For better or worse, all Christians are
under the same pressure as the pastor to live the Christian
life as well as they can, most just don't realize the
responsibility. You've probably heard it said as often
as I have that people don't want to have anything to do with
Christianity because they are hypocrites. Fair or
unfair that is the impression that a number of people have
of Christianity.
When pastors fall from grace, it is
high profile.
The media will latch onto the story and carry it wherever
they can go with it.
It is bad publicity for the Christian community.
But the truth is that most people do not judge
Christianity based on the slipups of a few wayward pastors.
They may read about the sins of a pastor but they are
most likely to judge Christianity based on what they have
experienced from Christians.
That means the average person in the pew goes much
further in shaping others opinions on Christianity than a
pastor because the average person knows many Christians but
not many pastors.
Pastors are held to a higher
standard by people who know them. People expect a
pastor to be "holier" than them. But the non-Christian
world isn't basing their view of Christianity on pastors,
they are basing it on the average Christian in the pew.
Paul instructed his readers to imitate
him. Paul writes
just this in 1 Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore I urge you to
imitate me.” As
a pastor, Paul knew that everyone was looking to him as an
example. He
could only set this example so much as he imitated Christ
however. In the
end, Christ is the standard for all of us.
Others will judge Christianity based on what we do
for better or worse, whether we are pastors or average
Christians. All
we can do is do our best to imitate Christ in all that we
do.
