Gospel Prism

Dane Ortland makes a great point on a follow-up to an article I wrote on ‘Christian Celebrityitis.’ He writes:

I see in my own heart the tendency to so easily Corinthianize: “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” - “I follow Piper,” “I follow Keller (Driscoll, Mahaney, MacArthur . . .).” Let us remember Paul’s words a few chapters later: “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether [Piper] or [Keller] or [fill-in-the-blank] or the world or life of death or the present or the future–all things are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3).

Remember too Edwards’ words:

“To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, [BELOVED PASTORS,] wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean.” –The Christian Pilgrim

This is the sad truth, and I must say that I must be VERY careful not to fall down this path of saying, “I follow…� as a note of righteousness. D. J. Chuang at his blog has an article entitled, “Why I Like Keller More Than Piper.� DJ doesn’t go into why he likes Keller more than Piper, only to tell us why he likes Tim Keller. I appreciate DJ much and what he writes, so I want to say this carefully and hopefully humbly. But I am confused by the title simply because it seems to lift up one over the other. And honestly speaking, I know I can be as guilty of this as the next person (so this is not an indictment of DJ, but all of us who are overzealous when comparing ‘Christian celebrities’).

Dane’s mention of 1 Cor 1-3 is very important for those of us who are influenced by Godly men and sound doctrine. As much as we should be excited to hear about the glorious God that we worship through solid teaching, we must also be wary of our prideful hearts that loves to attach ourselves to men rather than God. In this way, self-righteousness clouds our view of the cross. In fact, Paul even refers to those who say, “I follow Christ� as having a divisive heart. It’s as if he is saying, “There are some of you saying ‘I follow Piper,’ or ‘I follow Keller,’ and then another shows up and says, ‘Oh yeah, well I follow Christ!’� Through the shroud of self-righteousness, we can so easily take the high ground and say that we are Christ-followers, when in actuality, such a statement is only a ploy to lift ourselves up over all other cliques.

I know that any “Christian celebrity� out there worth his or her spiritual salt would be someone who is battling the pride of that celebrity daily. He would not be basking in that celebrity at all. Instead, like Paul, he would truly be one who only boasts in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).

Let me illustrate what a true Christian celebrity is. Imagine if the United States were overtaken by Muslim extremists. They put Muslim sharia as the law of the land and the law said, “If you preach the Gospel at all, you will be tortured and then beheaded. Imagine if they also said that a preacher’s family would also face the same ramifications. I wonder how many of us preachers would be striving for Christian celebrity status with these conditions. I would imagine many would slink back into their holes, waiting for a better and happier day. But I also know, some would come out and shine because they do not boast in themselves, but for Christ. I hope if these conditions were ever real, I would be able to stand in Christ and believe in His eternal glory. But only the Lord knows if this would happen. And only then would the true Christian celebrities really stand up. Those are the real celebrities that the Hebrews writer in Hebrews 12:1 describes as someone who has completed the race with a “great cloud of witnesses� standing up and applauding. And after such an applause, all would stand around the throne of the slain Lamb and applause with joy and excitement and enthusiasm (on that makes the Academy Awards seem like the little Rascals clubhouse) for ever and ever. Now that is something to celebrate.