A few days ago I received an email sent to all students, staff, and alumni of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. The email from Dr. Akin was an essay concerning Integrity in Ministry. In Part 1 of this post I am merely going to attach this email. Afterwards, I would love to hear what everyone else thinks about what Dr. Akin has written or what your thoughts on the subject are. In Part 2 I will discuss the essay and hopefully will discuss what everyone else has commented.

Here is the email:

Integrity In Ministry: A Word From The President’s Heart

By

Daniel L. Akin

For 30 plus years I have been burdened for the personal integrity of those in the ministry. The reasons are simple. Integrity is a biblical requirement (1 Tim 3:1). And, the respect for those in ministry is at a low ebb, especially in our nation. Of course one major area of importance is how ministers conduct themselves with the opposite sex. I have always challenged fellow pastors to make a rock solid, non-negotiable commitment: “I will never be alone with a woman who is not my wife.” This commitment and conviction has not always been applauded. I have been accused of being a Pharisee, legalist, sexist and Neanderthal. I was once accused of having “psycho-sexual hang-ups in need of therapy!” But praise God and by His grace, I have never been accused of adultery because in almost 30 years of marriage, I have never been alone with a woman other than Charlotte. I have no plans to change this.

Sexual temptation is a powerful reality, and a wise person will never forget that no matter how much you love Jesus, “the wrong person plus the wrong place plus the wrong time will equal the wrong thing happening.” Look no further than to the tragic story of King David, a man the Bible says was after God’s own heart.

Sexual immorality exacts a heavy price tag. It will cause you to dishonor Christ, wound the church, break the heart of your mate and lose forever the respect of your children. That is a price only a fool would pay.

This issue was brought to my mind again in a recent blog by my friend Ed Stetzer. By the way, I am excited to tell you that Dr. Stetzer is going to join our faculty as a visiting research professor. Personally I am thrilled we will get to share him with our friends at LifeWay. In Ed’s blog he referenced the “The Commandments for Saddleback Staff” by Rick Warren. Here is Rick’s list.

1. Thou shalt not go to lunch alone with the opposite sex.*

2. Thou shalt not have the opposite sex pick you up or drive you places when it is just the two of you.*

3. Thou shalt not kiss any attender of the opposite sex or show affection that could be questioned.*

4. Thou shalt not visit the opposite sex alone at home.*

5. Thou shalt not counsel the opposite sex alone at the office, and thou shalt not counsel the opposite sex more than once without that person’s mate. Refer them.

6. Thou shalt not discuss detailed sexual problems with the opposite sex in counseling. Refer them.

7. Thou shalt not discuss your marriage problems with an attender of the opposite sex.

8. Thou shalt be careful in answering emails, instant messages, chatrooms, cards or letters from the opposite sex.

9. Thou shalt make your co-worker your protective ally.

10. Thou shalt pray for the integrity of other staff members.

*The first four do not apply to unmarried staff.

These are wise words for any minister of any sex or age. These are principles that will help us in finishing the race well for King Jesus. Integrity as it relates to your sex life is not optional for the minister of the gospel. It is essential. Take the high road in this area. Be cautious and be careful. Stay close to Jesus and stay close to your mate. End your race with no regrets. It will glorify God, and you will be glad you did. I love you, and thank God for the honor of serving you here at Southeastern Seminary. What a blessed man I am.

I use Google analytics to track what is happening on my blog. I get to see which pages are most popular, how long people spend at my blog, and also what people search for to end up on my blog. Here are the top 11 funniest searches I’ve had in the past 30 days (in no particular order).

01. “what’s a handbasket and why do we got to hell in one?” – Isn’t it obvious?

02. should christians believe in santa claus – Yes.

03. muslim vs. baptist – The fight of the century!

04. i need molds of the ten commandments – Don’t we all.

05. how to have church without programs book – I recommend the Bible.

06. help, i don’t want to go to church – Help?

07. thigs to be thankful to god for – Google, peanut butter, and two-ply toliet paper.

08. notes on how to have to be a good pastor wife – Amen.

09. is it biblical to pay church volunteers? – Volunteer?

10. god bless me just a little – Me too.

11. churches say they will forgive if you pay us money – Me too!

A while ago I shared with you some ideas I had about The Ten Commandments?… or lack of ten commandments. Well in some of my spare time I have been looking over these verses to check and recheck the things that I had discovered. I in no way want to say that the ten commandments (as we call them) do not exist, if they actually do.

So, I searched around for the word “tablets.” The only conflicting hit I got was Deuteronomy 5:22. Right after Moses tells Israel the “ten commandments” he tells them:

These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

So these are this is what I am seeing:
Exodus 20 – First time we see the list of items we call the ten commandments. (Followed by some dialog and more laws)

Exodus 24 – Something slightly new happens, Moses and about 73 others go up to the Mountain to worship God. God says in Exodus 24:12b “I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” (This occurs after Exodus 20 chronologically, but God obviously could have written Exodus 20 on the tables beforehand).

Exodus 31 – God tells Moses some things seemingly unrelated to the “ten commandments” or a possible covenant… but Exodus 31:18 – “When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.”

Exodus 32 – Things get a little sticky, Moses comes down, sees that the Israelites have been naughty – and Moses smashed the tables (of the testimony).

Exodus 34 – God tells Moses to cut two more stones and God will rewrite what He had written previously. As I stated in my previous post on the ten commandments, it is here when God lists what seems to be a covenant. At the end of this speech from God, we read this:

Exodus 34:28-29 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.

NOTE: This is the first of three places that the phrase “ten commandments” occurs in the Bible. And the word “commandments” isn’t actually there, it is interpreted as “commandments” but could be “words, things, etc.”

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Now enters Deuteronomy. Exodus has finished without any further use of the word “tablets” or phrase “ten commandments.”

Deut. 4:13 – This is the second place of three that the phrase “ten commandments” occurs. Referred as God’s covenant with Israel. It seems like this text is just recalling what has already took place.

Deut. 5:22 – This immediately preceeds what we call the ten commandments. It is the only text that can actually support calling them the ten commandments (not sure how loosely). Here is what it looks like:

Commandment 1-10 then “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”

Deut. 9:9-11 – This is pretty interesting. Again, we see the tablets called the “tablets of the covenant” two times. In verse 10 though we have a pointer back to what is written on these tables, “all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.”

Deut. 9:15,17 – The sticky situation again, Moses smashes the tablets.

Deut. 10:1-5 – Moses goes back up the mountain, God rewrites the “ten commandments” (third occurance) and they are referred to as the things that God “had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.”

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So, what was said “on the mountain from the midst of the first on the day of the assembly”?

Starting in Exodus 19:28, we read, “Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently . . . .”

We know that all of Israel was afraid and they wouldn’t do what God asked of them. So Moses and Aaron went up the Mountain, then starting in Exodus 20:1 we receive what we commonly referred to as the “ten commandments.” But it does not end there. It continues with ordinance upon ordinance until Exodus 24:3. In 24:4 we see that Moses “wrote down all the words of the LORD,” “Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!’” He even took blood and “sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’

A few verses later, God tells Moses to “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

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I have not yet come to a conclusion. Any of your thoughts are welcome.