Macarthur, Keller, and a Warning Against Christian Celebrity Culture

When you look at the secular culture around us, it's impossible to miss the fact that those who are popular, control the narrative. We see it on social media, those with the largest following, are often the ones on the frontline of moving the crowd in one direction or the other. This was the case in the death of George Floyd, the video goes viral, several social media celebrities attach #BLM to the video, and before you know it the narrative for the attack was, "racist cop kills innocent black man", all cops are racist, all black people are innocent. Never mind the fact that all we had was what by all accounts was a horrific video. But then there was the fact that there was also no evidence of racism, or of Floyd's innocence for that matter, our celebrity driven culture had decided this is what happened, and this is what we want to promote. So, the rest of the sheep simply nodded, clicked share, and went along with whatever the blue check marks told us. 

I get it, in a secular culture that denies the one true God, the only standard of truth, goodness, morality and love, you have to get someone in there as a substitute and so the pagans have chosen. But what about the church? Aren't we supposed to be different? Don't we have the standard of Truth? Don't we have an ultimate standard for morality? Or have many within the church simply bought into a Christianized version of what guides popular culture? Here is something I simply took note of in the last few weeks and want to bring to our attention, as I am hoping we will avoid this very dangerous trap. 

For months now, many Christians have been very willing to speak out loudly against the idea that churches should meet. Repeating, out of context and apart from any sound exegesis, the simple line, love your neighbor! Any church that would dare to defy the government obviously had no understanding of Romans 13 and was simply looking to cause the church harm. There couldn't possibly be a good reason for a church to meet, there couldn't possibly be a good reason for a church to defy the government. I myself posted an article and video simply arguing for each local church to have the right to govern itself in this area. Many others, much smarter and dare I say, popular than I, were doing the same, and were met with criticism and at least I know I was, met with rebuke. I'm fine with that, I can take the heat, and always welcome correction. If I am wrong, I want to know it, as I want to be on the side of Truth and see anything else as dishonoring to God. 

But it would seem, in recent weeks we've found an answer to winning people to the other side of the argument; John Macarthur! It wasn't scripture, it was a person, the right person, with the right amount of pull, and influence, and all of a sudden those who were rebuking were now praising. Hmmm?.?.?. I for one, love John Macarthur, and take no argument with his position and I am truly grateful for him and the elders of Grace Community Church for the stand they are taking. This is not saying anything against him or them, but rather to all those who were swayed and won to the other side of the argument, because... well... it's John Macarthur! That is not an argument, and if you have changed your mind simply because of him, then you were never seeking truth. 

At first, I thought I'd leave it alone, but then a couple of weeks ago, another Christian blue check mark, Tim Keller, whom I also love, and have tremendous respect for, put out an article on Justice... Well, I am not going to critique the article here except to say, it was a huge mess. I'm not sure what happened to the Tim Keller of "Reason for God", but this was most certainly not him. There have been a few great critiques already put out there, if you are interested, just hit me up and I'll point you in that direction. But my point is, I began to see the same thing. Many Christians that I would have thought never would have agreed with much of what was in that article, were sharing, and tweeting it. Even commenting, "so glad for voices like Tim Keller". Huh?.?.? I mean sure, but definitely not this time. I couldn't help but wonder if they'd even read the article... 

All this to say, Christian Celebrity Culture struck again! In the age of Social Media, and so much technology, it is inevitable that certain names will gain a following. I'm not even against it when we follow people for the right reasons, of which I know Keller and Macarthur, would be people worth following for the right reasons. But we must not fall prey to the way the world navigates truth when doing this. It isn't the popular voice that gets to say, not even if that popular voice is usually on your side! It's o.k. to disagree with even those you've learned from. 

Our standard is not any one person, and until we get to glory, not a single one of us will get it all right. We can disagree with humility, and still be confident in our position if we are standing on God’s word as our foundation. But that's the problem isn't it? So many of us are not. So many of us take our views on what God's word says, from those who are popular, have been to the best schools, and have the right following. It's time for us to repent, return to our foundation. We must know Scripture, we must know what it says, we must learn how to apply it in life, and the more we do, the better we will be at recognizing when someone is peddling something that isn't right, or is right according to what God says, not according to what the blue check mark says. 

Just last night in family worship we were in Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13, and as we looked and considered these verses, we talked about the need for us to know the Word of God. How can we obey that which we don't know? My daughters got it, so I know we can all get it! When you and I stand before the Lord, we will not be able to use the excuse, but God, Macarthur said it, Keller said it, the only question will be, did God say it? Let's live out our calling to be salt and light in this world, by not being like the world. We must follow His word, and nothing or no one else can be allowed to be a substitute.