Lying, cheating, stealing…
The list goes on and on.
Stories of ‘mega-church’ Pastors, itinerant ministers, authors, and every kind of Christian leader “falling from grace” through various scandals- usually sexual or financial- are all too common.
Time and again, these alleged “great men of God” see their families, their ministries, their whole lives torn apart when their “secret” sins come back to haunt them.
Even when the perpetrators are only “Christian” in the most imaginary sense, the rest of us still bear their guilt by association. The grumblings about “hypocritical Christians” are everywhere. If you haven’t heard them, then you’re just not listening.
And though those words are not always warranted, the sad fact is, they usually are.
It is easy to look at the corrupt, ‘fallen’ leaders and say “What an embarrassment. What a fake. What a hypocrite.”
But here’s the truth, friend.
If the ‘secret’ things of your heart, the scandals in your own life, were made known publicly, they would say the same things about you.
And me too.
Would they be right?
When we stumble and fall into sinful hypocrisy, is it proof that we are immature Christians?
Or worse, “carnal Christians”? (Though that is found nowhere in The Bible.)
Or worst, not a Christian at all?
Is there any hope for us?
As always, let’s look to the Bible.
Let’s look to perhaps the worst scandal in Church history.
Let’s look to the greatest crime ever committed by a Christian leader.
Oddly enough, he was also one of the greatest leaders the Church has ever known.
His name is John.
John’s scandal occurs at the very end of the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, which- interestingly enough- was actually written by John himself.
Revelation is the written account of a vision which John received of the end of the world- the end of this world, at least- and the beginning of the ‘New Heaven’ and ‘New Earth’, where our King Jesus will at last rule and reign for all eternity.
John is led on a sort of “tour of the future” by an angel, culminating in a vivid picture of the capital city of Jesus’ Kingdom, the Heavenly City, the ‘New Jerusalem’.
It’s all pretty awesome.
But then things go really bad.
In chapter 22, after seeing all of these wonders, John says:
“And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel…” (Revelation 22:8 ESV)
Oops…
Are you tracking with that?
John worshipped an angel.
Remember who we’re talking about here.
This is John.
John was a Church leader. And not just some rank-and-file local church pastor. John was an Apostle.
And he worshipped an angel.
As a reminder, “Apostle” is a title signifying a place of special honor and authority. It was only held by a dozen people in the early days of The Church. It’s also a position which no longer exists. So if you meet anyone today who claims to be “Apostle So-and-So”, just say no. Run away.
John, through the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, wrote The Bible! (Part of it, at least.)
That’s kind of a big deal.
And he worshipped an angel.
At this point, in the late first century, when all the other Apostles and original disciples of Jesus had been murdered, John (not Peter, as some pseudo-Christian religions teach) alone remained as the single most authoritative, beloved, educated, mature, gifted leader of The Church in the entire world.
And he worshipped an angel.
John was not some ‘newbie’ Christian. He was not a red-shirt Freshman that just joined the game. He was the star quarterback (or for my international friends, he was the star… um… ball-kicker?…in soccer? Sorry, I don’t understand soccer. Excuse me, I mean, football.) He was a great man of God who had faithfully walked with Jesus and preached the Gospel for decades.
And he worshipped an angel.
John’s best friend- now get this- John’s best friend was Jesus.
And he worshipped an angel.
When you and I say “then Jesus said….”, what we mean is “This is what The Bible says that Jesus said…”. Now, The Bible is true and trustworthy, so we can quote it with certainty. Still, John is a little bit beyond us.
See, when John says “then Jesus said….”, what John means is “This is what Jesus said… to me.”
“…when He came over to my house the other day to eat dinner and watch the Avengers movie…”
(Yes, Jesus watched Avengers, and the Hulk was his favorite- as all spiritually mature people know.)
As I said, The Bible is absolutely true and accurate and inspired by God the Holy Spirit, so we can trust it and quote it with confidence, but I think we can agree that John has a little extra “special sauce” here.
And he worshipped an angel.
Of all the 12 disciples, there was only one who did not utterly abandon Jesus when he was arrested (though, in truth, it was more of an abduction than an arrest).
It was John.
There was only one of Jesus’ disciples that stayed with Him through His illegal sham of a ‘trial’.
It was John.
There was only one of Jesus’ friends who was present throughout the darkest six hours of His life- and indeed the darkest of all history- the crucifixion.
It was John.
When Jesus was nailed to a piece of wood with the equivalent of ancient railroad bolts hammered through the most sensitive nerve centers in the human body, with His heart punctured and hemorrhaging blood, with the flesh of his back ripped open to the point of exposing his vital organs- perhaps a kidney or two torn out of His body- by the flogging he had received earlier, with His body naked and mutilated and displayed for all the world to see and mock, through this, through all of this, there was only one man that Jesus spoke to.
It was John.
On the cross, the ever selfless Jesus saw his mother among the mob that had gathered to jeer at him. He knew that someone would need to look after her. So he turned to one man, and, choking on His own Blood, His voice barely an audible whisper over the shouts of the crowd, Jesus turned to his last and best friend in the world, and said, “When I’m gone, take care of my mom.”
It was John.
It was all John.
He was among the most blessed men of all time.
He enjoyed fellowship with Jesus in the flesh on a level that we cannot (yet) imagine.
And he worshipped an angel.
What can we learn from this?
All Christians, including the most mature, ‘Spirit-filled’, Theologically-sound, ‘fruit-bearing’ follower of Jesus can and will utterly flunk at even the bare basics of The Faith.
What’s the first and greatest commandment?
Worship God!
Always worship God!
Only worship God!
Do not worship anything or anyone other than God!
Do not bow down to, pray to, ‘venerate’, or glorify anyone other than God!
And John worshipped an angel.
You know what this means, friend?
It means there’s hope for you.
And there’s hope for me.
Please listen, because you need to get this!
You will screw up!
You will fail!
You will sin!
You will, at least for a moment, like John, live in a way that makes a mockery of the Lord you claim to worship and the Faith you claim to preach.
You will do things so horrible, so foolish, so wicked and sinful that you will say, “Is this all a joke?”
“Am I a fake?”
“Am I one of those to whom Jesus will say ‘Begone, I never knew you’?”
“Am I really a Christian?”
Truly, truly I tell you friend, those moments will come.
And when they do, I hope you will remember John.
I hope you will remember the day he committed the worst scandal in Church history.
I hope you will remember the day John worshipped an angel.
Moreover, I hope you will remember Jesus.
Remember Jesus, the one who redeems you with the salvation that is not of yourself, but is the free gift of God through Christ.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8)
It is by Grace alone, the free gift from God that you do not deserve, through faith alone, not by works or ‘good deeds’, but by trusting in the finished work of Jesus.
I hope you will remember that.
Speaking of which, I have just remembered something.
Revelation 21:14 tells us there’s something else that John saw- before his angelic scandal- in the vision of the New Earth.
The capital of Jesus’ Kingdom, the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, has a wall surrounding it, built on twelve foundations, each with a different name written on it.
They are the names of the twelve Apostles.
And while Revelation does not specify, if I had to guess, I’d say that the name at the top is “John”.
Even though he worshipped an angel.
Most importantly of all, Revelation tells us one final thing.
It tells us who will live forever at the center of the Heavenly City.
It tells us who will fill all of creation with the Light of His Glory, like the infinite dawn of a thousand suns.
It tells us whose Name will be written on the hearts of all its citizens.
It is Him whose Name is above all names- above your name, above my name, above John’s name, and even above the angel’s name.
It is Jesus.
And that, friend, is our hope.
But that’s just my opinion, man.
I want to hear from you!
I’m sure that whatever you have to say is much more interesting than my nonsense, so as always, please…
Leave a comment below and let us know!
And you have to do it, because it rhymes.
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As always, may The Lord bless you and keep you, friend.
-Dave
___________________________________________________
David Kent is a hypocritical writer from Atlanta, Georgia (the state, not the country). His writing has been featured on the legendary Tim Challies’ blog at Challies.com, MitchMiller.me, and a bunch of other swell places. He studied Theology at Liberty University, and is a fan of Jesus and other superheroes. You can be his buddy on the Twitter at @TheDavidKent and/or send him hate mail at TheDavidKent@gmail.com. Also, he wrote this bio in third-person form because he says “that’s how all the cool bloggers do it”. What a jerk.
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