Evangelicals are sinners too.

These past weeks brought news that frustrated and embarrassed those of us who follow Christ and call ourselves evangelicals. Ted Haggard, pastor of a mega-church and president of National Association of Evangelicals, was accused of sexual misconduct. He stepped aside as head of NAE and, after initial denials and subsequent investigation by leadership in his church, was dismissed from his pastorate.

This is especially bothersome to me because I know Mr. Haggard and worked with him on a number of ministry projects. He is one of the most gifted leaders I’ve known. He has a winsome personality and highly dedicated to serving God. It’s greivous to me that a man so gifted and dedicated could fall into what he now acknowledges as a lifelong addiction to immorality. How does such an outstanding personality who has risen to the pinnacle of success in his ministry field become enslaved to sin and become such an embarrassment to evangelicals, the church and the name of Christ?

This causes several problems

One, the word evangelical is a good word. It means one who spreads good news. But to the world, the word evangelical has come to be associated with narrow-minded, mean-spirited political posturing. Now evangelical will have further baggage attached to its name because of the inconsistent moral lifestyle of its prominent leader.

Second, many who are outside of the church use as their excuse that the church is full of hypocrites. Their perception is further confirmed by actions of a man who leads the evangelical cause, while also engaging in a secret life of sin.

Third, this situation will be used by political opponents as further evidence of the corruptness of religion and politics.

Amidst all the talk, we need the humility to realize several things:

There but for the grace of God go I. As a friend told me over the phone after learning of all this, none of us is exempt from temptation and seduction. Any one of us could through our own weakness or circumstances be susceptible to moral turpitude.
There is forgiveness. Other Christian leaders have had moral failure, but through a proper process of repentance, accountability and restoration have been redeemed from a horrible destructive situation.
Jesus said that lust of the heart is as destructive as the outward act. And for the individual that’s true. But a person who acts outwardly on inward lust hurts a lot more people: family, friends, reputation, the church, and on and on.

Whether in places of leadership or not, it is our responsibility to live a life that will bring honor to Christ. What can be learned from this?

We all are sinners. We all have a dark side. But if we’re having difficulty controlling our sin nature, we need to seek help from mature fellow-believers who can hold us accountable for our behavior. This is especially true if we’re in positions of spiritual leadership.
We need to keep our guard up in situations that breed temptation. That includes hotel rooms. That includes insulating ourselves from accountability. That means we, as the Bible says, “Make no provision for the flesh.”
And we must avoid the accusations of hypocrisy by living with integrity—that means being the same person on the inside as we portray on the outside.

We must not look to people as ultimate source of wisdom, spirituality and affirmation of faith. People fail. Only Jesus is worthy of that high degree of trust. Whenever we take our eyes off of Jesus, we run the risk of picking a model who is unworthy of the pedestal. And we run the risk of missing Heaven by rejecting the real thing because of a few fakes.