We all sin. And that includes Christians. Some sins are more obvious and overt than others. Paul put it this way in 1 Timothy 5:24: “The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.” When a pastor or Christian leader sins – often in the form of sexual sin – it is manifest to lots of people, certainly in the Christian community. And many in the world are eager to learn of and gloat over it as well.
Biblical balance
How should Christians respond to these situations? There are two unbiblical extremes to avoid here. One is to think ‘it can never happen to me.’ That sort of pride is what Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” In that sense, the common saying ‘there, but for the grace of God go I’ is quite right.
But that phrase can be used in a wrong way. That is, some folks can use it as an excuse or a justification of the sin that took place. That is the other extreme we must avoid. All sin is terrible, and we dare not take it lightly. If a public figure has sinned, we must not pretend it is no big deal. Getting the biblical balance right here is crucial.
In this regard I have been aware of various such figures of late that have fallen in a very public way. I have tried to pray daily for each one of them. I pray first that they would come to a place of real repentance, and then I pray for real grace for them, their family, their church, and so on.
Case in point
One of these cases involves the American pastor and author Steven Lawson who might be somewhat more well known in Puritan and Reformed circles. I have quite enjoyed his ministry over the years, and I have seven of his books. A few months ago he was found to be involved in sexual sin, so he was removed from his various church positions and ministries. He recently made a public confession of his sin:
It is with a shattered heart that I write this letter. I have sinned grievously against the Lord, against my wife, my family, and against countless numbers of you by having a sinful relationship with a woman not my wife. I am deeply broken that I have betrayed and deceived my wife, devastated my children, brought shame to the name of Christ, reproach upon His church, and harm to many ministries.
You may wonder why I have been silent and largely invisible since the news of my sin became known. I have needed the time to search my own soul to determine that my repentance is real.
I alone am responsible for my sin. I have confessed my sin to the Lord, to my wife, and my family, and have repented of it. I have spent the past months searching my heart to discover the roots of my sin and mortifying them by the grace of God. I hate my sin, weep over my sin, and have turned from it.
My sin carries enormous consequences, and I will be living with those for the rest of my life. Over the years, many have looked to me for spiritual guidance, and I have failed you. I beg for your forgiveness.
I have been undergoing extensive counseling for the last five months to face the hard questions I need to address. I have dealt with sin issues that have been painfully exposed in my heart. I have submitted myself in weekly accountability to two pastors and to the elders of a local congregation, who have shepherded my soul. I am also under the oversight of an accountability team who monitor my progress and give me wise counsel in the decisions I have to make.
I am growing in grace, reading and absorbing the Word of God, putting it into practice, praying, and meeting with other believers. I am involved in the life of the church, attending and participating in prayer meetings, Sunday school, the worship service, and taking communion weekly. I am being fed the Word in the mid-week Bible study. Please pray for my spiritual growth into Christlikeness as I follow Him moment by moment during this recovery season.
I am grateful for the unmerited grace of God in the gospel to extend His full forgiveness to me. Again, I ask for your forgiveness as well.
While I continue to do the hard work of soul-searching repentance, I do not intend to make further public comments for the foreseeable future.
Please pray for the Lord’s mercy and grace as I seek to make right the deeply wrong sins I have committed against my wife and family, and that in His time and way He will bring about redemption and restoration in our marriage, for His glory.
Several things can be said. Some Christians have complained that he waited too long to do this. Well, I am NOT God and I never met the guy, so he may have had some reasons to wait: to ensure real repentance had taken place, to follow advice given him by other leaders, and so on. I cannot judge him here on this.
Also, some Christians have weighed in, saying they think this was not a genuine confession and act of repentance. Again, I am NOT omniscient, and I do not know his heart. Only God does. So I for one want to be VERY careful in being judge, jury and executioner here. If it is not the real deal, God will deal with him. I am glad I am not God.
And a passage I just read moments ago might tie in here. In 1 Samuel 2:17 we find this: “Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.” Yes, it involves a different context (about the rebellious sons of Eli) but the point is, God was not pleased when folks had contempt for an offering.
If Lawson is sincere and genuine here (again, only God knows for sure), then to say he is not is to play God and to show contempt for the way Lawson was seeking to make things right. That can be just as sinful as what he had done in the first place.
Private sin vs public sin
Another issue that arises is this: when I posted his confession on the social media, a few folks wondered why I would do this. One such discussion went like this:
Her: I don’t know who this man is. If he’s confessed his sin and sought forgiveness why is he publicising it? Catholics confess their sins in private to God through a Priest who gives counsel and asks that we make an act of contrition to God. We are given a penance and we reflect on our sins privately. I don’t see why this man needs to publicly confess.
Me: For the simple reason that public sin requires public confession. He had a VERY public ministry, and when he fell, all those who he had ministered to were impacted, be it his own family, his church, and millions worldwide (including myself) who had followed him and benefited from him. So to make a public declaration of his sin, and to make a public confession and act of repentance was the proper thing to do, both biblically and pastorally.
Her: So, does it make his followers forgive and forget? Or will they not trust him again?
Me: It means that the one who has publicly sinned has acknowledged publicly the harm he has done to others, and that he is grieved that this has happened. It not only has hurt his family and followers, it has dragged the name of Christ in the mud for the whole world to see. Public sin always requires public rebuke, hopefully followed by public confession and repentance, while private sin requires private rebuke, hopefully followed by private confession and repentance. How followers will respond to such a public confession is up to them. See much more on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2011/09/22/on-public-rebukes/
Another friend: Well, we all know that King David sinned…
Her: I meant that sin is between God and the person. I just wondered why he had to make such a public declaration.
Me: I already answered that – public sin deserves public rebuke and public confession. If I were to betray Australia to its enemies and then see the error of my ways, the only obvious proper response is to apologize and confess my sin to the Australian public. This is not hard to understand. Sin is NOT just between the person and God – it is also between those who have been sinned against.
Her: His wife.
Me: He sinned against his wife, his family, his church, and his Lord.
Lessons to be learned
Much has already been said about this whole situation by plenty of people. All I know is I need the grace of God every single moment of my life. I am not free from sin, and I am an ongoing piece of work as God makes me more like him, weeding out the sinful old man.
More than once I have used the 1993 film Falling Down starring Michael Douglas to share some of my views on such things. It was about an Ordinary Joe who got a lot of bad breaks, and he eventually snapped, even going off and killing people. I asked how we might have responded if we were in similar circumstance. As I wrote in one article:
Take any situation, and we are able to replicate it. Jesus had twelve disciples for three years, but when crunch time came, they denied him, turned from him, repudiated him, betrayed him. And we all would have done the same as the twelve. We too would have denied our Lord and fled into the night. All the great saints are the ones who are quite aware of their own depravity….
As Alan Redpath rightly remarked, “You are never used of God to bring blessing until God has opened your eyes and made you see things as they are.” Until we see ourselves as God sees us, we will never really be of much use for the Kingdom.
When we see ourselves as we really are, we know that all glory must go to God. We are but “unprofitable servants, we have only done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). Any goodness, any greatness, any work for the Kingdom, must ultimately all be traceable to Him, not us. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2010/06/04/falling-down-and-mass-murder/
None of us are immune from going off the deep end. We are all vulnerable to sin and temptation. As I said, on the one hand, we dare not make excuses for it, but on the other we dare not think we are so spiritual and bulletproof that we will never fall.
Sadly there are some ministries known for being ‘heresy-hunters’. They go after almost anyone who does not think and believe exactly like they do. And there are also some ministries that seem to specialise in pointing out failures, sins and shortcomings of other believers.
There may well be a need for the latter, but if those involved are not doing it on their knees and with tears in their eyes, then I am not all that keen on it. I suspect some almost take delight in exposing this or that brother or sister for this or that sin. That is the wrong attitude to have.
As I say, I pray daily for folks like Lawson. Others are in a similar position, and they sure do need our prayers. I know that I most certainly need prayer. A rule of thumb might go something like this: for every minute we spend publicly criticising a fellow believer, perhaps we should spend the same amount of time praying for them.
And as I was about to post this, I saw a meme which we would all do well to take quite seriously: “‘Be careful not to measure your holiness by other people’s sins’ -Martin Luther.” Important words indeed.
2 Replies to “Great Sin, Great Repentance, Great Grace”
I agree with you Bill. I don’t know whether I’m missing it but he doesn’t seem to say anything about the woman he signed with and against. I would have this would have been a high priority in his repentance.
Thanks Stephen. I know little detail about this whole situation, nor do I really want to know. So while I know a bit about Lawson, and now, his public confession, I know absolutely nothing about the woman, who she is, her role in this, if she is a Christian, if she has repented, if he has apologised to her, etc.
I agree with you Bill. I don’t know whether I’m missing it but he doesn’t seem to say anything about the woman he signed with and against. I would have this would have been a high priority in his repentance.
Thanks Stephen. I know little detail about this whole situation, nor do I really want to know. So while I know a bit about Lawson, and now, his public confession, I know absolutely nothing about the woman, who she is, her role in this, if she is a Christian, if she has repented, if he has apologised to her, etc.