Apostasy is on the rise. Just about every month, the news of an influential person in Christendom falling away from the faith goes viral. To see so many men and women whose ministry I’ve benefited from denouncing Jesus Christ has been jarring. At times, I find myself feeling like one of the disciples in the upper room after Jesus announced, “one of you will betray me” (John 13:21), asking, “Lord, is it me?”
This uncertainty has gained traction as the virus of apostasy hits closer to home. I’ve gotten text messages from friends and had countless cups of coffee with brothers and sisters in Christ wrestling with their faith. In all of these conversations, the common denominator is their disillusionment with the Church. They’ve found it challenging to trust Christ when His Church often appears untrustworthy, lacking godliness, sincere faith, and love. And like God, they have become fed up with the lukewarm Christianity they have witnessed, online and in-person, and spat it out (Revelation 3:16).
The letter Paul writes to Timothy could easily be written to any pastor today. In Paul’s context and ours, people are falling away, and false teaching is rampant. Knowing the difficulty of exhibiting godliness in this kind of environment, Paul calls for elders and deacons to exhibit godliness in their leadership and charges Timothy to pursue, teach, and value it above all earthly gain.
The commitment to godliness Paul calls Timothy and church leaders to is not innate to humans. Instead, we are innately spiritually dead, committed to our comforts, desires, pocketbooks, and reputations. Only the spirit of God can resuscitate us, removing our stony self-centered hearts and replacing them with a God-centered heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26–27 makes it clear, the remedy for ungodliness does not reside within us but Christ. He is both our example of and means to a life of godliness.
However, this life of godliness isn’t just for ourselves. It’s also for others. Sure, you made a personal decision to follow Christ. But the moment you said yes, you were transplanted into the household of God with many brothers, sisters, and onlookers, making your relationship with God communal and missional. Because of this, how we live with others matters.
Paul confirms the significance of our conduct by concluding his requirements of elder and deacon, adding that they must have a good reputation among unbelievers. Now, we know Paul is not calling for compromise. Instead, he calls for uncompromising godly conduct that doesn’t cause people to distrust Christ and His bride.
Sound doctrine coupled with sound conduct is the key to our ability to proclaim Christ boldly. When the two are aligned, we partner with God to make the mystery of godliness—Christ—known.
You and your husband are in my prayers Anne, stay strong x
I just had the privilege of working as an editor on a book titled “The Gift of Disillusionment.” The authors included a wonderful quote from Barbara Brown Taylor about how when you break the word apart, you see that disillusionment is the loss of an illusion: arguably a very good and healthy (if not painful) thing. Those words shifted my perspective on the opportunity that comes with disillusionment. May God continue to strip away our illusions until we are building on a foundation of truth.
My son went to a christian school. Sadly at one point he let me know what he saw. It felt like a bunch of hypocrites to him. I talked to him about how we are all sinners and not to judge harshly, but to realize we all fall everyday. Keep my eye up dear Lord! Give me sound doctrine coupled with sound conduct. I fall everyday. Imagine if I wasn’t in the word daily?!
I think my draft just posted early. If not, I’m just requesting prayer for my husband in his faith struggles, which are related to today’s message. Thanks all! Praying for you and thankful that God is good all the time!
Hi all- this message is very timely. My husband, as I’ve mentioned before, has been really struggling in his faith for awhile now. It has a lot to do with this issue (the fallability on leaders in the church locally and worldwide) and with his feelings that the world is screwed up. It has become a hard thing in our marriage. I find myself praying that God would bring him back to Him. Would you please pray for him and us again? And if you have any wisdom foot me
How I love the devotional today. Thank you Yana!! Amazing and very sharp reminder that cuts through such sensitive issues many churches are having- sadly including mine. My church as well was showing signs of ungodliness (in gossips, slandering, exposing vulnerable details of others for fruitless discussions and criticisms) and oh boy it hurts so much like any big fat betrayal does. Gossip separates close friends. Many beautiful friendships built on foundation of faith, love, fellowship that takes years to develop are destroyed. I prayed over this a lot while restraining myself from criticizing, from speaking from the place of hurt, from adding more into the fire. I need to speak from the place of love. I kept quiet and grieved for months and months. I was smiling on the outside but so grieved on the inside. I was so ready to leave. I prayed for the spirit of gossip and slandering to be removed from the leadership and asked God to heal me and those that were hurt in the congregation. And God says, Woe is he who trusts in man. Ouch. Truly we need to seek God (the source) and not in men/women of God who are still work in progress, like us. Our expectations should be from GOD alone (Psalm 62). I asked God if I should leave, several times I petitioned, but He said no. Just sharing my case and not saying you should do the same. He told me to stay and show the godliness to those who show signs of falling away. Like Peter, who fell away, our Lord Jesus said ever so lovingly, when you are restored, come back and strengthen your brothers. The salt after all needs to be where the corruption/rottenness is, and comes into contact with it, to bring healing and preserving to that chunk of meat. To God be the glory. May we seek Him for healing, wisdom, course of actions for our specific case, and look to His Word daily like a mirror, with expectations from Him ALONE – while giving grace to those who fall short. Look into the perfect mirror (the Word) to remove the blemish on ourselves, the spec in our own eyes to see clearly, and come to strengthen/build up others. May God walk with us through the valley. Be blessed dear sisters.
How confusing the hierarchy of church leadership can be. Pastor. Teaching pastor. Executive pastor. Associate pastor. Board of Elders. Elders. Deacons. Bishops. Apostles.Popes. Right Reverend. Directors. Etc. Etc. The list of titles and positions in various denominations is so varied and hard to discern where, when and how they originated. I confess I throw up my arms and simply cling to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith. I’ve never looked for a perfect church but I do look for a Biblically sound and caring one. It’s good to be challenged to be a more fully committed Jesus follower. Whether that occurs in a church building or someone’s home, it matters not to me. I’ve found solid teaching, Spirit filled worship, community outreach and evangelism in both. I’ve learned under men and women sold out for Jesus and with great integrity. I’ve been blessed to be a part of several different churches. And I’ve had to walk away from a couple as well. The key is to keep eyes on the Word and heart devoted to following Jesus. Not man. Not woman. Jesus.
This morning I sent an email to a worship pastor with a video appropriate for Mothers Day. I have sent numerous videos/songs to him in the past. His reply included his acknowledging that he hasn’t seen us for awhile (2 plus years now) and that he’s missed us. I smiled. My husband and I have made attempts to reconnect but it has not been reciprocated. Due to my health issues, my Dr still recommends I avoid large gatherings and wear a mask as much as possible in public places. So two years ago I fell into the “shut in” category. And in two years there has been no contact initiated by anyone on staff. Not a text. Not a phone call. Not a note. I do get a response if I make the first move. Makes me think of the old saying about how many times does a girl have to turn a guy down for a date before he quits asking? Was my husband and I hurt? Sure. BUT GOD. He drew us closer to Himself as we attended worship on line from various churches. The virtual Bible study I attend is a caring and loving group. What started out as a painful wilderness experience has led us to fruitful lush pasture land. God is good. All eyes and hearts on Him. Loving Jesus by loving our neighbors. It’s a pretty good “church.”
Tina…Amen & Amen. So good to “see” you, my friend.
Yana, thank you for such a wonderful post today. Like so many others we’ve struggled with church lately. We were so in involved with the church we’d attended for so many years, but after Covid my husband did not want to return there. It turned out to be a bunch of issues but largely he’d had his trust in the leadership destroyed. So sad. Sadder still was my unwillingness to go looking because I was so tied to women’s ministry. Finally, I have submitted & we have gone looking & have hopefully found a new church. I’m still attending the Wednesday night women’s Bible study at our old church but I can fully support my husband in this new “home”.
Hugs & love y’all!