The list of sins that one can commit is overwhelmingly horrible. Our hearts are so prone to wonder against our gracious God that it never stops to search for anything but God. So apart from the mercy of our Savior won at the cross, we could not stand before God’s holiness. This should be the most humbling of ideas as we assess not only our sin but also the sin of others.
Last night, I was reading FOX News and news of Ted Haggard broke. I never met Ted Haggard, but he has an interesting place in our lives. When Shua and I first moved to the Bay Area, we drove from Chicago to the SF Bay Area. We stopped by Colorado Springs and visited the World Prayer Center, a ministry of New Life Church that Ted Haggard founded. We were so blessed to pray in that place, where the flags of the world surrounded the sanctuary. The Lord was present there and our prayers for this new adventure were lifted up in a place where Ted Haggard built to seek after God’s heart.
Later, I was surprised to here Ted Haggard became the president of the NAE since he was certainly more charismatic in regard to the gifts of the Spirit than previous presidents. But he led the charge of the NAE for the moral compass of the country. Ted Haggard was in the forefront of Evangelicalism.
If this news is true, than this news is quite sad. The details are still being sorted out and even though some parts might be true, perhaps not everything is true. But even if it is true, it is not that it is all too surprising. Sin, when hidden, and Satan when unchecked, can wreak havoc on anyone. If the Gospel is not front and center in all of our lives at all times, and if we do not have people shouting the Gospel in our forgetful minds, than we too could so easily be on the cover of magazines and the lead story on national news outlets. And lest we say, “Homosexuality, I would never consider that sin.” We need only look at Romans 1:22-27 which says:
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Notice verse 22 which Paul writes, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” In other words, the starting point is self-proclaimed wisdom. This is no different than Eve’s desire to have the knowledge of good and evil, the desire to claim to be wise. This isn’t wisdom but instead the claim to wisdom. And the result of this root sin called pride is homosexuality. This doesn’t mean that all pride leads to homosexuality. But it does mean that this claim to wisdom leads to all sorts of sin, including homosexuality.
So at the core of sin is the claim to know something that we think is better than what God tells us is wise. And from this heart flows every sin. Homosexuality is just one ugly offshoot of this heart. But of course, the sin of homosexuality, like all sexual sin, has some terrible consequences. It destroys the family. He has 5 children and a wife. It destroys the church. It destroys a relationships. It destroys reputation and standing before the world. So in this, sexual sin is unique in its implications.
How shall we respond to this situation?
1. Pray for Ted Haggard.
Pray that is these allegations are not true, that the truth would be made known as soon as possible. But if they are true, let us pray not as a person above him morally, but as a fellow sinner who also needs the grace of God. What a stark reminder of how hopeless we are apart from the Gospel of grace. Pray that Ted would go back to the cross during this time and that even the sins of adultery, homosexuality, etc. (if proven true), were carried by Jesus. Pray for his family and for New Life Church and its leadership. They will be suffering much during this time. Pray that they too would be comforted by the Gospel and rather than being angry and bitter, turn to their own desperate need for Christ.
2. Pray for our leaders.
Can there be any greater reminder of the need to pray for pastors and church leaders. When one falls, the world scoffs not only at the church, but at Christ. Satan works continually against the church by working against the leaders. He knows that it can create a domino effect. We need the Holy Spirit’s power to point leaders to Jesus at all times and that comes by claiming to be unwise before a wise God.
3. Cling to the Gospel.
Ted Haggard is not the exception. We are all sinners and in desperate need of grace. Instead of pointing wagging fingers, we should be quick to reflect on our own failures as believers of Christ. This incident is a reminder to all Christians that apart from the grace of God, we would all be engaged in all sorts of sin that would be horrible before God. May we instead be even more motivated than ever before to preach the Gospel to ourselves.
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