The first and the great work of a Christian is about his heart. Do not be content with seeming to do good in ‘outward acts’ while your heart is bad, and you are a stranger to the greater internal heart duties. – Jonathan Edwards 

Sadly, if you’ve been in the Church very long, you’ve witnessed this. Some spiritual leader or Bible teacher that you admired, you hung on their words, you read their books, you loved and honored them and then they came crashing down. Tragically, Satan took out another victim.

One of the great pieces of evidence that the Bible is God’s Word is that it doesn’t read like most biographies. It’s completely objective and brings all the deteriorating skeletons out of the closet for even the seeming heroes. For example, if David had edited the Bible, a few chapters would have been deleted. No doubt Noah would have had his PR people pay off the media so his drunken fit and cursing of his son never made the evening news. “Just remember my rainbow, not my rants.” 

If you keep up with religious news then you know that last week it was reported that Philip Yancey had confessed to an eight-year sinful affair with a married woman. Yancey, a beloved evangelical author and speaker, will retire from public ministry after confessing to adultery. In his letter to Christianity Today where he’d been a columnist and contributor for decades, he wrote: “My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage. It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families.” 

It’s a heartbreaking yet all too familiar tale. Sadly, we’ve seen too many similar stories. No wonder Steve Brown wrote that all his heroes were dead – that way they couldn’t blow it anymore and disappoint him.

Fortunately, unlike too many others, Yancey makes no attempt to gloss over his deeds, blame the victim, or turn this sin into a launching pad for further ministry. His statement shows a solid biblical understanding of the nature of both sin and grace. 

In tragedies like this, it’s easy to be an armchair quarterback or worse, foolishly reason, “I’d never do something like that.” Yancey is 76. He came to Christ at an early age, was raised in the Church and has been immersed in Christianity all his life. No matter our age or situation we must never let down our spiritual guard. Sin is not just for the young or foolish. We must heed 1 Corinthains 10:12, Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. We can’t let down our guard, or it might be us someday. Let me suggest though some warnings for us. 

We must never forget that sexual immorality is powerfully pervasive. 

You’re not reading the Bible well if you don’t see the danger of sexual sin and the destruction it causes. Immorality is one of the ways sin shows up in our lives and wreaks havoc in our world. Yet, we live in a culture that glorifies basically any kind of sexual sin, instead of seeing the catastrophe that sexual sin causes. We minimize the consequences when we should magnify the harm. Heartbroken children, trauma to many, tears and anger that persevere. Emotional and psychological scars that can last a lifetime. 

As Christ-followers, we must vigilantly guard our hearts and minds. We must be transparent with God, our spouse (if married), and with others who will hold us accountable. Then, we must protect our children. The average age a child is given a smartphone in America is 11. If a registered sex criminal lived in your neighborhood, you’d protect your child. Handing a minor a smartphone with no restrictions or accountability is irresponsible. It’s opening a gateway to them for some of the worst deviants in our world. 

We must never forget that righteous indignation can damage our souls.  

Personally, I think it’s possible something else was taking place with Philip, though only the Lord knows. It’s a warning though for all of us. 

Philip and I grew up in the same church in Atlanta, though he’s a bit older than me. Some years ago, we even had breakfast together as he was researching a book because we had similar history and mutual friends. Both of us were raised in legalism and bigotry in the church. As we had breakfast that morning, that was what we primarily discussed. 

For me, leaving legalism and the circle I’d been raised in was hard. It ended up costing me several friends. Yet, as God worked in my heart, I saw how repugnant legalism and the bigotry that I was raised in were to God, yet in my formative years, they were considered “normal.”

When I saw the sin of bigotry, it did two things to me. First, it broke my heart. I remember listening to John Piper share at Moody’s Founders’ Week how he’d been raised in the same subculture and God opened his eyes to its vileness. As I listened to him preach, I began to quietly weep. 

But it didn’t stop there. It also made me very angry and I became self-righteously indignant. It’s a dangerous place to be. Ephesians 4 warns us, Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil (vss. 26-27). The danger of anger is that it so easily succumbs to bitterness…and I was there! I was so mad at legalists and Christian bigots that they were nearly all that I could think about or talk about. Nearly every conversation, especially with friends in the ministry, would circle back to one of those two detestable things. Praise the Lord He convicted me and transformed my vile heart!

We overlook that anger is as spiritually deadly as adultery. Christ-followers can see that sexual sin hurts our spouses and children, among others. Yet, we’re reticent to admit the horrible damage that anger and bitterness cause. While we know that from experience, we often deny it in our own lives. Nearly everyone reading this can remember angry words that were spoken to them by a parent, years or even decades ago, but those hurtful recordings still play in their hearts. 

Sexual sin is a problem in the Church. When we fall for it, we need to confess and repent. Yet, anger and bitterness are similar dangers. They disconnect us from the power of the Spirit. They divide us from our brothers and sisters in Christ who we’re going to spend eternity with. Family fellowship in Christ doesn’t start when we open our eyes in glory. It’s to start now. We must not discard Jesus’ last words to His disciples, By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35). 

I don’t know if righteous indignation set Philip Yancey up for a tragic fall. I do know he struggled with it. And I know that it damages many churches and Christ-followers. It eats away at us from the inside out, hurts our love and fellowship, and damages our testimony before a lost world.