We need to be careful in dealing with the sins of others:
When a public church figure sins, it is always a tragic situation. Then again, when ANY Christian sins it is always a tragic situation. But when pastors and church leaders sin, it impacts them, their families, their followers, and the public as a whole. It drags the name of Christ in the mud of course, and it casts yet another slur on the church, which is meant to be the bride of Christ, without spot or blemish (Ephesians 5:27).
How we deal with these fallen leaders is crucial. One wrong way is to pretend it is no big deal, and to act as if the person’s ministry can just keep on going as if nothing happened. Another wrong way to react is to look down on the one who fell, arrogantly thinking that WE would never do such a thing, never sin such a sin.
The truth is, we are all capable of falling into sin in so many ways. It really is the grace of God alone that has kept us from going off the rails big time. We all have our dark issues that we are good at keeping hidden from others. As we read in 1 Timothy 5:24: “The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.”
And now in the internet and social media age, it is getting easier and easier to have some sin found out and advertised to the whole world. Just as there are now many ‘heresy-hunting’ ministries which delight in calling out others who do not believe in the exact way that the hunters prefer (and yes, there is real heresy, and it does need to be called out), so too we now have some ministries that exist to expose various failures, sins and the like.
These too can have a place, but like the hunters, they really need great care, wisdom and humility. Too often it seems that the ones exposing private or public sins in Christians – especially Christian leaders and pastors – almost seem to take a real delight in doing so: ‘Ha, we caught another one!’
The truth is, such a ministry should only be done while on our knees and with tears in our eyes. We should not delight in the fall of fellow believers. It should sadden us, and it should make us want to even more carefully examine our own hearts and souls. That is the proper attitude to have here.
Given that I am again reading through 1 and 2 Samuel, I am finding a lot of biblical truths that we can apply to this matter of when leaders fall. Not every question raised concerning the lives of these two kings of Israel can be dealt with here. For example, why would God choose both men, knowing that both would fall so spectacularly?
As I discuss the pair, I will provide some words from just one commentator, David Toshio Tsumura, and his two books in the NICOT series: 1 Samuel (Eerdmans, 2007), and 2 Samuel (Eerdmans, 2019).
As to Saul, we know he had issues early on, including his longstanding enmity against young David, his unlawful sacrifice (1 Sam. 13), his rash vow (1 Sam. 14), and his consultation with the witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28). So we read back in 1 Samuel 15 how the Lord rejects Saul. But note how the prophet Samuel views all this: not with glee but with great concern. Consider these verses:
The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. (1 Sam. 15:10-11)
Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. (1 Sam. 15:34-35)
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” (1 Sam. 16:1)
Grief, and not elation, was how the prophet dealt with the fall of Saul. We too should have such a spirit if we call out the sins of others, or when we hear of some public sin of a noted Christian leader. As Tsumura remarks: “Samuel grieved even over one with whom he probably had a rather rocky relation. Here we can see a true pastor and prophet who did not rejoice in the wrong.”
The Second Book of Samuel (New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT))by Tsumura, David Toshio (Author)
As to King David, we know that his major sin had to do with Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 11). Nathan the prophet had to confront him on this, David was smitten by the words, and he was forgiven. In 2 Samuel 12:9-15 we read the following:
Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house.
Several things can be said about this. First, we read about the confession of his sin in Psalm 51. Second, I had one person recently complain about a fallen American pastor and his public confession, saying he had used words like “I’ and “my” a lot, and the focus was really just on himself. Well, it seems pretty hard NOT to use such words when a person is discussing his own sin! Tsumura writes:
Thus, in vv. 1-17 [of Psalm 51], King David humbly comes before the merciful God begging for forgiveness of his personal sin; note the frequent use of the first-person singular forms, that is, the independent pronoun, pronominal suffixes, verbal forms (“me,” “my,” “I”) in vv. 1-16:
So personal confession of sin cannot avoid such words. But of course, when others have been wronged in the sin, then they too need to be mentioned. First and foremost when we sin, God is the aggrieved party. But we hurt so many other people when we sin as well.
And that leads to a third thing that can be said about David’s sin: while sins can be forgiven, there are usually consequences to those sins that one must live with. That certainly was the case with David. For the rest of his reign, he really went through the wringer, with so much family trouble and turmoil – betrayal, disobedience, bloodshed and the like – all as the prophet had stated.
Reading the chapters that follow Nathan’s rebuke is a very sad experience. David went through one difficult time after another. Again, the Lord had forgiven him, but he still had to pay a heavy price for his sin. Tsumura comments as follows about this:
The death of Bathsheba’s child is announced here. And David is to be bereaved of three more sons as well, Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah, as the fourfold penalty decreed by David himself in v. 6….
Chapters 13 to 20 show the ‘evil . . . from your house’ (12;11) that Nathan announced to David, centering around the rebellion of his son Absalom. Absalom kills his brother Amnon to avenge the rape of his sister, but is eventually pardoned by David. Absalom then forms a conspiracy and declares himself king, but the rebellion is put down and Absalom is killed. In the aftermath there is an attempt by a group of Benjaminites to withdraw from Israel, but it also is put down. Even though it was the Lord who raised evil out of David’s house, he did not do it by some external force, but by the natural qualities of David and his family.
In that piece I asked – and sought to answer – some hard questions, such as why did David not die for his sin, as the law had demanded, and why did an innocent person – David’s son – die for his wrongdoing? I finished that article with these words:
In sum, we have a wonderful saviour who offers complete and amazing forgiveness. He has taken upon himself the penalty for our sins. But sometimes we still must bear the consequences of our actions. Indeed, if I, as a forgiven and redeemed Christian, go out and murder someone, why should I expect to be let off the hook? I may repent and be forgiven by God, but I still must pay off my debt to society.
So we all can rejoice in God’s marvellous forgiveness. But his forgiveness has come at a price – the death of his son. And the principle of sowing and reaping is not just an Old Testament concept. It is found in the New Testament as well. Thus the biblical Christian takes seriously both the tragedy of sin and its consequences, and the matchless grace and forgiveness as found on Christ.
Sin is nothing to ever take lightly, be it in our own lives or that of others. We should not gloat when a brother or sister falls, but grieve and pray. And while we rejoice in the forgiveness that God provides in Christ, we must bear in mind that consequences for sin still often remain.
Thanks Bill. Totally agree with you.