 3, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/03/us/churches-dallas-fort-worth-sexual-abuse.html.
  2. “Dallas Pastor Steve Lawson Removed from Ministry over ‘Inappropriate Relationship with a Woman,’” CP Staff, Christian Post, September 20, 2024, https://www.christianpost.com/news/dallas-pastor-steve-lawson-removed-from-ministry.html.
  3. Bible quotations are from the ESV.
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