A Different Take on Steve Lawson Being Removed from Ministry

Steve Lawson’s Removal and the Question of Sin

Hello, in this video, I'm going to cover the Steve Lawson situation. I'm going to have a different take on this because I'm not really interested in doing just another video talking about the situation.

It's a scandal. It's of a personal nature, and I wasn't going to cover it at all, but something that the elders said, I do want to respond because I think this can be a teaching moment. So Steve Lawson, very well-known Reformed pastor, his elders put out a statement.

It's in public, so this is national news at this point. He has been removed from ministry because of an inappropriate relationship with a woman that was not his wife. So if you want to hear the details, I don't think there are many details, but even if I had the details, I wouldn't talk about it.

But I want to focus on doctrine, what the Bible says, because something his elders wrote and their response really jumped out at me, and I think this might be helpful. So Steve Lawson, this is what his elders wrote.

They said that they have met with Steve. They will continue to come alongside of him and pray for him with the ultimate goal of his personal repentance. They said Steve will no longer be compensated by the Trinity Bible Church of Dallas.

In light of this, they said, and this is the part that jumped out at me, his elders wrote, in light of this, may we be reminded that we are all sinners. And they wrote the word all in capital. So this is the thing, Steve Lawson is removed from ministry because of sin, yet in the statement announcing this, his elders admit that, well, they're sinners too.

We're all sinners. So why then is Steve Lawson removed because of sin when in fact they admit that, well, all pastors, all Christians are sinners. So Romans 3 .23 says, for all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.

But 1 Timothy 3 gives the qualifications for a pastor. So a pastor must be blameless, not sinless, but blameless, and he must be the husband of one wife. You can interpret that in different ways. Obviously, he can't be a polygamist, but the spirit of that passage would be, he needs to be committed to his wife.

He needs to be a one woman man. And this is one thing almost every Christian, every church agrees on, adultery. If a pastor commits adultery, he must be removed from ministry. Now, within the Reformed tradition, Reformed churches tend to be the most strict.

So it's unlikely Steve Lawson will ever be a pastor again. Now, if he were a charismatic, charismatic churches tend to be more loose. There's plenty of charismatic pastors, Pentecostal charismatics who have been caught committing adultery and they're back in the pulpit before you know it.

So Reformed churches tend to be very strict. Charismatic churches tend to be very loose. Baptist churches are probably somewhere in between. So that's the situation with the different churches and denominations.

Why Some Sins Disqualify a Pastor

But clearly adultery is one thing that will get someone removed from office because even though everyone is a sinner, here's the thing, some sins are more serious than others. Another qualification for a pastor, so 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, he can't be a drunkard, can't be given over to much wine.

So if he's a drunkard, he's an alcoholic, that would be disqualifying. Or if he committed a crime, if he's going to go away to prison for a long period, any type of violent crime would disqualify him.

And something that does happen, maybe not often, but we've heard of this enough that pastors will embezzle money and that will get them removed. But here's the thing, I just want to make this point, all sin is sin.

That's true. Every sin, a sin is a sin, I mean, it's not not a sin. So this is what you hear a lot of Christians saying, all sin is sin. But what they mean by that, there's this widespread belief that all sin is equally sinful.

If I had a dime for every time a Christian told me, I tried to debate them and argue with them and let them know, no, some sins are worse than others. But so many Christians have this idea that all sin is equally sinful.

Well, that is not the case. Because those people who say that, if you ask them, should Steve Lawson be removed from ministry for adultery, they'll say yes. Well, then should every pastor be removed? Because every Christian has sinned, well, no.

But adultery, that is, yes, it's worse than other sins. So adultery, embezzlement, another thing that could get a pastor disqualified or cause him to be removed is an abusive leadership style. This happened to Mark Driscoll of Morris Hill.

He was an abusive leader in just the way you treat people. I mean, that could disqualify you if you don't have the right temperament, because a pastor is not supposed to be quarrelsome. Now he can fight for the truth and fight for sound doctrine, but there shouldn't be personal conflicts and screaming matches where he's just denigrating people and yelling at them and insulting them.

I mean, that's not the type of man you want to lead a church. So just a quick video here talking not so much about Steve Lawson. We need to pray for him, pray for his church, pray for his family, certainly.

The Reformed churches are pretty strict, unlikely he will ever pastor again. But I'm not really interested in talking. We should pray for everyone involved in the Steve Lawson situation. But maybe the bigger point of, yes, some sins are worse than others, and these are the types of things that would cause a pastor to be removed from office.

False Doctrine and Heresy as Disqualifying Qualifications

One thing that is often not considered disqualifying, but it should be, is when a pastor preaches false doctrine. There are so many pastors, especially on television, but even locally, there are so many pastors who teach the wrong thing.

And then when they're called out on it, it's like, that's no big deal. Now if it's blatant heresy, maybe they'll be removed from ministry. But then again, remember Benny Hinn taught against the Trinity.

He said there were actually nine members of the Godhead. I mean, there is so much heresy on Christian television. It's not even funny. And these guys continue on like nothing ever happened. So heresy really should be disqualifying, and it is, you know, again, in Reformed churches and in Baptist, not so much in Pentecostal churches.

So I think this does highlight the fact that Charismatic and Pentecostal churches really don't have very high standards. And that's probably not a good thing when you're looking for a church to attend.

The Reformed churches, maybe they're too strict. Someone could make that argument. But heresy and false doctrine, really, because that is the pastor's primary job, to teach and preach the Word of God.

So if he's teaching the wrong thing, if he's twisting the Word of God, really, that should be disqualifying. Okay, so hopefully you found that helpful. Just to recap, the main reason why pastors are removed from office, it's typically adultery, sometimes embezzlement, or being an abusive leader.

False doctrine and certainly heresy should be disqualifying. It is disqualifying. It's really just a matter of whether or not the elders or church board or deacons, you know, are they going to do anything about it?

But certainly adultery, that still seems to pretty much be that one universally accepted reason for dismissal. So thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.