…cleaning up

It amazes me sometimes how a simple conversation can send you spiraling into your thoughts. Sitting around the table at… the evening meal which I still have a difficulty calling anything other than supper… an interesting comment didn’t sit quite right. It had every ounce of credibility and possibility, and that is what made it uncomfortable. One of the guys at the table tossed out the apparent fact that many contemporary Christian music artists smoke. Some try to create a rasp in their vocal tone and others succumb to life on the road. Either way, these supposed figureheads of mainstream Christianity became, in an instant, dirty.

It hadn’t been suggested that a Top 40 artist has murdered someone or that the music is written on the torn out pages of last month’s “grown-up” magazine. It hadn’t even been suggested that some well-known artists are doing something sinful – just participating in a habit most of us would deem unhealthy (maybe at best). As the conversation in the bilingual house slipped back into the local language, I found myself alone with my thoughts – now spiraling quite rapidly.

The question in my head quickly multiplied. Why do we elevate musicians to such a high level? Why do we expect them to be faultless? When did they cease being human? Why would their sin make them less able to lead worship?

Why do we elevate musicians to such a high level?
Part of the reason we elevate musicians – and any celebrity figure – is because they do something really well. Most of the people we would consider “famous” don’t do anything new or unique – they just do it better than we can do it. Acknowledging this separation of ability creates different levels in our mind; they are better at something than we are, so they must be on a higher level.

Why do we expect them to be faultless?
Our expectance of people we look up to to be faultless is actually embedded in our own pride. It may sound crazy, but consider this – why do you look up to someone? Invariably, the answer is some form of you admitting that you look up to someone because they do something – play an instrument, shoot a basket, tell a joke, even live life – in a way that you want to replicate. You want to be like them, at least in some way. If they are flawed, suddenly your personal goal is no longer as good as you thought it had been. If the person you look up to has flaws, then the person you want to be is flawed by association.

When did they cease being human?
This is a rhetorical question, and it leads directly into the next one, which is…

Why would their sin make them less able to lead worship?
A public figure that serves as an example to others should strive to live an exemplary life. I’m not proposing that people with high social influence are not held to a higher standard – nor that they shouldn’t be. Consider, though, your best moments. Reflect on the times you felt closest to God – those times when you felt like you were exactly where you were always supposed to be. In that moment, you were still a sinner. To be clear, I do think that worship leaders with an addiction to a sinful behavior (routine drunkenness, adultery, addiction to pornography) should step away from their leadership roles to seek help and guidance to combat those sins. I’m looking at the bigger picture here. Even someone living a Christ-honoring life – one that others should try to emulate – is a sinner. That’s what makes worship so incredible.

If it’s somehow unclear – Romans 5:8 explicitly lays it out for us: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ didn’t go to that cross once we cleaned up our act. He didn’t wait for us to get it together so He could take care of the mistakes we made – He already took care of the mistakes we are going to make. That’s why we worship Him. He did something so inexplicably crazy and literally life saving that we have no other response but to praise Him. The worship leader is joining with all those who worship. The effective Christian artist, then, isn’t the one who is cleaned up (or is actively seeking a sinful lifestyle, either); the effective artist is the one who realizes the gravity of sin and therefore the incredibility of what Christ did on the cross – and lets the worship flow from that.