Disqualifying sin or incomplete sanctification?

That is my question regarding the C.J. Mahaney situation. Actually it is not really a question in my mind. I have read the massive document dump which reveals that C.J. Mahaney is - get ready - a far from perfect leader of a large ministry.

Take time to read Jesse Johnson's post on the current situation with C.J. and Sovereign Grace. I couldn't agree more with Johnson. For the life of me I could not find a sin which in any way would disqualify C.J. Mahaney leadership in ministry. What I did see was a pattern of morbid introspection of other people's sins. There are many, many churches who would love for the sins revealed in the 600 page document regarding C.J. to be the greatest sins of their pastor.

The Pastor and Criticism

C.J. Mahaney has begun a series of posts addressing how the pastor ought to respond to criticism. In his first post, Mahaney gratefully acknowleges the tremendous gift of having pastored a grateful congregation for 27 years. But even having received what is probably an atypical amount of encouragement he still has learned much from being criticized.

In every church there will be those who are not particularly grateful, who normally communicate with you only in the form of criticism. And to some degree this is the norm for every pastor.

If you are a pastor you will be criticized. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually you will feel the sharp sting of critique.

Those within your church may criticize you, those who leave the church may criticize you, and even complete strangers may criticize you. The criticism will come from enemies and from friends. Some of the criticism will be true, some of it will be false, and some may be outright malicious. But it’s coming—if it hasn’t already arrived.

And there are many reasons why we can expect criticism:

•A pastor can expect criticism because of his own sin, which will inevitably be present in his heart and service, no matter how mature or well meaning he is (James 3:2).
•A pastor can expect criticism because there are limitations to his gifting, meaning there will always be weaknesses in his leadership.
•A pastor can expect criticism because we often preach below-average sermons. (After one sermon, a guy asked me, “So where do you work during the week?” My sermon apparently gave him the impression that preaching wasn’t my vocation.)
•A pastor can expect criticism because people can be proud and ungrateful.
•A pastor can expect criticism because, well, it is a sinful and fallen world.

But we as pastors often forget one more important reason:

•A pastor can expect criticism because it is part of God’s sanctification process—a tool that he uses to reveal idols and accelerate the pastor’s growth in humility.

Read the entire post HERE.

C.J. Mahaney at T4G

T4G 2010 -- Session 9 -- C.J. Mahaney from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

Biblical Manhood with C.J. Mahaney

In this interview C.J. Mahaney tackles some important questions:

• How can a young man be wise and how should fathers lead their sons?
• How can men mature in leading their wife and children?
• How can men seek fellowship and invite criticism?
  
  

Q&A on Biblical Masculinity from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

C.J. Mahaney on "Expository Faithfulness"

From the "God Exposed" Conference:

Expository Faithfulness from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.