Christians NEVER Put the Man of God on the Pedestal!

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There is one thing people have GOT to stop is this- putting the man of God in the pedesal. It's because when they fail, the pulpit falls down as well. One has got to admit that Christians do have their favorite preachers. Some people may like a pastor for being militaristic (but never without gentleness) in their pulpits which is good, others like the pastor because he is very active in doing God's work with the tithes and offerings he is entrusted to by God or that he never hesitates to attack heresies whenever they appear. Yes these are acts that are praiseworthy yet one has to see through that regardless of how great people are, they are still sinners and a Christian's good works are but the grace of God.

The Apostle Paul quoted in Philippians 2:13 for it is God that works in the believer. In Philippians 3 he devotes the whole chapter to writing to God's work in him. He gives no credit to his great deeds but only because of God's grace. As said, a Christian's good work is NEVER their own merit but rather because they are not found having their own righteousness which is of their own (and an unbeliever's good works are but dirty rags before the eyes of holy righteous God- Isaiah 64:6, Romans 10:3) but the righteousness of God in them. So any good work a man of God does is again God working in the believer. For a Christian to do good works it's how much time does he/she spend with God and seek to do God's will. God for a fact changes the life of the believer from sin to service. The question is how much does a person allow God to work in them so they do much for Him.

Great as these people are, they FAIL at times. The Bible even puts examples of great men of God and they FAIL and here are a few examples:
  • Remember Noah was a preacher of righteousness yet soon enough he got DRUNK (Genesis 9:21-27).
  • Abraham though he is a father of faith had his own shortcomings. He lied (Genesis 12:14-20, 20:1-17) and he also lacked the patience for God's promise (Genesis 16:1-15).
  • Isaac also lied that Rebekah was his sister (Genesis 26:1-11).
  • Moses though he is credited for giving the Law had some of his faults. Moses was short tempered which led to these incidents:
    • Moses killed a subordinate of his (Exodus 2:11-15) which soon enough, his supposed legal cousin the Pharaoh (presumably Rameses II) wanted his head for it.
    • Moses out of his anger broke the tablets God wanted him to give to the people when he saw the golden calf that he later had to remake them (Exodus 32, 34).
    • Moses out of his anger struck the rock twice and lost his ticket to the promised land (Exodus 20:1-13).
  • Joshua though he was a man of faith was later deceived by the Gibeonites because he failed to ask God for advice (Joshua 9).
  • The Judges weren't exactly perfect either. Gideon was afraid of everything (Judges 6:11-23), Jephthah made a foolish vow (Judges 11) and Samson wasn't very fully devoted either as he had his infamous affair with Delilah (Judges 16).
  • Though David wrote the Psalms and gave good advice YET nobody can forget his scandalous affair with Bathsheba all because he got idle which resulted to him writing Psalm 51 asking God to restore to him the JOY of his salvation because he was still saved (2 Samuel 11). In 2 Samuel 24, he also had the sin of numbering Israel.
  • Solomon the wisest man who wrote three book of the Bible- Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon had a bad record himself. Solomon knew for well God forbade him from having affairs with the heathen yet he did (1 Kings 11-12). Ecclesiastes in fact showed Solomon repenting of his failure to serve God as his father David did.
  • Though Peter was Jesus' choice has his first appointed pastor among the disciples before more pastors would eventually come later (Matthew 16:16-18), preached the fiery sermon in Acts 2 which brought 3000 new converts all in one preaching in his first day as a pastor, he had his own fair share of failures which are:
    • Peter tried to stop Jesus from doing his work (Matthew 16:23).
    • Peter lost faith when he saw the waves when Jesus told him to come to Him on the water (John 6:16-31).
    • Peter denied he was a believer at least three times despite the fact he boasted he would not. Clearly he had the flaw of pride.
    • Peter also suffered from hypocrisy (Acts 15:1-31).
  • One has to remember at the disciples slept while Jesus was praying (Matthew 26:45).

Looking at this, God chose people not because of who they are but who He is. John 15:16 says that they the true disciples have not chosen Him but He has chosen them instead. He chose them to do His work despite their flaws. As said, it's God who gets the glory and not man because it is He who transforms all the Saul of Tarsus type persons in this world to becoming Apostle Pauls. In fact it is utter blasphemy to even teach that any mere man can confess sins and act as if he were another Jesus because man will always be a sinner and a Christian is but a sinner saved by grace.