You, Me, and Pastors (hopefully part one of a series)

In recent weeks Mark Driscoll's star hasn't just eclipsed, its gone supernova. Damage control that should have been done years ago, is finally too big for him to handle. Last year it was Steven Furtick and his $3 million home. The sad and scary thing is that I got some joy out of it. The complex emotion comes from the fact that it feels nice when people who put so much stock in these rock-star pastors get it wrong. Friends who would come up to me and ask if I had read something by Driscoll or Furtick are now eating crow because of the monumental failures they have shown themselves to be. Luke 18:11 comes to mind. Its the part where the pharisee stands in front of God almighty and thanks the giver of all good things ... that he is not like the poor wretch next to him. "The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.'"

Oh Lord God, I thank you that I am not like Mark Driscoll or Steven Furtick. I thank you that I am not like the other pastors who get taken down by greed or gossip or sex! I thank you that when one of them gets taken out, maybe I can move up just one more rung! Maybe, I'll be appreciated. Lord God, glorify me!

That is the secret prayer my heart makes when I am not looking and turned around. Thank God for His Holy Spirit. I recommend the rest of Luke 18, but especially Luke 18:9-14:

 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

For this I repent. You see daily repentance and renewal (and many things we associate with the life of the pastor) is not for them alone. It is for you and I. I live day by day on grace that God has given me. I am in Christ's debt. The more I live with my own pride and comparison being the center of my identity, the more envious I become of those who are getting along better than I am and even those who give me so much. This has always been why I have been so against pride, any kind. It is a sin which I wrestle with and kills me every time. 

While I look at the failures of pastors and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in how I should feel about this, I find that it comes back to my walk with Jesus. The sad thing for my pride is that when we are focused on Jesus we don't have enough vision to gloat over the failures of others or feel envious of their success. All we can do is be thankful like the second man in the parable. All we can say is: God, have mercy on me, a sinner.