King David and the King of Pop: What 1-2 Kings can teach us about God's favor and the flawed people upon whom it rests (Part 3)

Last month, I led a breakout session at our denomination's annual national conference. Below is my presentation that was inspired by the 1-2 Kings commentary I co-authored. I am breaking the entire presentation up into three parts, to give emphasis to each kind of flaw and flawed leader. This is the third and final section.

Solomon and Hezekiah were both faithful at times but had their failures exposed and received judgment in undeniable ways. The later King Manasseh represents a third category of flawed leaders.

Manasseh is different in that he does not even pretend to follow the Lord. Despite that fact, by many metrics, he was a very successful ruler. The son of Hezekiah, Manasseh’s reign stands out because reigned as king for fifty-five years. That’s the longest reign recorded in the OT – he was king for a record amount of time, even though 2 Kings depicts him as wicked and unfaithful. 1-2 Kings lists numerous other wicked kings whose time was cut short because they failed to follow God. So what gives with Manasseh? 

Part of the answer is that Manasseh stands as an example of how bad spiritual leaders can sometimes thrive by all appearances. His legacy can teach us that God won’t always eliminate wicked leaders swiftly. 

The one truth we can count on though is that it is devotion to the Lord that is the only measuring stick for success that matters. Short-term prosperity is appealing, and worldly measurements may attract praise. But God is using a different rubric. And anyone serving in leadership of God’s people does well to follow it. Mark Driscoll is currently leading the second megachurch of his career. But there are enough red flags from both ministries to warn us against following, platforming, or supporting him as a spiritual leader.

One additional postscript on King Manasseh. While 2 Kings 21 paints a stark and clear picture of his wickedness, 2 Chronicles 33 offers a parallel account that notes how Manasseh repented of his evil ways after being deposed the Assyrians. It also states that he was actually restored to his throne late in life. The history of 2 Kings points to Manasseh greasing the skids for God’s national judgment on his people, while Chronicles offers the Manasseh as an example of true repentance.

So which is correct, Kings or Chronicles? The narratives compel us to answer “both”. Thanks to having a fuller picture of his life in Chronicles, Manasseh offers us a bonus lesson about how we often must live with the complexity of evil and good that can be found in one’s legacy.

And that complexity can remind us of our first lesson from Solomon. That because leaders can be brazenly immoral but ultimately humbled and repentant – we shouldn’t idolize any one leader or movement or harshly condemn them in judgment, as if we have divine knowledge of their hearts or divine insight into their whole story.

Conclusion

 As a child of the eighties and sports enthusiast growing up, one of my first personal heroes was the great NBA legend, Larry Bird. He was an all-time player: 3 straight MVPS, 3 NBA championships, and he was from Indiana just like me.

Imagine my excitement as an eight-year-old visiting the library and picking up a sports encyclopedia that included a short biographical feature on my favorite player. I ate up every detail about his background, college career, work ethic, accomplishments on the court.

Now also imagine my shock, when me - the baptized, church-going naïve young Christian - is reading this book and I come across this paragraph praising Bird for being such a down to earth regular guy, ‘Who loves nothing more than to have a beer while having a good time with this buddies.’

My poor innocent conscience was fractured. “What? He likes to drink alcohol? You mean Larry Bird might not be a good church-going Christian like me?”

Let’s put aside the fact that I had this assumption that Christians didn’t drink. All of a sudden this pure view of the world had changed. In my own sort of way, I had to think through how I viewed my heroes and the world at large.

Looking back, I realize that’s a simplified version of a more complicated process I want to offer us as we continue to wrestle with the tension of looking up to spiritual heroes who might get unmasked as wretched sinners. What are we to do when it happens to our favorite author, musician, preacher? What happens when it is our mothers or fathers?

Do we dismiss offenses as no big deal? Automatically condemn and angrily pile on with the mobs? And how are we to reconcile God’s apparent favor blessing these ministers and ministries that have such significant problems?

God’s temporary blessing is not an unqualified and eternal stamp of approval.

If God’s favor rested only on perfect and upstanding people, he never would have gotten anything done in history – except with Jesus. God’s grace - common and specific - is by definition undeserved and his divine ways often bless and use people whose sins make our stomachs churn. God’s overall eternal assessment starts with the heart and one’s devotion to God and his revealed will.

Additionally, we must carefully discern between what is flagrant sin and what is foolishness when we are assessing our fallen heroes.

Our heroes will fail, fall, and disappoint us in one sense or another. Flagrant sin must be seriously confronted and the ripple effects must be seriously dealt with. Sexual abuse must be reported to authorities not secretly addressed as an “internal matter”. Unrepentant misbehavior that takes the form of emotional abuse, harshness, or arrogance must be confronted and penalized if it continues.

Flagrant sin will have serious consequences. And to the extent that we can enact those consequences, we should do so with conviction. Our actions will vary depending on how close we are to the situation of course but we should seek serious penalties for serious infractions, that is biblical justice.

Actions we take may be as basic as unfollowing on social media, unsubscribing to podcasts or discarding their books. It may be more significant of course. We may see fit to personally warn others of the truth or personally enact the biblical restoration and confrontation process. When flagrant sin is revealed by those in our own churches or ministries, removal and restitution should be part of the process in the aftermath. Personal restoration and repentance should be high priorities, but professional reinstatement is generally unwise. As Tim Keller said, “To forgive someone who wronged you does not mean you have to immediately trust him or her. Trust has to be re-earned.” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/tim-keller-forgive/

Foolishness must also be directly addressed, and its victims likewise cared for. Better accountability and guardrails will be needed. If humility and repentance are evident in the offending party, we can move forward optimistically that the foolish errors have led to learning opportunities.  But it is a fine line. On one hand, Christians and Christian organizations are often overeager to identify sorrow for repentance and rush restoration in cases that do not warrant it (See Carl Lentz). We should remember that sorrow for being caught is not the same as godly repentance. Let’s also remember that restoration of fellowship doesn’t necessarily mean restoration to leadership.

On the other hand, foolish actions should not permanently disqualify a leader from ever leading again. Caution and discernment should guide any decision making. Patience and time should be important factors in these situations.

In all cases we would do well to pray for restoration and repentance and any actions we might take should have keep those goals in mind. And in all cases we need to remember that only our wonderful, merciful Savior is worthy of our total allegiance. Only Jesus embodied the perfect King, coming as a servant to seek and save the lost.

Whether we are talking about King Solomon or the King of Pop or some other fallen hero, we can help resolve the confusion of these situations if we do the important work to discern whether they are guilty of flagrant sin or foolishness.

-        Don’t ever make an idol out of anybody.

-        Realize foolishness can tarnish a legacy but won’t always ruin it.

-        Remember that devotion to the Lord is the only measurement of success that really matters.

King David and the King of Pop: What 1-2 Kings can teach us about God’s favor and the flawed people upon whom it rests. (Part 1)

 

Last week, I led a breakout session at our denomination's annual national conference. Below is my presentation that was inspired by the 1-2 Kings commentary I co-authored. I am breaking the entire presentation up into three parts, to give emphasis to each kind of flaw and flawed leader. 

There’s an old Dave Chappelle comedy sketch where he imagines himself in jury selection for several different high-profile celebrity trials in the 2000’s. One selection Chappelle lampooned involved the trial of Michael Jackson, the so-called King of Pop music. Lawyers question Chappelle’s character about whether, with all the evidence they had, Jackson was guilty of criminal charges. Chappelle’s character incredulously responds, “No man! He made Thriller. Thriller!” (If you are not familiar, Thriller, was Jackson’s chart-topping 1982 album that won a record eight Grammy awards stood at #3 on Billboard’s all-time album chart in 2015.)

While everything about the actual subject matter was serious, Chappelle was playing for comedic effect how so many people will excuse serious wrong-doing in favor of something they love, be it great music or achievements or power. It’s probably been fifteen to twenty years at least since I first saw the skit, and I remember it was one of the first times being confronted with the tension of separating an artist from their art. The question being, can you support one apart from the other?

 For a while, the tension about how to handle a flawed person and the great entertainment they produced – remained a pop culture issue. But in recent years, it has spilled over into Christian spaces. Over and over again, Christians have had to wrestle with fallen leaders and abusive church structures making headlines. Two years ago, one of the biggest podcasts in the world was The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, which had the stated purpose of trying to figure out how we reconcile God’s transformative life-changing work that happens as toxic leaders are overseeing the ministry.

Whether it is Michael Jackson or Mark Driscoll, we can no longer ignore this kind of dissonance. How are we to respond when abounding success grows from patently depraved soil? Theologically, how do we wrap our minds around these instances where God seems to bless such corrupt individuals? How should we process the disappointment when one of our spiritual heroes is exposed as a fraud?

Well, the good news is that we are not actually experiencing a new theological conundrum. Scripture does speak to these kinds of situations. In particular, I want us to consider 1–2 Kings and what it can teach us about God’s favor resting on flagrantly flawed people. I can’t promise to give you a bunch of ironclad, foolproof solutions. But there is some helpful guidance, which is what this presentation will try to unpack.

I want us to look at three - technically four - kings featured in 1–2 Kings which exemplify different kinds of heroic leaders who get exposed for flaws and failures. And as we study these leaders, I think we can draw out some important lessons for ourselves, our churches, and the leaders we follow.

Let’s start with:

David/Solomon

David and Solomon are the central figures in the beginning of Kings, as the first chapters describe how David hands over his crown to Solomon.

David might be the ultimate example of a spiritual hero who egregiously fell when he sexually assaulted Bathsheba. But it is his action and involvement in the first chapters of 1 Kings that I want to focus on.

1 Kings begins with Queen Bathsheba securing David’s approval of Solomon as his successor. And as David grows weaker and nears death, he passes on some kingly wisdom to his son.

This advice starts out admirably, with David saying,

“So be strong, act like a man, ³ and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses.” (1 Kings 2:2b-3)

That's all good, right?

Well, as the chapter continues, he gives Solomon a list of people to favor and people to judge, including some with whom he had promised not to harm. As the co-author of my commentary states, “David preaches fidelity to the covenant at the same time he encourages questionable actions aimed at silencing some of his enemies.”

David’s advice takes a divided tone, and one can see some foreshadowing in how Solomon’s heart will later become divided.

Now in many ways, Solomon exceeds his father’s positive royal legacy in the beginning of his reign. He expands the kingdom and ushers in a time of national peace. Where David drew up plans for a temple to the Lord, Solomon actually built it. David governed well; Solomon was granted divine wisdom to rule.

The fact is, both Solomon embodied the ideal godly King at times in his life. Yet both failed to live up to that ideal by disobeying God’s Law. Thus, David’s exhortation to “keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations as written in the Law of Moses” (1 Kings 2:2-3) carries greater weight in this narrative.

 In Solomon’s case, his failure is directly related to the first of the commandments. Of course, he’s notorious for amassing chariots and horses, hoarding wealth, and taking 1,000 wives and concubines. But those are simply out-workings that stem from the fact that “his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God” as 11:4 concludes. Polygamy wasn’t Solomon’s biggest failure, a divided heart was.

Solomon stands as an example for our day. Our Christian culture gets obsessed with platforming and enthroning popular preachers and authors. Christians conferences market their lineups of ministry experts based on book sales and name recognition. Solomon legacy reminds us that we shouldn’t make idols out of anybody. Even the best authors and wisest theologians are capable of serious sin.

 Beyond being capable of sin, the last few years have revealed how many are actually guilty of serious sin. Ravi Zacharias, Bill Hybels, James MacDonald, Matt Chandler, Bryan Houston, Carl Lentz, John MacArthur have all been exposed in recent years for a variety of misdeeds. I’m not equating all of them and their situations necessarily. It just serves the point: don’t make idols out of anybody, no matter how good of a speaker, writer, or thinker they happen to be.

Tuesday Thoughts

It's been a rough summer for my blog. Given this is only the second post since May, I think it's beginning to feel neglected. 

So I thought to myself, what should I write about? 

• Reflections on my current sermon series? I mean I did manage to preach through 1 Peter 2:11-17 and the commands to submit to our governing authorities, no matter who's in charge. All done without infuriating my more politically-passionate congregants. Yay for small victories!
• Reactions to the latest evangelical leader "falling from grace"? I have some ideas, but not in the mood to share them to be honest. 
• Share news of the latest storm that hit us and try to make a spiritual metaphor out of trampolines hitting electrical poles? Nah, it's crazy and interesting, but not that amazing.
• Promote the publication of my commentary on 1-2 Kings? It's exciting and those books have surprising relevancy for today - but maybe another time.
• An update on the lessons I'm learning helping 5 churches through their pastoral transitions this summer/fall? Maybe sometime soon. 

Am I just creating a list on this page to come back to at a future date when I'm short of ideas? Yes probably. All of those things might be worth further elaboration. But today, I think I'll just give some shoutouts and praise to some fellow pastor friends.

If I wanted to mention all the pastors I know and have great respect for, the list would be super long. But these three stand out because they are like the kind of life-long friends with whom, though separated for a long time, you can still pick up where you left off before like there's been no absence at all. 

My guys Mike, Tim, and Cory fit that description. I don't have the same kind of relationship with each of them as the others but they do share some things in common. 

• They are all my age, probably all seen as "younger" pastors. 
• They are all like-minded people. I don't share the same theological convictions on every point with every one of them, but they are all teachable and willing to dialogue and learn. I try to be that myself and I appreciate that in them. 

To close, I'll just mention an example of why I'm thankful for each of them.

Mike - He pastors the church I grew up in and has shepherded it into a flourishing "mid-sized" church that has a renewed vision for how to impact its community, even as it is located a bit outside the city. We are good friends and accountability partners as well. 

Tim - I just ran into him a couple hours ago and we had a lovely conversation about serious (see second bullet point at the beginning of this post) and silly things (Henry Holsinger t-shirts).  We think alike and I try to emulate his posture towards people and ministry. I could hang out with him every day and be a much better pastor.

Cory - He has a young family that is going through the same adventures as we are. He also offers gracious pushback in discussions and recently offered needed insights on Biden's loan forgiveness orders (of all things). 

Shoutout to those guys and the encouragement they give me directly and also indirectly through their lives.

Making Golden Calves out of Bronze Serpents

In my sermon prep last week in 2 Kings 17-20, a detail popped out to me as I was working through the text. 

In describing the spiritual reforms King Hezekiah implemented, the author makes this note in 18:4

"He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan."

If that reference doesn't ring a bell, there's a short little story in Numbers 21:4-8 of the Israelites growing impatient on their Exodus journey to the Promised Land. God sends snakes in their camp as punishment - and then provides a solution, having Moses craft a snake made of bronze. Anyone who was bitten could look at the serpent and live. Jesus even references it to predict his own sacrificial death in John 3:13-15.

So here in the time of Hezekiah, we learn a) Israel had kept this item b) they had begun to worship it and 3) the King ordered it's destruction. 

What are we to infer from these things?

Well, with a), it was not inappropriate for them to have kept this "icon" that reminded them of God's grace. We know that the Ark of the Covenant was a physical item meant to portray (and seat) God's divine presence. And the Ark itself held other items of special notoriety, namely Moses' staff, manna, and the 10 Commandment tablets. 

Point b) and c) naturally go together as one causes the other. Technically, the passage stops short of stating that out-and-out worship was being observed in the presence of the bronze artifact. Yet the context is clear that Hezekiah was not going to stand for anything that went beyond Yahweh-prescribed worship. 

I find it fascinating how b) follows a) though. Maybe convicting is the better word. Doesn't this feel totally normal for the human experience? Human beings were given a visible sign as part of God's gracious assistance and they start to ascribe special value to the statue itself? Of course we did. 

Early on in church history, the Eastern Orthodox and Western portions of Christianity split over issues including the use of images and iconography. Roman Catholic cathedrals around the world feature exhibits (for lack of a better term) of various alleged items of significant objects of historical Christian events. Evangelical churches aren't often that direct. But we like to put a cross prominently on everything and often take great pride in our architecture and building environment. We often glorify experiences - camps, missions trips, the eucharist - making them the main thing rather than the actual experience of knowing God. 

I'm not equating these examples nor am I outright condemning them. To be honest, this is a half-baked idea. I'm not fully sure of what big application I want to make here other than, we better take care not to make idols out of symbols or memorials. Don't hedge your bets with other rituals or let good tokens of grace turn into superstitious lucky charms. Bronze serpents can easily turn into golden calves if we don't keep the main thing the main thing.

P.S. If I really wanted to stir up some stuff, I might question whether or not we Americans do this with our flag, i.e., do we worry about "disrespecting the flag" as an object instead of focusing on what the flag represents - freedom, independence etc?

Coming down off a high - Sermon Snippets

I've taken a break from blogging but now I hope to be "back and better than ever" (s/o to Mike & Mike). I'm putting "Music Monday" on hiatus for now and going to bring back "Sermon Snippets" moving forward. 

These posts will feature tidbits and/or last minute cuts from my sermons that I find interesting. One common problem pastors face is deciding what to cut from their messages - or rather, not realizing they need to cut material out to keep their audience focused. I'm writing a commentary on 1-2 Kings currently so there should be plenty of material. To keep up with my sermon series, you can listen here.

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Being a sports fan, I see it all the time. A team pulls off a big win only to fall flat on their face against a lesser opponent. This is a theme that threads throughout Scripture's story. 

• Israel is conquering the Promised Land and defeats the unconquerable city of Jericho. Then they turn around and are trounced when trying to attack the much less formidable Ai (Josh.6-7)
• David is anointed to be the next king and defeats Goliath in their famous battle (1 Sam.16-17). He then spends years dodging spears and hiding in caves until he gets the throne (2 Sam. 2-5).
• Elijah confronts and defeats the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18) only to be overwhelmed by discouragement soon after (1 Kings 19).
• In less that 24 hours, Peter goes from boldly vowing to never abandon Jesus to denying him three times (Matt.26:33-35, 69-75)

Everything about 1 Kings 8 points to this being another probable letdown. This chapter is an account of one of the most glorious worship services of all time. Solomon completes the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and the nation dedicates it with a special celebration. 

So when the music has faded and the offerings have all been offered, God visits Solomon to offer him instruction that will greatly help him and his people not fall into that trap. Both positively and negatively, he reminds the king of the importance of undivided loyalty to God and faithfully following his Law. 

Faithfulness to God needs to guide us, whether we're experiencing victory or struggling with defeat. God takes notice and truly cares - not just that we reach a spiritual mountaintop - but also that we use it to grow and be better followers of Jesus. Anything else is just sentimentality or emotionalism not true spirituality.