When we think of celebrities today, we think of those who have fame and public recognition- whether you are a movie star, musical artist, athlete, and so forth. Moreover, they have fans that look up to them as inspirations. Similarly, we have seen the embrace of celebrity culture in the church, where the pastor is viewed as this extraordinary individual, such as a superstar or a hero to them. Moreover, their success deals with how large their church, ministry, social media following, how much money they make, and their connection to mainstream platforms such as being friendly with secular celebrities, being on talk shows, movies, etc.
With that introduction, here are four problems with celebrity culture in the church and how churches cannot fall into its influence.
1. Lack of Accountability
One of the worst things that a pastor can display is a lack of accountability, as it also displays a lack of humility. Such cases are displayed when someone tries to speak with their pastor out of concern that what they’re teaching is inconsistent with the Bible. In response, the pastor shuts them down and blames the fellow church member for being too critical. An extremely typical case is when these preachers tend to say, “don’t touch God’s anointed,” which is originally based on David’s song of thanks in 1 Chronicles 16:22 and 105:15, which is actually referring to God’s protection of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).
Similarly, the phrase is mentioned in 1 Samuel 26, where Abishai, one of David’s men, encouraged David to kill King Saul, who had been seeking David to kill him (v8). The psalmist, however, refused out of recognition that Saul was still God’s anointed and cited “touch not my anointed ones” from his song of thanks in verse 10.
The Scripture reads this way:
Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!” (1 Samuel 26:8-10)
In both cases, it refers to God’s protection of the patriarchs and to Saul, respectively, since God raised them up for His purposes. In no case does the text excuse pastors from accountability in regard to their teaching and conduct.
2. Lack of Connection
The second problem with celebrity pastors is the lack of connection with their congregation on a personal level due to their large platform and widespread popularity. This is especially problematic in a megachurch due to the size of the congregation, which exceeds thousands or even tens of thousands of members.
The only time congregations see their pastor is when he is preaching on the pulpit, nothing more than that. As a result, the minister is relegated to just a speaker at church on Sunday rather than actually building relationships with those who come to listen. Now what I am not trying to say is that the preacher has to be everyone’s best friend, especially when it’s in a megachurch, but some effort for a connection to be made.
I’ve had former members of megachurches tell me that any concerns, prayer requests, or calls for a meeting are reserved for the pastoral team. Not only that, the ex-members have attended that church for years and not met the pastor at least once. As I just shared, the only time these big-time pastors have any connection with their congregation is when they are in the pulpit.
3. Lack of Biblical Truth
When it comes to celebrity pastors, sound doctrine and biblical truth seem to be jettisoned from the pulpit today as sermons are replaced with pep talks and motivational messages. Pastors are relegated to nothing more than hype men as they entertain the masses by making them feel good. Thus, services have become an opioid to the attendee as they depart with an emotional high that wears off just hours later. And yet, people seem to continue to lead carnal lives yet calling themselves “Christian” because no true regenerative work of the Holy Spirit took place. It was all emotion. And if there’s anything we know about emotions, they fluctuate, whereas regeneration is steadfast as sinner’s hearts are changed and repentance takes place from conversion and all throughout their life.
With the absence of biblical truth comes the embrace of false doctrine. I find it appalling when churches are quick to go after the latest cultural trend rather than be grounded in the Scriptures. Why go along with the world when God has given us everything we need in His Word? It is so crucial that pastors and their congregations grow in biblical truth as it will not only help them grow in the knowledge of the Word, but shun anything that contradicts it.
4. The Promotion of Man Above God
In the 10 Commandments, the first commandment states, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:3). We know that after God gave Moses the ten commandments, Moses found out that the Israelites erected a golden calf, since they grew tired of waiting for him (Ex. 32:1). Their actions breached the first of the ten commandments since they built the calf and worshipped it as if the calf had delivered them out of Egypt instead of God (v 4).
Now, what does this have to do with celebrity culture? Well, what we realize is that idolatry isn’t limited to just statues, but to anything that takes the place of God. In this case, it’s the promotion of man above God. When church is catered to self, then self becomes the focus. Therefore, it is no longer God-centered, but man-centered. It is no longer Christocentric, but egocentric. Friends, that is a very dangerous thing because man ends up hogging the spotlight rather than giving God all the glory.
Additionally, the use of professing Christian celebrities in the church has also added to the promotion of man above God (i.e., Justin Bieber, Kanye West). Whether they are truly saved is ultimately in God’s eyes, but how they are used is an issue because churches think by inviting so and so to church, then people can be reached as opposed to preaching the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).
Conclusion
That being said, we can see how this celebrity culture has overtaken the church to the point where we have to question, does it reflect a biblical church? Are we more concerned about pleasing man than God? Friends, we must repent and ask that God would grant us humility, especially amidst a hunger for fame “for profit does a man have if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” (Mark 8:36). As previously discussed, celebrity culture is man-centered, not God-centered at its core.
Moreover, we must get back to the Word of God as our sufficient source and rule of life. We must get back to preaching the Gospel if we want to reach the world. We must get back to understanding what a true church should look like in accordance with the Scriptures. And most importantly, we must get back to recognizing that God deserves all the glory. Not some of the glory or half of the glory, as if we deserve the rest. But God and God alone is worth the honor, glory, and praise. Forever and ever. Amen.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Dmitry Kovalchuk
