“This is a point that our generation cannot afford to ignore. Why is it that we constantly parade Christian athletes, media personalities, and pop singers? Why should we think that their opinions or their experiences of grace are of any more significance than those of any other believer? When we tell outsiders about people in our church, do we instantly think of the despised and the lowly who have become Christians, or do we love to impress people with the importance of the men and women who have become Christians?”
D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, p.29
Amen! I fear that those of us in the “Reformed Camp” can gravitate towards the same thing. Some follow Piper, some follow Sproul, some follow Carson, some follow Christ…(By no means is this anything against Piper, Sproul, or Carson). We must be careful not to make “stars” out of our heroes of the faith. Remember that their light is borrowed. Let us magnify the grace of God in the life of a high school janitor as much as we do in the life of our first baseman. Let us boast in the Cross through the lives of the clean-up crew as much as the keynote speaker.
UPDATE: Also, I want to point out what I mean by the title. I am not saying that one cannot be a “star” and a Christian at the same time. What I am saying, and believe Carson is saying, is that at the point in which the “stardom” is the attracting power it fails to be Christian.
