I’m Like You—You’re Like Me

I think we can all agree that God is putting his finger on “celebrity culture Christianity.” I have shared with you in the past about Andrew Murray’s quote about humility. He felt it was the key character quality in Yeshua’s life, the most important quality that a believer should develop—and it is sorely lacking today.

If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus,—if humility be the secret of His atonement,—then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else.1

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was the closest thing in the first century to a celebrity preacher. It must’ve been a big deal if you heard that Paul was coming to your city to share the gospel. Let’s add the fact that he had visited heaven (2 Cor 12:2-4). His revelations were so great that God allowed him to suffer so he would stay humble, which he called “a thorn … in the flesh” (v. 7). But for the believers, Paul was a rockstar. The Ephesian elders wept when they realized they’d never see him again (Acts 20).

Visit to Rome

Paul writes to the Romans about how he has tried to reach them, but his efforts have been prevented. Of course, he wanted to go to Rome and reap a harvest. Rome was the capital of the world and 300 years later would become the capital of Christendom. Christendom is not the same as our faith:

Christianity began with the incarnation. Christendom began with the union between Christianity and secular power. Christ founded Christianity, but it could be said that Roman emperor Constantine founded Christendom as an administrative power structure based on the Christian religion and constructed by men in the fourth century.2

Paul had no vision for merging secular power with Christianity— Christendom. This new Messianic faith transcended earthly governments. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

So let me get back to our topic: humility in the midst of a hyper-celebrity culture. Roman believers lived among a predominantly pagan culture that did not accept the concept of a crucified Messiah or a single God. It was likely challenging to maintain their faith. Roman citizens were required to publicly declare their allegiance to Caesar, who was regarded as a god, once a year. The apostle writes that he longs to impart life to them.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine (Rom 1:11-12).

These are two verses with two messages that must go together. The first part is about Paul wanting to impart spiritual gifts to them. That fits in well with our celebrity minister culture. I can imagine book signings. Paul being put in the green room, so those pesky Romans cannot bombard him. I’m sure when he left the platform from speaking (no platforms in house churches!), several very large men kept the people away from him. That’s how I see it viewed through much of what we see today. Of course Paul had none of that.

I don’t want to be too harsh. I know what it’s like to be bombarded in between services by someone who wants to monopolize your time when you’re trying to focus on the next message. I’m talking about heart motives. I have a friend, when people come to talk to him after the end of a message, because he is tall, he often looks above them, and is always looking around never looking them in the eye. The body language says, “You’re not important to me, but I’m tolerating you.”

As someone who has ADHD and often has to struggle with his mind wandering when someone is asking me a question—particularly if I am anxious after the end of a service and need some time to regroup mentally—I can be the same way. I’ve trained myself to look people in the eye even if my mind is going to a million other places to show them respect. And that’s where Paul’s heart is.

In the next verse, he says, almost as if he wants to make it clear that he is just like them: “That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”

So he alters his language to make room for mutual encouragement and upbuilding. Paul wants to underline that he shares a common faith with the readers and that he therefore can be on the receiving end as well as on the giving end. Verse 12 emphasizes this mutuality (lit., “through the in-one-another faith, both yours and mine”).3

It is going to be quite interesting to see who God honors in the age to come. We often talk about it being people who are not honored in this life. It probably will be just like that. Those who assume they are deserving may be at the end of the line. I have certainly spent a good part of my life trying to be significant. I’ve also spent a good part of my life trying to crucify that desire.

There’s a complicated balance that one called to public ministry has to deal with: “I know God has called me to minister his word in front of others, and I want to have as much impact as I can,” versus a deep desire to be known, recognized, and adored. I harken back to the Murray quote: “The health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace (of humility) first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else.” Imagine if we lived like that.

But this life is a vapor. Oh, that we could live humbly, serving others. While we play different roles in God’s economy, we are all of value—Scripture seems to teach that the very members of the body that we think are not that important, are actually more important than those of us who stand in front of people and preach/teach:

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,  which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another (1 Co 12:22-25).

Wow.

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[1] Andrew Murray, Humility: The Beauty of Holiness (New York; London; Glasgow: Fleming H. Revell, 1800), 21.

[2] Danie Langberg, When the Church Harms God's People: Becoming Faith Communities That Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2024), 87, Kindle.

[3] Everett F. Harrison and Donald A. Hagner, “Romans,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans–Galatians (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III & Garland, David E., vol. 11 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 40.