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How Are the Mighty Fallen?
By
George Davis
& Michael Clark
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The beauty of
Israel is
slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! (2 Samuel 1:19 KJV)
Recently, we have witnessed the fall of many
prominent “ministers.” They were exposed for a number of sins ranging from
adultery to homosexuality/pedophilia, drunkenness to pornography and least
we forget, fraud. If anything, the situation is getting worse as time goes
on. Someone said that it is a sign of insanity to do the same thing over
and over again, expecting a different outcome, but this is exactly what is
happening in today’s institutional Churches. Remarkably few, if any, think
to ask, “How are the mighty fallen?” How indeed? Why are so many of the
supposed mighty Christian leaders of today falling?
The scriptures are not silent on this subject.
“Pride goes before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a
lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud”
(Proverbs 16:18-19 ESV). A haughty spirit always goes before a fall. Few
argue against this fact. The problem is that men define pride and
haughtiness differently than God does. How so? God created every living
creature to dwell within certain perimeters and boundaries. When those
boundaries are breached, pride is the result and rebellion is soon to
follow. The classic case in point is Lucifer. He was not content to stay
within the limits of His first estate, but instead cast his
covetous eyes upward to the throne of God, saying in his heart, “I will
set upon the mount of the congregation…I will be like the Most High” (see
Isaiah 14:12-15). Jude described this event in the following words. “And
the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the
judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6).
We see, then, that
pride is the refusal to keep one’s first estate. The Greek word
translated first estate is
arche “a
beginning,” the origin or original purpose for which one was created.
Humility then is to live within the habitation God has placed us in. The
moment we seek to be more than this, we are walking in pride and rebelling
against our Creator.
In recent years we have heard much about
“covering” and being “under the authority” of church leaders from those
who seek to bring others under their control. These would-be overlords
have been teaching that those who refuse their authority are prideful and
guilty of rebellion. Paul the apostle taught that men were to only follow
him as he led by his godly example, not by him wielding overt control over
them and flaunting his title and position, asking men to follow him
regardless of his lifestyle. He wrote to the church in Thessalonica, “For
you yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we did not behave
ourselves disorderly among you…” So what are the traits of a leader who
walks disorderly among the saints? Let us look at the context of
what Paul wrote:
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow
us. For we did not behave ourselves disorderly among you neither did we
eat any man's bread freely, but we worked with labor and travail night and
day, so that we might not be heavy on any of you (not because we do not
have authority, but to make ourselves an example to you, to imitate us).
For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone
would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some who
walk disorderly among you, not working at all, but being busybodies. Now
we command and exhort those who are such, by our Lord Jesus Christ, that
they work with quietness and eat their own bread. (2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
MKJV)
It would seem then that disorderly leaders in
the church 1) freely eat food that belongs to the saints, 2) do not work
with their hands supporting themselves, 3) are a burden on those they
lead, 4) do these things as bad examples unto the saints and, 5) are
busybodies among the saints. (Of the word busybodies Thayers writes,
“Used apparently of a person officiously inquisitive about other’s
affairs”).
So, with all this in mind, Paul writes that the
saints should NOT follow those who do not lead by the example of Christ.
We are not to come under the leading or control of these covetous, lazy,
burdensome, and nosey bad examples in the church. Our allegiance to follow
church leaders depends on whether they walk as Christ. To the Philippian
believers Paul wrote:
Brothers, be imitators together of me, and mark
those who walk this way, for you have us for a pattern. (For many are
walking, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, as
the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is
their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, those who mind earthly
things.) (Philippians 3:17-19 MKJV)
False leaders do not lead by the example of
Christ, who lived among the poor and humbled Himself as a servant of
all—the same Jesus who not only did not take up offerings from the poor,
but fed them when they came to Him. This is very different from those
“whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, those who mind
earthly things.”
One of the favorite passages of those who teach
false doctrines and lead by bad example is 1 Corinthians 11. In it we find
these peculiar words, “…for neither
was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this cause the
woman ought to have authority on her head, because of the angels.”
(1 Corinthians 11:9-10 WEB). Commentators are more than divided over this
passage. Perhaps the only honest one among them is the Geneva Bible Notes,
which says regarding the phrase because of the angels, “What this
means, I do not yet understand.”
Let us consider the
context. Though it has to do with women, it applies to both men and women.
Paul begins by telling us the reason that the woman was created, which
determines her place. She was created as a helpmeet for the man. For this
reason she ought to have the power or authority of her husband upon her
head. And no, we are not speaking of a woman wearing a hanky on her head.
We don’t think angels are impressed with that. “Because of the angels”
could be a warning, a reminder of what happened to Lucifer when he kept
not his first estate. Paul was clearly issuing a warning to men and women
alike to keep their first estate and not to forsake the habitation in
which God had created them to dwell in, as the fallen angels did.
The principle of
covering has to do with finding the reason we were created and
dwelling within the perimeters set by the Creator. Micah prophesied, “He
has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but
to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God
(Micah 6:8 WEB)? We understand what it means to act justly and mercifully
toward our fellow man. This is why our courts were established, to insure
that justice is kept and mercy is guarded. But what does it mean to
walk humbly with our God. First it means that we are creatures before
our Creator and as such we cannot say to the Creator, “Why have you
created me so?” When we abide within our habitation, the place or
station where God has purposed that we abide, we are safe from pride and
the strife and anxiety that it brings.
Jesus was perfect God
and perfect man, and as the perfect man, He said of Himself, "Come to me,
all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30 WEB). Christ modeled what it means to
walk humbly with God. Rest can only be found in His gentleness and
lowliness. Strife and ambition—that satanic desire to climb and set in
positions of power over the mount of the congregation,--is pride and the
fruit of corrupted wisdom (see Ezekiel 28:17). Unlike Adam, Jesus
(the last Adam) did not fall, but kept his first estate and as a
perfect man, walked humbly with His God. He humbled Himself, took on the
form of a servant and became obedient unto death, praying, “Not my will,
Father, but thine be done.” The first Adam sought to be like God
but Jesus, who was God, became a man and resisted the temptation to eat of
the forbidden tree of self-exaltation. Instead He progressed downward to
greater and greater service—greater and greater humility. When the world
would have made Him a king, He hid Himself. In the Last Adam, it is
unlawful to promote yourself. How could we? To do so is to live in
rebellion, resist the Spirit, and reject the example of Him who came to
serve (See Mark 10:45).
We have more than just
Christ’s example to go by, since He was not silent on the subject.
Speaking of the Pharisees, Jesus said,
“For they bind heavy
burdens that are grieveous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders;
but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them. But all their
works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad,
enlarge the fringes of their garments, and love the place of honor at
feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, the salutations in the
marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi, Rabbi' by men. But don't you be
called 'Rabbi,' for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are
brothers. Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father,
he who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for one is your master,
the Christ. But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will
be exalted.” (Matthew 23:4-12 WEB)
To be higher than a
servant is to be set up for a fall. Service is the highest function
allowed in the kingdom. The greatest are servants. This is as high as it
goes. Anyone who takes a title above servant is prideful and will meet the
resistance of God.
So
How Are the Mighty Fallen?
Let’s be very, very
clear here. We can blame the Devil all we want, and he may encourage us to
seek exaltation, but it is God who humbles those who exalt themselves.
Jesus forbids the use of honorific titles and hierarchy. After saying to
us, “You will not be called…rabbi, father, master, for you have One
Teacher, Father and Lord,” He shows us our proper “habitation” or rightful
place before God the Father and the rest of the household of God. “All
of you are brothers." Christ’s chief argument against the ambition to
put oneself above his brother was to remind them that they are siblings—adelphos
– literally, from the same womb, or having the same parentage.
Siblings are equal
regardless of their age and level of responsibility. Even a two year-old
objects to his fellow sibling bossing him around. It was my brother’s
habit to ask me, whenever I interfered in his affairs, “Who died and made
you God?” If you assume a position other than that of brother or
sister, you are not keeping your first estate and you have cast your eyes
upward to the most sought after throne—the throne of God. As surely as God
cast Satan down from the heavens when he exalted himself, so will He
resist those consumed with this kind of pride.
In 1 Peter 5, Peter
tell us that humility is a safeguard against Satan. He explains that
prideful people have two enemies, Satan, who seeks to destroy them, and
God, who sets himself in battle array against those who try to put
themselves above others.
Likewise, you younger
ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with
humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for "God resists the
proud, but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. (1Peter 5:5-6
WEB)
Referring to the above
passage Kenneth Wuest wrote:
"The word proud [in the above verse] is
the translation of a Greek word which means literally to show above,
and thus describes the proud person as one who shows himself above others.
The word humble is the translation of the Greek word rendered
lowly in Matthew11:29, where it describes our Lord's character. The
word is found in the early documents where it speaks of the
Nile
River in its low stage
in the words, 'it runs low.' The word means 'not rising far from the
ground.' It describes the Christian who follows in the humble and lowly
steps of his Lord."
In his "Fuller Translation," Kenneth Wuest
translated 1Peter 5:5 as follows.
Moreover, all of you, bind about yourselves as
a girdle, humility toward one another, because God opposes himself to
those who set themselves above others, but gives grace to those who are
lowly.
Contrary to popular opinion, Peter is not
asking the believers to submit to a hierarchical rank and file, for Wuest
points out, “the words ‘be subject to’ are not in the best Greek
texts.” Nor is Peter, as some suppose, accusing those who refuse to submit
to ecclesiastical overlords of being rebellious or proud. Pride is NOT the
act of non-submission to a hierarchy. Pride is the act of ignoring
Christ's lowly example and exalting yourself above others. The imagery
that Peter uses here is powerful. He wrote of the girdle of humility -
egkomboomai
which was a
slave's apron.
Peter was writing from
the experience of the upper room (the last supper) where Jesus girded
himself with the servant’s towel (lention
- also apron)
and washed the feet of His disciples. From His knees, he asked them, “Do
you know what I have done to you?”
Even though Jesus was God, He did not seek to
rise above men but made himself of no reputation.
Pride has many ways of finding its
satisfaction. Lording over others is just one of them. Where men seek to
lord-over and exalt themselves, forsaking the image of Christ, sexual sin,
abuse of drugs and alcohol, greed, financial corruption, and raw ambition
will not be far away. “Pride comes before a fall and a haughty spirit
before destruction.” “Take heed when you think you stand least you should
fall.”
Satan is always there, looking for any area of
weakness in us that has not gone to the cross so that he can use it at a
strategic time to damage us, others and the church. These areas are like
so many terrorist sleeper cells waiting to spring forth and do great
damage. The enemy enjoys seeing a man or woman become famous and powerful
in the eyes of the church, if that person has not had a deep work of the
cross in their lives. Satan knows that he can elevate a person on a
pinnacle of success before all, and then knock the blocks out from under
him and achieve far greater damage than to him alone. Expect many more
high profile “church leaders” to fall.
As long as we exalt men through the
unbiblical clergy - laity distinction, God is obligated to humble them. We
keep setting them up, God keeps knocking them down and the roaring lion
keeps devouring. When will we ever learn?
The cross working deep in our hearts is our
only hope. We, as mere flesh, should always be praying to the Father to
show us if there be any wicked ways within so that we can cry to Him for
help—never covering up our sin, but rather exposing it to the light. David
prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my
thoughts: And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23-24 KJV). This is the secret path to
eternal life. David was surely a man after God’s own heart.
Christ, the Pattern Son, thought it not robbery
to be equal with His Father, but rather He took on the form of a slave.
Satan tempted Him with every self-seeking, self-elevating, and self saving
scheme he could. He even used Jesus’ trusted disciples to temp Him. Yet,
Christ took the low path of servant-hood all the way to the cross. What
makes us think that our Father will accept any other way as His called-out
sons and daughters? Honestly, can you see the pattern of the life of
Christ in the lives of these men who seek notoriety and fame among men?
As long as we keep
justifying the rise of men who desire to show themselves above others by
the use of honorific titles and posturing over the people of God, we will
continue to see men fall. For we have an exceeding great a precious
promise, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles
himself will be exalted.” |