As wonderful as the Last Lecture was to listen to, there are a couple of things that are hard to say but important to make clear.  If there is no God, and if this life is really all there is, than Dr. Pausch did about as well as one could do.  He lived life to the full, touched innumerable lives, went out with a bang, and in the end created more than one thing that will outlive him.  But if there is no God, then Dr. Pausch is no more.  He can not enjoy the success or impact he has had, and more than likely he will be forgotten in 100 years.  And that is a tragedy.

This past week, another woman died.  She was not a university professor, nor did she have any inventions to her name.  She never appeared on Oprah or wrote any books.  Her greatest accomplishments were as a wife and mother to her two children.  Her name was Rachel Barkey.  But Rachel had a couple of things in common with Dr. Pausch.  The first is that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer well before her time, dying of cancer at the age of 37, four and a half years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.  The second is that she also gave a “Last Lecture.”  Originally meant to be a talk to 20 women at her church, it became a speech given to 600 women in her home city of Vancouver (you can hear the talk and read more about Rachel at www.deathisnotdying.com).

Rachel may have been one woman living across the continent from us, but in her talk, she shares the difference the gospel makes, especially in the life of someone who knows they will die soon.  Her talk is entitled “Death is not Dying,” because for those who know Jesus Christ, “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  Because of the gospel, death is not the end for Rachel, or for anyone who dies knowing God.  And because of the gospel, her talk, while it probably will never become as famous as the one given by Dr. Pausch, will have an impact that lasts into eternity.  If you have an hour to spare, I would encourage you to listen to Rachel Barkey as she shares why “Death is not Dying”.

I have heard some critics of the Granger approach to ministry and evangelism point out the dangers of selfish ambition and the (to them) obvious desire of these pastors to have a big church, to be successful in the eyes of the world.  As one of the comments on the last blog post wisely pointed out, selfish ambition is listed in Galatians 5 as one of the acts of our sinful nature.  I know that within me lies a great desire to be worshiped, to be placed on a pedestal and hailed as the greatest who ever lived, so that all would bow down and acknowledge my awesomeness.  I am fully aware that I have done things as a pastor and as a Christian that were driven more by selfish ambition – the desire for others to honor me – instead of the desire for God to receive all the glory.  Unfortunately, I’m usually unaware of this selfish ambition when I’m planning the event, writing the blog post, or preaching the sermon.  It’s only when I look back on what I have done and really examine the motive behind it that I see so clearly how my sinful nature has had its way with me once again.  I know that selfish ambition is a huge temptation for me.

To which Jesus says: 

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)

And this:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:5)

Instead of praying in order to be seen by men, Jesus says, go into your closet and close the door and pray to God; live out your righteousness for an audience of one, and He will reward you.  And how incredibly counter-cultural is that Luke verse!  Are people speaking well of you?  Do people treat you with reverence?  Be careful – you may be no different than the false prophets of the Bible, who said “peace, peace” when there was no peace, and refused to proclaim God’s impending judgment as the true prophets did.  According to Jesus, when all speak well of you, there is a good chance you are not preaching the real gospel.

I know that I can be a slave to the opinions of others.  I crave peace in my life, and when I am aware of someone who is angry with me or disagrees with me, it can really be hard for me to function.  I want all men to speak well of me.  But Jesus is clear that this need of the approval of others is slavery, it is sin, and it is keeping me from loving God with all of my heart and loving my neighbor as myself.  Instead, Jesus says this:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)

So, do you still want to follow Jesus?  How many of us consider ourselves blessed when people are falsely saying all kinds of evil against us?

I recently heard a story about John Wesley, the traveling evangelist of the 1800’s and founder of the Methodist church.  He had been preaching throughout the countryside, and as he was riding his horse and meditating on God’s Word, he realized that in three days no one had persecuted him, chased him, cursed him, or tried to hurt him with stones and sticks.  He got off his horse and began to search his heart, asking, “God, have I become a carnal man?  Has my message become so worldly that no one any longer persecutes me?”  Just then a farmer who hated him saw him and threw a brick at Wesley, scraping his nose.  And Wesley got back on his horse, saying, “Thank you God that you’ve confirmed your favor to me.”

Who are these people???  Who in their right mind would see someone throwing a brick at you as a sign that you are on the right path, and having all men speak well of you as a sign that you must be straying from preaching the gospel? 

When it comes to the seeker-sensitive, megachurch movement, I think it is unfair to say that the goal of these pastors is large churches and megachurch glory.  Having met some, listened to the sermons and read the writings of others, I can say that the majority of them seem to be driven by a passion to see people coming to faith in Jesus, and because of this passion they will try just about anything in order to see people find God.  In the end, I can only speak for myself and examine my own motives, and I know that within me there is a great desire to see myself worshiped and adored that must be repented of and destroyed before I go ahead with anything in pastoral ministry.  How can I preach God’s Word if I know my desire is for people to pat me on the back and say, “Great sermon!”  How can I plan an outreach event if I know that my goal is for my name and picture to be in the paper?  How can I counsel someone if all the while I am looking for them to affirm me?  And how can I lead a church if my secret desire is to be hailed as the greatest pastor of all time?

The desire to be loved by man, to have all speak well of you, whether in a pastor or a Christian, will in the end be a hindrance to the preaching of the gospel and, according to Jesus, will likely end up in false prophecy.  May we find our identity in Jesus Christ and His saving love for us, so that we might honor Him instead of stealing the glory for ourselves.

We’re in the third week of series I’m calling “American Idols,” where I’m attempting to unmask the idols in our culture – things other than God that we are tempted to worship, emulate, or believe will save us – and discuss how they have distorted our understanding of the gospel and what it means to follow Jesus.  Idol #1 was the Idol of consumerism, with the Temple of the Mall as its place of worship.  This week’s Idol is the Idol of celebrity, and here is one of its many sacred texts:

You know you want to look inside…

I mean seriously – if tomorrow we ceased to hear another word about Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, would anyone’s life be negatively affected?  If we could no longer hear about where Lindsay Lohan was doing rehab or what parties the Olsen twins were attending, would we even notice?  So what is the attraction to this Idol?  Why do millions of people crave the latest scoop on what American celebrities are up to?

Let me speak in generals that obviously do not apply to everyone but may help us understand this Idol.  Part of the attraction to the Idol of celebrity is likely envy – we think it must be great to be universally known and loved by millions, to be rich and beautiful and powerful and seemingly have the world at our command.  We wish it could be that way in our lives, and following the lives of celebrities allows us to live vicariously through them, to pretend we know them.  But the dark side of envy is often hatred – as much as we adore and worship them, we also want to see them fall and be ruined.  We want to laugh at their failures so that we can console ourselves that ultimately our lives are better than their lives.

The false gospel preached by the Idol of celebrity is this:  you are not important until you are famous.  As soon as you are on TV, in the papers or magazines, however, you become Important with a capital I.  All of a sudden you matter, and what you have to say is worth listening to.  And in a world where reality shows are a dime a dozen and websites like MySpace and YouTube have opened new avenues to fame, the temptation to worship the Idol of celebrity is a big one.

But here is the real truth underneath the false gospel of the Idol of celebrity – fame and celebrity have nothing to do with how important you are.  Just because someone has had a book published does not mean they are wiser than your 80 year-old grandfather who has no books to his name.  Just because someone is being followed by the paparazzi does not mean they are happier, a better person, or worthier of more respect than your teacher, your mailman, or even you.  And if you were to someday reach celebrity status and have your name included in the celebrity Bible known as People magazine, your life would not have any more value than it did when you were flipping burgers at McDonald’s.  Because according to the real Gospel, value has nothing to do with our celebrity status, but with this reality:  “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

So how has the Idol of celebrity corrupted the gospel and our discipleship to Jesus in 21st century America?  I think this Idol can cause us to believe that the more well-known a pastor, teacher, or writer is, the more spiritual they are and the wiser they are.  As for pastors, we may also think that the bigger the church is, the more we should listen to what the pastor has to say, because he or she must be more spiritual and have more wisdom.  Like our culture, we can falsely equate fame with importance.  But this is not so in the Kingdom of God – just because a preacher is on TV does not mean they are preaching the true Gospel, and just because someone has not written a book does not mean they do not have wisdom in every word they speak.  In fact, just because someone is a pastor or missionary does not mean that they are more spiritual or have more wisdom than anyone else in the church. 

The second way the Idol of celebrity has invaded our church is in how the church can sometimes pin its self-worth on celebrities who begin to proclaim their faith in Christ.  Two of the most recent examples in the world of music were Brian “Head” Welch, former guitarist for the nu-metal band Korn, who left the band in 2005 after coming to faith in Jesus, and the rapper Mase, who “retired” from rap in 1999 after turning to Jesus, and returned in 2004 with a rap album without the cursing and derogatory references to women.  I have noticed how sometimes Christians (especially younger Christians) are less ashamed of their faith because there are respected celebrities who are also believers, as if somehow image is more important than whether or not the Gospel is true (and being associated with Mase is more worthy of respect than being associated with Jesus).  The disproportionate honor given to athletes, entertainers, and other celebrities who are Christian is an example of how the Idol of celebrity has corrupted our view of the Gospel.

The truth of the Gospel is that it was a baby born in a nowhere village called Bethlehem, who grew up in a nowhere town called Nazareth (as Nathanael put it in John 1:46:  “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? “), who called together twelve nobodies who were working as fishermen, tax collectors, and the like, who never wrote a book or held political office, and who was crucified between two criminals by the Roman Empire, who has sparked a revolution that forever changed the world.  The kingdom of heaven, the reign of God, is not about celebrity and status but is a movement that starts small but ultimately transforms everything.  As Jesus put it in Matthew 13:31-34: 

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Destroy the Idol of celebrity, in your life and in the church.  Do not seek to be famous or to be seen by men, for true spirituality according to Jesus is done with God as the only audience (Matthew 6:1 – “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”)  Do not believe the lie that just because a Christian is on TV or in the magazines, that somehow they are more spiritual or have more wisdom than one who is not famous. 

And for God’s sake, put down People magazine and get to know your neighbors instead.

(Now that you’ve finished throwing up…) This past Sunday I spoke about intercession, praying on behalf of others. One of the images that has stuck in my head is that of Moses in Exodus 17. Joshua was leading the Israelites in battle against the Amalekites, and Moses spent the whole time on top of a nearby hill with the staff of God in his hands, interceding for the Israelite army. The Bible says that when Moses’ hands were raised, the Israelites were winning, but when his arms fell, the Amalekites would have the upper hand in the battle. In a comical but brilliant remedy for Moses’ tired arms, his friends Aaron and Hur held his arms up all day until the Israelites were victorious. The story ends with the line “so Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.” Certainly Joshua and his army got the honor that day, because they were the ones on the field fighting. However, it is clear that without Moses’ intercession, the battle would have been lost. The absolute importance of behind the scenes intercession is made even clearer by Paul in Ephesians 6, where he tells the Ephesian church that our struggle is not against things of this world but is actually against spiritual forces of evil. The battle is not won in the field alone, but on the hill of intercession. Which brings me back to me being a big shot pastor. Our country is crazy about celebrities, as I’m sure you’re all aware. From the tabloids to the TV shows dedicated to celebrities, you can’t escape Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Nick Lachey, Paris Hilton, and so many others. And now with reality TV, regular people are getting their moment in the spotlight every day. Some of you may read the Java section in the Hartford Courant, where sometimes they even report on the parties and goings-on of local “big shots”, in an attempt to lend a celebrity air to our small state. All of this frenzy over making it on TV or getting your picture in the paper can’t help but influence you to think that the glory belongs to one in front of the crowd, the glamorous ones who manage to be seen by thousands of readers or viewers. And the church sometimes has a hard time resisting that view. Lots of publicity goes to the “glamorous” mega-church pastors, Christian rock stars, and Christians who make it on radio, TV, or in the paper. It’s easy to think that somehow, because they are famous (even if just for 15 minutes), that they are more spiritual and are what we should aspire to become.