Can Fallen Leaders be Restored: Disqualified Revisited

Written by Warren |Posted on August 7, 2008 | Comments

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NOTE: this blog post (below) is my wrong interpretation of disqualification. do read the response of Phil Johnson on this issue.
i was lead to believe that I was disqualified for life because of what I did in the past. but this disqualification issue is applicable for current leaders only. and i wasn’t a leader at that time.
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many people would react immediately when i would say im disqualified to be in the leadership position for life
they would say
that cant be
only God knows if you have that calling
not man
who are we to conclude that we dont have that calling
even i would have that same question
but to me
being a pastor doesnt appeal to me much either
after seeing all the hardships and pains theyre going thru
the standards they needed to meet
plus, humanly speaking, i dont speak well
i stutter
im not good in convincing people
but this is not what were going to talk about
the issue here is not wether im a good speaker or not
the issue here is about the sexual sin i did when i was a Christian
and that sexual sin disqualifies leadership for life

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
1 Tim 3:1-3

lets study them verse by verse:
v1 – “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.”
we see Paul saying to Timothy that being an overseer (or pastor because this is the leader) is a noble task
the task alone is noble, and not the overseer
anyone who leads is an overseer because that is its function

v2-3 – “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”
this overseer must be above reproach. in other words, he must be blameless.
then the description of blameless is described in v2-3: “the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”

so that talks about the qualifications of a leader in the church
now Paul also mentions elsewhere the kind of sin that will disqualify the leader for life
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if we read in 1Cor 6:18
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ”
Paul describes here that every sin that a person commits is just external
but the sexual sin is different
it is internal “…but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
because sex is being united in one flesh with another
because
“…he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 1Cor6:16
so Paul here commands us to flee this kind of sin
- – -
so what if Paul says that we must flee sexual immorality?
what if i dont?
if we read in 1Cor 9:27
“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
if Paul thinks he can be restored to leadership after commiting sexual sin, he wouldnt have said this verse
he couldve said
nah, if i commit this sin, God will forgive me and i can restore my position being a leader again sometime soon
but no
once he commits this sin
he knew he will be disqualified
that is why he said “But I discipline my body and keep it under control”
and the way he says this is disqualified permanently
for life
- – -
but the Christian can still be restored to Christ you say
yes
after the Christian commits this sin he can still be restored to Christ
but only in terms of relationship
and never in terms of leadership
because of the verse Paul mentioned earlier “est after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
so the answer to this question: can fallen leaders be restored?
the answer is NO
any sin that a fallen leader does can be restored except for sexual immorality
because sexual immorality sticks with the body
that is how sacred sex is
that is why God hates divorce
- – -

notice the case of Jimmy Swaggart
after he confessed to the public of his fornication
he went thru restoration period
and not long after that
he went up preaching again
then for only after 2 months he commited this sin again
and on and on it goes
till his members shrunk from 50000 to 3000

i hope this would make sense
especially to those aspiring leaders
being a Church leader is definitely a high calling
and when you think of it
its almost impossible for a pastor to exist in our time
but with man this is impossible
but to God nothing is impossible

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NOTE: this blog post (above) is my wrong interpretation of disqualification. do read the response of Phil Johnson on this issue.
i was lead to believe that I was disqualified for life because of what I did in the past. but this disqualification issue is applicable for current leaders only. and i wasn’t a leader at that time.
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