 I think it's burdening you down and you've never considered the fact that you've already got what you need So of course God loves everybody. I'll believe God loves everybody. Let me just be real clear That is not what the Bible teaches the Bible does not teach. God loves everybody and they think that Jesus is perfect But you can't have both if Jesus was perfect let alone God then everything he said is Similarly worth hearing and he taught for three years. So not everything he Expounded upon is in the Bible if theoretically some more words of Jesus were discovered They would belong in the Bible, but that's not allowed the Bible's perfect as is either Jesus is perfect or the Bible is not both If anyone should have their household in order it should be a pastor I mean after all the Bible does tell us that a pastor should be able to manage his own household Being a parent is difficult and managing your household is difficult as well Especially if you are a pastor, however We are told according to the scriptures that a pastor must be able to manage his own household If he wants to manage the household of God in other words if he can't take care of his home How is he going to take care of the affairs of a church? But what happens if your child your adult child may not be acting the way that A child of a in this case the famous pastor a man of God should be acting now We are going to look at these three pastors and it's going to bring the light of question Are these pastors responsible for their adult children's behavior when you look at Tony Evans Tony Evans has been in ministry for about 40 50 years He has been a professor at Dallas illogical seminary very successful author He's the pastor of Oakley Bible Fellowship And without question his church has been a beacon of light in the Oakley community area and The same holds true for Charles Stanley who has been a successful pastor in the Atlanta area Is known not just in the area, but also nationally because of his radio and television ministry The same holds true for a John Piper who just like the first to his ministry has touched the lives of a lot of people As a pastor as well as a professor or president emeritus at a seminary And so all three of these men have had something special to offer to the bite of Christ The issue comes up when we look at their children now Obviously, there's going to be someone that's going to have an issue with each one of these men Their doctrine and theology and so forth Maybe some things they've said and so forth Which is going to happen because when you put together all the years that they have been involved in Inserving they're going to be some things they're going to say that's incorrect some things that are misunderstood That happens, but what about their children? That's the issue here. The issue comes up in 1st Timothy Chapter 3 where it says this is a trustworthy saying if anyone aspires to the office of overseer that it's a pastor He desires a noble task Therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife Let's drop to the bottom in verse 4 He says he must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children Submissive for if someone does not know how to manage his own household How will he care for the church or for God's church? So the issue is going to be well then what if their children get out of line? Well, I think there are two different things. We need to look at obviously We're talking about what about if a child is an adult versus a child that's under that particular parents care Well, the Bible is is it's pretty clear that what's preferred to hear is his own particular household And so there's a requirement for this person be able to lead and to govern his own household because he's going to do the same thing in the context of the local church and so if he does not know how to Manage and guide and to rule and to discipline and to lead them and to teach them Then how's he going to do it with people who don't have his best interest at heart in many cases? They don't love him like his children will now the question is going to the question is going to be though as He's managing his children Is it required that his children all of his children while they're while they're growing in his household that they be Christians they be believers because this comes up in Titus, let's look at Titus chapter 1 verse 6 it says This is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained in order and appoint elders Every in every town as I directed you verse 6 it says if anyone is above reproach the husband of one wife And look what it says and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination And so that says that his children have to be believers It literally says the word believers and it says also not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination Now the question is this does it mean that his children have to be actual Christians? Well, it seems to say so The question is going to be though. How does he know? How does a pastor know if his children are actual Christians? The issue is not so much that he knows for sure. They seem to be There are a lot of pastors because think about this how many pastors that are wonderful men of God whose children as they got older may have departed Left what they believe or was indicated we found out that the child was not actually a believer But just kind of going along but they did so in a respectful fashion Well, that kind of is covered in this passage where it says let's pull up again Where it says that not open to the charge of debauchery or in subordination In other words, these are well mannered children who attend church who at least outwardly vocalize that they believe So it's not to say that the pastor has to bat 1,000 or about a hundred percent There's just no way to know if your child is because what if your child looks like they're a Christian in every way shape from a fashion And then when they became when they become an adult We come to find out that that child just was just attending church because they were forced to or they thought it was the right thing to do It does happen because again if we look throughout scripture, we're going to see that a lot of men of God Their children weren't as godly as they needed to have been now think about this for a second We see Isaac's children not so much Jacob though. He had his issues, but certainly a follower of God But what about he saw? What does that impune? Isaac, what about the very first priest of the children of Israel that being Aaron? Well, his children weren't so great either Remember Nate having to be who whom God literally torch for their for their disobedience and we certainly can't forget about David His household was not not the greatest household at all now Someone's gonna say well, yeah, but they weren't pastors Well, you could probably get by with imputing Aaron because he was a priest And that's kind of the role of the pastor today but again, these weren't people that are described in Timothy and in Titus and so I'll grant that but the issue is this There's no one that is bad at a thousand when it comes to the rearing of children Even God who's the greatest of fathers all of his children are wayward all of his children disobedient but Obviously that's a little bit different because he is God What's interesting is we're not told about the Apostles children Obviously, we would assume they had some we would imagine they did although we're not told We're only told about Peter having a wife and His wife's mother being sick, but we're not told about their children And so the issue is that we don't really have a guide from the people that follow Christ Who are also in the position of heads of churches who planted churches? We don't have any any idea of what their lives were like their home lives were we're just not told that But we are told how these pastors how their households have to be again We're talking about the household that they are governing And so it'd be safe to assume that these pastors that were planted that they fit the criteria to a team But what about when they get older and They're in lies the problem Because these might be children who while they were coming up They may have exhibited all the criteria all the traits that were needed for this particular pastor to be qualified But does this pastor become unqualified when his children get older? So before we address that let's look at some of these pastors children reason why he's let you be here this weekend It's because he's gonna call you deep With the intention if you'll follow him a blessing you so big of Performing such an astounding miracle That your outburst of gratitude will look more like just a silent Implosion well and so the issue with Priscilla shire is that she's been charged with one Some issues with with her doctrine. Well that happens But the bigger issue is the fact that here she is though. She's not a pastor She has been levied with this charge of preaching or teaching Over men exercising authority and I know for a fact that at her church that at her father's church That's not allowed. That's not taught but here she is and so what is dr. Evans to do now one of the other issues is that She has been guilty of associating with people who we know are not sound doctrinally and also are heretics And so even if you look in the background you see Priscilla shire there in attendance with John Gray and TD Jakes well, that's just an issue. That's something that should not happen. That's something that should not even be mentioned around her but Because she is maybe trying to let her wings spread a little bit and do her own thing It is indeed a reflection back on her father The question is before we address it though still what is Tony Evans supposed to do with his adult child? Then we look at someone like Andy Stanley who is the son of Charles Stanley But the Christian faith does not rise and fall based on the accuracy or the inerrancy of 66 ancient Documents that we call books of the Bible it rises and falls on the identity of a single individual Jesus of Nazareth, okay, I get all that but Andy the Bible is how we know about the resurrection Actually, it's not we don't know about the resurrection because of the Bible says the Bible says the Bible says but here's the thing Everybody else now knows what else the Bible says creation young earth old earth Levitical law homosexuality. I mean, it's like oh gosh, you know The way we can get there Andy is by saying the Bible says no We don't have to say that if I if I could finish the thought the Bible says that Jesus rose again from the dead No, it actually doesn't say that And so the issue with Andy Stanley is that he has been charged with impugning or even in some cases Seeming like he's discrediting the validity or the necessity of the Bible a certain aspects of the Bible That can be an issue especially for your pastor now He would obviously deny that charge but again That's the criticism that's levied and he has made some statements that says that we say wait a second That's not in keeping with good sound doctrine and again What does that do or how do we address? Charles Stanley his father is he responsible for Andy Stanley's in some cases departure from orthodox Christianity Now the thing about Priscilla Shire and the thing about Andy Stanley They differ to a large degree then John Piper son Abraham Piper You want to know one of the silliest things about being raised about Lee evangelical children are expected to read the Bible You might think of the Bible as for God still loved the world or that one emotionally lucid moment Paul had when he wrote about love And now everyone reads it at their weddings, but those are the boring parts to a kid Anyways while other kids are learning to read with comics or whatever normal parents have around the house here Fundy kids are six seven eight years old devouring stories of Jezebel being Defenestrated and then eaten by dogs if you're deconstructing good for you But if you just want to roll your eyes at how weird it all was that's what I'm here for so someone like like Abraham he does differ from Priscilla Shire and from Andy Stanley the question is though. How does that reflect on his father John Piper now? There are people out there who do not like Charles Stanley there are people out there who do not like Tony Evans There are people out there who do not like John Piper and so you've got these people who are Looking for heretics looking for heresy and sometimes sometimes They're their decision to go looking for heresy will cause them to look for any and everything And so if that person who you think might be a hairist a heretic or has a spouse from heresy Because again not all heresy makes a person and hair to a heretic But if you've labeled this person something you might have the tendency to go out and just look for anything And sometimes these children that they have might be a source For more incrimination a source for whereby they can impugn this person even more. I'll say this That's not right. That's not fair Because I do not believe that a pastor is responsible for the actions of his grown children Meaning this Especially especially when you look at these three children Two of them we can say in the case of Priscilla Shire and in the case of Andy Stanley They are not out to Denigrate or to harm the image of their fathers They clearly love their fathers and they clearly love what their fathers stand for they just they they have gone about it I think in an improper fashion and I don't think it's their intent to impugn God I don't think it's their intent to destroy the gospel I think they may overthink things especially in the case of Andy Stanley and he has kind of gotten off a little bit But do I think that Andy Stanley is a heretic? No, I do not do I think that he says some things that is borderline heresy Yes, again, I don't think that all heresy makes a person a heretic Sometimes it's the intentionality behind it again. I think a heretic is someone who espouses heresy intentionally and Consistently I don't think that's Andy Stanley although I disagree with him on a great many things But at least we can probably say this that he seems to be a person who loves the Lord Or at least is in favor of the Lord though. I think he is overthought some things But he's not trying to bring shame on his father He's not trying I mean his earthly father and he's not trying to bring shame on I don't think the church or his Heavenly Father the same with Priscilla Shire I think she's it got caught up in kind of the way that Society is and she's kind of opening her wings a little bit and wanting to be involved in the ministry in ways that she should not be and Maybe she's skirting ways, but the issue is going to be with her father as well as Charleston now We're not we're not privy to the conversations that they may have We don't know if they've stated. Hey, listen, I disagree with you in this regard If Tony Evans has stated what he agrees with the doesn't agree with his doctrine doesn't seem to line up with some of the things that she stated but What kind of father would come out? I'd know I'd be hard for me to come out and say My daughter's a heretic. I don't I disavow my daughter. I don't as a matter of fact, I don't think that's necessary in this regard but Even if they did even if a pastor were to come out and say my child is In sin or my child has done this my child because some cases pastors children aren't out preaching a gospel That's different or in Abraham Piper's case aren't out Teaching or preaching atheism. No, sometimes the children's the pastor's children are out there. Maybe they're involved in drugs Maybe there are sexualities out there in question Maybe they're doing some other things and so it's not just the things that we see that are just as important It's also things that we don't see we don't hear about this other pastor's Child having children out of wedlock. We don't hear about that. But again, this goes to This person's lifestyle Does that reflect negatively on the the pastor because his child has grown again? I don't think so However, in the case of maybe a John Piper, I think we have to look at his son a little bit differently because His son Abraham is clearly Clearly hostile to the gospel Everything he says is antithetical to the gospel and so it does call him to question how was he raised and Now Now that's just pure speculation There's no way to know who knows what has happened in his life and guess what? He may repent and turn around same thing with the other two They may say that you know what I was wrong on this and and change So does that mean the pastor in some eyes that they will go from being unqualified to now qualified? Remember the role of pastor is made up of people who are imperfect Trying to lead other imperfect people to a perfect savior And so the issue and I heard this quote and I think this is a good way of looking at it That God is not judging parents on the action of their children But judging parents on the actions toward their children in other words We've got someone that's been faithful to the gospel also faithful to his family trying to raise them the best They can and as they get older they may explore some things and then come to find out that I've done it the wrong way I need to go back and listen to my father remember We have this story of the prodigal son who leaves and it's supposed to be a picture of God and the child coming back and so The issue the one that's not in the one that's not impugned in this story is the father Whose son was raised properly? We know so because there's another son who did what was told Raised the right way leaves finds out that he should not have left all the way I mean finds out that he should not have left in the first place remembers that It's better for me to at least be a servant in my father's household and comes back to his father So I think at least for me I would not judge too harshly a person's Adult children I think we are to judge the person's household because that's a that's the issue now if these adult children are living in The pastor's household. Well, that's that's a different story altogether. He's responsible for everything that happens under the roof But when these children leave Quite another story in the case of Abraham Piper It does make you look a little bit closely at an Abraham Piper I mean, it does make you look a little bit closely at a John Piper though He's not a pastor anymore But if you see that that a child is an open rebellion Against the gospel This is something that just happened and someone like a Priscilla Shire who ought not to be Obviously hanging out and courting the friendship of people who are who was there are known heretics and then acting the way that we see is Ungodly and then someone like an Indian Stanley who was not quite as bad probably s We would say probably as bad as a Priscilla Shire definitely not in the same level of a John Piper son Abraham But even still there's some things document He I think he would tighten up but that doesn't that doesn't disqualify Charles Stanley nor do I think that Priscilla Shires actions disqualify Tony Evans, I think that we ought to pray for them in terms of them because it's listen It is difficult for a parent to see his his or her adult child Going in a way that we would think that's not godly, right? And so obviously we won't be in prayer for them But also for someone like it like a John Piper whose son is on his way to hell if he didn't repent and change that has to break a father's heart and so Again, my final conclusion you may disagree with my final conclusion is that I don't think a pastor is Beholding to or subject to being qualified or disqualified based on the actions of his adult children Especially if that child was not raised that way Amen