Thanksgiving Thoughts

As I noted in my last post, it's been a busy fall. Keeping up this blog has been one of the things that I've let fall to the wayside. But this, the first day of December, is the day of my return. I'm sure dozens of you will rejoice. 

In all seriousness, I thought I'd share an article I wrote for our local paper. It was our church's turn in their rotation to have a feature on the backpage. 

I knew this would run the week of Thanksgiving, so I offered this to them - and now to you. Some Thanksgiving Thoughts:

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Before we start decking the halls, stringing up lights, and putting Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” on repeat, can we take some time to fully celebrate the current holiday?

While Thanksgiving may get overshadowed from the annual “Christmas Creep”, I’ll try to do my part with these reflections and share some of the things I am grateful for this year.

Let’s start at home. I am deeply thankful for my family. I am grateful for my wonderful wife who works as a counselor part-time, lives as a mom full-time, and has chosen to be a partner with me in our life’s journey. I am thankful for our two boys, nearly 4 and 6 respectively. They bring so much adventure, chaos, and fun into daily life. Parenting them is so exhausting but so rewarding.

I’m very grateful to serve as pastor at our church. We are a congregation that takes our calling seriously to impact our community. We are not necessary a real “young” group of people but God has blessed us with enough energy and vision to do what Christ wants us to do and be who he wants us to be.

I am especially thankful for the Milford community. And it is not just because of Harry’s Pork Tenderloin which is the best I’ve ever tasted. No, there’s more to it. We are a friendly town that is generally comprised of people who genuinely care about each other. I appreciate how local businesses and organizations partner together to organize community events and foster a caring spirit among our people. I don’t take it for granted either that two other churches (First Christian, Wawasee Bible) have consistently joined our weekly Prayer Tent endeavor. If you can use some encouragement, stop by on Thursday afternoons where we’re stationed next to the Housing Authority building.

Lastly, I need to mention just how grateful I am for God’s provision. As I take stock of 2023, I realize just how faithful he is. And not just generally. In our family, we had several significant unexpected medical bills – and God’s provided. The more I walk this Christian path, the more I see God showing up when I need him. He has done that ultimately with His Son Jesus – the greatest gift we could ever receive. But there I go, creeping into the Christmas season myself.

Hopefully these reflections can help you embrace this Thanksgiving for all it’s worth.

Life's Incongruity

6 Weeks since my last post - yikes, not intentional nor is it ideal. 

Life has been busy in the Compson household and with our Milford First Brethren Church. I doubt you have interest in my detailing all that has been going on so I'll spare you that. 

But I thought I might share some of the incongruous elements of life I've been noticing recently. 

"Incongruous" by the way is one of those big words that deserves defining. It means "not harmonious, incompatible, inconsistent within itself".

Raising two young boys has plenty of "incompatible" moments. I started latching onto the label "agents of chaos" to describe what it's like. That's probably somewhat unfair though because Stephanie and I love them dearly even if we end many days exhausted. 

But from a fuller perspective it is a satisfying joy to see our kindergartner maturing and behaving well enough at school to be named "Student of the Month". Things like that make his parents' hearts happy for sure. 

T requested I include a picture of his special dog tags he received.

That joy stood in incongruous contrast to what developed over the weekend. 

See, a few weeks ago, my mom flew over to Israel to visit her sister and her family. My aunt and uncle have lived in northern Israel for decades, running a school and serving in a variety of ways. 

And then last weekend the terrorist group Hamas orchestrated surprise attacks, initiating a bloody and awful conflict that is still playing out. The attacks in and around Gaza are well south of where my family is. Still, I do have cousins who are now 'called up' and serving in the IDF. And should the conflict escalate and other nations join in the attacks, my mom, aunt, and uncle will certainly be in real danger. 

So our joy is mixed with concern, even sadness as we read and observe what's going on in this far-away conflict that is hitting very close to home. But even being in consistent communication with my mom, incongruity pops up again. She's giving voice to faith, not fear. They are all praying fervently for peace, justice, and God's protection. A godly serenity though chaos is knocking on their door. 

Could this be a holy incongruity? Things aren't making sense, circumstances are NOT harmonious. 

But God is still good. And Jesus is still on the throne. We can trust him - especially in the incongruity. 

Lessons From Exodus

Over the summer, I led our church through a sermon series in the book of Exodus.

It is a record full of stories many are familiar with but a book many of us don't know as well as we think we do. 

I enjoyed it, I think our people did too. I titled the series "Our Deliverer is Coming" with a hat-tip to the Rich Mullins song. I chose that title because of the undeniable correlations the Exodus story has with the life and work of Jesus. 

After finishing the book, I put together a message on "Christian Lessons from Exodus" (credit to Tremper Longman's overview commentary for the inspiration. And in this post I'd like to write on that kind of idea but share some lessons that I'm cherishing in a more personal way.

So, here's three takeaways that I learned and grew to appreciate having studied this great book.

1) Monotheism???

One aspect of studying the confrontation between Yahweh/Moses and Pharaoh/Egypt was an alteration of my understanding of the Bible's concept of "Monotheism". God doesn't assert his exclusive divinity in a way I've learned it in systematic theology. No when you read of God confronting Pharaoh through Moses in  Exodus 3-12, it is put in almost polytheistic terms. 

The 'gods' of Egypt help Pharoah's magicians imitate some of God's plagues in 7:22, 8:7, 8:18-19. 
And before the final plague, God declares his coming victory like this: 

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.  13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." (Exodus 12:12-13)

Egypt certainly was worshipping supernatural powers of some (evil) sort. The Exodus was about establishing Yahweh's undeniable superiority over anything mankind could label a 'god'. 

This theme continues with the first of the Ten Commandments. Read them closely and you may be surprised at how God defines his own monotheism. Now, certainly we can deduce that no other powers deserve the title of "God" and I'm not here advocating for a polytheistic worldview. But I found it interesting how Scripture defines these things in these stories.

2) Sympathy for Israel

The problem with reading Exodus is that we let the rest of the Old Testament skew our perspective. I find myself having a greater sympathy for the ancient people of Israel after going through this book. The Golden Calf abomination of chapter 32 certainly is prescient of what unfolds throughout the rest of Scripture. But they also display corporate commitment and faith at a number of points (4:29-31, 12-13, 19, 24, 39:42-43). 

They were a people coming out of centuries of subjugation, abuse, and distress. They saw God powerfully work at numerous points and they follow God's leader - and that's to their credit, even if they were imperfect. 

3) The Beauty of Christ

There were so many instances in the Exodus story where we can't help but recognize the foreshadowing and precursors of Christ. 

• Moses stands as a deliverer who sets the stage for the Deliverer. 
• Israel's path of entering then leaving Egypt is symbolically followed by Christ in his early years (Matt. 2)
• The Law is fulfilled in Christ and he offers his own 'Law' via the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). 
• Jesus "tabernacled" among us, embodying God's presence with humanity in an even greater way than in Exodus (John 1:14 cf. Ex. 35-40)
• Jesus ultimately accomplished what the Law was only alluding to - full forgiveness and fellowship with God (Heb. 10:11-14)

There are certainly more I could list. If you read through Exodus and miss the connections to Christ, you have really missed the point.

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 2)

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 part 2.

Hezekiah is our next example and is one of the few Kings after Solomon who is given an overall positive evaluation by God. In case you aren’t part of the Hezekiah-hive, when he was in his mid-twenties, he leads much-needed spiritual reform in the nation of Judah. He demonstrates faith in God, the Law, and the Covenant.

After Hezekiah had seen God miraculously deliver him from Assyrian invasion and a serious illness, he unwisely welcomed a Babylonian envoy and let them see all of Judah’s resources. It was an arrogant and foolish decision and God calls him out for it (2 Kings 20:12-20).

So, while he's a rare example of godly leadership in Kings, Hezekiah is not above foolish and unforced errors.

His mistakes are ones that we often see repeated in our modern world. Billy Graham had to publicly apologize after Richard Nixon’s secret Watergate tapes became public because Graham was revealed to have had some unflattering and untoward conversations with the President in the Oval Office. This past June SW Baptist Theological Seminary revealed that an internal investigation had found that their recently resigned President, Adam Greenway had improperly spent $1.5 million of the institution’s money on largely personal expenses. What made it even more egregious was that it came during a time of financial cutbacks and shortages for the school in general. Too many Christian leaders take advantage of the unique aspect of American Christianity that allows men of God to afford a lifestyle of affluence.

Different situations involve different factors and judgments of course. But Hezekiah offers slightly different lessons than Solomon. His legacy speaks to how foolishness can tarnish a legacy, but it doesn’t necessarily ruin a leader’s legacy.  Hezekiah’s life is not covered in shame as the narrative unfolds. His flaws are evident, but his overall impact is a positive one. He makes foolish mistakes, but his heart was faithfully devoted to God – and that’s what mattered most in the end. Billy Graham’s reputation endured well through the rest of his life, one would hope that Dr. Greenway would learn the same lessons for himself.

 

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.

France Trip Report

We're back!

Wednesday evening I finally returned home after our 10 day Lancer basketball cross-cultural missions trip. 

It was the fastest long trip I can remember being on. Each day felt long - filled with travel, activities, and new things that stretched our comfort zones. But it seems a little surreal to be back already. Just a few days ago I was standing at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

I'll be adding a bunch more photos at the end but I thought I'd share the "mantras" of our trip. These were phrases that got repeated ad nauseum that will stick in our heads for awhile I'm sure. Each of these originated by our host missionary, Dave Hobert, but added to the fun and craziness of our travels.

"We'll figure it out"

When you're on a cross-cultural trip, you have to adapt and be ready for whatever comes up. We certainly had our share of opportunities to be flexible. Time-consciousness is different in France for instance.  In the end though, even the unexpected hiccups turned out well and things did work out. For instance, we had got tickets to a lower-level pro soccer match in the Burgundy area. Half of us ended up at a high school rugby match at first because of an error in directions. But we got to the right field and ended up in the owner's box facility and given a bunch of free food. They even took us out on the field at halftime.

"We gotta go!"

French culture isn't as time-conscious as we are, but that doesn't mean being on time doesn't matter. One factor that made some parts of the trip a little more hectic was the fact that we didn't stay in the same hotel for more than one night. Thus we were going here and there every night after traveling here and there for our clinics, games, or sight-seeing events. We were split up between 4 vehicles too and while the fans and crowds would often like to get autographs and talk after our games but in many circumstances, there was a cut off. And so, "we gotta go" became a rallying cry...only to see our host or some of the players caught in the 'people traffic' and choosing the relational connection over time concerns.

"We gotta stay together"

As described above, travel was always a challenge. And Hobie (Dave Hobert) would often stress the need to stick together on the roads. It didn't always work out that way. Between his driving and some of our others' inexperience driving stick-shift vans - 'we gotta stay together' became a satirical pun fairly quickly. No one got lost though and we made our appointments fairly easily. But there were some interesting moments for sure. 

There were a ton of other more personal stories and observations I'm taking away. And I may share them in the future. 

This team is a special group of guys though. They are special on the court, 31-4 last year/#2 in NAIA. And they have a unique chemistry off the court too. All glory to God for what he did in our hearts and how he used us to plant seeds for Christ.