Fame by No Other Name
Jun 09, 2010
What does it mean to be famous? How much are our own definitions coloured by our grooming, by noise and color and the dazzle of this present age?
We live in a strategic, humanistic world. But for all man’s cleverness, those who stand out in history aimed at something more than rational ability. Consider the splendor of Beethoven’s 9th, the delicacy of a Shakespearean sonnet or the power of a Churchillian speech – is there not something profoundly deeper, weightier, more skilful and sacrificial to fame than mere rational living?
I have no doubt that famous men and women of world history all had diligence as a cornerstone. Laziness gets a man nowhere. But still, the honors roll of fame is distinctly lacking in certain types of job – casino owners, share traders, consultants and church managers. Not that I am saying these kinds of people are bad people. I am sure that some could be famous in their own way. What I am saying is that a special communication with Creator and Creation is always part of the mix. A going beyond the visible, into the visceral and unexplored. And then an ability to persuade others to their end. Whether through the symbols of e=mc2, the words of “friends, Romans, countrymen”, or the sleepless lyrics of Nessun Dorma (who does not get goosebumps with Pavarotti’s cry of “Vincero!”?)…we see a glimpse of the essence of fame.
We know in our gut that normal - selfish – living will only guarantee us a place in a cemetery.
And so too, in the church of God, fame does not go to clever churchmen. There is no honors roll devoted to mere managerial strategists or obsessive sheep-counters.
Who are the most famous people in Christian history? I guess most of them will only be known on Judgment Day. But we can be fairly sure that some of these will be on the honors roll already. I have taken the liberty of noting very briefly the reason for their fame, to demonstrate that a higher passion and motivation was central to all of them:
Paul the apostle – scarred preacher, apostle, writer, miracle-worker
Peter the little rock – preacher, miracle-worker, martyr
Polycarp – preacher, martyr
Blandina – a woman of the word of her testimony in the face of gruesome death
Augustine – theologian, preacher
Boniface – evangelist, extremely courageous martyr
John Wycliffe – theologian, Bible translator, martyr
Martin Luther – one justified by faith, resister of religion
John Calvin – theologian, preacher, writer
Thomas Cranmer – author of book of common prayer, martyr
John Knox – embracer of the Reformation, fiery preacher
Richard Baxter – puritan preacher, sufferer for Jesus
George Fox – uncompromising saint and preacher
John Wesley – a strangely warmed heart, evangelist, hymnodist
George Whitefield – revivalist, evangelist
James Hudson Taylor – sacrificial evangelist to China
William Wilberforce – determined abolisher of slavery
Florence Nightingale – tender nurse to the Crimean wounded
William Booth – carer for the poor, founder of Salvation Army
Charles Spurgeon – preacher, writer
DL Moody – evangelist, friend of deprived children
Smith Wigglesworth – preacher, faith healer
Martyn Lloyd-Jones – expository preacher
Amy Carmichael – Irish missionary to India, friend of the poor
Corrie ten Boom – Holocaust survivor, helper, rehabilitator
Mother Theresa – minister to and advocate for the poor
Even when we think of the “living famous”, we see a higher cause and a living embodiment of the Word of God as the central theme:
Billy Graham – evangelist
Jackie Pullinger – faith minister to drug addicts of Hong Kong
Tim Keller – pastor, preacher
John Piper – theologian, writer, fiery preacher
RT Kendall – preacher, author
John Stott – theologian, teacher
J John – preacher, evangelist
D Yonggi Cho – Yoido minister, preacher, evangelist
Terry Virgo – grace preacher, apostolic minister
Michael Eaton – Bible scholar, preacher, teacher
Matt Redman – psalmist, song writer
If I have left your hero off the list (which I surely have), then why don’t you think what has made him or her “famous”? By the way, I have generally excluded younger men and women, as they too must stand the test of time (not my test, but the test).
Do you want to be a famous Christian? Firstly, don’t aim for greatness - that will just devastate you. Don’t aim at managing your future, and thus your surrounding situation – that will just make you another control freak (you might become famous for 15 minutes, as the saying goes). Take aim at Christ Himself, to do His will and to live to please him first and foremost. Dig into the word to find out what pleases him. Make the most of every day. Test and approve his good, pleasing and perfect will. Beat your body and make it your slave. Put sin on the cross. And temptation too. And then - do the works of Christ, in Christ. Serve Him, with or without applause. Preach as though He alone were listening. Give your private life fully to Him. Don’t live for the same things the pagans run after.
“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither”. Clive Staples Lewis.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Writer to the Hebrews (Heb 12:1-3 NIV).
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Apostle Paul (Phil 3:10-12 NIV).
N
