When I was a child my parents had the album “O.C. Smith at Home,” which was released in 1969. One of the songs on that album was “Clean Up Your Own Back Yard,” two of its three verses referencing a so-called religious prophet “telling everybody how things oughta be” but still in bed on Sunday morning hung over from a night of drinking and a businessman who prided himself on integrity having an affair.
It was the first time I ever heard that phrase, and I was
the kind of kid who in those days took things quite literally. And yet I knew
the point of the song.
Last week the Southern Baptist Convention released a report
that noted that it had kept a secret list of leaders who had engaged in sexual
misconduct. I won’t get into the details, but one of the concerns that top
leadership had was that, had that list become known, the reputation of the
association would have been damaged, compromising its evangelism efforts.
The sad part is that such leadership missed the point of
evangelism in the first place — not merely to get people “saved” but to encourage
them to live holy lives different from the world. And part of that is
recognizing one’s own shortcomings, sins and struggles thanks to the “unholy
trinity” of the world, the flesh and the devil.
Put another way, it didn’t appreciate the comprehensive
nature of sin. Many of these churches were leading the “culture war” against
abortion and gay rights, which generally take place outside the church, but
likely never about the things that went on within it.
Of course, this is hardly news. Most of us got a glimpse of
it in 1987-88 thanks to the TV evangelist scandals and it’s since been repeated
in the Roman Catholic Church and with some “old order” Amish groups, so when it
happened again in the SBC, it took virtually no one by surprise.
What’s the root of all this? I would say pride — a desire to
appear respectable but on the inside, as Jesus said in Matthew 23:27, “full of
the bones of the dead.” Let’s remember that God sees all and knows all — and, when
things got out of hand, will tell all.
One thing that I appreciate about the Scripture is its honesty. A few years ago it dawned on me that virtually every major biblical character (except Jesus, of course) is recorded as falling into gross sin. That goes for Abraham, Noah, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul and a few others. And that should give us pause as to what we think we can accomplish — that is to say, if all these characters fell short in some major way, what makes us think that we’re more “spiritual” or “enlightened?”
I think some humility might be in order. Instead of shaking
our finger at “sinners,” I say we should look at ourselves soberly and admit, “There
but for the grace of God go I.” And not only that, but the Scripture tells us
to confess our sins to each other because in doing so “we will be healed.”
In no way am I trying to minimize the emotional damage
perpetrated on victims of sexual abuse in churches; if anything, I don’t think
it can be emphasized enough. Nor am I trying to ignore the mercy of God through
Jesus Christ. That being said, however, God is a God of justice Who in the end
always gets His. That should fill us with holy dread but for some reason doesn’t
always.
We can laicize or expel offending clergy all we want and
certainly should do so. But doing so won’t address the real issue — that, even
after conversion, we still have this bent away from God; as the hymn goes, “Prone
to wander — LORD, I feel it / Prone to leave the God I love.” And that means that
we have work to do in our own hearts, because if we can’t get that right our “evangelism”
will have no effect.
