Cont’d…
The Evidence of History
It is significant that some of the greatest and most influential heroes of God’s people lived simple lives without the trappings of celebrity success. Indeed, there were some godly people in the Bible who were very wealthy, like David, Josiah and the other righteous kings. Some Old Testament heroes in so-called “secular work,” like Daniel and Nehemiah, must surely have been wealthy people. The Old Testament presents wealth as a blessing, and even today God uses wealthy people to perform important tasks for him. What we want to point out is that those who don’t have the earthly trappings that go with being a celebrity are not necessarily missing God’s best for them.
The Old Testament prophets were, for the most part, people without much acclaim in society. They became heroes only after they died (Luke 11:47). The famous prophet’s clothes which John the Baptist wore were chosen partly to identify with the poor. Jeremiah was asked by God to give up many of the earthly trappings of success.
Many super-star prophets of today are very different to the Old Testament prophets. While the former are rich and adored, the latter were poor and despised by God’s people; while the former major on promises of prosperity and blessing, the latter majored on condemning sin. The sin problem is as urgent now as it was then! There may well be people today with a genuine prophetic gift who are affluent and popular. But those with a special prophetic calling to advocate holiness in this unholy world will probably not enjoy the material trappings of success. They should not consider themselves failures.
The ideal man, Jesus, did not have a place to lay his head (Matt. 8:20). Of him Paul says, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). If Jesus lived today, he would not have been considered successful by those who espouse a celebrity culture. I once did a study of every time the New Testament asks us to follow the example of Christ. I found 29 passages, and 23 of those were calls to suffer, to be servants or to persevere in patience like Jesus. Of the other six, three were general calls to follow Christ; one was a call to be obedient like Jesus and two were calls to forgive like Jesus forgave.[6] That is strong evidence for not associating Jesus’ lifestyle with earthly comforts and privileges! It is also a strong challenge to the popular idea that, because Jesus bore the curse for us, we do not need to suffer like him. No! We are asked to follow him in suffering.
Paul says he gave up his legitimate material rights in order to be more effective in ministry (1 Cor. 9). He described himself as being “poor, yet making many rich” (2 Cor. 6:10). Acts 20:18-35 presents him as an ordinary grassroots worker going from house to house battling for the lives of people, doing things which celebrities often consider a waste of time. At the end of his life he was in a prison in Rome, and when he went for his court case, even the Christians in Rome had shunned him (2 Tim. 4:16). Around 62 AD if someone asked who the most significant person in Rome was, no one would have said, Paul. Most would have said Nero. But, as someone once said, “Today we call our dogs Nero and our sons Paul.”
The most influential early church fathers did not subscribe to the world’s idea that wealth and fame must go with leadership. In a recent book, Give up the Purple, Julyan Lidstone shows how for the first three centuries the model lifestyle of Christian leaders was not one of privilege but one of servanthood. Purple was an extremely costly dye which was used by royalty. After Christianity became state religion in the fourth century, the status of Christian leaders changed and the symbol of status—purple—was taken on as the colour that the hierarchy of the church wore. The high earthly prestige of church leaders was not something found in the first centuries of Christianity.[7]
Even in the fourth century, some of the most influential Christian leaders refused to adopt an affluent lifestyle. The North African Augustine (354-430 AD) was consecrated Bishop of Hippo against his wishes and has been considered the most influential Christian theologian since Paul.[8] One scholar speaks of his “ethic” as being “ascetic”[9] John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) was consecrated as Bishop of Constantinople, also against his wishes. He was probably the greatest expository preacher of the early church. The Reformers rediscovered and adopted his expository style. When he became the Bishop, he sold most of the gold and silver in the church and used the proceeds to help feed the poor and refugees.
Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley—three of the most influential leaders of the last Millennium all lived very simple lives. Missionaries are among the great heroes of the nineteenth and twentieth century church: William Carey, David Livingstone, Adonirum Judson, Henry Martyn, Hudson Taylor, C. T. Studd, Amy Carmichael, Mother Theresa, Helen Roseveare and a host of other people. They all suffered severe discomfort and lived very simply. Their lifestyles would have been scorned by the celebrity culture. But today they are heroes of the church.
Some of the most influential preachers, Christian leaders and writers of our time refused to become rich even though they could have. Billy Graham received the salary a pastor would receive and didn’t touch the vast financial resources his organisation had. John Stott gave all his earnings away and himself lived very simply in a small apartment, which I had the privilege of visiting. Dr Robert Coleman whose books have sold millions of copies, drives an old car and, when he lived in the Chicago area, used to get his clothes from a Salvation Army second-hand clothes shop! John Piper lives a very simple life in a part of the city of Minneapolis which wealthy people shun. Rick Warren would have been a millionaire, not through donations but through earnings from the books he wrote. But he refused that route. Two of the most influential preachers India has produced, Sadhu Sundar Singh and Bakht Singh, lived very simple lives. They both renounced the trappings of success, even asking God not to allow the prominence of miraculous answers to prayer in their ministries to detract from the gospel.
These are some of the people whom God allowed to be the true “celebrities” of the church. Their influence was huge and lasting, but they refused the worldly trappings that go with being a celebrity today.
