#21 Why Jesus is not your influencer

On being a disciple in the age of celebrity

In today's digital landscape, social influencers reign supreme, capturing the attention of the online world. Like Kylie Jenner or Jake Paul they share endless reels, posts, and videos about their personal experiences whilst advising on topics such as fashion, travel, health, business, or family.

Here in the UK, we have Joe Wicks, the fitness instructor who motivated the nation with his pandemic workouts, and Dr. Julie Smith, the clinical psychologist, who provides self-help tools via TikTok. And let's not forget Mrs. Hinch, the self-proclaimed cleaning expert, whose effective household techniques shine for the masses. Each of these experts, followed by millions, promises to help you become a better version of yourself.

To become an influencer, one must have some form of authority in their sphere of influence. Yet levels of credibility are often linked to being in the right place at the right time, having gone viral for a thousand superficial reasons. 

Since we are now inundated by gurus dispensing life hacks and top tips, it comes as no surprise when we subconsciously filter our experience of Christianity through the lens of their model of success. 

We think that to succeed in the kingdom, we must become influencers too.

We look at these online heroes who appear to have it all figured out and seek to mirror or even compete with them. This leads us to constantly strive and position, optimize, or elevate ourselves in the pursuit of fame and favour. Trying to meet the expectations of being an expert quickly becomes overwhelming, leaving us feeling powerless in the light of our real-world failings and flaws.

In her brilliant book Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church,

Katelyn Beaty

, tackles how this influencer mindset has infiltrated our thinking through the mimicking of celebrity culture in our spiritual communities:

“…celebrity is tricky and dangerous, because it is a form of social power -the ability to influence other people -without the proximity that we all need in order to stay grounded…”

Celebrity culture can influence us to engage with Christ in a transactional way. 

• STEP 1: I want to achieve my goals and I need help with my problems…

• STEP 2: I will therefore follow Jesus in hope of achieving my aims…

• STEP 3: Jesus will help me become the best version of myself….

I know plenty of gospel presentations that follow this model and it almost sounds like ‘good news’ except for one major glitch in the matrix. 

Jesus is not your influencer. 

Like or Follow? 

When I follow an online influencer I do so because they give me actionable tips that allow me to reach my personal potential. I click follow on their socials when they are educating, entertaining, or engaging me. But what happens when this no longer feels like the case? There is no real authenticity or accountability when that unfollow button is only a click away.

Those who try to treat Christ like this end up jarring against the fact that Jesus is not just here for our personal success. His teachings were never meant to tickle ears or wow crowds. Christ always stops us remaking God in our own image.

As the Author of ‘Follow Me’, David Platt writes… 

We pick and choose what we like and don’t like from Jesus’ teachings. In the end, we create a nice, non-offensive, politically correct, middle-class, American Jesus who looks just like us and thinks just like us. But Jesus is not customizable.”

Jesus is not some sort of Mr Potato Head that we can mix and match until we are happy with the way he looks (or the way he makes us look).

Ian Harber

, in his short podcast The Discipleship Game talks about the problem with what he calls the ‘Self-Help Jesus approach’ in relation to discipleship: 

“This is what the seeker sensitive movement embraced when it decided that discipleship was life hacking tips and tricks for marriage and parenting with principles that are loosely based on bible verses. Jesus came to set you free from…. SOMETHING and he was there to help you with… EVERYTHING. That’s about all it was. The point here wasn't formation - it was optimisation. But Christianity was never about memorization or optimisation - it is about being formed into the image of Christ.”

The gospel was never about personal optimisation, it was always about life transformation.

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.… Matthew 16:24-25

On first glance this verse above feels like a terrible deal yet it ends with a mysteriously intriguing promise. When we lose with Christ, we win. 

• What if the goals you want may not be the ones you need?

• What if the will we have for ourselves is not the same as the one God has for us?

• What if the best version of yourself is to become more like Christ?

None of this can be wrestled with if we are caught in the ‘life hack’ trap.

You don't need an influencer 

One of the biggest challenges with influencers is that no matter how connected you feel to them, they will never really know you, and you can never really know them. This means they are notoriously difficult to rely on when it comes to genuine times of crisis. 

Here is a silly story to illustrate this point.

One time my daughter asked me to help her fix her bedroom radiator (mistakenly thinking that I had completed that elusive ADULTING course on How to do practical things as a grown up). As I started to turn the radiator key to release some trapped air something snapped in the system and water started spraying all over the bedroom!

My lack of expertise sent me into a panic.

Within 30 seconds my daughter was drenched and feeling less than impressed. I was left desperately trying to stop the water gushing all over the place with one hand whilst trying to look up YouTube videos about ‘How to stop a radiator leak’ with the other. But no online expert could speak into my circumstances. No one could deal with my level of ineptitude. People who offer life hacks can suddenly hack you off when they have no real knowledge of your specific situation!

Then all of a sudden I thought to myself… 

What am I doing looking online? I just need to call my dad.

With the skill of an ambidextrous circus performer, I one-handedly managed to dial my Father on my soaking wet phone and within two minutes the problem was fixed. My dad had first hand knowledge of my circumstances but most of all he knew me personally enough to give me the instructions I needed to follow. 

That’s the difference between influencers and Christ.

Jesus knew that there would be a plethora of self-help gurus who think they know what’s best for us. He knew we would have access to endless amounts of information, life hacks, tips and tricks. But he also knew that when you are in the thick of it, you don’t need a principle to follow, you need a person to call. 

You need someone who knows you.

You need someone who will disciple you, not just influence you. 

And above all Jesus knew this: 

Sometimes you just need to call your dad.

This is what our Father offers us: not a depersonalised set of principles to inspire us but a person called Christ to lead us. Not the latest guide book but the guide himself. That’s the thing about Jesus, he may not be your influencer, but he still has ultimate influence.