Smashing celebrity status
7th September 2009 by Nathan Moulds
Superman to Brad Pitt
We live in a culture that worships celebrities. We see them absolutely everywhere! They're on TV, in magazines, on Twitter and on billboards. And because of this hyper-exposure to celebrities, often we can feel like they're one of our best mates.
Do you remember as a kid dressing up as a superhero and wanting to be like them? In this day and age celebrities are the true superheroes; we want to be like Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus. Celebrities are all about two things we tend to highly value: being successful and cool.
What would Jesus say?
In this article, as always, we'll be learning from the example set by the best servant ever, Jesus Christ. Now he said a lot blow-your-mind kind of stuff, but we're going to look at one statement in particular he made whilst talking to his disciples.
Read Matthew 6:1-4 NLT.
Wow! I don't know about you, but I read that and I get smashed! It brings a lot of challenging thoughts to mind, and it messes around with you if really decide to take it seriously.
The Salvation Army and celebrity?
I often hear young Christians expressing to me their desire to one day become a pastor of a large church, speaking to thousands, even millions. Whilst there is nothing necessarily wrong with that, Jesus' word of caution in Matthew 6 is clear. If the motivation for our good deeds is to be recognised and respected by others, then we're in a dangerous place.
Has anyone heard the phrase ‘Salvo Celeb' thrown around lately? I think we need to tread carefully - we shouldn't be creating a culture in the church where individual people are given celebrity status. Jesus says that those who give and serve in secret, not expecting or desiring recognition or popularity, will be seen by their Father in Heaven, and he will reward them.
Serving in secret
I have a Salvationist friend who intentionally lives in a marginalised area in Melbourne. He said he feels God has called him and his wife to live, work, worship and serve the poorest people in their community. They are doing some amazing work and I asked him how he markets and promotes his ministries so others can get involved and be inspired.
His answer? He doesn't.
He told me he felt God strongly say to him that they are to serve and do so very quietly for at least seven years. Only then may they begin to tell the stories and speak. I was certainly challenged after that conversation!
Is there a remedy?
In Matthew 6, Jesus is giving us the remedy for a culture of self obsession, a culture of Twitter tweets and Facebook status updates, a culture in which apparently how you feel makes the world go around. Jesus says serve and don't expect thanks, help someone out but don't tell anyone, sponsor a child and never let anyone know that you do.
Jesus promises that as we humble ourselves and choose not to buy into the culture of ‘me' and ‘celebrity', and instead choose to serve in secret, that our Father God will bless us with rewards from Heaven that are eternal and will never fade away.
So I want to encourage those of you who are hungering after recognition and celebrity status to stop and think. Ask yourself ‘does this really line up with the way and words of Jesus?'
A final thought
In conclusion I'll leave you with a verse of Scripture from John. They're words spoken by a dude who was pretty famous in his own right - a big celebrity of the day from 2,000 years ago.
John 3:30 (NLT): "He (Jesus) must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less."
Who are you making the hero: yourself or Jesus?
Nathan coordinates Streetlevel's Edify program, an urban mission discipleship program located in Surry Hills, Sydney. He is passionate about the lost, the last and the least, believing the best days of this generation are to come!
He is married to Karen and together they attend and serve at The Salvation Army's Macquarie Park church plant and Revolution Youth.
save. grow. serve.
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Comments
Great word, Nath! And of course you wouldn't want me to draw attention to the fact, but you pretty much rock. (teehee)
I wonder what makes people hunger after recognition in their ministry? It's a different story for each person, for sure, but I want to go out on a limb and say that it's the desire to be loved that makes anyone pursue recognition in their ministry; love in the form of respect or praise or admiration. As DC Talk so eloquently put it, we all want to be loved, and the pursuit of love can take us down all sorts of paths, including the path of Salvo Celebrity.
I know that this is the case for myself when I fall into the trap of seeking praise from people. I can always trace it back to my own need for love.
And if the reason we pursue recognition and respect from man (and not God) in our ministry can be traced back to a desire to be loved, then the answer to the problem is.... LOVE!
It's when we realise that God loves and recognises us as much as we need, that we find freedom from the pursuit of love (recognition and respect) from Man, and we're free to "serve without expecting thanks".
KNOW that God loves you.
KNOW that God sees, recognises, appreciates you.
So once again, great word. And thanks for being an amazingly servant-hearted bloke, Nath. I promise not to notice in the future ;)
Wow Nath, what a challenge. It really makes you think, why do I do what I do? Do I do it for the glory of God, or for the glory of myself?
Haha thanks Mel ;-)
Yeah it is an interesting issue this one, and I think it's especially pressing in this time and in this generation because as I stated above we our lives are just so heavily saturated by the media, which is pushing an agenda of celebrity, success, power, cool, etc. etc.
Whilst we shouldn't show false humility (it is OK to accept encouragement and praise when it's given, in fact to knock it back or ignore it when given would just be rude!) I beleive we always should be be reflecting on our actions/motivations and examing our hearts and asking hard questions of ourselves. Why did I just do that ?? As Ness you said so well in the above, was it for God's glory or my own ??
A great mate of mine says it really well, when we serve in secret it's a statement that Jesus is enough, that He is my salvation, but when we serve so that others see us and are impressed and praise us then it's a statement that Jesus isn't enough and that in that moment (not saying across your whole life) the praise of man is your salvation not solely Jesus Christ.
Blessings and much grace all !!
I love that saying. 'Jesus is enough', thanks for bringing us all this word Nathan. We need to be teachable servants and follow in the footstpes of the Master. Besides I never see too many stories about celebs doing much work or getting down with the people it is always the 'behind the scene guys' that do all the work the celebs get the praise. Somewhere along the road to success celebs become unobtainable to the general public lets pray that we as soldiers of The Salvation Army, with heart to God and hand to man never get sucked in to the celebrity world where we forget who is the strength of our heart and where we withdraw our hand to man.