A Contrast in Two Deaths

At the risk of sounding insensitive I wanted to write about something that has been gnawing in the back of my head about the life and death of two Christian leaders. One was Dr. John Stott and the other was Zachary Tims. One was a well-respected theologian, churchman, and author, the other was a mega-church pastor prominently featured on TBN and in circles that many would consider heterodox. One considered celibacy to be his lifelong calling and never wavered in his commitment, the other was disgraced by an affair and a divorce. One was a lifelong evangelist passionate for the gospel, preaching on health, wealth, and personal victory marked the other. Both men were considered heroes to those who followed them, and both men recently died within a few weeks of each other. One died in peace surrounded by his friends and family listening to Handel’s Messiah, the other died alone in a hotel room in New York City with a packet of what has yet to be determined, but was most likely narcotics. The work of one was primarily invisible; the work of the other was broadcast on TV stations all over the world. At the eulogy of Tims, Bishop T.D. Jakes said, “"I thought I was the only one who knew how unhappy Zach was, how broken he was, how afraid he was if anybody was to see any flaw in him. He tried hard to heal himself, to fix himself.” At Stott’s eulogy J.I. Packer said, “John Stott was the most modest of men. If he could have briefed me in advance for this message that I am to give now, he would most certainly have said to me, ‘Focus on Christ. Don’t focus on me.’”

I think these two lives, deaths, and eulogies are important to those of us who live in the aftermath of their deaths. Packer said of Stott, “(he) was a man concerned with every breath he took, that everyone to whom he ministered should enjoy the fullness of the full gospel in its truth and in its power, and should not change any part of it because that would mean exchanging the true gospel for a false one.” For Stott the gospel meant liberation from the curse of sin and death. For him it meant that through the work of Christ we have forgiveness of sins and life in the world to come. For Stott the gospel was something that was to be stated clearly, guarded carefully, and he did those things especially against the rise of theological liberalism. For Tims, “(he) conveys a life changing concept that brings divine reversal in the lives of a people hungry for God and ready for change. It speaks to the heart of man, with a balance of practical principles for living a successful and purpose driven life free of sin, sickness, worry, and debt.” Both men would say that salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ and that the forgiveness of sins is through Christ alone. Both men would preach that Christ is to be proclaimed but the content of that proclamation would be radically different. For Stott the gospel is what God has already done for us in Christ. The gospel is what we cling to, it is what sets us apart from every other religion and self help group. For Tims the gospel was primarily a mechanism by which God gives us the things we can receive without him: financial success, vision, purpose, and worry-free living. If Jakes is right then that means that Tims’ drive to heal and fix himself was an exercise in futility. We all struggle with the sin that still resides in us and we never will be perfectly sinless until the parousia, but the great news of the gospel is not that we try to heal ourselves or fix ourselves but that Christ has already done what is necessary to heal us and what is required of us is to repent and to believe.

If you are reading this then please do not think I am making personal judgments or attacks on them, I am only trying to highlight the differences in their belief systems and how their deaths brought these into sharper focus for me (and also why these distinctions matter). I am not saying that Tims was not a Christian but his gospel was troublesome and it is difficult to see Christ in it apart from Christ as the giver of material goods and services. For Stott, Christ was and is the center of everything, not our divine potential for vision casting and purposeful living. I write this knowing that I may be wrong. I did not know either men so I must work from secondary sources like sermons, books, and websites. I think that two men and their deaths are a microcosm of the state of the church in the United States. We are at war with ourselves for the soul of our faith. We are fighting against what I am increasingly calling “cheap gospel” the gospel that gets us what we want rather then what we need. It's possible that the way they both died is in line with the gospels they preached. The more we preach on what we think God wants to do for us materially rather then what God has already done for us in Christ then we will continue as a church culture to grow increasingly unhappy because we do not realize that what God offers to us will outlast any material possessions or “victorious purposeful living” we strive for in this life. GK Chesterton once said, “Jesus promised his disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble." If anyone modeled this, Stott did. All that said, I pray for the families of both men and for the people they influenced. Tims leaves behind an ex-wife and four children and I pray for the Holy Spirit to sustain them in their time of grief. Hopefully through them both God was glorified and that people were brought from death to new life in our Lord Jesus Christ.