Living the Cruciformed Life Among the Elite

I have not been prepared for the course Paul’s letter to Corinth is taking me. His letter to this elitist church is filled with both passion and sarcasm. And it has caused me to do some hard thinking about present culture, about my own life choices. So much of what Paul faced in Corinth—celebrity worship, factionalism, and elitism—are the very things that make up much of present culture, both within and without the church.

If you question this, than pick up Michael Lindsay’s Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite. In it, he traces a movement that once was on the periphery, but now wields power—from Washington to Hollywood to Wall Street. Lindsay, who is a sociologist from Rice University, interviewed a number of leaders, and has come to the conclusion that while evangelicals have not grown substantially, their influence has. And while we evangelicals might rejoice in this, I wonder, “At what cost?”

In his chapter, “From Protest to Patronage,” Lindsay writes these disturbing words: “As I found, evangelicals in Hollywood differ little from others in the entertainment industry. They drive luxury cars, live in exclusive communities, and worry that their fame and talent will evaporate overnight. And the evangelical movement does look more like mainstream society. Ministry leaders resemble corporate executives, calling themselves ‘chairman and chief executive officer’ rather than ‘pastor’ or ‘chaplain.’”

The parallels with Corinth are scary. As he continues on, suddenly I am reading I Corinthians 1-4 as it looks today—“Indeed, American evangelicalism contributes to a cult of personality with movement leaders elevated to iconic status, despite biblical injunctions for modesty and humility.” Lindsay shares his own experience—“I once was backstage at a large meeting for evangelicals, where the various entourages—and their sycophantic behavior—seemed more appropriate for a rock concert or political rally than a meeting for church people. The evangelical publishing world and contemporary Christian music have fed this hero worship…indeed, the very existence of such a thing as a ‘Christian celebrity’ shows how evangelicals have adopted the practices of secular society.”

Paul intentionally chose to live out Christ, to be a cruciformed life. That is, to live a life shaped in the form of the Cross. And he ended up, as he puts it in I Corinthians 4, like those condemned to death, the scum of the earth, the dregs of society. And it raises questions—questions that cause unease, at least for me. “Can a person, who truly intends to conform to Jesus, in both His death and resurrection, end up in the halls of power?  Was Paul’s experience God’s specific calling for him, the result of being an apostle? Or is Paul telling us something—that when you choose to be like Jesus, to come to a place where you say—“I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” you will most likely not be invited into the club of the elite? And if you get there, the radical nature of your life will not allow you to remain for long.

Comments

[Christine]

Maybe the current church has in its basement a long forgotten box labeled "Ecclesiastes".

[Randy Ehle]

I'm not sure that being a follower of Christ necessarily means one can never "end up in the halls of power." God has certainly used his followers in those halls - Esther and Daniel come immediately to mind (though admittedly, no NT names spring up) - so I am not convinced that God would have us vacate the halls.

Tying into your previous post, though, I wonder what it would look like for a follower of Christ to be transformed in a position of great influence, power, prestige..."celebrity", if you will. As I've been thinking recently about transformation, something that has been ingrained in my mind is the realization that transformation doesn't look the same for each person. In fact, it may not look the same for any two people. That's part of what is so difficult for churches to get their hands around: we want to set standards and goals that people can reach for (and that we can measure), and transformation doesn't lend itself to that. So the question then becomes, "What does it look like for ME to be transformed?" And if I am in a position of influence or power, what does it look like for me to be transformed in that position?

[pilgrim]

The teachings of Jesus Christ, at least anything that cannot be understood apart from common sense and from our conscience, cannot be truly understood apart from the teachings of the Apostles and the revelations given them.

This is why the Apostles, and mainly the Apostle to us Gentiles, Paul, were given direct revelation. Notice the change after Pentecost.

To bypass the Apostles and go straight to Jesus has always been the strength of the Gnostics, various cults and many New Age philosophies. Compared to the teachings of the Apostles, Christ speaks little on the nature of the Church. This was the job of the Apostles. And this is why there is so much falsehood and misrepresentation in the teachings of Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and many others in the Emergent movement. They simply bypass the revelations given to the Apostles and build their ideas and movement on the teachings of Christ solely.

As Paul says in 1 Cor. 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."

So if one patterns their life after the Apostles and their teaching (as in this example with Paul), then they can rest assured that they are following the example of Jesus the Messiah.

So our witness can be like the Apostle Paul's. We can, like him, be shown how much we must suffer for His name. But to do so, one must get back to the teachings of the apostles and live a life similar to them. This would require a forsaking of the worldly teachings that have engulfed the churches. And at this point, I don't think the majority would be willing to do it, let alone consider it.