I can’t remember the first time I ran across the passage that I’m about to cite. It has always stuck with me, and it has come to my mind again in recent weeks.
Exodus 20 is best known for the Ten Commandments (vs. 1-17). But there’s a section that contains instructions for worship, and these instructions include the way the altars were to be built:
‘And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’
Exodus 20:26
The altar was not to include stairs or platforms. It was a place to worship God, and there was no space for man to be elevated. He who led worship would be on equal ground with His fellow worshipers. He was, after all, just another man who had been delivered from slavery by a Holy God. His role in leading was a gift of grace, not a promotion merited by his own achievement.
This verse has repeatedly come to my mind as formerly secret sins of well-known pastors and Christian leaders have become public knowledge. This phenomenon is nothing new, but it seems that scandalous news travels faster than the speed of light in the age of social media.
These scandals, of course, are primarily a failure of an individual’s personal integrity. They are a reminder that I, too, am capable of deceiving myself into making catastrophic decisions.
But I believe there is another issue (besides social media) that contributes to these scandals and widens their impact: we have created a celebrity culture in Christian ministry. This culture elevates flashiness over faithfulness and “success” over substance. We readily put men on pedestals, only to be bitterly disappointed when they fall.
One more thing: I recognized the risk of allegorizing the Holy Scriptures. By allegorizing I mean attaching symbolic meaning to the text that the Holy Spirit never intended.
But I can’t get away from this thought when reading Exodus 20:26: put man on a pedestal and you are likely to see a side of him that is less than flattering.
We need more altars and fewer pedestals.
