Lester Sumrall said that ministers only fall for three reasons: power, money and sex, and the hardest fall is when it involves sex. When a minister commits adultery, there is always steps before that, often pornography. Sexual sin will not just destroy your ministry, it will destroy your soul and your family too. It’s serious.
Now one thing that happens is that pastors assume God is not disappointed with their sexual sin because they can still minister life and work miracles. There was a pastor not far from where I live who had a large church and saw miracles and healings week after week. It later turned out he was having an affair for over seven years, but still every Sunday he preached with power. The gifts of God are without repentance, but we should still repent!
Now, all sin has been dealt with once and for all by the blood of Jesus, but if you as a born again, righteous Christian, persist in sin, that sin will lead to death, it will pay you the wages of death. Now if you repent and turn from sin, you can be made clean and forgiven, and God can also as your Good Shepherd restore your soul, and restore your pain, and your marriage. Several times I have seen marriages restored after adultery. On the other hand, I have seen people divorce, remarry quickly and then get into the same messes as before because they never dealt with the sin in the first place.
Of course, the best advice is Paul’s – do not give place to the devil (Ephesians 4.27) – do not give the devil a place. It is not your job to provide for satan! You are a representation of Jesus Christ when you minister. You are not in ministry for your gain, but to honour Jesus Christ and represent Him.
As ministers we have to be very careful. On a personal level we need to control our sexual appetite. It seems sad to have to talk about this, but I have met far too many ministers who have committed sexual immorality and thought it was no big deal. I have met far too many Christians who are having sex before and outside of marriage to know we have to talk about this. I have met Christians who would literally pray together then have sex outside of marriage. They have no sense of the fear of the Lord, no sense of holy living. As pastors, we need to be sure of our purity, then develop a culture of purity in our churches. It is essential.
Teach your people boldly that sex is for marriage and marriage is for life. Teach them boldly that faithfulness and commitment is part of being a disciple of Jesus. Let us be a force of purity across this nation.
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 