The Gospel Of The Flesh Series

“These people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” [1]

Though man is created in the image of God, man without the Spirit of God is spiritually on a par with brute beasts. In light of this fact, evolutionists may after all have some insight which we don't usually accord them. The evolutionist claims that man finds his origin among the animals. By their distorted and tortured rationalisation we may indeed discover the reason for our various actions among those same beasts. Indeed, man without the Spirit of God acts as though he shares an essential kinship with the beasts of the forest. But man with the Spirit acts altogether differently.

Professing Christians, ministers of Christ, are not protected from the evil desires that plague the flesh. The list of fallen ministers, beloved servants of the Lord, extends throughout history to this day. Beginning with the scandals of the televangelists in the eighties and nineties to the present day, a sordid line of prominent ministers who tumbled from their perch where they were idolised by multitudes. Jack Hyles, Ted Haggard, Bill Gothard, Tony Alamo, Robert Tilton, Mark Driscoll, Creflo Dollar—all alike were prominent and idolised by many as spokesmen for the Saviour. Yet, each of them was exposed as moral indigents, lacking in common decency expected of a man of God.

More recently, the Evangelical world in the West has been shaken by the moral failure of such giants as Bill Hybels, James MacDonald, Carl Lentz, and Ravi Zacharias. And the fall of these men wasn’t only a tale of sexual indiscretion; it included sins such as overweening pride, unrestrained greed, and addiction to gambling. Ever and always, the story was a sleezy, shameful tale that revolved around their attempts to cover over sin, as if the Lord would not expose the sinner. Did not our Saviour warn His servants, “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops” [LUKE 12:2-3].

I believe we need to take a fresh look at the qualifications for those who would occupy the position of a spokesman for the Faith. I wonder if we shouldn’t review the demands for leaders to meet the qualifications presented when the Apostle writes, “The overseer … must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. He must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity” [1 TIMOTHY 3:2-4 NET BIBLE 2nd].

Rather than looking for heroes who always win against the forces of this world, rather than seeking to discover champions who conquer the foes of the Faith, rather than pursuing perceived paragons of power, we will are well advised to hear and to heed the Word of the Lord that teaches us as Christians to “[A]spire to lead a quiet life, to attend to [our] own business, and to work with [our] hands, as we commanded you. In this way you will lead a decent life before outsiders” [1 THESSALONIANS 4:11-12a NET BIBLE 2nd].

I suggest that the Apostle to the Jews has provided sound instruction that we Christians have neglected far too long when he writes, “[M]aintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears” [1 PETER 2:12 NET BIBLE 2nd].

It is past time to affirm the beauty of ordinary faithfulness among the churches of our Lord. We Christians must stop clamouring for “winners” and begin to affirm quiet and peaceable disciples of Jesus who are not making a name for themselves. We desperately need disciples who are living radically for Christ in their own little corners of the world. If you imagine yourself to be a Christian leader, it is immaterial how many social media followers you have or how many books you have sold. What is important is that you live for Jesus in your living room and in your bedroom as much as you do on your platform. Our God can take the simple and ordinary faithfulness of the one who follows our Lord, using the authenticity of that witness over time in multiplying ways that far outpace the dramatic results for which the faithful appear to clamour. A Christian who lives a faithful life with no hint of scandal and perseveres to the end is in fact a sign and a wonder to the power of God in the midst of a perverse prevailing culture.