Lessons Learned from a Pastor’s Fall

Mark Dever shares two important lessons that he learned from the fall of a dear friend in ministry.

The first lesson was provoked when one dear brother reproached himself for not reaching out more to this mutual friend, not asking more questions about how our mutual friend was doing. I told him that I had met with this friend weekly and often asked him many questions. I didn’t think he (my self-reproachful friend) was so much in the wrong as our mutual friend was wrong for not being honest. Lesson number one: no accountability relationships will work if there is not a commitment to honesty on the part of the person in question. The problem wasn’t a lack of initiative toward him; the problem was his hiding the truth from us. If I am committed to my sin above a humble, self-revealing honesty, then I can’t rely on any accountability structure or loving friendships to expose my sin and protect my soul. I must remember that if I am to war against sin, I must labor to be embarrassingly transparent.

The second lesson was more particularly for those engaged in public ministry. Many Christians will make pious statements about God refusing to bless a ministry because of sin in the minister’s life, or holiness being the essential ingredient in a pastor’s ministry. Many other statements like that are in the literature. And certainly holiness is a necessarily present mark of any true ministry—or true Christian life, for that matter. BUT, and here’s lesson number two: the public success of your ministry is no indication of the true state of your relationship with God. Yes, preachers should meet the qualifications Paul lays out in I Tim. 3 & Titus 1, but God is not limited to using people who do. In Scripture we see God using beasts (Balaam’s donkey), inanimate objects (the burning bush) even Satan himself to do His bidding. We shouldn’t be surprised that God can sovereignly have His truth preached through the mouths of hypocrites. My brother minister, are you in a time of public blessing? Don’t assume that necessarily has anything to do with how your own relationship with the Lord is.

The whole post is worth reading.

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