What to do when leaders fail (Sermon extras)
One mistake the church makes that leads to leadership failure/abuse
“All sins are equal in God’s eyes.”
Many of you have heard this. Many of you have believed it. Many have repeated it. Before we see why it’s theologically wrong, let’s see the harm it causes:
A leader will commit an evil action, like the multiple-year-long abuse of a minor, and well-meaning followers will say, “Yes. He did that, but I’ve looked at bad stuff online, and all sins are equal in the eyes of God so…”
The leader then gets a pass to stay in leadership. Sometimes the church leaders will even cover up the sin, thinking that they are “forgiving their brother 70 x 7.”
This is bad in every way. It’s bad theology. It’s bad for the victims. It’s bad for the church, and It’s bad for the church leader who sinned. Why? because you’re leaving a person with compromised morals in a place of power.
You’re setting them up for Satan to ransack their life. It is actually a mercy to remove the compromised leader from leadership. They can still be forgiven. They can still be a Christian, but if the shepherd has eaten the sheep once, don’t lay a stumbling block in front of them to do it again.
That is the harm this mistake causes.
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Let’s see the theology behind it. The idea that all sin is equal in God’s eyes comes from a compilation of a few verses.
“For the wages of sin is death…”
Whether you kill someone or tell a harmless white lie, your wages is death. This makes it appear that all sin must be the same because death is earned by all of it. That verse get’s coupled with the following:
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
If you are not familiar with other verses about sin and judgement, then you might THINK these two verses together are saying that if you don’t keep the sabbath as holy then you’re guilty of murder.
These verses tell us two things: 1) everyone dies because of sin, and 2) everyone is guilty because of sin. What these verses don’t tell you is how guilty a person becomes from a certain sin. Here is a passage that indicates that there are different levels of sin.
In John 19, Jesus is talking to Pontius Pilat, and he’s referencing the Jewish leaders who arrested Jesus and turn him over to Rome.
“Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.””
If all sin is equal in God’s eyes, why would Jesus reference “greater sin”? Matthew 11 also shows that not all sin is the same because not all punishment for sin is the same.
““Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.”
Chorazin and Bethsaida have sinned MORE because they saw the works of Jesus and didn’t repent. I realize that “all sins are equal in God’s eyes” is a teaching that might be very near and dear to people, so I say humility, please digest these verses and consider putting that sacred cow to rest.
