Stop Putting People on Pedestals!

By: Pastor Alex Dotson

April 21st, 2021

John 3:27-30, ESV

27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This passage is a lesson for all leaders within the church. An example for those who proclaim the Gospel. This is not about us. Yet too many leaders make this work all about them, or their followers do. Sometimes without even realizing it until it is too late.

There is a section on my bookshelf that is reserved. One half of this section is called the “heresy” section. I sometimes wonder how these books even got on my shelf. I don’t recall ever spending money on a book that I consider heretical. I kept them because if I am going to refute heresy, I need to know what I am refuting. As for the second half, I know exactly where these books came from. I know because I bought them. I remember getting these writings and being so excited to read them. I remember reading through them and gaining so many new insights on my spiritual walk with Jesus. They had been written by men that I had looked up to. Men that I thought were such spiritual and theological giants in our time. I also remember being so disappointed when I would eventually learn how far from Jesus the authors really were. This section is unnamed because I struggle to come up with an actual name for it. The only word that comes to mind is disappointment.

It is disappointing to find out that the authors who wrote some of the books in this section were once held in high-regard and yet it was a façade. They were put on a pedestal, a high place in our hearts, but the pedestal does not belong to them nor us. When they sinned, their failure is multiplied. And it wasn’t just that they sinned, for everyone sins and those of us in the church should be the first to say we still struggle. It is that instead of repenting of sin when confronted they tried to bury it to maintain a false reputation. Their image was more important to them than the damage it would cause to their brothers and sisters in the church. The truth will eventually come out though. When it does, these people leave behind a wake of hurt and disappointment. The leaders we looked up to were not who we thought. And as I contemplate this, I ask myself the question, “Should I even read their writings anymore?”

Over the years though, I have kept a lot of those books. Why? As a two-fold warning. First, we cannot put people on pedestals. When we see or look up to someone in leadership, we tend to create a perfected image of themselves in our head. Then when the truth comes out, that these people are in fact flawed humans like the rest of us, one of two things happens. We fall in denial, because what does it say about us when someone we held in high regard turns out to be a fraud? Or we get so disappointed and so doubtful that we begin to wonder if it is all a sham. This is a warning that even those within the church are still flawed, that even the best of us can fall.

The second warning is that we cannot put ourselves on pedestals. We in leadership have a tendency to want to make ourselves look good. This can go so far that we think we are the lynchpin to this machine. Pride goes before the fall. When we think this way, it leaves us open to sin. When we fail, we try and cover up those failings, and we keep going down this spiral until it is too late. We are not the top of this pedestal nor are we ever meant to be. While we are valuable in essence to a loving God, in terms of function we are nothing more than just cogs in His machine.

There is only One who belongs at the top of the pedestal of our hearts, and that is Jesus. John the Baptist told his followers that he was not the Messiah. His followers had thought that John might be, but John knew that the pedestal did not belong to him, nor did he want it. Putting a mere human on a pedestal is only a recipe for disaster, a pathway to sin and destruction. The only one who belongs on the top of the pedestal is Jesus. It is Jesus who is the true source of hope. It is Jesus who is the true way of life. It is Jesus who will always succeed. Jesus will never fail us. We need to remember this as leaders around us fail, the true leader and Lord will never fail. This is why no matter how many books someone writes, no matter how well they might write valuable truths, only Jesus belongs on the top of our pedestals. We all must decrease because putting ourselves on the pedestal will lead to failure. He must increase because the pedestal belongs to Him!

Any questions or comments? Email Pastor Alex at alexd@vsbcfamily.org