Jesus Was a Carpenter, Not a Rock Star.

     Recently I have seen a trend in churches. Some churches are starting to treat Jesus as if He were a rock star. What I mean by this is , they are getting so caught up in making the building look nice, or adding things to the service that they believe would really "wow" an attender into coming to faith. The more I think about it, the more I realize that this is not what Christ was about. After all, he came as the son of a carpenter, instead of a high profile celebrity. I came to this conclusion by asking myself the questions, "what does a rock star look like?", and, "what did Jesus look like when he was here on Earth?". Once I answered these questions, it became clear that Jesus was no rock star.

What does a rock star look like? 

      There are several common traits that I found in rock stars. This is simply a general profile, not all of them match 100% with what I am about to write.

• Rock stars are rich, and have large, expensive houses (sometimes more than one)
• Rock stars spend most of their time with the "in" crowd. When they travel, they stay in fancy hotels where the "cool" people hang out.
• Rock stars always want the best of everything. (For example, the best cars, clothes, and electronic devices)
• Rock stars tend to make themselves seem better than they really are.
• Rock stars are typically loved mainly for their money

     All in all, rock stars tend to be self centered people, mainly concerned with gathering riches and fame for themselves.

What did Jesus look like?  

The Bible gives us a very clear picture of the kind of man that Jesus was.

• Jesus had no place to call His own. Luke 9:58 tells us "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" He relied on the generosity of others to provide somewhere to stay. Which leads to my next point.
• Jesus spent His time with the outcasts of His society. They were the ones who He would most often stay with when He went from place to place. The most famous example of this is Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to their own people, nobody "cool" would be seen spending time with them, much less staying in their house.
• Jesus didn't need the best of everything. He used what people had. An example of this is the entry into Jerusalem. He rode a donkey, when He really deserved to ride a mustang (the horse, not the car) into town. 
• Jesus left the glory that He deserved and became NOTHING. He did this by doing everything that I mentioned above, in addition to bearing the cross, which was a punishment reserved for the worst criminals around.
• Jesus was loved for His love and His works. Jesus was popular with the people for two main reasons (There are more, but I feel that these are the two major ones) His love and His works (which he did BECAUSE of His love). All through His ministry, Jesus was performing acts of love. He healed people, raised the dead to life, told people about the love of God, and ultimately died in our place.

     Jesus was others oriented. His main focus in life was meeting the needs of the outcasts. He left the glory that He deserved, and dwelt among us to perform acts of love and kindness that would draw us to Him.

Was Jesus a rock star? 

Based off the "profiles" of a rock star and Jesus, it is easy to see that they are nothing alike. In fact, they are polar opposites. Rock stars are self oriented, Jesus was others oriented. Rock stars make themselves look good using any means necessary, while Jesus removed glory from Himself in order to become nothing. Jesus had every right to be a rock star type person, but He decided not to, in order to draw us to Himself.

So what?

What does this mean for churches today? It says that we should stop trying to draw people to Jesus by wasting time, effort, and money to spruce up our building, or adding an extra flare to our services, and use those same resources to do what Jesus did.....love and serve others. Doing this in the name of Christ will draw more people to Him than the best rock concert ever could.