Jesus told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?”
Simple point: It is not ok to represent God without walking with God.
I used to think that as long as I was presenting truth it didn’t matter if I was practicing it. People would still hear about God and that was the point, or so I thought. But really, I was just leading them into the same pit I was in. If we communicate love in an unloving way, what does that teach? Likewise, peace without having peace; gentleness without being gentle; hope, while living in despair.
Porn, lust, adultery, and masturbation work the same way.
We create stories in our minds, that people look up to us and if we were honest about our weakness it would damage their relationship with God. And maybe it would, but that’s not your call.
It is never safe, for ourselves or others, when we pretend to be God.
Guys, it’s vital to be intimate with the truth that we are calling and welcoming other men into. Leading is not like making a phone call and giving directions to a location we’re not at. Leading is walking in front of and beside other people, as we walk slowly but with sure footing behind Jesus’ feet in front of us.
A big part of leadership is showing other’s how to be weak, how to confess, how to cry, how to stand back up, how to believe in righteousness in the midst of failure. How can a leader show other men the grace of God if that leader pretends he’s never in need of it?
Paul says it like this: “Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved with simplicity and godly sincerity.”
You don’t have to screw up to be transparent about weakness. At the same time, you can’t be screwing up and leading men to freedom. Also, you’re not perfect — lead from your weakness. The gospel enables us to be honest about sin, because if God sees the worst of us and still accepts us, then we no longer have to hide. And in that honesty before God and other’s, we are empowered to defeat sin. A big part of that empowerment is found in community. The community expressions of confession, safety, laughter, honesty, strength, and burden bearing are all channels the gospel flows through.
These channels fashion us into a new creation.
1 John is often regarded as one of the deepest books of the New Testament. Yet, how does John end?
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
Men. Keep yourselves from idols.