Sermons from the Moorpark Presbyterian Church

When a Leader Falls

by Dave Wilkinson

2 Chronicles 33:1-13

November 15, 1998

Shortly after Gerald Ford became president, a reporter asked him if he would be holding private worship services in the White House as Richard Nixon had done. The implication was that the worship services were not much good, seeing as how Nixon lied to the people, committed crimes and was impeached. Ford replied, "There are enough pulpits and synagogues in this nation to set the moral compass. We don't need to have private worship in the White House."

Ford was saying something very important. He was saying that it is the responsibility of the religious community to set the moral compass. We can’t turn the job over to Hollywood -- or Washington. So I want to speak about morality that impinges on and informs politics. For we are living in a time when there is a tremendous discussion taking place about sin and forgiveness and accountability.

As I start, I want to lay out my prejudices -- where I’m coming from.

I am not an inveterate Clinton hater. While I don’t agree with everything he has done or with every position he takes, I believe that he has shown himself to be largely competent in his job. It’s true that he hasn’t had to face many major challenges that he has not created for himself. But since major challenges are usually wars or economic collapse, that is fine with me.

However, as a Christian and as a pastor I must say that I am concerned about the man’s character. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:9 that we are not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister in Christ who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. We are not to even eat with such a one." I wonder if that includes dinner at the White House? I am very concerned when I see pictures of President Clinton walking out of one church or another waving his Bible toward reporters. It is not a good witness to have someone who claims to be a brother in Christ who lives the way he lives. That’s why Paul writes what he writes.

I have also become more cynical. It Is not that President Clinton doesn’t look and sound sincere when he repents. The trouble is that he always sounds sincere. He sounded sincere when he looked the nation straight in the televised eye and denied any kind of improper relationship with "that woman Monica Lewinsky." I do not doubt that he looked very sincere when he told his wife that there was no truth this time to the rumors -- so that she stood by her man in the face of the ‘vast right wing conspiracy." It is offensive that the President has show such callous disregard for the public humiliation of trusting associates. He not only deceived them but also used them to maintain his deception.

I think it’s fair to say that Bill Clinton does sincerity very well -- even when later events prove that he was lying through his teeth. So why should we believe him now? And even if we do believe that this time he’s really, really sorry, what does that mean to us as Christians and as citizens?

Now President Clinton is hardly the first leader to fall into sin. In fact, compared to some of the Old Testament leaders like King David or King Manasseh, a lot of our modern sinners are lightweights — not that I’m complaining.

I believe that the story of Manasseh is especially instructive for us as we consider our own situation. This is because the story of Manasseh deals with sin, repentance, forgiveness and consequences.

Manasseh was the son of the great and godly King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had stood strong for God’s truth all the years of his long reign. Manasseh was a different kind of king altogether. To him the command "don’t do this" was a challenge. Manasseh pulled down what his father had built up, and built up the idol temples which his father had pulled down. Manasseh did not sin in secret. When he put up an idol he did not set it up in an obscure part of the land. He put it in the very temple of God. He even offered his own children as human sacrifices in the Valley of Gehenna.

Manasseh was flat out hooked on evil. Since he wasn’t a leader in a democracy and couldn’t be impeached, he could be very blatant about it. And yet, in spite of all his evil, Manasseh was saved. This man was at last, by divine grace, humbled and brought to his knees to acknowledge that God was God alone. But it didn’t happen until he was hooked by the Assyrians. Verse 11 "Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers."

Now note first that Manasseh was not moved to repentance until he was hooked. And note second that a repentance that comes about only because a person is hooked can still be a genuine repentance. God accepted it as real and Manasseh demonstrated its reality by how he lived the rest of his life. Note third that the hook of the King of the Assyrians became the best thing that ever happened to Manasseh. As a result of being hooked by an "enemy" a sinner can end up being hooked on God.

In the same way, Bill Clinton may one day come to see the hook of Prosecutor Ken Starr as the best gift God ever gave him -- good because it is the hook that can open the way to true personal renewal.

Now I am sure that King Manasseh did not at first see the hooks of the Assyrians as God’s good gift. Bill Clinton is no different. Clinton sent out his spinmeister, James Carville to say: "What the man [Starr] ought to do is close up his little obsessive sex shop and go back to whatever he's doing. And I'm saying this: that this little pygmy of a public man, Ken Starr, this is all he's got'. This is his last dying gasp to save his reputation for history, and it's not going to work."

I think James Carville owes Ken Starr an apology. So does Bill Clinton who sent him out. But no one welcomes the hook when it first appears. Manasseh didn’t. Bill Clinton didn’t. And Gordon MacDonald didn’t.

Pastor Gordon MacDonald is not a stranger to sin and brokenness. MacDonald was the pastor of the largest evangelical church in New England and a successful author. But while he was pastor at Grace Chapel he engaged in an adulterous affair. He later broke the affair off, resigned from the church and, after a brief stint with World Vision, became president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Then the hook appeared. He received an anonymous letter threatening to expose the affair. MacDonald resigned from InterVarsity and made himself accountable to the Elders at Grace Chapel. After a lengthy period of intensive spiritual, emotional and marital therapy and spiritual accountability, the Elders of Grace Chapel officially restored him to ministry. This was a refreshing model of biblical restoration, especially in light of the then-recent Bakker/Swaggart fiascoes.

On Friday morning. last September 11, President Clinton spoke to a small, select group of pastors in the White House that included Gordon MacDonald. His speech was very different from the angry August 17th address. On September 11, President Clinton threw off his "prideful coat" and put on a cloak of brokenness. There was no lashing out at Ken Starr or anyone else. He spoke in length of repentance and called his new repentance "genuine and sustained.."

Clinton claimed "I have repented...I will continue on this path, seeking pastoral support and that of other caring people so that they can hold me accountable for my own commitment...What my Bible calls a 'broken spirit' is an understanding that I must have God's help to be the person I want to be..."

On September 13, two days after this breakfast, MacDonald spoke to the congregation of Grace Chapel. In his sermon he said of Clinton, " No one could have been present and retained a disbelieving, a cynical, a hardened attitude toward this man who opened his heart and acknowledged his realization of his sin. Regardless of what happens in the future, that was a moment when the President attempted to fulfill everything that is demanded in the act of public repentance."

Now as a parenthetical note, let me observe that what MacDonald says here is not completely accurate. There is a requirement of Biblical repentance that is seemingly not yet fulfilled by President Clinton -- that being a heartfelt willingness to accept the consequences for the wrong he has done.

MacDonald continues: "Last Monday the President called me. He had read my book Rebuilding Your Broken World a second time and felt that there were things in the book that we needed to talk about. Having had some extensive experience in the subject of what we Biblical people call brokenness, I could sense his own brokenness after the first few minutes of the conversation. Like most others who have been publicly exposed in a terrible sin, the President had faced up to the reality of his deeds in a series of steps--almost like descending a staircase -- about ten days ago, the larger realities began to sink in, and the President began to see the full extent of what he and the rest of the nation were facing. He began to express himself no longer as the victim, no longer as the target of a conspiracy, but as a sinner with no defense or excuse. You heard him say this on Friday.

"This is what I had sensed as we talked on Monday evening. That evening President Clinton asked me if I would become a part of a small accountability group that would deal with the spiritual realities of his life and help him walk his way through a personal restoration process. On Thursday night it was my privilege to spend the night at the White House and to join the President and the First Lady for several hours of discussion. The President and I sat alone late into the night talking about the future, not in political terms but spiritual.

MacDonald writes, "My role, along with the other members of this unique group, is not political. We are not concerned with the political ramifications of the hour, only the spiritual -- which is to say that we are more concerned about Bill the man, the husband, the father, the working man, than we are about President Clinton. Others who have their experience in political leadership will have to deal with those matters."

So what do we do with this?

Although President Clinton did seem extremely "real" in his apology to religious leaders - we must ask the question: Is he truly sorry or is it just another cover-up? Is he using respected religious leaders like Bill Hybels, Tony Compolo, and Gordon MacDonald to shield himself as he has used others in the past. For the sake of his soul, I earnestly hope not. But Sam Donaldson, from ABC news, reported that Donna Shalala, the Health and Human Resources Secretary, scolded Clinton on his lack of obligation concerning morality and was "appalled at his behavior." Clinton retaliated by claiming that if this virtuous leadership was a requirement for the White House, then JFK would never have been elected. Unfortunately that reported conversation apparently happened the exact same evening as he stayed up late with Gordon MacDonald in deep awareness of his sin -- apparently during a break in his talk with MacDonald.

Is Clinton really and truly sorry or just sorry he's been caught? I don’t know and you don’t know. But if the repentance is not yet real., we need to pray that God will use a strong enough hook to make it real. We will know that it is real when the last essential element of biblical repentance is fulfilled -- when Bill Clinton demonstrates that he is willing to take the consequences for what he has done. I will be very curious to see how the process of spiritual accountability continues now that the mid-term elections broke his way.

We all know what happened. Why did it happen?

First, we need to be very clear that nothing happened that Bill Clinton could not have prevented.

Last January Billy Graham appeared on the "Today Show." He told viewers that he forgives President Clinton because "I know the frailty of human nature. He has such a tremendous personality that I think the ladies just go wild over him."

I have the greatest respect in the world for Billy Graham. But I think he’s being a bit generous in his allowances -- especially since, at that time, Clinton was still claiming that there was nothing to forgive.

The Bible says it differently. In I Corinthians 10:13, Paul writes: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out that you can stand up under it."

Bill Clinton had a choice. But its hard to make a choice when you’re hooked on evil, or hooked in power, or hooked on the adrenaline that comes from risk. And I believe that Bill Clinton is hooked.

That is why I also believe that he cannot continue to serve as President of the United States. By way of comparison, a pastor who is caught up in sexual sin is made to resign from the pulpit. That’s also true in business, government, and in the military. It’s not just punishment and it’s not just disgust. It is because it’s impossible for a person to get the healing that is needed and, at the same time, be in a high pressure place of service. I am concerned for the nation. But I am also concerned for Bill Clinton. And I do not believe that he can be made whole and serve as President at the same time.

Sexual sin does not just happen. It comes from somewhere. The length of the sexual involvement with Lewinsky, as well as other sexual immoralities which the President has confessed to, show that his bad judgment and lack of self-control and willingness to take reckless risks for nothing more than personal gratification are not the lapse of a one night stand in a life of stability and virtue. It is evidence of a long and deep pattern of failed judgment, immoral inclinations, and disregard for numerous sacred commitments both public and private.

I believe that Representative Paul McHale, a Democrat from Pennsylvania hit the nail on the head when he said of Clinton during the debate on launching the impeachment probe: "His actions were not inappropriate; they were predatory, reckless, breathtakingly arrogant for a man already a defendant in a sexual harassment suit."

Living on the adrenaline edge -- the thrill of almost getting caught is a bad thing to have in a President. There’s to much at stake in the world to entrust leadership to a pathological risk taker. And it is hard to entrust leadership to a person who has shucked and jived so often that it’s hard to know if they even know that they are telling the truth.

I'd like to read from a letter that was written by a former California State Senator at the time of his resignation: "Over a period of years I drank the heavy wine of power and influence. My priorities in office became distorted. Success and recognition were foremost. Honesty and adherence to the law were not at the center of my focus. Like some others before me, I placed undue emphasis on raising funds,

on achieving political status and on impressing my friends....When you are willing to walk close to the line; whether for political success, personal gain or to help your friends, you risk waking up one day to find out that you have long since crossed the boundary that you vowed you would never cross. That is where I find myself today."

Power is a very seductive thing. It seduces people in politics, it seduces people in business and I have seen it seduce people in the church. What happens is that people begin to believe that they are the exception to the rule: that they are no longer accountable and because of their position, whatever they do is appropriate. The presidency of the United States of America does not belong to Bill Clinton anymore than it belonged to George Washington or than it will belong to any succeeding president. It is a position that is given to a person for a period of time. It is something which we entrust to them and we expect them to hold with a tremendous amount of respect, and to execute those responsibilities in a way that brings honor both to them, to the presidency and to the country.

I don’t question Bill Clinton’s ability. He’s very bright. But performance is not the only thing that matters. There is a question of character.

The president of Johns Hopkins University was quoted in the November 11, 1980 U.S. News and World Report as saying, "Our universities are turning out nothing more than highly skilled barbarians." He is saying that there’s a difference between competence and character. I am reminded of the man who was fluent in five languages -- that’s competence -- but who could not be trusted to tell the truth in any of them -- that’s character.

Character does matter. You can't run a family, let alone a country, without it. How foolish to believe that a person who lacks honesty and moral integrity is qualified to lead a nation and the world! I am shocked though not surprised that a majority of our fellow citizens continue to say that the president is doing a good job even if they don't respect him personally. Those two positions are fundamentally incompatible. In the Book of James the question is posed, "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?" (James 3:1 The answer is "no."

Our challenge here is not to think as Democrats or as Republicans but as followers of Jesus Christ. Regardless of what some from both parties think, there is a difference.

As the people of Jesus Christ, We need to watch our mouths. Clinton’s legacy to history may be a dirty joke. But those jokes should never be passed on by us. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13 that love does not "rejoice in iniquity." He writes in Ephesians that we are to let no unwholesome word proceed from our mouths.

Second, We need to be aware of the possibility of ongoing national rot from this incident and help move to prevent it. What happens to Bill Clinton is important. But what happens to nation is also important. Manasseh repented and Manasseh was forgiven. But he still destroyed the nation and his own children His son Amon, the next King followed in the steps of his father in his wickedness but not in his righteousness. Manasseh finally repented. But the nation never recovered. He had spread too much rot in the moral and religious life of the nation for the nation to survive.

Third, as the people of Christ We need to be in prayer. We need to pray for Bill Clinton and for his family We need to pay for our representatives in Congress who face such an awesome task. We need to pray for a lost young woman named Monica Lewinsky. Above all, We need to pray for our nation. For bad behavior by leaders has ongoing consequences not just for the leader but for the people.

Fourth, as the people of Jesus Christ We need to be always ready to welcome genuine repentance. That means that We may be fooled at times but We are called to a lifestyle of vulnerability. In the words of Gordon MacDonald to his congregation, "If the President's repentance is false or short-termed, that will show in time, and We will have to swallow hard and admit that We were taken in. It wouldn't be the first time nor the last that the Christian community extended its hand of grace and had it bit off ." However, as the people of Jesus Christ, as those who have received mercy, We must treat seriously any attempt at renewal by a self-proclaimed sinner who asks for forgiveness.

No one above the law -- the law of the United States or the law of God.. What happens to Bill Clinton is more important than what happens to in his Presidency. He may go down in history as a dirty joke and still be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And that is much more important than what is written in the histories of the world.