{"id":4177,"date":"2025-04-08T20:44:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=4177"},"modified":"2025-04-08T20:44:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:44:47","slug":"pride-and-plagiarism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2025\/04\/08\/pride-and-plagiarism\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride and Plagiarism"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This devotion is lightly edited from the original, written September 10, 2004.]<\/em><\/p>\n

It all sounds so familiar.<\/p>\n

The senior pastor of a large Charlotte church resigned this week, admitting that over the last two years he has preached sermons from others without attribution.<\/p>\n

Eight months ago I was approached by a member of a church in another state, asking me to listen to tapes from his pastor to discern if he was re-preaching my sermons without attribution. Such was the case \u2013 that pastor preached all 27 sermons in my series on the Gospel of Mark. Listening to this unknown man speaking my words as if they were his own was eerie \u2013 particularly when he told one of my personal stories, saying he was quoting \u201ca missionary,\u201d \u2013 but then, after saying \u201cend quote\u201d, he continued to speak my very words! I felt violated \u2013 just as if someone had broken into my house and rifled through my possessions.<\/p>\n

Why would a pastor do such a thing? The Charlotte pastor says he felt \u201ctired and discouraged,\u201d \u201cdevoid of any creative ability.\u201d The other pastor said he was burned out. Both had tried to resign prior to the plagiarism, and both had been convinced to stay by others in the church.<\/p>\n

But tiredness and a lack of creative energy are not fundamental to this problem. As I told the other pastor, if, upon reading my sermons online, he had contacted me, had told me of the problem, and had asked for permission to re-preach my sermons\u00a0with<\/em>\u00a0attribution, I would have discouraged him from doing so, but nevertheless would have said yes. He could have preached exactly the same set of sermons, trying to restore his energies in the same way, and yet he could have been completely aboveboard with his congregation, while giving proper credit to the author. The Charlotte pastor could have done the same. But both men chose not to do so. Why?<\/p>\n

There is only one answer, and it is an ugly one: Pride. For a pastor to admit to his congregation that he cannot compose a sermon is a statement of weakness, of inadequacy. And most church members do not want inadequate pastors.<\/p>\n

How would you respond if your pastor were to confess, \u201cI am burned out. I need your prayers. My time in the Word is dry. So I\u2019m going to preach for you a fine sermon another man wrote. May God bless you through it.\u201d Would you respond, \u201cHow unprofessional! If I acted that way in my job, I would be fired!\u201d<\/p>\n

Guess what? Every pastor is inadequate for the task. Every pastor is incompetent for the ministry. As Paul says, \u201cNot that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves\u201d (2 Corinthians 3:5). So how much of a pastor\u2019s impact on his congregation comes from\u00a0him?\u00a0<\/em>Nothing \u2013 nothing that is of any ultimate importance. We are not adequate to consider\u00a0anything<\/em>\u00a0as coming from ourselves! But Paul continues, \u201cBut our adequacy is from God.\u201d Pastors must be called and empowered by God to accomplish God\u2019s work in God\u2019s church. Then \u2013 and only then \u2013 will they be adequate, competent, sufficient for God\u2019s task.<\/p>\n

The 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century British preacher Charles Spurgeon admitted<\/a>, \u201cI scarcely ever come into this pulpit without bemoaning myself that ever I should be called to a task for which I seem more unfit than any other man that ever was born. Woe is me that I should have to preach a gospel which so overmasters me, and which I feel that I am so unfit to preach!\u201d If we preachers speak before our congregations with any other attitude, we too will be subject to the bane of pride.<\/p>\n

So what can you do? What attitude should you have toward your pastor?<\/p>\n

First, expect weakness from him. Expect brokenness from him. Know that he struggles with pride and many other sins, and that he needs friendship, support, and accountability before others.<\/p>\n

Second, speak to him about this recent resignation. Tell him that if he ever feels burned out and dry, you will support him in whatever way necessary. Tell him you would much rather he openly preach another man\u2019s sermon than to pretend he is speaking his own words. Remind him that he\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>personally inadequate for his task \u2013 but that God will make him adequate by His power, in part through the prayers of His people. And commit yourself to praying for him.<\/p>\n

Finally, examine your own heart. Is your own pride wrapped up in the status of your pastor? Do you brag to others about his skills and leadership? That\u2019s part of the problem. So many of us put our pastors on a pedestal, and then we pastors feel we must live there, pretending we are perfect, pretending that all is going well, plastering a smile on our faces, effectively lying to our congregations, thinking that if we admit our problems we will damage our peoples\u2019 faith in God.<\/p>\n

Fellow pastors, God has entrusted us with a magnificent ministry \u2013 but He wraps this ministry in the inadequate, weak, easily-broken jars of clay that we are. Our admitting our weakness does not diminish God\u2019s glory \u2013 rather, \u201cwe have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us\u201d (2 Corinthians 4:7). Let the glory of God shine through your weakness, so that all might know that whatever our churches may accomplish,\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0results from God\u2019s power, and not from our professionalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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