NXR Podcast - QUESTIONS - Are There Sins That Indefinitely Disqualify From Eldership?
Aired: 2022-07-28
Duration: 08:21


=== Not All Sins Are Equal (08:21) ===

[00:00:00]  Hey guys, real quick before we get started, I have a small request.
[00:00:03]  If you've been blessed by our content and you like this show, would you take just a brief moment and leave us a five star review?
[00:00:09]  This is quite possibly the most effective thing that you can do to ensure that this content gets out to as many people as possible.
[00:00:17]  Thanks.
[00:00:21]  If a Christian man commits a sin in the past that would disqualify him from eldership, example being looking at porn, but he has since repented, Is he forever disqualified?
[00:00:33]  More generally, in the past, they did not meet the qualifications, but now they do.
[00:00:38]  Are they forever disqualified?
[00:00:39]  Yeah, that's a good question, Nate.
[00:00:41]  No, I don't think that you're forever disqualified.
[00:00:44]  I think there are some things that can happen that, yeah, where a guy should never serve as an elder.
[00:00:51]  I really do think that there are some things like that.
[00:00:53]  I don't think that pornography is one of them.
[00:00:59]  Not all sin is equal.
[00:01:00]  I think part of that question comes from, and you may not mean it like that, but a lot of people.
[00:01:05]  So, maybe not you, Nate, but a lot of people think, you know, in terms of all sin is equal.
[00:01:10]  It's not.
[00:01:11]  There's a hierarchy in heaven, right?
[00:01:14]  There are 24 elders on 24 thrones.
[00:01:16]  There are angels and there are chief angels, archangels.
[00:01:20]  There are cherubim and seraphim and the four living creatures covered with eyes with six wings that surround the throne.
[00:01:25]  There's a hierarchy.
[00:01:26]  It's not egalitarianism.
[00:01:27]  There's a hierarchy in heaven, there's a hierarchy in hell.
[00:01:30]  Jesus says this to one will be given a light beating, but to another will be given a severe beating.
[00:01:36]  Talking about hell, he says, Woe to you, these Israelite cities!
[00:01:39]  For if the miracles that I performed in you had been performed in places like Sodom, then they would have repented.
[00:01:46]  And then he says, specifically, it will be more bearable for Sodom in judgment, on the day of judgment, than for you.
[00:01:53]  So there's a hierarchy in hell, and there's a hierarchy in heaven, and there's certainly a hierarchy here on earth, and there is a hierarchy of sin, harmardiology.
[00:02:02]  There is a hierarchical harmardiology that not all sin is equal.
[00:02:07]  All sin is equal.
[00:02:08]  There's a truth.
[00:02:09]  A truth, a sense of truth in that statement.
[00:02:11]  All sin is equal in the sense that all sin, apart from the saving grace that is found through faith in Jesus Christ alone, all sin is equal in its ability to send you to eternal hell.
[00:02:24]  Apart from that, though, not all sin is equal.
[00:02:26]  And we know not all sin is equal because God gives us a list of commands, multiple commands, but God also gives us penalties for breaking those commands.
[00:02:35]  And not all the penalties are equal.
[00:02:37]  That right there proves the point that in the sight of God, Not just the side of Joel Webbin, who cares about that, but the side of God.
[00:02:46]  Not all sin is equally immoral.
[00:02:49]  If it were, then all sin would receive an equal penalty.
[00:02:51]  Now, okay, take that, and the counter is going to be well, what about the Sermon on the Mount?
[00:02:56]  Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
[00:02:58]  But I tell you, you have heard it said, but I tell you, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery.
[00:03:03]  Yeah, in the realm of the sin at the level of the heart, that is a serious sin.
[00:03:09]  Jesus also says, in terms of speech, you have heard it said that if you say raka, You are in danger of being kicked out of the Sanhedrin.
[00:03:16]  But I tell you, if you say you fool in your heart, you say you fool to your brother, then you are in danger of hell's fire.
[00:03:24]  That's at the level of sin with our speech.
[00:03:26]  And Jesus is raising the bar.
[00:03:30]  But listen, Jesus is not instituting egalitarianism in the realm of sin.
[00:03:36]  All he's doing is he's just raising the bar.
[00:03:38]  So he's not saying that you fool is equal to raka, and he's not saying that lust in the heart is equal to raka.
[00:03:47]  Is equal to adultery in action.
[00:03:50]  He's saying that you've committed adultery in your heart and it's bad.
[00:03:54]  And what would Jesus say if you committed adultery in your heart and with your body?
[00:04:00]  I think Jesus would say it's worse.
[00:04:02]  And we know that Jesus has that principle of some sins being worse than others, of a hierarchy of sin, because it's Jesus himself who talks about to one will be given a lighter beating because his sin was lesser, to another will be given a more severe beating because his sin was greater, or this city will receive more judgment, this city will receive less judgment, all these different things.
[00:04:23]  So that concept, that principle comes from Jesus.
[00:04:26]  And so, therefore, I believe that there may be some sins that disqualify a man indefinitely.
[00:04:36]  But I don't believe that looking at pornography is one of those sins, especially if the individual, because I'm assuming that we're talking about, you said Christian.
[00:04:46]  So I'm assuming we're talking about a Christian man who looked at pornography before being in the position of eldership.
[00:04:56]  Assuming most pastors are married, but a pastor who is married has a wife and for years and years is behind her back and behind the congregation's back is looking at pornography.
[00:05:08]  So there's just a lot of factors.
[00:05:11]  If a guy commits adultery, then he's certainly disqualified and he may never be the kind of guy who just never needs to come back.
[00:05:20]  Right?
[00:05:21]  If this is a married man in the pastorate who cheats on his wife, has sex with another woman.
[00:05:29]  And likely, you know, when that happens, statistically, it usually is another woman in the church.
[00:05:34]  And so there's the relational components and all this mistrust, and rightfully so, a lack of trust.
[00:05:39]  And it's just something he can never get back, right?
[00:05:41]  So love and forgiveness is different than trust and qualifications.
[00:05:46]  A man, if he repents, should be forgiven and he should be loved.
[00:05:51]  But that doesn't mean that he should be trusted.
[00:05:54]  That doesn't mean that he should be qualified to lead and to shepherd others.
[00:05:59]  So, All that being said, no, I don't think that a man is forever disqualified, a Christian man who looks at pornography, forever disqualified.
[00:06:07]  That said, it's hard because there are degrees, there's a spectrum, right?
[00:06:12]  So, was it pornography or did he actually engage with another woman?
[00:06:16]  Also, I would say, in terms of not all sin being equal, homosexuality.
[00:06:20]  A man who sleeps with another man, that is worse than a man who sleeps with another woman who's not his wife.
[00:06:26]  So, that should be taken much more seriously.
[00:06:29]  And then, in the realm of pornography, There's a spectrum even with that.
[00:06:32]  Do you look at porn one time, two times, 200 times?
[00:06:35]  And how ongoing was the sin?
[00:06:37]  Also, how long did he remain quiet?
[00:06:40]  How long was the sin hidden?
[00:06:42]  You know, was it like, yeah, for four years he looked at pornography and didn't tell anybody ever?
[00:06:48]  No confession.
[00:06:49]  Well, that's more severe.
[00:06:50]  So there's all those different things to be.
[00:06:53]  So the best I can do in answering your question is I'll say, yeah, I do think there are instances where a man is disqualified from the ministry and should never come back.
[00:07:03]  But I don't think that it's just a clear, explicit principle in scripture that's universally applied.
[00:07:10]  I think it just takes wisdom case by case.
[00:07:13]  And in terms of, well, is pornography one of those cases?
[00:07:17]  I would say in most cases, no.
[00:07:18]  I don't think pornography indefinitely disqualifies a man.
[00:07:22]  But if a Christian repents of looking at pornography, a Christian man says, I've been looking at pornography, he repents of that, he shouldn't be installed as an elder in the next six months.
[00:07:31]  That's for sure.
[00:07:32]  So it should be a while.
[00:07:34]  And again, in the realm of pornography, I think you have to get some details.
[00:07:39]  How long?
[00:07:41]  How many times?
[00:07:42]  Was there any confession?
[00:07:44]  How secret and hidden has this sin been?
[00:07:48]  All those things.
[00:07:48]  And also bringing into that marriage, right?
[00:07:51]  I think there is a difference.
[00:07:52]  I'm not saying it's not secret.
[00:07:53]  Sin.
[00:07:53]  Of course, it's sin.
[00:07:55]  But there is a difference in a single Christian man looking at pornography than a married Christian man looking at pornography.
[00:08:02]  It's not the same.
[00:08:03]  Not all sin is equal.
[00:08:05]  Thanks so much for listening.
[00:08:06]  But, real quick, before you go, do us a small favor, take a moment, and leave us a five star review if you enjoyed the show.
[00:08:13]  This is undoubtedly the best way that you can help us get this biblically faithful content to as many people as possible.
[00:08:20]  Thanks so much.