Lessons and Warning from Moral Failure in Leadership
1) When a leader morally fails, it should remind us how human we really are.
2 Cor 4:7b We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. (THE MESSAGE)
1 Cor 10:12a Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. (THE MESSAGE)
A) It’s a good time to remember that we must not judge or we may end up doing the same thing.
Matt 7:1-2 "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. (NKJV)
Rom 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. (NASU)
In its simplest form, judgment is an attitude that says “I would never do that.”
According to spiritual laws if we judge another we are doomed to do the same thing. To quote John Sanford, "Judging others condemns us to blindly continue in the same sins, making us to that degree unable to avail ourselves of God’s grace and healing."
B) It’s a good time to remember that restoration is always our goal.
Gal 6:1 BRETHREN, IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also. (AMP)
True restoration is not the administration of cheap grace that gets someone back in their position as soon as possible, it is a process that must include honesty, sincere repentance, and humble submission on the part of the one who has sinned.
2) When a leader morally fails, it should remind us that hidden things, left unchecked, can lead to great destruction.
James 1:14-15 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. (Holman)
That’s why Jesus equates lust with adultery in Matthew 5:28.
The enemy will leverage our hidden sin at the most opportune time in order to inflict maximum damage.
A) It’s a good time to remember that accountability and transparency are crucial… and preventative.
James 5:16 Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. (AMP)
B) It’s a good time to remember that an environment of grace is essential to the spiritual health of those who make up a local church.
Grace is the unearned provision of God’s power to cover, and deliver us from, our acknowledged weakness and sin.
In an atmosphere of grace, people are not judgmental. There is sincere humility that recognizes that we are all in process. Transparency is welcomed and admitted weaknesses and sin are met with love.
Read Php 2:1-4
Rom 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (NIV)
Eph 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (NIV)
Gal 6:1 BRETHREN, IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also. (AMP)
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (NIV)
C) It’s a good time to remember that God really does protect us and has promised never to allow us to face greater temptation than we can bear.
1 Cor 10:13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (THE MESSAGE)
3) When a leader morally fails, it reminds us that spiritual warfare is a high stakes game.
A) It’s a good time to remember that leaders are “judged” more strictly.
James 3:1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment… (Holman)
This judgment comes primarily in the form of discipline and testing in our areas of weakness and the things we say.
1 Cor 11:32 [B]ut when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with the world. (Holman)
B) It’s a good time to remember that the greatest place of safety is humbly abiding in the present will of God.
1 Peter 5:6-8 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (NKJV)
Individually and corporately, we must not be tempted to move beyond the boundaries of God’s current will.
A number of years ago Tommie Naumann gave us a prophetic warning that speaks to this temptation: “Times are coming that will tempt you to seek more revelation that God will give…. There will be forces out there and among that will want to try to make you walk ahead of what my timing is for you.”
In July of this year, both Brian and Tonya Cone had prophetic dreams warning us of the exact same thing.
Numerous prophecies were given last year to impress on us that God’s work in our midst is like a baby that must be nurtured and allowed to grow at God’s pace, not ours.
If we try to move beyond God’s timing, individually or corporately, we run the risk of being what John Paul Jackson calls “needless casualties of war.”
