In John 5 Jesus comes to the pool where people are waiting for the waters to be stirred.  The first one into the pool once the waters were stirred was supposed to be healed.  Superstitious if you ask me but oh well.

So Jesus asks the guy that’s been there the longest, “Do you want to get well?”  What does the man do?  He goes back to the superstition.  “I have no one to help me into the pool…”  And all along the answer was starring him in the face.  Do we do that?  Do we look past Jesus to the fad of the moment and place hope in that?

Let’s be sure as we lead our churches not to set up superstitions/fads/programs that claim to be the answer.  We must always remind ourselves that Jesus is the ONLY answer.  Pretty simple.  But simple is difficult.

If there ever was an example of being given every chance for success and screwing it up it would be Saul from the Old Testament.  He was chosen by God to be the King of Israel, and still couldn’t seem to get his act together.

But from him we can learn a valuable lesson in leadership.  In 1 Samuel 14, we see that Saul has placed an oath upon his whole army that no one can eat until he had avenged himself of his enemies.  Only problem is that his oath placed his entire army in a grave situation…. starvation.

2 problems with what Saul did.  First he made the decision based upon emotion.  “Darn them mean ‘ol Philistines!  I’ll show them if it kills my whole army!”  Second he made a decision for the benefit of himself.

So if you are in leadership, which nearly everybody is, even if your a parent, these are 2 good things NOT to do.  Don’t base your decisions based upon emotion.  You’re never in your right mind and they usually aren’t very reliable decisions.  And don’t base your decisions on what will be best for you.  Need I pull out examples from the banking industry?  Do what is best for those you are leading.

Yesterday I heard the sad news that a Pastor I keep up with lost his position at his church due to a moral failure…an affair.  Let’s just say it.  Last Sunday I heard of another Pastor that is an acquaintance that lost his position for the same reason.  I walked in from church yesterday siked by the day, but saddened by the news I had recieved.  My wife asked if their was an affair epedemic going around.  Sad that is a legitimate question.

My prayers go out to both of those pastors.  Both are good people with great churches.  And both, using the systems of authority around them, have resigned from their lead pastor position (both of churches they planted) and are going through a healing process.  Pray for the churches.  Pray for the families.  God’s grace is evident, but sin still has consequences.

Someone quipped yesterday that pastors shouldn’t have women personal assistances.  Don’t think that would’ve helped Ted Haggard, who had a homosexual affair.  My wife said they should be old ugly grandma’s.  Hmmm.  Maybe that would work.  But honestly I think it is a failure of personal accountability and systems in place to prevent things like that from happening.  Which brings me to the point of the whole blog post to begin with.

I’m sure there are some Pastors out there who are having affairs and getting away with it.  Not many, but odds are it’s happening.  But that isn’t the overwhelming problem in ministry.  Let me ask a different question.  How many Pastors are out there who, if they put their private life up on a screen, would be asked to resign their Pastorship?  Now we’re getting somewhere.

Just throwing out random numbers, but I’d bet for every 1 Pastor who has a public moral failure, there are 2, maybe 3 who are having a private moral failure.  Porn?  Verbal abuse?  Physical abuse?  Neglecting their wife?  Non-existent prayer life?  Neglecting their kids?  Lust?  Emotional affairs?  Filthy language?  These issues are killing the church from the inside out and we need to hit them head on.

I think the only way to do this is to hold each other accountable.  Have the guts to call out what you see.  And if your a Pastor, for God’s sake put someone around you that you can say ANYTHING to without fear – someone who could tell you like it is and get you help before it’s too late.  Open yourself up.  Have some humility  Know you aren’t superhuman.

And don’t think that just because your sin isn’t being shouted from the rooftop your not hurting anybody.  If their is sin in the camp it is hurting EVERYBODY.  It is hurting your ability to hear from God.  It is hurting your ability to cast vision.  It is hurting your ability to communicate the Gospel.  And it is hurting yours and your church’s ability to reach people who need Christ.  So your sin is causing people to end up in hell.  Repent.  Get some accountability.  Be a man.  And let’s fight satan’s plan to make the church impotent.

There are times when I look back at my actions and think, ‘Oh Dear Lord, I actually did that?’  You know the feeling.  Your cheeks get all flushed and you are horrified by how you acted.  Typically these visions are centered around my adolescent years and college years – those awkward times when I was socially inempt and clueless.

I still have those thoughts for even recent events.  Now there are 2 approaches.  You can really beat yourself up.  I’m really bad about this simply because I’m harder on myself than on others.  But what good does that do except to put you in a funk and search out things to numb the feeling – Krispy Kream Donuts and Frappacinos do well.  The only problem with this is, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  And that is on all levels.

Then there is option 2.  Evaluate, learn, and move on.  Don’t dwell.  Don’t constantly relive a moment – that’s called OCD…or CDO for you really bad cases.

Self improvement is a great quality.  Self condemnation is a destructive one.