One of the most talked about sections of De-sizing the Church is chapter 7, Inevitable: Why the Christian Celebrity Culture Guarantees Moral Failure. This is obviously a crisis that has become far too evident in recent months.
Rich Brown shows us that our obsession with celebrity is nothing new. It happened in the first century church, as well. Because of this, the New Testament offers wisdom about its dangers, along with some helpful solutions.
— Karl Vaters
Our youthful fascination with celebrities doesn’t end as we get older. We may go about it a little differently, but adults can still be enamored with the rich and famous.
In the American church we have developed our own born-again celebrities and evangelical superstars. What Karl Vaters identifies as the Christian celebrity culture can affect how the average Christian thinks about and lives out their Christian life.
Much of what is written about the repercussions of the Christian celebrity culture addresses the celebrities’ tendencies toward spiritual abuse, narcissism and excessive lifestyle. But it can also create a Christian celebrity mindset in the American church-goer that has severe consequences — of our own making.
Biblical Precedents
In the middle of the first century AD, even though there was no media to hype people, and when men like Paul, Peter, and Apollos were not seeking to be religious stars, some of the believers in the Corinthian church had become fans of one or another of these religious leaders (see 1 Cor 3:4 “I follow Paul, Apollos”; 1 Cor 1:12 “l follow Peter, I follow Christ.”).
Paul would eventually have something to say about those who were considered celebrities and “super apostles” (see 2 Cor 11:5; 12:11), but first he had something to say to the followers of those man-made religious celebrities.
In 1 Corinthians 3 he dared to talk about the consequences that a first-century Christian celebrity mentality was having on the lives of the Corinthian Christians.
Not surprisingly, these consequences look all too familiar twenty centuries later.
Consequence #1: A Christian celebrity mentality stunts our spiritual growth (1 Cor 3:1-2)
When the Corinthians were new believers and infants in Christ, Paul gave them milk. He did not blame them for needing infant-level teaching.
But when Paul wanted to speak to these Christians as spiritual adults, (people controlled by the Holy Spirit), he couldn’t.
Initially, Paul said they were just sarkinos (people made of flesh). Then he said they were sarkikos (people dominated by the flesh). They ought to have been able to ingest solid food, but their pre-occupation with Christian personalities had arrested their spiritual development.
Eugene Peterson wrote, “Fan clubs encourage secondhand living.” We become spiritual adolescents engaging in “compensatory heroism.” We quit aspiring to grow and have settled for watching our Christian heroes do it all.
In today’s Christian celebrity culture, we experience what has been called “the vicarious voyage of identity.” We substitute the fame of our Christian stars for our own personal spiritual growth.
Consequence #2: A Christian celebrity mentality promotes immature behavior (1 Cor 3:3-4)
One of the words Paul used to describe the Corinthians was nepios (infant, 3:1). This word implies that the Corinthians were adults who were displaying the irresponsible characteristics of a child.
Because of their stunted spiritual growth (see Consequence #1), the Corinthians were exhibiting two childish behaviors in particular — jealousy and strife. Jealousy was evidence of their childish comparisons, while strife was an indication of their childish competition.
Undoubtedly, there are other immature behaviors that can surface in the life of a Christian who is influenced by the Christian celebrity culture, but jealousy and strife were the two behaviors that Paul was dealing with in the Corinthian church.
In his provocative book Preventing A Church Split, Gene Edwards wrote that the central repercussion of a church split is the ending of friendships. Such immature behavior comes from loyalty to anyone other than the Lord and becomes more important than relationships with fellow-believers.
When we substitute a growing relationship to the Lord for our devotion to a religious personality, we find ourselves engaging in immature behaviors that have many consequences, including damaged relationships with other believers.
Consequence #3: A Christian celebrity mentality idolizes people (1 Cor 3:5-7)
Toward the end of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 11:20) he mentions another consequence of the Christian celebrity culture. We give these Christian leaders a place in our life that we have no right to give anyone.
Celebrity leaders can become the authorities in the religious lives of their fans. Paul had already suggested that the Corinthians were giving himself, Peter, and Apollos a celebrity position they should not have (1 Cor 1:13).
But Paul said these celebrities were just ordinary people. His focus was not on personalities (“Who is Paul, who is Apollos?”) but on function (“What is Paul, what is Apollos?”). Paul’s answer: they were servants, not celebrities.
Paul said that all he did was plant the Word in Corinth, then Apollos watered the truth that Paul had planted. But Paul and Apollos weren’t celebrities, they were mere people whom God was using. It was God who gave the growth.
Paul did not deny the differences between himself and Apollos, but his point was that these differences were not a good reason to form fan clubs. Paul used verb tenses to describe his and Apollos’ work that were different from the verb tenses he used to describe God’s work.
In so doing, Paul was saying, “Our job is done. God, the master farmer, continues to work, resulting in continued growth.”
God does what no mere human can do, and yet the Christian celebrity mentality at Corinth was giving credit to ordinary people for what only God could do.
Don’t idolize people. Worship God for His continued work.
Consequence #4: A Christian Celebrity mentality distorts our understanding of ministry (1 Cor. 3:8-9)
We have seen how the Corinthians’ fixation on Christian celebrities was affecting their spiritual growth, their behavior, and their opinion of certain Christian leaders. But their fascination was also affecting their idea of ministry.
Paul told the Corinthians that ministry was like farming (the vineyard was a common imagery in the Corinthian setting). Each fellow-worker had a job to do.
Paul also told them that the church is like a building (they were well-acquainted with Corinthian architecture). Every person plays a part in what is being built.
Our infatuation with Christian fame has affected how we think about how things should be done in the local church. The religious celebrity image has become the model for what some Christians feel their own churches should be like.
“More, bigger, greater” are used in today’s church to measure success and identify Christian celebrities.
For those in the Corinthian church who considered numbers to be the authenticating mark of a Christian celebrity, Paul told them, You want numbers? Here are some numbers for you (2 Cor 11).
- Received 39 lashes five times
- Beaten with rods three times
- Stoned one time
- Shipwrecked three times
- Flogged
- Exposed to death
- In danger
- Gone without food and sleep
How’s that for a more realistic view of ministry?
Ministry is not a way to become famous. Ministry is not a show where some perform while the rest are entertained. There should be no ministry celebrities. All believers are workers together for God in His field and in the building of his church.
In Lystra, when people tried to make Paul and Barnabas celebrities and treat them like gods, even offering them gifts and sacrifices, Paul protested and pointed them to the one true God.
The Lystrians were so committed to idolizing ordinary humans that when Paul convinced them he wasn’t a god they stoned him! (Acts 14:8-20).
There is no denying that the media-fed religious celebrity mindset has affected today’s church and the lives of too many believers.
Twenty centuries ago, Paul expressed his concern about the effect of the religious celebrities mindset. Referring to the “super apostles” celebrities, Paul wrote of its consequences in stark language. “I am afraid that your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Cor 11)
A word of caution for us all.
(Photo by Marco Nürnberger | Flickr)
