Church celebs?

During World War II, C.S. Lewis, Oxford professor and later writer of the Narnia stories, had become a forceful spokesman for Christianity. Apart from broadcasting on BBC radio, he was also invited to speak at many RAF stations.

These talks proved very popular. Hearing of this, a US Air Force chaplain travelled to Oxford to ask Lewis to speak at his base. He knocked on the door of Lewis’s study during a tutorial. Lewis graciously got out his diary and standing at the door they negotiated a date. But then the chaplain said something like: ‘You’re becoming really famous, Mr. Lewis, and a name like yours will draw a big crowd’. Lewis winced, put a line through the date and closed the door. He cancelled.¹

Over-reaction?

You might think that Lewis’s reaction was rather extreme. But the apostle Paul probably would not. According to 1 Corinthians 3, setting up a Christian speaker as a celebrity is dangerous and a sign of horrifying spiritual immaturity. In the context of ‘church celebrities’ Paul writes, ‘Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly — mere infants in Christ... For when one says, “I follow Paul”, and another, “I follow Apollos”, are you not mere men?’ (vv.1-4). These ‘celebrity cults’ within the church were causing quarrels and tremendous damage (1.11,12). Yet, aping 21st-century ‘celeb’ culture, we seem to be quite at home with lionising individuals in the church today. ‘Who’s speaking at that conference?’ ‘O is he! He’s great!’ we say. Really? (We do the same for Christian bands and worship leaders too.)

Repudiating such personality cults Paul points us to the most basic idea behind Christian ministry. Ministers are only servants with gifts and tasks as the Lord has assigned (v.5). That’s the general principle. In the rest of 1 Corinthians 3 Paul uses three illustrations to enlarge on what that means. Today’s evangelicalism needs to face the challenge of what Paul says.

The field cultivated, vv.6-9

Paul thinks of the church as God’s field to bear fruit for God. He makes two points here which pertain to setting up ‘celebrity’ preachers.

First, Paul says that compared with God both he and Apollos are nothing. ‘So why are you trying to make out we’re something when we’re not?’ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow… (vv.6,7). Suppose the two labourers had sowed marbles instead of seeds. Paul might have been very diligent in planting them; Apollos most careful to water them. But what sort of harvest would emerge? Without God who made the seed and makes it grow they would produce absolutely nothing; people would never come to believe. ‘So why are you making such a big deal of us?’ Paul asks. It’s complete nonsense. Your focus should be on God in Christ who is the source of all life and growth. It is wrong to make so much of ministers.

Is celebrity in church much of a problem today? I would suggest it is, because one of its principal manifestations is that we tend to put our trust in the speaker and his abilities rather than God. Prayer to God, who can alone make things grow, is now at a minimum in many evangelical churches. And we put on great shows, but not much happens.

Second, Paul says that both he and Apollos, under God, have one purpose, one harvest they are both looking for. ‘So if we are one why are you setting us against each other?’ asks Paul. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose and each will be rewarded according to his own labour… (vv.8,9). Paul has a task-focused idea of Christian leadership, very different from the worldly ‘personality’ view of what is needed in leaders. A true leader is one who facilitates God’s projects not his own profile. Sad to say, today many evangelical speakers seem to be concerned for their own name and be in competition with other leaders. Often groups of churches which have grown up around a particular leader feel that they must plant one of ‘our churches’ in every town, rather than working together with others. Frequently we don’t share the same purpose at a local level.

The building tested, vv.10-15

Paul next uses an illustration stressing the corporate nature of the church — many bricks, one building. ‘By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds’ (v.10). When building work is done, a house extension or something, there is a legal contract between the homeowner and the building firm with penalties included in the contract if the work is not done properly. That’s the idea behind this paragraph.

How can the building of the church fail to be carried out properly? Paul’s building analogy uses two connected ideas.

First, the building can fail to match the foundation. The foundation of the church is Christ (v.11). No other foundation is logically possible. If you lay another foundation then what you are building is not a church. The foundation of Christ includes the truth about him, the biblical doctrines concerning his person and work. Truths such as Christ’s deity and the penal substitution of the cross are controversial. One way of building inappropriately is for a church leader to change such truths to make them less unpalatable to the world. That’s a cowboy builder.

But the foundation of the church is not just a set of doctrines, it is Christ himself. So a church must know Christ, love him, seek to obey him, trust him, take up the cross and follow him. It is possible to have all the right doctrines and yet not do that. It really is possible for a church to be more Bible-based than Christ-centred. Be careful! The building must match and be properly attached to its foundation or it’s no good, Mr. Contractor.

Second, the building can fail when tested (vv.12-15). In a hot, dry Mediterranean place like Corinth, bush fires could flare up in summer and sweep into a city. Which buildings would survive? A church is meant to prove fire-proof on the last day. A congregation of Christians is meant not just to survive the tests of time, but the final test of Judgment Day (v.13). So build with materials like gold, silver and precious stones (as in Solomon’s temple) which will survive the fire. In other words, use materials which match the foundation and give of your very best to the work of God. Don’t try to build God’s work on the cheap! In particular, don’t build a church around your name or personality, Christian leader. It will prove hay and straw in the fire.

The building is meant to be fireproof. But when the fire comes there are no fireproof doors, etc. So the penalty clauses in the contract come into play. The builder (v.15) loses his reward; although if he is a real Christian, because salvation is by grace, not works, he himself will escape.

What’s this got to do with the Christian fan club problem? Paul is saying to Christians who trumpet various preachers: ‘It is the last day which will tell you who has been a great Christian minister. But the eschatological fire has not yet come. You are in no position to judge!’

The temple desecrated, vv.16,17

Paul’s illustrations bring increasingly serious warnings to celebrity supporters. The field warns of foolish thinking. The fireproof building tells us not to judge before time. But now we have a warning of being destroyed. ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple…? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him…’ (vv.16,17). The idea here is not so much that of the Holy Spirit living in each individual believer, but of the Spirit dwelling in the church corporately.

The church is God’s dwelling place, God’s temple. Division in the church is sacrilege. Christ is seeking to build God’s temple, but those bringing foolish divisions are knocking it down. This could not be more serious. To carry on with your petty rivalries around personalities, in such a way that the church is divided, shows that actually you care nothing for Christ’s reputation and is not to be a Christian at all. You will end in destruction.

Applying it, vv.18-23

What does all this mean for us? First, away with worldly thinking in the church. ‘Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise’ (v.18). In identifying good Christian leadership, don’t think like the world does about how clever, how ‘dynamic’, how well dressed the person is. Such priorities will run the church into trouble. Rather look at whether they are willing to take the lowest place, whether they are happy to serve, whether they are willing to make real sacrifices for the church — whether they are Christ-like!

Second, stop this Christian fan-club mentality. ‘So, then, no more boasting about men!’ (v.20). There is only one person who should be the church’s celebrity and that’s the Lord Jesus. Concentrate on being a lover of Christ, a heart worshipper of God. Is a Christian preacher greatly gifted? Then thank God for the gifts given to him, but don’t turn him into a celebrity.

Third, all this rivalry, surrogate status seeking and the division it causes is so unnecessary. Why? Because ‘All things are yours’ (vv.21b-23). God loves us so much that all things serve ultimately us! ‘Ordinary’ Christian, you are just as important as any preacher.

So, was C.S. Lewis over-reacting? Probably not.

Footnotes
1 C.S. Lewis, A Biography by Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper

1 Corinthians 3.1-23

Over-reaction?

The field cultivated, vv.6-9

The building tested, vv.10-15

The temple desecrated, vv.16,17

Applying it, vv.18-23

So, was C.S. Lewis over-reacting? Probably not.

John Benton

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