Christian celebrities

Another oxymoron fell into my mental pail as I was searching for crawfish in the culture creek—Christian celebrities—and now I know what it is that always irked me when seeing the shelves overloaded with ‘Christian’ books at Borders or Barnes & Noble.

Like ‘jumbo shrimp’ the expression ‘Christian celebrities’ is a phrase describing something with words that don’t belong together, yet there they are, and they do describe something. ‘Shrimp’ is a metaphor for little, ‘Jumbo’ means rather large, but shrimp is also an edible animal and though small, there are bigger ones among the small. So that phrase does, after all, make sense. But what about ‘Christian celebrities’?

Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
Matthew 20:25-28

The obvious point of Christ’s words is a warning against the abuse of authority among His disciples. He is warning us what not to do when we will be ‘on our own’ after His ascension to the Father. We tend to think of this as applying solely to church offices, and it gives us plenty of opportunities for finger pointing and name calling. But it also applies to any abuse of authority, even authority which is not official.

A great deal of what is visible in the evangelical Church world consists of men and women striving to make their mark, to establish themselves, even to promote themselves, as knowledgeable or authoritative on issues ranging from bible interpretation to personal relationships to international politics to women’s liberation. True, ‘a man must earn his daily bread’, so what is wrong with becoming an author of ‘New York Times best selling’ books, especially if you’re doing it all for Christ?

I can only ask this question; I can’t answer it. I can only point to what the writer of Acts reports on the testimony of the holy apostle Paul, ‘All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas’ (Acts 17:21).

Christian celebrities seem to roll out of a majestic and divine theological mill along with their books, videos, music, and television appearances with astonishing regularity, and we, like avid fans of sports events, follow them daily, making their pronouncements, or their announcements, our daily bread. What does it look like when a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, ‘wants to become great among’ us and so becomes our ‘servant’? What was it that won the ancient fathers and mothers of the Church their notoriety? Or, even in modern times, what made a man like C. S. Lewis stand out among his generation? And were any of these ‘Christian celebrities’?

I can’t put it into words any better, but to me, Christian celebrities, though there is such a category of persons, do not really exist. It’s as though our salvation is worn, and won, by our membership in this or that particular church. ‘Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?’ (1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

I know there are such things as popes and patriarchs and archbishops and moderators: all these are offices in the Church, and all have been, can be, and may yet be abused by their holders. This is nothing new. They also are Christian celebrities of a sort, but they can never escape even for a moment Christ’s words of warning, that they must be ‘servants of all’, because we, the flock, never cease pressing on them. But what of these others?

We make Christian celebrities, and some are self-made, but only Christ is worthy of true celebrity, and only those who follow Him can hope to be like Him. ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:24-26)