Question
"If a
man is chosen, by God, for the Ministry, and later, has to step down because of
some sort of moral indiscretion, will God ever restore this person to the
Ministry?"
Answer
Well, let me have you look at 1Corinthians
I want you
to look at
"I
subject my body, make it my slave."
Why? "Because, I have this
fear, that after I have preached to others, that I myself should be "adokimos," in the Greek, disqualified. And the word literally means, to have been tested and tried and found inadequate. Paul says, "My great fear is after I
have preached to others, that I myself should be disqualified."
I believe
that it is possible, after having preached, to be disqualified. You say, "What disqualifies
you?" It is very clear from the
verse, "I beat my body into submission," because it is my body that
will disqualify me. Misuse of the body
is a disqualifier from ministry. I have
never heard anyone who talks about restoration deal with that verse.
Paul says,
"I have to beat my body into submission, because it is those sins of the
body." You say, "Well, what
are the sins of the body?" Well, he
has already talked about them in this very same Epistle. Verse 18, of chapter 6,
"Flee immorality, every other sin that a man commits is outside of the
body, but the immoral man sins against his own body."
And so Paul
says that, "It is immorality that is the unique sin of the
body." So it is, that I must
control that immorality, so that my body doesn't fall into immorality, and in
so doing render me disqualified. From what? From preaching. From the role of
leadership. Now maybe a person
could come back in some ministry, in some other way, sure. Restoration to the Church,
yes. Restoration
to usefulness to God, yes. But
restoration to a pulpit, restoration to an elder, how can it be?
A man is to
be blameless and above reproach. A man
is to be a "one woman man." It
says it as clearly as that in 1Timothy and Titus. That man is not blameless who commits adultery, that man is not above reproach, that man is not a
"one woman man." And the model
has been shattered. You see, Spiritual
leadership is not just a question of what you say, it
is a question of what you are. It is the
integrity of life.
If you think
Spiritual leadership is just preaching a good sermon, raising the budget,
moving the Church, keeping things going, then you can get anybody in the
pulpit. But if standing in the pulpit
and Spiritual leadership is all about the life you live, then the integrity of
the man is crucial.
So yes,
persons who fall into sin can be restored to the Church, and to fellowship. They can be restored to some level of
usefulness and serve the Lord.
But I believe once they have shattered the model, they cannot step back as an elder, as a pastor, because
they are no longer blameless, they are no longer above reproach, they have shown
themselves not to be a "one woman man."
And that
puts a heavy burden on the ministry. It
really does. But it is one which the
Spirit of God gives us the power to bear.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986