The Comeback Kids and The Fools Who Follow

Perhaps you are becoming increasingly disturbed by the comeback stories of preachers who seem to be obviously disqualified from the ministry but continue pretending to be shepherds. Or maybe you wonder how some men seem to be immune from proper ecclesiastical discipline despite their sins that should ordinarily lead to permanent disqualification.

Tullian Tchvidjian continues to somehow pop up on my Facebook feed. Before, when his book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything, was taking the Reformed Evangelical world by storm, he preached a message that the true key to holiness happens when we focus less on the imperatives and more on the indicatives. By less he basically meant not at all. Somehow that silver bullet approach to sanctification didn’t work in his own life and he was guilty of gross sexual sin, including adultery. Now, astonishingly, he really knows how to minister better than ever because he truly understands grace as an adulterer. He basically preaches now as one who believes he is truly qualified.

Mark Driscoll has also made a comeback. He fled proper church accountability and discipline, hurt many of Christ’s sheep, laid low for a short while, but now appears to be as bold as ever as a spokesman for God. A little bit of research yields horrifying facts about his ministry, and even worse is talking personally to the people who once sat under him at Mars Hill. However, many ostensibly Reformed folk are still cuddling up to him; they are either ignorant of his schemes or they just don’t value the fruit of the Spirit called gentleness. They seem willing to overlook his egregious sins because he publicly fights against the woke liberals. The enemy of my enemy…

Comebacks or the overlooking of obvious sin even happens in circles where we would expect better. Parachurch organizations pay some of their teachers handsome amounts in addition to their other sources of income. Some ministers attached to these ministries can make well over half a million USD a year if their local church salary is over $400,000. The public records will show that Steve Lawson, like others, was remunerated rather well. I don’t think we will see a comeback from Lawson, but at this stage I wouldn’t be surprised. But does paying these guys exorbitant amounts really help them? And do they get to play by a different set of rules?

Speaking of a different set of rules, there is a popular Reformed teacher and pastor who I had (accidentally) caught plagiarizing his friend’s sermons. The evidence was so disgusting and overwhelming that I tried to get his employers to have a look. One parachurch organization he worked for simply said to me that they leave that stuff to the church. And one well-respected Seminary’s leader called me personally to try to make it (or me) go away, but he was clearly uninformed about the extensiveness of the plagiarism. To my knowledge the seminary has done nothing public about the sins of their employee, yet he continues to speak at Reformed conferences with those who even know of his transgressions, though I am reliably informed that many of his colleagues are as appalled as I am. One rule for seminarians, another rule for popular professors.  

So why do Christians flock back to hear these disqualified men speak? What explains this phenomenon? Is it because they are dealing with their own unresolved guilt? Or because Christianity is to them a worldly cultural system? Without denying these facts, I think the answer is quite straightforward.

It seems to me that those who disregard the qualifications for an elder – almost all of which focus on character – are likely people who have never been part of a church where faithful shepherding has taken place. They are unaware of what a real pastor looks like. They are ignorant of what properly qualifies a man to speak boldly about the truths of God’s word.

There are several passages that show the importance of a consistent godly life in relation to a powerful preaching ministry, but 1 Timothy 4:16 has always left a deep impression upon me. 

Some might accuse Paul of jettisoning sola fide with a statement like this, but I think we need to take the words seriously: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). The God who ordained the ends also ordained the means. In this passage the means are “life” and “doctrine.”  As Calvin notes: “And as the unfaithfulness or carelessness of the pastor is ruinous to the Church, so the cause of salvation is justly ascribed to his faithfulness and diligence. True, it is God alone that saves; and not even the smallest portion of his glory can lawfully be bestowed on men. But God parts with no portion of his glory when he employs the agency of men for bestowing salvation.”

Paul speaks first of watching our life closely before he speaks of doctrine, and for good reason. For those who sit under a ministry where they can say their minister is godly, faithful, and cares for souls, I think they are going to be far less willing to follow men like Tchividjian and Driscoll. They see through such nonsense.

Those who are not enticed by the comeback kids (and they are children) are those who worship in a context where there is godly maturity. They take Paul’s words seriously in 1 Timothy 3:1–7, for example, and they realize that God’s Word spends a lot more time describing his faithful pastors in terms of their holiness than their ability to teach. The latter is of course important, but without an emphasis on the former we are going to see more and more sheep go wandering after godless, unrepentant, disqualified shepherds. If you’re justifying Driscoll’s ministry because you think he’s a good teacher, then I worry you know very little of the Scriptures.

It isn’t hard to see why people run after disqualified pastors when you consider they have likely never been in a healthy church context and received proper pastoral care from the pulpit and in person. Many have been in churches where the pastor doesn’t even know their name. Good shepherds know the names of their sheep (Jn. 10:3).

These are serious matters and I believe we need more people taking a bold stand not in the first place against the woke liberals but rather for the honor of Christ and his Word concerning what constitutes a faithful shepherd. As Calvin says, “If thus a good pastor is the salvation of his hearers, let bad and careless men know that their destruction must be ascribed to those who have the charge of them; for, as the salvation of the flock is the crown of the pastor, so from careless pastors all that perishes will be required.” Those who willingly sit under godless shepherds are playing a dangerous game when they elevate so-called “teaching” over “living.”

Find a church that takes seriously God’s requirements for shepherds, or you are testing the Lord when you, by your attendance, give to false teachers a false assurance that they belong in the pulpit. Inviting them to conferences, like the forthcoming Clear Truth Conference (https://www.cleartruthconference.com/) to which Driscoll was invited to speak and sharing platforms with them is a sign of an evident lack of moral fortitude and care for the sheep. 

Mark Jones is a pastor, professor, and writer of many books and articles.