Your Dumb, Dirty Pastor

We all know the sad reality that pastors and churches can morally fall.

Fallen pastors and churches get a lot of blame from people who no longer believe in Christ or practice the Christian faith. When pastors fall some people fall away because they think they’ve believed a lie. When they get hurt in a church they think that the whole thing is fake.

I’ve been listening to this riveting podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It documents a church who had a very popular pastor that went from a few people in a Bible study to thousands of people in worship in the late 90’s. At its peak, the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington had 15 campuses in 5 states and a weekly attendance of more than 13,000.

In 2014, the Pastor, Mark Driscoll, best-selling author, internet phenom, and conference speaker was found to have all sorts of moral indiscretions and mismanagement. The Mars Hill church no longer exists.

In this week’s episode the host, Mike Cosper, plays a clip of a guy named Jessie Bryan who was in Seattle working in the creative industry. He had no interest in church until he heard about Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill. In fact, when he was in High School Jessie’s mother told him that he either needed to start going to church with her or move out. He moved out.

But after college Jessie Bryan was so captivated by Driscoll that he goes to work for the church. And then he makes a comment that absolutely broke my heart. He said, “I don’t know why that happened. And man I wished it didn’t.”

That’s a sad story, but not an isolated one. I think there are a lot of people like Jessie Bryan who have a shipwrecked faith due to a regrettable church experience.

So how do we keep a pastor or a church’s moral failure from becoming a failure in your faith?

Leviticus 8 offers us an interesting perspective on spiritual leadership by pointing us to a glaring reality. Spiritual leaders are sinners too. And what we need to be seeking in all of this are the manifestations of the things that only God can do.

Leviticus 8 gives us the ordination of Aaron as high priest.

The High Priest of Israel did what only a handful of humans on earth ever got to do. He entered the presence of God. He took the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies and put it on the mercy seat. He’s the only human who could do this and live. The high priest was the intercessor who stood between God and man. It was a pretty important position.

Who would you pick to be first to do something like that?

So that we can appreciate the gravity of this moment, let’s take a mental walk through history and name some significant people who served as firsts.

1789-1797, George Washington was America’s first president. 

April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play in Major League Baseball.

July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon.

We always remember the first.

So who is God’s choice to be the first High Priest?

Aaron! Golden calf Aaron! When confronted about the golden calf, Aaron told Moses that he threw gold jewelry in fire and “out came this calf (Exodus 32:24).” That dumb, dirty liar Aaron is going to be the first high priest.

Wouldn’t you agree that the selection of Aaron as high priest #1 is an immediate problem?

Putting the high priestly garb on Aaron will make him easily the most recognizable person in Israel. So before he dons the glory of God, Moses does something that reminds every onlooker that beneath it all, Aaron is just another dirty human.

How?

Moses washes him and makes him change clothes.

Just a Bad, Recurring Dream

A common, recurring dream for many people is that one where you somehow find yourself in a public place in your underwear. You are embarrassed and desperate, hoping that no one will notice. Psychologists say that this dream means that you feel exposed and vulnerable in some area of your life.

Being caught in public in your underwear is not a recurring dream. It’s an embarrassing nightmare.

If you have some version of that recurring, embarrassing nightmare, please catch the opening scene of Leviticus 8.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread.

Leviticus 8:1–2 (ESV)

INTERPRETATION: Get Aaron and his sons together. Bring some sacrifices and a change of clothes.

And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Leviticus 8:3–4 (ESV)

INTERPRETATION: Get everyone in the neighborhood together so they can watch.

And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. And he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Leviticus 8:5–9 (ESV)

INTERPRETATION: Change your brother Aaron’s clothes and wash him off – IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY! Insert “this is awkward” meme or emoji here.

As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.”

Leviticus 8:34–35 (ESV)

INTERPRETATION: Let’s do this every day for a week!

Leviticus 8 is a recurring, embarrassing week.

Thank God I’m Baptist!

Dumb and Dirty

Making the correlation between pastors and Levitical priests is problematic, but there are some significant parallels nonetheless. One parallel we can draw is a problem that both pastors and Levitical priests share. They are all dirty humans.

Before Aaron stands before the people in holy robes, he stands before them in his underwear, getting washed down. He’s you exposed, feeling vulnerable and embarrassed in a public place – but this is not a dream.

So let’s dress down your pastor for a moment. Let’s take away everything that makes him the most recognizable human in your church.

Let’s take away his title. Let’s get him off the stage and put him in a pew. Let’s take away the Sunday garb and see him on a Saturday morning at Wal-Mart right after he mowed grass. Talk to his friends who knew him before he became your pastor.

And if you see him there, you realize two things about him. 1) He’s just another dude. 2) He’s got the same problem as the rest of us.

He’s as dumb and dirty as you. And like you, he’s in desperate need of the grace of God.

Dressing Aaron

So there stands Aaron dripping wet. Vulnerable. Pathetic. What do we do with him now?

What do you do when you see a spiritual leader’s shortcomings?

Our solution for his shortcomings is to clothe him in our expectations.

A lot of people go find another pastor and they hang on him the expectation that he will heal their hurt from the last dumb and dirty pastor. This guy is better than that last guy. This guy won’t let us down. He will heal us from our disappointment.

This pastor will make me happy. He will help my recovery. He will be available to me. He will help me to experience God.

Let’s pump the brakes on this for a moment. Who gives us the right to reclothe Aaron? Who says that our expectations are the solutions for his shortcomings?

Let’s not forget. Aaron did something pretty dumb in making the golden calf. But the onlookers in Leviticus 8 are some of the same ones who pressured Aaron to make it.

Flawed people and flawed leaders are a bad combination. And this happens all of the time in church.

If they are capable of making an idol of a cow they are also capable of making an idol of a priest. And you are equally as capable of making an idol of a pastor or at least of the position of the pastor.

You Don’t Get to Dress the Priest

Leviticus 8 sends a strong, authoritative message to the watching congregation. The people don’t get to dress the priest.

Aaron doesn’t even get to dress himself.

Every dumb and dirty person is disqualified. Stand down.

Dressing the priest is the work of God alone. He chooses the outfit. Notice the emphasis in the text on every piece of clothing being placed on Aaron is done so by God’s command.

Leviticus 8:7–9 (ESV)

And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. And he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

It’s only what God puts on the priest that counts. For a full list of these items see Exodus 28. But the new robe is a picture of righteousness, the salvation, the covering that God puts on a sinner. The breastplate contains the names of the tribes of Israel. The Priest keeps God’s people before God’s throne in prayer.

The anointing is a picture of the favor of God the power of the Holy Spirit enabling him to do the tasks he is called to do.

Coming Before God Exposed

We would be so much better together if we came in here like we find Aaron in this moment. We should come in here looking for God to strip away all of the pretense. Awaiting his cleansing and then allowing Him to put on us and on the preacher what we need next.

We don’t need to come to church with a list of expectations that we demand another sinful human to meet. We need to come to church broken - dripping wet - exposed - waiting and watching for what God will do next.

When we clothe spiritual leaders and churches in our expectations, we become an idolatrous mess. This is reflected in 1 Corinthians and Paul offered a cutting correction:

1 Corinthians 1:10–18 ESV

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Leviticus 8 reminds us that spiritual leaders, pastors and congregations must desperately seek to operate within the graces and gifting that God alone can bestow on them. When we operate outside of the gift of the Holy Spirit and the graces of God, when we strip all of that away all we have is something embarrassing in desperate need of cleaning and clothing in the graces of God.

Why Aaron?

Let’s get back to answering a question we have hanging out there. So why Aaron? What’s God’s purpose in cleansing a former idolator and making him the intercessor for His people?

God never intended for us to idolize a human spiritual leader. Both in their faithfulness and in their flaws sinners who hold the mantle of spiritual leader ultimately do one thing - they point us to our need of a righteous one who can save us.

It’s what Paul did to correct the idolatry of leaders in 1 Cor. 1. He pointed us beyond the leader to the power of the gospel, to the power of Jesus.

In this light, the ordination of Aaron is not just a story in Leviticus; it is a significant step in salvation history.

God started the priesthood with Aaron so that we would never be satisfied and we would look for another.

The priests made sacrifices, but there was never enough animal blood to atone for human sin.

And the book of Hebrews chapters 4 and 5 complete the picture in putting forth Jesus as the perfect High Priest.

Hebrews 4:14–5:10 ESV

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

That line, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,” is profound. Think of this.

Jesus suffered for every dumb and dirty priest, every dumb and dirty preacher, and every dumb and dirty person who has ever made an idol out of church.

Aaron was washed down so he could be dressed up. Before the congregation, he was exposed as a sinner and made righteous only in what God could put on him.

Jesus was dressed down and then lifted up. In humility, he obeyed the father and suffered for our sin. He was stripped not only of his power but he was stripped on the cross before mocking men. And what did we find of him?

1 Peter 2:21–25 ESV

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Our great high priest. The shepherd and overseer of our souls was not made righteous but found righteous. When he was unclothed in this world, it only proved His eternal weight of glory.

The first high priest was a forgiven sinner. In the final high priest, sinners are forgiven.

The first high priest offered sacrifices for our sins. The final high priest IS the sacrifice for our sins.

In Jesus, we found the great high priest God knew we needed in the beginning.

Every pastor will make mistakes and some will fall into grievous sin. You can forgive them, and they may have forfeited their leadership (1 Cor. 9:27, 1 Tim. 3, Titus 1:7).

When those things happen, they do damage to the church. It hurts people. It may shake your faith. BUT IT GIVES YOU NO GROUNDS TO REJECT YOUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST OR TO WALK AWAY FROM HIS CHURCH.

Recognizing that a pastor is a failure is one thing. Rejecting Jesus is quite another.

If the failure of a pastor becomes a failure of your faith, then what you had was idolatry. And it needed to be crucified anyway.

If that’s you, then you need to respond rightly to God’s design for the “doomed to fail” “dumb and dirty” high priesthood. Turn to the great high priest, the great prophet, the eternal, righteous king. Come back to Jesus.

Conclusion:

repent of making an idol of a pastor, a church, or our hurt

come before Him for cleansing, seek His graces

praise Him for what He has done as our great high priest