Secret Rooms: When Leaders Hide Their Sin
What’s that one room that nobody sees in your house?
We all have that one room…or closet…or drawer… that seems to become a catch-all for storage and extra stuff that we really should get rid of, but never do. Or maybe I am the only one? If we aren’t careful to watch over our lives, we can end up doing the same thing in the rooms of our heart. Many people try to keep a secret about their past or present choices. We may be able to keep it from people for a time, causing us to believe that we can keep it a secret from God.
The sobering reality is that there is no such thing as secret sin. The truth is that God sees. He sees it all. We cannot forget Jesus’ words recorded in Luke 8:17, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
Already here at the beginning of this year, many people have been devastated to learn that some influential leaders in the Christian world had “secret rooms” filled with choices that were not just sinful and immoral, but also criminal. I know that my heart is deeply grieved for the victims, as well as for the way this hypocrisy causes people to view the church.
The Need for Integrity
In Ezekiel 8, there is a wild passage of Scripture (as most of the book is, to be honest) where Ezekiel is led in a vision by a fiery figure of light (possibly Jesus) to the temple in Jerusalem. Inside the temple he is told to look into a hole in the wall, and when he does he sees the abominable secret sins that the elders, the spiritual leaders of Israel, had committed. (I encourage you to go read the whole passage for yourself. It will blow your mind.)
I find it interesting that in order to see what was going on, Ezekiel had to look deep into the walls of the temple. This is such a powerful parallel to the new covenant reality of us being the temple of the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus. I see from this passage that it is possible for people to proclaim an allegiance to Christ, yet tolerate a dualistic lifestyle in the “secret rooms”. Though we are a “chosen people” and a “royal priesthood”, as described in 1 Peter 2, many forfeit holiness and fill their hearts with decisions that are abominable to God.
Now, each of us have areas of our lives where we are particularly prone to temptation and sin. That unique area of struggle may because of your experiences, family of origin, or personality. We do have a great hope that is found in the Holy Spirit’s desire and ability to sanctify us. Sanctification is the continual work that goes on in the life of anyone who has come to salvation through Jesus and has been born again as a child of God.
God is committed to each of His children being transformed into the likeness of Christ, where we grow from glory to glory.
The Need for Sanctification
I see a danger in today’s church culture: we are blurring the reality of sanctification with the amazing promise of justification. Justification is what happens on the front end of your faith in Christ. If you repent from sin and trust in the finished work of Jesus, you are justified. The justice of God has been satisfied in Christ for your sin because of His death on the cross. You get to go free from the penalty.
When we lump together these two beautiful works of God—justification and sanctification—it leaves people thinking that because they have repented from sin when they came to Jesus, they no longer need to repent from current sin. Jesus’ death is sufficient for all of our sin, but it in no way means that we get to continue on in a pattern of sin without repentance. The evidence that you have repented and trusted in Jesus is that you are continuing to repent and trust in Jesus.
The Need for Repentance
I want to be very clear: if you are stuck in a pattern of sin, there is so much grace available for you to be forgiven and healed. That being said, if you are continuing to willfully participate in sexual immorality, I want to warn you of the eternal consequences. You may have a theological standpoint where you believe that once you are saved there is nothing you can do to lose that salvation. If this is the case I’d encourage you to look at the following passage from Hebrews:
Hebrews 12:15-17 (ESV)
“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”
The author of Hebrews is very purposeful to bring up this past story about Esau as a picture of what could happen to us if we are not purposefully fighting against immorality. Remember this is a New Testament writing that is meant to shine the light of the New Covenant we have in Jesus. He speaks of the Old Testament story (found in Genesis chapter 25) of how Esau surrendered up his birthright because of a momentary desire for a bowl of stew. He saw himself as starving and in that short-sightedness, he gave over his birthright to have his hunger satisfied.
When he came to his senses and saw what had happened, he was heartbroken and filled with regret, but not repentance.
He only saw his sin for how it effected him and not for who he had sinned against. This is the difference between world sorrow and godly sorrow that 2 Corinthians 7:10 refers to. Godly sorrow is the God-focused repentance from sin that leads to eternal life. It is not the repentance that is focused only on ourselves and the consequences we now have to suffer under.
I have often seen that there is a potency in sexual immorality that brings about the hardening of someone’s heart. All sin is equal in the fact that it will separate you from God, but not all sin is equal in its effects in our lives. But don’t lose hope. There is still a promise for you today if that is where you are at.
James 4:8-10 (ESV)
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
The type of repentance we see in this verse is the type that is focused on God, rooted in humility and motivated to let go of sin, letting God into the secret rooms of our heart.
The Need for Confession
God instructs everyone—all who claim to be disciples of Jesus—to confess our sins to Him for the purpose of forgiveness. He also emphasizes that we need to live in vulnerable community with one another, confessing to each other for the sake of healing. Leaders and lay people alike, if today you are recognizing that you’ve been living with unconfessed, secret sexual sin, I want to implore you to talk with someone you trust about it. Someone who will remind you of the truth and grace of God and pray with you as you step into the journey of overcoming, and hold you to a high standard of righteousness. Everyone doesn’t have to know everything about you, but someone should know everything.