Being a church leader in Christ isn't always an easy road. We are human before we are christan...sinners before we were saved...lost long before we were found! Just because someone teaches Sunday School classes, leads the choir, chairs the Brotherhood or even pastors the church does not make them perfect.
So what do you do when leaders in the church disappoint you? Believe it or not there is a Godly way to handle it (Matthew 18:15-18). As with most sin we loose focus & just like Peter when we take our eyes off Christ we sink like a boulder deep down in the ocean. Sin is never an easy topic to discuss not even with your best friend much less someone who is a respected leader.
Like I said before christian life is not an easy road...it is muddy rutty, full of pot holes, narrow & hectic. If we can only stay focused on Christ it will be well worth every dent & all the rust we encounter. Say a prayer as you read this & ask that God reveal to you the areas where you may need some work...
When a leader of the church falls victim to Satan & his deceiving angels of darkness, the first thing we as fellow chrisians should do is PRAY!!! Pray even before they fall off the chariot, pray... pray that God will put a hedge of protection around them to prevent Satan from sinking his claws into them & to soften their heart to the will of God. Prayer is a powerful thing & we should be praying for our leaders often (not just the church leaders but the leaders of our city, state & country as well). 1 Timothy 2:1 says that requests, prayers, intercession & thanksgiving be made for everyone. Praying for our leaders should be natural & shouldn't be saved for times of attack or need. You never know, yours just might be the prayer that prevents or protects them from Satan's snares.
As fellow believers in Christ we are to encourage one another, however, we are also to hold each other accountable for our actions. Before you confront someone for a less than Godly action check your motive. Is this for revenge? What about spite? Jealousy? Karma is NOT a biblical concept. Therefore, if you find yourself joyful at someone's mistake or misfortune you need to take a long hard look at your heart because it is beyond hardened, very similar to the heart of Pharaoh to God's message through Moses (Exodus 7:14).
Holding fellow believers & leaders accountable for actions not becoming a child of the King of Kings should always be done in LOVE (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). After all in spite of our very own mistakes God still loves us, right? I know you have heard people make the comment, "hate the sin, love the sinner" that is the same concept here. To God there is no such thing as little sins & BIG sins. A sin is just that...a sin, it stands in the way of our relationship with God (Hebrews 12:14). Telling a lie is just the same in God's eyes as murder, adultery, fornication, rape & yes even child molestation, now let that marinate for a day or two on your head & your heart!!!
When we see a fellow church member participating in questionable behaviors we are to go to them & talk to them about what is going on. Not accusing them of making stupid or poor decisions...we are not the judge & jury we are simply the messenger. We are actually telling them what they already know to be the TRUTH. The bible also tells us as followers of Christ we will be known by the fruits we bear. We should make every effort to protect their reputation. If they cans see that what we are showing them is wrong in the eyes of God & repent then GREAT we are done. However, often that is not the case...
We are to then take one or two more people with us to talk to them. Again, this should be done in LOVE, not hate, spite or jealousy. So choose your partners carefully & prayerfully. At this point it would be wonderful if their heart was softened to the message that God has sent through you. Sometimes just like the Pharaoh their heart is hardened to the message you are bringing. The devil can get such a grip on our hearts that its difficult to see the forest for the trees. You see the devil isn't always easy to see, he can look like a friend, wise counsel, even a Bible thumping church leader. If the person is still not receptive to the message you have brought them, your job is NOT complete.
At this point the church is involved...yet again in LOVE. Sometimes the best place to become Bertha Betterthanyou is right on the front pew of the church. I mean we are the child of the King, right? Most often we brothers & sisters in Christ prefer to talk about the church member who sins different than we do rather than immerse them in the Godly love we have been shown. When you love someone you don't do what is best for you BUT what is best for them. We all have a closet full of skeletons packed in so tight that the slightest nudge & they can fly out all over the place for all to see. Jesus is the only perfect man to LIVE & DIE without one single sin...this alone qualifies him to throw stones at us daily.
In John 8:1-11 a woman caught in the act of adultery was brought to Jesus. The Pharisee were attempting to trick Jesus & hoping to stone this woman to death. They were told, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first one to throw a stone at her." When those men had to look in Jesus' mirror at their own lives, they obviously realized they had sin in their lives because not one of them threw a single stone. Instead they walked away, one at a time leaving only Jesus there. When no man found cause to cast the first stone, Jesus said to the woman, "Go & sin no more."
When sin creeps into our lives (I am using the word creep here because I don't think that as a christian leader you wake up one morning, look into the mirror & say, "I think I will just jump off the sin wagon & in over my head sinking farther down than I have ever been). Sin doesn't always come in like a hurricane, more often than not it starts nice & easy like a slow, soft, steady summer shower & then BOOM, it causes more havoc that Hurricane Katrina did in New Orleans. As I heard a preacher say one time...Sin will take you farther than you want to go & keep you longer than you want to stay...it will make your heart hard & change your perception of reality. So this person is most likely not thinking clearly & will not be receptive to your most loving efforts to help.
If those steps don't work...then you may have to distance yourself from them so that you are NOT pulled deeply into the abyss of sin that can consume us all (Romans 16:17). Just because you are a christian you are not forever protected from dumb mistakes, you must stay prayed up, read up & fed up in Christ Jesus. This doesn't mean that you don't continue to pray for them, smile & greet them in public or that you don't invite them to church, it means that you don't hang out with them. If you play with fire you will get burned. If you spend time with God you will develop more Godly habits, a more Christ-like attitude & begin to look more like Jesus, the same goes for Satan & his dark angels.
This is written from the aspect of personal experience. I am not ignorant enough to believe that while I walked down a very dark road if a Christ-centered friend had come to me & warned me about the broad & miserable path I was about to go down that my mind or my heart would have been changed, as a matter of fact I would have probably done it or died trying. I can say, however that when I looked back on what happened...why it happened & the best way to find my way back that I would have felt far more loved than I do today. God is a God of love but he is also a just God. he loves me & you enough to cast our sin as far as the east is from the west but he is just enough to say to us, "Depart from me...I never never knew you! That in itself is enough for me!!!! So as you trudge along in your daily life & you come across those church leaders or fellow believers that you notice are headed in the wrong direction remember to LOVE them when they least deserve it because that is when they need it the most!!!!!
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