The False God of “Cool”: Image Consciousness and the Church

If there is anything that we as humans are prone to do, it’s this: set up false gods for ourselves. No matter what our culture is, we will probably find something that culture values and worship it and try to squeeze God into the mold of it. We will melt down our gold and make an idol, an idol that doesn’t challenge us, an idol that makes us look hip and cool to our surrounding culture (and to us).

Christians don’t lose the temptation to worship false gods just because we are Christians. Rather than deal with our false gods that distort the imago Dei in us, that melt us image bearers into twisted molds that squeeze out the light and love of God in us, we do what is easier: We let ourselves be poured into the mold of our culture’s obsession with self.

It is the idolatry of cool.

Megachurches and Small Churches Both Struggle with Idolatry

I haven’t attended a megachurch in years. There are a lot of great things about large churches: The teaching tends to be in everyday language that the hearers will understand. Whole Bible books are taught, increasing Biblical literacy. These churches also have resources to make a big difference in their neighborhood and in the world, to alleviate poverty and suffering. Because of their structure, they are also more free to innovate than many traditional churches, leading to the development of creative ideas for outreach.

All of these things are good and admirable. However, there is also a real problem at the heart of many megachurches. It is the problem of image consciousness. It is the hip website with the model-stye photo shoot of the pastor–and perhaps his family. It is the playing up of the pastor’s “hotness” in some cases. It is the personality-driven culture. It is the attraction to the pastor more than to Jesus. Sometimes this happens unintentionally over time; sometimes the marketing is very intentional. Either way, the effect that many megachurches are giving–whether on purpose or by accident–is that the church is centered around the “product” of the cool celebrity pastor.

Small churches have their own issues with image. Recently, I was with some Christians from a small, aging congregation who were excited that some cool, energetic camp counselors had visited their church. They were right to be happy that the youth of the church would see fellow Christians who looked like them. But the false gods of culture squeaked through when the older church members said, “Now they will see that being a Christian is cool!” They worried their church was not cool enough. All those people covered in grey hair and wrinkles! Fundamentally UNCOOL. I mean, who would want to join a church like that? Small churches tend to struggle with inferiority complexes and the inner worry that they are not cool enough to be “competitive” in this culture.

The problem is, our categories are all messed up. Whether large church or small, we are not here to be cool. In fact, God has a soft spot for the “uncool,” the unlikely, the underdog. The Apostle Paul wrote:

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”–I Corinthians 1:26-31

Being a good pastor and being an effective church is not about image. We are here to point to Jesus.

The Example of John the Baptist

There was once a celebrity preacher named John the Baptist. He had big crowds coming to listen to him and be baptized by him. He was very popular and well known. People always wanted to know what he thought about the issues of the day.

But John always believed that his mission was broader than his own speaking ministry. His ministry was not about him. He existed to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah. One day, Jesus came down to the Jordan River where John had a crowd gathered. He humbled himself and asked to be baptized by John. John recognized that Jesus was the one he had been preparing for all along. John did not have a deep, internal need to continue to be the “star.” As far as he was concerned, Jesus was the star. Jesus was the whole purpose for everything he had been doing.

John’s followers got really worried. They saw that Jesus’s followers were growing; everybody was leaving John to go follow Jesus. They were anxious. They came to John to talk about it.

John the Baptist answered them beautifully. He said this in John 3:28-29:

“You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.”

John thought of himself as the best man to the beautiful relationship between God and His people. He thought of himself as the support person, facilitating that relationship. He did not think of himself as the star, even if many around him did. So, when he lost the crowds, when he became less popular, he was ok. He knew that was the point in the first place. He went on to say this: “He [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less” (verse 30).

In our image-conscious culture, we can learn so much from John.